Let's Discuss The Rouge Dior Lip Coffret Gift Set: Less Is Not More Dior

Frankly, I've been keen on but never purchased Dior's annual holiday Coffret Lipstick Sets -- in 2022 it's called Rouge Dior Lip Coffret Gift Set (see above image👆) -- but I enjoy Christmas browsing and always look for the limited edition gift bag, um set after Thanksgiving.

 

2018 edition - photo pulled from the internet, it is my favorite design - a constellation

Over the last few years, it sold for $175 and included 6 lipsticks, a lipstick holder, and a popular cosmetic bag that customers enjoy using as a clutch purse, as well as, finding clever ways to add hardware, converting it into a small shoulder or crossover bag. It's become a convention among handy Dior beauty buyers.

2019 edition

This holiday season after a tough couple of years for many consumers, how are the luxury brands treating their loyal customers? By hiking up their already steep prices and giving clients even less value for their money. One retailer is Chanel whose, classic double-flap bag rose in price to just under $10,000 without improving its craftmanship.

2020 edition of the gift bag.

Dior is now charging $240 (a $75 price increase) for this year's Rouge Dior Lip Coffret Gift Set but has reduced the lipsticks to only 5. Adding insult to injury, the gift bag no longer has a faux leather outer surface, but is hard plastic! Dior added a gold metal clip-on chain to the plastic box, so consumers no longer have to be clever to turn it into a crossover bag, and yet it's plastic! Really Dior?

Here's a clever YouTuber showing us how to convert a 2021 Dior makeup case into a bag.

Why are multi-million dollar companies treating their customers this way? In fact, skimping them! Charging customers more and giving them less. And ... how will loyal customers respond?

As a longtime admirer of Dior and Chanel, I'm disappointed! I suppose I should thank the exclusive duo for removing all potential temptation, but I'd much rather appreciate top-of-the-line quality and fair pricing.

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The Wisdom Of Thanksgiving

Photo: Simonton

The following ... turkey images and Thanksgiving quotes are pinched from the internet. Go to their sources here and here for more. Visit some of my Thanksgiving blogs of the past for Thanksgiving reflections. The wise sayings and breeds of turkeys I selected below are more lighthearted fare:

Know that I can only eat a store-bought turkey. Any creature I were to feed and raise becomes a pet. I mean, you take care of the bird, acquire it as a chick, worry about it being warm, and it trusts you not to harm it, right?

In the 2nd grade, I got to take home our classroom's on-display dried tri-colored ear of corn, which thrilled 7-year-old Debbie to death! The adult Debbie realizes that our 2nd-grade teacher must have bought the colorful ears of corn with her own money and is grateful for all that teachers do for their students. I kept the ear of corn for years.

These turkeys look like an old married couple walking home.

And what is this crowd of feathered friends staring at? Are they lining up to feed, or waiting for a concert in a field to start? :)

 

I just know these 3 birds on the left are gagster turkeys. Look how they're taking over the walkway, not making room for pedestrians to pass! Watch it, boys, I didn't know you as chicks, and an attack will give me a ferocious appetite for turkey pot pies!

Are you watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade followed by the National Dog Show? I have seen the parade standing on the sidewalk (on Central Park West at W75th Street) and from a highrise (on Broadway at W53rd Street paired with refreshments), so nowadays I'm satisfied watching it on television while having breakfast. It's become a Thanksgiving tradition. BTW: The night before Thanksgiving, you can watch the balloons being blown up on West 77th Street. I've done so twice. Years ago, it was unorganized, but over time it has grown to attract more people.

🍁Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

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Saks Fifth Avenue Holiday Widows

Photos: Saks Fifth Avenue

Tonight Saks Fifth Avenue unveiled its 2022 Holiday Windows and light show. Every December, I walk from the Upper East Side to Midtown to see them, take in the decorations at Rockefeller Center and see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, then I pop into Saks to see their ornaments and return home. Sometimes I also step into St. Patrick's Cathedral or save it for another day. Before the holidays are over, I also visit Bloomingdales and Macy's to see their ornaments. It's become a Christmas tradition. Frankly I no longer go to buy things as I have every Christmas decoration I need for my apartment. If coming to Manhattan, you have about six weeks to catch the festive displays, which are spectacular!

You can guess who entertained the crowd tonight. He's fairly recognizable. Happy Sightseeing!

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Flirty Girl Wants To Make You Smile

The photo is from Google Maps

One of the most beloved brands in New Orleans, Flirty Girl, was launched in 2009 by single mother and New Orleans native, Lauren LeBlanc Haydel, initially as an online business. Today she has 8 retail stores and 60 employees. The brand was voted Best of New Orleans by Gambit magazine for 11 years in a row.

Flirty Girl's aim is to make you smile while celebrating the city of New Orleans with shirts, skorts, scarves, jackets, shoes, kitchen and bar glasses, hair accessories, food and spices, soap, together with holiday-and-novelty gifts.

The retailer has become a must-stop for tourists but if you can't make it to New Orleans you can still send some "local love + fun finds" by ordering online, the place where it all began. Perhaps someone on your holiday list could use a smile or has fond memories of the Big Easy.

King Cake Bolt Balm

Ahhh, the only cute alligator is a toy alligator (🐊 see far above👆), but LOOK he's crawling away and headed for the flamingo🦩who should not stand tall and be eaten. Run!! ... run away!!!⚜️

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A Happy New Year 2022

Wishing all my readers a Happy New Year! Some sparkle and poetry to ring it in ~

Good Riddance, But Now What?

By Ogden Nash 

Come, children, gather round my knee;
Something is about to be.
Tonight’s December thirty-first,
Something is about to burst.
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark! It’s midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year.

From Read Me 2: A Poem For Every Day Of The Year

Auld Lang Syne

By Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint stowp!

And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fit,
Sin’ auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin’ auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
From A Poem for Every Night of the Year

Stay healthy and safe my lovelies!🎉

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It's Nearly Christmas: Come Travel With Me

One of the Christmas trees at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Queen Elizabeth IIs official residence in Scotland. A painting of King Charles II looks on. For more about him go here. His father, King Charles I is the portrait on the right.

For our Christmas blog let's travel around the world, as well as, back in time a bit. On my bucket list is a return to Great Britain at Christmas time. With the numbers of the Omicron variant of COVID rising, it won't be anytime soon, so let us rely on the blog for our Christmas visits this year ...

The Royal Family's trees at Windsor Castile

How beautiful are Queen Elizabeth II's 2021 trees in Scotland and Windsor? Her Majesty's trees arrived and were decorated in early December.

On to the Middle East ...

 Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

One day perhaps tourists will again spend Christmas where it all began in Bethlehem. Maybe this December the locals can enjoy Bethlehem even more without the usual crowds, although sadly when people stay away the commerce won't be there for the town either.

Our next stop is New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 9, 2021:

All photos at the Met: Carolyn C.

Here on the Upper East Side at the Met, my friend Carolyn invited me to see the new Walt Disney exhibit with her. She had an extra ticket for its opening. I had not visited the museum in 2+ years, and her company was the shot in the arm (no pun intended😊) I needed to go again. As it turns out, you do need your COVID shots in the arm, as well as, to show a state ID and wear a mask to get inside. Glad to oblige to keep everybody safe! 

We very much enjoyed the magic of Walt Disney consisting of footage of its animated films, movie posters, and various artifacts from the productions. As I mentioned to Carolyn, I didn't see Disney's Snow White (1938) or The Sleeping Beauty (1959) movies, but as a child, I had the records of the fairytales which I played over and over again; and the recordings came with Disney illustrated books so you could turn the pages as you listened to actors reading the parts, classical music, and dramatic sound effects. I remember the book images vividly as if I'd seen the films in theaters. Beauty And The Beast (1991) I also missed in theaters ... but I've seen enough Disney clips over the years to know all 3 animated films well.

Photo: Carolyn C. of The 17th Century Christmas tree at the Met

Naturally, we had to visit the 17th Century Christmas tree the Met always sets up at Christmas in the Medieval-Byzantine-Early Modern chamber complete with a soft Gregorian chant in the background. Every year it's become a Christmas tradition to walk over to see it. Like many other activities, I missed doing so in 2020.

Our last blog stop is a spot in my apartment. You get music in my home too.🙂

I tried to give this Nativity Scene away as I have another one but didn't find a taker, and so I'm displaying it myself this year. Hey, maybe I do need two.:) 

"Go Tell It On the Mountain" is from my favorite Christmas album of all time recorded by the Ames Brothers (1957), which I reviewed the year I began the blog here. As a young man, my father bought the vinyl album, and it played every Christmas on my parent's {Dad's stuff always became our stuff😀} stereo during my childhood, so when I moved to Manhattan, I bought a CD of it in a record store. Thus, the tradition continues! Unfortunately, record stores are another relic of the past.

Another glance at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland with Queen Elizabeth's decorating team.

I want to thank you, my lovely readers, for stopping by ... for your continued support ... and I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday in your own faith traditions. I'm happy to include you in mine by wishing you Peace, Love and, Joy. 

We may be from multi-cultures and traditions, but everyone is accepted and valued on THE SAVVY SHOPPER. Here we are united as one human global family. Free to be a little bit serious and a little bit frivolous ... and spread kindness continuously. On these restricted days apart people need it!😘💋

Merry Christmas Everyone!

xoxo

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