send a helping hug to haiti

On January 12, a major 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti destroying the country’s infrastructure and devastating lives. Even in what seems like the darkest of times, it’s beautiful to see the whole world come together to support and help rebuild Haiti. This month, Lucky magazine is making it possible to do good while you shop.

Through March 2, 2010, buy any of the irresistible items found at Luckymag.com and a percentage of the purchase price goes to charities working in Haiti—American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners In Health. Buy our classic benetint and 30 percent of the purchase price goes to Doctors Without Borders.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.

flashback fridays: brows then & now

brows then v. now

What did your brows used to look like?

Mine were like bushy caterpillars, and they would still be like that if I grew them out today. As a tween, around the time I first discovered makeup, boys, YM magazine and all that good stuff, I wasn’t allowed to shape my eyebrows because my mom didn’t want me looking too old. But being the rebellious tween I was–true story–I actually snuck over to the Benefit Boutique when I was supposed to be at a middle-school basketball game and got my brows shaped. They looked perfect, but my mom made me grow them back and I wasn’t allowed to tweeze until I was 15!

Brows became a hairy subject for all those tween years, but being able to look back at all my pictures with bushy brows is kind of priceless.

Kid. Tween. Twenties.

SFO > JFK > freezing.

If you have ever visited San Francisco, you know there is one major thing we are lacking…and it is called “seasons.” We are in a constant state of fall around these parts; temperatures vary from a frigid 50 to a balmy 65 degrees. So when I boarded a flight last week to New York, I was petrified. My suitcase looked like I was prepared for snow camping in Vancouver for the upcoming Olympics.

frozen over in bryant park

I met up with our NY-based gal, media darling, in the single digits. It was as if the weather man enjoyed reminding us that with the wind chill it felt like zero degrees.

media darling hailing a cab

The second I stepped outside, my cheeks got an instant flush, almost forgoing benetint! I gallivanted around the City: a dance performance on the East Side, shopping in SoHo, and a great rock n’ roll exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. Despite the temps, I do heart New York. The excitement, sights, and adventures just take your breath away winter, spring, summer, and fall.

At times, this California kid had to seek warmth indoors…like in Sephora 5th Avenue.

Crescent Row in Sephora

Perhaps it was fate, but at the hotel, the door hanger (is there an official name?) was perfect. Don’t worry, I resisted taking it home as a souvenir.

I need this.

still got a case of the mondays?

I know that feeling, it’s mid-week and things are still dragging. But did you know, the way you feel directly relates to your physical appearance? Stress causes a number of skin issues like acne, dryness and even wrinkles over time. ”Blah” mood=”blah” face…it really works both ways.

Benefit IT having a case of the Mondays (and yes, guys DO work here!)

1. Putting on a little makeup…even when you think you don’t feel like it. Makeup ALWAYS increases your face value. Even if it’s just concealer and mascara, you’ll feel instantly put together.

2. Keep brows groomed. Brows hold the power to change the way you look–without plastic surgery. I go to the Brow Bar or Benefit Boutique. Clean brows brighten everything up.

3. Make a concious effort to move around as much as possible. Anyone can tell you to go to the gym, but I’m talking about the what you can do INSTANTLY (plus, I don’t belong to a gym). When at my desk thinking, every now and then I’ll kick my legs like I’m swimming or move my arms around to get blood  flowing. Or when I’m waiting around for the bus and I don’t see one coming, I walk up to the next stop.

4. Hang out with hilarious people. Laughing takes any edge off.

Blah to beautiful--instantly!

…how do you instantly fend off the feeling of “blah”?

HSN behind the scenes

Maggie and I just finished another amazing round of shows on HSN.  I first want to thank all of you who watched! We had such an amazing time and want to share some photos of what goes on right before the show starts.  First of all, keep in mind that at this point we are incredibly sleep deprived: We went to bed around 11:30 pm and woke up at 3:00 am for a show at 6:00 am.  We have to get there early to prep all of the models and to do our hair and makeup.  Here’s a little peek at what happens right before we go on.

Here we are getting our ear pieces set and doing the sound check.  f

Once we get ready with the camera man we had to touch up our BEAUTIFUL models

Lastly we had to do our good luck kick with Chelsea!  This is now our ritual.

It all went by so fast! Maggie and I are now in beautiful New York City preparing for our next HSN show.  Thank you again for those of you who watched!!

iGlitz n’ Glam

I don’t know about you, but my purse is like a black hole: the point of no return for lip glosses, spare change, sigg bottles, headphones, receipts, notepads, and more makeup. Finding anything in a reasonable time frame is purely wishful thinking, especially my phone. However, today I discovered the ultimate solution when I thought Kate was talking on a disco ball (see below).

my bling is ringing (literally)

It’s better than a disco ball: It’s her new phone case! After continuing to confuse her phone with her husband’s, Kate went straight to the source of awesomeness that is eBay and found a sparkly pink phone case! I mean, life’s too short to be boring, right?

how Benefit makes the calls

january: the month of the cleanse

Is it just me, or is everyone doing some version of “the cleanse” this January? From the green juice varieties to the hardcore lemon juice fasts, these detox diets seem to be everywhere. Many of these devotees give up after a few days (hello, not eating?), but some rave about the benefits of eliminating almost everything.

hungry?

I decided to hop on the super hip cleanse bandwagon as well…have you ever heard of the 3-Day Makeup Cleanse? It’s not as popular as those liquid ones, but if you do it for 3 days, you’re 100% guaranteed to have a newfound love for your favorite beauty products. The prescription: only ONE makeup product allowed per day. And you can’t reapply. Here’s my very personal and challenging experience with the Makeup Cleanse:

Day 1 – since my lashes are naturally blonde, my product of the day was BADgal lash. Now I’m already regretting not having my lashes tinted at the Benefit Boutique before starting my cleanse. My dark undereye circles are completely visible to the world – help.

Day 2 – surviving yesterday without concealer was sooo hard. Today I am rocking erase paste and feeling a little better, but still wish I could put on some more eye makeup. I also wish I could wear a hat at work.   

Day 3 – this cold weather has rewarded me with chapped lips, so benetint lip balm is my product for the day. Now I have a rosy pout, but a pale face. I dabbed a bit of the lip balm on my cheeks for some color, but man, what I wouldn’t do for some bronzer! Is the cleanse over yet?!

absence makes the heart grow fonder

Whew! That sure was tough. But I gotta admit, I do feel reinvigorated in my beauty routine! If you had to do the Makeup Cleanse, what ONE product would you pick to wear for a full day?