If you will all indulge Sweetassgal for a moment...I would like to take this opportunity to send some love to Sweetassguy.  For the past ten years you have been my heart and my home and I feel so ultimately blessed to have you in my life.  Happy 10th anniversary darling...here's to the next ten and beyond!  Okay ladies...those who are romance intolerant can stop retching right now.  Sorry to put you through that but it's a relationship record for me and I had to take the opportunity to tell him how much he means to me.
 
This puts me in mind of milestones.  My next milestone is coming up in 2012 in the form of my 20th high school reunion.  This is a bit scary for me as it is the first time a big milestone celebrates an accomplishment of the past and not the hope of the future.  It's a little chilling but it also makes me both reflective and a bit nostalgic.  It's actually a lot of fun to look back over the last 20 years and see not only where I was but how far I've come.  From bad haircuts to good clothes I've ran the gamut and it's absolutely hysterical!  So I've decided I won't be bringing back my absolutely atrocious pyramid shaped bob but I am all about some of the less heavy and more youthful makeup looks of my past.  The best of the best of these looks...fresh, sweet, kissable pink shimmer lips!
 
Somewhere between my "everything is an earthy shade of brown" makeup phase to my obsession with "super sparkly cat's eyes" I've forgotten the simplistic perfection of a simple pink pout.  Worn best with softly illuminated eyes and a dewey complexion, the shimmer of soft pink lips brings about thoughts of spring picnics and outdoor shopping bazaars.  I love the look and am happy it came back to me because it's one look my overly ruddy complexion can pull off.  Seriously, it's quite fetching on me!  My husband even complimented me on it this evening and asked what I was wearing.  He NEVER actually asks me what it is I'm wearing so this is a major coup for me.  So, a good dusting of translucent powder to tone down the redness, a swipe of shimmer on my brow bone and a few flashes of mascara have me ready to pick out my perfect pink color to finish off the look.  And guess what?  I have it!  Now were you surprised??!!
 
Tarte's LipSurgence natural lip luster in pouty may just be the ultimate pink for this look.  Taking the cap off of this thick lip tint liner you see how much fun it is because it looks just like a giant crayon!  The big, thick kind that preschoolers use to doodle with wild abandon.  It's a hot pink berry shade jam packed with sparkly shimmer and I love applying it! I seriously feel like a preteen girl filling in my pout with a giant crayon for big girls.  It's actually fun to apply lip color again!  But applying much alot or often isn't something you have to do.  I've worn it from 7:00 in the morning with one reapplication just after noon and one again during rush hour traffic and it stayed perfectly colored and hydrated all day.  With most lip colors I feel they begin to dry out my lips and I have the need to wipe them off completely, reapply a little balm first to moisten my lips, then begin the process of lining and coloring again.  I honestly don't think I ever felt that need to go through the whole process again that day.  A little more punch of color was needed throughout the day after eating and licking my lips again but the moisture level of this tint kept my lips going strong all day.  What's also genius about this particular "stick style" lippie is that you don't have to sharpen it at all losing valuable lip tint in that process.  You simply twist the end cap and it brings up more beautiful lip tint to the top of the applicator.  No muss...no fuss!  

Stacy B here! Like any self-respecting modern woman, I change my handbags with my outfits. I don't go too crazy, blacks with black outfits, browns with brown outfits and I have a couple cute neutrals to throw in the mix like a fun spring-y green bag, a giraffe-print satchel and a purple suede tote for those days I need a little color. Yesterday was no different when I moved my stuff from my staple black leather tote to my cloth giraffe-print Michael Kors bag, to match my brown boots and camel coat.

Here I am moving wallet, phone, sun glasses, hand sanitizer and lip gloss. And lip gloss. And lip gloss and lip gloss and lip gloss. Good lord did I just move FIVE different lip glosses from one bag to another? Yes I did. I think I have a problem. And the real kicker is that two of them were the same product. Exactly the same. Maybe I was hoping they'd get together and make little lip gloss babies and I wouldn't have to buy any more. Who knows.
 
To my defense (I know, there's really no defense for this, but hear me out. I have to rationalize or I'll feel like a crazy woman!) One was a balm for my winter chapped lips. One was a sheer I like to wear over lipstick, one was stuck in a pocket -- and I really thought I had lost it -- and one was running out (hence the twin...which was new).  I decided to purge and narrowed it down to two.
 
First is my balm because it's still winter and the air is really dry here so this was a necessity for my lips not to crack, it wasn't just for a pop of color. The second was for a bit of color and shine. And flavor. Let's not underestimate how important gloss flavor can be! The lucky gloss that game with me was Maybelline's ShineSensational lip gloss in Watermelon Punch.

Almost every person I've talked to is "downsizing" (or trying to!) this Holiday season: Goddess Granny can confirm that even THE most privileged of fashionista's are thinking twice these days about how to have it all for a helluva' lot less!

I'm personally being more creative when it comes to gifts and I'm combining small items in pretty packaging that will surely get as loud a WOW as items costing much more and I'm doing some "theme" gifts revolving around say a color or something sparkly,with a card and picture attached to let the recipient know exactly why I thought they'd love and or how to wear...it's non-stress fun and I'm not going over budget!

One of the themes I'm doing is of course, related to beauty/makeup and I'm combining some  goodies for that oh so coveted "smokey eye/nude lip" look that I believe just about everyone wants to wear at one time or another? I don't think this look is going anywhere anytime soon and pretty much defines "modern classic." In terms of a style of makeup it's a safe bet that anyone would love to receive the "ingredients" perfectly chosen to flatter them all in a sweet little package!
HOWEVER, as un-fussy as this lip-look appears, it can be a bit of a beast to get JUST the right color and shine without looking ghastly or like you've been sucking sticky-caramels all day (although that's not a bad idea...:) Of course, top notch cosmetics with beautiful formulations and perfectly-crafted shades are an investment but that doesn't mean they have to be expensive. For over 18 years, the Bijou family, based in Los Angeles, have been personally involved and successfully creating a fabulous line of products that really DO deliver "department store quality at budget pricing." They have a huge following that rely on Jordana Cosmetics every season to be right on trend! I will admit, I had never tried anything in this line before but am absolutely AMAZED at how wonderful everything I now have really is. It's just so nice to feel all snug about getting the goods and still having enough cash for other things without guilt or remorse!

The makeup-fairies that send my products for review must have really worked overtime because when the Jordana Easyliner lip pencil and Pretty Shine Lipgloss landed in my lap, everything changed. For the FIRST time, I had a pair of  magical products that went on like a dream almost without even trying. They gave me THE most perfect nude lip EVER I kid you not!  Do you even KNOW how many dozens of liners and glosses I have tried in hopes of prancing about like Kim or Angelina or the countless others whose lips manage to look natural only REALLY better? I now have the perfect nude pinky-beige with a slight shimmer look too!

Meg here to pass on a great event! Let's all pucker up and Kiss up to those that sacrifice so much to bring us our freedom! Maybelline has partnered up with Cosmopolitan Magazine to deliver a very sexy salute!

Tomorrow in Times Square, N.Y.C  Maybelline is Cosmopolitan Magazine is partnering with Maybelline New York and the United Service Organizations (USO) for the second year in a row to collect and deliver “Kisses for the Troops.” On Thursday, November 11th (Veterans Day) Cosmopolitan will build a Kiss Station on Military Island and invite the public to give a kiss on a postcard for a cause – our troops - which will ultimately be delivered to those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan just in time for New Year’s Eve. Cosmopolitan and Maybelline New York will donate one dollar for each kiss collected to the USO. How cool is that?

I can't get to New York but I can send a virtual kiss here ! It still counts as my buck and love will be sent! If you're always on facebook then just hop over to  Cosmo’s Facebook page, upload a photo of themselves and write a note of thanks. Their “kiss” will also count towards the USO donation and be sent to the troops.

These days for a cosmetics-based business to have a successful "run" of ten years is really something especially when you have SO many beauty brands to chose from! Goddess Granny tries probably way too many products both seasoned and recently hatched! Of course, I have my favorite lines including the amazing "Tarte": Who can forget when their iconic cheek-stain hit the shelves (SJP first wore in on "Sex In The City" lighting up the lines with women calling to find out WHAT she had on her cheeks!) resulting in women everywhere to "blush like they just got lucky?" Recently their "Lip Surgence" colors were the talk of every beauty-editors and maven, myself included! I could go on and on about just about everything Maureen Kelly the founder and CEO creates!

Tarte's "earth-engineered beauty" philosophy and healthy formulas continue to be totally chic in THE most refined and purest manner possible and the company manages to use natural and good for us all ingredients in everything they make! I sometimes wonder how anyone comes up with products SO effective, beautiful and gorgeous in their presentations. They never sacrifice quality and style and Tarte always comes to the front of the list! I can't live without their lip colors shades, eyeliners and cheek stains period.

How about a little brown sugar, vanilla, soothing aloe and some sweet sensual oils to start your day? The VERY unique "FRXTION" (yes, that is the correct spelling) treatment that is on everyone's lips! It's full of good for your skin stuff but also does a rather dicey job better than anything else I've ever tried! You need a smooth and primed "canvas" for any makeup product to glide on and provide lasting results-right? Well...a coat of greasy lip balm simply doesn't cut it at least around my vanity and I've found that especially when darker shades of lippy are involved. DARKER LIPS? You absolutely MUST exfoliate those flakey-lips and then prime them prior to application and kissing the mirror!

Okay, unless you have opted to join Bin Laden on vacation in some cave (God only knows where) you KNOW by now that it's ALL about the "red" as in lip color for Fall 2010 and yes even for Spring 2011. Goddess Granny starts to shake a bit at the thought of yet another flipping' year almost coming to an end! I feel as though it's all going by so fast that I have all I can do to hang on by my heels (or clogs or wedges, or....) most days let alone even TRY to keep up with everything stylish and considered chic in the worlds of fashion and beauty!

I do know without a shadow of a doubt that there is and will continue to be a huge and long over-do return to classic "feminine beauty" as an example and I too loudly proclaim my love for the women of "Mad Men" and "Boardwalk Empire." I tip my imaginary hat (which of course, would be covered in feathers if it wouldn't look odd at the local podunk chicken in a bucket fine-dining establishment.) I love that those of us who applaud and even require feminine-trappings of glam and glitz to be a part of our daily lives are now considered fashionable once again!

Obviously there is  something going on when "they" proclaim the absolutely gorgeous femme-fatale Christina Hendricks (who makes  the iconic "Jessica Rabbit" cower in her corner!) THE  female of the era and THE most desired woman alive as considered by BOTH sexes? Wow...

I honestly never thought it'd be all about "the girl" aka hair and nails and bewbies and hips ever again in my lifetime and now it so IS! How lucky for us, it's been a long time coming...

Hello Meg's world...I'm doing a special "it's not Mother's Day but God bless Mother's anyway" post today.  Sweetassgal just spent three days with three mom's and six very energetic children all age 5 and under and all I can say is MOTHER'S ROCK!  These women have to be on it 24 hours a day and it never stops.  Feeding, diapers, chasing them around, playing referee and safety police, hugging, holding, rocking, caring, loving, sometimes disciplining and always with the eagle eye on their chicks.  It's incredible, exhausting and completely admirable.  My kids are young adults now and it's so easy to forget what the young years can be like until you experience it again.  So ladies of Meg's...if you have a mom, know a mom or maybe lost a mom (my sincere sympathy if you have) then I urge you to send some love and appreciation their way.  Sometimes a mom just needs to hear a little "thank you" when it's unexpected and it will mean the world to her.  Anyone can buy a card on Mother's Day, but its extra special when Mommies’ get a little love out of the blue!  To my Mom and the Mom's in my life...I love and appreciate everything you do every day to raise these wonderful little people and keep going with a smile on your face and so much love in your heart.
 
Now to makeup!  Kiss My Face is a brand we've seen a lot around Meg's and for good reason.  It's a super affordable line that has product that is 91% organic, 100% natural and 110% lovely.  I'm referring to their Sheer Organic Shine Natural Mineral Color lip gloss and this time in Opal (previously reviewed in Amethyst).  The Opal is a perfect shade of slightly silvery shimmer with a hint of rose colored pink.  I have to say I think it could work on just about ANY complexion and look just beautiful.  The mineral color in these glosses really puts the fine in the shine!  Worn alone or over lipstick for a little extra oomph the gloss really helps seal in moisture and helps protect your lips.  With vitamins A & E, Organic Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter as well as Jojoba Oil all combined to help repair, protect and moisturize your lips you are getting a major two-fer.  I tend to layer my lips.  First with a balm, then a lipstick, then a gloss in the center to make my lips look fuller.  This multi-functioning lip shine can easily work as an all in one and that's why I've got one in my desk at work and one in my purse for quick application.  I don't always have time to reapply the whole three stop lip process and this always works in a pinch.

"To step outside one's comfort zone,one must experiment with new and different behaviors and experience the different responses that inevitably occur..."

Goddess Granny THRIVES on stepping out of this zone but also realizes at this point in her life,that sometimes embracing "change" can lead to some rather unique results especially when tweaking her personal style :) I am a creature of habit for the most part, a bit OCD in my daily doings and although I am a true Gemini and subject to those mercurial mood-changes, I prefer things to flow in a pretty orderly fashion most of the time.

However, that doesn't stop me from acting like a loon at times, howling at the moon if it's appropriate, (you'd need to meet my 5 sisters to understand that this can be a 'bonding" experience after several cocktails) and pulling out all the stops within reasons of decency and modesty when I feel like I need to change up my look a bit. I don't second guess my choices for an evening out because I plan my makeup, hair and accessories first and then dress accordingly:sounds strange but I find it allows me to express rather than simply get dressed and I begin creating the "mood of the moment" with the very first swipe of my makeup brush!

I've been around long enough (no, not quite as old as dirt but close...) to have seen and tried just about every beauty-trend around with the exception of a few things so invasive or bizarre that even I can't make sense of them: I LOVE that according to Meg and every other makeup-maven out there the fact that PURPLE reigns supreme in all areas of fashion for Fall 2010 and am trying like crazy to get my wardrobe of greys, blues, and purples where I want it to be even though it's still in the high 90's here. I am already wearing my PERFECT Chanel nail color in "Paradoxyl" to rave reviews but honestly,I just hadn't been able to coordinate a lip color that I felt truly embraced the season and shade until now!

I have many gorgeous shades of red and yes, they are "in" for Fall of course as are those reliable "nudes"...do these tones ever truly go OUT? Not in my world. I wanted to step outside that "zone" and find a lip color that was as mysterious and evocative as Autumn itself-my favorite season! I did try a few lipsticks in purplish-tones but honestly, they drained me dry. I looked like a passed over wanna' be extra in a low budget vampire movie with them on. Burgundy wasn't quite the ticket nor was plum or wine. I had resigned myself to wearing red and that was that until I received a bit of "Perversion" in my mail from Meg...doesn't that sound juicy?

Stacy B here! I am so excited to be writing up this review! BabyLove and I have been friends since high school and I’ve been reviewing baby products for her for months. While I love doing that --and almost always steal some of the baby stuff for myself-- when she told me Meg was looking for someone to try some every day drugstore products, I was thrilled! Not only will I get great stuff to try out, but I won’t feel guilty every time I slap on some Body Shop Baby Butter while my son, Kyle, runs around the room naked post-bath. Sure, it’s supposed to be for him, but his skin is so baby-flawless right now he barely needs it. You have to teach kids to share some time, right? Besides, he’s too busy sticking his finger in his belly button and yelling ‘beep!!!!’ to know his mom is ‘borrowing’ his stuff.
 
As a Mom, we get pretty familiar with drug stores. Prescriptions for sick babies, late night diaper runs, emergency wipes for that unforeseen food emergency on long car trips… We also tend to forget that we are women first, and do deserve a little pampering here and there. So many times I’ve run into the local drugstore on the way to grab wipes and baby gas medicine and breezed right past the ‘fun’ section, trying not to look directly at the rainbow of nail polish colors, the sparkly lip gloss tubes and the eye shadow display that rivals a Benjamin Moore Paint store.
 
But once in awhile, I get to go in and look for myself. I’ll be honest; my local drug store, CVS, is one of my favorite stores. It’s a world of possibilities in there, and generally, it’s in your budget. While some people salivate at the thought of entering a Sephora, or the Nordstrom’s makeup counter, I get intimidated by those places. The drugstore offers me a decent selection, good prices and a way to experiment a little without breaking the bank. I love my MAC eye shadow just as much as the next girl, but I definitely tried out some cheaper brands to find my color before I spent the money on MAC.

"How fickle is woman..." Rhett Butler, Gone With the Wind.

Those in the know often refer to a product as one of their "HG" favorites,short for "Holy Grail" but what does that really mean? Without boring you to tears that will smudge your perfect smokey-eye, Goddess Granny has the basic info for you: "Holy Grail" refers to a sacred object in literature and/or certain Christian traditions so a  "Holy Grail" product would then be one that is "sacred" to the user aka most loved, most used, above all others and very possibly perfect in their eyes...Cherished even? I do get a bit emotionally-invested in my products sometimes so it's all possible as I see it...

I tend to shift my personal HG items around like they were the "Q" Scrabble tile! They're fighting to be used but that's mostly because I probably own more products than anyone should or needs to-oh well! It's somehow comforting to know that no matter what my mood or disposition, I have products at my fingertips to indulge or create the "me" my fickle-self chooses to be on any given day!

I do have a few things that if the TSA threatened to take them I'd probably be a beast about. Overall, most things are pretty much subject to change or rotation in my vanity:I have textures and colors for "seasonal use" and also that border on theatrical because hey,you just never KNOW when you might need 2" blue eyelashes, right? The possibility exists in my mind but that's another post.

I believe that if there were one single product that most women would say is their "HG" item, it would be something they use on their lips. Our lips are probably the one area we want to protect, define, show off, and even flaunt a bit! Our lips are where the opposite sex tends to focus if we're lucky! Eyes are amazing for flirting and yes,we'd all love to have flawless skin and glossy hair but they're really the "foreplay" when it comes to getting busy with your products: even woman I know wants their lips to stand out in a crowd for obvious reasons and yes, some overdo their "enhancements" but the desire to attract and seduce is still the same. I have literally stopped women in their tracks to ask "what color are you wearing?" If it's one that SCREAMS sexy to me. The women are always happy to share. You're lucky I'm sharing THIS product with y'all because it seriously has magical powers. Unleashing it on the world might come with some interesting consequences! We at Megsmakeup.com of course, claim no responsibility if a stranger grabs you and starts smooching away!