Stylish Chocolates for the Kardashians

By Laura Medina

Kim Kardashian picked the Chocolate-Covered Orange Peels

Fashionable patterns and designs transcend beyond clothes. They migrate into the hearts of celebrities' sweet tooth. As this writer's dad said, "Not only does it has to taste good. It must look good."

This tradition has started in the Fifties when Compartes Chocolatier catered plump dried fruits coated in chocolate to Frank Sinatra. Third generation chocolatier, Jonathan Grahm, pushed it into the twentieth-first century with electic, international flavors dressed in punchy patterns and bold designs personifying the globe-trotting spices and texture with some remixed Americana classics.

A new generation of celebrities discovered Compartes, ranging from Marcia Cross and Harrison Ford to the Kardashian women.

In throwing a party for one of their show's executive producer, the girls provide party favors and enjoyed some chocolates while shopping.

Kim Kardashian went with the Compartes classic, candied orange peels drenched in chocolate.

Khloe likes the Love Nuts

The girls headed over for the new revamped Americana classics. Khloe shared crunchy Love Nuts with her sisters, caramelized nuts coated in milk chocolate then dusted in cocoa powder.

Kourtney is a fan of the Honey Peanut Butter Sea Salt Truffles

Kourtney loves the gooey, chewy Honey Peanut Butter with crunchy Sea Salt Truffles.

Mom Kris is obsessed with the milk chocolate sea salt caramels.

Their mom, Kris Jenner, is preferred the more timeless Sea Salt Caramels dressed in milk chocolate.

Despite the image of the weight-conscious celebrity, they, once in awhile, do treat themselves...and they usually head to Compartes.

Silver Spoon Oscar Gifting Event for the Red Cross

By Laura Medina

Up close and personal of the companies at the gifting event.

Gifting suites preceding to award shows have been giving a bad rap for a few years, being slapped with the derogatory label of "swag."

There is a rhyme and a reason behind these gifting events leading up to award shows, especially the Oscars, the biggest red carpet in the world. This is not a greedy "free-for-all."

Once it hits a person they got invited to the biggest red carpet in the world and the accompanying soirees, she or he realizes they need the best styling and pampering products to get them camera ready in a flash, literally in front of thousands of flashbulbs and television cameras, in two days flat.

Silver Spoon, the premiere gifting event company, makes sure a charity benefits from all this glamour; and companies that want to cater to celebrities have to have products that can help a star get camera-ready in a snap.

The charity benefiting from this is the Red Cross raising funds for Haitian Relief, probably for Chilean and other earthquake victims.

Before you set foot, a Red Cross representative politely asks for a donation of any amount. Once you donate, welcome to the Gifting Suites. This sly way of charity works. Silver Spoon and the Red Cross raised over $25,000 for the Red Cross Katrina Relief fund five years ago. After you give, the world is your oyster-as long it's appropriate to your figure, your skin tone, and complexion.

Bloom.com gifting lounge.

A gifting event is a great venue for a new company to introduce themselves to the world; and their team of representatives are on hand to personally consult an individual, one-on-one, to match her or his skincare needs to the right soiree with the right products.

Making the rounds of celebrations through throngs of paparazzi until midnight can take a toll on anyone's face. Bloom.com is here to help. They have an array of serums to lift those under-eye bags and plump those lines, facial creams to refresh, and shower gels to wash away last night's hangover.

Bloom.com is so innovative that their web site wouldn't be up and running until April. But, this gives you enough time to learn and enter their Oscar Celebrity Gift Bag Competition. The winner will win a goody gift worthy of an Oscar nominee.

Michael Rady of "Melrose Place" and "The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants"

Nick Hudson of Bloom.com assisted "Melrose Place's" Michael Rady in finding the right cleanser for his complexion.

Niecy Nash

Niecy Nash checked out KooKoon Silk Bedding's hypooallergenic luxury bedding.

Television and movie actress and "Jericho" star, Ashley Scott

Charleston native and actress, Ashley Scott, enjoyed the gifting suite inspecting the home decor lounges with her new family. After becoming a new mother, she also checked out what Bloom.com has to offer for a young mom.

Cargo Cosmetics on Location to get ready for Blu-Ray and High Definition TV

Now, let's get back to the business of getting red carpet ready. Once your face is prepped, let's move onto the makeup. Specifically made for Blu-Ray and HD TV, new Cargo Cosmetics are there to mask any flaws, blemishes, and lines while nourishing the skin with vitamins. In fact, their Waterproof Blush is the sweat-proof blush of "Dancing with the Stars." Getting ready for the close-up.

LashFood Eyelash Conditioner

To polish off the whole package, LashFood can enhance your lashes for those extreme close-ups on the red carpet.

Differating from the mascara pack, LashFood focuses on feeding the eyelashes, making them stronger, longer, and fuller through soy, panthenol, arginine, and biotin instead of loading up on oil and dyes.

In hindsight, gifting events aren't only a fun way to raise funds for charity but a great venue to spot new products that the everyday person can use. You don't have to be a celebrity to enjoy these products. If it's good enough for the Oscars, it's good enough for your night-out, your ceremony, your own evening event, and psst, perhaps a reunion.

Softening Your Tresses from Winter to Spring

By Laura Medina

Roots of Nature Shea Butter & Green Tea Shampoo

Is your hair still in a tizzy because it's still frizzy from Winter to Spring? Or, is it always sunny and always dry, regardless if it's bone-chillingly cold or frying hot.

Soft Sheen is here to ease the transition with down-to-earth ingredients, just right for Spring.

The wheat protein, the green tea, and the shea butter penetrate, fortify, and stimulate weather-weary hair.

Angela Guy, Soft Sheen's Senior Vice President echoes the company's goal, “At SoftSheen-Carson we believe that beautiful hair starts at the root. Healthy hair is beautiful hair. The Roots of Nature Remedies focus on natural ingredients that feed the health of hair.”

Roots of Nature Nurturing Repair Shampoo's Green Tea purifies the scalp then penetrates the hair shafts to clean. While cleaning, the powerful anti-oxidant, Green Tea stimulates the scalp and strengthens hair growth.

In tandem, the all-natural moisturizer and softener Shea Butter moisturizes and nourish damaged strands. It combats dryness while restoring a healthy scalp and rebalancing moisture.

Roots of Nature Shea Butter & Wheat Protein Healing Thickening Cream

For a moisturizing cream, it's surprisingly light-weight yet intensively softening follow-up to the Roots of Nature Shampoo.

Mixed in with the moisturizing Shea Butter, the all-natural wheat protein thickens and strengthens thristy hair strands as they drink it in, by coating the outer hair shafts, adding visible thickness. As the thin hair absorbs the protein, the wheat makes the hair appear thicker and fuller.

If you're prepping your skin for Spring, you might as well primp and pamper your hair so you can face the new season from head to toe.

With both the shampoo and the cream priced at $6.99 a pop at most drugstores and beauty supply outlets, there is no excuse to get ready for Spring.

H&M Organic Skincare

By Laura Medina

Raspberry and Melon Body Scrub

Ready to slough off Winter's dead over coating? Can't wait to bear arms, clavicle, back, and legs?

H&M's eco-certified organic skincare line arrived just in time, ready to be pick up in their stores.

“It felt like a natural step, since we’ve worked with organic cotton garments for a few seasons now. There’s also a strong demand from our customers for organics, and I hope they will be as excited as I am about the new products,” says Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M’s head of design.

The products are available in the fragrance combinations of raspberry and melon or lavender and mint, and are accompanied by make-up and toilet bags made from organic cotton.

Wash away the old layers first, with their body scrub then refresh to Spring, with their shower gel. The scrub contains organic apple juice and apricot seeds while the gel uses organic apple juice.

Then, buffer up with the body lotion of organic apple juice and sunflower oil.

Your finger tips will thank you for the almond oil and apple juice rich hand cream.

Finally, polish up your appearance with the Fresh Vanilla Lip Balm packed with jojoba and beeswax.

H&M uses essential oils to perfume their products then package them in recyclable materials.

Good news. Not only is it good for the earth, good on your body, it's very wallet-friendly.

You can pair Milly Jewelry with your Milly outfit

By Laura Medina

Bummed out that you can't wait to wear Milly by Michelle Smith's Fall 2010 Collection.

Don't fret. Not only do you have time to save up for Fall but Ms. Smith is launching her brand new jewelry line to accompany her Spring Collection, hitting the stores right now.

Make room in your treasure chest for these delectable eye candy.

As a longtime collector of vintage jewelry and a personal love for it, expanding into jewelry was a natural next step for designer Michelle Smith.

The luxe jewelry line debuted on the runway at the spring 2010 show and includes rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and chain belts. Featuring a mix of 18 karat-plated gold, crystal, acrylic and enamel and ranging in price from $85 to $325, Milly jewelry shares the same attention-to-detail and colorful, sophisticated aesthetic as the ready-to-wear collection, offering unique pieces for chic women around the world.

If you want something to spice up your stale wardrobe, nothing perks up an outfit than these trinkets.

Tracy Reese, Rebecca Taylor, & Milly Encapsulate what it means to be a Girl for FAll 2010

By Laura Medina

Tracy Reese sketching out her runway show.

Last month's blizzard blanket New York Fashion Week Fall 2010 in tons of fierce femininity that held it's own in the snow, the freezing temperatures, and the whipping winds; what a great testing environment for the crop parkas, the printed wraps, the fur-trimmed shrugs, and knee-high boots stomping down the runway.



This writer was lucky enough to gain the sketches that set the foundation for Tracy Reese, Rebecca Taylor, Milly by Michelle Smith, and Elie Tahari, their Fall 2010 Collection.



Practicality and wearability were the first and foremost for Tracy Reese. She ponders and wonders what her customers would like to wear, something soft enough to skim and highlight her customer's body without exposure and yet loose enough to comfortably toss and wear. Closet classics that isn't menswear-inspired but girl-powered.



Ms. Reese didn't set out to reinvent the wheel but tweak what became her main stay's, girly wear in luxurious texture and draping that isn't borderline slutty.

She styled her Rustic Prince of Wales checks, distressed faux fur and stretch suede styles, softened by cosmetic toned lingerie then layered in soft alpaca sweaters, stirrup pants, arm warmers, chunky cardigans, and cozy scarves. They were coated in jacquard, crystal embroidery, and faux-fur trims. Her signature short, ruched dresses adopt well on most body types.



Romney Leader, of Style.com, praised her for making pragmatism fashionable.

Rebecca Taylor's Spring-to-Fall Girl.

Another unbashed girly-girl designer, Rebecca Taylor expanded on building on what she knows best by keeping her Springy, printed silky, ruffled tops, dresses-short enough as-tunics. Her fans can rest assured that her signature pieces aren't going away soon.

Therefore, no need to break the bank for a major closet over-haul. Rebecca simply added on cropped parkas and leopard spots in slate gray on puffer vests and ski jackets to warm up her perpetual Girl in Spring, making the fluffier pieces more sporty.

Like Tracy, for Rebecca, if ain't broken, don't fix it. Just tweak it to make interesting enough.
If Ms. Reese add a dose of sophisication to her girly mix, Ms. Taylor easily added on jaunty but sensible parkas and timeless leopard print coats to something that her customers already have.

For inspiration, Mr. Taylor described a mixture of 70’s Parisian attitude and an urban New York City girl.

With a renewed love for classic sportswear, silhouettes have been re-worked with a twist to give subtle edge on signature feminine designs.

The palette includes dusty hues and new neutrals contrasted with military olives and hints of old gold. Fabrics are washed to provide a worn, overly-loved appeal and are combined with cashmere wool suits, leopard faux furs and down quilted coats, together giving this collection an affordable luxe quality.

Affordability for her, just like Ms. Reese, is building upon what you know the best for frugality then playing around with for fun.

Michelle Smith's drawing out her collection.

Milly by Michelle Smith's early Sixities' inspired Fall Collection, is another continuation of what Tracy and Rebecca are doing, giving what the customer wants and needs, something special but not too out there that will cost an arm and a leg.

Her prim and proper collection is second skin for Upper West Princess, "Gossip Girl's" Blair Waldorf.

If Rebecca's French girls are "babakul," a french hippie style of bohemian then Milly is a throwback to the early Sixities.

"What's classic is modern. For my fall collection, the artsy, chic girls of Paris’ Left Bank are my inspiration, in a combination of luxe fabrics, clever techniques and cool attitude.”

Elie Tahari's picture comes to life.

"My fall 2010 collection is homage to the great women who traveled the globe in style.", Elie Tahari.

His women, not girls, are the no-nonsense jet-setting, take-charge business woman who equates style with stealth yet unencumbersome leather leggings and studded and fur-trimmed motorcycle jackets. Clothes that takes her places-on time.

For Fall 2010, it's conservative chic that cushions comfortably in your wallet. No need to dump everything, just build on what you already have.

Dressing like an Olympian can be downright Stylish

By Laura Medina

Want to warm up like an Olympian one minute then hit the cafe for a light lunch or a smoothie without skipping a beat?

Meryl Davis, of the silver medal-winning Ice Dance pair, Davis and White, chicly and most importantly, comfortably rehearsed in this simply elegant but casual wrap top by Alo.

You can tie this light-weight knit sweater front or on the side like Ms. Davis, over yoga and active wear outfits, making this a cute and quick run-about-town outfit. It goes well with a simple sundress or cocktail for Spring nights.

At $58 and sold at Nordstorm or on http://www.alosport.com/, you can dress like an Olympian without trying too hard. Perhaps, you don't want to endure Olympic training but it's still nice to think you be sporty and fashionable like an Olympic ice skater at a sensible price.