Wednesday, April 30, 2008

I Love Your Smile




Hi girls,
I love a double-duty product. Shampoos that double as shower gels, lip balms that also work as cuticle creams, bronzers you can use for eyeshadow...you see what I mean. They simplify my day and make me happy. You can imagine how thrilled I was to discover Enbrightenment Brite Smile Whitener & Tarte Lipgloss Duo ($26), a double-ended pen with a Brite Smile tooth-whitening wand on one side, and Tarte's mint-scented lip gloss on the other! So brilliant right before a sexy date, or a big presentation, or a wedding. Because you can have on the hottest ensemble, but if your teeth suck and your lips are dry, your name is just Twan (showing my age, Ice Cube). Anyway, the whitener brightens teeth up to 8 shades in two weeks (use once a day, and wait a half hour before eating/drinking)! And the gloss comes in two shades, Radiant Red and Pearly Pink, both of which have blue undertones that help make your teeth look whiter-than-white. Love? Love.
xoxo,
Tia

Monday, April 28, 2008

Pearls, Panamanians, and Hook-Ups

Hi ladies,
First of all, thanks for all your inspired emails re: Shnozgate. The whole thing truly threw me for a loop, but I can assure you, the brilliant legal minds in my family will take care of it. As for the legions of Panamanians who believe that I "clipped" my nose into submission, well, I'm going to have to give it up to the Lord.














Something so exciting happened to me last Thursday! I was invited to the Brooklyn NAACP's Third Annual Freedom Fund Awards Program, where I was presented the Valiant Service Award for my contribution to raising the self-esteem of young women in the community. Not bad, right? I was SO flattered. I even theme-dressed in a veddy polite, proper, knee-length frock with pearls, a cardigan, and sensible heels (fine, a part of me wanted to know how it felt to be Mrs. Obama for a day). There I am with my mom, my sister Lauren, and my award, which I've named Lucille. The event was at the Brooklyn Marriot, and it was sooo fancy...all kinds of special politicians and community leaders were there, and even the fabulously naughty Gov. Patterson showed up! It was truly a special night, and I thank Karen Boykins-Towns, the President of the Brooklyn NAACP, for even considering me for such an award.


Apropos of nothing, I absolutely MUST gush a little bit about Mark's new Skincare Hookup Treatments ($8 each). For those of you not familiar with Mark, it's Avon's twenty-something bridge line, and it's delightfully inexpensive and brilliant (total cult favorite among Hollywood types). Anyway, Mark has shrunk their bestselling skincare products into knuckle-size tubes that attach to each other with a 50 cent "connector," so you can customize your own portable, travel-sized skincare regimen. The skincare products available for Hookups include the Get Clearance Anti-Acne Blemish Treatment Gel, Need a Shrink? Pore Minimizing Lotion, Kiss Dry Goodbye Lip Smoother, and the excellent Light Bright Lighten & Depuff Eye Gel. Buy any two Hookups and you get the special connector thingie for free! So easy, so cute, so perfect for on-the-go girls. Enjoy!
xoxo,
Tia

Friday, April 25, 2008

The Nose Knows


















Hey ladies,
Welcome to my crazy. Yesterday, a well-traveled, eagle-eyed SYB Babe named Tisha Gibb sent me an utterly mystifying email. Apparently, Tisha's an Accidental Diva fan whose followed my career since I was a beauty editor at Glamour (this is important information). While innocently visiting an amiga in Panama, she happened to hit a local mall and came across an ad for special clips that make your nose smaller...and guess whose alleged "before and after" photo was accompanying the ad?! MINE! Tisha recognized the randomly random picture of me, which ran in Glamour when I was, like, 24. Please, girls, help me with this. How did that shot wind up in Panama? Does my God-given nose look like an "after" photo, post-clip rehabilitation? I'm a tad offended...I mean, I've devoted a good decade to helping women feel hot and sexy in their own skin, and now I'm unwittingly endorsing some loco anglify-your-nariz scheme? The nerve! My attorney sister, Devon/Brownie, is whipping up the cease and desist letter as we speak!

At the same time, though, I think this whole thing is profoundly hilarious and I kind of want to get the ads printed out on business cards. What do you think?

xoxo,
Tia

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Real Love


Hi ladies,
Last week, I went to a fascinating Redken event hosted by Kaz Amor, owner of LA's Warren Tricomi salon (they do Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington and, um, Lauren Conrad's hair...no, I couldn't get a single drop of info out of him). Redken's launching a new line of products called "Real Control," a new line of super-moisturizing, nourishing products formulated specifically for dense, naturally dry, chemically fried, relaxed and natural hair (available in May at LA's Warren Tricomi salon, and in June, Redken salons everywhere). Calling my name, right? There's a shampoo and conditioner, Intense Renewal Mask, Thermal Resist leave-in spray for the flatiron and curling iron-addicted, and the super-rich Crema Care leave-in conditioning treatment, which Kaz strongly recommends for naturally curly, unpermed girls. I asked Kaz which ones a Dominican blowout'ed girl like me should use, and he recommended applying the Intense Renewal Mask on ONLY the bottom half of my hair, before rinsing out at spritzing on the Thermal Mist. Apparently, the extra conditioning and moisturizing exactly where most of the blowout happens is seriously beneficial to my hair. Makes sense! He also said something else very interesting. The reason my hair gets frizzy in humid weather is because it's lacking its own moisture, so my hair needs to draw it from the air. If it's already moisturized--ie, these fab products--it won't need to do that. Why did I never know that? Anyway, can't wait to try out the mask-only-on-the-bottom-half trick at my Dominican salon. Report pending.
xoxo,
Tia

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Eye Yai Yai


Hi pumpkins,
I'm getting to that age. That eye cream age. For, like, the past year-ish, I've been noticing twelve kinds of fine lines in the corners, and I get this weird dryness under my eyes. Which really sucks, since my undereye area is my biggest problem (SERIOUS bags and dark, dark circles). Thank goodness there are tons of eye creams out there to help with anti-aging and dryness. I'm currently feeling MAC Moisturelush Eye Cream ($30) so much that I carry it around in my bag and reapply during the day. It's super-rich and luscious, and gets rid of that hideous morning puffiness in two seconds. The best part, though, is that it's blended with just a bit of light-reflecting mica that gives my dark undereye area a bright, luminous finish. An AMAZING primer for concealer, you have no idea. If you're over 28 1/2, you must try it!
xoxo,
Tia

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Like Nuevo!


Hi girls,
If I have this problem, I know you have this problem. Okay, when I love, love, love a nail polish, I cannot get rid of it. I'll use it until it's wheezing it's last breath. But inevitably, as the polish ages, it gets thick and goopy and lumpy and practically unusable (I never throw it away, though...I keep it in a special bag full of my gorgeous, half-dead favorites). I've always been tempted to add water, but one of the first things you learn as a beauty editor, after alwayswashyourfacebeforebed, is to NEVER add agua to your polish because it effs with the delicate chemistry. Anyway, I was in the waiting room of a spa the other day, chatting with the house manicurist, and I mentioned my issue. Said manicurist was like, "You call yourself a beauty expert and you've never heard of SuperNail Nail Polish Thinner?" Apparently, adding a couple drops of this special thinner--which is only $2.99, FYI--to your goopy old polishes restores it's smooth consistency. Last night, I got to work on all my gross polishes and I swear, they're as good as new. Long live my OPI Mademoiselle!
xoxo,
Tia

Sunday, April 13, 2008

A Most Excellent Lip Tip


Hi ladies,
Finding the right lipstick shade is sooo hard. Especially for brown women. Oh, the issues...the whole "my top lip is darker than my bottom" moment, the "why isn't this showing up" drama, the "bright colors make me look like a Cirque du Soleil flamethrower" thing, etc., etc. Guess who's solved the lipstick conundrum? None other than Bobbi Brown, of course, the patron saint of natural-looking makeup (remind me to tell you one day about how she once tried to set me up with a black politician she was hosting a fundraiser for at her estate...hilar!). Anyway, she's created a new Lip System, available at Bobbi Brown counters nationwide, that determines exactly which shade is right for you. Her philosophy is that the PERFECT, lipstick is one that's a-tad-sexier-than-natural...it should almost disappear into your bottom lip (kind of like finding the perfect foundation). And if you find colors that have the same tone as that one PERFECT lipstick, you can wear anything--reds, pinks, etc. So, she's created a pinwheel thingie that lists all of her most natural lipsticks along the outer perimeter, everything from Brown to Beige to Blondie Pink. Once you've figured out which color virtually disappears on your lips--for me, it's Rich Cocoa--there's a space on the pinwheel that allows you to see all the similarly-toned shades that fall under that color. There are reds, plums, pinks, shimmers, sheer lipsticks, glosses, lip pencils, everything! A virtual couture collection of lip shades that are guaranteed to work on you. I found the most excellent red this way--Crimson. I live for it. Anyway, you must get yourself over to a BB counter, asap...and please, darling, don't mention the black politician.
xoxo,
Tia

Friday, April 11, 2008

Arrrgghhhh

Hey lambs,
Major migraine today, major. Love you like it's a sickness, but I'm not feeling very beautious at the moment. No worries, I'll be back on Monday fully narcoticised! Have an amazing-mazing weekend,
Your Tia

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Lady Lump RX


Hola ladies,
During my beauty editor days, I had a colleague named Kathy Miller Kramer, who was the beauty director at Lifetime magazine. Lady Kramer was well-known for a veddy interesting hobby. She invented things. No seriously, she came up with insanely genius, dammit-why-didn't-I-think-of-that ideas and sold them for crazy money. Yeah, so, we were always a little jealous of Ms. Kathy (she also happened to be a sweet, dark-eyed beauty who always had the right bag...grrr!). Anyway, Kathy just stumbled upon what, in my opinion, is her most brilliant, profoundly necessary invention to date. Okay, so, if you have a tiny waist and rounder hips or butt (basically, if you're black or Latina), then you know how impossible it is to find a pair of jeans/pants that fit. Usually, they gap around your waist, and you have to cinch them with a major belt...and then all your fabulous, fitted tops look all bulky and awkward over the belt buckle. Kathy's new baby, the Invisibelt ($19.95), is a smooth, thin belt with a flat clasp that's totally undetectable under your sexy tops. You'll look super-skinny, streamlined and totally elegant...and your jeans will stay up! Oh, and the belt somehow manages to fit sizes 2 to 14. Kind of heaven-sent, no? I'm totally happy for Kathy, but dammit, WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS?!

Big kiss,
Tia

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

The Glamorous Life

Hey darlings,
News! Guess who's guest-blogging on Glamour.com's Beauty Blog today? I mean, it was such a no-brainer. I love my alma mater Glamour, I love beauty, and I love Baze, the beauty editor who asked me to throw in my two cents (yep, you may recognize her byline from the defunct-but-fabulous "Suede" and "Vibe Vixen"). Let me know what you think, dolls!
Big kiss,
Tia

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Between a ROC and a glam place...

Hey girls,
Well, I had an eventful weekend! Glam.com flew their top beauty bloggers into NYC for the weekend, including Patrice from Afrobella, Teri from Beautiful Makeup Search, Alison from Beauty Snob, Christina from eBeautyDaily, Erin from Make Her Up, and Lianne from The Makeup Girl. It was kind of a "weekend in the life of a beauty editor"-type thing (total deja vu for moi), where Glam.com took the girls on tours of the original Kiehls store and the Rita Hazan Salon, treated them to mani-pedi's at Dashing Diva, and hosted fabulous dinners at NYC hotspots like WD-50. Since I obviously live here, I skipped staying at the chic hotel, but I met the girls out on Saturday during some of their appointments. It was so exhilarating meeting fellow beauty bloggers! Kind of like running into long-lost twins that look nothing like you.


My favorite part was our lunch at The Bowery Hotel's Gemma Restaurant, where we used our expertise to help Glam.com narrow down their selections for their annual Beauty Awards. We literally sat there for hours, playing with the hottest products in el mundo, throwing in our two cents and secretly hording our favorite stuff under the table. Okay, but there was one thing we all became so obsessed with that we almost came to blows over who got to keep it: ROC Daily Microdermabrasion Cleansing Disks ($8.99)! First of all, I was so shocked that I never tried these genius little disks, since I ONLY use cleansing pads or cloths to wash my face...never actual cleanser plus water (honey, I pay good money for my blowouts every week, I'm not trying to splash water anywhere NEAR my roots). Anyway, these flying saucer-like situations have two sides: Side A has gentle, microdermabrasion-infused cleansers that slough-off dead skin cells, revealing the smooth, radiant skin underneath; and Side B is coated with oil-free conditioners that moisturize your skin, leaving it softer than soft! Seriously, my skin has never felt so fabulous, outside of a facial. And it's so affordable! Thanks Glam, for the revelation...and the sexy weekend! Oh, and for letting me be the one to make off with the ROC disks. Heh, heh, heh.
xoxo,
Tia

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Spring's Most Wanted, Part 5


Hey girls,
Call off the dogs, darlings...your spring/summer fragrance has showed itself, and it's so outrageously chic that you'll want to whip off your clothes and roll around naked in it. Before I describe the gloriousness that is Saffron James Parfum, indulge me in some backstory! I've known it's founder, Kate Growney, since our days at Elle...I was the assistant beauty editor, she was the associate beauty editor. And oh, I always thought she was the most glamorous thing in Prada slides! Kate grew up fabulously hippified on Waimea, Hawaii, she had impeccable gypsy-chic style, the cutest smattering of freckles across her nose, and she always kept her cool, managing to frequently talk me off the ledge when fashion magazine life got a little too TOO (her only fumble was the time a years-before-Project-Runway Nina Garcia rushed into the beauty closet, requesting hairspray before a super-fancy event she was late to. Kate accidentally grabbed a can of mousse and sprayed it allover Nina's flawless blowout! This moment, my friends, holds a very special place in Elle history...). Anyway, Kate eventually jetted off to L.A. to freelance, and sadly, we lost touch. I never stopped thinking about my fabulous friend--so two weeks ago, when I got an email inviting me to a Bendel's trunk show launching none other than Kate Growney's new perfume collection, I was beside myself.

Okay, so forget the fact that each of the Saffron James Parfums ($85, each) are packaged in the most covetable little boxes with vintage-y scarf linings (I fully plan on using them as jewelry holders), the fragrances themselves are beyond special. They're inspired by the exotic Hawaiian flowers Kate grew up with, which translates into three of the most stunningly fresh, sultry scents I've ever come across. "Le'a" is a clean, citrusy fragrance based on the Plumeria (the fresh one); Punono mixes the heady Puakenikeni flower with notes of incense (the sexy one); and 'Ume, my current obsession, is a soft, spicy fragrance based on the White Ginger flower (the addictively versatile day-to-night one). I swear, every time I spritz on a little 'Ume, I get all kinds of ladies demanding to know what I'm wearing (I'm tempted to get all coy and say it's just moi, but that's not a very supportive friend). The point is, whichever one you pick, it's guaranteed to turn muchas cabezas. With Saffron James, Kate has cornered the market on cool-girl fragrance. Just don't ask her for hairspray.
xoxo,
Tia

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Spring's Most Wanted, Part 4


Hey ladies,
Lately, I haven't been sleeping well ("lately" meaning since, oh, 1994). I'm a bit of an insomniac, but it's okay, because I do my best beauty tinkering at 3am. It's sad that there's no one around at that hour to witness the remarkable, Rihanna-should-be-so-lucky smoky eye I produce at that hour, but I get my own private thrill. Anyway, as my most loyal SYB Babes might remember, my favorite dead-of-night project is plucking my brows. It looks like this: Me, sitting on my toilet in footsie P.J.'s, balancing a magnifying mirror on my knees, tweezing away while humming showtunes from "Sweet Charity." That look has altered slightly in the past week, since I've discovered the brand-new, BEYOND brilliant Physician's Formula Brow-Tweeze ($7.99). The first of its kind to hit the market, Brow-Tweeze is a 3-in-1 tweezer, pencil, and brow brush!! Have you ever? It's just the best thing to throw in your bag in keep there, like, forever. All in one tiny little pencil, you've got the tools for an entire brow grooming session--the tweezer to shape, the pencil to fill-in, and the brush to blend. These days, I'm going to back to sleep looking like Ava Gardner. And I love it, dammit.
Big kiss,
Tia