HAIRDO GIVE-A-WAY!

Want to win my 22" clip-in straight extensions in chocolate copper/medium red brown Hairdo? I wore it only this one time to try it out & take pictures. It's been sitting in a box since! Someone should be getting some good use out of this! Folica was so sweet to send this to me, but it's not my color!! Go visit my new youtube channel for your chance to win!  While your there, please subscribe! I'll be doing more give-a-ways over there!!

I hope you all had wonderful Christmas' and will have awesome New Year!! Thanks for your support this year! I really appreciate it!

UPDATE & TAG!

Hey my NV'ious beauties! Sorry for the lack of posts lately! I've been busy with the holidays and making some videos for my new youtube channel! If you haven't check it out and sub'd yet, please do! I'm really excited about it and it's been a lot of fun so far.  I see it as a way to interact with you more. Please leave comments or even better--a video response to any of the videos I've made. I'd be happy to do an requests (well, most....you know what I mean! *wink*) I saw this tag on some one's blog and even though I wasn't tagged, I wanted to do it anyway! I hope you enjoy reading my answers! I'm tagging everyone, so please do it if you are interested and leave the link below so I can read your answers!!

What's your favourite make up look?

Currently, I'm loving my 88 metal palette from Sedona Lace. I thought I'd be hooked on my NAKED palette once I got it, but I'm still reaching for this everyday! I love all the beautiful colors and the pigmentation!! I have been wearing a bit more blush than usual and I always keep the lips a pink/peachy nude. My favorite gloss (and it has been for a while) is Magaly by LuMesh! Amazing stuff!

Do you have a beauty vice?

I have entirely waaaay too much eyeshadow! It's insane how many palettes/single shadows/quads/trio I have. I also have tons of makeup brushes!! And I can't help myself! I think I need rehab!

What part of your body do you love?

Eyes, for sure! I've been complimented on them my whole life. =D

Who is your beauty icon?

I don't actually have a beauty icon. =/ There are too many beautiful people in this world to pick just one!

What beauty product makes you feel instantly sexy?

Mascara, and lots of it! The blacker the better!!

How do you look after your skin?

At least twice a day! I use my Clarisonic in the morning and also in the evening before bed. I wear SPF everyday and always moisturizer! It's so important to take care of your skin!

What is your signature scent?

It depends on the season. Because I sell AVON, I have tons of their perfumes. I love In Bloom, Chic in White, and Bond Girl 007. I also LOVE mark's Sophistique! It's amazing and perfect for winter. Also for winter, I love Bath & Body Works Twilight Woods---Ah-mazing!!

What are your hair care secrets?

I almost never use a hair dryer on my hair. I use whatever shampoo & conditioner is on sale (but no cheap junk like Suave or Prell!!) and I mix in some pure Argon oil in my conditioner and let that soak on my hair for about 5-10 minutes. I used a wide tooth comb primarily. I also put on Oscar Blondie glossing cream (which protects from heat, smooths flyaways, makes your hair shiny, and always keeps frizzys away!) whenever I heat style my hair--which isn't that often.

How do you pamper yourself?

I am usually busy with my ladies and don't have much time to pamper myself--but when I do get a chance, I'll give myself a pedicure with the foot spa I have! My husband also bought one of those back massagers that you put on the sofa and it has heat! It's awesome! Those two combined together are great! I might just have to do that again tonight!!!

What is your beauty pet peeve?

I don't like when people over-tweeze their brows and draw them back on! I understand that you can get carried away and have no other choice until they grow out, but I know people IRL that have had their brows this way for YEARS!!! I also can't stand to see someone with foundation on that it too light or dark.

What would your desert island must haves be?

Some good books, sunscreen, and lots of cold water!

Finally, do you have a beauty philosophy?

Being confident in your own skin is the most beautiful thing in the world!

Stay NV'ious!!!

KOHANA COFFEE BODY POLISH

A few months ago Kohana sent me this lovely gift basket with some amazing bath and body products! I've "hit pan" on another one of the body polishes and I want to tell you all about it! Here's what the coffee body polish looked like before my skin devoured it!

"Kona coffee is grown in fertile volcanic soil producing some of the world's best coffee.  Exotic coffee butter and antioxidant-rich organic Kona coffee from the Big Island of Hawaii have been combined to create a rich aromatic body polish.  The caffeine in the coffee improves circulation and reduces the appearance of cellulite.  Tropical oils that have been incorporated into this fabulous scrub renew and restore the skin."

This one felt a tad drier than the ginger one I used first. But just like the ginger one, it starts to "melt" in your hands (from the warmth I'm assuming) so you have to start to quickly rub it on to the skin. While there are lots of tiny grains to slough off the skin in here, there's so much natural oil also, my skin felt amazing when I was finished! If you love the scent of freshly ground coffee, you will love the scent of this!! There is also a body butter to go with this, but I don't have it. But to be honest, just like with the ginger scrub, I really didn't even feel like my skin needed a moisturizer when I got out of the shower---the oils really did hydrate my skin!!

I'm looking forward to using my last scrub! I'll be sad when it's gone, but I will def purchase some of these goodies for myself!! You can find this and many other Kohana products in the NV Beauty Boutique! Please check it out!

FTC Disclosure: I was sent this for review. I was not paid to write this review. I do make a small profit should anyone purchase Kohana products through my store.

VAPOUR ORGANIC BEAUTY, PART 3



"This makeup removing cleansing oil is a beautiful blend of Organic Camellia oil to keep skin bright, toned, and balanced, and Organic Evening Primrose oil, rich in anti-aging EFAs (Essential Fatty Acids) to lock in moisture and boost skin elasticity. Light, dry certified Organic Sunflower oil has been further enriched with nourishing organic botanicals, including silica-rich Horse Tail to improve circulation, anti-inflammatory Borage Flower, and antioxidant rich Helichrysum Flower to nourish and enhance the skin as it cleans."

I've been using Vapour Organic Beauty's Cleansing Oil mainly to remove eye makeup. I squeeze two pumps on a fluffy cotton ball and gently press it to my shut eye. Then it gently wiggle it and swipe away all my eye makeup! This works great at removing waterproof mascara and eye liners. It is an oil and does leave my skin oily feeling, so I wouldn't use this all over my face.

Like all the other VOB products I've been trying, I love the packaging. It's a plastic pump that is not only great for travel, it's sanitary!!  It's also chalked full of great organic ingredients that are so good for your skin and has anti-aging properties! Yeah!

The scent--it's very light, I can't really describe it. VOB describes it as aromatherapy, but I don't really notice the scent unless I put my nose very close to it. My eyes tend to be sensitive and this doesn't bother them.

I the only con I'd have with this is the price. It's $26 for a little less than 1 ounce. MAC's cleansing off oil is $29 for 5 ounces. So I guess it comes down to how good you feel about using organic products or not. I've never used the one by MAC, so this is not a comparison. Oh, one more thing, for reasons unknown to me, VOB isn't a supplier on OpenSky anymore, so it's not available in my NV Beauty Boutique anymore.

Have you tried anything for VOB?

FTC Disclosure: I was sent this for review. I was not paid to write this. I am not affiliated with Vapour Organic Beauty.

NV'IOUS BEAUTY GIVE-A-WAY WINNERS

Pheeew! This took longer than I thought! But it's finally done! Please email me if you see your name below! Winners were selected at random. If you didn't win, keep trying! I'll hold another contest soon! Thanks to all who entered!!

Thanks to all the companies below who donated items! I appreciate your generosity as well!

HoneyCat Cosmetics

Angelpumpkin

Folica

Anniedollface

Premire Dead Sea

Piinkpoodle

Free Beauty Events

CoverGirl-light

LouisanaDiva39

CoverGirl-Medium

iinfam0uschiicka

CoverGirl-Dark

Courtney!;*

SJ Creations-Gift card & Hand Wash

Charity

Contests & Such

Jenn

Michelle Marie

Queencess

**SJ Creations ended up sending the Sugar Cookie Caddys to my house directly. I can't afford to send out 10 of these to winners, I'm sorry. I will hold a seperate give-a-way for these later on. My apologies, but you will have a chance later on!**

Nicobella

Miss Missick

Tilvee

YaHighness

Vapour Organic Beauty

Tati Abaurre

Kohana

Michelle Marie

Sedona Lace

88 Palette- TickleMyHeartPink

120 palette-Saimese

NV Beauty Prize Pack

Kate Gene

Thank you again to all of you for helping make NV Beauty a success! I have enjoyed each of your comments and all your kindness! To another year of NV'ious Beauty! Happy Holidays!

GLAMOUR DOLL EYES

I have seen so many people talking about Glamour Doll Eyes that I really wanted to try it out myself! So last week I finally hit up their web page and quickly found many shades I wanted to try! Samples ship free & are really inexpensive, so I picked out 8 beauties!

What cute packaging?! I love it! These are the sample jars, I'm assuming the full size look the same, only larger.

How pretty? I love all of these!! They look different depending on the light. You can really see this when you look at the other swatch pictures. Check it out...

Can't wait to try these out on my eyes! Just swatching them, I could feel how smooth & creamy these are. The pigmentation on these are incredible! Who else loves Glamour Doll Eyes??

Keep checking back for winners for the One year of NV'ious Beauty give-a-way!!!

FTC Disclosure: I purchased these with my own money. I was not asked/paid to write this. I am not affiliated with Glamour Doll Eyes.

ELF EYESHADOW

I love finding ELF products at Target! Especially when I find something like this deal! I got all four of these duo's for $3 or $5---sorry I can't remember! It was a while ago I picked these  up, so forgive me! They came packaged together as a set. All of these shades are pretty neutral, so you know I love that!

I think the names of these are a bit odd--the first two are on the top are called basic quad 2 & 4, well...it's obvious these are duos, not quads! So maybe these were once part of another collection?? I have no idea. But nonetheless, I really like these! On to the swatches:

The pigmentation is pretty good. These are not creamy, like Urban Decay or the like, but they are pretty amazing for the price! I love Basic Quad 2 the most!! Here's some looks I've done with these so far: (First one is the picture from my HairDo, part two post)

Basic Quad 4

Did anyone else snatch these up? I think they'd be a great stocking stuffer for that makeup lover in your life! Or a treat for yourself!

Winners of my One Year of NV'ious Beauty give-a-way announced soon!

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this with my own money. I was not paid to write this. I am not affiliated with ELF.

FREE BEAUTY EVENTS ALERT!

Check out this awesome events just announced by FreeBeautyEvents!

"This month, for example, L’Oreal will be demonstrating their hottest products at select CVS stores as well as handing out coupons and samples. In addition, in December Coty will be promoting their holiday fragrance gift sets at Rite Aid in New York and Pennsylvania."

And here's the 411 on their latest contest:

"For the month of December 2010, we will be giving away 10 prizes. Each prize will consist of Garnier Nutritioniste Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream, Garnier Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Firming Moisturizer, and Garnier Ultra-Lift Daily Targeted Wrinkle Treatment! The Contest runs from 12/1/2010 to 12/31/2010, winners will be chosen on 1/5/2011 and notified by 1/15/2011. We also do a contest each week with a smaller prize on our blog. Please feel free to enter these contests yourself, the odds of winning last weeks contest of the week were 1 out of 9!"

 

Click here to enter!

HAIRDO, PART TWO

"This VibraliteTM modacrylic fiber 23" Clip-in Wavy Extension from HairUWear adds volume to shorter hair and short hair transforms to luxurious below-the-shoulder length waves in MINUTES. Now any woman can easily and affordably change her length and/or add volume to her own hair with HairDoTM Synthetic Clip-in Hair from Jessica Simpson and Ken Paves."

So last month I tried the HairDo  22" Clip-in Straight Extension. It was much too light for my hair color (it was chocolate brown) and also, it would have to be trimmed for it to really blend with my own hair. So the fantastic Julie, over at Folica.com kindly sent me the 23" Inch Wavy Hair extension, in midnight brown (which is almost black).

I was so looking forward to seeing how the curly hair blended in with my own hair. Here's the fab packaging that these babies come in:

After you open up the box, you'll find the hair piece in a hairnet and tied down by three cute, black bows. It's really easy to put it back in this packaging when you are not using the hair also!

And here's the actual hair piece itself: (sorry I forgot to snap a pic of the inside---if you're curious about how it looks, check out my other HairDo review)

It has a nice amount of hair on it. It's not as thick as my own hair, but probably what the average person has! The hair is layered and the curls are gorgeous! I wish my own hair would curl this nicely AND STAY!

Of course I had to curl my own hair before putting this on. I used my Caruso 30 Molecular Ion Steam Hairsetter. I'll be writing up another review for that later!! It took just a few minutes to snap onto my hair and I was ready to snap some quick photos for you!

**Will be reviewing this eyeshadow soon as well....can you guess what brand it is?**

It's hard to take pictures of hair this long....so I asked my good friend Samantha at work to take a couple for me! The lighting at work isn't stellar, but you can see the length it gave me! LOVE!!

Now, you can see that when all the hair is on my back...the color match isn't perfect...but when it's pull to the front/side you can hardly tell. I usually darken my hair in the winter, so that should correct this. But everyone at work had no idea I had a hair piece in! I'm sure my clients couldn't tell either. I felt really sexy with this in!! Something about super long hair can do that to a girl!! I really loved the way this one looked.

At first I wished it was a bit thicker, but as the day wore on, I realized how heavy it would be if it had more hair on it. I did have to take it out by mid-day because it was a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't painful, but it was just getting on my nerves a bit! *lol* I've never worn extensions of any kind, so I suppose it just takes some getting used to. I will def be rocking these again though!! A few ladies I work with already want to make a purchase! So if you are on the fence, I totally recommend you these out. I love this wavy one, but the straight hair will most likely need trimming, unless you already have hair that length and just want to add volume. This one gave me length and volume.

FTC Disclosure: I was sent this for review. I was not paid to write this. This is my honest opinion. I am not affiliated with any of the companies or brands mentioned in this post.



CONTEST REMINDER!

Just a few days to get your entries in for my NV'ious anniversary give-a-way!!!

Please don't forget to tell me where you live (country), so I can check it see if I'm able to ship the NV'ious goodie bag pictured above to an international winner! Any suggestions on cheap shipping, please let me know also!!!

Also, sorry for the lack of posts lately! With the holidays and all, I've been very busy, as I'm sure all of you have been too. I promise, it'll get back to blogging more often very soon!

Good luck all! Happy & Safe holidays to you all!

Until next time, stay NV'ious!



KABUKI CHALLENGE!

Here are my two kabuki's! One from Bare Escentuals and one from Sedona Lace. Here's a quick post comparing the two. If you have either one of these, leave a comment below! Tell me your thoughts on these!

Bare Escentuals

Goat hair

Hairs are short and prickely

Hurts my face =(

Never use

$28.00

Sedona Lace

Synthetic hairs

Long, filament fibers

Baby soft of my face

Use every day

$17.95

**Extra pro's, has super cute luggage to store kabuki in! The synthetic hairs don't absorb any product! Comes in other colors and Sedona Lace has amazing customer service & super fast shipping!**

FTC Disclosure: This was sent to me. I was not paid to write this review. I am not affiliated with Sedona Lace. This is my honest opinion!

SJ CREATIONS SOY BODY BUTTER

"Luxurious, rich and creamy, this ultra moisturizing body butter contains shea butter and soothing aloe vera. Perfect for use after bathing, showering or anytime your skin needs a moisture surge!"

I was sent this a few weeks ago and I have not put it down!!! It's rare that I like something so much in such a short period of time. I've used other body butters before, but this one was different for me. It's thick, but not too thick. It has a really light, fresh scent--which I love! It makes my skin super soft--especially on my upper/outer arms, where I suffer from keratosis pilaris. =( Where my arms where rough and bumpy, it's now smooth! I can't believe it! It's done nothing to alleviate the visible signs of keratosis pilaris, but I'm pleased with the results!

If you have keratosis pilaris, you know how embarrassing it can be---especially in the summer time. So if you have any tips for me, please let me know!

So now here's the best thing about this....are you ready?

It's only $5.99!! I was shocked! I thought it was going to be waaaaay out of my price range--but it's so affordable!! When I run out of this sample, I'm ordering three more!!! I love it that much! If you are looking for a great body butter to smooth out your dry skin this winter, give this one a try!

Enter my give-a-way for a chance to get your hands on some SJ Creations products!

FTC Disclosure: I was sent this product for review. I was not paid to write this review, or any others. This is my honest opinion. I am not affiliated with SJ Creations Inc.