The Lucky beauty department receives bags and bags of unsolicited products—mascara, self-tanner, perfume, dog shampoo, you name it—every day by messenger, from every beauty company you've ever heard of (and dozens more that you haven't). It sounds glamorous—our coworkers are incredulous when we complain—but until you've seen a beauty assistant slog "Apocalypse Now"-like through her own cubicle, you can't possibly understand how maddening the deluge can become. Despite all this, we are always especially thrilled to death to receive candles. All four of us hoard them in nooks on our already cluttered desks like squirrels stash nuts, only occasionally taking them home to burn.  If you love a candle as much as we do, check out Illume Candle's new online boutique: The whole month of October, you can enter to win one of three Room Therapy Collection candle sets, which include incredibly appealing scents like Sandalwood Hinoki and Black Amber & Lavender.

I've always fantasized about being one of those modern domestic women who can sew her own skirts and reupholster her own furniture and whip up a couple of perfectly neat, cool-looking throw pillows during a lunch break. If I ever need inspiration to start these projects, the eBay store Atomic Textiles is an incredible source. It's an offshoot of a shop in Ashgrove, Australia, which sells hundreds of gorgeous, often rare, vintage fabrics from the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Right now, I'm especially loving this bright yellow-and-green Scandinavian floral pattern for a duvet cover, and Pamela Walker's graphic quizzical-looking giraffes would be the perfect print for a kid's room.

Search tip: Read carefully before you buy—many of these fabrics are sold by the half yard, instead of a yard, which I found out is barely enough fabric to make a small bolster pillow.

Regular Lucky readers have doubtlessly observed that we've got a little obsession in the makeup department. Still, when you really look at beauty director Jean Godfrey-June's computer, and start to register the sheer number of lip balms and glosses lined up below the screen, you begin to appreciate the magnitude of her possibly clinical disorder—in much the way that Shelley Duvall's panic escalated at she leafed through the hundreds of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" pages in The Shining.

"I do use them all," Jean insists (defensively). Currently #1 in rotation is something called Baume Baiser from Lancôme; the balm itself is made of a mysteriously springy, marshmallow-like material that smells like a French pastry.

After searching for new sunglasses for quite some time, I finally settled on these Thakoon aviators. They're more or less logo-free, sufficiently oversize (two non-negotiable prerequisites of mine when it comes to eyewear), and vaguely '70s-ish without looking costumey. They strike the perfect balance--the tortoiseshell is laid-back, the overall shape is super-sleek--so they're ideal for everyday.

There are people who can truly relax in salon chairs, but beauty assistant Cat Marnell is not one of them.  Unfortunately, highlighting her long, thick hair takes two hours minimum from start to finish. Cat typically passes the time hoarding all of the good magazines so no one else can have any, squirming despondently beneath her smock, and earnestly soliloquizing on Lindsay Lohan. But at Bumble and Bumble's downtown Manhattan salon, which is on the seventh floor overlooking the Hudson River, she did nothing but stare out the window for the duration of the appointment and left feeling as if she'd had a massage and a Reiki session, so peaceful was she.  The highlights were fabulous, too.  If you're in the New York City area, you must check it out—the view must be seen to be believed.

There's something so simple and yet so chic about these Southampton table linens from Gracious Style. They're made of crisp white cotton with two-inch-wide borders in contrasting colors ranging from black to coral to celery green. Appealingly unfussy (both in terms of design and the fact that they're machine washable), they'd look great with similarly clean, modern dinnerware and would pair equally well with more ornate, traditional china. And if you're still not convinced, they also happen to be on sale.

"This weekend I moved apartments in epically miserable fashion—boxes, grime, a crew of very un-burly (though willing) friends, a trek to unknown hinterlands to procure a shuddering, seemingly possessed UHaul, and—the final indignity!—a brand-new sofa that was exactly 3 inches too big to fit through the front door. To escape further heavy lifting, my two fellow-beauty-editor friends decided to organize my desolate new bathroom. Being editors, they edited—and a good thing, too: seven boxes into packing my toiletries I realized product ruthlessness is not exactly my strong point. They furiously spritzed and sampled, weeded out the 3/4-useds and the not-so-attractives; I gritted my teeth and looked away. The results make me very happy: Gleaming golden clusters of L'Artisan Parfumeur and Miller Harris perfumes (see picture below), neat lines of serum organized by ascending height. I did fish one thing out of the trash after they left, however: A grimy bottle of Stila hair powder in Créme Bouquet. Ok, maybe it's not the prettiest at this point, but there's a reason it's been grabbed so often. It gives hair incredible body and texture; you work in a dime-sized amount close to your scalp—it absorbs oil so you can completely skip washing your hair (crucial right now, as I still can't find my shower curtain)—plus the soapy/flowery/spicy/subtle scent works brilliantly as perfume too."

As soon as weather permits (it's still a very summery 80-something degrees in New York City) I'm planning to add wooly high waist skirts into my fall wardrobe rotation, starting with this one by Dallin Chase. Pearly oversize buttons give it a vaguely 70's twist, and the quintessentially autumnal, masculine tweed is balanced by a girly sash at the waist that can be tied in a bow. I'll wear it with fitted cashmere knits, thick ribbed grey tights (another recent obsession that I can't wait to indulge once temperatures dip), and heeled, knee-high leather boots.

It was after Labor Day; who could blame Cat Marnell for forgetting her sunscreen on a trip to the beach? Her friends-who-will-look-60-when-they're-40 had nothing but a tropical oil spiked with SPF 4. The hideous sunburn that resulted required serious treatment; here, the regimen that worked: aspirin (brings down inflammation), calming lotions (like Kate Somerville's goatsmilk cream) and concealer (Mally's Cancellation Concealer).

While these miraculous shower gels—they leave SPF on your skin after they're rinsed off, crazy as it might seem—are not enough to protect a person all day at the beach, they do give you a head start. And they're better than nothing for the truly derelict.

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