Explore The Total Beauty Experience - Day 1

The last few days have been amazing! I attended Total Beauty's annual blog summit.  It's Fashion Week in NYC and Thursday was Fashion Night Out so that added to the festivities and excitement.

Normally, I don't get all caught up in the glitz and glamor, downplaying things and keeping it mostly natural.  However, how could one not get caught up in all the beauty, skin care, fragrance and style :-)

I wanted to share all of the events, photos and a special video I had done of me getting my face air brushed at Sephora.  NOW I know how the models look so darn flawless. It's fake LOL.

Before I get down to sharing (which will take place in a number of posts), I wanted to give a big hearty THANK YOU to Total Beauty for making the beauty tour and informative seminars possible.  I can not express my gratitude enough. I got to meet some amazing people in the beauty industry who I may never have crossed paths with.

During our Total Beauty tour in New York City, I had the pleasure of visiting and going behind the scenes with Victoria's Secret Beauty, Chanel, Tractenberg & Company (a large PR firm), Kiehl's, Molton Brown, Warren Tricomi (at the Plaza Hotel in NYC), and the infamous L'Oreal.

I have to give big props to Victoria's Secret and L'Oreal.  They really took care of us.  I can't even do them justice by giving them a little honorable mention so I will share with you separately about my time with them and some of the others that help shape our world of beauty.  Over the week or so, I will share in defined detail the wonderful things that I experienced on Wednesday and Thursday.  In the meantime, here's an overview:

Wednesday (traveled most of the day via tour bus):

• Met up with Total Beauty team and  received a nice tote bag (to the right) filled with some nice goodies (chocolate...yippee!, water, pretzels, a travel coffee mug, signature notebook and pen)
  
  
• Breakfast and new product previews (yet to be released!...coming for the Holidays) at Victoria's Secret headquarters. They were very generous to us bloggers and I can't wait to share this one with you in a day or so. Hint: 1,000 Wishes
  
  
• Visited Chanel Boutique in Soho and received a sneak peak of some of their latest skin care offerings. Chanel sent us on our way with a nice little signature bag that contained one of their nude nail color polish and some of the new skin care samples
  
  
• Visited Tractenberg & Co. to preview products from 22 of the brands they provide PR for. They also provided lunch. This was a very busy site as there were so many products to view.  I am not going to share them all with you because some were not nearly as impressive as others.  Over the next few days, I am going to give you my opinion on the products I sampled and were impressed with.
  
  
• Visited Kiehl's (signature skin care store around since 1851!) and received an overview of new products and some generous samples and a full size jar of their body cream (very luxurious and decadent...more on this in a future post)
  
  
• Visit to Molton Brown for a preview of some of their new products and a snack of mini cupcakes
  
  
• Visited Warren Tricomi at the Plaza Hotel for introductions to some of their product offerings.  This place is truly classy. I was introduced to a number of product lines.  3 or 4 of them left a really good impression on me and I will share that in a few days as well.  I also met up with one of the buyers and she requested that I get her some samples of my Blended Naturals line!! I can't wait to share this one for you. Imagine li'l ole me at The Plaza!
  
  
• Night ended with dinner at TAO, a hot spot in NYC. Dinner was delicious and a raffle was conducted of which two lucky ladies won a video cam and an I Touch. Here are some photos from dinner:

That's it for today. I'll give you Thursday's dish tomorrow and more over the week.  Check back daily. I plan to give it you the entire tour in bite size chunks!

Loreal Answers Questions About Hair Coloring At Home

On September 9th and 10th I'll be attending a Total Beauty blogger's conference. During the conference I'll be in a meeting with L'Oreal Paris. Loreal is interested in questions that my readers may have about hair coloring at home.

If you want your questions answered by the "professionals", please post your questions here...Whatever questions and no matter how crazy they may seem! I need all questions by no later than August 23rd

After the conference I will report back with responses directly from L'Oreal Paris!

Until later.....

---

Michelle Howard Smith is an Infopreneur and helps individuals to achieve healthy skin by providing an array of information on how to care for the skin with natural products. Subscribe to The Skin Natural newsletter to receive information on black skin care and similar topics

L'Oreal Paris High Intensity Pigments - My 50 Cents

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I received a generous supply of L'Oreal Paris' NEW High Intensity Pigments Presso Lip Gloss in 4 shades and Kohl Eyeliner in Navy and Gold (pictured to your left).

I am ready to give my 50 cents on these two products now but before I do, I'd like to share the criteria I use to evaluate just about any beauty product. Aside for a product's particular features such as ingredients and package design, I use real practical evaluators to help me decide if a product is a "No" or a "Go." Those evaluators would be:

1. Ease of Usability
2. Likability and
3. Staying Power

Ease of Usability:

The Presso Lip Gloss is easy to use but the applicator tube is a bit messy after dispensing the two colors. Sure, the gloss glides on easily enough but when mixing the two colors, I notice I have to wipe the applicator tip off after each use, which I never had to do with my other glosses. The one difference I notice between my other lip gloss applicator and the Presso Lip Gloss' applicator is the slope of the tip. My suggestion to L'Oreal would be to maybe lengthen the applicator tip a bit. Perhaps, that will make the application less messy.

The Kohl Eyeliner is so easy to apply, I couldn't believe how easy. I usually have to line my eye more than once to get a dark enough line to my liking. The Kohl Eyeliner is probably one of the best liners I've ever used, better than your average liquid liner. My only usability critique is that the applicator tip could be softer. If you're like me and apply your eyeliner to the inner rim of the bottom lid, then you could appreciate what I mean.

Likability

While the Presso lip gloss appears in pretty bright shades in the tube, it doesn't deliver a satisfying amount of color. It may be because I have darker skin but even still. I've used other glosses in similar colors that delivered a much deeper color to my lips. What I can appreciate about the gloss is while it doesn't deliver much color, it does offer a nice shimmery look and it doesn't have that waxy taste that some lip glosses possess.

The Kohl Eyeliner is absolutely gorgeous against my brown skin. It gives a beautiful gold shimmery tone in one fell swoop. No negatives for likability here.

Staying Power

The Kohl Eyeliner gets an "A" for staying power. I tend to rub my eyes during the day (working on the computer all day) but the eye liner is still holding on by end of day. As far as the Presso Lip Gloss, I don't know of any lip gloss that stays on all day. I mean after all, you do have to eat right? It does however last between meals so it gets an "A-" from me.

I have an overall postive opinion of both the Presso Lip Gloss and the Kohl Eyeliner. I would rate the Lip Gloss a 7.5/10 and the Eye Liner a 9/10.

I realize others my have a different opinion of these products but I have to say that if nothing else, you HAVE to get the gold Kohl Eyeliner! I didn't even think I would like how this eye liner would look on me but I am really feeling it.

L'Oreal Paris NEW HIP line and Gorgeous Lashes

Summer is coming and I know you want to look your best. I know I sure do! I'm getting inspired too!

As a blogger for TotalBeauty, I will be reviewing some of L'Oreal Paris' NEW HIP make-up products. HIP stands for High Intensity Pigments. I currently have in my possession HIP Color Presso Lip Gloss in 4 fun shades and Kohl Eyeliner in two colors: Navy and Gold. So far, I love what I am seeing. In a couple of weeks after I've had the opportunity to test out the products, I'll share my opinion of them and if it's a go or a no!

Anyway, I did want to give you this tip for gorgeous lashes which I discovered recently from SELF magazine. "Curl lashes, then sweep a coat of dark-brown mascara from root to ends. Chocolate hues are more natural then jet black, especially if you've got blonde or red hair." This is obviously the "IN" thing for eyelash and eye liner make-up since all the major cosmetics companies are pumpin' promo for their products in deep hues. So, leave the traditional black liner and mascara alone for a bit and give yourself more natural, gorgeous lashes look this summer!