Hey, Magpies! What could be better than a night of shopping in NYC? That’s right – nothing! We are so excited about Fashion’s Night Out, a shopping extravaganza that kicks off 2010 New York Fashion Week. On September 10th, over 1,000 stores here in New York will keep doors open late for customers to mingle with celebrities and fashion’s elite, sip cocktails and of course – shop! We Magpies thought we’d share our top (and most easily accessible) picks that we can’t wait to check out!

1) Bloomingdale’s, 59th Street and Lexington Avenue – At the Bloomie’s event, actors from HBO’s new series “Boardwalk Empire” will be on the lower level, which will literally be transformed into a pop-up HARRAH’s CASINO!! How cool is that!? Also, live-action windows featuring Atlantic City’s boardwalk from the 1920s will line the Third Avenue side of the store. And maybe you can find out the latest “Project Runway” gossip from Michael Kors, who will be hanging out in the handbag department.

2) Macy’s, 34th Street – Macy’s will be filled with stars for the event. Designer Rachel Roy will get up close and personal on the second floor. There, customers can get dressed in her designs, and then participate in a photo shoot to have the chance to be featured in her fall 2010 look book. How cool is that? And head up to the fourth floor for a meet and greet with America’s favorite blonde, Jessica Simpson (and try on jeans from her new denim line!).  Or stop by and meet British singer Joss Stone in the fifth floor shoe department, where you can receive her autographed CD when you buy any pair of Nine West shoes.

3) Bergdorf Goodman, 754 Fifth Avenue – Perhaps the most star-studded event will happen at this Fifth Avenue fashion mecca. Bergdorf Goodman is hosting the “BG’s Best in Show” event, where designers and their dogs will walk a runway. The master of ceremonies will be celebrity stylist Robert Verdi and guest judges will include designer Monique Lhuillier and actress Kelly Rutherford from “Gossip Girl.” Now that’s nothing to bark at! or That’s sure to get a lot of tails waggin’!

And before you go – check out this PSA that features top models and was directed by photographer Peter Lindbergh. The PSA was shot in locations in NYC and promotes Fashion’s Night Out -  plus, the sale of the t-shirts worn in the video will benefit the NYC AIDS Fund.

Have Fun and Happy Shopping, Magpies!

Our favorite cameras, hair straighteners, take-out food, and cars (well, we haven’t had any problems with our brakes)… and now this! It would take an  innovative, high-tech Japanese beauty company to figure out a way to get all those tiny fibers in mascara to go on lashes in the right direction. We’ve tried many mascaras that claim to have fibers to lengthen lashes, but we’ve found that they tend to flake all over our face and never go on in a natural way…up and out is all we ask for! Sideways and smooshed lashes are not the look we Magpies are going for! Frankly,we don’t need mascara to get that look – we wake up with that look every Monday morning! However, on a recent trip to Sephora we came across a mascara that we think is worthy of talking about – since it actually does what it claims to do. Imju’s d.j.v. Beautenizer Fiberwig LX is a magical, fiber-adding, eyelash-lengthening mascara that really adds length and definition to our stubby lashes, and makes a dramatic difference in the look of our eyes. It contains fiber extensions which brush on easily, essentially encapsulating each lash and lengthening it. Plus – the best part is that it stays put the entire day. We actually tried it as a base coat and used it with our other mascaras to make our lashes look even glamorous! It’s basically like fake lashes without the mess – a great alternative for any Magpie who has trouble applying false lashes before the glue dries (ahem, moi!). Also, it’s really smudge-proof, yet comes off easily with warm water! We’ve included the d.j.v. beautenizer website which has instructions on applying the mascara correctly. And don’t judge this mascara by its cover. Though this Japanese mascara is sensational, the instructional video, packaging (and even the name of this mascara!) could’ve used a little more creative attention! It’s more worthy of  a name like, hmm…Dramateyes, Fibereyes, or our personal Magpie favorite, Fabooshi-eyes!!

We first professed our love for Aldo here, when we purchased a pair of  faboosh nude patent leather pumps that we ended up wearing the entire summer. But now – we Magpies have fallen in love all over again. And it’s not just our new love!  Aldo’s Fawson pumps have been seen on everyone from reality star Lauren Conrad…

…to Gossip Girl Jessica Szohr…

…to model Amber Valletta!

They come in every fabric from suede to brushed gold, and they look good with just about everything. And if it couldn’t get any better -  right now, they’re on sale for $49.98 a pair – so you gotta get them in a few colors. High on style, low on price – how can you not fawn?!

After hearing all the buzz about it, you might be wondering…donde esta La Biblioteca? Located on the corner of 40th street and 3rd Avenue, La Biblioteca (Spanish for “the library”) has to be one of the trendiest lounges to hit Murray Hill in…forever! You have to know about this place though – it’s easy to miss, and you won’t find it from the street. La Biblioteca is actually an underground tequila bar right below Zengo (a Latin American/Asian Fusion restaurant that opened last year). The lounge is a great spot for after-work drinks (a fab alternative to other options in the Grand Central area), a date, or just hanging out with friends. It has dim lighting and a cool decor – instead of  library books, you’ll find lockers filled with tequila bottles lining the walls.

We Magpies had the signature margaritas (delicioso) and also tried a tasting flight of three different tequilas (thanks to Entourage, we’ve become very familiar with tequila)! However, since we didn’t get to taste Turtle’s Avion, we’d have to say we liked Don Julio the best. And if you’re hungry, the little snacks are the perfect way to satisfy your craving. We ordered the guacamole with chips and the tuna tacos, which were perfect – since we were craving something fun to share that wasn’t too filling. So Magpies,  the next time you’re looking for a place to check out, that’s also the new hot spot - head to La Biblioteca. Vamos!!

With all this gross, humid weather we’ve had in NYC lately, it’s been soooo hard to keep our hair looking anything but frizzy. But one Magpie recently discovered a brush that has changed the way our hair looks and feels. A Midwest Magpie (who is in constant need of frizz control!) swears by it, and suggested we check out this fabulous brush from BrushLab. Sold at Ulta stores in the U.S., the brush is three inches in diameter, and tames the frizzies better than any brush we’ve ever tried. Plus, it has a comfortable grip to hold the brush, making it easy for even the most hair-challenged Magpies to achieve the perfect blowout. Since there’s no Ulta in NYC you will have to order the brush online. But trust us, we’re sure that you (and your hair) will thank us for it!

We were delighted to discover that it’s not just the tiny restaurant you see from the street. On a recent beautiful summer night, we were led to an outdoor area in the restaurant’s backyard garden.

It was cozy, green, and peaceful, and actually made us forget for a second that we were in New York (although, unfortunately, some honking cab drivers did bring us back to reality). Since we just stopped by chance, we enjoyed a few glasses of wine and some salads before heading home. We ordered the Nordique Salad (which comes with poached salmon, jumbo lump crabmeat, smoked salmon, poached eggs, grapefruit and cucumber) …

…and the Legumes Salad (which is made with organic mixed baby greens, vegetables, tofu and parmesan cheese).

Both salads were light and perfect to eat while outside in this backyard garden! AOC was such a pleasant surprise, that we Magpies will be wandering back there soon…and definitely not aimlessly!

We picked the chocolate chip cookie, double chocolate cookie, and oatmeal raisin cookie to take home (which was their entire cookie selection, obvs!) And the sweet buttery aroma of the cookies made us start devouring them in the cab ride home. But when we tried them…we were totally disappointed. They were just a buttery mess. The chocolate chip was way too salty and buttery, and definitely not that chocolate-y tasting. And don’t get us started on the oatmeal raisin. It tasted like a bad granola bar that wasn’t even sweet. Truthfully, we’ve never met a cookie that we didn’t like. But these were so blah-di-dah that even we couldn’t justify wasting sooooo many calories finishing them (that’s how you know a cookie is really bad when it rates a zero on our worth-it or not calorie-meter).

So Magpies, on the next rainy day, don’t bother heading to City Bakery… stay dry and open up a box (which some of us Magpies consider an individual portion…) of Entenmann’s chewy, bite -size chocolate-chip cookies. They’ll be tastier – and much less fattening – than all the big butter-laden ones we got at the City Bakery.

As we all know – there are millions of pizza places in NYC – sometimes, on a single city block!  So it takes a lot for a pizza place to set itself apart. We recently reviewed one of our faves, John’s of Bleecker Street- but if you’re looking for crispy, crunchy, thin crust pizza, there’s nothing that beats Vezzo – located at the corner of 31st Street and Lexington Avenue. We think it’s also one of the best places for great tasting combo pies in the Kips Bay area, and it’s also a popular neighborhood restaurant to dine at.  But it’s not often blogged about in” foodie” reviews - and that’s why we Magpies are spreading the word.

We always start with the hummus appetizer (Hummus? At a pizza place? Trust us – it’s so good, and it’s served with warm, crispy pita). The restaurant is especially known for its thin-crust individual pies – and you get to choose  from a list of a menu of choices, like the Classico pie…

…or make your own, from a variety of really interesting toppings. Want a pie with mushrooms, goat cheese and grilled chicken? You got it!

What about a pie with grilled baby eggplant, caramelized onions and asparagus? They’ll make it for you! And they also have delicious house specialties, like the shroomtown pie, which is served with marinara sauce, cheese, portobello, shitake, and button mushrooms and drizzled with white truffle oil (a Magpie favorite!). So the next time you’re craving a really delicious pie with a Mediterranean twist, you must try Vezzo. But, do us all a favor – don’t tell anyone else.

Are you working really hard or hardly working? Do you find that you’ve tried practically every cool rooftop/outdoor bar for happy hour and bartenders are starting to know your drink before you order?  Well, if you’re like the crew at Harriet Magpie, then it’s definitely time to try something different, and perhaps Stone Street is the street for you!  Tucked all the way downtown, and sandwiched between South William and Pearl Streets, it was designated a historic district in 1996 and received money for its much needed makeover. It is the oldest paved street in New York City and today is now an oasis of picnic tables, food and drinks, and lots of twenty-somethings (bankers, lawyers, and business types…as well as unemployed bankers, lawyers and business types!) all squished together in a one fun-block radius.

The visual experience alone is worth the trip there!  Seeing a typical narrow New York City cobblestone street set up like a European outdoor piazza is really a must-see. All the different restaurants (from Italian to Chinese) along this block have tables on the street (which is closed off to traffic) and you can restaurant-and-table hop until you find the food and location that works for you and your friends. We Magpies were there on a beautiful summer night (right after work!) and it was packed. We managed to score an outdoor picnic table for six (although we were four) at Adrienne’s Pizza Bar (which apparently ranked 14th on the New Yorker’s best city pizza!), and then they added two more people to our table. But on Stone Street, the more the merrier! We got so friendly with the additional diners (our new best friends!) that they even shared their pizza with us (which was delish) while we decided on our own menu picks! We went with the mixed olives as an appetizer and then we split a Caprese pie (topped with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella slices), a thin crust Marinara pie (half with pepperoni!) and an order of spaghetti and meatballs.

Everything was so much fun and tasted so good – maybe it’s because we arrived at happy hour and left hours later, or maybe it’s just really nice to sit outdoors on a cobblestone street in New York and eat and drink with fun friends. But whatever the reason, Stone Street made us big fans…and since there are so many different bars and restaurants there, we are pretty confident nobody will recognize us when we return…tomorrow.

It’s that time of the year again – end of summer always means it’s almost time for New York Fashion Week (yay!), one of our favorite times of the year! We love the parties, we love how New York City attracts every celebrity in the world, and most of all, we love, love love the fashion! That’s why we were so excited to hear some fab Fashion Week news about one of our favorite designers, Elizabeth and James. Designers Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen have  perfected the mix between masculinity and femininity with their line – and soon, you’ll be able to find your fave items from the brand, right under one roof! For one week only, Elizabeth and James is opening a pop-up shop in NYC’s West Village during next month’s New York Fashion Week, which is the first time ever that you’ll be able to shop the entire collection in person! And, what’s even cooler, is that Ashley and Mary Kate will be making an appearance at the shop on the night of Fashion’s Night Out – Friday, Sept. 10th. We don’t know about you – but we can’t wait to check it out! We’ll post details on the exact location when a little birdie (think Magpie) tells us…And, by the way, our fave Elizabeth and James item this summer have been the light, boyfriend blazers. They’re three-quarter sleeve (perfect for hot nights and cool restaurants!), long (hit just the right spot) and femininely narrow (so they hug your body).

We have been wearing our white and black blazers with everything this summer:  floral print dresses, silky rompers, and skinny jeans. At a few hundred dollars a pop, they don’t come cheap – but since we’ve worn  them a few hundred times this season…the style has paid for itself! We all have our eyes and credit cards out for the gold lame version for the fall ( totally faboosh!)

When it comes to fabulous, wearable fashion, these twins (literally) have our backs covered.   That’s why, we ♥ Elizabeth and James!