Beginner Fitness

While fitness is not usually covered on this site, I am fully admitting that it is because I am in general a lazy creature that does not work out. I've never been athletic, and I pray that my children inherit that from their father. However, now that I've had a baby, I do know that this is something I will need to remedy and actually start moving enough on a daily basis to burn some calories. My problem was that I had not a clue where I should start!

Luckily, Allison from one of my favorite websites has come to the rescue! She has basic, practical tips that will help even me! This is also a great refresher for those of us that said we were going to lose weight as our New Year's Resolution. Most people start quitting about now, use this as an excuse to get some new work out shoes or music to help keep you motivated.


Allison Evans is a writer and editor for the health & beauty website, Fit&Fab Living and the Fit&Fab Living blog, Running With Mascara.


Whether you're just getting back into working out after a break that lasted too long, trying to work off the baby weight or even if today's the first day you've ever even contemplated working out, this beginner's workout guide is designed to help anyone jump into a fitness routine with everything you'll need to get started, including essential gear, the answer to all your burning fitness questions and a plan you can actually stick to.

Before you start any fitness regimen, it's important to speak with your doctor and make sure you're medically cleared to begin.

China Glaze Pelican Gray

This is a very pretty light gray. There is shimmer in it, believe it or not, but I have to look very closely to find it even in direct sunlight. So, pretty much a creme.


Both Zoya and China Glaze have just come out with light gray polishes, and I'm pretty sure that someone will be wondering if it is worth it to buy both. You can see they look pretty much the same in the bottle


On the nail they are very slightly different. Dove is a true cream, Pelican Gray just might as well be a cream since the shimmer is so subtle. There are very minor differences in shade, but this isn't apparent in all lighting and unless you have decided that you must have every gray polish on the planet, I'd just go with whichever formula works best for you.


Part of the Anchors Away Collection
China Glaze

Dolce and Gabanna Spring 2011

For Spring 2011 Dolce & Gabanna are offering a collection that "celebrates spring's new beginning with a fresh interpretation of a pure radiant beauty that effortlessly captures the present... a world of fantasy, desire and luxury with poetic pastels and mercurial tone on tone translucence."

Yes, it is inspired by the runway. But, the collection is very well edited by their makeup artist, Pat McGrath (love her!).

“I love the Secret Garden palette; it’s such a daring take on nudes and neutrals - and the pastels, while muted, are full of radiant colour. The look is very now - luminous barely-there beauty - but it encompasses what Domenico and Stefano have always done so well - treating a classic facet of femininity in a radical way that doesn’t read radical, but reads unique, gorgeous and so sexy,” says Pat McGrath.

Read more to see the products

New Mommy Beauty: Perfect Brows Make Looking Great Easy!

Malynda Vigliotti is the guru over at the Boom Boom Brow Bar in New York, a place you can be sure I'll be visiting next time I'm in the 212! Like me, she believes that if your brows look good it is easier to keep everything else looking good. So, investing a few minutes in your brows to keep them looking in shape means that any time you manage to spend on the rest of your look will look that much better.

Read on for some great quick brow tips from the Boom Boom Brow Bar!

Nicole by OPI's Never Give Up

I'm not sure why the surface of the polish looks bumpy here, because it didn't look or feel bumpy in person. But, this pic was the best representation of the background pink, you can see the shimmer a bit better in the inset.

Never Give Up is a Walmart exclusive Nicole Polish
Nicole by OPI

Estée Lauder's Spring 2011 Lippies

When I first saw Estée Lauder's Spring 2011 lippies, I have to admit that I was afraid. Not just a little afraid, but really afraid. What on earth were they thinking?? The crazy neon colors did not look flattering, I didn't think they would sell well, someone in the higher ups over there had gone crazy.

Of course, it turns out that they were smarter than me, the colors are actually very pretty and flattering. Read on to see what those shocking neon lip glosses really look like.

Things to Check Out...

Acuvue is holding a contest to help give everyone a chance of getting in shape in the New Year. The Grand Prize winner will receive a one year membership to a gym of their choice, as well as a one year supply of contact lenses. Five First Prize winners get a year of contacts. You can enter now until February 28th.


YBF (Your Best Friend, not Your Best Face) is a great cosmetics company well known for their affordably priced kits. Anyways, the brand is planning something that sounds like so much fun! Former model and makeup guru Stacey Schieffelin is taking her fun-filled, girl power movement to the tropics for the fifth time to bring you Pajama Party at Sea. The party takes place on a Royal Caribbean Cruise, so you'll have all the usual cruise items like tons of food, a casino, shows and of course the spa!

Included in the Pajama Party:
• A private cocktail party
• Beauty makeover sessions
• Inspirational sessions with the ybf life coach
• Tons of gorgeous giveaways
• A ybf makeup kit for every Girlfriend loaded with your favorite ybf products worth over $500!

The cruise is July 11th to 15th and leaves Miami to go to the Bahamas and Key West. For more information on how to book, what is offered and how much fun the cruise will be, go check out the YBF Stacy Website.



David Kirsch is a very well known trainer to stars like Heidi Klum, Liv Tyler and Faith Hill. He'll be holding a Master Class next week that will help you:
• select the right exercises for your body type
• tone your trouble spots
• fuel pre- and post-workouts
• maximize your workouts with or without a trainer
• determine which supplements are right for you
• lose those last 10 pounds as fast as possible

There is a $50 admission fee, it can be used toward David Kirsch products at the event.
When: Wednesday, January 26th, 6pm-7pm (doors open at 5:30pm)
Where: Space NK
99 Greene Street between Prince Street and Spring Street
Wear: This will be a no-sweat session—no workout attire required
RSVP: 212.941.4200

Zoya Caitlin

Caitlin is part of the Intimate Collection
Zoya.com

New Mommy Beauty: Hair Tips from White Sands' Fernando Salas

Fernando Salas is the CEO & Creator of White Sands Hair care, a brand that I've had great luck with in the past. Fernando started as a hair dresser, and with his family built up the White Sands brand, creating amazing products that really do give the amazing results they promise. My favorite White Sands product is probably The Fix, which I use 3-4 times a week, creating shine and making my hair look healthier.

Fernando had some great tips about hair color during pregnancy and avoiding horrible roots!

For a mom who wants color or highlights, but has limited time to visit a salon: Opt for subtle highlights meaning few in number which will make your color last longer because this will not show re-growth. Have your stylist choose the tone of the highlights from the flex of your eyes. But, make sure your colorist does not bleach then tone, because the tone in the bleach will fade and you will be left with white hair. (Thus showing re-growth) Compliment your subtle highlights with White Sands Color Secure Shampoos and Conditioners to make your color last even longer at home.

We see a great number of women going through pregnancy and of course as new or experienced moms. There are some noticeable differences in the hair of these women at different phases of pregnancy and certainly post-partum.

Pregnant women typically experience increased hair growth (length and thickness) due to their bodily changes occurring during pregnancy and as a result of pre-natal vitamins. For women with normally thin or wimpy hair, this can be a real bonus (hair and nails like they have never had before!). We also often see hair texture change from curly to straight or vice versa. This can also be a bonus for some while a not so welcome change for others depending on what they are used to.

During pregnancy the condition of the hair tends to be pretty nice so we focus on keeping it trimmed and we don't hesitate to do color services. This is a question we receive quite often "can I color my hair during pregnancy"? The answer is of course you can. Today’s color products are so advanced and nothing we use on the hair for color will be absorbed into the skin so there is nothing to fear. Hair color can be a wonderful way to make a pregnant woman feel beautiful at a time when her body is changing so dramatically.

White Sands Hair Products

Faking It (Sleep!): Hints to Get Rid of the Bags

While not all of the hints in this video are helpful for the first time mom (such as avoiding caffeine and getting enough rest), there are some great makeup hints in this video that we should all take note of!



From the ladies over at Marie Claire

Your Best Face: A Great Scrub and Concentrates

Today is the last day of recapping Your Best Face's products, yes a company that I love. Again, they feature Spin Traps, super high powered anti-oxidants that will help you prevent aging. I haven't mentioned it in my previous posts, but this is a company that you really need to follow on Twitter and Fan on Facebook. They have a ton of specials and I swear that they run at least one amazing contest a day on Twitter. (I try to retweet them from my Twitter feed, but I'm sure I miss a lot. Just follow them directly so you can win some great skin care.)

Today we'll go over a few more products, so read on to find out about the last few items in the line.

Duri Valentine's Day 2011

Duri is releasing a few colors for Valentine's Day, and I wanted to share the pretty colors!



414- Cupid Rules
510- Every Day Is A Valentine
396- Hot Date
469- Contessa

Available on-line at Duri Nail Polish

Your Best Face: Eye and Lip Creams

Yesterday I covered 5 different products in the Your Best Face lineup, and today we'll go over four more. As a quick refresher, I'm going over the products at reader request, though this is one of my favorite anti-aging skin care companies.

In discussing starting an anti-aging skin care routine, I've mentioned that I do have an active ingredient check list (you'll see it after each product mentioned below), and I try to include each category in my routine. I think a sunscreen is a must for every day, and that sunscreen should be broad spectrum UVA/UVB with a SPF of 15 at a bare minimum, 30 is better. Once you have that down, you should start adding in other ingredients shown to help fight aging and increase cell turnover and collagen production. That means exfoliation (whether physical or chemical, I prefer chemical for more even and predictable results but that isn't possible during pregnancy), as well as adding in peptides and anti-oxidants (more preventative, they haven't been shown conclusively in clinical studies to reverse wrinkles). I like to add in a concentrated retinoid product after that, so you can add it in slowly as your skin tolerates (for me that means every other night usually).

So, that's my quick and dirty anti-aging routine philosophy. If you want more in depth than that or bigger guns to help fight the wrinkles, I strongly recommend going to a dermatologist. Chances are your insurance will cover it anyways (Hello??? Skin cancer check? I need to do this, probably in the next few months once I get this new mommy thing down), and you'll hopefully be surprised at what a derm tells you to do. I doubt they'll immediately try to sell you on crazy peels and lasers, they aren't a medi-spa. I'd expect a gentle cleanser, good moisturizer, the kind of sunscreen I mentioned above and help fighting aging after that (likely including the prescription strength retinoid).

After all of that rambling, I'll point out that I really like the Your Best Face products because they include Spin Traps (very powerful anti-oxidants), often include peptides and you can find cool perks like Nylon-12, which helps absorb oil for those of us with combination skin. So, they're a great option to include in that routine I mentioned above, where you can add in the retinoid every other night and such. My skin also seems to like them a lot, never a break out and my skin is nice and glowy.

Read out to find out more about today's products.

Zoya Marley

Marley is actually quite a bit more pigmented than most pastels. I used 2 coats to get complete opacity, and almost didn't even need the second!

Marley is part of the Intimate Collection
Zoya.com

Nicole Count on Me

This shade is very sheer (I'm wearing 3 thick coats here), but has amazing pink/lilac shimmer. Perfect for something subtle or layering over other colors.

Count on Me is a Walmart exclusive Nicole Polish
Nicole by OPI

Your Best Face: Spin Traps to the Rescue!

One of my favorite skin care brands is Your Best Face. They have a fairly wide range of products that are primarily focused around anti-oxidants, in particular Spin Traps. Spin Traps are among the most powerful anti-oxidants known, so if you are going to be including anti-oxidants as your primary anti-aging category, this is a good way to go. Note that very few companies use spin traps, but Your Best Face is one of them, hence my love.

Recently I had a Delurking Post in which I asked readers to comment about who they are (I'm curious! Who are these people that care what I think about lip gloss and eye cream??) and one of the commenters "The fake kind of doctor" said that she was interested in YBF's Prep scrub that I had brought up, but was waiting to order until I discussed some of their other products again.

Since I have pretty much their entire line sitting here, I thought a series of 3 posts in which I go over what is in each product and how I like it would be exactly what she needed. So, this is day #1. If products you're interested in aren't covered then just be patient, the next 2 days will have pretty much the exact same post as well.

Hard Candy “First Flush” Gift Set: Review

Today we have a great guest post from Pammy of Pammy Blogs Beauty. Pammy has been a reader of my blog for a long time, and pretty recently she started her own site. She lives in the south with her adorable hubby and works as a Speech-Language Pathologist when not blogging about beauty!

New Mommy Beauty: Skin Care While Pregnant

A few days ago I shared with you what skin care ingredients to avoid while pregnant or breastfeeding. The unavoidable truth is that the list of things to not use because of actual evidence of badness (or any lack of evidence that something is safe) is rather long, and makes picking out skin care somewhat tough while pregnant.

Add in wanting to continue fighting aging (because let's face it, most of us are over 30 while pregnant rather than in our early 20s)... and.... our options have dramatically shrunk.
Read on for some general and anti-aging skin care options during pregnancy.

Lost Your Mojo? Booty Parlor Can Help!

I just had to mention this because I'm reminded of Austin Powers. Mojo Makeover is being released tomorrow. It's written by Dana B. Myers, the founder of Booty Parlor, and promises to fix your mojo in 4 easy weeks.

It's divided up into different categories, Pleasure Virgin, Frustrated Fox, Adventure Seeker, Busy Mommy or Late Bloomer. There are great tips for each type!

I think this is a great Valentine's Day gift, for yourself or a friend.

Booty Parlor

Oscar Blandi Pronto Gloss: Shine and Smoothing that Doesn't Weigh Down My Hair!

I have to admit that I've been a bit obsessed with this product (ok, maybe a little bit more obsessed) and I have a feeling that I'm going to be buying a couple more tubes of this product very soon!

Oscar Blandi's Pronto Gloss promises to defrizz and to shine up your hair without weighing it down, and let me tell you this stuff definitely delivers. It can be applied to wet or dry hair, and I've been using it every time I wash my hair for weeks now. A small amount is all I need (I have a lot of hair too). I spread it through my hair while it is wet and then use a wide toothed comb to spread it throughout my hair. The Gloss is a thick lotion that has a lemon scent to it, though I only smell it during application.

I notice a difference in my hair even with just blow drying. My hair feels super soft and it seems to flow differently. Once my hair is dry it is shiny and healthy looking, but you can't tell that I've applied any product because my hair still has just as much volume as before. My frizz is definitely cut way down as well.

Oscar Blandi Pronto Gloss

New Mommy Beauty: Faking Volume

One of the worst beauty issues to hit most women in the fourth trimester is the hair loss. Going from the super thick, lustrous hair of pregnancy to losing handfuls of it a day. And it can last for up to a year. (I am fully admitting here that this is postpartum change that I was dreading the most, I've always had thick hair and a change like this.... hard to cope with.)

Sam Villa, the Education Artistic Director for Redken 5th Avenue and founder of the Sam Villa brand, has a great method for faking the volume that was lost. Time consuming? Yes. I can't imagine doing this on a daily basis, but this could be amazing for a night out.

• Isolate hair in the crown and nape area, pin and set aside.
• Starting 1-2” away from the front hairline, take vertical slice of hair, hold straight out from the head and spray with Redken spray starch 15 versatile ironing spray to protect from heat and hold texture.
• At the base of the slice only, compress hair vertically with Sam Villa’s TEXTURÔ texturizing iron (tip of the iron pointing upwards) to imprint texture. Work vertically around the head until finished.
• Drop crown and nape sections down to hide created texture. The volume at the base will create beautiful natural fullness in fine hair.

Sam Villa

Strangely Yearning For: Blow's Perfect Shower Cap

Oddly enough, I've found myself coveting this shower cap over the past few months. Yes, it is very 1960's to wear a shower cap. Well, at least it is here in the midwest, where we don't all go get professional blowouts every 2-3 days. Anyways, as I became more and more pregnant I found that it was harder and harder to do my hair every day (mostly because it takes so long to dry my hair and it always needs to involve flipping my head over, I can't dry my hair without doing that).

So, I started to wash my hair every other day. But putting my hair up in a clip while in the shower just seemed to make my hair flat and lifeless that day. I think this would have helped, so I'll be buying one soon.

Why is this so special? It is not just a plastic shower cap. It is lined with terry cloth to help catch the steam before it hits your hair, the whole thing is bigger to make sure it covers well over your hair line.

Does anyone have it? Is it worth $18?

Blow's Perfect Shower Cap

Beauty Blog Network Weekend Reads

A gentle reader asks Retrodiva how to manage dry and brittle hair.

Phyrra's Indie Spotlight for January is with Suds n' Sass! Learn all about the face behind the makeup and body products.

Sheila from Painted Ladies breaks down the Anatomy of Eyeshadow Application in a handy and informative Breaking Down Beauty.

Beauty and Fashion Tech looks at the best Make Up For Blue Eyes.

Cinnamon Kitten tries out and reviews Dermagenics Ultra-Intensive Anti-Aging Moisturizer.

Raging Rouge walks on the wild side with Estee Lauder Wild Fire and Wild Violet Pure Color Lipsticks!

Jeweled Thumbisn't usually a fan of MAC lipgloss but she's found a few she actual likes.

A Touch of Blusher reviews Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Foaming Cleanser.

Links from the Beauty Web

Don't forget to enter my contest to win Rusk Hair Care!

The NY Times had a great article about seeking out Japanese Makeup, and Isabelle from Musings of a Muse was featured. I want to go and hunt down all sorts of Kanebo products now, I've been having such amazing luck with their skin care.

Clariol's Nice & Easy is releasing a new hair color foam (which sounds like a much easier way to apply hair color to me!) To celebrate they are giving away 100,00 boxes! Between January 24th - January 27th (25,000 per day), all you need to do is "like" them on the Clairol Facebook Page, and then fill out the registration info. Good Luck!

Previews were up of the Rescue Beauty Lounge Spring 2011 colors on a few blogs this week, and of course my friend Michelle over at All Lacquered Up was one of the few with the exclusive preview. Michelle's pictures of the Spring RBL polishes convinced me that I likely need them all. Yes, even that black! I dare you to look at them, you'll likely end up needing to spend the money as well!

Henna from Canadian Beauty tried out the new Estée Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara. I'm hoping to finish my review of it soon (honestly, I'm waiting to recover a little bit from a bad eye lash moisturizer exposure before I do about 10 mascara reviews), but I agree with everything she's said. Go check out what she has to say if you've been thinking about buying this one!

TiffanyD has a great post on how to make powder foundation look natural. If you're into the buff tap swirl action definitely go and watch this video!

Pammy from Pammy Blogs Beauty checked out Revlon's Grow Luscious mascara, which I've been curious about for months.

Phyrra reviewed a few Too Faced Eye Shadow Duos.

Raging Rouge has been playing with Make Up For Ever's Aqua Cream, and now I want some too!

Dolce and Gabbana's Intense Nail Lacquer in Platinum: Wow!

Did you know that Dolce & Gabbana makes makeup? And they do it with Pat McGrath, which means great quality and flattering makeup shades that are sure to work for a lot of people. I'll be sharing the rest of the spring collection with you in a few days, but I had to share the nail polish right away. Just look at it... wow. I'm in awe.

Dolce and Gabbana Makeup is available at Saks.

New Mommy Tips from Monique

Today's tip is brought to us by my friend Monique, over at Beauty Girl Musings. I'm so honored that she had so many great tips to share with us! Monique truly is amazing. At blogger events I'm usually found near her since I like being with her so much. She's incredibly nice and funny, not to mention she somehow always looks perfect. She lives in Southern California where she blogs and lives with her family (including 2 great kids!). Did I mention that she is a licenced esthetician? And she has a new fitness blog, Fit Girl Musings?


1. Sleep when the baby sleeps. I know this may seem crazy, especially if you're the type of woman who has to "get things done", but believe me, the laundry and messy house will be there when you wake up (or if you have fabulous family and friends, they won't mind helping out a bit)! You'll look better, feel better and you will enjoy every moment that your baby is awake. After a few weeks, you'll probably have more energy to not sleep every single time the baby goes down, but naps will still be important. ;)

2. Plan alone time for yourself at least once a week. Even if it means getting out of the house for an hour to meet a friend for pedis or visiting your favorite department store to buy yourself a new product, time away for yourself is still important.

3. Put on your "face" and get dressed! Being a new mom can feel so tiring and stressful that you may not want to do this, but investing a bit of time to wash your face, apply a swipe of mascara, blush and gloss each morning and also putting on some clean clothes will make such a big difference in how you feel.

Beauty Girl Musings