Melissa & Doug Terrific Twenty List and Giveaway

In the name of full disclosure, my family does not "do" holidays, BUT, I do enjoy taking advantage of the holiday seasons: the time off from school/work, the emphasis on spending time with your loved ones, and all of the sales!!! So while I won't be celebrating with gift giving on any particular day, I am keeping my eye out for items that my family will enjoy that are specially marked down for the holidays. Case in point: Melissa & Doug's Terrific Twenty. 

My Week In Rewind...

(I'm not going to call this a new feature; it's just going to be what it's going to be!)

Sometimes, when I look at my day to day life as a whole, it can seem a bit mundane. But it occurred to me this morning (while luxuriating in the most wonderful bath of pink colored, jasmine and ylang ylang scented water, courtesy of LUSH's Sex Bomb), that if I dissected small facts and occurrences of the week, my life is actually quite eventful, and possibly a good source of entertainment for others (namely, you lovelies). So here goes...

Sex Bomb Bath Bomb from LUSH Cosmetics

The Best Beauty News on the Web! AKA: The Beauty Blog Coalition's Weekly Roundup

• Cinderella is racing to SEPHORA as the first in a series of collections inspired by the Disney Princesses! Blushing Noir reviews & swatches the Midnight Hour Eye Shadow Palette.
• Wanna know about Stila In The Know eyeshadow palette? Check out TheFabZilla's, review, photos and swatches.
• Homemade Dark Red Polish -Crushed Garnets from datyorkloves's blog
• Harshleen from BeautyTidbits spills the beans on her latest lip affair with Secret Agent Beauty's Agent Lips Galore.
• Find out what Obsessive Compulsive Lip Tars are hot-to-trot for BeautyJudy, a beauty blogger obsessed with bold lips this fall!
• The hunt for the perfect powder foundation is over for Sheila of Painted Ladies. Milani Even-Touch is utter perfection!
• Lola's Secret Beauty Blog is singing the praises of Anastasia Beverly Hills because their Kisses on My List Vol. 2 Lip Gloss Set is simply stunning!
• Phyrra spends an evening talking beauty with world-renowned Makeup Artists James Vincent & Orlando Santiago.
• The China Glaze Holiday Joy nail polish collection has been released and Polarbelle wants to share her picks and swatches with you.
• Looking for a gift for a fellow makeup lover? My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog shows us the Laura Mercier Deluxe Travel Brush Collection for Holiday 2012!
• Are you looking to revamp your perfume wardrobe for the Fall? Mama Fashionista has 5 great suggestions for scents to keep things hot even in the cold!
• Who wouldn't love the idea of quickly and easily changing your hair color for the night, and washing it out just as easily? Christina from Curls N Pearls reviews a product that claims to do just that - the Kevin.Murphy COLOR.BUG.
• Looking for a stocking stuffer for under $5.00? Pammy Blogs Beauty reviews an adorable Holiday Kit of body products from bodycology
• Is it a primer? An illuminator? A skincare treatment? The Beauty Professor swatches and reviews Le Metier de Beaute cult favorite, Peau Vierge.
• Beauty Info Zone discovers a subscription box from Starlooks that's all cosmetics. A delightful change of pace.
• Elena from Endless Summer shares her Modern 1920's Makeup Look Tutorial
• Alison of the Advice Sisters wants to help you deal with dry skin this Winter, with Dove's new ingredient!
• Check out why Argania 1640 became a new part of Luminous Lacquers daily beauty routine!

Beneath the Glitter-AKA: Be Chic Literate

I'm a bit of a YouTube junkie and one of the first "beauty gurus" that I subscribed to was Elle Fowler, AKA AllThatGlitters21. She and her sister, Blair (JuicyStar07), have built quite an admirable empire, one of their most recent ventures has been a dip into the literary world. Beneath the Glitter is the sisterly duos first book (in what looks to be a series), and is loosely based on their lives. I won't give away the plot line, other than to say that the book deals with the relationship between two sisters as they try to build their business in LA, as well as their interactions with an entertaining cast of friends, pets, and love interests. I tried to keep my expectations low, and truth be told, it took me about 75 pages (and a week and half) to truly get into the book. But once I did get into it, I really got into it and literally couldn't put it down. Once I felt immersed in  the world of the fictional London sisters, I finished the last two thirds of the book in a day and a half (no easy feat for someone with daughters as demanding and talkative as mine). 

I think part of what made Beneath the Glitter entertaining was trying to ascertain how much of the London sisters and their fictional lives was based on the real lives of the Fowler sisters. But outside of that, the story was truly entertaining, even if slightly predictable. There's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end, which serves as the perfect segue to the sister's second book, due out in the summer of 2013. I'm not ashamed to admit, I'm seriously looking forward to seeing what's happening next. Until next time...

My Tropic Isle Living (JBCO) Routine! AKA: A Curly Girl Chronicle

A while back, I did a post about a hair care regimen I was trying out, that incorporated products that included Jamaican Black Castor Oil. They garnered decent results, but being the true product junkie that I am, I jumped on the chance to try another line of products featuring the “miracle” ingredient. Enter Tropic Isle Living!

November It Girl Box! AKA: My Julep Maven Unboxing

One of the things that I absolutely love about Julep is that the box is PROMPT!!! My It Girl box arrived today. The theme for the month is "Stay Warm in November with Suedes" and of course, "Gratitude."  Honestly, I was tempted to skip this month-I've not been a fan of suede/matte color in the past. But I didn't skip when they wanted to put a crackle polish in my box, so I didn't skip now. Plus I'm trying to be more adventurous with my selections (in general) so I decided to stick with it.