Yes, you read that right.

Black lips are even hotter (supposedly) than red lips this fall.

I’m not really sure how widespread the appeal is for this particular trend, other than the obvious Goth and nightclub set. I can just see the look on all the other kindergarten mothers as I pick up the Munchkin rocking jet-black lips. In fact, I could probably tell the exact moment when they decide to dis-invite me from all upcoming birthday parties.

True black lip products are hard to find, one of the hottest is sparkle-free PUR Black Lipgloss from YSL, available now. In November, Lancome is coming out with Color Fever Gloss in Piha Black, which comes in a set paired with a red gloss, both sparkly. There will be only 500 sets made, available at the Bloomingdale’s 59th Street location in New York, online, as well as at the five Lancome boutiques in the US.

If you really wanted to do a very dark but not necessarily black lip, you might want to try Garden Botanika’s Black Currant Lip Tint, or Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipstick in Black Berry. Also, one of the best dark lip looks can be had from the Wicked Lovely Lipgloss by Smashbox in Sultry, which is a dark cherry gloss. You can also use the Wicked Lovely Lipliner in Tempt underneath to make it last longer. Or possibly just use the liner and apply a nice shiny gloss over that as well.

The key is finding a dark shade in wine, cherry, or other deep color that works for your skin tone and then making sure it’s nice and glossy. But, I’m not sure this is one trend you’ll be seeing me in this season. 

Fall is in the air, is it not?

Well, it isn’t actually here where I live yet.  But, that has never stoppped makeup trends, and a hot one this fall is red lips.

I won’t lie, red lips are hard to pull off well.  You really do have to have the perfect color for your skin tone, or it just looks really bad.  And unfortunately, the best way to pick that perfect red is to try it on.  Use any other method, and you are likely to end up making a return trip to the store.

Some general guidelines are if you have fair skin, choose a red with a blue undertone. If you have a bit of color, you could spring for something with some orange undertones.  If you are tan or have quite a bit of color, rust overtones look good.  A true, London-bus red looks good on everyone, but they are hard to find.

So what I will do is give you tips on how to make your red lips look fab:

1. Use lip liner to give the color something to grab onto, because “bleeding” red lipstick is a horrible, horrible thing.  A liner that matches exactly is best, since manufacturers often offer liners in the same color as the lipstick. If you can’t find one, a liner that matches your natural lip color as closely as possible will also work.

2. Always use a lip brush to apply red lipstick, using the longest strokes possible. 

3. Make sure that you cover your lips entirely with the lipstick, including the corners.

4. Also key to keeping that color on your lips is blending concealer, preferably with a brush, around the edges of your mouth after the lipstick has been applied.

5. Gloss is optional, using it will soften the impact of the red.

6. Keep your eyes light.  A heavy, smoky eye competing with red lipstick is going to have people thinking you are off to a Halloween party.

And there you go! Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?

One lipstick to try in a nice, true red like the one I mentioned above is Christian Dior Premiere.

Angry and upset that their children cannot hit a baseball thrown by a fellow nine year old, parents forfeit the game and leave him standing on the mound, looking at an empty home plate.

Is this a scene edited out of The Incredibles?

No, it happened in the Newhaven, Conneticut Little League! Just last week!

Because Jericho Scott is so talented, they want his team to disband and be redistributed among the other teams.  Except for, I’m assuming, poor Jericho.

I don’t know what makes me feel worse about this story.  Is it that Jericho is essentially being punished for excelling at pitching?  Or that the parents from the other teams chose to impart a very harsh lesson upon a child, even though they claim it was the safety of their own children at stake? It’s a toss-up, really.

Although Jericho has never hit anyone, his top spitching peed of 40mph made some parents nervous.  I get that, I really do.  But is he not supposed to pitch to the best of his ability? 

Or is it really a case of Jericho being just too good?

Do little Danny’s parents get upset because his team gets shut out every time they play against Jericho’s team?  Is Danny depressed because he is not yet good enough to hit pitching of Jericho’s caliber?

Oh well.

Get used to it, young Danny.

It’s about time parents got their heads out of their collective derrieres and taught their children that they will not always be the best at something.  That even though there is someone better than them (and trust me, 99% of the time, there will always be someone better than them at something) it doesn’t mean they can’t try hard and do their own personal best.

And even if their own personal best doesn’t get a home run, or even a single, that it is ok.  The earth will not spin off its axis.  It just means that you put your head down and try harder next time.

Nobody likes to lose.

But learning how to lose, and how to be a gracious loser, is one of the most important lessons we can teach our kids.

I would not be surprised if soon young Jericho is forced to relocate to another city, change his name, and become an insurance salesman.

Just so everyone else can feel better about themselves.

Thanks to Dr. Nic for the story idea! 

A while back, some cookbooks were published that featured recipes with hidden fruits and vegetables.  It didn’t matter that they were eating brownies with spinach in them, as long as they were eating something healthy.   At least, that was the theory, anyway.

The author of a newly published recipe collection has this to say about the other books:

As a mother of twins and a food professional, I was appalled by this deceptive and sneaky idea. Not only are we teaching our kids to “eat your brownies, they’re good for you” (in a country where a third of kids are obese or overweight and perhaps the first generation to not outlive their parents), but we are lying to our kids and signaling, either implicitly or explicitly, that vegetables, in particular, are so yucky, they have to be hidden. That’s the worst idea I’ve heard since manufacturers decided to add trans fats to everything edible.

I can see her point on the vegetable thing, but I take exception to the “appalled by this deceptive and sneaky idea” comment.

Lying to your child has a long, grand tradition in parenting, and I’ll be darned if I’m going to let it end on my watch.

What parent hasn’t said to their toddler, “Oh, I’m sorry honey, the park is closing now. We have to go!”

Or, “Mr. Scruffles is at a big, beautiful farm, where he can run and play in the grass all day long!”

Or, “Mommy and Daddy weren’t hurting each other. That was just a very special hug.”

Those are just a few of the classics, there are almost too many to mention here. Now I’m not advocating that you baldface lie to your child at every opportunity, but there is no doubt that there are many occasions where a touch of untruth makes everything run that much more smoothly.

Each parent is the best judge of exactly how much information their child needs, given their age and developmental stage. Sometimes the entire, detailed truth is too much for them to handle, and a bit of finessed omission helps a child deal with a situation, rather than causing them to have nightmares for weeks. Parents must wing it as best they know how, and I’m given to thinking that they usually get it right.

Although to this day, I still wonder why we never went to visit Mr. Scruffles at that farm.

Ahhh, that time is coming, if not already here. Yes, the time to ponder what the heck you are going to buy your kids for their back to school wardrobes.

So for the next few weeks, I’m introducing a new feature where I focus on trendy back to school clothes, done two ways. Er, well, sometimes even three if I can swing it. And today, I can indeed swing three versions of the same concept in three different price ranges. Let’s get to it!

80′s influences are back, baby! And that means, of all things, argyle! Doesn’t it just take you back?

Lilly Pulitzer Kids Girl’s Darcie Cardigan Soft cotton cardigan comes with front pocket detail, rib trim, and contrast elbow patches. Tres cute at $68.00.

GapKids girl’s Argyle cardigan A little sparkle goes a long way with this cotton sweater, perfect for layering, $34.50.

Old Navy girl’s patterned polo Granted, it isn’t a sweater, but at $12.00, you will have plenty of money left over to buy some turtlenecks to stick under it.

The utterly fabulous Mrs. Hall asks:

 Dear Glinda:
 
I was wondering if you had any tips for dark under eye circles. Mine are hereditary, i.e. not caused by lack of sleep. Although, I have a five year old daughter, a 14 month old son and a husband in Iraq. So, they are darker and more zombie like than usual.
 
Do you have any suggestions for some nice concealer? 
 
Thank you for any suggestion you might have with my zombie problem,
 
Mrs. Hall

Ayyyyy!  The Glinda knows exactly what the Mrs. Hall is describing, as she is the sufferer of the hereditary dark circles as well!  The Glinda had become very used to people asking her if she had allergies, or if she had gotten enough sleep, or needed a cure for her hangover, or any other half-dozen bordering upon rude comments.  The Glinda merely brushed them away like the annoying flies that they were.  She hoped, though, that one day she would discover the product that would help her.

After many years of searching for the perfect under-eye concealer, she has found it! 

The major trick to the correcting of the under eye circles is to resist the temptation to overcompensate. Often, instead of looking like the zombie, an even more jarring look is produced with colors that are too light.  This produces the unfortunate result of looking like the squirrel instead.

So what is this miracle product?  Look no further than Bare Escentuals.  The Glinda has good news and bad news about this.  The bad news is that these products are not cheap.  But the good news is that they are not horridly expensive, either.  Only mildly expensive.  More than worth skipping four lattes or so to have perfect looking skin, however.

You can simply dip your toe into the shallow end of Bare Escentuals and purchase only their concealer.  The Glinda herself uses Summer Bisque. This is an excellent all-around concealer that is applied with a brush, preferably one like this.   To those that are concerned with looking overly powdery or that it will settle into lines and creases, the Glinda will assure them not to worry. 

Or, if jumping into the deep end of the pool is more your style, you can purchase an entire starter kit, which comes in more shades than the one that is linked.  It also includes brushes, a lotion, and multiple powders for your entire face.  The kits do not include any of the concealers, which is the Glinda’s one complaint.

The powders come in many different shades, for women of all colors.  They are much more forgiving than liquids, which are harder to blend and often look like, well, like you have makeup on.   The powders appear fresher and more natural than any liquid could ever hope to look.  The Glinda has tried more than her fair share of foundations and concealers, including custom-blended ones, and Bare Escentuals is the hands-down winner.

The Glinda will be honest, the initial mucking about with pots of powders and different brushes can be a bit overwhelming when one is used to simply pouring some liquid out of a bottle and smearing it on.  After a while though, it becomes routine. The Glinda is of the humble opinion that having a flawless face to present to the world is a key element for being superfantastic!

And, the Glinda would also like to wish your husband a safe and speedy return home.

The lovely and superfantastic Mindy asks:

I’ve been knocking around the Internet over the past week or so, trying to find information about recycling car seats.  I found that the two seats left from my older kids were on the cusp of expiration. I registered for a new one, but was stuck wondering if I had to pitch the old ones into a landfill.  I would much rather do something less environmentally destructive with them, if possible.

If the car seat doesn’t have a recycling symbol on it, the best directions I received were to strip them of their straps and padding, then chop them up and throw them in the regular trash.  (The more destroyed they are, the better, in order to prevent Dumpster divers from reusing an unsafe seat.)  Really?  There’s nothing better than that, considering the number of car seats which expire or are involved in crashes every year?

Does anyone at Teeny Manolo know anything to do? 

An excellent question, Mindy! It practically boggles the mind to think of how many car seats are out there. They are so big and bulky, it seems like it wouldn’t take all that many of them to pile up to the top of a landfill in no time flat. There has to be something that can be done with them, right?

Well, sort of.

Because all child car seats have an expiration date, like those eggs you just bought, the options are fairly limited. It irritates me to think that something that looks perfectly functional is not, but we have to take the word of the manufacturers that over time, the plastics and materials in the car seats degrade. We have Space Shuttles making multiple trips into outer space and back, but can’t seem to make a car seat that works past six years. OK, a little side rant there.  Back to the question at hand.

How can we dispose of our expired car seat and still give ourselves the environmental warm fuzzies?

To find out the answer…

(more…)

Longtime reader Cherry asks:

Dear Glinda,
Just because it is the season and I’m curious how parents handle things with their kids at this time of year:
How you do deal with the pressures from the Munchkin for Christmas presents? Or has he hit that stage yet?

Cherry, any doubts you have about my son hitting the “all about the presents” stage would be allayed by the very long list of items dictated to me by said five year old in a surprisingly detailed letter to Santa.  We’ll see if Santa can deliver some PVC pipe for him to make his own marble run, as well as some building material for a treehouse.  That should be a challenge.

The interesting part of it is that my son doesn’t watch network television, so he has little exposure to the mighty media forces on display every Saturday morning.

But still, like any kid, he has things in mind that he wants and since his wants are so far very simple, we can handle it.

However, to take some of the emphasis off of himself and what he will be getting, I have tried this year to include him in some philanthropic pursuits which include going with me to the store to pick out toys for some underprivileged children, as well as going through his current set of toys together and picking some to donate to another charity. 

Which is much harder than it sounds, actually, because every toy suddenly becomes a favorite that is unable to be parted with.  Even though it hasn’t been so much as looked at in the past three months, it immediately becomes his most favorite toy that he has loved always. I stand over him and say, too bad dude, you’ve got to pick.  The accompanying dramatics should really get him nominated for an Oscar, but after the tough decisions are made, he feels proud of himself.

I’m not sure how much worse it will get in the coming years, but I hope to balance any sense of entitlement with making sure that we do charitable works and deeds.  And not just at Christmas, but throughout the year. Then, I’ll just cross my fingers and hope that the message that it’s not all about him manages to penetrate that bubble of self-importance that childen often carry themselves around in.

Got a question for us here at Teeny Manolo? Email to theglinda @ gmaildotcom or raincoaster @ gmaildotcom