Typically on A Girl’s Gotta Spa! we don’t discuss fashion or jewelry (except during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week of course!) so having an interview with Design Director, Tiffany Bausch, of MONET by Liz Claiborne regarding their holiday collection may seem out of place. However, I broke my own rule and made an exception. Why? Because MONET originated out of Rhode Island in 1929, my home state (go West Warwick Wizards!) and I have always promised to support Rhode Island businesses because Little Rhody is awesome…also we have the best coffee syrup in the world.

Shannon Nelson: What was your inspiration behind the collection? 

Tiffany Bausch: I pulled inspiration for this collection from a combination of emotions, sounds and time periods. The market theme is “The Sound of Music” (the actual sound of music not the movie). I listened to a bunch of my favorite songs of the decade’s past and asked myself: If I listen to this song what does it make me think about, what colors do I see, how do I feel, what do I want to wear? The holiday’s are all about parties, food, music and fun and I wanted to speak to this with the jewelry…a party around your neck, a song on your ear, a jingle around your wrist, and, a little rock and roll on your finger.

The collection also has an underlying old Hollywood glamour feeling and that was mixed with a little bit of the roaring 20’s. These periods are all about looking your best and having fun. This feels right…we all need a little bit of sparkle and fun right now.

Shannon Nelson: What materials did you use and why?

Tiffany Bausch: We used beautiful glass pearls and faceted glass with super saturated colors. For September, I was really into these beautiful blues and greens, and in October I wanted the month to read very tuxedo…black tie. I loved the idea of everything being Jet, Crystal, Silver and Siam Red. In November, I was loving the shades of tourmaline as well as mixing jet with brown, crystal and touches of fresh lemon.

Shannon Nelson: When a woman puts on any piece of jewelry from this collection, describe in one word how you want them to feel.

Tiffany Bausch: Complete.

Shannon Nelson: Which piece is your favorite?

Tiffany Bausch: The drama bib from Love on the Rocks. (pictured)

You can see the holiday collection from MONET at www.MONET.com.

All year long we can discuss protecting your skin from the summer’s damaging rays, but when it comes down to it, sometimes we can’t help but bask in the sun…and end up paying for it later. I know that all too well when age spots decided to make an appearance on my forehead and under my left eye this summer (why just the left? I have no idea, but now I look stupid.) Here’s what my beauty blogger friends are loving for Fall skin care (and my 2 cents as well!)

Teri from Beautiful Makeup Search : As I spend most of my time outdoors in the warmer months, the fall is all about repairing the damage I did over the summer. I try to prevent as much as I can, but I can also use all of the help I can get. My newest fave that is starting to help repair my damage is Clinique’s Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector. Just three drops of this silky serum applied twice a day, is already helping my skin look better and brighter with each use. 

Nadine from Nadine Jolie: Anti-aging powerhouse cream StriVectin has just reformulated with more peptides, and so I think the extra anti-wrinkle protection is going to prove huge this fall. Plus: ta-da! It’s paraben-free.

Charu from BeautyStat.com: My most favorite skin care must-have is definitely Genifique, both the Youth Activating Cream and Serum!

Shannon from A Girl’s Gotta Spa!: I love Lierac Paris Micro-Abrasion. I love how my skin looks and feels after using it!

What is your must-have skin care product for Fall?

Don’t forget to Like A Girl’s Gotta Spa! on Facebook, talk to me on Twitter @agirlsgottaspa and subscribe to this beauty blog!

*Disclosure

I’m excited to announce that if you will be at the HBA Expo on September 28th, so will I! I’ll be on a panel alongside my fellow beauty bloggers Lianne from The Makeup Girl and Nadine Jolie of Nadine Jolie. We’ll be answering questions about the beauty blogosphere and providing tips on how to approach today’s beauty influencers. Sounds like fun, right? You can register at www.HBAExpo.com (use code GPSZ at check out for 30% off!) If you are a brand, PR firm or marketer, please leave a comment to let us know you are coming. It’ll be great to put faces to names!

I don’t know about your beauty regime, but I’ve spent most of the season taking advantage of my summer tan and going the “bronzed goddess” route — chocolate shadow, golden highlighter, bronzer, nude lips — with the occasional monochromatic smokey eye for those more dramatic nights out. As a result, as much as I love amped-up neutrals and sparkly skin tones, my makeup look is starving for some hardcore color. As wild as it looks, I’m totally loving the watercolor inspiration trend for fall — multi-toned and gradient shadow, candy colors that pop despite the impending dreary weather, and rainbow shades that a conservative gal would normally steer clear from!

Mix and match your shadow and liner with a coordinating bright duo, like Sephora Collection’s Colorful Duo Eyeshadow in Tropical Blue, or if full-on neon shadow isn’t your thing, go neutral on your lids while making liner pop with a colorful swipe of one (or two!) of the shades from Illamasqua’s Liquid Metal Palette! Face painting never looked so chic! Make sure not to incorporate a whole art gallery’s worth of color on your face at one time, however; it’s definitely possible to go overboard with this trend! 

Also pictured: Make Up For Ever Flash Color Case (top right) and Josie Maran Natural Wonder Powders Palette (bottom left).

Save on Watercolor-Inspired Palettes at Sephora from TheFind.com’s coupon site.

*Guest beauty post for A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) from my friends at TheFind.com.

You already know to use conditioner as shaving cream and lotion as eye makeup remover; you learned from us yesterday that oils, balms, color sticks, and face wipes are your new dynamic duos. But what about less common multi-tasking products?

Veronica Mayo, a former airline executive and founder of Vemayca, a line of cosmetic bags, offers this pro tip: “Concealer works as a eye lid primer. Apply on the eye lid and smudge darker color into cease of the eye–requires that you bring only one eye shadow.”

You can also buy products that combine things for your convenience. Check the list below for likely pairings like foundation plus concealer and less-expected duos like brow mousse and root-coverup. 

1.) Foundation + Concelear = Luxury Swiss beauty brand La Prairie’s Skin Caviar Concealer, which boasts a bottle of foundation with SPF 15 with a lid that houses a color-coordinated concealer. ($180)

2.) Hand crème + Lip balm = Votre Vu’s Duette (pictured), a summery-scented duo that includes a decadent almond-and-coconut hand lotion on the bottom with a deeply moisturizing coconut-flavored lip balm with UV filters in the cap. ($39)

3.) Hair treatment + Shaving cream = ESPA Pink Hair and Scalp Mud, perhaps the oddest couple of the bunch. The pink-colored mud is an intensive hair and scalp treatment that protects hair from chlorine, sun, and pollutants when applied to wet or dry hair (the pink tint is so faint it’s chic). In the shower, it’s a thick shaving cream. ($65)

4.) Shoes + Tote = CitySlips, foldable ballet flats whose ingenious pouch unfolds to a tote for your high heels—or your souvenirs. In black, gold, and silver, the slippers are hardy enough for site-seeing but small enough to carry as backup. ($24.95)

5.) Exfoliating scrub + Moisturizer = LUSH Buffy Body Butter, a combo that sounds like an oxymoron but is actually a solid body butter bar combing cocoa and shea butters, mixed with ground rice, almonds, and adzuki beans for exfoliation. Since it’s a solid, it’s easy to throw in a carry-on. ($11.95)

6.) Sunscreen + Moisturizer + Anti-Aging = FAB 5-in-1 Face Cream from First Aid Beauty, a science-heavy but lotion-light formula that filters UVA and UVB rays with an SPF 30, moisturizes, prevents and reduces fine lines and wrinkles, corrects uneven skin tone, and combats free radicals. ($38)

7.) Face wash + Toner + Moisturizer + Tin = Dr. Hauschka’s Daily Face Care Kit, which includes six tiny tubes of an entire skin regime. Perfect for gals who don’t want to skip out on an ounce of their daily pampering: Cleansing Cream, Cleansing Milk, Facial Toner, Moisturizing Day Cream, Rose Day Cream, Quince Day Cream. ($24.95)

8.) Undereye night cream + Day cream + Fine-line eraser = The Socializer Pen from Elizabeth Grant. Celebs Blake Lively, Jessica Szohr, Leighton Meester, Ginnifer Goodwin, and Kristin Bell love the dual-sided pen—Bright Lights for the morning, Late Nights for the evening—that hydrates, de-puffs, and erases dark circles. You can also click the pen onto the forehead area, marionette or smile lines, or any unwanted crevices for an illuminated finish that virtually erases their appearance. ($40)

9.) Facial cleanser + Bubble bath = Belletaré Crescendo Cleansing Gel, an eco-friendly cleanser, makeup remover, bubble bath, and shave gel. The healthy, natural gel contains ingredients like acai pulp oil, kokum seed butter, and Monoi de Tahiti butter rolled up into recycled packaging. ($4.50)

10.) Eyebrow mousse + Root cover-up = Blinc’s Fountain of Youthful Color Eyebrow Mousse, a concoction invented to tint, fill in sparse areas, and tame brows like a gel. Because the mousse doesn’t fade, run, or smudge, even if you sweat or wear it in harsh weather conditions, some women use the eyebrow mousse to cover up roots between salon visits. ($25)

Guest post for A Girl’s Gotta Spa! by Lyssa Myska Allen, editorial director at EndlessBeauty.com.

I have 4 sons. My oldest is 11 and my youngest is 3. While I may not have any daughters I can dote on when I get a new MAC lip gloss or Zoya Nail Polish, my boys still very much enjoy reaping the benefits of all of my lotions, sugar scrubs, shower gels, soaps, shampoos and conditioners. Right now they are quite fascinated by my LiQWD bottles, however just the other week my son Brody (the 3 year old) used my Renee Rouleau Luxe Mint Cleansing Gel as shampoo and my LiQWD shampoo as handsoap. He liked the minty smell of Renee’s cleanser and told me it made him feel clean. I agreed, it does do that…on your face, not your hair.

We have a routine every night that before our “family time” (ie. watching movies together on Netflix with a snack), the kids get showers. I was cleaning the kitchen when I realized that they all seemed to be taking much longer than usual. Plus there seemed to be an awful lot of giggling going on. Upon the boys exiting the bathroom, I discovered that they simply were doing what mom sometimes takes for granted…enjoying using a variety of beauty products.

This was how I found the bottom of my tub (exactly–I didn’t move a thing): 

What do we have here? Redken Time Reset, Pureology AntiFade Smoothing Shampoo & Conditioner, Lierac Paris Micro-abrasion, Artemis Woman Gem Therapy Body Polish, Organix TeaTree Mint Conditioner, Danielle & Company Aloe & Ivy shower gel, Renee Rouleau Luxe Mint Cleansing Gel, LiQWD Volumizing shampoo & conditioner, Peter Llamas Soy Hydrating shampoo & conditioner, ARROJO Gentle shampoo & conditioner, Wei East China Clay Herbal Purifying Masque, Dove soap and PCASkin Creamy Cleanser.

Despite how many products you see here…and yes I certainly do need that many shampoos and conditioners (can you relate?!)…this was only a small portion of what is in my shower.

How many products have you been known to keep in your shower at once? (And shower…not the bathroom entirely because that is a whole other story here!)

The night before my birthday every year my mom calls me and says, “36 years ago today I was jumping off the sidewalk trying to make you come out.” Then like clockwork, around 10am-ish on my birthday my mom will call me and say, “36 years ago today I looked at you and loved you.”

I overheard my sons talking about giving me breakfast in bed…cereal with chocolate chips in it (my staple.) I also heard my 6 year old say, “Yeah, mom’s an old lady.” Oh my.

Birthdays are a big deal to me. I love presents. Which is why I always hold giveaways the week of my birthday. I enjoy the excitement of everyone trying to win, most especially the “OMG YAY!” when I email each person to let them know they’ve won. So be sure to check out and enter to win the 5 giveaways I’m holding. You only have until August 23rd, and they are pretty awesome if I do say so myself. 

• Worst 80’s Hair: Redken Giveaway (picture of my 80’s hair)
• philosophy eternal grace Giveaway (pictures of me as a baby)
• Purple Lab Silk Sheets Giveaway (picture of me and Karen Robinovitz)
• Exuviance Age Reverse Giveaway (picture of me when I was 18)
• Lierac Paris Coherence Giveaway (picture of me in 1991)

Happy (36th) birthday to me. And Cake Boss if you are listening, I would really like one of your cakes.

5 days of fantastical giveaways and I had to make sure I ended it with something awesome. Since my focus has been on looking younger, why not give away some anti-aging products from Lierac Paris? Tomorrow is my birthday after all and I’ve been taking a walk down memory lane. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know me a little bit better.

Now you cannot laugh at this photo of me. I was in 11th grade here (1991) and obviously felt I was made for modeling. I was oblivious to my caterpillar eyebrows or my teased out mullet-like pouf of a hairdo. This picture made it into the “fashion centerfold” portion of my high school yearbook. Also? Just in case you didn’t notice, I had a “tail” that I bleached blonde and put colored beads over. Oh I was rockin it.

Contest details:

What you have to do:  Leave me a comment telling me what your anti-aging skincare regime consists of.  (Smack on the hand if you don’t have one at all! Shame shame!)

Optional, but we really would like it: Like Lierac Paris on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And pretty please Like A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) on Facebook and follow A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) on Twitter as well.

Prize: Cohérence Serum, Cohérence Day Cream, Cohérence Night Cream, Cohérence Nutri, Cohérence Eye Cream, Cohérence Neck Cream and Cohérence Lip Cream.
Retail value: $417

Contest dates: Friday August 20th-Monday August 23rd at 11:59PM EST. Winner announced on August 24th. Winner chosen at random.

Legal jargon: Contest only open to legal US residents 18+. Only one entry per person total. Lierac Paris has provided the prize to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) for free for this giveaway. No purchase necessary to enter or win. No cash or product substitutes will be given. I can cancel this contest at any time without notice.  You give me permission to use your name in the winner announcement post.  Contest is void where prohibited.

Are you ready? On your mark, get set…GO!

Psst. Don’t forget about the Redken Time Reset, philosophy eternal grace, Purple Lab and Exuviance Age Reverse giveaways!

(This is me when I was 18 and a freshman at Rhode Island College. Oh to look this young again!)

This is my most favorite picture of myself taken exactly 18 years ago this month. I remember taking this picture too, I couldn’t wait to embark on the next chapter in my life. I was full of hope and ambition. That part of me hasn’t changed at all, but what has changed are the wrinkles, brown spots and sagging skin that have shown themselves as I continue that trek towards middle age. (Thanks mom for reminding that I am only 4 years away from that season in my life!)

For a few weeks now I have been using some new anti-aging products from NeoStrata called Exuviance Age Reverse, which I felt was the perfect fit for a giveaway this week. Want to look younger with me? Let’s go!

Contest details: 

What you have to do: Leave me a comment telling me the age at which you felt your skin looked its best and why.

Optional, but we really would like it: Like NeoStrata on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And pretty please Like A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) on Facebook and follow A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) on Twitter as well.

Prize: Exuviance Age Reverse introductory collection: BioActiv Wash, Day Repair SPF 20, Night Lift and Eye Contour.
Retail value: $68

Contest dates: Thursday August 19th-Monday August 23rd at 11:59PM EST. Winner announced on August 24th. Winner chosen at random.

Legal jargon: Contest only open to legal US residents 18+. Only one entry per person total. NeoStrata has provided the prize to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) for free for this giveaway. No purchase necessary to enter or win. No cash or product substitutes will be given. I can cancel this contest at any time without notice.  You give me permission to use your name in the winner announcement post.  Contest is void where prohibited.

Are you ready? On your mark, get set…GO!

Psst. Don’t forget about the Redken Time Reset, philosophy eternal grace and Purple Lab giveaways! Why am I having giveaways this week? Because I turn 36 on Saturday and I am trying to avoid being depressed about it!

It should be no surprise to anyone that Purple Lab would be part of my birthday giveaway extravaganza this week. Why? Because look at how much I covet my friendship with Karen Robinovitz and adore her products:

Review of Huge Lips Skinny Hips
Review of Lashionista Modelista
Purple Lab Challenge: Operation Chic and Sexy

Besides, who else would try to hand me a pair of Christian Louboutin’s that were a size too small and tell me to just have them stretched? Only Karen. I love her.

So let me share the love of her super fab Purple Lab foundation, Silk Sheets, so you can experience the awesomeness.

From her website: Silk Sheets is a luxe foundation infused with silk, Instalift Goji, Hyaluronic Filling Spheres and skincare treatment ingredients that give your skin a supple, youthful freshness.

Dude, I am all about youthful freshness right about now, are you?

Contest details:

What you have to do: Take a peek at Purple Lab’s website and leave me a comment about which product you feel you relate to best. Is is Luvah? Cheek Implants? SWAC? It’s time to dish.

Optional, but we really would like it: Like Purple Lab on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. And pretty please Like A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) on Facebook and follow A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) on Twitter as well.

Prize: Silk Sheets foundation
Retail value: $34

Contest dates: Wednesday August 18th-Monday August 23rd at 11:59PM EST. Winner announced on August 24th. Winner chosen at random.

Legal jargon: Contest only open to legal US residents 18+. Only one entry per person total. Purple Lab has provided the prize to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! (sm) for free for this giveaway. No purchase necessary to enter or win. No cash or product substitutes will be given. I can cancel this contest at any time without notice.  You give me permission to use your name in the winner announcement post.  Contest is void where prohibited.

Are you ready? On your mark, get set…GO!

Psst. Don’t forget about the Redken Time Reset and philosophy eternal grace giveaways!

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