Here is something beyond fabulous from Urban Decay, and this week Mythbuster Beauty is giving away two of them!  Urban Essentials contains three Urban Decay must-haves. . . . an exclusive, oversized bottle of the coveted Eyeshadow Primer Potion (60% more!) and TWO full sized Eyeshadows—Midnight Cowboy and Goddess.

Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion is a cult-favorite product that gives you vibrant eye shadow color that lasts all day – without creasing!   It’s brilliant and I couldn’t wear my eyeshadow any other way.  UD’s Primer Potion was a top ten favorite at MBB for 2007:  Top Ten of 2007: Urban Decay’s Eye Primer Potion.

The two full-size eyeshadows are in Goddess (midnight blue w/ lots of electric blue microglitter), and Midnight Cowboy (subtle golden-beige w/ gold glitter).  They look beautiful paired up together and even better when using UD’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion.  The Urban Essentials Set retails for $39.00. 

Official Rules:  To enter this giveaway enter your name and email address in the contest machine box below, and subscribe to Mythbuster Beauty at the sidebar Feedburner link.  One entry per person and the deadline is at 1 am (EST) Thursday, November 27th, 2008.  TWO winners will be chosen at random and will be announced on Mythbuster Beauty, PRIZEY.Fetch, and contacted via email.  MBB will not share your email address with anyone, and only uses your email address to contact you if you are a winner.  This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and Canada only.

The Body Shop recently released a new mineral makeup line called Nature’s Minerals.  The Nature’s Mineral Line is best for those wanting to achieve a healthy, radiant complexion with ultra-fine minerals that blend evenly to protect skin and reduce redness and imperfections.

Nature’s Minerals might be a great match for you if you have: normal to dry skin, sensitive skin, and you are looking for light to medium coverage.  This mineral makeup line contains:

• Kaolin clay and Mediterranean clay that are absorbent minerals that provide long-lasting coverage.
• Mica adds luster that has light-diffusing properties to help disguise fine lines and pores.
• Titanium dioxide and iron oxide protect skin from the sun without clogging pores.
• Dermatologist-tested with no added fillers, preservatives or fragrances.

How would you like to try this new mineral makeup line?  This week Mythbuster Beauty is giving away one set of Nature’s Mineral Makeup including one full size foundation, blush, and eye color of your choice (total retail value of $56!). 

Rules:  To enter this giveaway enter your name and email address in the contest machine box below.  One entry per person and the deadline is at 1 am (EST) Monday, November 17th, 2008.  One winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced on Mythbuster Beauty, PRIZEY.Fetch, and contacted via email.  MBB will not share your email address with anyone, and only uses your email address to contact you if you are a winner.  This giveaway is open to residents of the USA and Canada only.

Best wishes to all of you and keep posted for two more giveaways tba soon!

Bionic Beauty has another incredible giveaway going on until November 23rd, 2008.  You have two chances to win a Dazzle Dry Quick Dry Nail Polish System.

“Your Dazzle Dry nail polish system set will include: Nail Prep (1 oz.), Base Coat (0.5 oz), Dazzle Dry top coat (0.5 oz), and 3 different nail polish colors (0.5 ounces each). It’s the perfect-o kit for your at-home manicures and pedicures! And for the record, Dazzle Dry never tests their products on small n’ fuzzies (i.e. no animal testing).”

How do you enter this wonderous contest?   Follow this link over to Bionic Beauty and enter, that’s how!

These are the beauty articles that captured my attention this week:

e.l.f. launches new Studio Professional makeup line! - Bionic Beauty tells all about e.l.f’s new “kickin’ it up a notch” cosmetic line.  Instead of $1 it runs in the $3 dollar range, and who can resist that?

My Makeup Collection 2008 - NessasaryMakeup bares all!  Are you a beauty product addict?  I dare you, no, I triple-dog-dare you to even come close to having the amount of makeup this beauty diva has!!! 

Lashtastic Eye Magic - Afrobella discusses the range of eye lash and brow conditioning and enhancing products.

LUSH BIG SHAMPOO! HUMP DAY HAIR DAY! - SharonD and the gals at Megsmakeup.com tell us more about the incredible LUSH haircare and beauty line.

Drugstore Chic: Gillette Fusion Razor - Raging Rouge notices how great her husband’s skin feels after shaving and gives this razor a try for herself!  You go RR!

Sephora Beauty Innovations: What’s next? - And unless you haven’t heard, Sephora’s Friends and Family 20% discount is going on until November 10th.  Beauty.com and Benefit Cosmetics are also offering 20% discount codes and free shipping this weekend.

To receive a 20% discount and free shipping until Nov. 10th at Benefit Cosmetics after entering FRIEND08 at checkout enter PRETTY50 and your order ships free!  

Have a wonderful weekend and happy shopping!

Guess what showed up in my mailbox this afternoon?  The newest Sephora Holiday Catalog, “tis the season to GIFT PRETTY!”  And how fitting given that their Friends and Family 20% discount starts today (FF2008 at checkout).   I am a bit ticked that that dang-blasted LASH STASH is out-of-stock though!!!                                                                                                 

This year Sephora is celebrating their 10th year, and to have some fun let’s speculate about what beauty products might be in the Sephora catalogs in 2018. Here are my predictions for Sephora’s beauty products of the FUTURE:

1. DIY non-toxic injectible Botox kits - let’s hope this one enters the market soon!
2. BE’s Moon Mineral Makeup line (made from actual Moon Dust Minerals)
3. In response for the need for more eco savvy beauty containers, Sephora will create re-usable containers that can be cleaned and recycled, AND you can refill your cosmetics and skincare items from bulk dispensers!

I better hire my patent attorney (Laurel are you there?) and get these ideas protected ASAP.  I really like that last one!

I idolize Ginger Rogers.  So this year I am attempting a Starlet look for Halloween.  I think I still need to kick it up a notch and possibly run to the store for some false eyelashes and a feather boa! 

Classic Starlet Features:  Precisely defined eye brows, flawless skin, dark matte lipstick, black mascara with dark top eyeliner, and beautiful cheekbones.  Its all about Glamour!

My Starlet Look:  Laura Mercier’s Bleu Marine Eye liner applied with a flat eyeliner brush, L’Oreal’s Telescopic Mascara in Black, Cargo’s blu-ray Pressed Powder (all over face and on eyelids), ECO Nvey Lipstick in Dark Ruby,  Anastasia’s All About Brows Kit, Sugar’s Blush and Bronzer duo (used extra bronzer in hollows of cheeks to emphasize cheekbones). (more…)

Since I got into mineral makeup, I’ve discovered it pays to shop around for certain items that you like, to see if other companies carry a similar or the same product at a lower price.

I discovered mineral makeup in April, and found my two favorite brands in May. One of the sites, Aromaleigh, carries more traditional style makeup in addition to mineral makeup. I noticed that they carried a great ‘indelible gel eyeliner‘ product that looked very similar to MAC Cosmetic’s Fluidline. Of course I bought some to try! I loved it, and then I went back to Aromaleigh’s website to learn a bit more about the product.

I noticed that Aromaleigh carried this product by customer request and that it was made by a third party company that supplies it to any company that wants to carry it, in the same colors and same formula.

So I did some digging online, and saw that it is indeed carried on many different sites, for wildly different prices! The prices range from $7.70 to $25.00

Companies I found that carry the Indelible Gel Eyeliners (this is by no means a comprehensive list):
Spa Private Label - $7.70
Mad Minerals - $8.99
JW Cosmetics - $8.99
Headcovers unlimited - $9.99
Catwalk Cosmetics - $12.50
Aromaleigh - $14.75 (these go on sale rather often for $11.06)
Studio Direct - $14.99
Urban Apothecary - $15.00
MAC Cosmetics - $15.00 (added as a price guideline)
Loose Lips NY - $20.00
Indelible Gel - $25.00 (more…)

Here are some new promotions just announced at my favorite naturally curly hair line, Jessicurl.  Because one of the curly hair commandments is to avoid blow-drying, her microfiber towels help speed up your air-drying and help style your hair as well (via plunking and scrunching).   For great curly hair styling tips be sure to watch Jess’ demonstration videos at the Jessicurl website!

• $3 off liters, all products and all scents
• $3 off the “towel combo,” a small microfiber towel for scrunching and a larger one for plunking (be sure to watch Jess’ demonstration videos if you don’t know what that means or if you just want to learn the best techniques for using Jessicurl products)
• 10% off full size collections (Rich, Light, and Try It All), and all body care products too!!

With each purchase, Jessicurl includes a very fun Jessicurl bumper sticker stating, “You have the right to remain curly!”  So Jess is asking her customers (like you Tracy) to participate by sending her a photo of your Jessicurl bumper sticker on your car, your school locker, or any other (legal!) place and in return she will send you back a discount code for 10% off a future order!   Not only that but in the next few weeks the Jessicurl site will unveil a new photo gallery page to show these pictures off.   She asks us to please only send pictures that you would be OK having publicly posted (and they will blur or black out license plate numbers).  Send your photo to customerservice@jessicurl.com with “Bumper Sticker Photo” in the subject line.

You do have the right to remain curly!

Raging Rouge recently wrote a post about many beautiful purples being featured in cosmetics as a trend this season.   The six spectacular nail shades shown at her post are worth your time alone, and I have to add my blessing to the purple trend! 

Here’s a fact, I love purple.  My birthstone, amethyst.  My favorite flower, lilac.  Favorite Tootsie Roll Pop flavor, grape.  My passion for things purple could go on and on, and Urban Decay must have sensed this because they created the most decadent purple shades this season.

Urban Decay’s Matte Eyeshadow in Heist ($16):  a dusty purple that adds a subtle gorgeous matte purple to your lids.  And if you wanted a more bold purple color, you could always opt for Purple Haze or Eggplant.

Urban Decay’s Lipstick in Vinyl ($22):  How on earth did I miss hearing about this shade?   An incredibly multi-dimensional dark purply-plum lipstick.  This is on my must get list. (more…)

I recently had a spur of the moment trip to join my Daddy-O for a few days. With 5 days of travel and 3 different hotels, I wanted my makeup kit to be portable but diverse. I needed something for transit, for the moment when I jumped into his arms, for a touristy walk through the art district, and for fabulous evenings out to dinner. How could I possibly fit everything all those looks required into one little train case? If only there was something compact that contained a plethora of flattering shades…. (more…)