Oh, you say, yet another pairing of a large retailer with a hot fashion designer?  Famous designers Isaac Mizrahi, Proenza Schouler, Viktor and Rolf, Roberto Cavalli, and Proenza Schouler have all teamed up with various clothing stores to produce specialty clothing lines.

But this time it’s strictly for kids!

Stella McCartney, formerly creative director of Chloe, now has her own collections walking down the runway.  And she’s signed on to produce an exclusive line for GapKids and BabyGap, due in selected stores in November of this year.  She has three kids of her own, so at least we aren’t talking about someone who has no idea how infant clothing works.  Or should work, anyway, as in easy diaper access! I don’t care how cute the thing is, if I can’t quickly get to the diaper, the article simply won’t be worn often.

Stella is also known for being eco-friendly with many of her perfume, beauty, and shoe lines, so we’ll see if she includes any organic cotton in the mix.  I have a feeling she will. And if you’re wondering, that’s a Stella-designed T-shirt that Sir Paul is wearing in the picture above.

Here’s what Paul’s daughter has to say about children’s clothing:

“For years now I’ve wanted to create a collection for kids, it’s something I’ve often been asked about. I believe that this one-off collaboration will be a great way for customers to be able to participate in the Stella McCartney brand. I believe that kids clothing should be more accessibly priced, which is particularly important at the moment given the current climate. It’s really exciting for us to do a boys and girls collection for the first time.”

Amen, sister!  Although Stella McCartney’s and my idea of “accessibly priced” might be a wee bit different seeing as how she grew up with a gazillionaire as a father, I’m still really interested to see what the clothes will look like.

To me, the beauty of beauty is that it is entirely possible to buy high and low end products and be happy with both.

For those that don’t like to wear a whole lot of makeup, or for those who tend towards a lighter palette in warmer weather, ChapStick True Shimmer might just be the product for you. Because even if you don’t like wearing lip gloss or lipstick, you’ve got to hydrate and protect your lips somehow.

Imparting the sheerest of shimmers, this ChapStick comes in many nice scents, including berry, tropical, orange cream, and banana cream. The shimmer is pretty, and definitely does not look overdone. The scents are noticeable, but not too strong. And, I would have to say that the moisturizing benefits of this product far outshine (ha!) that of Burt’s Bees shimmers, but there is a definite lack of color. All you get is the subtle shimmer.

Dare I say that you might even be able to give this to your young daughter who is clamoring to wear lip gloss and not feel as if she is on the road to looking like Lady GaGa.

ChapStick True Shimmer

We here in the frozen hinterlands are unfamiliar with many of the holidays celebrated by countries in more tropical climes, such as the holiday the Americans know as National Donut Day. At a guess, and knowning the Americans as I do, I would suspect it involves fireworks, fattening desserts, families bonding over shared sunburns and golden retriever puppies, and Martha Stewart making you feel inadequate somehow.

Who couldn’t get behind that?

To celebrate the esteemed traditional holiday (is it a stat?) of National Donut Day, Dunkin Donuts (is Dunkin a verb or a dude? One wonders about his parents’ education, and if he’s single, for yea, he must be stinking rich) is offering a FREE, that’s right, FREE donut to everyone who purchases a beverage, whether suitable for Dunkin or not.

Cocoa? Yup. Coffee? Yup. Milk? Yup. Diet Coke? Presumably, but WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

So here’s to the generous Dunkin and his bakers’ dozens of helpers all across the Lower 49 and the one floating in the Pacific and that other one hanging off the left side of Canada.

There are some very cute and affordable options for girl’s swimsuits out there, and I’ve found some of them for you, with a few more expensive options as well.  Some of them are too adorable to resist.

Baby Girls: Cherry-Print Tankinis for Baby – Pink Print

Baby Girls: Floral Rashguard Swim Sets for Baby – Pink Print

Girls: Girls Printed Ruffle-Trim Swimsuits – Pink Floral

Old Navy Ombré-Print Swimsuit (Girls)

GapKids: Dip-dyed one piece – royal fuchsia

Kate Mack – Frosted Cupcake 2pc Swimsuit (Infant) (Pink) – Apparel

Kate Mack – Cherry Picnic Skirted 1pc Swimsuit (Little Kids) (Red) – Apparel

Deux par Deux – Umbrella One-Piece Swimsuit (Toddler/Little Kids) (Brown/Pink) – Apparel

le top kids – Butterfly Wishes- Tank Swimsuit W/ Hip Ruffle (Infant/Toddler) (Black/White/Pink/Lime/Yellow) – Apparel

Roxy Kids – Surfin’ Safari Candy Apple Tank (Big Kids) (Pretty In Pink) – Apparel

D&G Junior – Vintage Hawaii One-Piece Swimsuit (Toddler/Little Kids/Big Kids) (Pink) – Apparel

Baby, 80’s neon is baaa-aaack! The easiest way to display this trend is, of course, with nail polish. OPI has some truly day-glo options that will look perfect with a tan. Obtained either via lotion or copious amounts of sunscreen, natch.

OPI Nail Polish Need Sunglasses

OPI Gargantuan Green Grape

OPI Atomic Orange

I’m sure we all have our own opinions about this:

Just, stay away from the capris if you want to make the grade. I’m just sayin’.

Summer is pretty much here, and most people tend to chuck their lipsticks and gravitate to lighter lip glosses during hot weather. One of the newest and best out there is from Dior, that classic French fashion house that manages to crank out beauty faves almost every season.

This summer is no different, with the introduction of DiorKiss. DiorKiss is a light, long-lasting gloss that not only aims to plump your lips, but manages to smell heavenly too. It’s easy to guess the scents from the names, with examples like Strawberry Smoothie (a classic, flattering red) and Pineapple Cocktail (a shimmery ivory-beige).

It also has a nicely curved applicator, instead of the wands that tend to get a little droopy after a while.

Me? I’m a sucker for anything that smells good that happens to reside directly underneath my nose.

DiorKiss Luscious Lip-Plumping Gloss

We’re getting awfully shirty around here lately, and can you blame us, with some of the monstrosities out there? In the spirit of Glinda’s recent posts on dreadful pregnancy tees and haircuts that would work better on tattooed hipsters than innocent children, we bring you these children’s shirts of appalling, nauseating, toe-curling, diabetes-inducing sweetness.

Seriously, they make Cornify look like Nine Inch Nails.

Let us examine only the unicorn offerings; just as with those infamous haircuts, these would be far better on a grown post-punk bassist than on some poor child, whose innate cuteness could never be a match for these masterworks, ripped (apparently) from the sides of the vans of the gayest men who ever discoed their way through the Seventies. And printed on texture-printed cotton tees.

Feast your eyes on the magnificence of the Mountain Rainbow Unicorn Tee!

The Secret Unicorn Tee (not so secret when you wear that around the schoolyard, eh? This really shouldn’t be worn by anyone less butch than Steve Irwin)

You can almost hear the Jethro Tull when you pull the inspiring Sunlit Unicorn Tee over some poor little kid’s head. He’ll be the envy of your old D&D buddies for sure!

Welcome to the Kingdom of the Unicorns! Say hi to Aslan for me!

I have a sneaking suspicion the Mystical Unicorn is really just some ordinary horse with a fountain behind him. Those photographers are a tricksy bunch!

and, for the teen who hasn’t yet gotten parental permission to get the unicorn of her choice inked into her left shoulder, right hip, or inside ankle, there’s the Majestic Unicorn tank, which I would really much rather see on Madonna with her veins popping out, or perhaps Joan Collins, with leather pants and killer heels. Because why not? She’s Joan Collins; like anyone’s going to say boo to her!

The way they look is the bad news; the good news is, they’re on sale at less than half price, anywhere from $8-$16, and come up to size 16, which most hipsters can fit into, since they only consume calories in the form of espresso and microbrewed beer anyway. So if you have to suddenly outfit your local ageing Hollywood legend, or They Might Be Giants suddenly turns up half-naked in your yard, you’ve got it covered.