Emily Henderson won HGTVs Design Star last night and it has me thinking: Great things do happen to great people. What comes around goes around. Karma.

Emily is a rare bird. We waited tables together at a place called Galaxy Diner, a restaurant right next to Irving Plaza in NYC, and became good friends for a minute there. We were working together when she waited on one of her favorite authors of all time. She didn’t know it until he handed her his credit card with his name on it. You could tell the writer, whose name I can’t remember (sorry), was not use to cute blond waitresses gushing over him. Emily was always making people’s day like that. She’d have flowers with her for a friend who was in a play opening that night or some hand-crafted item for someone’s birthday. She was (and obviously is) a ridiculously hard worker. She worked at the Galaxy restaurant, an upscale furniture showroom in Soho, AND bartended at a Lower East Side bar. When I needed cash she’d hook me up with her jobs too. I cocktailed at the bar (I think it was called Sixes and Eights), and tended bar for her showroom’s party. For my birthday she gave me three amazing vintage clutches that I still use AND brought tons of booze over. What a gal.

I’m not sure how we lost touch, but I am pretty sure it was my fault. No one of her coolness level could be blamed for such a thing – plus I never gave her awesome clutches. But as I sit here, pissed at my cable company for inexplicably going out of service when the show aired last night, I am so freakin proud of Emily. To me she is a reminder, an inspiration if you will, that there is something to that being a good person thing. That if you stick to who you are, and give people kindnesses, and work hard at finding a way to love what you’re doing…. Amazing things can happen. Maybe not like getting your own TV show amazing, but things to make life even better. Good job winning Design Star, Emily. I’m totally going to watch your show and use as many of your design tips as my condo will accommodate.

Not the best pic, but here we are:

Every person, place, or thing has a YouTube channel these days. I find a lot of the beauty ones, especially from brands or magazines, to be super pretty and professional but kind of boring.  One that’s not boring, but is instead candid and refreshing with good music, is Nylon TV’s Beauty Mark. They even tell you what the music is so you can find it.

Here’s an interview with Tokodoki founder Simone Legno.

I interned at Nylon Magazine circa 2001, but I’m not sure I was of much use except for fielding weekly calls from photographer and Beatle daughter Mary McCartney wondering where her editorial payment of roughly $200 was. I remember her words ‘It’s the principle.’ I wonder if she ever got paid.

So I open the door to my bridal client this morning and there stands the cutest girl with big blue eyes, a grown-out pixie haircut, and perfect skin. Sweet. Easy day.

Not so much. Nicole wanted a ‘natural’ look and, like many clients requesting this look, loved pictures that actually have much more makeup detail than they think. I find that most brides love the end look even though it requires more makeup than they anticipated they would like, but Nicole was one of the few who wanted the look without the makeup.

I know exactly what she’s feeling. In the magazine pics, the makeup seems as though it’s being magically emitted from the skin in the form iridescent color secretions or something. In real life, however, yes you have to use shimmer to make shimmer, and yes you must wear blush for your wedding (at least a slight flush).

The thing is, brides and ladies who dress up at least once in a while, you’ve got that dress on. The event will be much documented with photographs. Possibly for frames that will adorn your house for a lifetime. You can’t have a face, no matter how beautiful, that looks like it’s hanging out at a Saturday afternoon drum circle/pig roast.

If you feel that the makeup you have planned for a special event is too much, take some pictures with your outfit and makeup on together. Makeup shows less in pictures, as I’m sure you know. If you’re having a trial done for the makeup, try and schedule it for the day of your engagement photos so you get a great idea of how you’ll look. Focus on the particular aspects of magazine pics you like. Is it the brown eye shadow in particular? Maybe you really want the brown shadow and none of the shimmer in the same picture.

At the end of the day it is about feeling like the prettiest version of your self. If, after experimenting, you still feel like no-makeup natural is the only natural, at least moisturize and pinch those cheeks!

That is kind of a saucy title, I know! The 30 days of Ramadan began at the end of last week and I know you Muslim ladies are not only feeling the drain of the daily fast, but also seeing it on your paling cheeks and hallowing eyes.

Some practitioners would say that women in Islam shouldn’t wear makeup except for their man or solely around other women folk. But all the ones I’ve known here in the states love to accentuate their exotic beauty whether old or young. In fact, I recently attended an Iranian wedding and every woman there was beautifully made up for the occasion from Grandma to blushing bride. So there.

Here are some tips for staying beautiful through the month of Ramadan:

1. Obviously you need an under-eye concealer. Check out the previous post Exquisite Every Day: Eye Circles of Death for my favorites and a how-to on picking the perfect shade.

2. In addition to using blush to create rosy cheeks, dust a bit of the leftover powder on your brush just under your eyes/on upper cheekbones as well. That’s a tip to brighten up that area and look more awake.

3. Your lips may be getting chapped from the lack of liquid intake. My current balm fav is Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer. It’s perfect for Ramadan too because it adds color almost like a stain for a subtle, pretty look in keeping with your mellow mood.

4. To keep the skin nourished and emollient, try a basic oil like DermaE Vitamin E Oil at night. It won’t clog your pores and will help the skin maintain happy tissue.

5. For late-night dinners with friends and family add a touch of shimmer shadow to your eyelids (shimmer not glitter, ladies). Choose a warm pink or gold to look the healthiest and glowiest like NAR’s Cypress or Cairo.

Follow these easy beauty tips for Ramadan and, much like doing vaginal muscle exercises at your desk, no one will know you’re busy absolving your sins all day.

Particle physics or even budget-balancing it is not, but applying individual false eyelashes can be a challenge. With the right step-by-step and a certain degree of tweezer dexterity, there is no reason you can’t master the ability to take natural to au-not-so-relle, though, and without anyone suspecting the true degree of your vanity.

Here’s your tools. I’m using the Andrea lashes here, but really I prefer Duralash or Mac has a great set that comes in all different lengths. Like 90% of people should get the short size.

1. Curl and apply mascara to your natural lashes.

2. Put a dap of glue where you feel you can comfortably dip into it. I like to use my left hand. My rock looks pretty conceited here.

3. Use the tweezers to pull off a lash from it’s base.

4. Dip the base into the glue so that just the tip is coated. Let it chill for a few seconds while turning the tweezers in your hand so that the lashes line up with your lash line. Just like keeping your eye on the ball, keep your eye on a spot amongst your natural lashes where you want the lashes to go and touch them in delicately.

5. Repeat with the next lash moving inward. You may want trim the lashes or use a smaller size as you move in. Trimming is a skilled process using tiny cuticle scissors to trim each strand individually so that they aren’t straight across. If you have smaller eyes, placing the longest lashes in the center of the eye will help it appear larger.

6. When the glue dries you should have a nice and natural lash line. Individual lashes look good even without other makeup. Granted you’ve put them on right.