Tuesday, February 14, 2012

For An Extreme Color Change--Please Go To A Pro




Like a lot of young women in Hollywood, Demi Lovato is a hair chameleon. And at the moment, she's in a blonde shade of mind.

She was a bold redhead up until last Saturday. And following an 11 hour salon visit, the talented singer emerged with lighter locks.

Demi Lovato is a pretty girl, and she looks cute as a blonde, redhead, and even best, with her natural dark brown color.

Our advice....Whenever making a drastic hair color change like Demi's, please head to a pro, because so many things can go wrong trying to change it up yourself.

And what ate up the clock during Demi's hair dyeing adventure, were her extensions. Those super long locks got a color bath, too.

With human hair extensions, you can curl them with heat, flat-iron them, and even chemically-treat these real, fake tresses with hair color, bleach, and perms.

With synthetic hair extensions, you are more limited in what you can do, however, when it comes to bad weather like rain and high humidity, the synthetic extensions hold up better. These strands have memory. Human hair extensions will droop like real hair in the bad weather.

Meantime, Demi Lovato is having lots of fun being newly blonde:

"Thank you SO much Nine Zero One salon for my new locks," she wrote, after spending all those hours at the salon with colorist Amber Maynard. Fans must’ve liked the red-to-blonde look, because later that day, Demi tweeted back, "Haha Demi Blondevato is a trending topic?!! Y’all are funny!"

Which Demi Lovato hair color do you prefer?

Monday, February 13, 2012

From Kelly To Kelly.....Some Fab Gowns At Grammys 2012!







We love watching the Grammy Awards show every year, but we don't usually find too many outstanding fashion garments there. However, we did see some gorgeous dresses last night in Hollywood. And we chose a pregnant celebrity as our Fab Beauty of the Night.

Some of the gowns were quite scary and just plain strange. And yet, the cream-of-the-crop were easy to spot by our standards.

Here are out 5 Favorite Fashions at the 2012 Grammys:

1. Jennifer Hudson in a black tea-length sleeveless dress. Every note she hit, both in her tearful tribute to Whitney Houston and in her hair/makeup/fashion appearance was right on the money!

2. Carrie Underwood wearing a long-sleeve backless Gomez-Garcia gown. Wow---such a shiny elegance.

3. Kelly Osbourne in a sparkling Tom Ward gown. Figure-flattering and the hair just so. Just not lovin' the lilac locks.

4. Kelly Rowland in a booty-licious beige Alberta Ferretti gown. Great figure and great dress to show it off. Effortless and polished.

5. Victoria's Secret Angel model Lily Aldridge. Yes, she's certainly pregnant, and how chic she looks! Absolutely flawless. Lily shows that you don't always have to expose your growing baby bump to look timeless and classic. She flows in that print, sheer-sleeves gown.

We also chose Lily Aldridge as our Fab Beauty of the Night. She is quite stunning, and with minimal makeup, too. Her hair is in a pretty chignon style. Just perfect all around, in our humble opinion.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Before Making The Big Beauty Decisions: Know Thy Real Self


Greek philosopher Socrates once said, "Know thyself.".

We're taking this one step further...."Know thy 'real' self."

And in beauty talk, we are referring to a super website called, RealSelf.com.

If you have ever had a question about a cosmetic treatment, procedure or surgery regarding the face, body, teeth, or skin, you WILL find an answer at RealSelf.

There are always experts online ready to answer your questions for FREE. Let's say you are interested in getting breast implants or a new nose, doctors in those fields are ready to dispense with advice. You also hear from patients who have undergone such procedures, and you learn a lot of excellent information up-front.

The best part of all, you can ask questions anonymously and get a quick reply from the more than 3,500 doctors on-board.

Here are a just a few of the 250-plus cosmetic treatments discussed at RealSelf:

Eyelid surgery. Tattoo removal. Fat transfer. Lasik. Porcelain veneers. Tummy tuck. Laser hair removal.

RealSelf.com is widely recognized and regarded by medical authorities, so this is a legit online source.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

OMG! JLo Gets Naked For Launch of Glow Fragrance #18!!


Time to get your Glow on, again, ladies!

Superstar Jennifer Lopez is launching her 18th Glow fragrance, aptly named, 'Glowing.' Well, at least we believe it is her 18th. Not easy to keep track of Miss JLo's many endorsements these days.

The sexy celebrity has decided to get naked and a bit airbrushed for her newest Glow fragrance. Did you instantly recognize Jennifer Lopez here in this photo release? We sure didn't. Where the heck are her famous curvy hips?!

We know that JLo is in superb physical shape, especially for a woman who had twins and in her early 40s. We say, 'Bravo!' But she looks so not JLo in this new ad.

Having said all that, we are excited for the American Idol judge. This latest Glowing sounds like a great scent to add to your collection. Jennifer says, 'Glowing is such a clean fragrance. That's what I've always been about...At the essence, it's still natural, earthy, clean and real, but a little different side of that. It's the woodsy side of it, which I think is kind of New York-y, darker and sexier.'

Glowing, which also includes top notes of bergamot, cypress and mandarin, among other scents, will make its debut in early May.

And if you're wondering who is wearing Ms. Lopez' fragrances, apparently, quite a lot of women. JLo's brand of scents just happen to rank as one of the highest selling celebrity fragrance lines.

Shine on, JLo, shine on!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Battle Brown Spots With AHAs: This Stuff Really Works!


A lifetime of sun damage.

That's what we earned for spending our summers by-the-sea during our childhood and early teens, up until we left for college. Loads of fun swimming in the ocean, playing in the surf, and lying down on the hot sand, baby-oiling our bodies to look super tanned. Hours upon hours under the sun, especially positioning our decollete front and center to the searing rays.

Hello, brown spots.

Those tiny spots or freckles are the little gifts left to us by the damaging rays, and are the gifts that keep on giving. In other words, if you don't tackle those brown spots ASAP, they will grow and grow, and deepen in color as time marches on.

That brings us to the subject of AHAs, or Alpha Hydroxy Acids. These acids exfoliate both surface skin and dead skin cells beneath the skin’s surface within follicles. AHAs give back healthy, glowing, younger-looking skin.

And we are proof positive, that AHAs REALLY do FADE brown spots and other sun damage. The key here is 'patience.' It took years to develop those spots, and will take at least a year to see gradual fading begin. And yes, we still have brown spots sprinkled across the decollete, the area between the neck and chest, but they have faded, and some appear to have disappeared.

You've seen us brag a few times here before at BeautyTipToday, about the Alpha Hydrox skin care line. It's drugstore. It's cheap. And it's effective.

The Alpha Hydrox brand uses a bright red box for packaging. You can't miss it, when it's available on a store shelf.

One of our faves is the Alpha Hydrox 10% AHA Enhanced Lotion. Generally, we see it for $12.99, but have found it for $10.99 at Walgreens. And although it is geared more for dry skin (our face=oily), we do apply it religiously to our neck and decollete daily, and carefully under our eyes. We love it, and learned from skin care expert Jan Marini, to use the 10% lotion as a super hand cream, also.

"I've tried every hand cream on the market," she says. And she loves this brand because of it's 10% glycolic AHA content.

"Its molecules are so small that they penetrate more deeply, dislodging dead cells and lifting the skin, giving it a smoother appearance. And glycolic acid also helps get rid of age spots!".

Check out the entire Alpha Hydrox skin care line here

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Get Real: It's All About Teal Nails For Spring 2012



Okay, let's talk about the color teal.

We love the shade, but for some reason, we don't think teal looks pretty against our light olive skin tone. Check out our BeautyTipToday archives on teal eyeshadow/liner.

But teal, the medium-blue-green hue, is the new hot nail trend for Spring 2012.

Speaking of which, we just saw a gorgeous teal top in a catalogue, and it's so lovely we want it, but we can't seem to get over our fear of wearing teal.

Maybe, if we started out with teal nails, we could slowly advance from there.

Estee Lauder has just launched their own Spring 2012 nail trend:

28 Teal Topaz, Pure Color Nail Lacquer. Very nice. We are liking it, and it looks turquoise-ish, a color we fell in love with years ago.

And we hunted down Butter London 3 Free Nail Lacquer in Slapper, Spring/Summer 2012 Collection ($14, at Nordstrom's. Lovely, luxurious shade, also.

Will you 'nail' the teal trend in Spring?

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Check These Out To Stop Curling And Other Hot Iron Burns



This is both cute and smart!

But let us first ask:

Have you ever burned yourself with a curling iron or other hot iron styling tool?"

We once practically burned a small hole through our forehead after getting clumsy with a curling iron. And that hurt so much.

Well, we're happy to see that some brilliant beauty creators are busy looking out for each and every one of us. Say hello to Glam Ears ($12 for 2, at clevergirlinnovations.com).

Don't laugh. If you've ever singed your ears from an accidental swipe with a hot iron styling tool, well, you know the sheer pain that quickly results. And when you're playing with hot rollers, flat irons, and curling irons, these styling gadgets can heat up to an excess of 400 degrees.

What we adore about Glam Ears is its simplicity and protection. These adorable silicone ear covers can do all this while you pretty-up your hair:

• Reusable - easy to put on and remove
• Heat resistant to 450 degrees
• Made of silicone; safe, non-toxic to skin
• So comfortable, you will forget you have them on
• Washable with soap and water; air dry
• Safely shields ears from the harsh dyes of hair color. Hair color may stain GlamEars , but does not affect the integrity of the product.
• One size fits most