55 Secret Street

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry for the delay again posting, but I have been SO swamped lately!

I have gone from having no job to TWO jobs (because NYU and Sephora will not be denied) and I have been feverishly using the little computer time I did have to research a computer and I have finally come up with a winner - Dell Inspiron 1501.  I must say that I was inspired by the special holiday pricing ($499 before the bells and whistles - I think today is the last day for that deal so hurry if you're interested.)

Needless to say I'm thrilled - and exhausted.

Also:

* Sam Fine Part 2 will be up next week.  I've got a lot of good stuff for you and I wanted to make sure that I did Sam justice and avoid rushing it with my limited computer time.  Can't wait to get my Dell 1501 up and running!

* I am making red velvet cupcakes for Thanksgiving.  Kinda.  If you have more time and talent than I do in that department, you may be interested in this Red Velvet Cake recipe by Brooklyn's Cake Man Raven. 

* I've been to busy to get up to Harlem to visit my favorite Dominican salon, so I've been curly - and loving it.  Will definitely give you the full details on that one...

In the meantime, enjoy this 20% discount holiday offer from Lancome.  Just enter promo code OURGIFT at checkout at www.lancome-usa.com and select Lancome boutiques.

Happy Thanksgiving!

   

Web Snob Weekend

   

Beauty Snob fulfills the ultimate beauty fantasy with Bobbi Brown!

Bag Snob is obsessed with the Devi Kroell shopper bag!

Stiletto Jungle found a Lush-ous way to do good while you shop: Lush Charity Pot Lotion.

Whether you're dressing up or dressing down, Coquette shares her favorite hats to wear this winter.

My Fashion Life takes a look at the most recent concept in eco-chic - “Chopstick bras”.

GlamChiczooms in on Victoria's Secret's Surrealist-inspired runway show.

KRiSTOPHER gives away a Gifts.com gift certificate. And she doesn't even want brain in exchange.

Bag Bliss’ newest obsession, the Knoxx Roan Weekend Handbag.

Papierblog deconstructs the new season of Project Runway and plays Vegas bookmaker.

Get the "Gossip Girl" look at Fashiontribes...even if you don't have a GG sized bank account. 

Be prepared for any party invite this season with StyleBakery.com's list of 10 holiday must-haves.

WELOVEBEAUTY.com discovers Celeb Makeup Artist Paul Starr's newest obsession.

Yeah, Project Runway is back and The Jewelry Weblog is thrilled, even if they don't use enough from the accessories wall still this season.

Stylehive gives you a sneak peek of Marc Jacobs' Visionaire 52 Private - sultry, gritty, and edgy photographs of our favorite celebs.

Second City Style asks celebrities: Does middle age mean a fashion meltdown in "WTF Was She Thinking?": Grandma Jezebel edition.

My Little Brown Eye...

* Part 2 of my 55 Q&A with Sam Fine is coming up! Promise!

* Gabrielle Union is not pleased with black gossip blogs that are "run by black women".  Sanaa Lathan is not impressed either.  Well ladies, you can always check out black beauty and fashion blogs!  I don't really deal with celebrities much on my site (with the exception of this column) but most of the other fashion/beauty blogs - run by black women - definitely do.  And they are, more often than not, very favorable to you guys (including your pal Nia Long) in particular - even when they are not thrilled with what you're wearing, dating, whatever.  Allow me to introduce you:

I Like Her Style!, Hip Candy, The Makeup Girl, Afrobella , Shake Your Beauty, The Adventures of an Urban Socialite, 99 Products, Scandalous Beauty, Fly  The Fashion Bomb, Erica B's D.I.Y. Style, Ms. New Beauty and All About The Pretty.  Stereohyped is not about fashion, beauty or gossip, but it's run by a black woman and it's pretty good too. 

* Black Is The New White For 'Men's Vogue' -  This is via Portolio.com which is, like Men's Vogue, owned by Conde Nast.   Men's Vogue Editor-in-Chief Jay Fielden: "I don't think that Tiger or Senator Obama appeal only to one segment of the population.  In fact, they proved to be two of the best-selling covers we've ever done, and we have good reason to expect even more from Denzel Washington and Will Smith.  If there is some industry rule of thumb that you can't have African-Americans on the cover more than so many times a year, then we're glad to be the ones disproving it."

Sounds great Jay - but clearly the rules are different for black superstars.  While we can expect to see a Denzel Washington or a Will Smith, or a Barack Obama on your cover and a Beyonce or a Halle Berry on a cover like Glamour, I have yet to see a black star that is not a mega star (like a Kerry Washington) that also "appeals to more than one segment of the population" on a major cover. 

* Sad but nice: Watch this video of Holly Robinson Peete paying tribute to the late Dr. Donda West, a former professor and chair of the Department of English at Chicago State University and of course, mother of  rapper Kanye West.

* Robin Givhan of The Washington Post weighs in on the possible cause of Dr. West's death:  Plastic Surgery's Allure Cuts Both Ways.

* Gerald Boyd was the Jackie Robinson of the New York Times.  Be sure to click on the comments after you read the article. Gerald Boyd's widow is former Essence editor Robin Stone, author of  No Secrets, No Lies: How Black Families Can Heal From Sexual Abuse.

* And here is yet another interesting black woman.  My friend Adrena Ifill, a documentary filmmaker, has just uploaded the trailer to her documentary Congressman Robert Smalls: A Patriot's Journey From Slavery To Capital Hill on YouTube.  Check out her website for information on a screening near you.

55 Q&A with Celebrity Makeup Artist Sam Fine - Part 1

Ladies I know but I know that you know the name Sam Fine!

Sam, of course, is the makeup genius behind some of our favorite iconic beauties like Iman, Naomi Campbell, Patti LaBelle, Halle Berry and his good friend Tyra Banks (affectionately referred to as "Five-head."  His words, not mine!)  Check out her comments on Sam’s new blog. Yes, he has a blog!

I've been acquainted with Sam for some time now but this is the first time that I have interviewed him - however briefly.  This was not a typical Q&A and that is why it is in two parts.   It was  a MAC Pro event for professional makeup artists only at the MAC store on Harlem's immortal 125th street.  It was also Sam's birthday and he served red velvet cupcakes to everyone!

 

Okay - they're not the greatest shots - but it's hard to snap pictures and eat!  You know how I feel about red velvet cupcakes.

Sam has also worked his magic on just about every beautiful black woman you can name in Hollywood and fashion, from Gabrielle Union (he did her Neutrogena commercial) to Veronica Webb (her groundbreaking Revlon ads) to Mary J. Blige (just about all of her Essence covers) and on and on and on!

Look at the magic he worked on Mo’Nique for her infamous, instantly legendary “Beyonce-ish” performance on The BET Awards.

His friend Vanessa Williams has been a client for years.  He recently did her for the Emmy Awards (Sam took the shot below as she departed for the ceremonies).

 

And will you look at this! 

That's Vanessa and her oldest daughter Melanie at the SAG Awards in the first picture and her  middle daughter Jillian in the next shot heading to her Senior Prom - Sam "bronzified" her for the occasion.  Check his blog for the details.

For the presentation, Sam didn't hold anything back.  He gave up product names and everything - none of this, Uh, I don't remember.. I think I picked that up in Paris stuff.    Although it was a MAC event, he used products from other lines since it was a pro session.   His model was Marie Powell.  I'll bet you recognize her.

I know she does this with Sam all the time, but Marie was really a good sport.  Very patient with all kinds of camera phones in her face and lots of "Over here, please!"

Naturally, I was full of questions for Sam.  However, I only had about 5 minutes to talk to him before the presentation (Erin of Scandalous Beauty was also in the house - all the way from Maryland!)  so I had to get creative.  I decided to ask two of my fellow makeup junkies if they had any questions for Sam.  Silly me, of course they did!

Part 2 (tomorrow!) will be the actual Q&A along with the products and techniques Sam used on Marie.

Oh my... this is gonna be fun!