My girl, Sarah from Beauty Banter rounded up a gang of her fellow beauty bloggers and asked us all our ideas on the best drugstore mascara to be found! Here's her post with all of our feedback. Give it a read - it's an invaluable resource if you're looking for the best bargain mascara! And you know I'm always on the Great Mascara Hunt!
http://www.beautybanter.com/2009/05/girls-guide-to-drugstore-mascaras.html
They did a Q&A with me and it's up! Please go check it out!
Dear Beautiful Readers,
Starting today, you will see a daily post featuring content available on the Total Beauty site. I am a proud member of Total Beauty's network and love the site for its great product reviews, articles and access to a wealth of beauty knowledge. The posts you see here will be portions of articles available on Total Beauty with a link you can click if you're interested in reading more. I am part of a group of bloggers who are testing out this program.
Please don't be alarmed! There will be only one post a day featuring this content. All other posts here on The Life of A Ladybug will be written by me, as usual, so that will not change. And I will not be posting less frequently. I'm just trying this out to see how it works. Please feel free to leave feedback about the posts, letting me know if they are of interest to you. You can either e-mail me at lifeofaladybug@gmail.com or leave your thoughts in the comments. If I find that this addition is not pleasing or helpful to my readership, it will discontinue.
Thanks and smooches!
In three days, my family leaves for Florida and I can't wait! I plan to do much vegging out, along with squealing with glee at the theme parks, introducing my baby girl to several princesses, and imbibing pitchers full of mojitos!
But, never let it be said that I left you without beauty! I will be taking my laptop and camera along and the house we're renting has wireless internet access, so I'm good to go! I don't promise that I'll post every day, but I will post at least a couple of times during the week, with my vacation beauty tips, any beauty-fied things that I find there and stories of our vacation.
I'll be blogging from B'more 'til Friday and then ... off to Florida!
Folks, I am pleased to announce that Glam, a blogging network of which I am a member, has just introduced its new sub-network, Black Life! In it, you will find all Glam blogs that are marketed toward or authored by a Black person. Of course, I am one of those bloggers and you will be able to find all my posts on the Black Life Channel, under blogs. I hope you'll go and check out Black Life. I'm very excited about it and am so happy that Glam sees the diversity of thought, interest and information that bloggers of color bring to the web.
Beautiful Ones, I am happy to continue my Beauty Blogger/Lover of Color series by introducing you to Erica! Click on her name to visit her wonderful blog!
1. How were you introduced to makeup? When did you fall in love with it and why?
I remember seeing my mom getting ready to go out. It was a process. First, she had a bath, which filled the whole upstairs with the most intoxicatingly delicious scents. Second, she creamed her skin with lotion containing equally arousing scents. Third, she would use body powder, deodorant and finally, makeup. My mom is a lover of face powder and she always used it to minimize shine. She also always uses blush, even when many women of colour didn’t. The last was mascara. She didn’t use foundation, lipstick or eye shadows, but what struck me the most is the process. It was as though this preparation was a celebration of self; she taught me that taking care of yourself was of paramount importance. This is where my love of products comes from—it is all part of that process.
2. What do you love most about makeup?
I am a believer in the old adage, “variety is the spice of life”. I love the variation in colours, textures, patterns (think of all of those summer compacts, aren’t they cute?) and shimmer. They can be combined in uncountable ways to create the subtlest to the most daring looks. What’s not to love when makeup is also housed in the cutest packaging?
3. Do you tend to be traditional/classic in your makeup styling or are you more experimental? What are your favorite techniques or looks? What are your favorite products/beauty lines?
I tend to be classic from day-to-day, yet I love experimenting with new techniques. Here’s what I do: I will visit a makeup counter and have the artist make me over. While they are putting on the makeup I ask questions pertaining to techniques and colour choices. On the other hand, I may have a certain look in mind that I want them to recreate. From that I learn a lot about technique, colour choice, what’s good for my skin type, etc.
I don’t have a favourite look, per se. It depends on my mood, who I’m meeting, the weather, how lazy I feel that day—there are so many variables. I never plan a look. I always decide when I’m at the mirror.
I think nearly every woman has a special place in her heart for MAC, as do I. I also love NARS, Giorgio Armani, Bobbi Brown, Dior mascara, Cargo gloss, OPI, Fruits & Passion—I could go on and on.
4. Which products do you think every woman should have?
Every woman should have blush, face powder (translucent or not) and gloss. These three items are every woman’s friend. I forgot one: an eyebrow shaping technique. It’s like an instant facelift.
5. What do you think about the beauty industry and its relationship to women of color?
It’s definitely improved over the years. Women of colour have never been the bastion of beauty in our society, so we had very little that catered to us. What has changed over the years is the increased economic empowerment of women of colour and greater representation in the Hollywood
Conversely, the beauty industry’s relationship with women of colour has not improved enough. I am tempted to think that any line or product that comes out, which doesn’t have colours that work for darker-skinned women, excludes us purposefully. The same goes for any beauty editor that claims that a product “works on all skin tones” or is “universally flattering”, yet does not work for any woman who is a visible minority. We still have a way to go.
6. Share anything else you'd like to share: info about you, your business (if you have one), what area of the country you live in, etc.
I started my blog because I have trials and tribulations with my skin, body and hair. This is a catalogue of the products that work for me and those that don’t. I am not a beauty insider or makeup artist, so the information that I collect is from questions that I have had and that I have researched. My hope is that what I have experienced helps someone else.
Please ask! I am always happy to exchange links with sites that I find interesting, reputable and applicable to what I do here. So, if you want to exchange links, please shoot me an e-mail at lifeofaladybug@gmail.com. However, please DO NOT add comments to my posts with mentions of your blog address. When you input a comment, users can click on your name to find out more information about your website, if you so desire. But you are not invited to publicize yourself here on The Life of A Ladybug. Thanks so much for understanding.
It's been a while, but it's happening again, so here's your periodic reminder:
It seems like every now and then, I need to post a reminder.
Please allow me to remind you guys that this is my blog. All things written herein are written by me or guest bloggers whom I've invited to share with my reading audience. I am happy to hear your comments and engage discussion whenever you guys have something to share with me or have a reaction to one of my posts - I love hearing from you! However, please DO NOT use my blog as a way of promoting yourself or your business. Whenever I feel that a comment is being used as free advertisement, it will be DELETED quickly. It's not that I'm not interested in hearing about any products, businesses, or services you may be able to offer, but this is not the place for that. If you would like to share any information with me, I encourage you to e-mail me at lifeofaladybug@gmail.com. If you have a product or service in which I believe my readers may be interested, I am more than happy to talk with you about advertising opportunities that are available on this site. Or we can talk about other ways you may be able to market to my readers, such as contest giveways, product reviews and the like. However, I will NEVER allow you to advertise for free in my comments. Just doesn't work that way.
Thanks!
It seems like every now and then, I need to post a reminder.
Please allow me to remind you guys that this is my blog. All things written herein are written by me or guest bloggers whom I've invited to share with my reading audience. I am happy to hear your comments and engage discussion whenever you guys have something to share with me or have a reaction to one of my posts - I love hearing from you! However, please DO NOT use my blog as a way of promoting yourself or your business. Whenever I feel that a comment is being used as free advertisement, it will be DELETED quickly. It's not that I'm not interested in hearing about any products, businesses, or services you may be able to offer, but this is not the place for that. If you would like to share any information with me, I encourage you to e-mail me at lifeofaladybug@gmail.com. If you have a product or service in which I believe my readers may be interested, I am more than happy to talk with you about advertising opportunities that are available on this site. Or we can talk about other ways you may be able to market to my readers, such as contest giveways, product reviews and the like. However, I will NEVER allow you to advertise for free in my comments. Just doesn't work that way.
Thanks!
I just want to give a shout-out to Wendy from Germany and Sojournersplace! I wanted to let you ladies know that I've seen your wonderful comments about my blog on Fuelmyblog and Blogged and I appreciate you so much! Thank you for reading and please keep visiting me here!
Kisses!
