Get Vacation-Ready with These Travel Products

Don't travel without these essential hair care products and cosmetics

Wherever and however you travel, you don't want to trade precious clothing space in your suitcase for a giant can of hairspray or your favorite shampoo. That's why we put together a perfectly planned travel beauty kit to wipe all your concerns away -- and leave room for another pair of shoes! Browse our gallery to find your ideal travel-sized essentials. See products

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The Weekend Beauty Read

The Makeup Divas reviews the new Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal and is giving away two boxes to two lucky winners. Contest is ending on Saturday so hurry on over and enter today!

A Touch of Blusher counts down the best spring 2009 makeup collections.

Beauty Anonymous shares her recent nail polish purchase from Essie and OPI.

Jenn from Beauty in Real Life reviews Tarte's new Perfect Whirled Cheek Stain. Check it out here.

Check this post from Beauty and Personal Grooming to know the reason why women love makeup.

Felicia from ThisThatBeauty was like a kid in a candy store at The LA Makeup Show Check out ThisThatBeauty's inside scoop from the Beauty Blogger's Sneak Peek.

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Celebrity Tattoo Gallery

Check out Drew Barrymore's cross tattoo, and plenty others'

Whatever your opinions of tattoos are, it seems that Hollywood loves them. Tons of celebrities are inked. Some, like Angelina Jolie, aren't too surprising, but others were shocking. See tattoos

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Fa shower gels: review

(Guest post by reader Sandy)

Fa Vanilla Honey Yoghurt Shower Gel is one of my favorites. With a creamy texture and a gorgeous vanilla-honey fragrance, slathering this cream on my body makes for a wonderful, yummy, luxurious bathing experience. It’s quite moisturizing too… my skin feels so soft and smooth… there’s also subtle hint of scent that lingers on after the shower. Fas exclusive, non-soap formula is said to contain a special protein factor that moisturizes the skin and maintains its natural balance and moisture, leaving your skin tangibly smooth and vitalized… I just can’t get enough of it and wish to buy it again and again. And oh, it’s dirt cheap too !!! I have to try the other variant as well – the one for dry skin - Fa Shower Cream - Yoghurt Aloe Vera. With the goodness of aloe in it, I believe that’s a wonderful product too.

Fa Vanilla Honey Yoghurt Shower Gel - 250 Ml

Fa Shower Cream - Yoghurt Aloe Vera for Dry Skin 250ml/8.4oz

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Ayur Silky Instant Bleach with Rose: Review

I don’t use crème bleach on my face quite often, partly because my skin is sensitive and acne-prone. It’s only during special occasions that I opt for bleaching, that too, to brighten up my face and conceal light facial hair. Sometime back, when I had to attend a function, I decided to bleach my face two days prior to the event. It’s always a good idea to try anything, say, coloring your hair, going in for a professional facial, tweezing your brows, plucking/threading your upper lip hair, and of course applying bleach on your face a couple of days before any big event so that you do not sport an unnatural look.

I had purchased ‘Ayur Silky Instant Bleach with Rose’ for this purpose and as per the instructions applied it to my face carefully. (You may read this post on step-by-step instructions for applying cream bleach.) I left it for 25 minutes and after I washed my face found that it had done little to conceal facial hair and blend them to suit my skin-tone and as mentioned on its label, it didn’t make my skin any fairer. I have very sparse hair-growth on my arms and that certainly doesn’t need either waxing or shaving; so I tried using this bleach on my arms as well. This time, I left it on my arms for a good 35-40 minutes, but was not satisfied with the results. To conclude, I didn’t like this product and don’t recommend it. It is available in 20gm, 70gm, 250gm pack. A 20 g pack costs Rs. 30/- .

Ayur Silky Bleach for instant fairness

You may also want to read The Wonders of Cream Bleach

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Why women love makeup

Wearing makeup is a part of women’s culture; they use it to brighten up their face, add sparkle to their features, emphasise their appearance and express their personality. But there are some who overdo it and become the laughing stock of people around. Obtrusive paint most certainly puts everyone off and one must never go overboard and cover up one’s face with loads of makeup to make it look like a doll, which more often than not ends up resembling a clown’s. A survey commissioned for Nephria beauty brand in the UK has found that on an average, women spend two years and nine months over a lifetime preening in front of the mirror when it comes to getting ready for work. On a big night out, however, this extends to an hour and 12 minutes on average - which becomes three years in a lifetime.

But has it ever occurred to you why women love wearing makeup? Japanese scientists say that women anticipate a rush of anticipation and optimism as they prepare to apply make-up. The findings are based on two years of research by cosmetics giant Kanebo. The company’s ‘Cosmetics, Beauty and Brain Science’ project determined that there are distinct cognitive activities involved in a woman’s perception of her face with and without make-up. The researchers used a brain scanner and monitored activity in the caudate nucleus of the brain and found that when a woman sees her own face without make-up, she anticipates how she will eventually appear to others and a ‘reward system’ is activated, releasing dopamine to give sensations of pleasure. Keishi Saruwatari, of Kanebo’s laboratories said, "There is a mixture of expectation, encouragement and ambition. Make-up contributes to building relationships with others and feelings of pleasure in women."

On another note, please take a moment to participate in this survey. Look for it on the second sidebar. Poll closes on 23rd March, 2009.

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Beauty quotes

More awesome beauty quotes for you to mull over:
Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks.
-- Charles Dickens
Justice, truth, and beauty are sisters and comrades. With three such beautiful words we have no need to look for any others.
-- Simone Weil
I have never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful.
-- Unknown
All kinds of beauty do not inspire love; there's a kind which only pleases the sight, but does not captivate the affections.
-- Cervantes Saavedra
The average girl would rather have beauty than brains because she knows the average man can see much better than he can think.
-- Unknown
No woman can be a beauty without a fortune.
-- Farquhar George
There is no beautifier of complexion or form or behavior like the wish
to scatter joy, and not pain, around us.
-- Emerson
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
-- Francis Bacon
Beauty is excrescence, superabundance, random ebulience, and sheer delightful waste to be enjoyed in its own right.
-- Donald Culross Peattie
Things are beautiful if you love them.
-- Jean Anouilh
Beauty without expression tires.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some thoughts always find us young, and keep us so. Such a thought is the love of the universal and eternal beauty.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Beauty always promises, but never gives anything.
-- Simone Weil
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.
-- Jawaharlal Nehru

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Transform Day Makeup to Night -- Fast

Pump up your blah workday look to create an evening-chic look

No need to do a full makeup reboot when you need to go from the office to a swanky dinner. We asked makeup pros how to go from a basic everyday face to a sophisticated night look - you wont believe how easy it is! See tips

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