Some serious beauty-shaking

RANDOM ANTM QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"I don't like gay people, I don't like Muslims, I don't like abortions, I don't like anything liberal. But other than that, I really like to get along with people."
--Dani who, soon after this muttering this nonsense, got the boot

Hey Ladies,
Muchachitas, I'd like you to join me in congratulating my damn self! Why, you ask? Well, I just completed my very first week as the co-host of Cosmo Radio's brand-new morning show (Sirius satellite radio, channel 111)! OMG, its so much fun. If you don't have Sirius yet, you MUST get it immediamente, if for nothing else than to call in and chat with me on-air...the number is 888-81COSMO, and I'm DYING to talk sex, relationships, and intriguing celebrity gossip with you. And thank you sooo much for all your well wishes and compliments on my new Olay commercial! Guess what--my yummy husband Adam figured out a way to upload the commercial, so if you haven't seen it yet, check it out right here: COMMERCIAL(it's a quicktime file).

So, looks like it's about time for me to take my lovely ladies to Shake Your Beauty school! I love it to death when you guys write in with your most pressing beauty questions, and I'm all set to answer them, here and now. I picked the top five questions that I thought were most universal...let me know if I eased your sexy little minds. Speaking of universal, tons and tons of you have been asking me how to break into the magazine industry. Fret not, for I explained exactly how to make it all happen in my post entitled "An Insomniac Writer talks to Beauty-Philes." One chick who was definitely paying attention? The lovely and talented CeCe, who just wrote to tell me she applied to NYU's School of Publishing for their fabulous summer course on magazine and book publishing--it was how I got my start! Best of luck, Sweetheart, NYU would be eternally lucky to have you!!

And now, let's get into some serious beauty-shaking, shall we?

love ya,
miss tia if you're pretty


Dear Anonymous British Lovie,
First of all, how thrilled am I that you found my humble little blog all the way across The Big Pond? Second of all, your question about how to get rid of acne scars is an issue almost everyone deals with. Especially black, Latina, middle-eastern, Asian and Native American chicks (basically, any one with pigmented skin). See, our skin stretches and expands when we have a pimple. And its the action of the skin contracting when it heals that causes the dark spots. Get it? That's why we have such crucial stretch marks and seem to keep scars from chicken pocs, rashes, or the smallest cuts, like, FOREVER. Exhibit A--my chin. I break out on my chin everytime I have a period, and underneath my daily concealer-job is a veritable map of all my former zits. But I found something that helps fade the scars, finally! Forget cocoa butter and Ambi, those old wives tales of yore. If you coat the offending area with BLISS SLEEPING PEEL RESURFACING GEL every single night, the dark spots will slowly fade away to nothing in a couple of weeks. I swear. The way it works is the gel gently peels off the tippy-top layer of the skin, and since the dark spots are superficial, they're stripped away in no time. Yeah, it itches something fierce, but if you haven't figured out by now that BEAUTY IS PAIN, I can't help you, mama.

Dear Anonymous Cutie-Pie with the So-Called "Back to Homeland" Hair,
Well now, I am offended! Ladies, the aforementioned cutie pie is skeptical that the hair products I mention will work on her "coarse, non-mixed" hair. Honey, I promise I would never plug a product if I wasn't absolutely CERTAIN it would work on all types of hair. I realize that I'm writing for a wildly diverse audience, and I would NEVER leave anyone out! The thing is, no matter what "grade" of hair you have, anyone with curly-to-kinky hair suffers from the same dehydration, dullness, split ends, and breakage. As Digital Underground said waaay back in the day, we're all in the same gang! That said, if you want a specific diagnosis, beyond-famous celebrity stylist ELLIN LAVAR'S line of hair products is amazing, amazing, amazing (I've written about her so much she should give me stock options!). Every black chick in the industry--from relaxed to natural and all hair types in-between--uses her stuff. The best part is, on her site she prescribes specific product regimens depending on what your needs are. Sounds like you could seriously benefit from the products she mentions in the soft/supple category (its for coarse, hard-to-manage hair types)--the Optimoist Shampoo, SatinSoft Conditioner, Nourish Oil (my favorite hair product of all time...rub into your scalp and on ends at bedtime, and you wouldn't believe how luxurious your hair feels in the AM), and Detangle Mist. Enjoy!!


Dear Anonymous Sweetie-Pie Growing out Her Perm,
Oooh, this is never a pretty moment. The telltale line of demarcation where everyone sees where you perm starts and the inches of new growth begins, the horrible breakage, the who-gives-an-eff-where's-my-Dark-and-Lovely desperation when the process takes FOREVER and your future looks bleak. Of course, I've never had the beauty balls to go there myself (plus I'm married to a Dominican man, you know how those Latin men feel about hair), but I've known many a chica--my sister, included--who have gone through it. And the product that invariably gets them through the night? MISS JESSIE'S CURLY MERENGUE!!! This hi-gloss, lightweight styling cream is formulated for curly-to-kinky hair going through the relaxer transition phase. Slap it in wet hair before drying and it'll help create a uniform texture throughout your hair. And oh, your hair will feel so soft, so supple, so bouncy. There's a reason it's a cult-favorite product among beauty insiders.


Dear Darling Porsche,
So, you wanna know what shoes I'm wearing in my Vibe Vixen photo? I'm OBSESSED with these shoes...they're SEYCHELLE'S LEATHER WEDGES IN GOLD, and they're as comfortable as they are incredibly chic. So universal, I rock them with jeans, miniskirts, and cute little bohemian dresses. And you're in luck--I bought them for $100 in the fall, and now they're on sale for $35! Also in black, brown, rose, and copper.


Dear Suzette aka Mz. Black Geisha (love the name, by the way),
You're not the only one deeply intruiged by those new, Beyonce-and Scarlett-Johannson-staring commercials for LOREAL H.I.P. HIGH INTENSITY PIGMENT MAKEUP. The makeup is daring, bold, vibrant and sexy in a Get in the Groove-era Madonna way. However, you should be warned that it's not for the timid--the shades aren't at all sheer. They're dramatic and opaque, what my sister calls "Birthday Girl" makeup (meaning, you wear these eyeshadows, lipsticks and blushes to the club when you want folks to know it's your birthday!). I'm currently having a love affair with the eyeshadows--they're so vibrant and delicious, I want to eat them. Try the CONCENTRATED EYESHADOW DUO IN LIVELY, it comes with an incredibly hot, super-deep forest green that looks fabulous applied with a skinny eyeshadow brush along the lashline.