Nordstrom Anniversary Beauty Exclusives: July 18-August 3

Last week was a whirlwind of events including a lunchtime preview of the Nordstrom Anniversary Beauty Exclusives event. In case you aren't familiar with this concept - every year in July, Nordstrom has their big 2 week-long Anniversary Sale. Since beauty never goes on sale, instead the brands come up with unique limited-edition items available exclusively during this anniversary period at Nordstrom stores and online. This year's beauty exclusives include brands such as MAC, Chanel, T3, Dior, Laura Mercier, Philosophy, Marc Jacobs, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Lancome, and Estee Lauder, to name a few. Over 100 brands are participating.

True beauty addicts (and that's you, or else you wouldn't be here, right?) can go online to nordstrom.com or stop into Nordstrom stores to pre-order starting today. The sale goes live July 18th and lasts until August 3rd. You can shop in-store or online. Want to know my fave Nordstrom Anniversary Exclusives? Read on, dahlinks!

Bobbi Brown Cocoa Mauve Collection ($65) Fall's most-wanted shades for eyes, cheeks and lips in a sleek black nylon cosmetic case. Colors include Berry Mauve Creamy Lip Color, Iced Mauve Metallic Shadow, Cocoa Mauve Ink Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner and Sand Pink Blush.


MAC Colour Forms Anniversary Collection: MAC has come up with adorable crayola-eight-pack-colored eye and lip palettes in green, purple, red, blue and yellow packaging. Eye palettes are $38, lip palettes are $24.50.

Chanel So Chanel Illuminating Powder ($65), Nail Lacquer exclusive Rose Tourbillon ($20), and Quatuour Levres de Chanel Satin and Shine Lip Palette in 10 Les Roses ($60)

Kings & Queens Set ($18) Limited edition two piece set featuring King Midas Touch of Gold Shower Gel and King Midas Touch of Gold Travel Candle. I LOVE Kings & Queens. Their prods are great and they have the most interesting, educational yet adorable copywriting.

Smashbox Socialite Beauty Collection ($59) Everything for a night on the town, in an adorable WEARABLE woven clutch. New Eye Beam Double-Ended Eye Brightener, Eye Shadow Quad in Socialite, Blush/Bronzer Duo in Cosmopolitan, Cream Eye Liner Duo in Caviar/Bronze, Lip Enhancing Gloss in Stiletto, Photo Op Under Eye Brightener, and Bionic Mascara.

T3 Boost Set ($119) A travel mini iron with a full-sized Boost serum. This is an EXCELLENT value as the mini itself is $119.




What will you be purchasing? Tell me in the comments.

Your Lifestyle Just Infinitely Improved: Introducing T3's New T3 Pro Collection

I talk about my T3 Evolution with the same pride as a Tribeca mom when she speaks about her totes precocious toddler. It's the best dryer I've ever used. It's the Mercedes of hair dryers. But maybe you're not evolved enough financially to drop $300 on a dryer. You're all, "Quit playing games with my HEART, T3." Who can blame you? That's a lot of coin.

T3's new Pro Collection includes a new Pro Dryer that is equipped with the same T3 patented Flawless infusion process, and the same frizz-fighting, cuticle-sealing Tourmaline technology to deliver the exact same results at a much sexier price tag. $119 in fact. I tested this adorable pink bad boy out and EVERYTHING was the same except that it took a bit longer to style my hair. I found myself running the dryer on the same section of hair once or twice more often than when I use my Evolution. As opposed to the Evolution which dries hair 70% faster than a normal dryer, this dries your hair 50% faster. To save $180, I think you'll be able to live. I clocked it and it took me 15 minutes instead of my usual 10. It still includes 2 speed and 3 heat controls, a cool shot, a straightening attachment and a professional length cord. Body? Check. Chic smooth sleekness? Check. What it lacks in speed it makes up for in savings, results and gorge pink style.

Also included in the T3 Pro Collection ($119 each):
T3 Pro Mini, a tiny flatiron
T3 Pro Straighten, a larger flatiron
T3 Pro Wet-or-Dry, a flatiron that steams wet hair straight cutting down on drying time

You can find the collection in May 2008 at Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, and t3micro.com

T3 Kicks off Their Honeymoon Hair Contest!

The T3 Pink Mini

T3 is kicking off their Honeymoon Hair contest today! So often brides neglect their hair needs for the honeymoon. They usually prep for the big day with the help of a professional stylist. But T3 wants to make sure that she’s got the right tools for fabulous T3 hair. They're prepared to take you from the pool to cocktails in minutes.

They are offering one lucky bride the chance to come to NYC for a 2-day trip, a consultation with my FAVE stylist Orlando Pita (for her and a guest of her choice - does it need to be said that I'm insisting all of my engaged friends enter this contest and take me as their guest should they win?), $500 in cash and a Sephora shopping spree. 10 runners up will receive either the Pink Mini and Boost or the Overnight and Plump.

Brides to be can enter with a photo of why they need T3's help – whether it’s because they have frizzy, unruly hair or simply need some direction on what works best for them. Visit the site at www.t3micro.com/honeymoonhair.

You'll Have to Come Up with Another Reason for Declining Bad Dates.

Hey, girls!

Hope your weekend was fab. I have to tell you about the sublimity that is this super-absorbant Sephora brand hair towel. It's nothing short of phenom. Blow drying your hair sucks (doesn't it? I get tired just THINKING about it sometimes) so I'm always on the lookout for things that both make the drying process shorter and lengthen the time I can go between blowouts.

The hair towel ($20) is made of Aquitex - a material woven from ultra-fine microfibers to wick moisture from hair faster and more thoroughly than ordinary towels. I like to wrap up my hair in this machine washable dream and lotion on up and then do some chores or watch some DVR'd TV for thirty minutes or so before starting the blow dry with my T3 Evolution.

Some tips for prolonging the 'do:
Bain de Terre Scalp Scrub ($15) - I snorted at the sight of this Grace-Adler-style when I received a sample of it and it wasn't until the Beauty Addict's RAVE review that I allowed yet another step into my already-far-too-complicated-hair lifestyle. I was fully intending to use it as a body scrub, for which it can also be used per the box. Well, when the Beauty Addict says that it'll extend your blowout by 36 hours, she MEANS it. I tested it out a few weeks ago and somehow, by exfoliating my scalp (which I plum can't believe NEEDS exfoliation), the telltale I-haven't-washed-my-hair smell was nowhere to be found after 3 days. AND my roots were looking FINE. No hair powder necessary. For $15 for a box of 4, I think it's a steal.

A Satin Pillowcase ($7-30) will make a huge difference when it comes to bedhead.

T3 360 Plump $38 amplifies strands beyond belief without making hair sticky or dull. Thicker roots, whether you have fine or thick hair, mean you can go longer between blowouts. Try it out.

What are your tips for extending a blowout? Share in the comments. Happy Monday!

Fashion Week: BBJ Backstage at Tibi

I hope you're ready to Make Your Own Kind of Music, you Dancing Queen. For Fall 2008, the 70s are back. NARS makeup artist Ayako (above, left) told me the look for Tibi's Fall 2008 line was heavily 70s influenced, much like the look at Miss Sixty. Said Ayako, "When the girls arrived fresh-faced and rosy from the cold this morning, I kept them that way." On many of the models, she chose to skip foundation, using only NARS Powder Foundation when necessary. She applied NARS Blush in Dolce Vita, a matte formula in a dusty rose due to hit shelves for Fall 2008. False lashes weren't used, instead, Ayako used copious amounts of mascara to create a dramatic tarantula eye. Lids were primed with a matte porcelain creme eyeshadow. Lips were filled in with NARS Velvet Matte Pencil in Belle du Jour, a nudeish flesh-toned hue. Ayako then glossed them up with NARS Lip Gloss in Female Trouble, a delightful pinky-beige, also due to hit shelves for Fall 2008.


Nails were polished with Creative Nail Design polish in Serenity, a sheer, glossy nude.




Next, I hit up superfun Kevin Ryan (above, right) to gab about hair. He definitely speaks magazine copy, i.e., my internal lexicon which I subconsciously suppress. Well, not anymore. "The inspiration is the pretty girl in your high school yearbook," Kevin said. Felt-covered hot rollers were rolled under in the back to create an "expensive wave." "Picture a high-school-aged Stevie Nicks at her best." No uptight updos here, just loose, flyaway strands parted in the middle, with no volume nor thickening agents involved. Kevin used Bumble and bumble's Does It All Hairspray to lock down curl. "It's very Breck Girl," Kevin laughed. In the front, Kevin used a curling iron to wave hair away from the face in "sausage curls" and then brushed through to de-perfect it. "Like Farrah Fawcett?" I asked. "Almost," he responded. "Farrah Fawcett in a small town."

I spy with my little eye: A T3 Evolution and a T3 Twirl.

Oh. And if you think I left before making sure I got a photo of ANTM's Saleisha pre-runway, then you don't know me at all:


This nice model "vogued" for me to show off her makeup before I left:





Photo credit: Beauty Blogging Junkie

Got2b Kate Hudson

Before my girlcrush on Amanda/Becki Newton, I tried my damnedest to channel Kate Hudson ALL OF THE TIME. I haven't been as into her lately and even I, a former viewer of all of her movies on OPENING DAY, admit that Fool's Gold looks pretty terrible. But did she not look breathtaking at the SAG Awards? Specifically her HAIR? 2 things, 1. I'm not really in love with that dress. I feel she wears another version of that specific dress at least 9 times a year. She looks great in it, but I could use a change. Remember the green Versace with sheer sleeves? That was a wild departure for Kate and she wore it without letting it wear her.


Anyway. 2. She looks so much like her mother in the first photo circa Laugh In. But back to her hair. I'd love to know what witch doctor she is frequenting to get hair that is so very highlighted, processed, and straightened to positively GLEAM with health. I can't manage that when I'm platinuming it up, but I can offer some advice on how to achieve shiny straight hair for mere mortals (provided their hair is in a semi-healthy state.) I revive second day hair (as in, you washed it the day before) using my T3 Evolution on the highest heat setting, my Marilyn Brush, and Got2b Smooth Operator Smoothing Satin Drops ($7.99.) Apply a dime-sized amount just on the ends before smoothing with a blowdryer. The packaging is luxurious and so L.A.


Photo credits: East News, Got2b