Valentine's Day giveaway - Roger&Gallet Rose Fragrant Water

Roger and Gallet is best known for its boxed soap sets.  It also makes fragrance waters.

Roger & Gallet says that its inspiration for its Rose Gentle Fragrance Water are "rose gardens deep within Bengal."  Well, I have traveled widely through Bengal, and never encountered a rose garden.  In fact, the floral fragrance that I most associate with Bengal (and the rest of India, for that matter) is jasmine, which is strung into garlands to adorn altars.  Burning incense forms the undercurrent.

Prize: Roger & Gallet Rose  Gentle Fragrance Water (1 oz/30 ml)

That aside, Roger & Gallet Rose Gentle Fragrance Water has the following fragrance notes:

• Top notes: rose, mandarin orange
• Heart notes: peony, rosebud
• Base notes: amber, almond milk 

While Roger & Gallet Rose Gentle Fragrance Water is a light true-to-a-rose fragrance, it lasts several hours after spritzing.

Now, just in time for Valentine's Day, The Style Page is hosting a giveaway of a 1 oz/30 ml bottle of Roger & Gallet Rose Gentle Fragrance Water.  The contest will begin Monday, January 30, at 12:01 AM Eastern Time (-5 hr UTC/GMT).  U.S., Canada entries only.

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Saturday night's face mask sheet treatment

In my post 7 Fave Skin Care Products, I mentioned my fondness for Korean face mask sheet treatment.  Here's last night's Korean face mask sheet treatment, which I picked up at the Cinderella boutique within Lotte Plaza:

Leaders Clinic Dr. for Skin 2-step Snail Collagen Filler Mask

Vegans will go nuts!  This treatment contains snail mucus, which the package says is an "elasticity building ingredient."  It's as slimy as it sounds, but I wake up with such a glow!

beautyADDICTS BeautifulLIPS Lipstick

BeautyADDICTS groups its cosmetics into four color groups:

• Glow: "Shimmering lavender shadow. Chic candy color glosses. Icy pink and cool bronze highlighters glisten with glamour."  
• Express: "These must have essentials include buff, rose-gold, cream, and bronze for casual elegance."
• Motivate: "Heather, berry, plum and pale pinks are the highlights of this palette, taking you from the boardroom to a night on the town."  
• Seduce: “The perfect smoky eye in white, silver and black. Sheer ruby and silver glosses. Velvety burgundy blushes add just the right hint of drama.” 

BeautyADDICTS recently added BeautifulLIPS Lipstick to its collection. The BeautifulLIPS collection consists of 8 lipstick shades.

beautyADDICTS  BeautifulLIPS  lipstick

The lineup:

• Glow: Flirt (delicate pink) and Affair (rose) 
• Express: Shy (peach) and Toast (described as “the perfect everyday shade that works on all complexions”)
• Motivate: Peep Show (eggplant) and Vintage (soft berry) 
• Seduce: Femme Fatale (dark burgundy) and Sinful (red-orange)

I was pleased to receive samples of Affair, Shy, and Vintage. BeautifulLIPS Lipstick is emollient and creamy and therefore is particularly good for winter time. Affair and Vintage are soft colors and particularly well suited for everyday wear and safe for work. Shy was too pale for my liking.

beautyADDICTS BeautifullLIPS Lipstick retails for $18 each and is available at www.beautyaddicts.com and salons.

The Style Page would like to acknowledge Lexamedia for sending me samples of beautyADDICTS BeautifulLIPS lipstick for my review.

Seven lip gloss reviews from 7 beauty bloggers

Feeling royal? Jen Mathews from My Beauty Bunny shares her fave cruelty free lip glosses fit for a queen, http://www.mybeautybunny.com/2012/gold-lip-glosses/.

Julie (that's me!) from The Style Page thought that lip gloss was kid stuff until she tried Three Custom Color Specialists.  Read her review of lip glosses from the Robert Jones Signature Collection from 3CC, http://thestylepage.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-of-3cc-robert-jones-signature.html

Expensive, but worth it: Brittany from Clumps of Mascara discovers cult favorite Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment, http://clumpsofmascara.com/2011/10/fresh-sugar-lip-treatment.html

Brooke from BlushingNoir reviews three Lipglasses from MAC's limited edition Tour de Fabulous collection, http://blushingnoir.blogspot.com/2011/12/mac-rich-witty-rich-bounty-and-knockout.html

Brie for Madame B Fatale discovers a multi-tasking product with "completely environmentally friendly packaging, 100% natural active fair trade ingredients and fragrances, and no animal testing," http://www.madamebfatale.com/2010/04/13/review-trilogy-everything-balm

Jessika from polish insomniac will be a repeat customer for the luxe French brand By Terry after trying its Gloss Delectation, http://www.polishinsomniac.net/2011/06/makeup-monday-by-terry-gloss.html

Melody from Cosmetically Challenged calls Afrobella's All My Purple Life Lipglass from MAC's Bloggers collection "amazing," http://www.cosmetically-challenged.com/2011/06/23/afrobellas-all-my-purple-life-lipglass/. She looks gorgeous wearing it!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Source: theoldjailartcenter.org via STYLE on Pinterest

Today (January 23) is Lunar New Year. While the Chinese New Year (this year is the Year of the Dragon) or Spring Festival is best known, Lunar New Year is celebrated as Seollal in Korea and Tet in Vietnam.

I joked with my Indian family and friends that there are so many different New Years in India that we can renew our New Year resolutions again and again.  One friend responded, "Very Happy New Year. Well, still we have some long stretches between May and September, when we do not get any excuse to celebrate and re-re-resolve new resolutions."

I'm using Lunar New Year as an opportunity (or excuse) to renew the resolutions I made on January 1 and have already broken.  My next opportunity: Nowruz (March 20).

Happy Lunar New Year to our friends in Asia and other friends who celebrate Lunar New Year! :-)

The Style Page discovers six (non-food!) uses for coconut oil

In my post Seven fave skin care products, I teased:

In a subsequent post, I'll reveal a product that adds sheen to the skin and protects the skin from the elements. It also adds shine to the hair and smooths flyaways. And it's 100% natural, food-grade, vegan, and organic! Interested??!!

The suspense is over. The miracle product is: coconut oil!

Source: barleans.com via STYLE on Pinterest

I don't mean to push Barlean's over other brands, as I have no basis for comparison, but this is the brand that the staff in the personal care department of Whole Foods recommended and I bought.  The difference is that she uses it for cooking purposes (including popping corn!) and I use it on my skin and hair.

Barlean's is solid in the jar at room temperature, but liquefies when rubbed in the hands.

Six uses for coconut oil:

Seven fave skin care products

sigh.  Skin care.  I hesitate to write about it, as I don't know the science behind it: for that, I refer the reader to medical student Nicki Zevola's FutureDerm blog and Paula Begoun's cosmetic ingredient dictionary.

Nonetheless, here are seven skin care products that I enjoy using:

Source: perlabella.com via STYLE on Pinterest

1. Perlabella PureDose Pearls are airtight capsules containing serum that offers a fresh product with each dose.  You may find Perlabella at Walgreen's stores. See my post New skin care at Walgreen's, dated April 2009, for more on Perlabella.  Later in this post, I'll provide an update on skin care at Walgreen's.

Source: media.dermstore.com via STYLE on Pinterest

2. Lisa Hoffman Beauty A & C Serum goes on slick and oily, but when you wake up in the morning, your skin is soft.  I also like her Day Cleanser, which I use at night.  I have never understood the purpose of washing the skin both morning and night.

Lisa Hoffman Beauty skin care is no longer sold through her web site, as she seems to be focusing on her fragrance concepts.  Nonetheless, you can find some products through DermStore.

I received a treasure trove of Lisa Hoffman Beauty skin care products from her former PR rep, but let it lie in the closet: bad :-(  I'm glad that I pulled it out.

Source: thestylepage.blogspot.com via STYLE on Pinterest

3. The Solution by Envision Beauty streamlines skin care. It is designed as a multi-tasking product that replaces night cream, serum, eye cream, and makeup primer. It also advertises itself as a replacement for day cream, but since it's not rated for SPF, I hesitate to call it a replacement for day cream. The Solution by Envision Beauty is a lightweight lotion that leaves a non-greasy, non-oily finish.  This is one of the few samples that I have received that I've used to the bottom of the bottle and went back to become a paying customer!

Since I reviewed The Solution by Envision Beauty in April 2009, my skin has become dryer and my skin care needs have changed.  I need a richer moisturizer.  Nonetheless, I occasionally apply The Solution by Envision Beauty as a lightweight primer before my makeup.  Founder Kimberly Snyder has since fashioned herself as a "celebrity nutritionist."

You may shop The Solution by Envision Beauty at its web site.

Source: betterbotanicals.com via STYLE on Pinterest

4. Better Botanicals Rose Tulsi Toning Mist ("tulsi" is Sanskrit for basil) is not a necessary skin care step, but I love spritzing this fragrant mist on my Beautyblender sponge with it before applying makeup.  You may shop Better Botanicals through its web site.

What are my three other picks?

What's this with Pinterest?

Note to regular readers of The Style Page: this article is a re-post, with a few embellishments.

Readers who look closely at recent images on The Style Page might note the credits: for example, on the post P&G pulls Taylor Swift Cover Girl mascara ad, you'll see:

Source: shine.yahoo.com via STYLE on Pinterest.

What is Pinterest?  It's the latest, hottest thing in social media.  Here is how Pinterest describes itself:

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard.  Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and share their favorite recipes.

I think that Pinterest is the nicest thing in social media - more so than Facebook and Twitter.

I use Pinterest to grab images ("pins") on the Web, organize them onto pinboards, and comment on them. It's like the mood boards that Kirsten Kjaer Weis said that she uses.  I am a major abuser when it comes to sharing pins via Facebook or Twitter.  It's also fun (and voyeuristic, but maybe that's part of the fun :-) to view others' pins and re-pin them to my boards, "like" pins, and comment on pins.  It's also great when others validate your good taste by liking and re-pinning your pins.

I received this touching message in response to my 2012 pin:

May you always have love & health to spare and friends that care...

Oftentimes, I have writers' block when it comes to my blogs, but I can quickly comment on Pinterest, and voila! while it might not be great literature, I have something to post on The Style Page.

You can send a request to join to Pinterest, but when I did, I got waitlisted.  The surest way to join Pinterest is to ask someone who's already on Pinterest to invite you.  If you want to join Pinterest and share your loves with the world, email me at thestylepage [at] yahoo [dot] com, and I will issue you an invitation.

Fotoshop by Adobé

This satirical video Fotoshop by Adobé on Photoshopping beauty ads has gone viral:

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

See P&G pulls Taylor Swift Cover Girl mascara ad and UK's Advertising Standards Authority bans misleading cosmetics ads for more on the issue about manipulating images for beauty advertising.

NARS Eye Shadow

The NARS Spring 2012 collection drops tomorrow, Friday, January 13 at narscometics.com:

NARS Spring 2012 Collection

Here's the product from the NARS Spring 2012 Collection that I covet (from group shot, above, lower right):

NARS Single Eyeshadow in Lhasa

NARS Single Eyeshadow in Lhasa is described as a "shimmery lavender-gray."  NARS often names its shades after exotic locales, and Lhasa is particularly evocative for me, as I've had the distinct privilege of visiting Tibet.

Shades of purple are more sensuous than grays or browns.  See my eye shadow picks from NARS's "permanent" collection:

Michael Graves cosmetic pencil sharpener

I am a sucker for standout packaging, although I know that packaging often costs more than the product itself.  Examples of standout packaging are:

• Kirsten Kjaer Weis's refillable metal compacts that swing open and close
• Gabriela Hernandez's retro packaging for Bésame
• Ellis Faas's bullet pens and Ellis Holder
• Jouer's interlocking compacts

Source: sliceproducts.com via STYLE on Pinterest

This pod is actually a cosmetic pencil sharpener. Designed by famed product designer Michael Graves, it features dual German stainless steel blades - you know that the Germans always make good stuff! :-)

For stylish kitchen, beauty, home and office, and safety and industrial implements, visit Slice™. Besides Michael Graves, featured designers are the pink-suited Karim Rashid, Yves Behar, Scot Herbst, and Alfredo Muccino.

k.d. lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah #MusicMonday

It's been several weeks since I had a #MusicMonday feature. This week, I present k.d. lang's rendition of Leonard Cohen's much-recorded Hallelujah.  You will have to click through the freeze-frame to watch the video:

Source: hopefaithlove.us via STYLE on Pinterest

P&G pulls Taylor Swift Cover Girl mascara ad

P&G (Cover Girl) has been more honest than L'Oreal (which also owns Maybelline) about enhancing images for its ads: for example, in its LashBlast mascara ads featuring Drew Barrymore, it provides fine print that lash inserts were applied before mascara.

Now comes news that P&G has pulled its ad featuring Taylor Swift for its NatureLuxe Mousse Mascara, after the US Council of Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division requested that P&G substantiate its claims and called into account P&G's enhancing the image to mislead the consumer about how much the mascara enhances the eyes:

Source: shine.yahoo.com via STYLE on Pinterest

The issue of Photoshopping images has been a hot topic on online fashion and beauty forums.  Are we ready for more realistic advertising?  We claim we are, but as ExtremeTech notes,

 "... humans are incredibly sensitive to visual stimuli — and multiple trillion-dollar industries, including advertising, cosmetics, movies, and TV, all stand to gain by making their products look more appealing. There is a reason that digital manipulation and post production is so prevalent, after all — and indeed, it could even be argued that non-manipulated images now look ugly to our eyes."

UK's Advertising Standards Authority bans misleading cosmetics ads

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority banned an excessively retouched ad featuring Julia Roberts for Lancome and this one featuring Christy Turlington for Maybelline:

Source: extremetech.com via STYLE on Pinterest

At right, a fresh-faced Turlington dares to bare.

The ASA deemed these ads misleading, as the perfect complexions were a result of photo manipulation, not product use.  Watch this space for US crackdown on misleading cosmetics advertising.

New Year 2012 resolutions

Happy New Year 2012

Source: designyourway.net via STYLE on Pinterest

Here are my 2012 New Year resolutions, in no particular order:

• Find more rewarding work.  Einstein said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.  I recognize that millions of Americans would simply like to find work to support themselves and their families.
• Deepen my spiritual life.
• Get out of debt.
• Replace my wardrobe.
• Blast the belly fat:  I lost 30 pounds, but still have a roll of belly fat.  I'd like to get out of the major masher Miraclesuit power panties - Spanx doesn't hold a candle to these! :-)

What are your five New Year resolutions?

My New Year aspirations for The Style Page blog

Happy New Year 2012

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I reactivated The Style Page blog in August 2011 after a year and a half absence.  I've reconnected with the terrific creative people whom I've met over the years that I've maintained this blog and made new friends.

So what do I want for this blog?  What everyone blogger wants: more readership, more blog traffic, and opportunities for remuneration (as long as I can maintain my integrity).  But what I want most of all is reader engagement.

Then, if there's sufficient interest, I'd like to get my own domain name and engage a professional to design a logo and upgrade to Wordpress.  Any advice?