Ok, go with me on this one...

When I was a kid and we'd play pretend, there were many occasions where I didn't want to be the princess. I didn't want to be the "star". I can't tell you how many times I said "I don't want to be Annie. I want to be Miss Hannigan. She's the funny one!" And think about it- before more recent Disney movies, the evil queens and fairies were pretty darn fabulous. High cheekbones. Red lips. Green eyeshadow. Mmmmm...now you're speaking my language!

Thank goodness the makeup geniuses at M.A.C. feel the same way I do! They are now offering a "Venomous Villians" line based on 4 fabulous baddies! (http://www.maccosmetics.com/whats_new/3883/index.tmpl)

I LOVE this!!! Maleficent's eye shadows are SICK and don't even get me started on the lip glasses!!

Take a minute to peruse all the choices. I think you may find something that inspires the bad girl in you...

So cool.

I love the blending of styles/genres. My current favorite? Tough and lady like. LOVE IT! And everyone can pull this look off. It just depends on how you do it. A great place to start? OPI's "My Private Jet" nail polish. First off, the color is outstanding in the bottle. You can't quite tell what color it is! Is it grey? Is it brown-ish? Does it look like an oil slick? WHAT IS IT???

The best part is that it is the teeny tiniest bit glittery. Not so much that you look like a Miley Cyrus fan. Just enough that it catches the light. 2 coats of this polish is semi-sheer fabulousness. 3 coats is just plain badass.

(Oh, for 3 days only, use coupon code "FRIEND2010" at www.stilacosmetics.com for 20% off your entire order. You're welcome.)

Are you an Aveda girl?

Well, if you order $25 worth of products on www.aveda.com and use code "FINISH910" at checkout, you'll get free shipping and a free sample of their 3 Step Color Conserve System. Spend $40 and you'll get a free travel sized favorite!

Going to www.clinique.com this weekend? With any $30 purchase, use code "PINK" at checkout to get a free Long Last Glosswear in Air Kiss. So cute!!

Finally, your luxury item to lust over for the weekend are the Rouge Coco line of lipsticks by Chanel. Perfectly creamy with the most unreal colors available. So chic. So wearable. SO CHANEL!

It's fall. Well, according to the calendar anyway...

It's time. It's time to be brave. It's time to be brave and get a deep, dark lip gloss. Stop! Don't be scared!! A deeply colored shiny lip is unbelievably pretty and I promise- it's doable!!!

A couple of tips- keep eyes neutral. A couple of coats of mascara and a light colored eye shadow. Glowing, natural looking blush. It needs to look like you've just come in from the great outdoors. And then your lips. Now, if you are really nervous about it, get yourself a flesh colored lip pencil and lightly color in the entire lip area. Now for the real trick- apply the gloss to the bottom lip only. Then, lightly rub your lips together so that you transfer the color to your top lip. Build the color from there. Make it as dark and/or shiny as you want. If you like just the first color transfer, stick with that. I personally prefer to add a bit. But, you know me- more is more. :)

Gloss suggestions?

1. Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in Black Tie Plum

2. Smashbox O-Gloss Noir

3. Kat Von D Painted Love Lipgloss in Rosary

4. Buxom Big and Healthy Lip Balm in Portofino

Get out there and get sexy ladies.

Tuesday treats and tips

Ladies, how's your week going? Mine? Insane, thank you.

Now for some goodies:

1. Tarte is offering 30% off their entire "Backstage To Fashion Week" line with code "FWSEPT" through 9/30/10. www.tartecosmetics.com

2. Stila's new palette pays tribute to Russia. You can get their new "Make an Impression in Moscow" makeup kit for the low, low price of $10. www.stilacosmetics.com

3. This is a challenge for you. It takes 21 days to form a true habit. Commit to something in your beauty routine. Maybe it's proper cleansing and moisturizing. Maybe it's cleaning up those awful raggedy fingernails. Heck, maybe it's just making the effort to wear makeup on a daily basis. But make a promise to yourself and stick to it for 3 weeks. That's it. 3 piddly weeks. At the end of the 3 weeks, see what you think? Is it second nature now? Do you like the change? My promise to myself is to have polished nails. (Not just clear, which is what I normally do.) But a beautiful fall polish color. It's been almost a week and a half and so far, I am really liking the change. I feel a bit more lady like!

So think about it. And then DO IT!

A head's up for this week

I know, I know- you all are tired of me harping on and on about the sample sale websites. But if you have not joined Hautelook (www.hautelook.com), DO IT! Why? Because this week on the site is beauty week. This week's sales include (but are not limited to) Stila, LORAC, DDF, Rapid Lash, NYX, Freeze 24/7, GO SMILE, etc, etc.

Joining is free and you'll love the other sales they have, too! And it's never too early to start thinking about holiday gifts for people!!

Weekend treats

So, Kiehl's is still wanting to lure customers to their new site and this weekend if you use code "SPECIAL" at checkout, you get free shipping and 4 free goodies if you spend $40 or more.

I am super excited go check out MAC's new line of Pro Longwear foundations and concealers. They claim it will last 15 hours and is transfer resistant. Since I have to fight the makeup fade in the afternoon, I plan on trying some of this stuff out!! Did I mention it has some SPF protection as well? Nice!

October is also...

Most people think of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and as much as I personally appreciate that fact, it should also be known that October is usually acknowledged as a month devoted to cancers specific for women. Particularly, ovarian cancer. L'Oreal is leading the fight against this silent killer is the cosmetics world. Their "Color of Hope" line is not only loaded with beautiful colors, but sales of the products go to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Want to get the best of the best? Go to www.drugstore.com and type in "Color of Hope" in the search field. You'll get the set shown above with a cute makeup bag to hold it all.

Get beautiful and help other women at the same time. Sounds like a win/win to me.

Sometimes, you just have to splurge

For those of you beauty junkies like myself, you already know about Chanel fingernail polish. This stuff is liquid gold. It's chic and perfectly in tune with whatever season it is fashion-wise. Most importantly, it might be the only Chanel some of us commoners might ever own. :)

Recently, New York City came alive for "Fashion's Night Out." The brilliant Anna Wintour of Vogue fame came up with the idea to help stimulate a struggling retail environment in the city and it was a success beyond anyone's imagination. Cut to Chanel's part in all this- last year, they created the jade green fingernail polish that was seen all over the runways and fashionistas as a special, limited edition shade just for Fashion's Night Out. Needless to say, they had no idea what sort of craze they were creating. The polish sold out in days and became collector's items. People were buying them for upwards of $200 on Ebay!!

This year, going along with the tough and fabulous miltary theme that ruled the fall/winter runways, Chanel has come out with Les Khakis de Chanel- a trio of gorgeous shades that are spot on. This is where the splurge comes in- they are $25 a piece. The good news is that they are not sold out. You can still get them on Chanel's website (www.chanel.com) and they can be whisked in all their French glamour beauty right to your door. (Too purchased Khaki Vert and will be using it ASAP. I am also tempted to order the Khaki Brun. So chic.)

Grrr...

Sorry I was MIA my peeps. Someone out there decided I needed a nasty virus on my laptop and has therefore rendered it useless. Thank goodness for substitute computers.

Let's see what I have for you today!

1. 25% off any Max Factor and free shipping with any Max Factor purchase on www.drugstore.com

2. Spend $30 or more on www.clinique.com and get your choice of 4 free treats!

3. Kiehl's has relaunched their website (www.kiehls.com)with all new features and products. Use the code "NEWKIEHLS" at checkout to get free shipping for any purchase $20 or over.

An open letter...

Dear Eyes Lips Face (hereafter known as e.l.f.),

I'm sorry, but I am horribly confused. I consider myself kind of a mascara expert. A virtuoso as it were. I've pretty much tried them all. Yep, I mean even the $30+ ones. I've applied every type, color, shade, and variety of mascara out there to these lashes.

So, imagine my befuddlement when I threw absolute caution to the wind and spent a whopping dollar (that's one U.S. dollar) on your Regular and Waterproof Mascara Duo only to be knocked on my rear end at its awesomeness!!!! Surely a mascara that costs $1 doesn't offer smooth, even coverage with absolutely no clumps. You must be joking that I can add coat on top of coat and the color is uniform and smooth. And it's absolutely ridiculous to tell me that I can do a coat of the regular mascara topped with a layer of the waterproof for all day staying power.

I don't know what you're trying to pull e.l.f., but I plan on stocking up on this mascara because I'm sure at some point, you'll realize how amazing it is and will price it around $100 a tube.

Thank you,

A truly devoted fan of your mascara work

Back from the long weekend!!

Hey ladies! Sorry I stepped out yesterday. As always, I have loads of stuff for you today to make up for my absence!

You can buy Tarte's new 6 piece "Amazonian Adventure Clay Infused Color Collection" early on QVC at a discount. Just be sure to get it before September 10!! Here's the link: http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.html/params.file.%7Cnl%7Cem_aptsv_tarte_faux_090810%2Chtml?cm_ven=APTSV&cm_cat=TARTE0910&cm_pla=ACTIVE&cm_ite=HERO_FAUXPD

Any order over $35 on http://www.laurageller.com/ gets a free eyeshadow in Jupiter- an amazing fall color. No code needed!!

Go to http://www.origins.com/, make ANY purchase and you get to choose a full sized lip gloss! There are 4 options and whichever one you choose has it's own offer code. See the website for all the details.

And finally, I have been using Olay's Pro-Age body lotion for several weeks. This stuff is made with alpha hydroxy acids- you know, the stuff that chemically exfoliates your skin. It took my skin about a week to get used to it. But, I gotta tell you, I can really tell a difference! Particularly on my legs. My skin looks smoother and more uniform in color. I am really excited about this find.

Labor Day Weekend!!!

As we celebrate the last official weekend of the summer, let us remember the following:

1. I don't care if it is September, the sun is still out there. Use sunscreen if you're going to be outside. A sunburn looks ridiculous on everyone.

2. Urbanbella is offering a lovely Labor Day deal for the curly haired ladies. 15% off and free shipping with any order of $50 or more with code "CURLLAB"

3. Since it is that most of us have an extra day this weekend, take a little time to go through your existing beauty products. Get rid of anything old/crumbling/dried out/smelling funny/generally gross. Think of it as a "fall cleaning." This will give you an idea of what you need to get to get you through the fall and winter.

Happy Labor Day!!

A decade of purty-ness

Tarte is turning ten!!! (Helllooo alliteration!) Anywho, the eco-friendly cosmetics company has hit the 10 year milestone and they are giving the gifts to us! First, use code "BDAY" from now through Sept 6 to get $10 off a $20 or more purchase. Check out their new fall line of makeup for some other wonderful treats. I am supremely interested in the new EmphasEYES aqua gel liner. It's a long lasting eye pencil, but it's 50% water based. Rather than dry out/stress out the thin eyelid skin, it replenishes it. And the colors? Mmmmmm! Love it!! I am also intrigued by the new natural matte lip stains. I see myself wearing those with a layer of balm or gloss on top for some long lasting, moisturizing color.

Get thee to http://www.tartecosmetics.com/. And use that code this weekend to get your fall makeup jump started!

Sale you MUST visit!

If you all have been reading for any length of time, you know I do love me some Cargo Cosmetics. They are effortlessly cool and wearable and fun. If you join the sample site http://www.beautystory.com/, today and tomorrow they are having a Cargo sale!!! My favorite eye shadow palettes are half off and their normally $22 lip glosses are $9. WHAT? It's free to join the site and they feature new cosmetic, hair, or skin care sales everyday!!!