We’re taking it easy this holiday week, and focusing our energies on (a) our awesome Jocasi bag giveaway and (b) our fabulous Fred Flare discount. Week of superlatives, it is. It’s 25% off all everything (everything full priced, that is—no sale stuff) with discount code BUNNYSHOP.08. Yay!

We thought we would begin the week with these very seasonally appropriate sunglasses: the fred, white and blue sunglass pack, was $20—with discount code BUNNYSHOP.08, now $16

Oh goodness! Here it is, the contest we’ve been waiting to debut for ages. The amazing folks at Jocasi are sponsoring it—which means they gave us one of their gorgeous bags to give away. We love Jocasi so much we have no fewer than five in the BS HQ—they could hardly be more awesome. We would likely be capable of more effusion if the washing machine in the apartment we’re staying in this weekend hadn’t been cycling for literally six hours, but here we are.

Anyway, it’ll work like this. There are only going to be ten entries. You get an entry by sending us a Reader Mail question. The bag will go to the person whose question gets the most responses in the comments section. (We’ll be making sure that there’s only one comment per person, not that we think any member of the Bunnyshop community would consider doing that.) We hope this isn’t as confusing \ convoluted as our contests usually are.

Today, we begin with this question, from LA:

 

If you could pick just one, what would be your all time favorite article of clothing or accessory … and do you still have it?
 
  Thanks!
  LA
 
  (mine is a silver cuff bracelet, that I received as a gift over 10 years ago, and I still wear it all the time. I think it is timeless … and it makes me feel like Wonder Woman.)

LA is now entered for the contest. We’ll be running a new Reader Mail question each day, and then we’ll give this gorgeous bag to the reader who came up with the best question—"best" in this case measured by the number of comments. Send us your questions—and definitely let us know your answer to LA’s question, below. Very important last thing: Definitely put "Jocasi" in your subject line—otherwise we’ll think they’re garden-variety reader mail.

Above: the Jocasi Montana, about $170

Platform shoes: making us taller, which is all we ask of anything in the entire world. We love these, and they’re half off, even if we need them to be about another half before we can afford them. Chloe stacked heel platforms, were $735, now $367.50

Love the metallic peach color here, as well as the thick platform sole. Topshop platforms, $120

And these arent usually our style but there’s something about these very work-y platforms that we find strangely appealing. Marc Fisher platforms, $79

It’s surprising to us how much we like Suze Orman. We like her no nonsense attitude, we like how she makes it possible for EVERYONE to save, and she makes the impossible seem totally possible. We came across a link for her new book, Women & Money. It’s a free download until tonight, and while reading on our computer is about as fun as watching the fan oscillate, it’s environmentally friendly, and we bet Suze would be proud. The free download link is here (you can also just read it as a PDF).
  If you’d rather buy it, and we can appreciate this because we have a rather extensive library and we never actually go TO the library, you can find it here for about $17.

-LB

Chosen at random… it’s the haloumi cheese salad from Sara!

Once more:

3-4 tomatoes, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 chili, sliced
1 cup orzo/risoni pasta, boiled OR 6-7 small fresh summer potatoes
one bag of rucket
1 can of beans (red or borlotti)
1 cucumber
1/4 cup lightly roasted pine nuts
1/2 cup kalamata olives (or any type of olives you like)
1 haloumi cheese, sliced and fried until golden in olive oil
Lemon juice from one lemon, to squeeze over the salad
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
sea salt and pepper

Mix and add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. ENJOY!

We’re guessing the "rucket" is "rocket," which is (as far as we can tell) British for arugula. We will get Sara to clarify.

Now, the new contest. All we will say at this point is that it is SPONSORED BY JOCASI which is A-number one exciting! To get to the contest, we need the best reader mail question of all time—a question that everyone can answer (what’s your favorite color, etc., but better). Send us a question here and it’ll count as your entry.

But we just scored the most fantastic booties at a Steve Madden shop. They were approximately $40, they are flat, above the ankle but not much, and the perfect, softest cognac colored leather. Steve Madden is having a pretty sick sale,  and we’re surprised by how often they have very edgy/fashionable-in-a-good-not-mall-way. We picked up a pair of sandals and those booties, and spent just under $100!

-LB

This is so odd and full circle-y, but the exceptionally lovely Punky Style is giving away a copy of a book … that we wrote. All we could offer is the Word doc, so that is a better deal. Check out her post here—and above, we debut the new paperback cover. Please love it as much as we do.

We’re really not entirely sure what we think of these new-fangled cutaway swimsuits. No, right? Especially the ones with the cut-outs on the sides—so there’s like the bathing suit, and then there’s all that extra flesh! We seriously, seriously do not get it.

This one above is the one we like the most, though we’re still not entirely sold. Juicy Couture cut-out suit, $160

This one we like because we basically couldn’t tell it was a cut-out—that square in the middle isn’t white fabric—and we love those straps in the back. Lenny swimsuit, $285

And this—this is not ideal, in our opinion. ASOS suit, about $40

Dit-to! Guess Collection swimsuit, was $110, now $82.50

In today’s Reader Mail (and send us yours!)

Dear BS:

We are only one week into summer, and I’m already breaking out from my stupid sunscreen! Fix!

love,
C.

We have this same, exact problem, which is why—horrifying truth be told—we rarely ever wear it. (Don’t take our advice! It reminds us of this day in art school when our video teacher was like, Don’t worry about paying your taxes, and we actually raised our hand and were like, Do not listen to Martin today.) We use Becca tinted moisturizer, which has SPF 25, even if it’s not as heavy duty (sweat resistant, etc).

We thought we’d look around for something a bit more intensive, and what we came up with was powder sunscreen:

Actress Cameron Diaz is known for her impressive resume of movie roles,
but until recently she was becoming just as famous for her battle with
acne, as highlighted by unflattering close-up shots of her bare face in
tabloid photographs. … Diaz revealed that she had finally detected and defeated the
cause of her break-outs: sunscreen. She now uses sunscreen in a powder
form. "Powder sunscreen!" exclaims Diaz in the interview. "I’m not
using lotions any more, and my skin is completely different. I haven’t
had a pimple since!"

Well, if Cameron Diaz says so, it must be true! Er, anyway: this is the one that we found to be most popular, but we haven’t tried it, for the reasons above. Has someone out there given this a go—or other, skin-friendly sunscreens?

Above: Peter Thomas Roth Instant Mineral SPF 30, $30

It’s the sale we wait for all season long. Click here for the sale item of the day.