Last Day for Origins Friends & Family
Enter code 0508FF at checkout for a deal
on Origins.com.
If you're fresh out of
creative gift ideas fo yo Mama, there's nothing wrong
with playing it safe with something you know she'll
love. Here, I'll help you: head on over to Origins.com and order
something spalicious for her. While you're there,
use this F&F coupon, good for 25% off any
purchase for the rest of today. You're welcome.
Need more help? Check out my must-haves from the brand:
more...Win it: Jergens Natural Glow Express
Actress Kristen Bell pledged to glow sans sun this
summer.
Make a promise to save your skin on Jergens.com.
The fact that I openly recognize sun worshipping as
one of my biggest beauty crimes doesn't make me
less of an idiot for "forgetting" to use the right
amount of SPF when I go to the beach. Nothing
drives this home more than the cold, hard facts of
skin cancer:
- Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US, with more than 1 million new cases each year.
- More than 90 percent of all skin cancers are caused by sun exposure.
- One in 5 Americans and one in 3 Caucasians will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. (Source)
Scary. But here's the thing: no one's going to make sure you protect yourself but you, so why not make a promise to yourself starting today? Head on over to Jergens.com and take the "Glow in the Dark" pledge. Here's an incentive (besides ridding yourself of raisin face for life):
The first five YBLAG readers to sign the pledge and email me at Julie@youbloglikeagirl.com will win Jergens Natural Glow Express Moisturizer in both medium and medium/tan! Not for anything, but that's an awesome prize — it's a new formulation of Jergens Natural Glow that works in just three days. Get pledging, my pasty pretties!
Tagged By Steeping Beauty
There's a meme creeping through the
Total Beauty blog
community.
I've been tagged by Delphine over at
Steeping
Beauty!
Here are my answers:
My Five
Must-Not Have Beauty Items
1) Perfumed face
moisturizer, lipstick or blush. The kind
that smells like the bottom of your Granny's purse,
where the stench stays with you long after you apply
it. I swear nothing makes me more nauseous.
2) Lipliner. Even if it's the most
neutral shade on earth, I look like the joker when I
wear it. Also, I can't stand when people go
above their natural lip line. Like, who are you
kidding? Please. Unless you're at a photo shoot
starring you, don't do it. And even then, let someone
else do it, because you're not doing it right.
3) Home Haircolor Kits. Ummm... never tried
it, never want to. Honestly. No offense to those who
have sworn by the same shade of 'Shingleberry #13' or
whatever since they were twelve — I raise my glass to
you and your at-home hair care talents. For me, hair
color is just one of those things I'd much rather
leave to a pro. Because I'd screw it up majorly. End
of story.
4) Loose powder. Hate the stuff with a
passion. If someone gave me canister of loose gold,
I'd (politely) return it immediately. It makes such a
mess and I can't even deal. I've used pressed powder
since I was thirteen and it works just fine, thank
you.
5) Pewter Eyeshadow. Silver lids were a
popular trend when I was in high school, and it still
pops up every now and then on the red carpet. In my
experience, it always looks like it's creasing, even
if it's not — no matter how fab the quality of the
product. Besides, it's just shiny and fugly.
My Five
Biggest Beauty
Crimes
1) Sun
worshipping. After spending as much of my
life as possible on the beach and working as a
lifeguard throughout high school and college, I've
been known to go a little overboard with the basking.
I swear this summer will be different (I kind of have
no choice because I'm starting to run out of room on
my body for sunspots. Ew, right?).
2) Sleeping with makeup. In a word:
lazypants. No excuse.
3) I had acrylic nails from 1994-2000. I
don't think i need to elaborate on this one.
4) I'm a nail biter. Still better than
rockin' acrylics, I say.
5) From Memorial Day to Labor Day, my
hairdryer gets zero action. This might not
seem like a crime, but I promise it is. Air-dried, my
hair is a frizzy mess. I tell myself that I'm "making
up for all the heat styling I do throughout the
winter" but its more like the lazypants thing again.
So I wear a headscarf every day in the summer (see
avatar above) in the hopes that no one notices my
actual hair.
Yo! Agostina
from Makeup2Beauty...
Tag, you're it!
Win It: Four Days To Kiss MS Goodbye
theBalm KISS MS
GOODBYE Limited Edition Lip Gloss retails for $18
at theBalm.com
The finale of Celebrity Apprentice reminded
me of a do-good beauty item I've been meaning to post
about for the past, er, 28 days. It's never too late
to support a good cause though, right? Of course
right!
theBalm (you know I love
them) spent March spreading the word about
National Multiple Sclerosis Education and
Awareness Month by creating a limited edition
KISS MS GOODBYE version of their
famously coral “Girly Girl” BalmShelter Gloss. 25%
of proceeds will be donated to the NYC Chapter of
the National MS Society at the end of this
month... which is, of course, four days from now.
I'd like to contribute to this cause, but I don't
need any more lipgloss (believe me). So I'm
giving it away to the first three people who
subscribe to my YBLAG newsletter today. Just enter
your email addy into my sidebar on the right. If
you've already subscribed, subscribe for a friend
(get their permission first, of course!) and e-mail
me about it (julie@youbloglikeagirl.com). Happy
Friday!
Roll your mouse over
here!
Beauty Giveaway: Flirt! Glamourazzi
Gossip Girl's Leighton Messter helps
celebrate the
launch of Flirt! Glamourazzi
Happy Monday! To start the week off on a
good topnote, YBLAG is giving away three bottles of
Flirt! Cosmetics newest fragrance, Glamourazzi ($35,
available at kohls.com). All you have to do
is email me at Julie@youbloglikeagirl.com (use the
"Share YBLAG" button below for a quick e-mail
shortcut) with the answer to the following
Gossip Girl trivia question:
What Fergie song was featured in promo spots
for Gossip Girl?
The first three readers with the correct answer by
this Friday (March 14) will win the yummy
pineapple-and-ginger-infused Flirt! Glamourazzi. Good
luck, darlings!
iJustine Gets A Pretty Deal
Above: iJustine, checking out her iMakeup.
Web celeb Justine Ezarik (more commonly known as
'iJustine', or 'iPhone Bill Chick')
has literally twitter'd her
way to becoming the most popular 'friend add'
in the social networking revolution. Last year,
she literally lived online for six months when she
wore a web cam on her head. Dorks like me who
value the art of lifecasting followed her for
those six months and thought she was the coolest
person ever. (I still might think that,
actually... ).
So now, iJustine goes and infiltrates
the beauty biz. At first, I didn't know how to
handle this news. I mean, this is my territory.
After thinking it through, I decided she can
probably say the same thing re: me pretending to
be as much of an internet geek as she is... so I
guess I can't be territorial. 
Seriously, I must give iJustine props: her hair and
makeup is always perfect in all her videos (that's
saying a lot -- the girl must make five vids a day.
If I did that you guys wouldn't be reading this right
now because you'd be scared of how I look when I wake
up in the AM). I'd be lying if I said I haven't
wondered what makeup she wears. So now we know. Go,
iJustine! Lets be beauty geeks together... ok?
Roll your mouse over
here!
YBLAG Review: Skyn Iceland Pure Cloud Cream
Skyn Iceland Pure Cloud Cream, $75, available
at Beauty.com.
Since it's my job to try
out new beauty stuff, I feel obligated to be "in the
know" when it comes to new skincare technology. As a
result, in any given month, it's possible that this
mug has been through a lot: peels, scrubs, serums,
acid-y pore minimizers ... even if I don't really
need it, I still try it. (FYI, I realize this is not
at all normal.)
Anyway, the point is, sometimes I get so overzealous
about switching up my skincare du jour that I
sometimes find myself in a post-traumatic skin
treatment situation. Surely you've heard of this
vicious cycle: when you over-exfoliate/cleanse, you
can strip your skin of both bad and good
oils, forcing more oil production, which leads to
blackheads, breakouts, and sometimes redness. Fugly,
dude!
Lucky for my face, I recently tried something that
has significantly reduced my pores' workload.
Skyn Iceland Pure Cloud Cream evokes
that "ahhhhh!" feeling you get from plopping on the
couch in front of an E! True Hollywood Story
marathon whilst wrapped in a delicious down
comforter. Quite simply: it gives your skin a break
from cold weather, gusty winds and (perhaps most
importantly) everything you do it.
How it works: Collagen-preserving
hydrolyzed rice protein stabilizes
your skin's natural moisture, aloe
heals and cools irritation, almond
oil delivers healthy doses of Vitamins A, B
and E, hyaluronic acid attracts
1,000 its weight in water to replenish your pores and
Skyn Iceland's signature biospheric
complex, uses a cocktail from Iceland's
natural resources to soothe, strengthen and stabilize
stressed skin.
Bonus: The cream is light-as-a-cumulous-cloud and not
at all greasy. Double bonus: It smells like berries.
Triple bonus: You can read more about it here on
Total
Beauty. Muah.
Roll your mouse over
here!
Customize Your Happy
Look what you
can do with your Happy now!
Talk about getting personal. Clinique's cheerful
floral scent is now available in a one-of-a-kind
bottle that you can design yourself. It's so easy —
just upload a pic of your choice to their site and they'll take
care of the rest. This was a great gift idea for
Valentines Day (ha... ooops, sorry about the
timing) but it's also perfect for a birthday or if
you feel like sending some random mid-winter
happiness. (Lets face it — who doesn't need
that?)
JT: More Hospitable, Fragrant Than Ever
So we went for a few drinks, and it was aiight — the music was really fun and the bartenders did this Spring Break-ish fire show with bottles of whisky. Interesting. At one point, J and I felt very 1) old, and 2) under dressed. We agreed that every 24-year-old Jane from Kansas who moved to Manhattan within the last month was there, dressed to the nines, in the hopes of scoring bragging rights to a JT sighting.
HA! Us New Jersey/ Westchester natives are so much more savvy than those star-thirsty hicks. I mean... duh... JT doesn't actually go to his own restaurant, right? Wrong. We are such freaking losers.
BTW, JT also has a Givenchy fragrance coming out this fall. I'm psyched to check out that ad campaign. (WWD)
Roll your mouse over
here!
Breakfast at Bendel's
Image
via HenriBendel.com
A few weeks ago, I hit up
my favorite breakfast soirée of the year... or, at
least, the only breakfast soirée worth trekking
through midtown pre-first-cup-of-coffee for:
Bendel's beauty breakfast.
The BBB is pretty
much every girly-girl's pink dream. Remember how,
when you were little, you would fantasize about how
cool it would be to hang out in a toy store after it
closed, when there were no other customers there?
Well, picture that... except instead of a giant foot
piano, it's a ton of beauty industry V.I.Ps wanting
to show you the newest additions to their brands.
Cool, huh?
I've been lucky enough to attend the event in years
past, when I worked at Cosmo. This year, I
was thrilled to be invited as a blogger in the
Total Beauty community.
After carefully testing my new finds, I came across a
few favorites that I'm dying to tell you about.
Here's one of them:
Beauty Rehab Spearmint Lip Balm,
($12, beautyrehab.com
or at Henri Bendel), is a British import
-- David Beckham and the wife are reportedly big
fans.
What have you been using
to treat your chapped lips this winter? Do yourself a
favor... go get it now, and throw it away. Because
it's not working as well as this does.
Beauty Rehab is, quite ironically,
my new addiction. It's one of those products you
think you love because it smells delicious enough to
eat, but then you realize its actually working and
you feel like you made a new BFF. The intensive lip
treatment is made from Sweet Almond Oil and Shea
Butter, which soothe and soften dry lips (in about
five seconds, I might add) and also has Lemon and
Spearmint to nourish your skin and freshen your
breath. I love its slick consistency, too -- it feels
kind of oily at first (not sticky at all),
but once you feel it sink into your dry crevices, all
you'll want to do is an instant reapply.
Since BR is the only rehab program with one step
instead of twelve, there's no excuse for pulling a Kenickie and
falling off the wagon. (Sorry... had to do
it!)
Olay! Olay, Olay, Olé!!!!!
Above:
Me, midway through my personal skin care consultation
at
OlayforYou.com
As you know, I love,
love... LOVE to hear about web-savvy beauty tools.
Let's face it... anything that combines the internet
with beauty products? I'm all over it.
You can imagine how thrilled I was to find OlayforYou.com, Olay's
personalized skin care consultation web service
for confused beauty junkies. It takes all the
guesswork out of choosing the best ingredients for
your biggest skin concerns — whether they be fine
lines, wrinkles or brown spots. The intuitive
program takes about five minutes from start to
finish, and gives tailored product suggestions
that you can save to your desktop, e-mail to
yourself, or buy at an online drugstore (but only
if you want to — there's absolutely no pressure to
buy anything, which is refreshing.)
The site is DEF worth checking out if you've always
been lost while perusing your drugstore's beauty
aisle, or if you're curious about how to tackle those
newly emerged smile lines you've been desperately
trying to ignore.
OlayForYou, FTW!!
Beauty Blogs are Blowin' Up
By far, the most popular
question I've received via e-mail, text, twitter, IM,
or even phone in the last 24 hours has been "Have you
seen The Times Style Section yet?"
Yes, I have. And Holy awesome.
In case you haven't seen it yet... here's the article
my fam and friends are referring to. Check it out!
Upload a New 'Do
Wanna see how you'd look with Reese's latest haircut?
Check out HairMixer.com
If you're looking to
start out the new year with a new hair cut, but
haven't the slightest clue where to begin, click on
over to HairMixer— a site that lets you
upload your pic and literally try on your favorite
stars' manes. Cool feature: there are tons of male
celebs with fab hair on there, too—in case you
want send your boyfriend a clue while you're at
it.
New Skin Resolutions
Tarte's 'We Wish You Health' Skinvigorating™
Gift Set, $30,
available at TarteCosmetics.com,
makes it a cinch to honor your skin care promises—and
keep them— well into '08.
Last week, the
Times health blog referenced
a poll that said one-third of people who make
New Year's resolutions aren't truly committed to
their goals, and will most likely break them
before February. The obvious answer to why this
is: we set our standards unrealistically high,
make our proclamations too broad and subsequently
let ourselves down and get discouraged when we
don't see results. Bettering yourself shouldn't be
this stressful... should it?
I never like to make New Years resolutions, and if I
do, I never make them out loud. (Who needs
your lunch buddy calling you out when you order a
cream-based soup instead of vegetable? No thanks.)
This year—since it's YBLAG's first New Year's
celebration— I've decided to make a resolution to be
extra good to my skin. Read: Wash, tone, treat
every morning, every night, and
totally eliminate all sun worshipping. Gulp. Ouch.
Omg.
I know it sounds easy enough, but I've been known to
fall asleep with a full face of makeup (lazy!) and
bask in the sun with minimal SPF in the summertime
(dummy!).
As you can imagine, I was psyched to discover the
above gift set from Tarte while I was looking through
my Christmas goodies. It has four of the brands star
makeup products—each with an awesome skin care
benefit. My absolute favorite part is the Clean Slate
Primer, which hydrates my mug with avocado oil while
keeping it calm and healthy with echinacea, rosemary
and hibiscus oils. I'm obsessed.
The gift set is a perfect companion to my stellar skin products, and it's
making my New Years resolution totally easy to
stick to. I'll let you know how it goes.
(...As if I'd tell you if I break it
before February.)
Go On, Show Your Teeth
Post
your grin for a chance to be an on
stage presenter at the
People's Choice Awards!
If you can't resist the
gorgeousness of your pearly whites every time you
glance in the mirror, I have two things I want to say
to you:
- Dude, get over yourself. Immediately.
- You should put that energy towards entering this fun online contest.
Crest & Scope are
sponsoring a search for the person with the most
confident smile, and the winner gets to:
- Serve as the official Miss/Mister
People’s Choice, and present at the awards show in
January
- To hang with Ryan Seacrest on the
red carpet
(that's your favorite part so far, right?)
- Admission to the official
after-party (which also gives you official bragging
rights for your friends back home.)
- A pre-award show makeover from a
celebrity stylist, complete with full hair, makeup
and wardrobe. (Did somebody say wardrobe?)
- An all-expenses paid weekend with
four friends in a luxe Hollywood hotel (OK, so I
guess you can get the bragging rights part if you
have more than four friends)
To enter, all you have to do is upload your smilin' mug to SmileSpotlight.com, and give a quick answer to the (really, really dorky) question: “How does your white smile and fresh breath make you feel confident?” (It's actually not that bad—I just did it, about three sentences is all there's room for.)
The deadline is tonight at midnight—so do it ASAP and be sure to enter a pre-Halloween candy smile!
Make Way for Total Beauty
Image
via TotalBeauty.com
Two things you probs know
about me by now: I have a loving (to the point of
unnatural) relationship with my beauty product
collection, and I live on (well... in front of) my
iMac. The former happens to be my profession, the
latter is a hobby-turned-infatuation with scoping out
the latest in online trends. With these two things in
mind, one can imagine the dance party I threw for
myself when I found my new friends at TotalBeauty.com.
I'll tell you why.
Total Beauty is like a Facebook app that 'superpokes'
your best friend's face cream; a Google search for tips on how
to create a peacock eye effect; or a Perezelle post about what's
'peppered' in the beauty biz. Doesn't that sound
delicious?
Making Scents of Myself
I've
always wanted to Warhol myself.
As cliche as it may sound (and it's soooo cliche), I'm a firm believer that scents say a ton about one's personality and attitude. I've always been drawn to musky, treehugger-y blends—not because I'm a greasy hippie, but because I like to think of myself as a free spirit, and I suppose patchouli-based fragrances provide a non-offensive way of releasing my inner bra burner. Is that weird?
more...YBLAG's Breast Cancer Picks
For
more on how you can fight breast cancer, visit
Susan G. Komen For the
Cure
Also, visit the American Cancer Society
website for
info on early detection, Mammograms, and support
groups.
October has become
synonymous with walking, glossing and ribbon-ing in various shades of
pink. Breast Cancer Awareness Month
makes it easy to support breast cancer research
with its seemingly millions of limited-edition
products made exclusively (or partially) for the
cause. Below, I've listed and linked out my
favorites.
Tory Burch Canvas Tory Tote, $195, toryburch.com
Belkin Remix Metal for iPod Nano, $30, Belkin.com
Smashbox BCA Blushing Pink Fusion Soft Lights &
Brush Set, $59 ($82 value), sephora.com
It's Christina In a Bottle
Olay Giveaway Winners
Five
Yblag readers now are even more bright-eyed than
before!
Thanks to everyone who
participated in our first ever beauty giveaway! It
was so fun to get all your e-mails and I'm so
grateful that you passed YouBlogLikeaGirl.com
along to your friends. You da best!
As promised, the five winners who sent us along to
the most email addys will receive one Olay Definity
Eye Illuminator each. I'll be in touch today. Thanks
to all who entered! For more information on Olay
Definity, check out their site.
Emmy Makeup Look Cheat Sheet
Above: Celebrity
Makeup Artist and Emmy Makeup Guru, Bruce Grayson
Emmy recaps have been
everywhere this week, and I love reading them, but
sometimes I wish these people would give it to me
straight:
Dear (so-and-so-weekly/website/mag),
I agree that (fill-in-the-blank-actress)'s 'bold lip look' from Sunday Night's Emmys was gorgeous. I appreciate how the sunset inspired her makeup artist when they chose the color. Way to go on the behind-the-scenes-investigation. Writing now to ask for one tiny detail: what's the name of the lipstick she wore, or one close to it? That's really all I need to know.
Love, YBLAG
Luckily, I didn't have to wait for them to write me back. Instead, I pulled some strings and found out for myself. This report comes straight from the horse's mouth, via Primetime Emmys Make-up Department Head and Olay spokesperson Bruce Grayson. What's a makeup department head, you ask? Basically, not one actress was allowed down the red carpet or on stage until Bruce gave his stamp of approval. Here are some Cliffsnotes for Emmy-ready lips, eyes and cheeks.more...
Spot Check: What's in My Makeup Bag?
When I do wear makeup, I've been known play "Make Believe: The Makeup Artist Edition." I love experimenting with colors and techniques and new products. Here's a shot of what my "primary" makeup bag looks like at the moment:
Fascinating, huh? FYI,
the whole
overflowing-with-makeup-and-won't-zipper-look isn't
for dramatic effect, I've been too lazy to either
switch to a bigger case or transfer some products
into my "secondary" stash.
Click below for a list of what's inside and
why.
She's theBalm
Above:
Marissa Shipman,
Founder & CEO of theBalm
Wanna hear one of my
all-time favorite stories? Cool, here goes:
Once upon a time, in the very late 90's, a beautiful
twentysomething girl from Connecticut was going
through a typical quarter-life crisis. She had just
graduated college with a degree in theatre, wasn't
sure what she wanted career-wise and landed a few
great jobs that didn't really suit her. Then, a bad
breakup with a bf was added into the mix. OY. So she
did what any normal girl would do in her sitch—she
packed up her shiz and moved to Cali.
Wait, it gets better...
You Blog Like a Girl's First Beauty Giveaway!
Mess Up Your Hair on Purpose
Photo:
Bumble and
bumble
As the fashion blogs went
live from London this
weekend to see shows like Kate Moss's Top Shop and
Chloe for H&M, I've been sorting through the
New York coverage for a "must post" beauty look.
One hair 'do, from Reyes, stuck out for me because 1)
I would wear it (or at least try to), 2)I trust
Bumble and bumble (the stylists who created the
look), and
3) The behind-the-scenes view from which
NYTimes Beauty Editor Natasha Singer tells
us this hair story is fluff-free and
easy to follow (Check out the multimedia slide
show where she actually helps mess up the models'
hair).
Technically, you don't "have to" try this messy-tress
look until Spring '08, but I see nothing wrong with
giving it a whirl the next time you're near your
skinny flat iron, mousse and some bobby pins. Here,
see for yourself, tell me
what you think. You like?