You could hear the cocktail music flowing from a rooftop garden as you approached the Museum of the City of New York last night, where a large gathering of fashionistas (and a few men who looked a bit bewildered and bedazzled by all the fresh-faced beauties sipping the drink of the evening–the ex boyfriend), were celebrating BeautyNewsNYC’s third anniversary.
It was a nice night, so I decided to take the train and walk from Lexington Avenue, past the housing project and towards Fifth Avenue, and the Museum, armed with a personal invitation from dynamic Editor-in-Chief Kimberly McDonald. I haven’t been uptown past 96th street for a while–it’s still a bit “iffy” and I ended up matching strides with a nice looking young man jabbering in Spanish into his cell phone. I was glad to make it right up the steps (nice to be found quickly on “the list”) and into the main hall of the museum, where a beautifully arranged bar was waiting, it seemed, just for me. I gathered an ex boyfriend in an elegant martini glass, and thought if the drink had been just a bit stronger, I could name it the “ex husband” and drink two!
Instead, I wandered into a featured exhibit at the museum about the life and work of Dorothy Draper, a true pioneer in interior design who was named the most influential tastemaker in America (in 1960, I think). In any case, her career extended from 1920-1960+ (she lived until age 80). I was aware of her larger-than-life, “movie set” type interiors, filled with oversized design elements, chintz and florals in bold colors, but I didn’t know that she even designed wrapping paper, and styled automobile and airplane interiors.
Since I wasn’t there to visit the musem (although I ought to visit there more often), I went in search of Kimberly, who, I’ve been told, started BeautyNewsNYC.com as a hobby. combining her business skills and those of makeup artist. Llike so many cybernauts, we’d never met in person, and I haven’t made much of an effort to get out and network (but that’s, changing). Anyway, Kimberly was hard to miss, in an eye-catching leopard and floral print dress (sort of Dorothy Draper-esque) with a rapunzel-like halo of light and wavy hair. As I walked up, she flashed me a high-wattage smile, and diverted her attention away from a group of peope to spend a few minutes chatting with me—score gracious points for Kimberly! Of course, she instructed me to plunk down twenty greenbacks for a raffle ticket. Normally, I wouldn’t, but it was to support Amnesty International, and even the losers were pretty much guaranteed a take-home of a goodie bag (featuring Osmotics skin care, Stila, Bond No. 9, Crest, and also discovered in my bag: J. Sisters nail polish, DuWop hands to hair, and and a cute travel bag of RUSK products). There was something else…a Dorothy Draper Dinner Bell…not sure who was supposed to get one of those, but I know I didn’t. Anyway, I crossed my fingers and plunked my ticket down on a diamond and coral set of earrings from Rockras. I am sure some lucky beauty bash-goer got those…I meant to leave at 8:30, was informed the raffle would be at 9:00, finally left at 9:30, and the raffle hadn’t started yet. So much for lucky me in the big city.
I wandered out to the rooftop garden, and felt the pinch of my lime green sandals, so I shifted my weight for a while, and then resorted to sitting on some steps, which gave me a good view of the comings and goings, anyway. While there, a young woman came over and asked “are you Alison of the Advice Sisters?” When I responded with a “yes” she introduced herself as Edie Sherman of Crazy Rumors, the adorable Boutique Brand of lip balms, born in Brooklyn. Her cute husband, Brian Himmel, sheepishly admitted that he’d recognized me from my photos on my Advicesisters.net web site. I’m still trying to figure out which one to use to replace my old head shot, by the way, so visit http://www.advicesisters.net and leave a comment here or send me an email and tell me which one you like best. We chatted about their business for a while, and how hard it is to get out there and promote a beauty brand, but apparently Celebrity Jessica Alba is a fan of their coffee and tea-themed lip products, so there you go!
I enjoyed chatting with Brian and Edie about whether couples should work together (in most cases, I’d say no) and other subjects, but my cell phone rang, and it was my husband, letting me know he’d been waiting for me on the steps of the museum for some times. Dutifully, I walked to the door, to cash in my raffle ticket (who knows, it could have been the winner….) and collect a swag bag. I mentioned to the beautiful, blonde woman giving out the bags that I wrote the What Works beauty reviews and she seemed to recognize me. “Do you know me?” I softly asked. “yes, of course,” she said, “you are famous!”
Well, that certainly made my night. I’ve gotta get out more!