But what I want to tell you about first is that today, Sept 23, 2011, Mally is the “Today’s Special Value” on QVC, with her “Defend Your Beauty” 7pc kit. This kit was one of the things I brought home, so I wanted to show you some pics to help you decide if the kit is right for you.

The kit includes:

When you look a little closer at the products you might be a bit worried about the colors – don’t be. I can tell you that the gold in the Volumizing Lip Gloss gives just a hint of sparkle and doesn’t overwhelming make you look all OG (*over-gold). The blush looks bright, but it really does blend down to a pretty natural flush color & the hightlighter just gives you a bit of glow, not glowY, if you know what I mean. Of course you know that the Face Defender is colorless because you remember reading about my love for it here, right?

You know what? Why don’t I just show you what I mean with the colors. The hightlighter on the far right just glows. I applied the blush very heavy at the bottom so you can see how I blended it in up top. I put the gloss on heavy so that you can see the barely there gold & the also the pink color. And you can see how nicely the Violet shadow stick works with the Black Cherry Liner. Now, this is on my pale skin, applied heavily – your results will vary depending on how heavy-handed you are on application.

So, what do you think? Are you going to make the call and pick up a kit for yourself? Let me know if you do – I wanna know what you think about the colors, too!

*UPDATE* Just to let you know that this kit is regularly available on QVC, and was not just a One Time Special Value!

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Now, I have had blackheads across my nose since I can remember. And since I don’t get facials on the regular, ie., hardly ever, I take care of things at home – sometimes good things like good scrubs and peels; and sometimes really bad things like manual self-extractions. (*Those always go well. Uh huh.). But the one thing that I use that gives me the best clean is when I use my Clarisonic brush, that I got on QVC a couple of years ago (*5 easy-pays – Heeeey!). In my case I can’t use it that often, but when I do, it makes my skin feels really clean, but it never does that deep down scrubbing clean. Or at least it *didn’t*. That has changed with this new Deep Pore brush head.

So, when I was in NYC, I had a chance to try a true “Triple Oxygen Treatment” facial at bliss spa, to compare with my at home version that I had done. I had a hard time writing about it, because, well, it was so relaxing I slept thru most of it and woke up with amazing glowing skin (*and no post-facial breakouts! Score!), and I didn’t really know how to explain it properly. Anyway, I point this out to show that I had a great “baseline” fresh face – deep blackheads still there, but really smooth skin. Usually, not too long after a facial your skin kind of goes back to how it was before, well, in this case, I have been able to maintain a lot of the smoothness, but also have been able to get down into some of the deeper blackheads using this brush head, reducing the appearance on the bridge of my nose and down the sides. This makes for a very happy girl.

All of you QVC junkies, be jealous! Look who I got to hang out with that day: Dr. Robb!!

And, I want you to see the deep pore cleansing difference yourself by giving away a Deep Pore Cleansing brush head to you. Oh. You’ll probably need something to be able to use the brush head on, so, why don’t I throw in a Clarisonic Mia Sonic Cleansing System, too? You know what? I was talking to my best friend today, who is traveling overseas, and I bet she wishes she had a Mia to travel with right now. Let’s make sure your BFF doesn’t suffer the same way – let’s give them one, too!

That’s right – I’m giving away a Sonic Mia, with a Deep Pore Cleansing brush head to one lucky reader AND their BFF. All I need you to do is tell me why your BFF deserves one, and I’ll choose the winner. Yes, it’s entirely at my whim. And I already know why *you* deserve one, you beauty fiend you. I’ll take submissions until Midnight Friday night, July 29th. (*Sorry, this is for US residents, only!)

Are any of you already Clarisonic fans? Have you had a chance to try this new brush head out for yourself? Lemme know what you think if you have, or if you are thinking about picking one up!

*Disclaimer: I received a Mia and the brush head from PR for consideration. I also received the facial courtesy of PR, too.

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Ever have a time where your face just feel dull, maybe acting up a bit, just kind of out of sorts, but not really with a specific cause? I had one of those a couple of weeks ago. I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong, I just knew it felt kind of lifeless. Luckily, right around that time I had a chance to try several items from the bliss line of products & decided to give myself an at-home version of their famous triple oxygen facials to see if that would help anything.

The products I used were the bliss triple oxygen™ instant energizing mask ($52), the bliss triple oxygen instant energizing eye mask ($54) and the bliss triple oxygen™ + C energizing cream ($54).

The oxygen mask bubbles up (*and it tickles!) and after the bubbles die down, about 5min later, you just rinse it off. After that, my skin seemed brighter, a little tingly, but not tighter. I’ve used this a couple of times a week since then for a nice boost on blah days.

I then went to use the eye masks, which come in packaging that you squeeze the liquid into the sealed section of the eye pads so this “allows their active ingredients to remain in their purest form, so they have maximum potency when placed on your peepers”. I’ll tell you – this wasn’t my favorite part. I may have been too rough on the pads, as they seems to tear apart easily after being soaked, when I was trying to separate the two pads for application, so they went on kinda funky, and not one sleek pad under each eye. Also, I don’t know if my face was too sensitive from the oxygen mask, but my upper cheeks/under eye area became irritated and stingy after just a few minutes of being on (*they are supposed to be left on for at least 15min). You may not have this reaction at all, but personally, I think I will only use these on their own to combat a bout of puffiness and not in a full facial session again.

I will say that when I used the energizing cream afterwards, it helped soothe the tingling and felt nice after drydown. I was concerned that the “energizing” feel of it might be too much, but there wasn’t any of the sort with this. It felt gentle going on and absorbed quickly. It didn’t leave a film to give it a “brightening” look to it, but my face did indeed look brighter then when I started. I use this in the mornings on days when I may not have slept so well, or was up too late and needed a quick boost to look fresher for the day.

You can pick any of these up individually, but you can get the bliss triple oxygen trio over on QVC for $99 (plus s&H) right now, which would be less than just the mask and cream & get to try the eye masks out for yourself for free.

Have any of you tried any of these triple oxygen products, or even any bliss products? I would love to know if you have, and what you thought.

*Disclaimer: I received these products from their PR for editorial consideration.

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*Disclaimer: I received these products from their PR for editorial consideration.

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This clear solid is your finishing touch to your makeup, instead of using a (translucent) face powder. You are supposed to use the sponge to pat it out of the package and tap it over your face to set your makeup, just as you would your face powder, only this will not show any visible settling in any of your fine lines and pores. In fact, it is supposed to give your face a matte/soft finish effect – which I think it does, to the point that it almost looks like cameramen think you are Cybil Shepard and are using a soft focus to shoot you (*man, was that not SO distracting on Moonlighting when they did that to her? And wasn’t Bruce Willis a handsome devil back then, too – save for that BAD wig they had on him? I digress).

I gotta say, I was facinated by this product, but held off getting it because I just couldn’t figure out how it worked. I still don’t know exactly, but I do know that this is silcone based, so, if you are sensitive to silcone in your products, this isn’t going to work for you. Here’s my downside – because it’s clear, I don’t know exactly how much product I am getting on the sponge, or on my face. You do NOT want to smear the sponge in the pan because you will pull out too much product and waste it, that’s for sure. Now, my girl, Gouldylox, uses a flat topped brush to apply this, which I have done a couple of times and works quite well, too. I think this is more of a trial and error, where less is more, even tho it really isn’t that noticeable once it’s applied any way – even in pictures. (*yes! no more powder flashes where your face is an entirely different color than your neck/chest!).

It looks like right now this is a QVC exclusive, and they have it for $36.48 (plus s/h). Keep an eye out, as Mally is on there quite frequently and you may be able to pick this up on easy-pay like I did.

Have you guys tried any of Mally’s products? Or are you as big of a fangirl as I am? I swear, I was stupid giddy when I had a chance to spend time with her behind the scenes of the Marc Bouwer video shoot last year. Besides that, I really like a lot of her products. Win/Win!

Estee Lauder’s Golden Alligator Compact

“The Golden Alligator Compact is a sleek, stunning compact ideal for the on-the-go touchups throughout the day. The textured, refillable golden compact hold Lucidity Translucent Pressed Powder to provide a luminous, fresh finish.”

This compact is so pretty, I am certain my mom would be whipping this out to touch up more times a day than nescessary. It is available at counters and online for $33.

Laura Geller “Eye Dream of Italy” Deluxe Baked Kit

Well, I sure can’t send my momma to Italy for Mother’s Day, but maybe I can bring a bit of Italy to her. Laura Geller went to Italy and was inspired to create this kit of baked goodies for $60, available on QVC.

My momma just loves Laura’s products & I have even swiped some of her eyeshadow’s for myself.

Mally Beauty Travel Time Diva Collection

I can not say enough good things about Mally Roncal and her products. (*Would this be a great time to remind you that I had a chance to meet her last fall? I think so.) Seriously, her products really are good – I have been rocking her volumizing mascara for a while now. Remind me to tell you more about it….

Anyway, Mally has this “Travel Time Diva Collection” for $65 on QVC. It includes her fab mascara, 2 Starlight eyeliners (*love), lip glosses & a lip fence in a little bag so your mom can be out the door, running around like the Diva she is.

Marc Jacobs Daisy EDT scent

Let me say that when I had a chance to try this out I knew *immediately* why it was a multi-award winner. It just smells that good. It’s fresh, clean, light, but not in an overly floral annoying way, in my opinion. (*of course, we know I don’t know too much about fragrance “notes”). And, because my favorite color is Blue, I was all about the bottle, too.

So, since I am greedy and know that I don’t wanna share this with my momma, but I’m nice enough to want to make sure she knows how good it is, I may be picking up a bottle at Sephora for $57.

Elizabeth Arden Anniversary “Red Door” Candle

Do you remember me talking about the Limited Edition “Red Door Red” lipstick that Elizabeth Arden came out with to celebrate their 100th Anniversary? Well, they also came out with this candle that smells like “Red Door” and is in a porcelain canister that can be saved after the fact. It runs $29.50 online and I’m not certain if they are at counters or not.

Now, “Red Door” is my Momma’s *favorite* scent to wear, this is a FACT. So, when I had the chance to try this, I KNEW one of the things that Momma was going to get. I say this so that if your Momma is like mine, and you have probably gotten her a bottle of “Red Door” in the past, she will love this to scent her room, instead of spraying her scent all over everything instead of herself, just to make everything smell nice. Plus, she’ll like she can keep the canister, too.

Actually, it looks like what would be spawned if Smashbox’s Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder and the Reign Collection Eyeshadow Palette had babies. It is a shaver delivery system for a base color and a contour color, with a protective seal to prevent the shadows from mixing – the Halo Eyeshadow Hydrating Eye Shadow (w/ Brushes 3 & 10).

They say, “A hydrating eye shadow with effective anti-aging benefits. The formula contains hydrogel technology, which helps retain moisture in the skin.” I can’t say anything, as I haven’t tried this, but I am intrigued by the whole “shave what you need” aspect. It’s supposed to give you more of the lighter color for your lid and less for the darker crease color.  In addition, they are throwing in the two brushes you need for this affect for less than $40 (man, don’t I sound just like Lisa Robertson? Oh wait, she always says “For less than $1 a day”. Ha!)

 This is currently on QVC’s site as Item #A92257, available for pre-order, as Advance Orders ship October 20th. It comes in 4 color combos and includes 2 brushes for $39.54 (plus shipping.)

Let me know if you try this out for yourself.