bunnyshop shopping fashion blog

The Perfect Sunscreen: Reader Mail

In today's Reader Mail:

Dear BS:

I have the most annoying problem. I'm trying to be good and use sunscreen all the time, but every time I put it on, I totally break out. That's not acceptable! Can you recommend a sunscreen—or even better, a moisturizer with SPF—that won't make me break out?

Love,
C.

We have the same problem! We've previously mentioned on our ongoing inability to totally give in to the whole sunscreen thing, and so much of our issue was the exact same thing—either we damaged our skin or we broke out, and we just aren't adult enough to deal with the latter. We know that tinted moisturizer with SPF isn't the idea way to go—it's not heavy duty or anything—but it's our one solution at the moment: Becca's Luminous Skin Color which has an SPF of 25+ and never makes us break out. We've also been staring at this container of Peter Thomas Roth sunscreen for four months, and we're pretty sure we're going to crack it open any day now.

Anyway: Does anyone else have a better suggestion for a non-break-out sunscreen?

Oh How Annoying

Not that anyone could tell from this morning's post, but the Great iTunes Spectacular can be found here.

Sale Item of the Day

We like this dress from the front, but we love it from the back. Bonus: one of our super-favorite designers. Click here for the sale item of the day.

Audrey Tautou as Coco Chanel

We had such little interest in seeing this movie before we saw this poster. But now. Things are different! Manohla Dargis wrote a brilliant piece on Sunday about how little women have to do in the movies: 

Nobody likes to admit the worst, even when it’s right up there on the screen, particularly women in the industry who clutch at every pitiful short straw, insisting that there are, for instance, more female executives in Hollywood than ever before. As if it’s done the rest of us any good. All you have to do is look at the movies themselves — at the decorative blondes and brunettes smiling and simpering at the edge of the frame — to see just how irrelevant we have become.

This could be awesome. At least Audrey's not stuck being all Da Vinci Code assistant-y \ nominal love interest forever.

 

Our Three Favorite North Face Jackets: The Round Up

So we know summer is basically, if not officially, two weeks away, but we have learned our lessons, and we have been reminded anew of the wisdom in always having a jacket handy. And we have, equally recently, been thinking about how great North Face jackets are. They're like the functional opposite of all those thin, short-sleeve, completely impractical jackets we've been seeing, and which we know will just leave us cold and lonely in the long run. Also, these NF jackets have really chilled out on (too) omnipresent logos—we remember the extreme satisfaction a Scottish friend took in counting up all the NF logos on the way up the Eiffel Towel—which makes us very happy.

Above: We totally love this one, and even if it is May spent most of yesterday wearing it. It's cuter in person. Geographica jacket, $179

And this doesn't look like much online, but, as above, it's cuter in person. And they really have worked the nipped-in waist thing to our satisfaction. Bara jacket, $99

Being cold in the summer is ridiculous. Speaking of, we wonder who we can talk to about relaxing the air conditioning standards, nationwide. Has Al Gore taught you nothing, person who makes that decision at the Bridgewater Commons movie theater? Nia jacket, $129

BS Hearts: Frederic Fekkai's Wave Creating Spray

In today's reader-submitted (as always, our favorite kind!) Bunnyshop Hearts:

Hey bunny!

I just wanted to share some good news for all the wavy-haired ladies (and gents, perhaps) out there. After years of searching for a product to enhance waves and many, many disappointed trials, I have found the greatest stuff! Most products leave my hair stiff, dried-out or looking like I just came out of the ocean (in a bad, salty way). However, Frederic Fekkai's Wave Creating Spray is superb. Instead of leaving nasty residue behind, this spray leaves your hair very soft, natural AND deliciously wavy! No more crunchy waves! It's a godsend, I swear! 

Yay!

E.

We used to work at a Bumble & bumble salon, and all the stylists would talk people out of buying the B&B Surf Spray because they thought it was basically like spraying chunks of salt on the hair. We are, of course, delighted to find an alternative to actually dunking the hair in the ocean for the post-beach effect.

Frederic Fekkai Wave Creating Spray, $19.50

P.S.: There is nothing we love more than suggestions from readers, so if you have one, totally email us.

M.I.A's Paper Planes

Ok, we know we're not quite ground breaking when it comes to the music area, but our favorite band is also one that broke up before we were out of diapers. We are content listening to the same 7 gb of songs on our iPod, and we tend to download a new song here and there every week or two. Last week, we downloaded M.I.A's "Paper Planes", and holy hell, this song has been in constant rotation since.

We drove kind of an obscene amount this past weekend, through 3 states, 2 rain storms, in 2 different cars, and about 9 bottles of Diet Coke. The most challenging point was driving through lower Manhattan, down Canal Street on Saturday. The amount of people buying knock-off bags (perhaps Mother's Day presents, we think) was staggering. As was when we approached the Holland Tunnel and the police turned two cars around and they were not allowed to enter the tunnel. Did we mention we were driving a car that costs as much as 2.5 of our car? Totally stressful, but we listened to this song on repeat about a hundred times and we were remarkably chill when we got to our destination.

We even made it our ring tone, and we've listened to it on our way in and out of work to ease our troubled mind.

-LB

The Great iTunes Playlist Spectacular, Part 2

So it's the second round of the amazing iTunes spectacular! (See the first one here.) Picking up where we left off, here's our next playlist, from T.. This is as close as we'll see to our own, we think, owing to all that Ryan Adams and Wicked. We hope and pray Ryan Adams know he's constantly next to Wicked in playlists around the world.

For the next playlist, click here.

The Sale(s) of the Day(s)

Today we decide that $145 marked down to $58 is more reasonable—if less spectacular—than $5275 marked down to $2110. Click here for the sale item of the day.

Sleater Kinney's One More Hour

Someone we've long being trying to shape into a Sleater Kinney fan—because really, how could someone not be a fan of the best band of like the last million years—recently asked us to name their most accessible songs. This was a bit baffling, since of course we think they are all sort of equally completely accessible ... and completely not. This was our vote, as it was the first SK song we loved. We would love to know if there are other SK fans around, and if so, what they would vote for.

Our favorite SK story: After they were mistaken, backstage, for groupies, Corin was all, "We're not here to fuck the band. We are the band." Oh! Why are we not devoting all of our time and energy to becoming a rock star in the Corin Tucker mode?

This video, btw, breaks our heart into a thousand million pieces, as it's from their last show, and it's obviously a huge sing-a-long and we can't imagine what we could have been doing that was better than attending it. Oh, SK! Come back to us! Sigh.

We had finished this post and realized we needed to share more SK:
We love this song even if in general it's Corin rather than Carrie that makes us so deliriously in love. We were going to go back to art school next semester, but we think instead we'll just make SK videos and post them on YouTube. Please! Come back!

The Tote Bag of the Week

American Eagle remains our source for inexpensive summery items, including what we are calling the tote bag of the week. It's still about $10 more than we'd like it to be, but we're totally into the colors and the dirt-resistant leather straps.

AE tote bag, was $49.50, now $34.95

BS Totally Hearts: R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet

Okay so honestly, if you haven't seen this yet, see this immediately. It may be the funniest, most amazing thing we have ever seen. We watched this in art school two years ago and it is just as incredible as we remembered it.

Other Wire fanatics will not want to miss our Omar at approximately 12:05. This is forty of the most unbelievable video footage minutes ever put to tape.

We beg you, just do not turn it off until the line:

Not only is there a man in the cabinet but the man is a midget—midget—midget!

Today's Beauty Review: DiorShow Blackout Waterproof Mascara

Because we have been thinking: "We want to give out our OWN stars!"

Beauty product: DiorShow Blackout Waterproof Mascara in Kohl Black

What Sephora says its does: "Dior's sensation new DiorShow Mascara knocks out any waterproof mascara you've ever tried. Never sacrifice color and thickness for waterproof protection again. Creamy new Black Out Waterproof creates incredible black kohl intensity and spectacular volume, stroke by stroke. 100% smudge proof. 100% waterproof. 100%  amazing."

What we think: We have always been terrified of waterproof mascara, fearing getting soap near, or in, our eyes. Our solution to that is to just not wash our eye makeup off.  But, we would really like to wear mascara every day. We never thought it made much different until we were completely envious of our ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's amazing lashes. We actually said WOW because we don't normally by nto the hype, but mascara can do it. We have dark lashes, so we're all about lengthening and thickening and blackening. We think curling, as in chemical and not mechanical, is weird. DiorShow is kind of awesome - it's definitely better than the Clinque we bought not too long ago, but it came off easily with cool water. Is it supposed to? Is that what waterproof is supposed to do? We are unsure. Is this a good mascara? Sure. It definitely lengthens and defines and doesn't really clump. Is it worth $24? Eh. Depends on how much money you're looking to spend. We say firmly, maybe.

Stars(!): * * 1/2.  We like what it does as a mascara, and we're unsure how waterproof is SUPPOSED to work, but the cost and washing off factor limit our stars. Dior DiorShow Blackout Waterproof Mascara, $24

-LB

Gladiator Sandals: The Round-Up

We always hate gladiator sandals until we see them on someone, and then we're all, Ooh, totally want those.

They don't have to be the $275 Tory Burch ones, but we're mostly saluting her for—as far as we cann see—avoiding the oversized TB logo here. TB gladiator sandals, $275

These are actually cuter in person than they are online, and only $240 cheaper than the ones immediately above. American Eagle gladiators, $39.50

Piperlime is calling these "Rachel Zoe's pick." You know someone on staff there is just like, "Jesus Christ please save me and do not make me ever write those words again." Matt Bernson gladiators, $170

Topshop has like 40 million gladiator options at the moment, and none of them very expensive, but this bronze one is our fave. Holly flat gladiators, $30

Reader Mail: The Domestic Guide to Haircuttery

In today's Reader Mail:

Bunny!

When I was living in Boston I went to this awesome haircut place where I’d sit down and say, “Make me look cute!” and while they were giving me a fabulous, hip, $30 haircut they’d also give me free brownies! So now I live in Brooklyn, and I can’t find any place to get my hair done. I’m not expecting brownies, but it seems like the range out there is cheap-and-sketchy to out-of-my-price-range, and my hair isn’t getting cute on its own. As someone knowledgeable of Brooklyn and cuteness, do you have any suggestions?

C.

Here is our sad truth: We have never gotten our hair cut in Brooklyn! And by "never," we mean "never in a way we liked." We are quite lazy about getting haircuts, and wait until the absolutely shaggiest moment to get them—this is true even when we spent three months working at a hair salon in San Francisco, where we were judged on nothing so much as the appearance of our hair. (And, we add with absolute truth, our astrological sign.) Anyway! We were thinking we could make this into a group thing: If people have a great stylist and they don't mind, they could comment or email us their location and the salon, and we'll compile the results, all geographic-like. We'll start by saying that no one but Rosette at Edo Salon in SF has cut our hair for the past two years—she's particularly awesome with our fine but wavy hair—and ditto re: coloring for Jet Black at Bella on Fillmore. Who else can recommend someone, in Brooklyn or elsewhere?

That picture, by the way, is of Audrey Tatou, in one of her rare midlength-hair incarnations.

A New Book From a Friend: Jen Miller's Jersey Shore

Books! Our friend, Jen A. Miller, has a new one out, and if you're thinking about visiting the Jersey Shore—and of course you should be—you will obviously need to pick up her new book: The Jersey Shore: Atlantic City to Cape May. We talked to her about one of our favorite places on earth—and then, if you're anywhere near the Manayunk Brewing Company tomorrow—Saturday—stop by for her signing!

How would you explain the Shore to a visiting German tourist?
"The shore" is a cluster of barrier islands that has been the traditional vacation spot for Philadelphians since the 1800s. The same thing that drew people back then still draws people now: the escape of the beach. But obviously the area has changed—there's a lot of dining, shopping and just things to do that don't directly involve the beach. It's also the birth place of boardwalks, which is where you can walk along the ocean without getting sand in your feet (and the place most people go way over their calorie budget for the week let alone the day).

What's your favorite meal on the Shore?
I love having dinner at the Blue Pig Tavern at Congress Hall in Cape May. The lobster mac & cheese is such a nice twist on a classic kid meal. You can also cap off dinner by hitting the Brown Room at Congress Hall for drinks in a very Gatsby swank setting (lots of brown leather and zebra print) or, if it's a Saturday night, head down the Boiler Room for live jazz.

I also have to tell you about Upcakes from Dixie Picnic in Ocean City. Genius: take a cup cake, cut off the top, flip it upside down, and ice all over. I even had an Upcake Party this spring. Must. Have. More. 

What was the most surprising thing you discovered while working on the book?
How many people who don't live in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area love the shore and will travel from all over for that week on the beach. I started putting the link to my blog in my email signature and got comments about it from people as far away as Europe. It seems that if you've visited once, you always have strong ties to the area (see? Not all of NJ looks like the Newark airport!)

If you had to live in one Shore town and never, ever leave, what would it be?
Cape May. I was there in January to do a photo shoot (at the top of the Cape May lighthouse—very cold) and could see living there year round. After Atlantic City, it's one of the most year round open towns. It has a different pace in the off season while still drawing visitors. Plus you can watch the sun set at Sunset beach—not something you can get much on the east coast.

Where's your favorite shopping on the Shore?
There's a shop in Stone Harbor called Suncatcher & Mimis. Back when I was in my tomboy phase, I'd shop surf wear at Suncatchers, but once I realized that, hey, I might like girlie stuff, I'd stray over to Mimis. The best part is that they're all in one building, so you can wander from store to store. Actually, the even BETTER part is "The Attic," which is in the same block and has the odds and ends from Mimis that either didn't sell, or they only have one size left. The stuff is great, and the longer you wait in the season, the better the deal. On Labor Day Weekend, everything is $20, whether the original price was $350 or $100. I stock up every year.

The Friday Sponsor Shout-Out

Above: Lately all we want is Diane von Furstenberg. We will say that we quite like her American Express—it is American Express, right?—ad, where she goes out and talks to the trees. DVF sandals, $275

And these may be exactly the jeans that we need. Dark, slight flare, etc. It's well past time we returned to the flare \ flair. People's Liberation jeans, $180

Panic at the Disco's Nine in the Afternoon

 

We have been listening to this song on repeat for about the last 100 hours. We are thinking it might have another 100 hours in it. It is the perfect mid-spring weekend song, we're thinking. We were a lot snobbier about our musical taste when we were 15, we're realizing, which is weird.

Our Favorite Page in the New Lucky

Gucci dress! We waited attentively for someone—Forever 21, are you listening?—to provide our $12 version sometime between now and when the little elves come to deliver our basket of gold coins.

Lucky subscription, $9.97

 

15% Off at Moyna!

It's the last day for 15% off at Moyna! What we love about these bags, noted earlier, is the way they totally dress up otherwise basic—read: boring—dresses and make them evening-appropriate. We love this bag because it is totally paillette-bonkers. There are few better things to be, we say. A silver version of this was in Cosmo.

Moyna paillette clutch, $165—type discount code "bunnyshop" into the notes box and they'll apply the discount—with discount, $140.25

The Euro: Rootote Bag of the Week

Basically all of our tote bags could come from Rootote and we'd be perfectly happy. A4 - Euro bag, about $32

How to Tie a Scarf: Reader Mail

In today's Reader Mail:

Dear Bunnyshop,

This is ridiculously basic, but I am so bewildered: I keep seeing girls around me who have the ability to tie a scarf in such a way that it stays on their heads. I cannot do this! I so want to do the head-scarf summer thing. Please help!

Love,
T.

Argh! We have absolutely, positively, no idea. None at all. But we bet someone out there does. Bobby pins? Hairspray? Tape? We shrug. With aggravation. Teach us!

Above: the dandelion scarf from the super-fab designer Virginia Johnson, $98

The Bridge of San Luis Rey: What We're Reading

While All the King's Men continues to mock us, we've moved on—physically, if not emotionally—to an old favorite: The Bridge of San Luis Rey. It has one of the best opening sentences we've ever read: "On Friday non, July the twentieth, 1714, the finest bridge in all Peru broke and precipitated five travelers into the gulf below." Oh! And it only gets better from there. It's really very short, and a fast, easy read. Plus it ends with lines Tony Blair read at the memorial for British victims of 9/11. It is one of our very favorites and we could not recommend it more highly.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, $11.65

Timeless Tiaras by Diana Scarisbrick

We've been trying to make an argument for tiaras as day wear lately. This Rashida Jones photo from Timeless Tiaras, we're thinking, is the closer we're going to get.

Abitare: One New Website

We passed this shop on the way to the subway the other day and—true love! So much less complicated when it happens between a person and a store. Of course we wish they had more of their stock online, but until we get to Brooklyn Heights again, online will have to do.

We don't really use coasters, since all of our drinks come in plastic cups, but if we did, we would be so pleased to use this one. Set of four rubber coasters, $24

We feel like there might be a bit more order in our life if we had these nice hooks, from which to suspend things. Flower hooks, $65 for 3

Savon de Marseille is an all-time Bunnyshop fave. We tried to get this in Marseille, but they were too heavy to bring back. Now, of course, we won't buy them because we could have gotten them cheaper in France. We recommend these for anyone not as beset by psychological torment about this as we are. SdM liquid soap, $20

15% Off at Moyna!

More from this week's discount, the lovely Moyna bags. Yellow! It is, at the moment, our favorite color. Added bonus: This was just in Self! That should not make us like it even more, but we're obviously and easily bought and sold.

Moyna yellow evening bag, $158—15% off with discount code "bunnyshop"; just type it in the notes section—$134.30

Madras! The Round Up

All of a sudden, we feel like we're seeing madras plaids everywhere, in a way we haven't since, like, 1989. Fair enough. We are most interested in the APC version—or, as the case may be summery diffusion line. At first we weren't so in love with this, but now we see it for what it properly is, which is we would wear every Saturday afternoon for all of July and August. APC Madras dress, $120

We are trying not to let all the preppiness interfere with our honest enjoyment of this skirt. J. Crew madras skirt, $64

We love description from Cape Madras: "Mini Mini skirts came into our line by demand from the local high school girls. We’re hoping they’re still not too long." Ha! Cape Madras mini-mini, $88

 

Aviator Sunglasses: The Round-Up

Aviators! They are our sunglasses of 2008.

These are our top choice. This is unfortunate, since they are about $325 over our sunglasses budget. Oliver Peoples Aeros, $350

We find Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses to be surprisingly affordable, given the not-surprisingly affordable nature of the clothing line. MXMJ aviators, $95

And these, of course, are the ones we'll probably get—even if sunglasses are one area we don't mind spending a bit more, since the difference in lens quality is often literally unbelievable. Forever 21 aviators, $6.80

Phantom Planet's "Do the Panic"

 

We basically moved to California because we loved that Phantom Planet song. We are not sure what sort of hypnosis-techniques they have included in this new album, but we are totally enjoying this song, "Do the Panic"—which was on Gossip Girl last week! (Or the week before. It's all fuzzy at the moment.)

A New Contest With Cape Madras!

Yay! A new contest! The lovely people at Cape Madras have generously provided us with one of their awesome mini mini skirts to give to some lucky person in the BS community. To enter, all you need to do is email us your favorite summer recipe. (We will be sharing all of them, obvs.) Winner chosen at random. Send them in! We are dying to know what they are. Perfect summer skirt, perfect summer meal, etc.

Above: the mini mini skirt from Cape Madras, $88

Our Favorite Thing in the New Domino....

Is totally this wallpaper. We're a little wallpaper-crazy at the moment, and totally drawn to these super-bright, graphic designs. Oh! Can we not just have small apartments around the world, so that we may decorate them all? The wallpaper is Cavern Home, with proceeds going to an orphanage in Peru.

Domino subscription, $8.95

Sale Item of the Day

This is like, discount on top of discount: 70% then an extra 25% off? Indeed. Click here for the sale item of the day.

Our Favorite Look from This Week's Gossip Girl

Blair's dress! This is our favorite. Does anyone know who the designer is? We will cloak the rest of our comments after the break here so as not to spoiled the unspoiled.

Moyna: This Week's Discount

More from this week's super-exciting discount! This is like the quasi-fancy upgrade on the $8 totes (er, one of which we will be shilling ourselves soon): infinitely prettier and more together, which is really the direction we're aiming for, however slowly. There's something super-apt our yoga teacher always says about this, about getting better by degrees, but fuck if we can remember it.

Can we also say, in our "keyword analysis" from last week, someone ended up here looking to see if our fave yoga teacher is married? (For the record, we have no idea.)

Anyway: Moyna bag, $46—with discount code "bunnyshop"; just type it into the notes section—$39.10