Beauty of a Site Blog

New year, new looks and best of all: new products from Phyto!  The same quality and excellent formula that we've come to expect from Phyto has been taken to new heights with the unveiling of these newest products for 2011. Make sure and check out: Phytolisse Shampoo: Smoothing shampoo with extra anti-frizz components, straightening hair while detangling and protecting hair from breakage Phytolisse Mask: The perfect companion to Phytolisse Shampoo, the Mask deeply conditions hair, both helping to control frizz while shortening the blow-dry process and deeply hydrating hair Phytolium Energizing Shampoo: Perfect for healthier, thicker hair, the Energizing Shampoo stimulates healthy hair growth for all hair types Phytotheol Shampoo: Intensely calming, Phytotheol shampoo relieves itchiness while prevanting irritating dandruff Check out these and other favored Phyto products here

January is the perfect time to get our acts together; a fresh start when we can all get into the habits that will make the upcoming year an even better one than the year before. Here are five beauty habits that will keep you looking and feeling beautiful in 2011: Fresher Feet (1): We challenge you to a weekly pedicure.  With OPI's tropical scented scrubs and masks, five minutes in the shower keeps feet looking professionally pedicured all winter long.  Nothing makes you feel more beautiful than perfect soft and smooth feet in strappy shoes! Stronger Nails (2): Thirty seconds every morning with a clear coat of Dabu Nail Hardener not only keeps your manicure looking shiny and fresh, but protects nails from breaking, cracking or splitting.  Stronger, more beautiful nails only takes a coat a day! Younger Skin (3): Wash your face every night with a soap that does the hard work for you.  Cor soap's proven formula keeps skin glowing with a simple wash before bed.  Three minutes before bed and twenty years off your skin.  Definitely worth your time! Healthier Hair (4): Pamper your hair in 2011 with a decadent hair oil like Leonor Greyl's Palm Oil (Huile de Palme).  A pre-shampoo treatment intended to infuse your hair with moisture and protect it from damage.  A perfect treatment for anyone who's hair suffers from heat damage, over styling or winter dryness. Sexier Smile (5): The very best of any at home whitening treatments, Supersmile will help you achieve the perfect super-white sexy smile in 2011.  An easy and quick routine just like brushing your teeth at night will keep your smile more beautiful than ever!

I've always been jealous of my friends with curly hair, but they always argued that they'd KILL for straight hair.  Apparently the daily task of reigning in a mane of curly hair is more than the average woman has time for.  Well, curly-haired-friends, I have good news. Tigi's newly revamped Catwalk product line features products specifically designed for curly hair:  Curlesque.  One of our favorite products is the Curlesque Curls Rock Amplifier.  Though this product is designed to actually amp up your curls, never fear- it separates and defines as well.  Helping your curls look exactly how they're supposed to! Simply work the amplifier through damp hair for beautiful definition, subtle shine and INCREDIBLE frizz control.  Best of all... it's on sale this month at Beauty of a Site.  Save $2 on every bottle! Click here to check it out!  

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Beauty of a Site is inviting you to join the fight by making one simple decision: shop pink!  Some of our favorite brands have made their best selling products (that you already love!) available in pink versions to raise money for major breast cancer research and support organizations.  The more we buy, the more money is raised for the cause! Click here to browse all of the products that you can purchase to raise money for breast cancer!  Here are some of our favorites: 1. China Glaze Fight Like a Woman Nail Polish Collection: Featuring three dazzling pinks to both raise awareness and support the cause, this new collection features Empowerment (cotton-candy creme), Encouragement (pink shimmer) and Endurance (raspberry shimmer).  Available for a limited time only, order today! 2. Woody's Real Men Wear Pink Daily Grooming Kit: The perfect way for a guy to join the fight!  Featuring the pinkest boxers we could find, as well as a Woody's Daily Shampoo and Woody's Mega Firm Gel to help you rock your boxers in style!  It's like they say- it takes a real man to wear pink. 3. Tigi Bed Head Masterpiece "Pink" Shine Hairspray: One of our favorite "keep-it-right-there" hairsprays, Bed Head Masterpiece helps you capture your creativity and keep it where it needs to be, all day long.  Bright pink and in support of the City of Hope, Masterpiece is perfect for October and any time.

Kenra's newest Platinum products, now at Beauty of a Site: Kenra Dry Shampoo and Kenra Blow Dry Spray. Kenra's Platinum line has always featured classic products, redefined for optimum results using innovative technology along with timeless principles of style. Kenra's Platinum Dry Shampoo claims to be a "reviver" and "refresher."  The perfect way to keep a beautiful style fresh, dry shampoo keeps you from having to style and restyle between washes, effectively extending the vitality of your color and the health of your hair.  This formula features rice starch for removing oils, ingredients for UV defense, panthenol for regulating moisture and a zesty mango melon fragrance. Kenra's Platinum Blow Dry Spray is a thermal protector specifically designed to protect and nourish color treated hair.  Helping your hair to dry faster while protecting each shaft from damaging heat, breakage, frizz and humidity.  This formula benefits from jojoba oil, argan oil and silicones. Click here to check out the Dry Shampoo, and click here to purchase Kenra's Blow Dry Spray.

Hello, my name is Michelle, and I am an alcoholic a frizzy mess.  Until now.  I've been frizz free for a month, with the help of a very powerful new product:  Living Proof. Now obviously frizz isn't an addiction; I don't know about you, but it's not something I strive for.  But like bad habits, traffic tickets or terrible ex-boyfriends, frizz is terrible to get rid of.  Good news, friends: we have live, fresh, proof that frizz-free hair is possible and totally at your fingertips!! Living Proof Haircare is actually quite groundbreaking, using a brand new frizz fighting technique (the very first change in frizz technology in the last 30 years!) that doesn't use oils or silicone.  Test after test shows the superiority of Living Proof's PolyfluoroEster molecule over normal silicone based products, with incredible results! Humidity proof, calming, safe, powerful and perfect for taming out of control hair, we're so glad to be bringing Living Proof to you!  Whether you're styling straight or rocking your waves, Living Proof has something specifically for you and your favorite styles. Click here to browse all of Living Proof's products!

The best trick in my hair care bag: smoothing creme.  Heat styling, humid weather and damaging shampoo takes a toll on the health and texture of our hair.  Even with the nicest care and styling products, daily wear and tear is difficult for our hair to recover from. Avoid frizz and poof-y style with a high quality smoothing creme, like Tigi's After Party.  Making your hair incredible smooth and irresistibly shiny, After Party helps the most damaged hair do as its told.  The formula consists of a lightweight creme intended to be applied either on damp hair, for protection while styling, or over dry hair, to separate, smooth and submit hair to your will. Usually $19, Tigi After Party is only $14 at Beauty of a Site for the rest of this month!  Place an order before Wednesday to take advantage of this product at 25% off.  The perfect time to try something new, make sure and stock up on our favorite behind the scenes hair product! Click here to purchase Tigi Bed Head After Party at Beauty of a Site!

Recently, one of Beauty of a Site's most trusted friends and beauty experts tried out the Joico VaporIron and couldn't get enough of it!  This flat iron is like nothing we've ever seen before, releasing a vaporized conditioning serum into hair while straightening and styling!  We wanted to get the down low from someone in the "biz," so we were totally excited when Cheri, the creator of Orglamix Mineral Makeup (check out Orglamix here!), purchased the iron and gave it a try.  Having been in the beauty business for years, Cheri is truly a beauty expert, so we asked her to share her thoughts.  Here is the high praise she had for the iron!

My flat iron, and admittedly my hair, have seen better days. I'm constantly changing my hair color (more often then not DIY = box) from dark brown with caramel highlights  to chestnut to red and everything in between; all the while using my trusted Chi flat iron, circa 1999 weekly --rain or shine. On days when I don't use it, it's a BHD (Bad Hair Day) and I'm sporting a ponytail. I'm not an overzealous KPak fan (hello Taylor Swift), but when I read about the virtues of the new Joico KPak VaporIron, I knew I had to have one.  I ordered one on the spot. I've been using it for the last two weeks and am in love. I used to cringe when I used my flat iron, but not anymore.  Now I can flat iron and condition my hair at the same time!  I really love how straight and glossy this made my hair. I'm happy to report I'm now sans both the ponytail and the frizz.

Here are the details of the Joico VaporIron: Decreases hair breakage by over 40% Reduces color loss due to daily shampooing and thermal styling by 33.5% Minimizes curl reversion, even after 12 hours in 90% humidity Adds antioxidants, essential fatty acids, botanical moisturizers & light silicones to hair, WHILE STYLING! Tried the iron yourself? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Its time for a new hair dryer.  I can tell because my own has become increasingly loud.  Its filter is wearing out pretty frequently, it smells "hot" all the time, and frankly, it's being more and more abusive to my hair.  If you, like me, are looking for a replacement for a hair dryer or flat iron we have good news:  You can get a new tool without breaking the bank.  For the month of May (only a couple days left!) we're offering professional Metropolis Technology products at severely reduced prices (like, up to $75 off). Metropolis' innovative technology is crazy advanced, incorporating ionic and tourmaline technology into their products.  These technologies keep hair shiny and healthy, even with repeated heat styling, for better shine and texture.  This is hard to come by- particularly at affordable prices.  Don't buy a cheap dryer at the supermarket; for not much more, you can have a professional quality dryer or iron that will last years and give much better results. [caption id="attachment_883" align="alignright" width="189" caption="Metropolis T-Ion Mini Dryer & Accessories"][/caption] As with cars, life insurance and shoes, the more you invest in styling tools does allow you to purchase a better product.  Especially with Metropolis their higher regular price point ($125-195) is indicative of their superior quality.  However, with their best products being so greatly reduced, you can afford the incredible quality!  The T-Ion Chopstick Styler, for example, is only $100 this month (knocked down from $175).  This is one of our best styling irons, made totally affordable for anyone! Traveling much this summer?  Metropolis had ADORABLE and highly effective travel sized irons and dryers; even a travel sized kit with all the necessities.  While making their quality products much smaller, Metropolis didn't shirk any quality in their miniatures.  The small dryer (click here, $65), for example, still puts out a startling 1000 watts.  Now THAT's power. You can browse the entire Metropolis line here.

Flirty, fun and fabulous, everybody at Beauty of a Site is terribly excited to see the newest Sex in the City movie. The fashion alone makes the movie worthwhile, but there is so much to be excited about: 1. The scenes that take place in Abu Dhabi: Set in the exotic middle east, this part of the movie was actually filmed in Morocco. The interesting landscape and gorgeous palette of desert colors allowed designers and stylists to go crazy with Carrie and the girls. We can't wait to see all of their interesting creations. 2. The shoes: We love these shoes. Though some of us aren't as talented as the SATC stars at pulling them off, just imagining owning such adorable and classy shoes is so much fun. Carrie's gold Christian Louboutins are GORGEOUS and totally the talk of the business. Drooling. Read more about the shoes at Cosmo's site, here. 3. Carrie's hair: Carrie is always sporting a style that is bold and beautiful. Her stylists defy conventional boundaries to create truly unique and innovative hair styles that redefine the way stylists do hair. With turbans and desert sands to work with, we can't wait to see what her designers come up with. 4.  Aiden Shaw: Yum.  For all the team Aiden fans out there, it's your time! Looking to keep up with all the newest gossip?  Sign up for our email newsletter here to keep up with the fabulous four's celebrity looks!  Also, check out the Sex and the City 2 Movie Fansite - it's got all the juicy stuff.  :) Check out tips for achieving these stars' beautiful looks at our Steal the Look profile section. Click here to check it out!

Even though it's May, Spring seems to be delivering all sorts of showers just a little bit late.  All of our May weddings, events, graduation parties and picnics are requiring serious humidity-proof hair, as showers hang in the distance, threatening our sunny plans.  Here are our top three products for fighting humidity, and keeping a style looking great all day long:

	Cutler's Volumizing Spray is by far my favorite humidity proofing product, and it doesn't even have humidity in the title! My biggest problems with humidity are one either my hair totally flattening and losing curl, or my hair poofing and frizzing out of control. Cutler's Volumizing Spray both controls these factors in daily styles, but also provides nurturing ingredients and heat protection that keep your hair healthy, reducing these effects from the beginning! Purchase it here for $21.
	Bed Head Some Like It Hot product range includes three products that are all uniquely designed to protect against humidity while styling. Including a shampoo, conditioner and weather-neutralizing serum, these products not only protect against frizz from humidity, but also from the damage of heat and from color loss in the sun. Perfect for beach-y summers and sunny weekends! Purchase here, $16-17.
	The Blow Weather Girl Climate Neutralizing Complex is a miracle product created by Blow, a company that prides itself on creating products for people who heat style daily. Gentle and nutritive on over-heated hair, Weather Girl locks out humidity by coating hair, while remaining weightless and protecting from frizz. Purchase here for $22.

You still have a few short days left to benefit from Beauty of a Site's April monthly specials!  Here are just a few of the incredible deals that we're offering: 1.  BOGO on Product All Purpose Hair Cream!  This classic product won't be available at Beauty of a Site for much longer, so we're giving you the chance to stock up on a quality product before it's gone.  Buy one jar of this incredible all purpose hair styling cream and get the second absolutely free! 2.  Save over 25% on liters of ISO Bouncy Cleanse:  Buying in bulk saves you cash, whether you're shopping for groceries or shampoo.  Our Bouncy Cleanse liters already help you get more bang for your buck, but for April only, you'll save an extra 10% on the large shampoo sizes.  Take the opportunity to save big before it's too late! 3.  Color Club Nail Polish Closeout Sale:  Beauty of a Site is closing out of Color Club nail polish, and is offering $2-6 off PER BOTTLE!  For incredibly low prices, stock up on these beautiful neon shades- just in time for summer! Click here to browse all of April's monthly specials!