Deals

The Klimt Woman reinterpreted by Dany Sanz

Make Up For Ever founder and chief makeup direc­tor Dany Sanz plays with the most beau­ti­ful gold col­ors in the world to cre­ate the Gold’icone Makeup Collection for Spring. Inspired by the work of Viennese artist Gustav Klimt, con­sid­ered to be “the painter of women”, Dany cre­ates the por­trait of a sexy woman with a touch of nobil­ity, filled with pure gold, glossy col­ors and bril­liant daz­zling jew­elry, thick black curly hair.

image source: Makeupforever.com

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Retweet and Comment Contest

Woohoo! Today we are start­ing another rounds of RT / fol­low­ers con­test. We are mak­ing an annouce­ment on here too because it will be more complicated.

Target fol­low­ers: 10,000

Ways to enter

1. Leave a com­ment below. Say some­thing intel­li­gent or funny, and make sure you pro­vide a valid email (in the “Email” box. No need to type it out to let the pub­lic see it). That’s how we can con­tact you. Don’t com­ment too often or our anti-spamming mech­a­nism may block you.

2. Follow @myshimmertweets and  Tweet or Retweet the fol­low­ing tweet ” #myshim­mer give­away con­test tar­get 10K #msmarch10 http://bit.ly/ctZ7Y1 ”

That’s it.

Don’t for­get to spread a mes­sage about the con­test on your blog, youtube chan­nel, or any­where else you have trusted friends. Do not try to spread it via bath­room graf­fiti or other such acts.

Happy Tweeting and Commenting. Hope we will have a win­ner soon!

What’s the prize… hmmm… how ’bout Harajuku Lovers Gwen per­fume? We will have to ship you some­thing dif­fer­ent if you are out­side of U.S., but we will see! And some Foot Petals?

Sweetening Up the Men

Valentine’s Day Gift Guide for your man 

When it comes to hol­i­days and gifts, men can be as dif­fi­cult to buy for as for women. Even in movies there’s the James Bond kind of guy, Spiderman kind of guy. And then there’s Jake Sully.  Here are a few ideas to toss around, and one tried and true experience. 

First of all, you need to decide where it is that your rela­tion­ship is lead­ing.  If you just met, keep it sim­ple; if you are four to six months into the rela­tion­ship, maybe some­thing more inti­mate or some­thing you’ve heard him men­tion that he would like to have; and of course, if you’ve reached the state of monogamy, you have many other options. 

We will start with some sim­ple ideas and moveto the more extrav­a­gant.  Society seems to think that the men are the ones who need to make hol­i­days super big for their women but there is no rea­son why you can’t be the one to make the hol­i­day festive.

Try some of these ideas:

1.  Clothings

Fox Shirts & Flannels - Mens - Darryl Shirt

Watch him closely for a bit, see what his style is but def­i­nitely be sure to pur­chase him an item that is already part of his wardrobe style.  For instance, there’s not much point in pur­chas­ing a gym rat a three-piece suit.  And, you prob­a­bly won’t even get him in a real but­ton up shirt so just be prac­ti­cal.  Remember, the gift is for him, not you. 

2.  Kitchen Gadget and Utensils


If your man has lived alone for some­time, chances are he has found that cer­tain gad­gets make life eas­ier, espe­cially when prepar­ing for meals.  Kitchen gad­gets like one-cup cof­fee mak­ers or elec­tric can opener for those end­less cans of spaghettio’s. Or, if he like to make elab­o­rate din­ner par­ties for his friends, kitchen mit­tens, table run­ner, are sim­ple but surely loved.

3. Deodorant, Cologne and after­shave



 A man’s scent is more sta­ble than women most of the time.  After a few meet­ings, you prob­a­bly know what kind of deodor­ant, cologne and after­shave he uses and prob­a­bly prefers.  Unless he has dropped hints that he would like to make a change, take the safe route and stock him up on his favorites. 

4.  Gift Cards and chocolate

Gift cards for book­stores, cof­fee shops, iTunes, and other major spe­cialty stores are always safe. Pair it with a box of home­made choco­late, now you take cheap out of the equa­tion :)

5. KISS (Keep it Special and Secret)

And the tried and true method I men­tioned above, keep it all one big secret.  Leave him notes guid­ing him to the next place where he will con­tinue the trea­sure hunt.  And depend­ing on your rela­tion­ship, you can end the trea­sure hunt at fancy hotel com­plete with the Valentine’s Special. (Bonus, make a stop at a good retreat spa like Le Petite Retreat Day Spa)

Of course you don’t have to go all out and make the occa­sion big­ger than the rela­tion­ship itself.  Just be your­self, keep your eye on the qual­ity of the rela­tion­ship and try to choose a gift that rep­re­sents the time you’ve spent together, regard­less of whether it has been 2 days or 20 years.

The Sweetest Time of the Year

(Besides the Sweetest Day in Midwest)

Rounding the cor­ner from New Year’s Resolutions, either bask­ing in the glory of suc­cess or won­der­ing what dif­fer­ence does it make any­way, the time has come for another round of sweet treats. 

Many alter­na­tives exist when it comes to Valentine’s Day gifts, so by all means, don’t think that choco­late is the only way to go, unless of course, you know where to find some of that awe­some choco­late fla­vored lotions.

Here are a few ideas if you are strug­gling to find the right gift for the right per­son.  And, always keep in mind, the choice is usu­ally made depend­ing on the rela­tion­ship sta­tus.  Did you just meet some­one?  Have you been together 3 months or 3 years?  The idea of exchanged gifts on Valentine’s changes dras­ti­cally depend­ing on the couple.

Here’s a top five gifts for you guys to give your sweet­heart lady friends.

1.    Eau de Toilette


Eau de Toilette is a mix­ture of fra­grant essen­tial oils and aroma com­pounds, fix­a­tives and solvents.  From Claire’s, Pac Sun to Sephora, Nordstrom, there is bound to be a scent that pleases you and your partner. What sets Eau de Toilette apart from oth­ers is the lower use of fra­grant oils. 

2.  Hand Cream/ Hand lotion



Hand lotion is another item that is often over­saw when think­ing of gifts. Perhaps it is every­where. (My dentist’s office has one gor­geous one in the bath­room; per­haps only to make me feel bet­ter about the visit). It maybe plain old Vaseline, or Bath & Body Works or even Juicy Couture, but no women will say no to a good hand lotion, and bonus point, it is some­thing guys can eas­ily test too. Not sure what scent to have for her? If you know her favorite fra­grance, you prob­a­bly can get a match­ing lotio. If not, get a set of trial size hand lotions in a vari­ety of scents, think coconut, brown sugar, pina colda, rose­mary, and then she can grab one, toss one in her bag and be ready to go.  Add the ben­e­fits of soft silky hands that just might be used for a mas­sage and you have a win­ner gift.

3. Inexpensive/Fashion Jewelery
Kirra Jewelry & Hair - Womens - Enamel Square Stretch Bracelet



Gifts for those in long-term rela­tion­ships offer dif­fer greatly from those who new to one another.  If you feel com­fort­able with dia­monds or other jew­elry then by all means, doll your lady up in some­thing nice.  However, if you aren’t sure that you are ready to make the big leap over to dia­monds but you still would like to get her some­thing a but more per­sonal, take notice of her ear­rings, the bracelets that she wears when you are out.  Then, even com­pli­ment her and see if she is will­ing to tell you where she found them.  With that, you are all set to find her a per­sonal gift, that’s inex­pen­sive and doesn’t put either of you in an awk­ward situation. 

4. Scarf/Gloves

Kirra Accessories - Womens - Buffalo Lux Scarf
If your friend lives in a cold cli­mate and wears scarves and gloves often, you can prob­a­bly guar­an­tee that she is always think­ing about the next new scarf to match and out­fit or a new set of gloves unlike the ones she has in color or tex­ture.  If you find a store with a good saleslady, you can usu­ally trust the advice she gives you when try­ing to decide which is the right choice for your gift.

5.  Dining out

And, finally, there is always candy.  But, why not sub­sti­tute that box of candy (unless you have a lady friend who is con­stantly ask­ing for more choco­late) for a spe­cial date.  Make reser­va­tions at a restau­rant you’ve either never been to or don’t fre­quent often.  This is great for new cou­ples just meet­ing and learn­ing about one another and if you are with a long-term mate, she is bound to be more than please that you chose her favorite restau­rant.  Chances are the good restau­rants will be crowded and reser­va­tions needed but you can make a good impres­sion by plan­ning ahead so well.

Get the Hot Italian Makeup Look, Just Like Elisabetta Canalis

Ok. I am crazy jeal­ous of Elisabetta Canalis, George Clooney’s girl­friend.  How could he pick her over me?  Ah, he doesn’t know about me yet and Valentine’s Day has not arrived yet so there is hope.

Elisabetta Canalis in her German FHM photo shoot, George Clooney’s girlfriend

I love, love Italian fash­ion and makeup looks, just like Elisabetta Canalis.  She always appears so put together effort­lessly, as if we “caught her” in her every­day lin­gerie and just snapped some pho­tos.  Then they just hap­pened to appear in FHM.

We found ClioMakeup, who I think has a sim­i­lar fresh con­fi­dence and look sim­i­lar to Elisabetta and is gorgeous.

Her fans think so as well with com­ments like “Stupendoo.…”

I don’t under­stand Italian but how fun it was to watch the video and just watch her Makeup Tutorial “Puntinismo”.

Besides I have always wanted to learn Italian, I could to lis­ten to her all day long.  She could say “Your sis­ter is a drug addict and likes to watch pigs fly” and I would just smile and lis­ten to her Italian prose.  Now I under­stand why George Clooney chooses Elisabetta Canalis over me but I still don’t like it.

Here is ClioMakeUp’s Italian makeup tuto­r­ial and trans­la­tion from Italian:

Hello girls, I wanted to do this trick from sooooo long and I know could not be portable for many of you but improv­ing the tech­nique (was my first time hehe) to make some­thing inter­est­ing (I am glad and now they are encour­ag­ing me to con­tinue to prac­tice this tech­nique eheh) for this video.

Makeup at Ross?

from http://www.beautybag411.com – I was brows­ing through Ross the other day when I hap­pened to come across some shelves stocked with lotions and bath stuff. So I started sift­ing through some of the items and next thing I know, I’m look­ing at makeup! I didn’t even know Ross car­ried makeup! Granted, most of it was cheap generic stuff, but I did actu­ally see a few e.l.f. items, and then I found some Physician’s Formula Organic makeup and some ran­dom eye­shadow palettes by a com­pany called Profusion.

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Top After Christmas Deals Neimen Marcus 2009

Where you dis­ap­pointed that your mother in law bought you a blender for Christmas?  Do you want to get the Best Beauty Deals and Sales of the Year?  Start shop­ping Christmas day as online stores are open and we know you have that gift card to give away!  And you just are not a Walmart girl, or do not want to admit it!

Here’s our online guide to the best sales and deals online in 2009!

NeimanMarcus.com

Orlane Winter Special

Super Moisturizing Concentrate and Intensive Nurturing Care—both treat­ments for the price of one.

Duo includes:

Super Moisturizing Concentrate: A gen­uine inten­sive mois­tur­iz­ing and ener­giz­ing for­mula that works all day to restore skin’s opti­mal mois­ture bal­ance. Skin regains its sup­ple, satin-smooth feel. Use in morn­ing and/or night.

Intensive Nurturing Care: A gen­uine ener­giz­ing and nutri­tive night care for dry and very dry skin. Leaves skin smooth, sup­ple, com­fort­able and revived. Use at night.

Orlane is the home of the $650 cream but this is their mois­tur­izer, orig­i­nally $280 for both mois­tur­iz­ing and lux­u­ri­ous creams, this dis­count is $165 for both creams.

Sephora.com

Take an extra 20% off all sales items with the code EXTRA.

Beauty.com

Get $10 off your order of $60 or more, plus free ship­ping.   Beauty.com has some typ­i­cal brands for you to stock up and the spe­cial dis­count will show at check­out.
*Discount valid on Beauty.com items only, exclud­ing bareM­iner­als, Darphin, NARS, Smashbox, Jane Iredale, Dr. Hauschka, Prescriptives, Origins, Donna Karan, DKNY, Michael Kors, Lab Series, Aramis, Missoni, , and Sean John prod­ucts. Other restric­tions may apply, details on web­site.

Best Holiday Sephora Coupon Codes (That Really Work!)

www.sephora.com

Until December 31, 2009, get 20% off all sale items with the promo code EXTRA at checkout.

Korres Guava Body Butter, $14

www.ulta.com

20% off almost every­thing!  Use Code: 24103

oops! but here’s the fine print, it doesn’t apply to a lot of great brands: http://www.ulta.com/ulta/common/couponsPromotions.jsp

Editor’s Pick: Smashbox Beauty Confidential Kit

An ULTA exclu­sive! The best kept secrets in beauty are revealed with this set of essen­tial prod­ucts by Smashbox. A $142 value.

www.goldfaden.com

Goldfaden Skincare is giv­ing a 20% dis­count through the end of January by enter­ing rtea8 upon check­out! Happy shop­ping!   Dr. Goldenfaden is well known for his red tea anti oxi­dant skin­care line, which has an extremely high con­cen­tra­tion of SOD (Super Oxide Dismutase) to pro­vide an ultra-protective bar­rier against oxida­tive dam­age and free rad­i­cals that con­tribute to skin’s aging process.

5 Hot Beauty Gifts Under $20

Tis the sea­son to be jolly and give!  These gifts are per­fect for giv­ing and you may even want to pocket one for yourself!


Susanne Lang, founder of Susanne Lang Parfumerie and Sula Beauty

Sula Beauty

Beyonce is a fan of Paint and Peel by Sula Beauty

Beyonce is a fan of Paint and Peel by Sula Beauty

Sula Beauty is known for their Paint and Peel nail polish in innovative colors that can be applied and peel off so you can change col­ors in an instant.  Have a hol­i­day office party at 5pm and then going to another hol­i­day soiree to meet up with that cutie?  You can wear the toned down color for your boss and go wild in one night with­out the man­i­curist wait.  A favorite of Beauties on the Run like Beyonce.

sula shea butter balms

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Editors’ Pick for Thanksgiving: DHC Deep Cleasing Oil Review

dhcCleaning up your makeup thor­oughly after a night of par­ty­ing is just as impor­tant as putting on run­way makeup. DHC is well-known for its sim­ple, qual­ity prod­ucts that do the job, and its sig­na­ture prod­uct — the Deep Cleansing Oil — is the embod­i­ment of this very phi­los­o­phy. Here is our review of the DHC Deep Cleansing Oil and why it should sit tight in your makeup bag this hol­i­day season.

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