Sugar and Spice... So Very Nice!!! Top Ten Home Beauty Must Haves

Although most people would prefer a day at the spa rather than emptying their refrigerator and pantry, there are many ways to maintain a beauty regime at home without painfully denting your wallet.  From pampering scrubs and facials to fighting pimples and dry skin-most of what you need is already well within your reach.

Aspirin.  This painkiller does wonders for the skin, and is great as a refining mask, or a spot treatment for pimples.  Fill a shot glass 3/4 full of Aspirin tablets, and pour in water almost to the top, leaving roughly half a centimeter to spare.  Wait for the Aspirin to dissolve, and pour in jojoba or olive oil to fill the shot glass.  Stir, and apply! Leave on for ten minutes, and rinse thoroughly.

Oatmeal.  An oatmeal bath can soothe the itchiest of skin, and is gentle enough for babies and children.  (Though remember-baths for babies only need 1/3 the amount of oatmeal)  In a food processor or blender, grind one cup of oats (quick oats or steel cut, either will do the trick) until fine and powdery.  Add to bathwater the same way you would bubble bath, ensuring there are no clumps in the bottom.  Soak for roughly twenty minutes, and pat dry.

Anti-Perspirant.  Though technically not a beauty tip, anti-perspirants are your best friend if you have a bug bite.  The alluminum helps combat the itch, and can quickly aid in reducing redness. 

Coconut Oil.  This miracle product is a must have for both the kitchen and bathroom.  There's literally not much you can't do with coconut oil.  It's a great moisturizer for the face and body, can be used on dry hair to tame frizz, thickly applied to hair as a hydrating mask, and if you have any left over-make yourself a stir fry!

Tea Tree Oil.  This anti-bacterial oil is a great blemish buster, and will even out oily skin tones.  Dab on a few drops to imperfections before bed, and wake in the morning with reduced redness and swelling.

Sugar & Coffee Grounds.  Both delicious and useful, mix 1 cup of used coffee grounds with 1/2 cup of sugar, add 2 tbsp. olive oil, and you have an exfoliant good enough to eat! The caffeine stimulates collagen, which keeps skin looking youthful.

Beer.  If your hair is in need of a pick-me up, look no further than the malt and hops found in beer. Shampoo and rinse hair, then pour in a bottle or can of beer, massage, and rinse away.  You may wish to set the beer aside to warm to room temperature, to make for a more comfortable rinse!  You'll be left with shiny hair, full of body!  If you don't believe me, just ask Catherine Zeta-Jones, famous for announcing that she washes her hair with beer and honey.

Preparation H.  The cream originally intended for hemorrhoids can be used for reducing puffiness around the eye area.  Gently dab a small amount around the eye area, carefully avoiding the eyes themselves.  Puffiness around the eye area can often be attributed to a sodium-heavy diet.  Try reducing your salt intake, and drinking more water.

Vaseline.  Run out of mascara?  Mix a little Vaseline with dark eyeshadow, curl lashes, and apply with a Q-tip.  Do your legs need a bronze summer glow?  Mix a small amount of Vaseline with your favorite shimmer powder or bronzer-and voila!  You can also mix Vaseline with a colored eye shadow or blush for a great tinted lip gloss.  The sheerer you want your lip color to be, the less powder and more Vaseline you mix.  Vaseline has been one of my best kept secrets, but the cat's out of the bag.

Did I miss anything?  Do you have any beauty tips or tricks using common household ingredients?  The next time you go into your fridge for a snack, think twice-your hair or skin could use one too!

XO

T

SOS! Tips to Save Our Skin this Summer

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but it feels like summer.  So what if a light jacket is still required, and I haven't readied my toes with the inaugural pre-summer pedicure?  The sun is shining, the parks and beaches are at capacity, and my mind's on what everyone needs to kick off the summer in a beautiful way.

I recently "Digged" an article touting the benefits of powder sunscreens.  Ladies-listen up.  Sunscreen that isn't oily, heavy, shiny or smelly.  These are lightweight mineral blends that are perfect for sensitive skin, and can be brushed on after makeup application, or anytime throughout the day.

Bare Minerals SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen, $35
Sephora.ca

Another summer must-have is a cooling spray or mist. These accompany me on flights throughout the year, and stay in my purse all summer long. They give the skin a refreshing wake-up, and can hydrate even the most tired and dull looking of complexions. A cool-down for baking in the sun, and a wake-up for long hours at the office-don't start your summer without one! 

Ren Tonic Moisture Mist, $35

Kiss and Makeup, Park Royal Village

If you are feeling more winter white than summer bronze, check out Clarins Delicious Self-Tanning Cream.  Enriched with shea butter, it rubs in like a dream, and is formulated for the face and decolletage meaning no break-outs!  Just because it says for the face doesn't mean you can't spread it out-literally.  It's ultra-rich, and looks and feels great on arms and legs as well.  Slightly pricey for a self-tanner, but worth every penny for a natural brown glow with no lingering odor.

Clarins Delicious Self-Tanning Cream, $42
Sephora.ca

Put your best face forward this summer, add to my must-haves collection!  Do you have any summer favorites that I must know about?  Spread the beauty and fashion love.

XO

-T

Beautiful Tweets = Increased Revenue?

Today I stumbled across Bobbi Brown's corporate twitter account, and customer service account.  I was impressed, to say the least.  There are two separate accounts, one to focus solely on beauty queries and customer issues while the other promotes products and contests.  Bobbi Brown Cosmetics has over 101,000 followers, and the customer service account has over 3,000.

What I'd like to know, is how much does the tweeting have an impact on sales?  We live in a social media age, where everyone is always connected to something.  But what about twenty years ago, when products such as Revlon and Max Factor were flying off the shelves in mass quantities. No one was tweeting, "liking" them on Facebook, or entering e-newsletter contests.

If I were to examine Bobbi Brown's social media campaign fully, I would focus on Twitter, and the correlation to their sales.  Do sales of long-wear eye pencils spike once a contest promoting them has been announced?    Due to the large following, and number of young females using Twitter, I feel like it's the perfect grounds to assess their target market.  It also goes without saying how relevent Twitter and Facebook are when it comes to marketing and promoting a business.  Bobbi Brown already has a loyal and engaged fan following, but if I were to try to recruit participants, I'd do so through Facebook, on their website, and at store level.  Luckily when there are giveaways involved, there isn't too much convincing needed!  There are plenty of beauty junkies (myself included!) willing to not only enter contests, but purchase the products that go right along with them!

Do you follow your favorite brands on Twitter?  If so, do interesting tweets or posts drive you to buy?

Happy Shopping!

T

Who are you, really?

Recently I was posed a question by a friend, and it made me think.  What my social media-savvy friend really wanted to know I didn't have an answer for.  What was my social media personality?  I had just finished explaining to her my blog, what it was about, and a little of why I started it in the first place.

I had thought having a blog about beauty in Vancouver would be pretty self explanatory-my personality is fun, fashionable, and out-going!  I hadn't given much thought to what sort of "personality" I wanted to convey-other than my own personality-right here on this blog!  A quick search of social media uncovered seven different social media personalities-I had no idea so many existed!

Chris Street of socialmediatoday.com has an excellent post explaining the seven social media types.  Examples include The Guru, The Chameleon, and The Sponge.  Street's blog post can be found here. I would say I identify as an "All-rounder" in my blogging style.

"Smart, shart, intuitive, sassy and direct. They observe, add value, and are nice people all-round. They give, share, contribute, and clearly love to be in the middle of the positive social conversations. These types are also excellent networkers offline too, so find them, nurture them and stick with the winners."

Another one of my favorite blogs, Vogue UK's Beauty Blog is an example of a great all-rounder blog. They cover a variety of beauty topics, with an acerbic wit that's best left up to the Brits! Vogue's UK Beauty Blog delivers up to the minute tips on the latest beauty trends and must-have products.

Don't forget-your social media personality can be displayed even if you don't think it is!  In order to best monitor your online presence and profile-be sure to remove or "un-tag" unflattering photographs of yourself, and keep snide remarks private-or alternatively, refrain from making them altogether!  Your online personality is one that follows you-so be sure to take a moment about putting your best face forward!  

Which social media personality are you?  If you haven't yet, give it some thought-what is your Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Pinterest, saying about you?

XO

T