The Budget Babe | Affordable Fashion & Style Blog

Luxe vs. Less: Phillip Lim Yellow Tank


Phillip Lim is clearly the reigning fashion muse to copycats these days, and, as illustrated by the two tops above, the imitators have absolutely no shame whatsoever. On the left, 3.1 Phillip Lim's yellow and black tank top with a petite bow, which retails for £240.00 at the UK shop Browns. On the right, Forever 21's rendition of the look for $22.80. Too close for comfort, if you ask me (although my biggest qualm with this shirt isn't that it's a blatant knockoff - it's that it's too juvenile. I love fashion that hints of youth and naivete, but this top isn't doing it for me). But what do you think? Do you like the look? Has Forever 21 crossed the line on this one, or not?

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Deal du Jour: I Love Sample Sales

While everyone enjoys a busy sample sale from time to time, overeager fellow shoppers with sharp elbows sometimes create a less than enjoyable shopping experience. Avoid the hassle and head on over to I Love Sample Sales instead, a new online sample sale store.

Sign up here to get notified about all their upcoming sales, or go here to start shopping online now (currently featuring Diesel denim).

Happy shopping - and saving!

Spring Fashion Trends 2008: Shirt-Dressing

You've heard it all before: It flatters every figure. Never goes out of style. You can dress it up or down. Yes, we're talking about the shirtdress - and it's back in a big way for Spring. Donna Karan shows us how it's worn in the urban jungle. Salvatore Ferragamo gives us a glimpse of it's modern sex appeal. Behnaz Sarafpour reveals its timeless yet timely attitude. So what are you waiting for? Create your own shirtdress story this Spring. Scroll down for a few affordable shirtdress finds to get you started...



Above: Spring 2008 Ready-to-Wear looks from the runways of Behnaz Sarafpour, Donna Karan and Salvatore Ferragamo. Image source: Style.com



Left to right: Old navy safari shirtdress, $34.50; Spiegel's sash-tie shirtdress, Orig. $69 Now $31.99; Newport News cotton voile shirtdress, Orig. $39 Now $29.

Budget Fashion Makeovers on 'Oprah'

On today's Oprah Show, a bunch of frumpy suburban moms were given complete makeovers using - get this - AFFORDABLE clothing from budget-friendly stores! Instead of heading to high-end boutiques, they hit up stores like Kohl's, JCPenney, Gap, and Old Navy for cheap, chic finds.

All we can say is it's about time. Too often, these makeover shows trade some poor sap's dirty sweats for pricey, impractical designer duds - which means the victim might look good in the moment, but go back to their errant ways once the cameras stop rolling. And people at home are left with big question marks hovering over their heads.

If you missed the show, there's amazing play-by-play coverage on Oprah.com of all the makeovers, plus stylist Lloyd Boston's wardrobe essentials, no-fuss hairstyles from celebrity stylist Ken Paves, and makeup essentials for gals on the go from makeup artist Joanna Schlip.

Other highlights include a how-to video for tying a scarf using a hacking knot (accomplished by halving a long scarf, feeding the straggling ends through the resulting loop, and cinching the knot up to the neck), a fab ensemble from Old Navy's new spring collection (we told you it was cute first!), and five ways to wear a white button-down shirt.

Bravo to budget makeovers. Who knows, maybe next time they'll enlist the help of budget fashion bloggers... ;-)

Maybelline Mineral Power Powder & Blush

The Budget Babe's resident beauty expert reminds us that not all so-called "mineral makeup" is created equal. —BB



by The Budget Beauty Babe
Every cosmetic company seems to be jumping on the mineral makeup bandwagon, and so continuing our reviews of budget-friendly mineral makeup, we put Maybelline Mineral Power Natural Perfecting Powder Foundation and Maybelline Mineral Power Naturally Luminous Blush to the test.

Attractively packaged and competitively priced, these products are sure to please many, but lets get some things straight first: If you're looking for pure mineral makeup, this is not it. Although called Mineral Power, this line of cosmetics is not truly mineral makeup (with our definition of mineral makeup being makeup that only contains minerals in its ingredient list).

And they're really sneaky about it, too. If you look at the package for the foundation you'll find it says, "The secret of micro-minerals - 100% natural earth minerals, etc." The secret of micro-minerals is minerals? Duh.

The packaging also says, "Pure ingredients." Now look at the ingredient list: Nowhere on there does it say 100% pure minerals. Like I said, very sneaky packaging.

There are, in fact, a lot of other non-mineral ingredients, including synthetic wax and PTFE, which is a synthetic coating used most commonly on pots and pans to create a non-stick coating also known as Teflon. I don't know about you, but if I think I'm getting pure minerals I don't want to end up with Teflon particles on my face (unless I decide to cook an egg on my cheek and don't want it to stick).

On the plus side, as far as makeup goes, it did its job. The foundation covered fairly well although concealer would still be needed (which is also available in this line). The color was nice and blended nicely, however I did find that this makeup seemed to get shiny after just a few hours of wear (and I have normal to dry skin in winter). Personally, I feel this makeup may have caused my skin to break out and become very irritated and red. I stopped using it and the problems went away.

The blush is nice, although the color is created using dyes and not minerals, which may be why the resulting effect looks a bit fake. Also, its not very pigment-rich and I felt as though it took a lot to do the job.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend Maybelline Mineral Power products. I can't help but feel it's just a clever marketing ploy and not really mineral makeup, not to mention I don't feel its that great of a deal either. In order to finish your look, foundation, concealer, blush and translucent powder would all be needed and together could run you upwards of $40.00.

To sum up: Not all that great for "mineral" makeup that's not, well, really mineral makeup.

Find Maybelline Mineral Power Foundation ($8.98) and Blush ($7.99) at Walgreens stores nationwide.

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