Dior 'Golden Dior' Necklace.

Image from nordstrom.com

The pendant on this 'Golden Dior' necklace opens up to reveal "the 24-karat splendor of a creamy golden highlighter for eyes, lips, cheeks." While I am completely open to a product I can "dot anywhere for the perfect sun-kissed glow," I would never in a million years be caught dead wearing this piece of ugly around my neck, "dazzling champagne crystals" be damned. The 'Golden Dior' necklace is something I expect to see in a Barbie doll kit for little girls -- I can't imagine a grown woman wearing this with her cocktail dress to a party, so why is it a necklace in the first place?

Also, Dior copywriters, stones cut en cabochon do not have facets, so please correct the description of the "luxurious amber pendant" accordingly. You're making me twitch.

Logo much? Coach lip gloss.

I don't think logoed items should be automatically scorned or dismissed. Louis Vuitton is an iconic brand because of their monogram canvas bags which have spawned countless imitators. I object primarily to ugly logos and the lazy use of logos as it imparts a false sense of value to products -- a tea cosy embroidered with Chanel's interlocking c's isn't going to make a pot of Lipton taste like Mariage Freres. By succumbing to such cheap and blatant branding practices, consumers encourage manufacturers to be complacent and unimaginative.

There's branding, and there's lazy branding. These Coach lip glosses smack of the latter -- the logo is all over the tube like a bad rash. The packaging signals to me that Coach couldn't be bothered to come up with a distinctive product, and like the Coach perfume, the glosses seem as though they were manufactured to steal the few remaining dollars from the purses of their most blinkered customers. "Our customers aren't Hermes customers," you can hear them arguing in the boardroom. "They don't expect top quality, and since they're not paying Hermes prices, we're not going to give them top quality either. Oh, just whip up some gunk, stuff 'em in these containers we bought in China and stamp our logo on it to make them look Coach-y."

The Coach lip glosses come in three shades -- Gardenia, Hibiscus and Heather -- and retails for US$22 on its website. I recommend that you purchase a Guerlain Kiss Kiss gloss, Chanel Glossimer or YSL Golden Gloss for real lip gloss snob factor, if that's what you're after. Even if it's a dumb reason to buy a gloss.