Oh the places and people the Internet will take you! I have gathered so many great friends while researching and reading from many sites (beauty related and in general). Every once in a while, you will come across someone who not only shares the passion for all things beautiful, you find an individual who creates something extraordinary!

Let me introduce to you Christy Kane, her amazing website and some of wonderful things she has to offer! (more…)

My wonderfully witty friends Tyna and Stef developed a fabulous website named We Heart This.  A site described as, “a daily dose of refuge; a place where you can discuss all the things that make your heart pound.“  Helping us to discover incredible beauty items, music, recipes, fashion and so much more!

This week, they are announcing a fabulous Arcona Skincare Giveaway and on Friday, they are posting an interview with Mythbuster Beauty, where I answer the burning questions that have yet to be quenched!

Such as…

• Have you been a make up addict all your life? Do you remember an early make up buying experience that got you hooked?
• You’re going to a promising cocktail party and are carrying a little clutch purse. You can only carry Three Beauty Items with you.  List them.
• You can pick front row center seats to any concert at any point in time. Whom are you seeing?

One thing for certain is Mythbuster Beauty big hearts Tyna and Stef!!!  Be sure to check out the giveaway and interview.

Holiday Safety Tip:  Beware of Killer Snowmen. 

From the Team at Mythbuster Beauty (Jen, Mo, and DecoDiva), Seasons Greetings!  

(more…)

Guess what showed up in my mailbox this afternoon?  The newest Sephora Holiday Catalog, “tis the season to GIFT PRETTY!”  And how fitting given that their Friends and Family 20% discount starts today (FF2008 at checkout).   I am a bit ticked that that dang-blasted LASH STASH is out-of-stock though!!!                                                                                                 

This year Sephora is celebrating their 10th year, and to have some fun let’s speculate about what beauty products might be in the Sephora catalogs in 2018. Here are my predictions for Sephora’s beauty products of the FUTURE:

1. DIY non-toxic injectible Botox kits - let’s hope this one enters the market soon!
2. BE’s Moon Mineral Makeup line (made from actual Moon Dust Minerals)
3. In response for the need for more eco savvy beauty containers, Sephora will create re-usable containers that can be cleaned and recycled, AND you can refill your cosmetics and skincare items from bulk dispensers!

I better hire my patent attorney (Laurel are you there?) and get these ideas protected ASAP.  I really like that last one!

Yet again, another t-shirt site has grabbed my attention!  LTD Chix.com offers a great variety of colorful and clever tees for Moms, who are constantly saying to themselves,

“I was a better mother before I had kids.”

I particularly love LTD Chix’s Halloween tee, and can sooo relate to it.  I have and continue to be the candy-loving woman who slaps on a witch hat and follows her kids around trick-or-treating.   Halloween weather isn’t always ideal either, but some years have been fabulous.  I remember one particularly cold Halloween where it was SNOWING outside and the bitter winds were so terrible that my children were in tears because they were literally freezing, but they couldn’t stand the thought of not continuing to trick-or-treat!  I always love houses that give kids full-sized candy bars or a can of soda too!  One family in our neighborhood gives out cups of warm spiced cider and doughnuts to their Halloween night visitors.  Halloween is the best holiday EVER!   Check out these fun spirited Mom Tees:

Halloween Mom
Beach Cart Mom
Cleaning Mom
Cooking Mom
Laundry Mom
Minivan Mom
Multi – Tasking Mom (brand new design)
Referee Mom
Shopping Mom
Under Weather Mom
Working Mom
Workout Mom

LTD Chix.com is offering us a nice coupon code for first time buyers – you can recieve 15% – just type in 14blog.   They have also recently decreased their prices by 15-25% per shirt.  These shirts would make great holiday gifts for the women in your life, and don’t forget to pick one up for yourself!

Tuesday I wrote about using a sheer red lip gloss instead of a full color red lipstick called, “This ain’t your Momma’s Lipstick: Going Red.” I go for the sheer red lip look because of feeling intimidated by a true lipstick in red. With many lipstick shades I feel like a kid that sneaked into my mother’s pocketbook and tried on her lipstick.

So my friend Marilyn asked, “Wait a minute! Where’s the photo of YOU in that lipgloss?” My response, “Isn’t the one I posted of Christina Aguilera so much better!? I am a beauty blogger, not a beauty model.” It is always difficult for me to pose and demonstrate a product or shade in a picture. To please Marilyn here is my attempt at taking a picture of myself wearing Becca’s Glossy Lip Tint in Cherrybomb. To intensify the color and keep “in bounds” I first lined my lips with the newly released and fabulous 24/7 Glide-on Lip Pencil by Urban Decay in a shade called “Wicked.” It’s wicked pretty together with Cherrybomb don’t you think?

My little Becca even joined me during the photo shoot! I think that is another reason why I love the Becca Cosmetic line so much; it has a beautiful name.

Hope this inspires you Marilyn!

Modern Jackass?   According to Nancy Updike, a contributing editor for the NPR radio program “This American Life,” to be a Modern Jackass is to ”talk expertly about something we don’t actually know anything about.”  Modern Jackass is the term they created to describe an imaginary magazine devoted to such blathering.

Have you noticed this epidemic?  I certainly have.  We gather bits of information from magazines, the Internet, infomercials and blogs, and suddenly we believe we are an authority on the subject.  There is so much information to sort through, and how do we ever come to some form of truth or authority on any given subject?  and particularly relevant to this site, the subject of beauty.

I find the amount of contradictions in the beauty world staggering.  I read and try to compile and process a monumental amount of ever changing, new and improved material.    And at the end of the day, I could possibly be the beauty editor for the next edition of “Modern Jackass.”  While brainstorming, here are some of my first ideas for columns.

• Should you use a skin toner? Is it necessary, or just an extra superfluous step? (The word superfluous is itself superfluous!)
• Is it okay to use your fingers to apply cosmetics?
• Bad versus good silicones, or no silicones at all?
• Antioxidants: they are good for you when eaten but are they good to put them on your face?
• How does a great big peptide molecule get absorbed into my itty-bitty skin cells?
• Should I use tap water on my skin, or no water, or only purified non-chlorinated water?
• Does Botox get absorbed into our bodies and even scarier, our brainstem?
• Why did Courtney Love mess with her perfect lips?
• Which Foundation?  Liquid, cream, power, matte, semi-matte, dewy, loose mineral, liquid mineral, liquid to powder, powder to liquid, tinted moisturizer, mousse, spray on, oil-based, oil-free, what did I miss?
• Skincare creams:  In what order do you apply them?

If you have any real scientific information to answer any of these questions, feel free to comment.  Yes, I will even welcome any Modern Jackass speculation.  Don’t get defensive, just be honest, we are all doing the best we can with our experience, research, personal preferences and our hope to appear 21 again.  I would settle for 31.

ur regular Wednesday Beauty Reviewer Mo, is taking a brief intermission to spend time with her family this summer. Miss you Mo! Hope you are all having fun wherever you are!

Mo took this picture of an extraordinary Iris.  Have a wonderful family vacation, you all deserve it!

Just so you know, my favorite beauty forum is Megsmakeup.com. Meg is looking for a new addition to her reviewing team for the weekly Thursday post, “Drugstore Deals Thursday.”

If you have reviewing experience, a burning desire to share your drugstore cosmetic obsession, and gift for writing, just GO FOR IT! This is a wonderful opportunity to expand your horizons and receive some amazing free makeup. The deadline is tomorrow, so there is no time to waste! Here is Meg’s invitation:

WE NEED A NEW TESTER & CREST WHITE TEETH STRIPS! DRUGSTORE DEAL THURSDAYS!

We’re looking for a new Drugstore Deal writer. What we need.. Do you laugh in uncomfortable situations? Have you ever stalked a man? Sometimes do you wake up in a cold sweat over an inappropriate text message you’d sent the night before after too many cocktails? Do you like dogs? Do people say to you “OMG I can’t believe you just said that?” Then start to giggle in agreement? Are you cool? Are you unable to leave a Walgreens/CVS/Duane Reade without a beauty item? Can you write descriptive/funny/tear-jerking posts? DO YOU LOVE MEGSMAKEUP? Can I rely on you to send me a review due once a week by Wednesday night 8pm? Hmmm.. Can I?

What’s in it for you? Not only love, appreciation and my soul BUT FREE HIGH END BEAUTY PRODUCTS DELIVERED TO YOUR MAILBOX Just because you write the DD doesn’t mean that you are not sent the pricey items. I just need to know you’re committed to leaving a thorough, honest comment on what you’ve been sent. This gig gives you thousands of dollars of the most elusive and upscale items out there. Plus, I throw in a DD item for your own post that goes up every Thursday.

Who gets the gig? We believe in democracy at Megsmakeup.com so here’s the deal. My teeth are looking stank. They look old and coffee, red wine and cigged out. I just bought for the first time, some Crest Tooth Whitening Strips, the 7 day to whiter teeth version. Does this work? Have you tried it? What have you gotten from the local drugstore chain that really works if these don’t. What led you to buy a tooth whitener? Talk to us! Oh yeah, you start Sunday. That’s when we decide!

Who will be the next Drugstore Deal Thursday Diva?!  This is very exciting and cannot wait to find out who gets picked.