TRICK OR CHIC

Halloween is just around the corner! Forget the same 'ol silly decorations, dress up your space with chic and spooky decor and serve up some haunting treats! Trick or Chic!





This Gothic-chic ribbon wreath is perfect for Halloween in high style! Love this look for a new take on front door decor. DIY directions at CasaSugar





Decorate your entry with super chic spooky decor like this, courtesy of my new favorite blog Life in the Fun Lane. Visit the site for a step-by-step guide!





Serve up some ghoulish cocktails with vodka as dark as night!


Ghost in the Graveyard


Serves 1

• 2 ounces black vodka


• 2 ounces creme de cacao or coffee-flavored liqueur


• 1 scoop vanilla ice cream


• Pinch of finely grated nutmeg, for garnish
  

In a glass, combine vodka and creme de cacao, and set aside. Place a scoop of ice cream in a highball glass, and slowly pour vodka mixture over ice cream. Garnish with nutmeg; serve immediately.

Screwed-Up Screwdriver

Serves 1

• 1/4 cup ice


• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed tangerine juice
  
• 1 1/2 ounces black vodka


• 1 black licorice twist, for serving
  

Place ice in a tall glass. Pour juice into glass. Pour vodka over the back of a cocktail spoon into glass so it sits on top of juice and creates a layer of black. Slice 1/4 inch off each end of licorice, and use as a straw. Serve immediately.

Berry Scary Martini

Serves 1

• 1 cup ice


• 1 ounce black vodka


• 2 ounces cherry juice


• Fresh raspberries and blueberries, for garnish
  

Combine ice, vodka, and cherry juice in a cocktail shaker; shake vigorously. Pour into a martini glass. Thread raspberries and blueberries onto a cocktail skewer, and place in drink. Serve immediately.

Recipes courtesy of Martha Stewart


Love these pom poms in black and silver for over a dining room or buffet table! They add amazing texture. Available at Martha Stewart Crafts online for only $14.99

Add a festive take to fondue with a carved pumpkin holder! Check out the details at Rachael Ray online.

Toast the evening with Spellbound wine from Napa, CA - love the haunting label!

Glittery skull candles and bone accents can transform any space into a haunted happening! Candles available at Pottery Barn

Fake a spooky space with an easy to assemble glittering black chandelier (check out the rat under glass! A creepy touch for the table!) Chandelier available at Martha Stewart Crafts online.

READ MY LIPS

Finding the perfect lip gloss, pencil or lipstick is a challenge! Which is why these TRES CHIC tried and tested lip products are ripe for the picking! Sure they are high-end, but with anything (especially make-up) you get what you pay for! KISS, KISS...

Best Potted Gloss: The Lip Slip by Sara Happ $24. Creator of the uber-popular Lip Scrub, Sara Happ has developed a lip balm that hydrates, adds colorless shine, and transforms the look of lips. A little dab goes a long way, so this pot of gloss is well worth the bucks!

Best Lipstick That Shimmers: Dior Addict High Shine $26 (love it in Catwalk Mauve 680!) Not your mother's lipstick, Dior offers a high shine, translucent lip color inspired by their ultra-chic fashion runway shows! The color is long-lasting and sure to drum up some compliments... even from mom!

Best Gloss With Sun Protection: Trish McEvoy Beauty Booster SPF 15 Lip Gloss $25 (love it in Brightening Pink!) A perfect gloss that adds a sheer hint if color, packed with tons of shine, plus an SPF! A to-go gloss for everyday use. Find it also at Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus.

Best Gloss That Glitters Like Gold: It's a tie! MAC Cosmetics Tinted Lipglass (yes, that's lipglass not lip gloss!) $14 (pictured top) and Chanel Glossimer $27. Both lip glosses are thick and shimmery, go on smooth and last. Great alone or over a lip pencil and/or lipstick. Love MAC Lipglass in Lychee Luxe (for a hot coral shade) and Chanel Glossimer in Seashell (for a soft peachy shine).

Best Lip Gloss That Acts Like A Lipstick: Comsoholic Lip Gloss $20 (love it in Prudish Pink) This up-and-coming lip gloss (created by Julie Cohen in MA) is packaged like a gloss, is applied like a gloss, but wears like a beautiful matte lipstick with a hint a shine! Genius! This "liquid lipstick" is a must have in the make-up bag!

Best Lip Pencil That's More Than a Pencil: NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil $24 (for red, Cruella is beautiful!) Not being a huge fan of lip pencil because of their tendency to be over-drying and painful to but on, NARS has created a perfectly smooth pencil that acts more like a soft crayon. Filling in lips is easy and pain-free with this Velvet Matte Pencil, available in a variety of shades, perfect for creating a long lasting look under your favorite lipstick.

Best Gloss with Plump: Laura Mercier Lip Plumper $30 (love it in Wildberry!) Give this silky smooth lip gloss 20 minutes and you will have plump lips for 2 hours! Won't burn or tingle too much (hate that), this gloss is a favorite for pretty color with added pout!

TRES CHIC loves shopping for lip products at Sephora, Nordstrom, and when in Massachusetts at Beauty and Main, Rouge Cosmetics and bluemercury.

REMEMBERING PENN

Famed photographer Irving Penn passed away today at the age of 92. His stint at Vogue magazine in the 1940s produced some amazing shots. In an interview with The New York Times in 1991, Penn said, "Many photographers feel their client is the subject. My client is a woman in Kansas who reads Vogue. I'm trying to intrigue, stimulate, feed her. ... The severe portrait that is not the greatest joy in the world to the subject may be enormously interesting to the reader."

His amazing work in fashion, still life and celebrity photos lives on in the images he captured. Here is a beautiful sampling of Penn's work:

Thirteen of Penn's photographs will be auctioned off at Christie's tomorrow including this photo (above) "Guedras in the Wind" taken in 1971 of two Moroccan women. It is estimated to go for $40,000 to $60,000.

Penn captured this shot of model Kate Moss (above) and in 2008 it sold for $91,000. All of the money went to charity.

Penn shot for Vogue on and off after leaving the magazine in the late 1940s. He captured this photo of Nicole Kidman in a Christian Lacroix dress for the May 2004 cover of American Vogue.

A collection of photographs by Irving Penn are on display at the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., with archives at The Art Institute of Chicago.