Cosmetics for a dollar? It’s true
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a friend that sounded too good to be true: a cosmetics company by the name of e.l.f. had recently been purchased by Nordstrom and was now unloading all products—blushes, foundations, eye liners, powders, etc.—for just one dollar. (Yes!!! $1.) The reason? [...]

Can $80 even buy you breakfast at Tiffany’s?
There are many things $80 won’t get you at Tiffany & Co.—a $1500 sterling silver and green jade Elsa Peretti Sevillana wrist cuff, for example, or the 18k gold Jean Schlumberger butterfly clip brooch with pink tourmalines, pear-shaped amethysts and round diamonds, which runs $30,000. But when the [...]

Splurge into Spring at Big Lots!
Whether your buffalo roam on a sprawling garden or a miniscule enclosed slab of concrete, it’s likely you’re ready to replant and restock for spring/summer fun. My situation happens to be closer to the latter, but the $100 budget I allotted for back patio renovations should work for outdoor areas [...]

Heavenly Couture has you covered
Maybe you’re trying to clean up your act. Maybe you just got a job as a student teacher and have to look “respectable” by Monday. Or maybe there’s only 40 bucks in your pocket and you have to make it work. Try Heavenly Couture in Belmont Shore, offering designer jackets, shirts, [...]

Beware the Etsy addiction
Fans of Etsy.com—the online buy/sell community for crafters, artists and the like, pronounced “et-see”—know how terribly addicting the website can be: Once you sign up and start to shop, it’s nearly impossible to stop. (Especially for PayPal users; careful, or your credit card will transform into something like Monopoly money.) What’s worse, [...]

Bare your body for the camera at Bad Kitty Photography

PHOTO by CINNAMON GRAY
Saying cheese nearly nude (or even bare-ass naked) isn’t for the timid. But once you’ve gathered the balls to bare it all, it’s safe to entrust such a delicate endeavor to the pros at Bad Kitty Photography. Spare your other half the shady [...]

Without paying Southern California Edison
I dig candles—so much so that on any given evening, the little balls of flame can be found illuminating my living room, adding pleasant scents and slices of natural night (screw you, Southern California Edison). But with four cats (yes) there’s always the concern that one of my mischievous friends will [...]

Give yourself the gift of love–self-love
Chad gave you flowers, John gave you chocolates and Ed bought you pajamas—or was that Mike? Doesn’t matter. They were pajamas. On Valentine’s Day. But when was the last time you gave yourself a love day gift? And, duh, I mean an orgasm. Available through sexyware site ForestNymphs.com, the compact [...]

Do you want it? Or need it? Depends
Though it’s long been a curious staple of health shops and the occasional gourmet supermarket, I was unfamiliar with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps until the little-liquid-that-could became the centerpiece of a battle between Germs drummer Don Bolles and the Newport Beach Police Department last year. Following a consented [...]

Do you want it? Or need it? Depends
Inside Irregular Choice’s recently opened New York boutique—boasting walls covered in brightly colored unicorns; a pseudo-balcony framed by curtains and flowers, perfect for an impromptu puppet show; and a monolithic plush red velvet chair with a stripper pole jutting from its center—the company mirrors the aesthetic ambitions imbued [...]