Dashing Diva is celebrating their Rock star status!  Through December 31st 2008, customers of Dashing Diva are invited to participate in the ‘Passionate about P!nk Sweepstakes.’   The sweepstakes will be highlighted at all Dashing Diva nails spas, however customers can enter directly via www.pinkspage.com/passionateaboutpink.

The Grand Prize
One lucky winner will be flown to a Dashing Diva nail spa for a special ‘Day of Rock star Beauty,’ plus they receive 2 tickets to P!NKS Summer 2009 Tour.   The winner will receive an All-Out Diva Manicure and Pedicure, plus an hour-long facial, massage and wax treatment.  Doesn’t that sound dreamy?
 
The Runners Up
Five 2nd place winners will receive an autographed copy of the album and ten 3rd place winners will receive a limited edition P!NK poster!
 
About Dashing Diva, www.dashingdiva.com
Dashing Diva is “re-inventing the nail salon experience” for thousands of customers around the globe, with locations in the U.S. (New York, California, North Carolina), Japan, Australia, Korea, Philippines and Kuwait. Dashing Diva is known for its highly innovative nail care products and services delivered in an ultra-hygienic and unique, branded environment.

One thing is certain, you people love your summer berries! 

The response to this month’s tarte Berry Couture Cheek and Lip Stain Giveaway was incredible.  I simply treasured reading everyone’s entries.  Not only did people write about their favorite berry, they wrote up about nostalgic childhood memories, how berries are healthy, and their favorite ways to eat them!   It was amazing!

The favorite berries were tallied along with some of my favorite comments:

#1 Favorite Berry, Strawberries:  125

“Strawberries, they just so bring summer to mind. Where I grew up we used to be able to go to local farms and pick them ourselves, and thus get them much FRESHER and much cheaper than at the grocery store, we would come home with 10’s of lbs. We would freeze them to make strawberry shortcakes, etc year round. That was the most fun, picking them yourself and just eating a ton when you got home “- Rebecca C

# 2 Favorite Berry, Blueberries:  71

“My favorite summer berry is the blueberry. Not because I like to eat them because I could actually care less for the taste, but because of the time I spend with my son collecting them. Every summer during picking season we go out a couple days a week to pick blueberries. We pack a lunch and sometimes our fishing poles. We make a day filled with memories. Most of the time we give the berries away sharing the joy with others.”- Denise 

“I really don’t know if I can pick! Strawberries are the family “summer picking” tradition, but my mom still claims my eyes are so blue because of all the blueberries I ate as a child! “- Laney

#3 Favorite Berry, Red Raspberries:  71

“One of my earliest memories was hunting for blackberries and raspberries with my mom and my sister, we would always go walking down dirt country roads looking along the sides and fence lines and we would come home with baskets full of them. Those were the good ol days, but any way, my favorite berry is blackberries and blueberries, I can’t have just one favorite !!” – Carrie 

 #4 Favorite Berry, Blackberries:  51

“I was just given some of the largest and sweetest blackberries from a friend’s garden. My husband made a blackberry cobbler. Just add vanilla ice cream and it doesn’t get much better than that!”-Cindi

Honorable Mentions:

Mulberries (6), Gooseberries (2), Marionberries (3), Logan Berries (1), Boysenberries (2), Saskatoon Berries (1), Georgia Mountain Blackberries (1), Elderberry (1), Black Currants (1), Olallieberries (1), Yellow Strawberries (1), and Black Raspberries (5).

And then the one berry we cannot forget,

“My favorite summer Barry would be White, Barry White…. There’s something cheesy about listening to a little “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby” while driving with the windows rolled down on a hot summer night… Accompanied, of course, with off-key singing and the clicking of bugs hitting the windshield.”- IFW

Congrats Angela!  Angela is not only the official winner of this contest, she is a forty-something mom to two teens, a wife, a theatre junkie, and the author of a fairly new blogsite Opera Lobster!   Congrats Angela, a mom of teens certainly deserves this berry couture set!

Many thanks to tarte cosmetics for their generous contribution to this giveaway, and many thanks to you for participating.  Next week I will be announcing another kick-butt MBB giveaway with 3 amazing prizes!!! Make a note to check back because this next giveaway really deserves the three exclamation points.

Want an instant pop of brilliant red color on those lips, but a little leery of wearing a full colored red lipstick shade?  I highly recommend trying a sheer red lip gloss.  My favorite fun look for summer has been to wear Becca’s Glossy Lip Tint in Cherrybomb.   It adds a bright, pure shade of red to my lips and lots of long lasting shine, and I don’t feel like this gloss is overpowering and screams to everyone, “Hey look, I am wearing my Mom’s red lipstick!”

For you who can boldly wear the bright red lipstick, I envy you!  But for those like myself who are feeling timid about wearing red lipstick, but are still craving the ”little red corvette” color to your lip palette, Becca’s sheer bright red Cherrybomb lip gloss is a great alternative.  I usually think of a red lipstick as a winter shade, but picture this, how nice a red lip compliments a tan (or sunless tan) complexion?  

I gave Becca’s Glossy Lip Tint a “9 out of 10″ stars on the Total Beauty site.  I gave this product a “9″ simply because of its price.  $23 is a little steep for even a fabulous lip gloss.

Stila has a deep red lip and cheek stain called “Cherry Crush” which I have heard wonderful things about.  You can also try Stila’s limited edition “Rock the vote Red” lipstick.  Wearing red lipstick to the polls seems like a very patriotic thing to do.  

Check out my friend Kate’s picks for fabulous fall red lip color at her post, “That time of year again:  Saturdays at Sephora,” at Megsmakeup.com.

Which ever way you choose; have fun with some red!

Summer is nearly over and now you have the opportunity to win tarte’s Berry Couture All Natural Stain Set at Mythbuster Beauty!  Berrylicious!  No, I am not quoting Strawberry Shortcake, berrylicious is the name of their new limited edition cheek and lip stain shades.

What it is:
Tarte’s new limited-edition, all-natural cheek and lip stain and gloss set.  This set features their exclusive new shade- berryilicious, this item retails for $35.

What Berry Couture stain set can do:
The Tarte Berry Couture All Natural Stain Set lets you achieve a healthy, glowing complexion and naturally enhanced lips featuring two best sellers infused with their proprietary t5 super fruit complex™.  t5 complex is a combination of five of the most active known superfruits:  goji berry, acai berry, marajuja, acerola, and pomegranate.  All of which can soothe, repair, and enhance the skin.

Rules:  Enter to win by submitting a comment at this post on your favorite summer berry.  One entry per person and the deadline is at midnight (PT) Sunday, August 31, 2008.  One winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced on Mythbuster Beauty, on PRIZEY.Fetch, and contacted via email.  MBB will not share your email address with anyone, and only use your email address to contact you if you are a winner.

Subscribe to Mythbuster Beauty by Email

No matter what your skintone, you can rev up your summer with color from Urban Decay.  Here are four great color combinations that will compliment your specific complexion type.  Get creative!

Light:  Glow.  Gilded Baked Bronzer on apples of cheeks and lids, and Big Fatty Mascara in Indigo

Medium:  Contrast.  Covet (teal) eyeliner and Flash (deep purple) eyeshadow

Olive:  Metallics.  Smog Liquid Liner on entire lid and lower lash line, smudge loose eye pigment in Baked on inner corners of eyes

Dark:  Pinks/Purples.  Fetish Afterglow Blush on cheeks, Asphyxia Loose Eye Pigment on lids.  Complete this look by using Purple Haze Big Fatty Mascara.

You can use any color combination regardless of your skintone, and other brands to create these looks.   I also highly recommend using UD’s Eye Primer Potion before applyling any eye makeup because it enhances your eye shadow color and its staying power.   It also keeps my eye shadow from creasing on my lids, a big bonus!

Asian Lillies on Steroids!  These blooms are the highlight of my summer.  I planted these Asian Lilly bulbs five years ago, and every summer around the first of July they start to blossom.  Their stalks are almost six feet tall and blooms start from the base and climb to the tip over a few weeks.

They have a heavenly sweet scent.  In the evenings, we sit on the cool front porch and admire them.  Have a wonderful weekend.

 

 

 

 

Here is another fabulous Jessicurl product to add to your must have list: Jessicurl’s Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment. You don’t have to have curly hair to benefit from this product either.

Summer is particularly harsh on hair. My kids and I have been spending a ton of time at the pool, and between exposing our hair to the chlorinated water and intense sun, our hair is feeling dry and damaged. In the craziness of summer activity I have been forgetting to give my hair a weekly deep conditioning treatment! After wondering why my hair wasn’t looking so great, I decided I better use some of my Jessicurl’s Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment and feed my hair.

Just follow these deep conditioning directions at the post: Deep Conditioning: How to Feed Your Hair.

You will be blown away how healthy and soft your hair will feel after using this deep conditioner. I also used Jessicurl’s Weekly Deep Conditioner on two of my daughters because of how dry and tangled their hair had become. Before using it I couldn’t get a comb through their hair without yelps of pain from them. Little Sarah and Naomi loved how soft and tangle free their hair became after using this conditioner. Naomi even requested to use some a few days ago, “Put the stuff that makes my hair so silky soft again Mom.”

Here is a little blurb from Jess about her Weekly Deep Conditioner:

I’m a big fan of weekly deep treatments with heat. They really moisturize and strengthen the hair, and they’re just plain fun to do. This treatment works best with a plastic cap left on for 20 minutes. This thick conditioner uses Cocoa Butter and Shea Butter to add some serious moisture to your hair. For an even more intense treatment, use it with our Micro Heat Cap.

In the summer months, you simply apply your conditioner and a plastic cap and sit out in the sunshine as your heat source for 20 minutes. The heat from the sun works great and really helps the conditioner fully penetrate the hair shaft. After the 20 minutes let your hair cool off for 5-10 minutes, and rinse and style as usual.

So, if your hair is feeling a bit on the crunchy side, it might be time to feed that hair!

You can purchase Jessicurl’s Weekly Deep Conditioning Treatment at the Jessicurl website for $12.00.

There are four more days to enter the “Safe is the new Sexy Clinique Giveaway at MBB.”  Actually 3:15 Days Left!  Don’t miss out on your opportunity to win a skincare kit by Clinique.  Jump over to the contest post and enter!

Almost everyday, someone will comment when they look at my feet, “Cool sandals, what brand are they?”

“FitFlops,” I happily reply.  Which will lead into the next question.

“Where do you get them?” 

“I am reviewing them because I heard about these amazing sandals on the BlissWorld site.  They are suppose to give you a little additional workout while you wear them, and they looked so great, I just had to try them.”

“So, how do they feel?”

“Incredible.  They are lightweight, but give a good amount of support and cushion.  They are perfect to wear around town while running errands, and are great poolside as well.”

“What about the workout feature, does that really work?”

“Actually, after the first day I wore them, I didn’t notice any additional muscle action while wearing them, but that evening, when I took them off, I felt some butt fatigue like I had been doing some lunges or had just worked out.  I think they are really doing something.”

FitFact:

FitFlops slow the eversion rate of the average person’s step, so that the time the muscle spends in an active state is increased during every step. The muscle fibers activated are the ‘slow twitch’ type, which are the fibres that create longer, leaner-looking limbs.

“Where do you buy these and how much do they cost?”

“You can purchase these at several online shoe sites, but I bought mine at Macys.  They retail for $49.99 for the Walkstar style, and they also carry some cool patent leather styles for $59.99.”

I am loving summer in these fashionable, comfortable and butt-burning FitFlops!!!  Seriously, I love getting the compliments too.

Summer days are here, and the kids are home 24/7 from school.  Who has time for a complicated morning makeup routine?   Most days, I generally have 5 minutes to get my makeup on before a disaster strikes.  Like my two year old discovering a permanent marker, or deciding to change her own messy diaper (those are actual examples of events that have happened at my home in the last week).   

This is my bare minimum lickity-split makeup plan: 

Clinique’s Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss has become my new favorite go to lipbalm.   A slightly thick gel gloss, melts on and leaves my lips super moisturized and shiny, without the annoying stickiness of some lip glosses.  The Raspberry tint is perfect for me,  just a touch of sheer color with lots of shine.  You could easily layer this on top of your favorite lipstick. 

I carry my Superbalm around with me in my purse, and use it throughout the day.  Clinique’s Superbalm comes in several beautiful shades like Raspberry, Lilac,  Mango, Grapefruit, and Rootbeer, and retails for $13.50.