Latina.com Blog

At Latina.com, we love to celebrate the gorgeous women of Latin descent who grace red carpets at movie premieres. They are the chosen few who have the privilege of wearing the best fashion designers both from here and abroad.The sad truth, however, is that the real Latinas in fashion are actually employed in exploitative garment factories. L.A. is home to 40,000 garment factory workers, and I can tell you that I’ve seen with my own eyes that the vast, vast majority of them are Latinas and Latinos.

Which is why I am excited about this new documentary film called No Sweat, directed by Amie Williams and produced by Tony Silver (of Style Wars fame, yeah!). Full disclosure: I traveled to South Africa with Amie to work on a film about youth and apartheid in 1991.

No Sweat takes a good, hard look at the so-called progressive policies of American Apparel, your favorite T-shirt maker and mine. During a two year span, Amie and Tony challenge the charismatic American Apparel CEO/sleazebag Dov Charney on the alleged sexual harassment of three female employees, the exploitation of women in his ad campaigns and the competitive team system that rushes the seamstresses to produce faster and faster, at risk to their mind and bodies (balmaidenfilms.com). Dov Charney says some pretty ridiculous and hilarious things in his interviews. Too bad, the consequences are serious.

—Serena

I was plucking my eyebrows the other night when I became so enraged, I threw the tweezers on the floor and had myself a little hissy fit. The tweezers were totally inadequate, and I said so as I threw them out. My boyfriend witnessed this petulant behavior and asked me what could possibly make one pair of tweezers different, let alone better, than another. I opened my mouth, all ready to share, and then it hit me: I wasn’t really sure. All I know is that some tweezers are so sharp and….hard and…rough, or something, that they snap my hairs in the center before they can pull them out at the root. This leaves me with impossibly short, stubble-like hairs, and then I have to wait for them to grow out before I can try again. So annoying! One word, chicas: Tweezerman (tweezerman.com). That never happens to me with Tweezerman tweezers. They are perfection, and worth the price.

–Angelique

I saw a picture of Daisy Fuentes at a Burberry store opening recently. She was sporting heavily lined eyes and medium-dark mauve lipstick. I thought it was a bit much, in a dated 1990s kinda way. But I also know that it’s a thing with me…I can’t wear a blue top with jeans, and I just don’t really dig deep lipstick with deep, dark eye makeup. Fearing that I was being not only mean to Daisy but also cosmetically close-minded, I proposed to myself a compromise: Deep, color-rich lip gloss. So I wore a dark, lush purple shade of Guerlain Kiss Kiss lip gloss ($28, nordstrom.com) with black eye liner all day today. I loved it! I had a glossy finish, yet in a strong, noticeable, I’m-wearing-lip color statement shade. It wasn’t at all too much; it was just right.

-Angelique

As a little girl, I had some bitter fights with my mother, who wanted me to wear tights with my dresses to church. I couldn’t stand the way the elastic cut into my waist and the suffocating feeling on my legs. We all thought that I would eventually outgrow my powerful dislike of tights, but even at this advanced age, I still hate them with a passion. Except for Wolford Fatal 50 Tights.

This venerable old Austrian hosiery maker has tons of amazing styles, but I’m loyal to the Fatal 50 because they are opaque, seamless and buttery soft. That’s right, they are completely seamless. I don’t know how they do it, but it’s so comfortable.

The downside is that they cost roughly $50 depending on the exchange rate and I have only been able to find them at wolfordboutiquelondon.com, where the price is listed in English pounds. The upside is that if you invest in a pair, they will last you for a decade, which is long enough to see the opaque tights trend come and go and come back again.

—Serena

I have one. It’s shameful. Want to hear it? I cut my cuticles. Obsessively. Any little hangnail, rough spot, lo que sea, I grab my cuticle cutter faster than you can yell ‘Stop!’ I can’t help it. I’ve tried…I’ll try harder. And in that effort, I’ve started carrying around OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil to Go ($8, amazon.com). I find that if the surface is slippery and, you know, healing, I’m less apt to pick. It’s a start…

-Angelique

Love, love, luuuv Christina Aguilera’s new song, “Keeps Gettin’ Better;” can’t, can’t, caaan’t say the same about her new look. The hair and blunt bangs are just so straight: no body, no bounce, no bravo from me. I just want to flip her head upside down and work in some John Frieda Luxurious Volume Lavish Lift Root Booster ($6, drugstore.com). I love how she’s experimenting with new looks, though. She constantly keeps it fresh, which is much appreciated, no? You can check out the debut of her new video on ilike.com. I’m ready to press play right now.

-Angelique

A couple weeks ago, the busy little fashion elves at Latina.com put together “Message Control,” a slideshow of cute political T-shirts. Now we have another one to add: Marc by Marc Jacobs’ “Time for a Change.” If you recall, Jacobs issued a limited edition Hillary Clinton T-shirt back during the primaries, but I guess he’s come to his senses now and produced this limited edition one-off in black with Barack Obama’s slogan written in a bold Jacobsean font. Drew Barrymore rocked it proudly in a recent Harper’s Bazaar interview, though she actually wore something different for the cover. You can buy yours now at any Marc by Marc Jacobs store for $18, which isn’t a whole lot more expensive than the silk-screened ones you can buy on the side of the highway from some guy in a van.

—Serena

So remember when I told y’all about Celia San Miguel, the bloguera who put together her own round-up of the best 25 fragrances ever? Well, I thought of another timeless fragrance I love that should have made the list: Stella McCartney Stella ($67 for 1.6 oz., sephora.com). It’s a soft, feminine rose-based scent. Oddly enough, today I was just discussing with Laura Mercier (herself, I kid you not) how French and European women enjoy the smell of roses and rose-based perfumes, and American women…eh, not so much. I was surprised. It’s always been one of my favorite scents. Chicas?–Angelique

So I’ve been invited to a baby shower, and now I’m searching through buybuybaby.com and potterybarnkids.com for a gift (um…did you even know Pottery Barn had a kids store? News to me.). It’s got me thinking baby thoughts; baby booties, baby onesies, baby food, baby cream. And so, tonight I’m going to pop off the top of Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Lotion ($4.29, drugstore.com) and just breathe it in. Ahhh. Then I’ll slather it on, ‘cause it’s gentle and soothing and moisturizing on grown-up skin, too. Good habits start young.

–Angelique

I want to write about another kind of love today–love of your trabajo.

I don’t know chicas…I am feeling uninspired with my career. Earlier this year, I was writing up a storm for several publications – working all hours of the day and night. It was a lot of work but I enjoyed it. I also felt my career was finally advancing–something I haven’t felt in a long time.

Lately, there seems to be a lot more downtime for me and I’m not getting assigned more stories or projects. I know I should go out and seek more opportunities but sometimes I just don’t feel like it. I’d rather curl up on my bed with a magazine!

Perhaps it’s because of our effed up economy that things are slow for me. Also, the weather is getting cold and with frio comes more laziness (at least for me).

Recently, a colleague (and dear friend) of mine received a wonderful promotion at work. I’m so happy for her but a little bit envious. I want a better title with more money too!

And what’s my big goal for this year? Something I haven’t achieved yet. I am dying for a book deal. I can’t discuss what my book is about but I’ve been talking about it for too long –over two years! I keep talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

I know that since it’s a slow period I should start working on my book but HOW do I do it? Maybe I should go away for a few days to work on it.

I don’t want to get all Oprah on you but what helps you go for the gold? How do you achieve success? And what do you do if you’re stuck in a slump like me?

Sometimes I still wish I was kid and didn’t have to stress out about love, work and family.