Thank you to reader Cait for passing this along. This might be the best discount we’ve ever seen, and it’s going to completely distract us from doing any work today.

-LB

We are having the HARDEST time right now – we know what Suze Orman would say. We do not have 8 months of emergency savings tucked away. We have credit card debt. We may even have a past due parking ticket. We are in no shape to be spending money.

Generally, we’re totally fine with that; but today we got an email letting us know Calvin Klein is having a 1 day sale, 40% off! How exciting! We generally find Calvin Klein clothes boring as can be, but for mid-priced accessories? And bedding? We’re so in.

Right now, we’re obsessing, just a little, over a pair of sunglasses we know we should not buy but we just love.

Large circle sunglasses, orig. $68, now $41

-LB

So we are back in San Francisco, however briefly, and actually quite happy to be here, despite the fact that our yoga teacher this evening made us all say hello to our neighbor, which we successfully managed to avoid by staring at the ceiling. We are all for niceness but seriously! If we wanted to make friends, we would have gone to friend class! Instead of yoga class, where we believed we would be able to remain quietly curmudgeonly, as we had planned! Argh.

Anyhoo: On the much more pleasing side: We discovered Rare Device, which is an ex-Park Slope store (oh, they should have stayed) and currently on Market Street here. It is quite possibly our favorite store in the whole, wide world now, and they had like three million things from independent designers we would have been quite happy to buy—including these "knitwear" bowls from Alyssa Ettinger. Unfortunately, they’re out of stock at the Rare Device web store, so we go to Alyssa’s Etsy store. We will probably be back with something from Rare Device soon, but in the meantime: Alyssa Ettinger! Lovely bowls! Lovely presents as well, we’re thinking, in this interminably gift-giving season.

Grinch! That is our name. Knitwear vase, $150. (NB: There are some cheaper, more recession-proof options in her Etsy store.)

Ever? We stand by our words. Because: free! Okay, so maybe not as good as the amazing, bizarre Urban Outfitters thing last year, where they were just giving everybody free subscriptions to Nylon, but:

Spend $75 at Shopbop and get a free subscription to Lucky. They are in the middle of a massive ultra-sale (the ubiquitous ultra-sales, we are thinking, along with >$2.00-per-gallon gas, are the recession’s silver linings—or pewter linings, anyway), and we clicked on to their Bop Basics hoodie, thinking: That should be no more than $30. Original price? $88. (Thanks, but no thanks!) Current sale price? $26.40! Reasonable. It’s all we ask for. Anyway: Bop Basics hoodie, $26.40

The other one: even more exciting, we think, because we love Domino so: Buy their new decorating book, and get a subscription free. We are totally in favor of free—especially when it arrives like a little bird at your house every few weeks. Domino: The Book of Decorating, $21.12

With the holidays coming, we’re totally looking for new Etsy sellers to drool over. One kind reader sent us an Etsy seller she thought we would like, involving bunnies, and we have spent an hour trying to convince ourselves not to buy from her. It’s not working.

Tell us where you have trouble resisting on Etsy!

-LB

Reader mail! Reader mail! We love it . We are trying so hard to limit our shopping and spending, so we looooooove when we can help our lovely readers find what they’re looking for. And our bank account thanks you, too. Send us more here!

Dear LB,
I am a true southern girl, and therefore LOVE anything monogrammed. I am thinking of christmas wishlist items and want to ask for something unique. I saw a friend’s monogrammed sweater and want one equally chic. Where can I find an equally cute (or CUTER) jacket? Thanks!
Love,
Southern Fashionista

Ok, we admit it. We’re stumped. We just spent the last little while looking and came up with nothing. We’re calling out to our readers to help SF here – we’re at a loss!

-LB

So, looks like we’re going to try to make this a reader mail week. Please continue to send us questions! And we will do our best to answer them as quickly as we can. Which, honestly, is going to be slower than we would like – if something is urgent, let us know! We will try to help! Send us more here, and we promise to slow down on our use of exclamation points.

Here we go! Er. Here we go.

my reader question is about suit alternatives.  I don’t want to buy one, but I   
need something stylish/formidable (equal emphasis) if I get (cross   
fingers) to the interview stage for a fellowship.  suggestions?  in my   
dream world I’d wear slouchy tuxedo pants with…. ?  well, something   
inappropriately sparkly.  and that clearly shouldn’t happen.   so   
please help, I’m socking away pennies in hopes that I get the interview. 
xo, 
l. 

Ooh, this is kind of a tough question. We think it depends on the field. If you’re going for a creative field, we absolutely think that a dress and heels can be quite fine  – we’d recommend something classic, like a DVF wrap dress. Yes, the black is boring – but if you add a fun accessory or two, it livens it up. Plus, it’s a job interview, not a date. If you’re established in your field, and your field is super creative (writing, fashion, etc) we would definitely not wear a solid black dress – or if we did, we would wear it with blackout tights and our bright yellow peep-toe shoes. But since you ask for a suit alternative, we are thinking that super creative is not an option.

Truth be told, we think a suit is a great piece to have in the wardrobe. We have one – we do. It’s a black Calvin Klein number. We wore it for one interview, for one job, that we did not get. We got it at a discount store, and we’d recommend that route to anyone. We do tend to be conservative in our professional interview attire choices, though, so we’d like everyone else to chime in!

DVF Wrap Dress, $298

-LB

We’ve just been made aware of a discount for Origins—25% off with free standard shipping. We swear, we’re not buying anything these days unless it’s deeply, deeply discounted.

We’ve never forgiven Origins for discontinuing our favorite conditioner, so we had to root around a bit to figure out what we’d buy, if we were so inclined: This is the antioxidant moisturizer with white tea: A Perfect World, $36

Discount code: ffnov, good through 11/19. 

It’s
no secret we love reader mail. Please, send us more here! We are going to aim to
answer every question we get – it just might take us a little while. We, as you
may have noticed, have been very busy lately but we pledge to do our best. 

To
ease us into the week, we have a mail from one of our most-willing-to-contribute
readers, Anne (in Reno).

Hi
LB, 
I
have a question for you and/or the readers. I cleaned out my makeup. ALL of it.
The stuff I used up, and the stuff i never used. Now I need to restock. The
stuff I used up: Benetint and Benefit dandelion blush. The stuff I threw away:
all my eye makeup. I have horrible allergies and mascara, eyeliner and eyeshadow
are absolutely not worth the trouble. Thus, I need color on my face desperately
so I don’t look like a zombie. I can find foundation/concealer just fine, and
don’t wear enough makeup in general to justify a primer, so what I would really
like to know is, what lip/cheek products people swear by, and what your
recommendations are for lasting color for cheeks and lips. For example – I
adore Clinique’s Almost Lipstick, it really goes beautifully with my skin tone,
but I would have to reapply it every 20 minutes in order for it to stay. I need
something I can put on in the am. and forget about. I will reapply at lunch if
necessary, but not constantly.
Thanks!

Anne
(in Reno)

Ooh,
we love this question. We always wear makeup with the best of intentions, but we
just are terrible about reapplying. We need the same thing; product that stays
around and doesn’t migrate or feather or slide or
anything.

Our
#1 answer will come as no surprise – Benefit’s Benetint – is already a staple in
Anne (in Reno)’s cupboard, but we will remind everyone that it’s a fabulous base
for lipstick. We will often layer that with any lipstick we wear – that way, by
the time the lipstick has been chewed off, the stain is still
there.

Since
Benetint is already a keeper, we checked to see what else we could find. Our
favorite blush ever was made by Cover Girl about a million years ago and has
since been discontinued. It was a stick form, and we loved how dead simple it
was to use. Since that’s no longer an option, we looked to see what else Sephora
had – and now we’re very intrigued by Blush Therapy from
DuWop.

It got really solid reviews from Sephora customers, it’s a decent price, and
we really like the idea of a stick-cream blush. We would definitely try
this.

Blush
Therapy, $22

On to lips, something we know a bit more about. We know we’ve talked at
length about our love for bright red lipstick. We’ve recently cut all of our
hair off, and we are really, really feeling a super-strong bright red lip with
loads of mascara and nothing else. This would be easy if we didn’t ever need to
eat or drink at night, but since we often have a snack and a Diet Coke in hand,
we have to work around it. Our most-often worn lipstick is easy – MAC Red. We
follow tips we read in Sassy magazine; one coat, blot, powder if you’ve got it,
one more coat, blot again. Will it stay on throughout a workday? Probably not. A
night out? Maybe – but if the lights are low, no one will notice.

MAC
Lipstick, $14

We’d love to know what everyone else swears by!

-LB

Almost forgot to mention: If you’re in NYC tonight and feel like hearing a brief excerpt from my book, Smart Girls Like Me, I’ll be reading at the Mercantile Library – 17 E 47th – at 7 p.m. Come by!