British Airways has just announced a last minute Club World (business class) sale on round-trip flights to London, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee marking 60 years on the throne. (The celebrations have been taking place all year, as she ascended in 1952, but the actual Coronation date is June 2nd, 1953. I can’t wait until we get to see a Coronation Ceremony of our own!)

Here are the details:

Fully-flat beds on British Airways Club World

“Commemorating 60 years of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne, British Airways (BA) today launched a last minute fare to London – $1952 all-inclusive roundtrip in Club World (business class) from select cities.

The three day sale starts on Wednesday, May 16 and concludes at 11:59pm local time on Friday, May 18. Customers can travel outbound from May 26 with all travel completed by June 9, giving them the opportunity to see the Carriage Procession, The Thames Pageant and a host of performances and events.

Simon Talling-Smith, Executive Vice President Americas, said, “We wanted to mark the Queen’s Jubilee with a special offer for our customers. It is an exciting time to be in the UK this year, from the Diamond Jubilee to the London Olympics and Paralympics this summer.

The $1952 fare includes all taxes, fees and charges and is valid from select U.S. and Canadian cities. The New York JFK to London City service is also included in this special offer.”

Queen Elizabeth in her Coronation Robes on June 2, 1953

British Airways Club World business class is truly spectacular – they have six-foot long fully-flat beds and wonderful service. I flew it once when I moved back from London to the US in 2007, and because I was randomly upgraded (I simply joked to the desk clerk at check in, “Hey, if you need to upgrade anybody, I’m your girl!”…AND THEY DID!) it remains one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.

Visit BA.com/1952 for more details and to book.

Not posing at all, no siree...

Above is the view of our villa; below is the ocean view…

Obviously, this was one in a series of about 75 photos taken to capture juuuuust the right angle

College chums Cristina and Allison, looking adorable:

For lunch, we drove the 40 minutes into Los Barriles for tacos at El Viejo. We were assured that El Viejo made THE best tacos on the entire peninsula, and they didn’t disappoint. If you’re ever in the area, El Viejo is a must.

On the way back home from El Viejo, our road was obstructed by cows. You know, just a typical day in El Cardonal…

After more work, a few siestas, and some Coronas and margaritas, we took a group excursion five feet down to the beach…

…before taking a stroll as the sun set.

Many of the lessons Mama Jolie taught me were beauty ones (sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen!), so I thought it would be fun to turn to my blogging brethren to see what they’d learned from their own moms. Et voila!

Amber Katz of Beauty Blogging Junkie:

My mom gave me three pieces of stellar beauty advice:

• 1. Never EVER wear powder on your face. It’s disgusting. It ages you. It creates a chalky finish.
• 2. When doing a cat-eye, always make sure the line is tapered toward the outer edges. I try to do it every time and she totally calls me out when I don’t.
• 3. When applying blush (cream, she eschews a powder, per #1), apply a bit to your forehead near temples for an all-over glow.

Amber Murray, Beauty Junkies Unite:
My Mom never really gave me too much beauty advice, but if there was one thing that I remember vividly, it’s the stern eye I would receive if I ever whipped out my compact or gloss in public! She always told me I needed to step into the ‘ladies room’. To this day, I hear her in the back of my head when I check my teeth or sneak a quick swipe of gloss in public!

Jennifer Mathews of My Beauty Bunny:
My best advice from mom was not to over-pluck my eyebrows. I hear her voice in my head every time I pluck!

Kirbie Johnson from BellaSugar TV:
I know this sounds crazy, but my mom has given me two pieces of really great advice — she was a cosmetologist for years, so she probably knows a little something. First, always fill in your eyebrows. I didn’t realize how important it was until I looked back to my college and high school days and realized I looked like an alien. So fill those puppies in, ladies! Second, you can never wear enough blush — on camera. Blush can be tricky, but it was the first beauty product I grew up being allowed to wear, and I noticed a remarkable difference when I wear a pinch extra in photos and in videos! Mom, I love you for this advice and many other things.

Lianne Farbes of The Makeup Girl:
The best beauty advice my mother ever gave me was

• 1. Always wash your face
• 2. Always wear perfume
• 3. Always be yourself

Jamie Stone of Queen of the Quarter Life Crisis:
My mom always lectured me about shaving my legs and said “don’t start shaving your legs until you absolutely have to because once you start, you’re going to have to do it for the rest of your life.” Naturally, I shaved my legs anyway by the time I was 12.

Aly Walansky of A Little Alytude:
I was born with the same super curl, very dry hair as my mom – and she taught me a few home-made deep conditioning recipes from youth forward. One was mayo (the full fat kind works best!) another was beer and egg yolks (for shine!) – the funny thing is my mom EATS none of these foods, but she keeps them in the fridge at all times in case of hair emergencies – and now, I do too!

Patrice Yursik of Afrobella:
The best advice my mother gave me is this – “beauty is, as beauty does.” It’s a phrase she repeats often and when I was younger I didn’t know what she meant. I found it annoying. But now that I am older, I get it – the most beautiful women to me are the ones with kind hearts, the ones who treat everyone they meet with gracious respect. You can see beauty in their behavior. I try to live my life that way.

Thanks ladies! And Happy Mother’s Day to all of you readers! xoxo

A group of 6 of us came for a week to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and rather than stay at a hotel, we rented a villa on the beach. So, our view looks like this:

Infinity pool plus beach equals heaven

The flight down was painless: Cabo is only 2 hours south of Los Angeles. However, getting to El Cardonal took a lot of effort, since the only road here is a windy path through the mountains that includes long stretches of unpaved dirt and ample potholes. It was an adventure!

Our beachside villa in El Cardonal

I took a video as soon as we arrived documenting the villa, which is simply incredible. (If I can get a faster internet connection, I’ll upload it while I’m here.) Not only are we directly on a private beach with an infinity pool, we also have a rooftop deck (which made for some incredible viewing of the stars later in the night), a casita, 7 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. There’s no way to downplay it: it’s heaven.

A view of the villa from the beach

On the way into El Cardonal, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and a drink. I had to snap a picture of one of their offerings: a Cilantro Margarita.

Cilantro margarita!

Lest you get too angry at me, let me assure you that I’ll be working while down here–I’m still on the clock! (In addition, I’m moving into the final round of edits for my book agent and am now up against a deadline, so all my non-workday hours are going to be spent working on the book. Well…all my non-workday, non-Taboo-playing, non-margarita-drinking hours, that is…)

Another beach view from our "backyard" as the sun began to set

Duchess Kate in Jenny Packham

Her hair, done by Richard Ward (no more James Pryce, after he left the salon in a bitter feud!), is braided and knotted in an intricate undo:

Kate's knotted chignon

Kate’s wearing the same Jimmy Choo heels that she sported a few nights ago while wearing that cream Roland Mouret gown. I’m not normally one to salivate over shoes, but I’ll make an exception for these.

Aren't Kate's sparkly Jimmy Choo heels gorgeous?

And here’s the lace back of Kate’s Jenny Packham dress:

Love the lace detailing on Kate's Jenny Packham dress

Sigh. Perfection.

Kate in Jenny Packham with William at her side (I mean, c'mon, she's the real star of the show)

Thank you to everybody who entered, and check back soon for more giveaways. I have a few handy gadgets and gizmos in the works!

If I had more money (damn you, IRS and Citibank!), at least a quarter of my wardrobe would be Ted Baker – I love them! If you’re in Beverly Hills/WeHo tonight, stop by the Ted Baker store at 131 N. Robertson Boulevard from 6-9pm. My friend Sydne Summer of Sydne Style is hosting a cocktail party, and there will be a 20% discount to shop the new summer collection. Don’t forget to RSVP to event@tedbaker.com.

Sure, sure, free champagne is all well and good, but one guest who attends will get a $500 VIP shopping spree! So, go!

Here’s how to enter to win:

1. Go to www.tedbaker-london.com and pick out your fave item.
2. Tweet “I want to win $500 from @ted_bakerusa & @sydnesummer to buy [enter fave item here].”
3. Leave your Twitter handle in the comments section on Sydne’s website.

The winner will be announced at the event tonight. To win, you must be following @ted_bakerusa and @sydnesummer on Twitter. Good luck and I’ll see you there!

Here's a sneak preview of what we can expect from Brad Pitt with Chanel No. 5. YES, PLEASE.

Brad Pitt is the new face of Chanel No. 5, it was announced today. (Yes! The perfume!)

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand…mmm…Brad Pitt.

On the other hand…eeewww…Chanel No. 5.

Chanel No. 5 was Coco Chanel’s first fragrance, created in 1921 as a revolutionary perfume designed to appeal to the modern, category-busting flappers of the day. Most scents were either single-note florals (very Edwardian) or hedonistic musks that whispered promises of “ladies of the night” and opium dens. Chanel No. 5 was neither: a modern synthetic heavily featuring chemical aldehydes. In short, a perfume for the Bachelor Girls and Garçonnes that were changing the world (and who we women today owe a grand debt to.)

So, no doubt, Chanel No. 5 is an iconic, important, earth-shattering perfume.

But still. In my opinion, iconic, important, earth-shattering Chanel No. 5 is also the worst kind of grandma perfume.

I mean, have you actually smelled this stuff? It’s gross! Yes, yes, to be fair, perfume is a highly personal thing, so my Thierry Mugler Alien Liqueur de Parfum is another woman’s French garbage can.

Normally, I stay silent about beauty products I dislike…particularly in the case of smaller brands. I never want to have a hand in some plucky mom-’n-pop start-up losing their life-savings. In the case of Chanel, however, with one bottle of Chanel No. 5 sold every 30 seconds–making it the world’s most popular perfume–I think they’ll do just fine.

Because one can never have enough Brad Pitt, here he is at the 2012 Oscars. Angelina Jolie's right leg was busy consulting with its publicist.

In any case, it’s only this perfume that I dislike from Chanel: I’m besotted by both Chanel Chance and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, which is one of my all-time top perfumes and could not be more different from Chanel No. 5.

Chandler Burr famously called Chanel Coco Mademoiselle “lovely, flowery, a fresh-faced seventeen-year-old in a summer dress.”

Meanwhile, Coco Chanel said of No. 5: “A perfume like nothing else. A woman’s perfume, with the scent of a woman.”

So there you have it. Apparently I want to smell like a 17 year old.

There’s no denying, however, that Chanel No. 5’s ads are epic. This oldie but goodie with Estella Warren remains my favorite. It always makes me think of Christmas:

Nina Dobrev at the Met Costume Institute Gala - classic, elegant, stunning. One of my favorite looks of the night

During my post-college New York City years, I lived on 81st and Lex. I’m so much more an uptown girl than a downtown one, and my little corner of the city felt like the perfect location: safe, gorgeous, clean, close to Central Park, within 4 blocks of both an express train and a local train, crawling distance from some of the city’s best bars and restaurants–that’s not saying much in a city stocked with great bars and restaurants!–and, of course, only 3 blocks away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

(Oh, random side note: I watched the “I Heart NY” episode of Sex and the City yesterday, with its 4th-season-finale 9/11 coda, and it made me CRY! What a beautiful love letter to the city.)

But back to the Met. I used to walk over there on the weekend, flash my student ID for free-entry (I know, I know…but I was on a minuscule Conde Nast assistant salary!) and wander its corridors, usually finding myself in the Impressionists wing or “Royal Furniture and Stately Rooms” section.

Danes! Well done - I LOVE the 60s French hair and makeup.

One night, I was taking a cab cross-town from the Upper West Side when, as we exited the park onto 5th Avenue, a cacophony of lights exploded to my right. I looked and realized it was the Costume Institute Met Gala, a yearly celebration of the history of fashion sponsored by Vogue which was nowhere near as uber-famous as it is now. (I’m telling you, social media…!) I hopped out of the cab, spent 20 minutes watching the arrivals, and then walked the five minutes home, hugging myself at my good fortune to be living in what felt like the center of the universe.

Everybody thinks their time with a person, place or thing is the most special, but I’m particularly stubborn on that point regarding my own New York years. I lived there from 1998 through 2006, just after Giuliani cleaned it up, but while there was still grime and crime on the Lower East Side, before the Meatpacking District became EuroDisney and while Brooklyn was so far away it might as well have been Boston. Then came the 9/11 years, and everybody was a New Yorker: no city was more beloved, no place was more mythic. The city felt like I imagine Paris in the 1920s to have been: it sparkled and dazzled with promise, gold dust, money, and affection. Of course, with that affection came more money, and more scrubbing, and more transplants, and more Americana. I left a couple years before the economy crashed, not long after they opened a Red Lobster in Times Square. For me, that was the beginning of the end.

Emma Stone wears Lanvin - adorable, no?

Now when I go back to the city for work, it feels different. I’m older, obviously, and the nature of cities–especially a city like New York–is change. I’m reminded of a line in You’ve Got Mail, of all movies, when Meg Ryan’s character says,

“People are always saying that change is a good thing. But all they’re really saying is that something you didn’t want to happen at all has happened. My store is closing this week. I own a store, did I ever tell you that? It’s a lovely store, and in a week it’ll be something really depressing, like a Baby Gap. Soon, it’ll be just a memory. In fact, someone–some foolish person–will probably think it’s a tribute to this city, the way it keeps changing on you, the way you can never count on it or something. I know because that’s the sort of thing I’m always saying. But the truth is, I’m heartbroken. I feel as if a part of me has died.”

Each year when the Met Gala rolls around, for some reason it’s one of those moments that pulls me back in and makes me remember, with both affection and pain, how much I miss “my” old New York. I’m happily ensconced here in LA, maybe forever, and trips back a few times a year are enough to satiate me.

Kate Bosworth in Prada, looking incredibly severe, and yet still beautiful. She's wearing NARS Volga Pure Matte Lipstick.

Still…with apologies to Ryan Adams, I’ll always love you though, New York.

Here, a few more of the Met Ball Costume Institute Gala looks that wet my whistle:

Gwyneth Paltrow goes for the pulled-back bun again, with super glowing skin

And here's a full-length shot of Gwyneth's Prada dress

Kirsten's makeup was by NARS and her outfit is Rodarte

Carey Mulligan's makeup is a master-class in the perfect smokey eye

I accidentally uploaded this photo to Instagram with a weird filter using Camera Awesome, which is why it's all grainy. Anyhow: hooray for good hair!

On the whole, I’m pretty jaded about beauty (I mean, how often can you write about a new lip gloss and make it feel fresh, amiright?), but every once in a while something happens to shock some life into me. I live for those beauty moments.

I had just such an experience a few days ago, when I went to the Paul Jean salon in Beverly Hills. Paul Jean Jouve is a stylist from France who’s appeared on TV shows like Shear Genius, but I mostly know him as the stylist behind the best hair cut I’d previously received in LA, a few years ago.

Post-haircut at Paul Jean salon

You’d think, if I’d already had such a great cut from somebody, that I’d stick with them. You’d be wrong. We beauty writers are a fickle lot, jumping from stylist to stylist and colorist to colorist, sampling all the wares in town. It had been so long since I’d seen Paul Jean, in fact (4+ years) that I’d all but forgotten just how obsessed I was with my previous haircut. (The last time Paul Jean cut my hair was also the day I met an ex-boyfriend—so that was a very lucky style, indeed.)

Anyhow, fast-forward four years, and there I am a few days ago visiting Paul Jean’s brand new salon, further up the block on Robertson. It’s a gorgeous, intimate space with only two incredibly warm assistants and a garden out back, where Paul Jean cuts hair practically outside. (In fact, for one guest that day—a little English boy there with his parents for his very first haircut—Paul Jean did indeed cut his hair in the garden while I was being blow-dried. So glamorous!)

The initial inspiration for my haircut, which we veered away from a bit - I might get up the nerve next time I see Paul Jean!

Paul Jean did that all-too-rare stylist thing I love, which is to sit me down and have a relaxed, lengthy chat about my lifestyle, the state of my hair and my expectations, all while showing me examples from his iPad of what would and would not work for me, in his opinion. We settled on a Catherine Deneuve-in-Belle de Jour vibe, with hints of Brigitte Bardot. (Paul Jean initially wanted to go the full Bardot, with more bangs, but also cautioned me to give him feedback as he worked, so I ended up stopping him before we got to the fringe.)

The end result? Voila.

The hair a few days later (post highlights with Kaz Amor at Warren-Tricomi, too!) at my Bath and Body Works event/book signing

I now have about 75 photos in my brand new iPhone of my hair. Narcissism! :Jazz hands:

PS: Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks Paul Jean totally rocks. I just checked out his Yelp reviews, and every single one is 5 stars. (They appear to be real reviews, rather than plants.) My own cut with Paul Jean was comped (I am not going to lie; being a beauty blogger is awesome!) but, as always, my opinions are not for sale.

Paul Jean Salon is at 458 N. Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Call 310-278-5607 for an appointment.

Head over to the Dove Facebook page and submit a photo showing off your skin. (Get creative!) Every woman who submits a photo will appear in a Dove ad–including a billboard in Times Square, plus online digital ads–as part of their Show Us Your Skin campaign. You’ll be emailed a snapshot of your “moment of fame” on the Times Square billboard, and can share that photo with family and friends.

Dove VisibleCare Toning Creme Body Wash

In conjunction with the campaign, Dove is offering Jolie readers in the US a little giveaway! Simple enter via Rafflecopter below (either leave a blog comment or like this post) and you’ll be entered to win 3 bottles of Visible Care Softening Creme Body Wash. We’ll pick one winner at random next Wednesday. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tasting from a $700 bottle of Nolet's gin

I’ve never liked gin, so when I was invited to a gin tasting and food pairing this weekend courtesy of NOLET’S Gin, I was skeptical. Gin? Ehh, no, thank you!

But the event was taking place at Fig–a fantastic restaurant in Santa Monica–and I’ve been doing more alcohol and restaurant writing recently, so I figured I might as well check it out. Twist my arm, you know?

Our tasting notes with the first glass of gin

Imagine my surprise when I tasted NOLET’S Gin…and discovered I genuinely liked it! Turns out NOLET’S, a 320+ year old Dutch company run by the 11th generation of the family, is essentially gin made for people who don’t like gin (that was my giant, highly unscientific takeaway from the event). The various gins we tasted had notes of turkish rose, peaches, raspberry, verbena and saffron, including a $700 bottle of NOLET’S Reserve that was sublime.

A rhubarb plate paired with our gin

The publicist sent me the breakdown for a few of the drinks we tasted, so here they are for your own bartending pleasure:

Mandarin Fizz
2 oz. NOLET’S Silver Dry Gin
.75 oz. Lemon Juice
.75 oz. Simple Syrup
1 Egg White
Angostura Bitters
6 tangerine segments
Zest tangerine

Shake all ingredients, double strain into a mini-pilsner glass. Garnish with dashes of bitters.

–

We’ve Got The Beet
1 oz. NOLET’S Silver Dry Gin
.5 oz. Beet Juice
.75 oz. Apple Syrup
.5 oz. Lime Juice
Absinthe spray glass

Shake all ingredients, strain over fresh ice, serve in a rocks glass.

The $700 bottle of Nolet's Reserve gin

Palisades Coffee
1 oz. NOLET’S Silver Dry Gin
.5 oz. Root Liquor
.5 oz. Benedictine
1 oz. Espresso
.5 oz. Cream
.25 oz. Simple Syrup

Shake all ingredients, strain, serve up in a coupe glass.

Can you believe it’s been an entire year since The Royal Wedding? What better way to celebrate than by doing it Brit-style and drinking! Our friends at The Bitter Truth have created two cocktails for royal fans to toast Will and Kate’s first year of married bliss.

THE WILLIAM is concocted with rum, vermouth, champagne and The Bitter Truth’s very own aromatic bitters. Served in a martini for your royal pleasure:

"The William"

THE KATE is on the cool side because of course, it’s the Kate! (C’mon: she’s a princess, has gorge hair, a svelte body and the best fashion sense anywhere.)

Made with Hayman’s Old Tom Gin, The Bitter Truth’s Elderflower liqueur and Brut champagne, the finished masterpiece is then topped off with fresh mint, cucumber slices and lemon wedges:

"The Kate"

I like to imagine that the Royal Couple celebrating in a more regal manner: lounging about in a castle somewhere wearing their crowns while eating caviar and drinking champagne. (Yes, yes, implausible, I know…)

Cheers!

Compliance.

Compliance in skincare is a seemingly simple concept: how do you get consumers to use products correctly? It should be easy: slap a warning or directions on the label, et voila! But no. Because of simple human nature, compliance is one of the bugaboos of many a company, who are often faced with irate customers who claim their products aren’t working…when in actuality, it’s often a case of the customer simply not following instructions. (This problem is especially prevalent in the medical community, I know, since one of my best friends works on this very issue.) Of course, when it’s a Clarisonic brush or Crest Whitestrips, the annoyance is likely minimal.

Why do dentists LOVE the Sonicare toothbrush so much? It regulates your two-minutes of brushing time automatically - so no cheating, no laziness, and fewer cavities! Compliance!

I’m one of the worst offenders: I remember all the times I’ve thought, “Eh, I’m a beauty expert; I’ll just wing it,” before throwing the instructions away, only to be rewarded later with orange hair (or what have you). I know I can’t be the only one swanning about using products half-assedly and finding myself shocked–shocked, I say!–when they don’t work. But my poison is innocent. Once you start getting into prescriptions like Latisse and retinol, at-home hair removal lasers, or actual drugs for very real health conditions, the stakes are raised.

You’d think compliance would then be more guaranteed, but I was surprised to learn through many conversations that it’s simply not the case. Apparently we all think we’re experts! (Sort of like men and directions, eh?)

I was fascinated by how passionate many of the skincare- and health-experts I spoke with were on the subject of compliance. I can honestly say it’s something I’d never thought twice about. But now that I look back on all my beauty mishaps over the years, it makes perfect sense: I definitely was not following directions to the letter.

So, if you are full of diligence, unlike your ol’ Jolie, disregard. For the (hopefully) few of you in the same Damn the Beauty Torpedos! mindset as me, however, try to step up your game.

If the box says Use Twice Daily/Wash For 30 Seconds/Only Use a Quarter-Amount/etc…do it! You might be pleasantly surprised. I certainly am: ever since that AAD trip, I’ve been following my Viviscal regimen religiously (yup, twice a day) and my hair has been growing like weeds.