Beauty of a Site Blog

I'm always a little skeptical when a product calls itself a "miracle."  Makeup is makeup, is it not? However, I was pleasantly surprised when I tried Miracle Skin Transformer for the first time.  I'm only in my twenties; I have smile lines and some minor acne scars left over from high school, but I am not covered in wrinkles or age spots.  Because of this, I was *shocked* to find that this foundation made such a drastic difference when applied to my skin.  For the first time testing new foundation, I actually felt like I looked prettier. The formula applied extremely comfortably.  Moisture-rich and velvety smooth, Miracle Skin Transformer went on beautifully.  The makeup evened-out color, covered blemishes flawlessly and did an incredible job of reducing the appearance of pores.  It was awesome. Seriously. The description of the "magic" ingredient, M3 Complex, provided by its manufacturer boasts the following benefits (with which I completely agree!):

• Transform skin tone and provide an instant matifying effect
• Neutralize free radicals
• Reduce redness, calm and soothe skin
• Minimize pigment inconsistencies and discolorations
• Refine pores’ texture while softening and soothing fine lines

Miracle Skin Transformer can be purchased here for $48 and is available in the following hues:

Alright, Moody Judy.  We've got the perfect makeup palette for you. Like to switch up your look depending on your mood? A nice cool set of hues for night, and a warm comforting palette for a natural, glowing complexion, this palette provides the best of both worlds.  Packed with high quality eye color, cheek color, lip color, lip liner and lip venom, the DuWop Moodswing Palette has all the colors you need in one beautiful package. The Palette includes two of DuWop's popular, unique products: Reverse Lipliner: Invisible lip pencil that helps you flawlessly shape your lips without the harsh edges of a colored lip liner.  Using Kombuchta, a miracle ingredient that causes "lipofilling", the Reverse Lipliner pencil can actually restore volume to the skin in areas where volume is needed, including fine lines around your lips. Lip Venom: DuWop Lip Venom is the very first, original lip plumper. Tingly on application, DuWop lip venom results in sexy bee stung lips, causing blood to rush to the surface and flush lips perfectly.  Lip Venom also includes jojoba & avocado oil to add moisture and shine, giving you the perfectly natural rosy look that is one of kind. Click here to purchase the DuWop Moodswing Palette, on sale for the month of July! Usually $42.00, purchase the palette for only $28.00!!

Before you go out tonight, give your brows a shape up.  Here are some pro tips for beautiful, quick brows: 1. Comb your eyebrows upward before you start, so that you're working with a uniform brow. 2. While a set of quality tweezers will help you get all of the stray hairs under your natural brow line, an at home waxing kit will help you control the downy extras between your brows and around the outside of your eyes.  We suggest Tweezerman's Speedy Tweeze for normal plucking and the Moom Face Kit (only $7!) for waxing. 3. Identify where your eyebrows should begin by placing a brush or pencil alongside the edge of your nose, vertically.  Anything on the other side of the brush needs to be plucked.  Place the same tool at the corner of your nose diagonally toward the outside of your eye.  Where the pencil hits the brow marks the natural end.  Pluck anything outside of this area. 4.  After plucking, dab milk (oh yes, you totally heard me right) over the plucked area to reduce swelling and calm your skin.  This will help to quickly reduce redness. 5.  To get a more uniform brow, * carefully * pluck out any hair that refuses to be shaped, is an off color or is longer than those in the surrounding area.  Do this only when completely necessary. Then, fill in any gaps with an eyebrow pencil, or an eyebrow mousse (like this one).

As we're running around finishing up our perfect New Year's Eve look for tonight (nothing like shopping at the office!), we thought you might enjoy hearing about what we used to get the look!  We loved sparkly pinks, silvers and dark matte greys to build the perfect New Year's Eve glam! For Nails: From the OPI Burlesque Holiday Collection, we chose Sparkle-icious.  One of the six glitters (not shimmers, but glitters), this shade is multi colored (that's right... it matches everything) and adds just the right glitz to our get up. For Skin: To get the perfect pink glow, we skipped bronzer and used classic pink blush (Bed Head has a perfect selection), coupled with all over shimmer powder.  We concentrated the shimmer along cheek bones and even under the brow line for maximum impact.  We got the best results using Bed Head's Shake It Loose Powder in Shimmer. For Eyes: Natural mineral shadow, like the Orglamix Pure Mineral Eye Color adds the perfect natural sheen, while being easily blended and applied for intricate looks.  We thought the Twilight eye color kit was absolutely perfect, because it used the playful pink we love with darker grey tones and white highlights. * Pro Tip: Use the eye color kit picture on the website as a guide to blending and applying the three shades. For Lips:  Shimmering natural lips seemed perfect for the occasion, so we chose DuWop's Lip Venom to gloss and accentuate our natural lip color to the perfect kissable pink.  DuWop's Pink Shimmer Lip Venom gave us both the perfect pink tint and subtle sparkle that was essential for our NYE theme. * Pro Tip: Never accentuate both eyes and lips on one night.  If your eyes are dark and dramatic, let naturally toned lips do the kissing.  Or, if you're sporting bright red lip stick, keep the eyes simple.  Choose where you want the focus to stay!

From a quick survey of the internet, it's oh so obvious which halloween costumes are going to be the most popular this year: Lady Gaga, Jersey Shores cast members, Twilight Characters, Alice is Wonderland, Avatar... and the list goes on.  Unfortunately, these had been all of my first picks as well, so the question remains: What can I do to set my costume apart? Ladies, the answer is always the same: The costume is in the details... it's time to accessorize! Here are some tips to make the three top costume choices your own, with a little help from Beauty of a Site: 1.  Lady Gaga with Falsies:  There's no question about it; if you want to rock Lady Gaga, you've got to rock some wicked cute false eyelashes.  And you know how it goes- the crazier the better.  We suggest something lush and dramatic like Eye Candy Strip Lashes or something jeweled and sparkly, like Tinsel Town Strip Lashes. 2.  Jersey Shore with Some Serious Volume: If you're going to pull of Snookie's look this Halloween, you're going to have to not only temporarily dye your hair black, but you're going to have to sport that massive bump in your 'do.  For some serious height, try Tigi Catwalk's Your Highness for Volume line.  Find root boosters, sprays and even a shampoo and conditioner that will help you get that elevation you need! 3.  Sexy Vamps with Glistening Complexion:  It always takes some skill to pull off Twilight cast costumes, because they dress like normal people.  The biggest difference between an undercover vampire and you and me is some super pale, lovely, glittery skin.  Add a little glitter to your powder to pull off the look!  We suggest using a mineral powder, like Orglamix Pure Mineral Powder in light Balsa, and mixing it with a fine silver glitter.  Not only will the mineral makeup give you a flawless complexion, but the bit of sparkle will have you looking like Alice, Rosalie or Edward in no time!

Who doesn't!? Applying false eyelashes can seem pretty daunting, and without some tips, it can be a big fat mess.  But never fear- when done properly (and when you have the know-how) it's a breeze and looks great every time! 1.  First things first- trip 'em up!  False eyelashes are one size fits all, so to make sure that they look natural on your face, trim them to the exact size and shape of your eyes.  Feel free to adjust the length of the individual lashes and the density of the group to get the look you're wanting. 2. Don't over-glue.  Glue is the "scariest" part about applying your own lashes, but it doesn't have to be.  Squeeze out a little bit of the glue onto a paper towel, a sponge or even the back of your hand, and carefully dip the edge of the falsies into the glob, getting just enough glue on the lashes.  This way, glue stays on the lashes and can't drip where it shouldn't be. 3. Make sure to mascara!  The best trick for getting your false lashes to stay put is by applying mascara very carefully after your lashes are firmly dried in place.  By applying mascara over both your natural and false lashes, the normal adhesion of the mascara holds both groups of lashes together and makes them blend perfectly, for extra hold and a perfect match! 4.  Get gutsy.  The best part about false eyelashes is their ability to give you a totally new look.  Try thicker, thinner, more colorful, more dramatic or sexier lashes to fit your mood, costume or plans!  Here are our suggestions for the best lashes for your style: Sexy: Eye Candy Strip Lashes, $9 Gaga-style party: Tinsel Town Strip Lashes, $9 Dramatic: Been Around Strip Lashes, $9 Natural: Black Sweeties Invisi-band Lashes, $6.50 Classic: Black Demi Wispies Invisi-band Lashes, $6.50 Click here to browse all of these sexy lashes!

It's been cool enough here in the Midwest this week for us to talk like it's Fall.  Along with cardigans, books and other Fall goodies, we're making some subtle adjustments to our cosmetic bag that scream, "hey, it's Fall!"  Here's our quick guide to small changes you can make to freshen up your style for the Fall season: 1.  Neutral nail shades.  Glamour's August issue warned us that we'd be seeing neutral nail shades everywhere we looked, and we're here to report that we are!  Along with Glamour, we totally recommend Essie's Mink Muffs (a classy, sassy taupe) and OPI's You Don't Know Jacques! (funky grey-beige creme) as the coolest neutrals of the season. 2.  Pucker up with red lips!  Whether you're heading to a show with friends or to an office meeting, rock classic red lips to liven up your look.  The bright lips work best with simple eyes (maybe even mascara only) and only a light bronzer instead of pinker blush.  Let your lips do the talking!  Do it best with DuWop's Private Red Lipstick which magically adjusts to be your own personal perfect red shade! 3.  Eyebrows that show.  That's right kids... stop plucking those suckers.  This trend started showing up earlier this year, but has really established itself both on the runways and in our own back yard.  With neutral makeup and a clean look being such a big part of fall style, having eyebrows to shape your face and give your look some color is a welcome change.  Keep your brows even and in order using Blinc's Eyebrow Mousse in the color that's right for you!

Whether you're a mom of four, a busy college student, or a hard-working principal of your local middle school, back to school means back to being busy.  Often being gone from your dorm room, house or apartment for an entire day, being in the swing of the school year necessitates makeup that you can apply in the morning and count on it to last- all day long.  Here are our top three products that we consider back-to-school essentials for makeup that lasts: 1.  Bella's Face Palettes:  Artfully designed to match any complexion beautifully, Bella Il Fiore's Face Palettes provide an easy-on-the-go makeup solution packed into one travel ready case.  Small enough to fit in a backpack, purse or even your pocket, the Bella Face Palettes expertly combine color, saving you time, and fitting easily on your person for touch ups. 2.  Blinc (Kiss Me) Mascara:  Blinc's Mascara is "totally tubular," featuring not a plastered, impossible to get off stick mascara, but an expertly designed tubing formula that literally creates a tube around your lashes.  The mascara won't even budge throughout your day, even with sweat, itchy eyes or P.E., but when combined with a little warm water at night, the tubes will slip off almost effortlessly.  We LOVE it. 3.  Last but not least, Model in a Bottle Setting Spray is like hairspray for perfect makeup.  Apply any makeup, just how you like it, and spray just a couple of bursts of Model in a Bottle over the top to set in your cosmetic creation for the entire day, while absorbing oil and keeping away unwanted shine.  Available in both an original and sensitive skin formula, don't worry about irritation.  This weightless, invisible spray will keep the attention where it belongs- on you!

A perfect bronze, subtle shimmer, silky moisturizers and even a bit of sun protection- we call it: the recipe for sexy summer skin. DuWop calls it: Revolotion. DuWop's Revolotion features a breakthrough blend of intense moisturizers, SPF 15, and a bronze shimmer that is perfect for highlighting face, shoulders, legs- anywhere that deserves subtle attention.  Revolotion is available in two shades to help this sheer body makeup blend seamlessly with any skintone to enhance your body's complexion without rub off, lines or unnatural color. DuWop even suggests that this miracle moisturizing blend can be applied to provide instant slimming effects! Watch the video below, produced by DuWop, to learn how to use Revolotion today!

Try Revolotion during August only and save $5!  Normally $28, purchase this here, at Beauty of a Site, for $23 through the end of the month.  Click here to shop this and more excellent DuWop cosmetics procucts!

One of Beauty of a Site's most beloved brands, Bella Il Fiore, has released fresh, innovative and beautiful new cosmetics. Compact, masterfully grouped and adorably packaged, Bella's newest makeup is perfect for the girl on the go! Visit our collection of Bella Il Fiore products here, and make sure to try these new ones: Bella Il Fiore Eye Shadow Palette: Bella Il Fiore Eye Shadow Palette is an 8-color eye shadow palette for all your color scheme needs. Flattering palettes correspond with the larger, full-face "Bella in Bloom" palettes... read more. Bella Il Fiore Glam Box: Bella Il Fiore Glam Box is a full-color, full-product make-up palette for literally all of your make-up needs! Featuring 24 eye shadows, 27 lip glosses, blushes, bronzer and a built-in mirror for ease. Everything a girl needs to look her very best dressed in Bella’s signature... read more. Bella Il Fiore Mineral Bronzer: Bella Il Fiore Mineral Beauty Bronzer is an oversized body bronzer, and when we say oversized, we mean it! As big as a small plate, this bronzing compact really gives you freedom in blending for the perfect skin mix. Apply to your face & body... read more. Bella Il Fiore Mirror & Compact: Bella Il Fiore Mirror Mirror - Compact Light Up Mirror allows you to never be caught without your best face forward. Use Bella’s light up mirror for fab glam wherever you are!. The mirror lights up when opened and features regular view, plus magnification... read more. Bella Il Fiore Sugar Shack Lip Gloss Set: Bella Il Fiore Sugar Shack Lip Gloss Set is a full-color, lip gloss palette for literally all of your glossy needs! Featuring 20 gorgeous shades of gloss guaranteed to go from day-to-night and back again. An added bonus, the delicious chocolate infusion will... read more.

You're counting down days, aren't you? Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight Saga, and the third of Stephenie Meyer's romantic novels featuring Bella and Edward, hits the big screen on June 30th.  The internet is a buzz with gossip about the movie, exclusive clips, celebrity profiles and about as many really attractive vampires as you could possibly hope to find in one place. We've decided this is worth celebrating, and we're preparing for Eclipse's release with a brand new product that will get you in the mood for some serious vamp action: DuWop's Twilight Venom- Blush! A new twist on DuWop's Twilight Venom (released in conjunction with the first Twilight film), this blush colored lip plumping blush colored stain is innocent and romantic, lighter and warmer than it's blood-red predecessor.  Simply shake the venom to mix and apply for stinging plump lips and a super kissable pink tint. Click here to check it out!  Order in the next couple of days, and we'll make sure you've got it in time for the movie!!

Good news Beauty of a Site friends: we've just posted our new specials for the month of June!  Each month, we enjoy picking something we know you'll love and offering it to you with a free gift or a great discount.  This month, we're offering a Rosie Jane pink cosmetics bag with any $30 Rosie Jane cosmetics, fragrance or candle purchase- totally free. Did we mention that the makeup bag is delightfully pink, adorable and usually $10? To earn your free gift, shop Rosie Jane today, here!  The good news is, it's totally easy to earn your free bag.  Try any of Rosie's products- you really can't go wrong! Rosie Jane's products are simple, beautiful and full of life.  Her makeup accentuates natural beauty with warm, natural colors.  Lila Lou, her extremely popular fragrance, smells of fresh flowers, grass, and a warm summer breeze.  Celebrate all that is beautiful about life with her fun loving, full-of-life products- and we'll send you a little something to help you celebrate. Enjoy your free gift with any $30 purchase! Simply try 1 fragrance, 2 eyeliners, 2 lip glosses, 1 candle or any other combination you can think of.  These products are in stock and ready to ship, so you can have your gift in no time!