Autumn, White & Warren get nervous; Qi is launching their first ecommerce site:  www.qicashmereshop.com

The website will include styles that have been seen on Rihanna, Adrienne Bailon, and Ashley Tisdale!

They are offering Smartypanties readers a complimentary discount of 25% off! Enter QIFIRST25, launching Monday June 22nd!

A trend that has been seen at the Superbowl & Grammy Awards: The Military Jacket.   With Qi’s iteration, the reccessionista can rock this trend at an affordable price!!!

About Qi

Based on the concept of creating innovative fashion knitwear products, Qi has developed a loyal customer following. The Qi customer is open to the world around her, her style is a work of art, and she finds joy in expressing creativity through her wardrobe. Qi strives to push the design envelope in each season, with the use of imported yarns, cashmere, and cashmere blends. Qi is available at better department and specialty stores throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

Fans of Qi include Rihanna, Marcia Cross, Katy Perry, Ashley Tisdale, Adrienne Bailon, and Megan Joy of American Idol.

Work it girl! You look so tan and blond and pink!

Gossip Girl Barbie!!

Bare Escentuals’ Friends and Family Event from June 19th – 21st where you’ll save 20% off your entire purchase!

Use discount code SHARE when you check out.  All orders over $50 will also be eligible for free shipping.

Sam Fine and Iman

Wendy Williams and Rupaul

The lovely, Vanessa Williams

Last night I was so honored to be invited to Sam Fine’s DVD release party. I had posted about Sam’s glorious DVD a couple months ago here. He is such a nice guy it’s ridiculous. Well except when you compare it to his makeup artistry talents which are even more ridic. After watching his video I honestly felt like I had been doing my makeup all wrong. I feel like he showed me dozens of amazing tricks for how I should be applying my makeup that really made a difference in how I looked. And many of them were simple tricks like how to trim your brows properly, how to apply under eye concealer so you don’t look like a raccoon, where to put blush and bronzer and what shades to use.

The par-tay was amazing. Except of course that I felt like Ugly Betty. For those of you who don’t know me, I may look put together but underneath it all is a girl who is always running 10 minutes late, who pulled her look together while she was doing her eyeliner while her nail polish was drying. So of course I get invited to this great party at the Plaza and it’s pouring rain all day. Not just drizzling, pouring. So that means my rain gear (cue Burberry jacket and rainboots) had to come along. So I meet my friend before for a lite bite and cocktails (did I just say lite, I housed half a pizza). We arrive at the hotel and I change into my heels, I’m feeling good. There is coat check so I’m psyched I can check all my crap, my coat, my umbrella, and my rainboots—which are now in a garbage bag because as I scrambled out to make it to work on time in the morning I realized I had no appropriately sized plastic bags. Yep, I went to an event carrying a garbage bag. Glamour all the way.

Garbage bag checked, I’m all set to party. I grabbed my Nuvo cocktail (delish—so pink & girly. It was the only thing making me feel civilized at this moment). I looked around with my jaw dropped at all the gorgeous, what I am presuming to be, models. Ugly Betty Moment #2. I mean, the fashion, beauty, hair world is quite intimidating. It’s basically a room full of people staring each other up and down, checking out shoes, rings, watches, hairstyles, etc. It’s enough to make the most confident crumble. Lucky for me, I don’t scare easily (totally lying). Iman then walked past us, OMG she is so f-ing breathtaking. David Bowie, you’re a lucky man. Then I spotted Sam. What a hottie pie! He’s just so adorable. I met him once but he makes you feel like you’re best friends. Just love him. Then I ran into some girls that I know (and love) and the party got better. I haven’t exactly mastered the art of networking so it was nice to see a familiar face. In fact, I hate networking, which makes it so hard to be trying to launch a website since I have no choice. Can we just say, the Editor of Butterfly Diary is just the nicest girl, ever.

I was such a dorky starstruck blogger Deborah Cox, Lloyd Boston, Emil Wilbekin, Wendy Williams and the like were all wandering around but after a long day of lawyering I was growing tired but couldn’t leave without seeing Vanessa Williams. A few minutes later I spotted her (and the gorgeous Taraji P Henson who was hanging out in a salon chair with her friends surrounding her) and after much positive encouragement from my friend, I gathered the strength to ask Vanessa for a picture for my blog (yay Smartypanties!). So I take my camera out and alas, I remembered the camera, but forgot the memory card (Ugly Betty moment #3). Seriously? I’m such a mess! My friend convinced me to ask her to do it with her phone. I sauntered over to Vanessa Williams (who in my mind is still Willhemena Slater) and asked her for a pic for my blog. She cordially agreed and smiled. I ran away, grabbed a swag bag (Shu Uemera Eyelash curler—wahoo!, Iman makeup and more) and went home to BF (and ate more pizza on my couch—Ugly Betty Moment #432643553).

Thanks so much to Sam Fine for inviting us! We love you and your makeup DVD. I will be going out and purchasing a copy ASAP. Since I watched it I’ve been doing my friends makeup and they’ve become believers too. You rock!

Sam Fine DVD is available on SamFine.com and Amazon.com

So last week I told you about Food, Inc. a movie coming out by Robert Kenner in this post. Here is what we have to say now that we saw this praiseworthy film.

Seriously, don’t take another bite until you see this movie. It’s a horror- flick! Like I always do, when I see a scary movie, whenever I get scared, I comfort myself by saying it’s not real, it’s just a movie. Here though, the stories are true, the interviews with the farmers are with real people.  You will be horrified by what you thought was healthy eating. And it’s not like in Fast Food Nation where you could write it off by saying to yourself that you don’t eat at McDonald’s or Burger King. The point though isn’t to horrify you or use scare tactics, rather it’s just trying to show everyone what’s going on. It’s mind-blowing to me what I’ve been going on eating, munching and crunching, blissfully believing the government was effectively regulating.

After this flick this girl is going organic in every possible way I can. I’m not going to go overboard and not eat out, etc. but wherever I can make an effort to, I will. I think that any Smartypanty will see this movie. Your health is important. The meat you are putting in your body becomes part of you. Educate yourself and make a conscious decision to help change the system. It’s as easy as just buying organic. Do you know that Wal-Mart, WAL-MART people, has started carrying organic products? This is a huge step in making organic (aka healthier, uncontaminated, etc.) foods available to the masses and not just those of us who can afford to spend our Whole paycheck at Whole Foods (sorry whole foods we love you but you’re not practical for everyone).

Little things you can do to make a BIG difference to help us get healthier foods for everyone! Whatever we buy the most of gets cheaper and cheaper. So buy the good stuff!

~Stop drinking sodas and sugary beverages

~Buy Organic

~Visit Farmer’s Markets

~Tell Congress Food Safety is important to you

Visit Food, Inc’s Website for more ideas!

If you care about your health or your kids’ you will see this movie.

You know things are bad when fashion heavyweight, Dolce & Gabbana are slashing prices! Don’t get too excited though, even their reduced prices would break my bank. But at least it’s good to know that the recession has knocked a little bit of sense into them, albeit a tiny bump to their insane pricepoints.

Check out their new prices: A pair of five-pocket jeans for spring will sell for $450 (for spring 2009 they cost $695); a dress will cost $1,469, down from $2,295; a leather bomber jacket will be priced at $1,499, compared with $2,296, and an iconic stretch silk tulle corset dress will go to $3,589 from last year’s $5,200.

Read the Article at WWD Here

We caught up with Declan Condron, the co-creator and exercise physiologist of PumpOne FitnessBuilder, gives his Top 5 Tips to be- and stay- bikini ready this summer! (Plus, read on for a free iPod or iPhone application for our readers!)

Declan’s Top 5 Tips to Be and Stay Bikini Ready:

1.  Try to do something everyday: no matter how simple it may seem. Declan says that “this does not necessarily mean you have to be at the gym everyday for hours. By making some smart decisions you can add in exercise in short spurts throughout the day, like taking the stairs.”

2. Don’t get caught in the “Spot Reduction” rut: spot reduction does not exist, according to Declan. It refers to the idea that if you do a ton of exercises for a certain body part, it will become beautifully sculpted. This is unfortunately not the case. The best way to lose weight and gain muscle tone is to perform a total body conditioning program and eat a healthy diet.

3. Focus on a small goal: don’t psych yourself out by trying to lose 25 pounds. Concentrate on a smaller number like losing 1 to 2 clothing sizes… “It makes a huge difference!” claims Declan

4. Avoid those tasty summer thirst quenchers: come summer, people break out the blenders and mixes to whip up margaritas and daiquiris. But all that sugar and alcohol can play a very detrimental role in losing weight and gaining muscle. Declan notes that “alcohol is empty calories with no nutritional value. It also can increase fluid retention, which leads to bloating”- the last thing anyone wants when in a bathing suit!

5.  Don’t stick to the same workout: have an “all-round conditioning program that includes strength training, cardio and flexibility training. An ideal plan has three days of strength training, two-three days of cardio, and stretching as often as possible,” states Declan

PumpOne FitnessBuilder is an App for the iPhone and iPod touch available exclusively free for SMARTYPANTIES readers at this link, iTunes App Store,! We haven’t tried it yet, but we’re on our way now!

FitnessBuilder features over 400 complete workouts and a growing collection of over 4,000 exercise images and videos that users can drag and drop to create their own workouts. The benefits of PumpOne workouts include:

• A professional trainer who guides you through complete workouts with video and audio coaching using both male and female exercise demonstrations.
• Each exercise image shows a start and end position that tells you exactly what body-part you are working.
• A variety of already available and downloadable workouts focused on everything from abs and fat burn to yoga and Pilates to office stretches and lower back relief.

PumpOne FitnessBuilder even has a special workout program specifically designed for travelers, vacationers, and stay-cationers alike! It is a program designed for people simply separated from their normal routine, making it a must-have for summertime escapes! More information and a tutorial of FitnessBuilder can be found at PumpOne.com.