Winners announced:

Earrings: Elizabeth

Shirt: Caroline

**Thanks for entering the contest and check back for more contests in a few weeks.**

January kicks off a series of fashionable firsts for the Obsessive Beauty blog. We’re hosting our first Win It and Wear It contest for the new year. Enter today and leave a comment at this blog telling us about something that you’re obsessed with in fashion or beauty. Winners will be announced on Monday, Jan. 17.

For this contest, we’re partnering up with Saffron and Genevieve, a lifestyle store in Santa Cruz to give away a pair of silver and gold earrings handmade by YedOmi of Portland, retailing for $45. Visit Saffronandgenevieve.com for more information about the store.

OK, ladies, we’ve seen a little too much of this going on, and it is time to correct this eyeliner “don’t.” Raise your hand—how many of you spend approximately five seconds on your eyeliner in the morning? You apply a line above each eye, a line that’s actually noticeable, a plain old line. If so, you’re probably in the majority of women who think that’s how you apply eyeliner. Unfortunately, that’s not so. I was reminded of this recently when I saw the beautiful makeup that my colleague, Leslie Patrick, was wearing to a holiday party. While her eyes popped, it wasn’t due to a streak of makeup above her lash line. Instead, Patrick applied her eyeliner the way that professional, long-time makeup artists do when they’re working with models and actors—they painstakingly apply tiny strokes of eyeliner to what almost seems like the lash line itself. Initially, it almost looks like you’re under-applying the eyeliner, but trust me, the effect is beautiful, and it is really how eyeliner looks the best (unless you’re going for a purposefully dramatic look). Anything more than this, and you simply look like someone with a line above their eye. Try out this method with a really sharp eyeliner pencil. It doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive, just something simple. And watch—your eyes will pop. Say hello to your eyes, and good-bye to the lines.

While wearing black and blue together still hasn’t crossed into the “do” list in the fashion world, black and brown are a new staple in color combinations. Not too long ago, blending these colors was a big time no-no, but especially this season, the combo is being seen everywhere, particularly in New York (where else would you expect it to happen?). Don’t be afraid to try it out, just be careful not to over-do it. The best approach—try out black leggings or skinny jeans with below-the-knee brown boots. The color combo and outfit choice is perfect for the chilly weather and offers a sophisticated and updated look. Or try skinny blue boyfriend jeans, a black T-shirt, a dark brown leather jacket, and light brown oxford heels—charming, stylish and memorable.

Dear Readers, With you in mind, we’ve been hosting Win It and Wear It contests for the last few months, but lately, it seems that interest in the contests has waned, so we wanted to get some feedback from you. Would you like to see the contests continue? If so, what were some of your favorite things that we gave away that you’d like to see come back? An August Mae ring? Jewelry from Stripe? Accessories from Idle Hands and Wallflower Boutique? Leather from Nuala or a T-shirt from Lex Designs? Beauty products and a free facial from Beauty 360 in Santa Cruz? Lingerie by Manu? What other stores would you like to see us partner with to bring freebies to our readers? Give us your feedback and if it seems like you, the readers, are still interested, then we’ll pick the contests back up.

Thanks for reading, Christa and Leslie

We’re in the throes of chilly weather, and there’s no other seasonal must-have than a cape. Warm, stylish and cozy, they sell at all price points, and come in myriad styles—grey, camel, buttoned, slip on, pull over, embellished, highly tailored, home sewn. Obsessive Beauty has tracked down a fine selection of styles to cover whatever your fashion budget is this season.

Let’s start with a stunning number by American Apparel. The company used to be known for its rainbow selection of colored T-shirts and basics, but lately they’ve been venturing into more texture and contemporary designs. This $155 wool cape comes in four different colors: Tan, Oxford, Valentine and Dark Oxford. It has a clever detail—your arms slip from inside to outside through what look like pockets. Warm, basic and versatile.

Dear Creatures, one of our favorite brands, is offering their version of the cape this season, and it sells locally at Stripe in Downtown Santa Cruz, for $220. Big, gold buttons line the front of the cape and it has a detachable hood. Elegant, cutting-edge, fashion forward and drool-worthy.

All I want for Christmas is … a lot of stuff—I have to admit it. If you’re a fashionista, you know what I mean. If you’re a scrooge, you’re judging me. But then, scrooge types probably don’t read this blog. As the holiday season quickly counts down to Christmas, the Obsessive Beauty writers are going to make our secret wish lists known to the readers out there.

So this year, for Christmas, I’d really like a pair of Melissa Temptation high heel shoes. They’re currently on sale at Stripe in Downtown Santa Cruz, and you can also find them at karmaloop.com. The style has been out for a while, so it’s being marked down everywhere. Now, if only someone would give me a pair for Christmas.

The black, shiny, plastic shoes have a four-inch heel and are remarkably comfortable for conquering new heights. By the way, this is the way it goes with any Melissa shoes—they’re made out of recyclable plastic, and in fact the shoes themselves are recyclable. They’re cozy, comfy, and smell like bubble gum.

I’ve been hunting forever to find this type of shoe—something that will boost me up a few inches, be remarkably adorable, and exquisitely comfortable. I found them—online and at Stripe. Now, what else do I want for Christmas?

Recently, Obsessive Beauty took a nice, long vacation to the East Coast. We traipsed around Manhattan and strolled the streets of Brooklyn. In both locations, we found the store, “Brooklyn Industries,” a clothing and accessories store with the edgy artist in mind. Originally created by two artists in Brooklyn, the brand has expanded, but it still retains that small store vibe with original works that you’re not going to find elsewhere. While there, we picked up a navy wallet with pink polkadots, which offers a change purse with a clasp, room for our cash, and space for important plastic cards and such. It’s an all-purpose wallet and the price was startling affordable at $18. Other favorites we discovered were a matching makeup case, a fantastic yellow hobo purse with tiny pigeons on it, a slew of originally designed graphic T-shirts, some cool hair accessories and a bunch more things to drool over. Visit Brooklynindustries.com.