STYLE/BEAUTY

Oh- the magic of Christmas, and the damage it does to our credit cards. If you are anything like my husband, you have at least 4 credit cards in your wallet right now. How are you going to decide which one to use this holiday season?  BillShrink.com – the web site that helps you save money on your everyday  bills- has put together a list of credit cards that will allow you to receive for all that you give. We are personally very found of this smart young website, and found this information very useful so we decided to share it with you.
Blue Cash from American Express – One of the easiest ways to buy everyone exactly what’s on their wish list is by using cash back rewards. This card offers one of the best cash back programs for big spenders. After you spend $6,500, you will receive 5% cash back on all purchases made at drugstores, gas stations and grocery stores (1% cash back before $6,500) and 1.25% on all other purchases (.5% before $6,500). This card has no annual fee and offers 0% APR for the first 6 months. With 5% cash back, you should be able to fill everyone’s stockings without dipping into savings.

Chase Freedom Card – If you want a more flexible cash back program that doesn’t limit your high earnings to just a few categories, this may be the right card for you. This card not only offers 1% cash back on all purchases with no maximum but also offers 5% cash back on select categories that rotate throughout the year that do have a maximum purchase amount. Every three months these categories change (no worries, you’ll be notified ahead of time) and currently grocery stores, department stores and movies are earning the 5%. If you shop online with select Chase merchants, you can also earn yourself an additional 10% cash back. This card has no annual fee and offers 0% APR for 6 months. Especially if you’re a frequent online shopper (with Chase merchants), this card is a quick way to rack up cash for gifts.

There’s no question that food trucks are the hottest thing going right now. Scarcely a day goes by that the food blogs aren’t reporting a new truck selling haute grilled cheese sandwiches or artisanal ice cream or truck-cured bacon (okay, we made that last one up, but still). For the food truck novice, however, the world of mobile eats can be intimidating and, until someone invents an iPhone app that tells you when you’re near a food truck (that’s a free idea, tech-savvy entrepreneurs), it’s hard to know where to go to sample New York’s vehicular victuals.

Enter the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 14th and 23rd. This nine block stretch regularly houses at least five food trucks and (bonus!) the lines are never as long as they are in Midtown. On a recent stroll down the street, we spotted the Bistro Truck (home of some of the best merguez sausage baguettes this side of the Seine) Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream (don’t miss a scoop of the Earl Gray!), and the Treats Truck, which serves up killer brownies. Wafels and Dinges (where a BACON WAFFLE may be obtained) and the always fun Big Gay Ice Cream Truck are also regular presences. Think of it as your own personal mobile food court. Pretty sweet, even if you stick to the savory options.

– Leila Cohan-Miccio

If you’ve ever drooled over the shoe section of J. Crew’s website (and who hasn’t?), the J. Crew Sample Sale is for you. Though the sale allegedly covers all accessories, shoes are the attraction here, with plenty of handsome discounts to be found. Wellies, which top $190 in stores are $25 and moccasin boots are a mere $55. Ballet flats are $65 (20% off each if you buy more than one pair) and available in a wide variety of patterns, including the much coveted gold and silver crinkle.

Perhaps the main draw here is boots – a steal at $105-140 (compared to $135-350 in stores) and come in materials from sturdy leather to bohemian suede. This writer found herself drawn to a pair of unimpeachably classic dark brown tall boots. Of note: there is a lot available on the larger end of the size spectrum.

Other accessories are an afterthought at best: a few sad bins of picked over merino scarves, a tie or two, and a small barrage of jewelry that was cheaper at the Lee Angel sale a few weeks ago. The accessories are an amusing diversion after shoe shopping, but they’re no reason to drop by on their own.

As for the brown boots: reader, I purchased them.  – Leila Cohan-Miccio

Women everywhere have a love hate relationship with their ugg boots. On one hand, they are just plain ugly. On the other hand, nothing comes close to how comfortable they are.

You might think you know your UGGS, but I bet you differently.

The company “UGG Australia” is actually an American company.

Their boots are manufactured in China.

An “ugg boot” simply refers to any boot made of sheepskin. They originated in Australia out of necessity and in the late 90’s when ugg boots became very popular people thought that “ugg boot” was a brand and not a style of footwear.

Deckers corporation (aka UGG Australia) owns a label of Ugg boots called “UGG Boots”; the name of the brand closely if not completely resembling the name of the type of shoe that had been extremely popular in Australia for many decades.

So is it really worth dishing out hundreds of dollars for “UGG Australia” boots or over $700 for a Jimmy Choo UGG? Or should you save yourself some money and purchase a better quality ugg boot from a lesser-known Australian company? Read on.

We have been recently contacted by Michael Hodge from http://www.whooga-eu.co.uk who is working to get fashion bloggers support for real ugg boots, and increase awarness for his brand. As you can see from their site, his company is extremely concerned with the quality and authenticity of their boots. They have dedicated a large area of their site to “how to spot a fake” and these are few things we’ve learned ourselves:

1. Fake ugg boots will have a shinny inner fleece that is not spongy and soft to the touch like sheepskin.

2.Original ugg boots are comfortable in the summer just as they are in the winter because they are thermostatic.

3. Real Ugg boots are expensive since they are made from natural sheepskin, which is expensive to buy.

And there is some good news: Whooga is running a giveaway to everyone that follows them on twitter (twitter.com/whoogaboot) and another giveaway to everyone that signs up to their  newsletter (www.whooga-eu.co.uk/birh.asp?p=Newsletter).

Stay tooned, they draw boots for the winners at the end of each month.

And just for you, our beloved Daily Vogue readers they created a discount code which will give you 10% off for the next week: 390THEVOGUE.

Millissa Mathai