The Family Groove Fashion & Beauty

ASK A GROOVY GAL
TFG DEPUTY EDITOR AND BEAUTY DIRECTOR CHELSEA KAPLAN GIVES YOU
THE GOODS ON GETTING GORGEOUS

In honor of summer’s arrival (which means bearing all sorts of skin and rockin’ that beachy hair),
I’m bringing you a special cosmetic dermatology-focused edition of this column. Hope you enjoy!

I have forever searched for my “signature” fragrance, but have never quite found it. Do you have any favorites? —Gina, New York, NY
Fragrance, just like art, literature and taste in movies (seriously, I liked “Soul Plane”), is intensely personal. While I may love clean, fruity fragrances, you may prefer something intensely spicy, and what smells one way on me, will smell a totally different way on everyone else on the planet, as we all have different body chemistries. That said, I will tell you a few that I have found to have (almost) universal appeal: Bobbi Brown Bath, a clean, shower-fresh scent, ($40, www.bobbibrowncosmetics.com), Giorgio Armani’s Acqua Di Gio, a clean, marine scent ($39.50, www.sephora.com) and Issey Miyake’s L’Eau D’Issey, a clean, floral scent ($62, www.sephora.com). Notice a trend? Universally, clean fragrances are wildly popular. Also universally appealing are vanilla-scented fragrances. In this category, I love Stila’s Crème Bouquet ($50, www.sephora.com) and Susanne Lang’s Ultimate Vanilla Collection, a set of 9 vanilla-based scents ($95, www.luckyscent.com). Try some of these the next time you’re out shopping—perhaps one will strike your fancy.

I have twin girls and like to dress them like girls, but not too prissy or cutesy. I’m running out of ideas for places to shop beyond the traditional mall outposts. Can you offer some good suggestions?—Alison, Pittsburgh, PA
	Like you, I’m not a huge fan of the prissy girl thing. Little girls dressed head to toe in butterflies, fairies and flowers kinda make me gag. Though I’ve never ventured outside the boys department (sigh), I have bought a few girl presents in my day and have more than a few friends who dress their little girls in a very cool way. A quick poll revealed that everyone’s favorite places to find cool girls’ clothing outside the mall is actually online at www.zutano.com and www.boden.com. Both sites offer cool, tailored girls’ clothes. Cute, yet not overly girly, if you catch my drift. If you’re not a fan of Internet shopping, you can’t go wrong with the Ralph Lauren girls’ clothes, which are usually found in most better department stores. Additionally, you can often find some really cool stuff at Target, so check it out as well—especially since you have to buy for two.

I need a good , big wallet—with enough space to hold all of my cash, credit cards, change and receipts. I don’t want anything too bulky, though. Does such a think exist?—Maura, Palo Alto, CA

I also carry a ton of crap around in my wallet, so I understand your need. After an exhaustive search, I know that I have found the perfect one: the Marc Jacobs Calfskin Clutch. Now, I know, I know, it’s Marc Jacobs and therefore ridiculously expensive ($395 at www.saks.com), but I swear, this is the perfect wallet (and when you think about it, you’re gonna buy like three until you find the perfect one, so you’ll probably spend close to that anyway). It fits a ton of stuff, has all sorts of pockets so you can organize your receipts and a big one in which you can fit all of your paper currency lengthwise so that you can see the value of each one (I hate when they’re all folded and you have to taken them all out to just find one $5 bill). Additionally, the wallet doubles as a clutch, so for those nights when you actually venture outside the house without a diaper bag, you have a chic little bag to tote around with you, with all of your essentials already in it, not to mention room for lip gloss. I own the black one, but they also come in other pretty colors if you’re feeling punchy.

Click here to read all about Deputy Editor/Beauty Director Chelsea Kaplan's life with child in her blog,“I'm Somebody's Mother?”