As noted previously, winter has me craving white dresses. I finally found one that's actually designed to wear in the cold: Elijah's sleek shift is made of wool, and is thick enough so that you safely wear dark tights underneath without them showing through the dress (a rarity when it comes to white dresses). Though strapless, it comes with its own built-in bra, so there's no need to bother with fussy undergarments to get it to fit just right. And with a blazer on top, I might even be able to get away with wearing it to the office.

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Special sections director Liz Kiernan has been wearing the best tights all winter—perfectly opaque and matte, and not just in black but in cool, muted shades of gray, brown, and navy too—so great, in fact, I finally had to ask her where she's been getting them. Though I was expecting her to tell me they were from one of the fancy European brands, it turns out her resource is a quirky, under-the-radar site called sockdreams.com. She's tried the bamboo and microfiber versions, and also ones made of thick ribbed cotton, all of which are dense and warmth-inducing, though unlike the wool varieties, they aren't itchy and don't make you overheat when you get indoors. Liz has been ordering them in bulk and I'm about to follow her lead.

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My favorite new site is uptownliz.com, which was created by Ramona Russell when her sister, Liz, died of breast cancer at the age of 28. It's an amazing directory of beauty brands (as well as everything else from electronics to art) that donate proceeds to cancer charities. The search function is particularly fantastic: You can narrow down your results by charity or by product type. It's quite possibly the best cure to buyer's remorse and/or splurging guilt.

—Dawn Spinner, associate beauty editor

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Last week our completely cool and crush-worthy beauty assistant Cat Marnell came to me with an urgent request: "I need you to help me find that sweater that Marilyn Monroe is wearing on the beach during that photo shoot where she's also wrapped in a blanket and it's famous and it's from right before she died. Google image 'Marilyn Monroe Beach' right now. Please." I love fulfilling style inspirations like this. To me, getting a look in your head that you absolutely need to try is one of the most fun and creative things about fashion. So, I looked on eBay. And I looked some more. And I tried different searches. And I looked in Men's. And...nada. What I did find was a slew of awesome vintage ski sweaters like this and this and this, which I can't wait to wear with boots and jeans or on the weekends to replace my ratty hoodie with Chucks. And, in the end, Cat found a pretty-close replica of the MM sweater on sale at Daffy's and I got a sweater with unicorns. Everybody wins.

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I went to see Cloverfield over the weekend, the jittery, intense (but blessedly short) horror film where an enormous terrifying monster invades and demolishes the bulk of Manhattan. I don't think I'm giving anything away here when I tell you there's a lot of running in this movie. A lot of running. The six main characters are in a frenetic, bloody race for their lives, and do you know what two of the women are wearing? HEELS. One has on wedge ankle boots so high they look like a torture device, and the other is wearing stiletto sandals. The whole movie, I kept thinking: "What are these crazy bitches doing? Take off your shoes!" Anyway. The entire experience made me realize I never want to be caught wearing something I can't sprint from a monster in ever again. There are nearly 12,000 pairs of flats on eBay right now—from high-end Lanvin to totally affordable Gap—buy a pair you like now, put them in your bag, live free.

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West Hollywood's Bird boutique has long been one of the best resources for cool, offbeat international fashion. What I didn't realize until just now, however, is that a thorough selection of their inventory is also offered up on their website. Birdla.com is worthy of bookmarking for access to designers like Bruno Bordese (a handmade shoe collection out of Italy), UK-based Emma Cook, and New York's Gary Graham, who makes the most beautiful, slightly deconstructed pieces from hand-dyed fabrics. Pretty much everything on the site is on sale right now, including some springy items likeSonia Rykiel's slouchy pleated skirt in cream with a big bow at the waist--was $705, now $176.

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I unwrap the beauty department packages all day, so I smell practicallyevery scent on earth. Yet I can't stop combing the CB I Hate Perfume website after going to the company's Gallery, a tiny boutique hidden away on abarren street in industrial Williamsburg and lined with rows of Alice inWonderland-type vials of intriguing fragrance. In one visit, I was hooked.The scents are eclectic, original,and often—the best—brilliantly literal:The primary note in At the Beach is Coppertone sunscreen, circa 1967;In the Summer Kitchen smells like fresh garden vegetables and woodenrafters; In the Library recreates the smell of leather book bindings andworn cloth. In lieu of taking the train to Brooklyn in the middle of myworkday, I browse longingly online for a new, weirdly beautiful (BurningLeaves? Who knew?!) scent to call my own.

—Cat Marnell, beauty assistant

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You know that old saying about women getting married and just letting themselves go? Since I got engaged in November, I haven't done a thing. No manicure. No pedicure. Certainly no facial. My eyebrows are overgrown. My split ends, as I've mentionedare horrendous.

But last Sunday Brandon (a.k.a. the distracting fiancé) was out of town on business,and I was finally motivated to make it all—I mean all—happen: At the fantastic, homey TriBeCa Beauty Spa, I got a manicure and pedicure from Lily (who was so meticulous, she could easily get a job retouching Seurats at the Met) and a truly rejuvenating facial from Nadia, the owner. (My skin went from dull—with sad, fading freckles—to bright and glowy in an I-wish-it-were-Saturday-night sort of way.) I sat in the sauna with deep conditioner in my hair. I listened to Bach. And I relaxed in the lounge, snacking on organic bananas.

When the caring-yet-generally-oblivious Brandon got back,he looked at me inquisitively and said, "You're extra sparkly; what'd you do?" And isn't that the true test?

—Dawn Spinner, associate beauty editor

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Like everyone I know on the East Coast who didn't think ahead and book some kind of fabulous Caribbean villa for January (at this point I'd honestly take a canvas tepee on a vagabond beach), I've been majorly housebound lately. Which is making me view my apartment in a whole new (not necessarily flattering) light. I keep walking around the rooms, staring and scrutinizing: "Why is that pile of crap there?" "Was 'Startling Orange' the best choice for the kitchen?" "Is my framed 1912 Harley Davidson poster still funny or just lame?" I suddenly need to change everything around, paint, and start new collections. For example, globes. I saw this cool globe setup on Apartment Therapy a few weeks ago and have been thinking about it ever since. I want to copy the whole idea, gather about seven of them in different sizes, and cluster them on our extra-long midcentury dresser. This French 1930s piece has a Charles Lindbergh-old-school-aviation quality I love. I'd also like this Danish '80s version, which lights up and could serve as a glowing blue night-light. And, to add height differential, I'd pick this two-and-a-half-foot-tall globe-on-a-pedestal. Each item is from a different era, which provides an additional purpose for the bored or housebound: You can create your own "which country existed when" geography game.

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I love this clock. Made by recent Savannah College of Art and Design grad Samuel Provenza, the face is set in a block of maple wood that teeters delicately on a curved, red steel base that mimics a rocking chair. Both its aesthetic and the balancing act aspect remind me a bit of a Calder mobile, which I decided recently is the piece of art I would most like to own if I could. In the meantime, I will happily settle on this timepiece, which will look great on my desk at home and sets me back only $50.Read More