Chase Your Dreams in High Heels!

Chase Your Dreams in High Heels! by divadebbi

I think this going to be my new Mantra!!! At 5'7, I always feel short and dumpy in flats!  So welcome again to my new home! Mary Jane Denzer in White Plains NY.  Oscar de la Renta is just one of the fabulous designers we carry. xoxo

DD

My Next Chapter Begins...

Anastasia Cucinella and Debra O'Shea
Co-Owners of Mary Jane Denzer

Mary Jane Denzer
7 Renaissance Square
White Plains, N.Y. 10601
914-328-0331

I am delighted, to announce, that I am the new Co-Owner of Mary Jane Denzer, in White Plains, with my esteemed partner, Anastasia Cucinella. 

Mary Jane Denzer has been a tri-state destination, for exquisite  special occasion clothing for nearly 40 years.  2 years ago Mary Jane built her dream space, a magnificent 5,000 square foot store, adjacent to the Ritz Carlton in White Plains, just 15 minutes from Greenwich. (Valet parking is always complimentary.)

Sadly, Mary Jane passed away last December, (I remembered her fondly in this memorial blog.) Anastasia and I are honored to carry on her legacy, of offering the most beautiful clothes anywhere, for women to wear to the important occasions in their lives. 

Additionally, we will be scouring NY and Europe, to add fabulous ready-to-wear lines to our collection.  Our goal is to cover all your needs for day and night, so you will always have a reason to visit us at Mary Jane Denzer, (and of course, I will be doing house visits!) 

We look forward to partnering with the community on events that matter to you and increasing our social media presence via DivaDebbi.com, Facebook and Instagram. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed 23 years of servicing my lovely and loyal clients at Razooks, Saks and happily, for the last 16, at Richards, for the Mitchell family. The opportunity to co-own and buy for, my own establishment however, was an irresistible opportunity, and the true pinnacle to my retail career. 

I so look forward to sharing this next chapter with you! Please visit our website at mjdenzer.com to see our beautiful store. I will be in on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, and full time, beginning January 9th.

I would love to think that my beautiful Mom, Joan Lieberman, who passed in June, and w was President of her own fashion jewelry business, is smiling proudly.  She would have loved this...

xox,
DD

Remembering Zsa Zsa

Zsa Zsa Gabor (at the height of her beauty)

Long before Cher, Madonna, Adele, and other first name only stars, there was Zsa Zsa. The Hungarian beauty, approximately 99, died yesterday in Los Angeles.  The N.Y. Times remembered her this way:

Zsa Zsa Gabor, the Hungarian actress whose self-parodying glamour and revolving-door marriages to millionaires put a luster of American celebrity on a long but only modestly successful career in movies and television. The cause was heart failure, her longtime publicist Edward Lozzi said.

Married at least eight times, calling everyone “Dahlink,” flaunting a diamonds-and-furs lifestyle and abetted by gossip columnists and tabloid headline writers, Ms. Gabor played the coifed platinum femme fatale in plunging necklines in dozens of film and television roles, many of them cameos as herself. Her career, which began with the title Miss Hungary in 1936, was still going strong in the 1990s, outlasting those of her sisters, Eva and Magda, celebrities in their own right. She was the last surviving Gabor sister.

I remember her best from my childhood as Lisa Douglas, gorgeous wife of Oliver Douglas, played by Eddie Albert, on the show Green Acres.  Douglas, kidnapped moved Lisa from her Park Avenue Penthouse, so he could pursue his dreams of country life on a farm.  Even then, my heart was heavy for her and I pitied her for having to give up her glamorous life to cavort among hay stacks and farm animals. (Don't even get me started on The Beverly Hillbillies!!! What a waste!!! LOL!)

***Mea Culpa! Several Lovely readers pointed out, that I mixed up my Gabor beauties! It was Eva, not Zsa Zsa, who was kidnapped to that farm on Green Acres!!!

So I bid a fond adieu, to a fabulous Diva, born and bred to enjoy the good life, and enjoy she did...


xox,
DD

Bare Minerals Gen Nude Radiant Lipstick

BareMinerals Gen Nude Lipstick
Here in Mantra $20

Have I gone daft??? Three things;  1) Are BareMinerals and BareEscentuals the same brand???  I still don't know... 2) It took me 15 minutes to figure out that "Gen" alludes to "Generation".  I'm pretty, pretty sure, nude lipstick has been around since Ultima II launched The Nakeds, but perhaps, to a new "Gen", everything old is new again. 3) Do you ever think it's a good idea for a company to describe a color as " dirty mauve"??? It almost made we want to wipe it off and go return it!

Silly, daft me, I was at Ulta today gift shopping, and actually hoped to replace a shade I love, from BareSomebody, called Marvelous Moxie Chase Your Dreams.  No such luck, Gen Nude is the new iteration of Marvelous Moxie. (Dermstore.com to the rescue, I found it online.)

All gripes aside, Bare Minerals Gen Nude Radiant Lipstick,is a very buttery, balmy lipstick with rich, medium coverage. I knew my pick, the "dirty" Mantra was more brown hued then Chase Your Dreams, but thought it would be a pretty winter shade, so I'm glad I purchased it.

Flashback Friday: Instanatural Vitamin C Serum

Instanatural Vitamin C Serum
Amazon.com 16.99

The first time I ever heard the term, "serum", was in 2008, when I watched a fascinating PBS fundraising special, that featured the beautiful Hungarian Dermatologist Dr. Denese. She is now also a bestselling host, on QVC, where she sells her extensive skincare collection.

I learned a lot that night and literally, took notes.  Dr. Denese believes in cleansing, toning, exfoliating with glycolic acid and then applying a serum and a fatty moisturizer as a binder, to finish your regime.  Back then, it was not easy to find a serum.  I bought several of her products that night and I don't even recall if she had one to purchase.

Now there are so many, it's hard to know which one to buy...A few thousand dozen later, I have my Holy Grail serum, which I stumbled upon
while trolling Amazon.com.  It very much reminds me of Skinceuticals Ferulic Acid Serum, a fabulous, but very pricey product.  My dupe???

Sally Hansen Gel Shine 3D Top Coat

Sally Hansen Gel Shine 3D Top Coat
$11.49 at CVS Greenwich  (cheaper anywhere else)

I have completely given up on nail polish with color...love it for the first 24 hours until the chips and nicks kick in. I use the same shade, Essies Pinking Up the Pieces, week in and week out.  Exciting? No. But I can get through an entire week, with a coat of top coat or two, without looking like I worked on a sword boat.

I am blessed with nails like granite.  A few years back, I gave into the gel nail craze out of the desire to have perfect, glossy, chip free nails.  Unfortunately, they also reduced my natural nails to the thickness of rice paper.  A failed experiment that took 6 mos. to reverse.

I spotted Sally Hansen 3D Top Coat on a CVS run. Normally, I use Nailtiques Formula #2 as my Holy Grail. (Though it should be sold with a hospital mask, the Formaldehyde fumes might be fatal.)  This seemed a good idea; wouldn't it be nice to have that beautiful glossy shine, without having to bake my nails and then destroy them?

IT Celebration Illumination Foundation

Jamie Kern, IT Cosmetics Founder

Talk about American success stories!  Jamie Kern, is former news anchor, who started creating her own cosmetics when nothing would cover her Rosacea. With the advent of HD TV became the norm exposing every flaw, finding a fix became Jamie's passion

Fast forward 10 years, this past summer L'Oreal purchased IT Cosmetics, for over $1 billion dollars!!!  Allure did a great feature on Kern if you would like to read more about her inspiring tale.  I recently blogged about IT's new Bye Bye Eye Illuminating Waterproof Concealer (in Medium, which is nicely, on the light side.)  I am IN LOVE with it, and I am now using what's left on my finger pads as a shadow primer.)



I happened upon Jamie, doing what she does very well, on QVC one night...selling her brand.  I really appreciate that she uses models of all ages and ethnicity's to demonstrate her cosmetics on. What caught my attention???

The way every pore and flaw disappeared on every models, with just a few swirl of IT Celebration Illumination Foundation.  I am very much enjoying my Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, but I thought, "wouldn't it be nice to have something portable, that might provide enough color in the "Tan" shade, than having to apply Stila 3 in 1 Bronzing Mousse on top of it?"

It Celebration Illumination Foundation
$34  at ULTA  (I purchased it on QVC and got the brush with it
for the bargain price of $48 for the set.)

Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals

Amy Adam's NOT in Tom Ford, in Tom Ford's
noir thriller Nocturnal Animals

A funny thing happened on the way to see Manchester by the Sea...My husband and I were astonished to see a line a block long.  This is not a common suburban experience, in fact, I have no memory of ever having seen this outside of NYC.

Unfortunately, it was sold out.  (*Unfortunately, we made a trip back to see it.
This is singly, the most over hyped film of the year. Bleak, meandering and depressing.  I'm not familiar with Casey Affleck's work, but this laconic, dull performance is NOT Oscar worthy.  Do skip this...)

Fortunately, since it was a small theatre, that tends to book smaller films for thinking people; our fallback was the critically acclaimed Loving or Tom Ford's stylish, neo noir thriller Nocturnal Animals.

Given the choice, how could I resist see Ford's new film? Inevitably, no matter what the plot, there would be gorgeous interiors, attractive people and stylish clothing, beautifully worn. (A stunning contrast to the film's opening scenes.)

It is all that, and more, simultaneously, a thriller and a tale of how empty all of those expensive trappings can be, if loveless.

Interestingly, Ford, made the deliberate choice not to feature his own clothes in the film, though the polished, sleek aesthetic of designs by Chanel, Gucci, Dior, Miu Miu, Celine and Marc Jacobs, could easily be mistaken for Ford's own.

Ford deliberately did not want the film to appear as an advertorial for his brand, choosing to keep his creative and intellectual talents as Designer and Director, separate.

Smart.

Of course that doesn't rule out the stylish cast, which includes Amy Adams, , Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber (clearly Ford loves his red heads; Julianne Moore also starred in his first film A Single Man) and Laura Linney from appearing in Ford's clothes at the Premiers for Nocturnal Animals.

It's a good film, that like what the good ones do, keeps you thinking about it, long after you have left the theatre.  In addition to Manchester by the Sea and Loving to look forward to,  there is also Jackie, starring the magnificent Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy, they day after her husband's assassination.

After a dearth of good films, it's a pleasure to have something to look forward to this holiday season. Today's treat?  The Greenwich Ballet Academy's production of the Nutcracker at the White Plains City Center.  I'm glad we purchased tickets for it ahead of time, since it is completely sold out.

Greenwich Ballet Academy's production of the Nutcracker
White Plains City Center

Note to self...buy those movie tix ahead of time too.  Seems I'm not the only one starved not just for eye candy and popcorn, but brain candy too...

xox,
DD