{inspired gifts: bookworm}

book·worm –noun
a person devoted to reading or studying.

{Book City Jackets Covers $15}

*Code BCJ2009 for free shipping on order of two sets or more and $5 off orders of $50 or more

{Penguin Classics $13 each}


{In the Library fragrance $60}

** Use codes “instyle10” to get 20% off the entire order and “hohoho” for free overnight shipping on orders of $250 to get your presents in time for Christmas!

{Red Batchel Bag $147}
** Use codes “instyle10” to get 20% off the entire order and “hohoho” for free overnight shipping on orders of $250 to get your presents in time for Christmas!

{Kindle $259 or Nook, currently backordered, $259}
*Help reduce the bookworm’s clutter, so the truly beloved books will have more space.

Photo from previous post.

{giveaway: book city jackets}

Bookworm that I am, I’ve been waiting for this one. Three lucky {Bits of Beauty} readers will each win a set of book covers from Book City Jackets! If you win, you can pick any set you want.

Want to win one?

Leave a comment telling us “What would be the name of your biography?”

Contest ends at midnight EST on December 20, 2009. Jeremy will pick his three favorite answers, and we will announce the winners in a post early next week. Bon Chance!

Cant wait to get your hands on a set? You can order them here. As a holiday special, you get free shipping if you buy at least two sets and $5 off any order of $50 or more. Use code BCJ2009.

{everyday beautiful life: little pink book}

Today I have a special treat. Our guest happens to be one of the most passionate PR ladies around, who is also one of my besties. Sasha Muradali (@SashaHalima)is the author of the Little Pink Book PR blogzine, which you should visit regular since I post on fashion there every Friday. This is her {Little Pink Beautiful Life}.

Something {Audrey}:- I love Audrey Hepburn… like a lot. I have never owned a pair of sunglasses (after my first pair ever) that did not resemble the big, black ones Audrey Hepburn wore. I did ballet, I model part of my clothing style after her, I am obsessed with ‘Moonriver’ and I want my wedding dress to look like her ballgown from My Fair Lady. For me, Audrey Hepburn isn’t something to be like, or model yourself after, it’s a way of being, it’s a way of life. Period.

Something {Bookworm-esque}:- I love books. I love literature. I love to write. I love reading. I love Harry Potter. I wish Jane Austen were still alive so I could speak to her. I want to travel back in time to see a show at the Globe Theatre. The man I marry has to be a cross between North & South‘s Thornton and Pride & Prejudice‘s Darcy; perhaps with a tad of Severus Snape in there for good measure.

Something {Chocolat!}:- creamy, decadent and heaven in a mouthful. Spiced, melted, hot or liquored up — I love it.

Something {iDance}:- I love to dance. I think Isadora Duncan said it best, “The Dance – it is the rhythm of all that dies in order to live again; it is the eternal rising of the sun.”

Something {Girly, Pearly & Everything Nice}:- I’m a girly (with a mental masculine streak) and I act like one. I love my pearls that my mother gave me and my Laura Ashely bedroom set that hangs sweetly upon my real wood bedroom set that I’ve had since I was girl. There is something sacred about the traditional, the simple and the classic.

Something {Makeup Me Pretty}:- My first real job, ever, was with MAC Cosmetics as a makeup artist. I love makeup. I love wearing it, playing with it and putting it on other people. I love shopping for it, playing around with colours and testing out different textures. Vibrant pigments make my day; shimmering shadows make my life.

Something {Musical}:- There is something ethereal about listening to Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard illustrate the ‘Tears of the Sun.’ There is something intoxicating about ‘The Music of the Night.’ There is something alluring about Michael Buble’s ‘Feeling Good’. There is something sexy about ‘Ojos Asi.’ There is something regal and damn near perfect about Clarke’s trills in ‘Trumpet Voluntary,’ Pachabel’s polyphonic delays in ‘Canon in D’ and Sarah Brightman with Andrea Bocelli pouring their hearts out in ‘Time To Say Goodbye.’ Most of all, there is something human about harmonious notes written on paper and spoken to the world through lifeless instruments. I can’t live without music.

Something {Pinkalicious}:- I have a real Little Pink Book; in fact, I have two. My Petal Pink Vera Bradley wallet goes everywhere with me. My airplane pillow is pink. My favourite lipglass is from MAC and it’s a golden pink little number called Nymphette. I have a collection of Barbie Dolls from all over the world and my favourite doll ever is an original from 1989 called SuperStar Barbie. I had my fondest moments as a kid with her. Heck, when I joined my sorority, people told me it must have been fate because their colours were pink (rose) and white. Go figure.

Something {Sparkly}:- I have this strange obsession with bokeh. I don’t know why. I don’t own anything with glitter on it because I find items like that to be tacky and tasteless. I am not a fan of overtly sequined things that look like the 1980s vomited them back up again. I don’t care who is wearing it or how in style it is. I loathe sequined-glitter object. But there is something to be said about bokeh. In photography, as a stock image, as a texture for editing in Photoshop or Illustrator — even manipulating in Coral Painter. I {heart} bokeh.

Something {Teaful}:- I have a cuppa tea every afternoon. There isn’t much more to be said about it. My favourite brand of china is Spode and my favourite print is the (Blue) Willow. Not sure if it’s exciting or sad, when you go into Harrod’s looking for pieces for your mummy and you happen to know more about the China than the expert trying to sell you some. Like I said, at Harrod’s no less. At my house, we have the Christmas set too. I guess I am my mummy’s daughter.

Something {Tech Geeky Girl}:- I’m a geek girl. I admit this. I love Adobe Photoshop, I can’t live without it or my Wacom and I don’t want to know how life would be different without them. I am Twitter obsessed, I’ve been on Facebook since 2004. I own the geeky phone from Nokia known to man (currently) and yes, I even have the Spock 2009 Ken Doll from Mattel.

{book city jackets, edition 2}

Remember these? As of yesterday, there is a new edition of jackets available. May I remind you that the holidays will be here before you can say “turkey” or “boo”, so you might want to get a head start. As a bookworm, I can say that I’d be happy to receive these as a gift!




{Click on images to visit their online shop}

{books, books, books!}

Holy Crap, yay! Barnes and Nobles just launched their e-book store! Currently, the e-reader is free and is available for iphone/ipod, blackberry, mac, and windows. B&N e-books will also be compatible with Plastic Logics e-reader when it is released, however there are no plans to make the books compatible with Sony’s reader or the Amazon Kindle.

When you download the e-reader, you also will get a free Merriam Webster dictionary and some free classics to start you off. You can browse samples of books before you buy them and every purchase is backed up, so you can re-download without charge. {That is really important for me, because I’m disaster prone with all forms of technology.} There’s also that partnership with Google Books that will allow you to download any of the 500,000 public domain books for free. {Read the FAQ here.}

{I’m looking forward to reading this}

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love having real books, especially pretty ones. However, I have thousands at my home at the moment and that pile grows all the time. It will be nice to read e-books (and by the physical copy if I really like it.) Speaking of which, some recommendations…


This book was inspired by the book in the picture below {which is from the lovely boudoir of Alison from Frou Frou Fashionista.} Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro was the first chick-lit type book I ever read. {I had always been against the genre before Elegance.} I found the book so fun and interesting that I tracked down a vintage copy of A Guide to Elegance by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, who was the directrice at Nina Ricci for quite some time. {I believe the book may have been put into print again.}

While some of the advice in the book may be a tad dated, most of it is still applicable. Above all, Madame Dariaux prizes elegance and chic over being fashionable. Certainly a woman after my own heart. I highly recommend the book. {Besides, it’s pretty!}

Images {via} Harper Collins & Frou Frou Fashionista

{bookworm porno}

Hi, my name is Ms. Jenn, and I’m a book-a-holic. Bookstores are my happy place. Old, beautiful libraries are heaven! Although, I never check books out of the library, because I absolutely SUCK at returning them. I really need to join bookswim, and I’d rather have a Kindle and a gift certificate to download tons of books, than a pair of Loboutin’s. {However, if anyone would like to send me a pair, I’m a size 37.5 and I prefer round-toe and very high.}

“So what, who gives a flying f*?”, you say… Well, I’m in desperate need of bookcases to store my 1000+ books. Beautiful, inexpensive, strong bookcases are very hard to find. In the process of looking for bookcase inspiration, I’ve come across quite a few photos of {you’ll never guess…} books to lust after. I ended up, like many others, falling for and purchasing these Penguin Classics.

Aren’t they just lovely? They can be purchased through Indigo Books in Canada. So, it seems that I’m an addict and a dealer. Fellow book-addicts, I’m yo’ pusha’ {see below}

Why on earth do they not bind books like this anymore?!! I’d pay extra for my new favorites if they were bound like this. The four beauties above are all from handsome books. Then, there is this hotness below, found on the Selby.


Unfortunately, I can’t tell you a simple place where you can purchase these. It seems, that these are all just antique books from a particular publisher. I’ve only seen them on french e-bay, and I’m not sure how that will work out. If anyone gets their hands on one, let me know. Well, my beauties, I must run, but I leave you with the goodness below to crave. Have a beautiful day!

{xxx}
* hardcore bookworm porn here

* and some softcore here
* 50 essential books from zen habits