Kind of like this, only not gross and scary.

Beauty and fashion blogs have a language all their own. When I first started reading I had to Google so many terms, I felt like I was translating Shakespearean English or something. A few of my favorite examples:

• MLBB: "My lips, but better." A shorthand description of a balm, gloss or lipstick that looks natural, but even better than one's own lips.
• HG: "Holy grail." If a product is "HG," it is the ultimate, the absolute best that the person could possibly imagine in all ways.
• UDPP/TFSI: "Urban Decay Primer Potion" and "Too Faced Shadow Insurance." These products are both eyelid primer potions, designed to be worn under eye shadow to improve application and extend wear. Few people use both; each product has die-hard fans.
• SA: "Sales associate." As in, "I was at the Chanel counter when my favorite SA showed me the new Glossimers, and I went home with ten."
• GWP: "Gift with purchase." The little goodies you get at high-end department stores when you spend a small fortune on makeup.

I was just getting used to all of these fun new acronyms when I came across an unusual phrase while reading nail polish reviews: mannequin hands. "This shade is perfect for mannequin hands!" or "I bought this shade thinking it would be perfect for mannequin hands, but it was too pink." For the life of me I couldn't understand who these women were, or why they were giving mannequins manicures.

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Pitching my "Nike Golf Corset" idea next week.

Check out our retrospective on men's golf fashion.

From a gender standpoint, golf has been an "equal opportunity game" for quite a long time. American women have been playing golf since at least the late 1800s; Harper's Bazaar was publishing illustrations of women playing golf by 1894. So while the early days of the game kept social classes separate, there were plenty of women playing the golf alongside the men.

As far as women's attire was concerned in these early days, and in keeping with the times, propriety came first and comfort second (or eighth, by the looks of things).

Women are depicted wearing long-sleeved, high-collar blouses and long, ankle-length skirts. Rather than a sun-shading hat, it appears women favored fashionable, "fascinator"-styles -- perhaps because they were so restricted by propriety from the neck down.

Just as in men's golf fashion, women's golf fashion saw a shift to more practical adjustment during the early 1900s. In 1904, a name you might recognize -- Thomas Burberry -- introduced changes to make ladies' golf attire a little more practical, such as a coat (the "Free-stroke" coat) with sleeves that allowed for better movement than the long, tight sleeves previously favored, and a drawstring skirt (first seen in earlier days of croquet) that could be raised up off the ground to allow for an uninterrupted swing. These pieces are a far cry from the sleek, modern Burberry sport fashion.

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Photo by Christina Uticone

We are getting beach-ready. Are you?

To paraphrase Game of Thrones: "Summer is coming." The beastly heat and oppressive humidity are bearing down on us already, so we have to ask -- are you ready for beach and/or pool time? Memorial Day Weekend is just around the corner, after all, and we certainly hope you aren't thinking of showing up in your ratty old stuff from last year. How embarrassing would that be?

If you ask us, you need a little more than a new swimsuit to pull off a full summer of fun in Houston. A few more accessories will do more than just keep you stylish, they will also keep you comfortable as you live a poolside life of leisure. We have compiled a list of summer swim accoutrement -- your beach trousseau, if you will -- to get you ready for your beach babe photo op.

Here's our list of the top five stylish accessories you need for summer:

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An inspiring piece about fashion as art popped up in our NPR newsfeed the other day. The story centered around 17-year-old Maura Pozek, from Reed Springs, Missouri, who has been making her own prom dresses for three years. Big deal, right? So she took Home Ec., or her mom taught her to sew or something. Except Maura didn't head to the fabric store and make a dress from a pattern -- she designed the dresses herself. Again, big deal, right? It is kind of a big deal, because Maura not only designed the dresses, she made them from empty Doritos bags (sophomore year), more than 4,000 tabs from soda cans (junior year), and cardboard and paper (senior year).

Aside from the fact that you have to be a pretty confident person to show up at your prom in a dress made out of Doritos bags, Maura's prom dress adventures are inspiring from an artistic standpoint. There is something delightfully Warhol-esque about a Doritos-brand dress, and that it was beautifully designed and well-fitting creates an amazing juxtaposition for the viewer. Does the use of Doritos bags make the dress pop art, or does the repurposing of the Doritos bags into a functional dress with solid design elements result in high art? It's a pretty delicious thing to think about, no matter what your favorite flavor of Doritos chips might be.

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Banning the use of models under the age of 16, and/or those who appear to have an eating disorder, isn't exactly breaking news, but Vogue's announcement that they are jumping on board and adopting this policy themselves certainly is. Yesterday afternoon the magazine's publisher, Condé Nast International, announced that editors of the 19 Vogue magazines worldwide have agreed to "not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder."

Vogue is the latest, but arguably the most high-profile and influential player in fashion, to take this stand. In 2007, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) adopted age minimums and healthy working environments after two young models died from complications believed to stem from eating disorders. Condé Nast's official statement reads:

"Vogue believes that good health is beautiful. Vogue Editors around the world want the magazines to reflect their commitment to the health of the models who appear on the pages and the well-being of their readers."

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This weekend Houston is going to be graced with some of the game's biggest names when Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Lee Trevino compete in "The Greats of Golf" competition at The Woodlands Tournament Course on Saturday, May 5, during the Insperity Championship tournament. This foursome represents the living history of the modern golf game, and Houston-area golf fans won't want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see these players on the course together.

Golf was a big deal in my family. My grandfather Lester (or "Lec" to his friends) loved to golf, and passed that love down to his sons and his grandchildren. While I didn't take up the game until later in life, the tradition continued with me in a less-athletic way -- the fashion of golf. I always loved the preppy look of the pastel golf shirt, the quirky mix of patterns and colors, and the occasional tartan hat or vest. While my grandfather was cheering on great shots off the tee, I was watching to see who would most successfully pair plaid with stripes.

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Photos by Christina Uticone

Swapnista fashion swap check-in and staging area.

Couture Blowout is a high-end consignment shop tucked into a small strip mall near the corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy. On Saturday the boutique hosted Swapnista, a fashion "swap party," for about 50 attendees, co-hosted by the Houston Fashion Bloggers. The idea behind a Swapnista party is simple: Everyone brings three new or gently used items (clothing, accessories, perfume, handbags) which are exchanged for three "new-to-you" items. The party started at 3 p.m., with light refreshments, photography and time to shop the store, which was offering 20 percent off of everything in stock for the day.

I rounded up a few pieces that were languishing in my closet -- a Banana Republic pencil skirt, a Gap smock dress and a BCBG cocktail dress -- and went to see if I could find a new-to-me treasure, while simultaneously not buying my long-coveted dream garment, a Chanel suit.

(Spoiler alert: I did not buy a Chanel suit. Yay, me!)

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Photo by Harper's Bazaar

Oscar de la Renta

Safari prints are very en vogue for summer this year. Bold prints and easy neutrals graced the runways of designers like Michael Kors, Donna Karan and Oscar de la Renta. The mix of animal prints, earthy color palettes, and tribal-inspired graphics and accessories project a soft version of safari -- no one looks like they're about to actually shoot an elephant.

Even makeup trends are lending themselves to the safari theme. Lancôme has created a collection for 2012 called "Pink Safari." This is no Barbie-fied collection of pretty, pretty pinks; most of the warm neutrals in this collection will work on a wide variety of skin tones. While not from 2012, StrangeBeautiful's 'Color Volume 2' nail polish collection immediately came to mind to complement/contrast the urban safari palette.

Let's check out a few pieces in "safari chic" for summer.

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Photo by Christina Uticone

Try on as many as it takes to find the perfect fit.

Ever since my trip to the new Everything But Water boutique in the Galleria, I have been obsessed with all things beachwear. It didn't hurt that the experience of shopping for a new suit was so incredibly positive; it has me thinking about a serious expansion of my resort/swimwear wardrobe. We live in Houston, after all, where so much of the year is spent poolside or on the beach in Galveston -- it makes sense to invest in quality pieces that will last for a few seasons. Given the effects of sun, salt and chlorine on delicate fabrics, it's also important to properly care for these pieces so you get your money's worth.

Swimwear and resort wear are as important from a fashion perspective as haute couture, perhaps even more so, since they tend to be more affordable than high-fashion or even ready-to-wear pieces. While it might be tempting to keep on buying one thirty-dollar suit every year at Target just to toss it in September, consider that with preventative care and proper washing, a high-end suit will likely last you more than one summer.

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Photo by Zazzle

Boom box not included.

Dressing up our dogs and carrying them around in little purses stopped being weird back when Paris Hilton had a career. There was barely a flutter of the national eyelid when someone dressed up her kid like Julia Roberts' hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold for a beauty pageant on Toddlers & Tiaras. So by comparison, accessorizing our electronics seems positively normal -- at least they are inanimate objects, and immune from the stress/strain/humiliation of our tendency to bedazzle the shit out of the things around us.

The electronics accessories market is growing at a rapid pace. Big retailers and small, boutique operations are creating covers for everything from laptops to cell phones to iPads, appealing to our desire for style in every aspect of our lives. It's no longer enough to simply protect our talking machines with a layer of rubber or cloth, we need these things to say something about ourselves. (Something other than "I can't put this thing down, not even for a minute, not ever.")

Communicating something about ourselves by accessorizing the devices we use to communicate? So meta!

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