This past Friday, the lovely Karla, from KarlaSugar.net, and I were interviewed by the local OKC Fox Affliate, KOKH Fox 25, about Karla's charity brainchild - BeautyBloggers.org

(*You can check out our video HERE. As they uploaded it as a flash file, I can't embed it here.)

Here is the official "About" info on the auction/idea:

BeautyBloggers.org is the collaboration of almost 50 different beauty bloggers and brands. In the spirit of the holidays, we wanted to make a meaningful contribution to charity — knowing that the most effective donation to any charity is cash.

So we’re putting our makeup on the auction block. Winning bids will be donated directly to Doctors Without Borders.

We’re raising money for Doctors Without Borders because women are always disproportionately affected in any disaster. This organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people in crisis, regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. They treat rape victims in Papua New Guinea; they make sure women don’t die in childbirth in Pakistan; they helped flood victims in Mexico and earthquake victims in Haiti. They work in 65 countries around the world, and your donation will make an immediate impact. Click here to learn more about MSF

I'll just say that I am excited to be a part of this auction & that I was able to be interviewed, along with Karla, to help bring awareness to this great idea. So you know, I donated a Mally Beauty "Rise and Shine 9-piece Long Wear Brightening Collection" that I paid for myself. It's no longer available on QVC, so this would be a great way to get started with Mally products, if I haven't already convinced you before now. ;)

BUT!! *TODAY* is the LAST day of the auction - it ends at *5PM CST*. Now, I know most of you are auction snipers, waiting till the last bit to snatch up that great deal, so this post comes at the right time for you. Get over there and get to bidding! Seriously - you won't believe the hard to find/cult/LE/Europe only pieces that are available in this thing! And, after you win - come back and tell me what you got!! :)

*I also want to make sure you know who else I am lucky enough to be a part of this with, too:

Afrobella, A Girl's Gotta Spa!, AlyWalansky.com, Armani Beauty, Bay Area Style File, Beauté Cosmetics, Beauty Alchemist, The Beauty Look Book, Bobbi Brown, Cafe Makeup, Cargo, China Glaze, EnKore, Estee Lauder, For the Love of Beauty, Givenchy, Gloss Menagerie, Gouldylox Reviews, Grace Gold for AOL StyleList, KarlaSugar, KraseyBeauty, Lancome, Leonor Greyl, The Makeup Girl, Miss Whoever You Are, Musings of a Muse, My Lips But Better, Nadine Jolie, The Non-Blonde, Older Girl Beauty, OPI, Out in a Pout, Pink Sith, Prime Beauty, Product Girl, Pursebuzz, Renee Rouleau, Sasquatch Swatch, Sicka Than Average, Spoiled Pretty, Talika, Three Custom Color Specialists, and Votre Vu

Last week I was lucky enough to get the chance to talk to Anthony Gonzalez, Senior Manager, Global Skin Care Product Development - Global Research & Development for Avon (*heck of a title, eh? Whew.) about Avon's "ANEW Reversalist" line. This is their anti-aging skincare line for 40+ folks with moderate signs of aging, including wrinkles, loss of firmness and discolorations.

The primary component of this range is the "Activinol Technology". I know, you're like I was - what's that? So, I asked. Anthony told me that "it is based around the protein "Activin", which helps promote healing & that this is important because aging is really accumulated damage under the skin (*says wrinkles are micro-injuries to the skin). The good thing about this Activin is that it can be "stimulated" to reactivate the healing/repairing by the "Activinol Technology". Avon is the first to use this patent-pending complex of two highly purified fractions of specific plant components: 1) Amorphophallus: Stimulates Activin production to help trigger skin’s repair process & 2) Sesbania: Boosts skin’s support structure."

There is actually a complete "holistic" system to the Reversalist line, from cleanser to moisturizer, but we were talking about the two lastest additions, the "ANEW REVERSALIST Day Renewal Cream SPF 25" and the ANEW REVERSALIST Illuminating Eye System. The Day Renewal Cream seems to have some pretty dramatic results:

• Instantly, helps reduce the look of dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes*
• In 2 weeks, fine lines and wrinkles visibly improved up to 25% **
• Over time, clinically shown to improve the look of dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles **

(*In a consumer-perception study. **In a clinical study.)

In addition, it contains SPF 25 UVA/UVB, which we all know we should be applying every morning anyway, right?

As for the Iluminating Eye System, it has two parts to it. 1) The first part is the eye cream itself, which can be used all over the eye area, including the eyelid. Now, I did ask Anthony about this, as most eye creams don't want you to get it too close to the eye, let alone on the eyelid. He said that "thru the screening process, it was determined that it was mild enough for the eyelid, without stinging, so that it could be used there". I like that because usually I wonder if it am getting enough around my eye, since I stay so far back with cream to not get it IN the eye. Anyway, this cream "visibly reduces dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles over time". 2) The second part is the "Sheer Veil", which contain "potent skin brighteners". It has a very soft feel about it and when I asked Anthony about what it was made up of, he told me that it used pigments and MagiX, which made me very happy to hear because you guys know that I really like me some MagiX. Again, this one has some pretty dramatic results, too:

• Instantly, helps reduce the look of dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes*
• In 2 weeks, fine lines and wrinkles visibly improved up to 25% **
• Over time, clinically shown to improve the look of dark circles, fine lines and wrinkles **

(*In a consumer-perception study. **In a clinical study.)

Now, I haven't been using this for too long, so I haven't seen dramatic results, but I can say that they feel really good on. I really like the feel of the Sheer Veil in the eye system, but I may be biased since I already like the MagiX. Have any of you guys tried this? If you have, I'd like to know your experinces with it so far, too. And, if you would like to, as always with Avon, you can shop online or from your local Avon rep. (*if you don't have one, you can find one of those on their site, too.)

(*Thanks to Anthony for his time to speak to me and to the teams for putting this together. I really appreciate it.)

I'm a slumper. Bad. I blame it on my "girls" (*which, if you've met me, it makes for a grand excuse), but it's there. I do it. And I don't realize how it makes me *look*, it's just a lazy way of walking. Even tho I KNOW better. Mom always said, "Stand up straight. It'll make you look slimmer." Yeah, of course, she was right.

Charla Krupp knows it, too. In fact, she wrote a book about how to look slimmer, "How to Never Look Fat Again: Over 1,000 Ways to Dress Thinner--Without Dieting!", which has mulitiple sections adressing specific areas of the body, in additon to bullet-point lists and even a "High-Fat/No-Fat" way of dressing to your strong points, and I was lucky enough to get to interview her this week.

Let me tell you right off the bat, just like Charla does in her introduction, if you are more than 100lbs overweight you will NOT get the full benefit of all of the advice in this book. But, that doesn't mean that you can not get a ton of helpful advice from it - you can. Here are a few things I picked up:

1. Wide Feet & Ankles: I should never wear shoe with an ankle strap; it looks better to wear a shoe with a bit of a heel & that a d'Orsay pump is actually the best style, because of it's open sides. (*hell, i didn't even know the NAME of those kind of shoes, let alone that they would be the best style for me to wear.)
2. Heavy Calves: It is okay to wear a skirt, I just need to make sure it hits the "sweet spot" - which is at the back of the knee where the thigh connects with the calf and curves inward.
3. Big Bust: While I know it is nescessary to get a properly fitted bra, you actually need a variety of these, as you will fluctuate. And by properly fitted, I mean, no bulges over and around & lifting your bust off of your ribcage & being positioned equally between your shoulder and your elbow. That's the "sweet spot" for your boobs.

A couple of other things that we discussed that help you look slimmer is when your skin is soft & moisturized and using some self-tanner or bronzer. The need to moisturize should be easy to figure out, soft skin feels good and helps your body, but did you realize that it can also change the perception of how old you look? According to a survey (*sponsored by P&G Beauty), one of the things they found was that "When judged independently from the face, body skin, if maintained, is perceived up to 10 years younger and adds to the overall perception of youthfulness." These findings led to a conclusion of:

“The study indicates that body skin around the neck and chest, arms, and hands are important areas for women in terms of age perception,” said Dr. Bernhard Fink, Senior Scientist, Institute for Zoology and Anthropology at the University of Göettingen. “Keeping your skin moisturized is one of the most basic things you can do to prevent visible signs of aging on the skin. Using products that go beyond basic moisturization to provide additional anti-aging benefits can be a further help.”

As for the self-tanner/bronzer, it has the ability to hide veins and bruises. Now, I'm not a whiz at self-tanning, I am such a fair-skinned girl, I'd rather laze in the nice air conditioning, but I DO know that to get a good application, you need to have smooth skin. I'm not even going to try to think that there are some of you out there trying to put it on over some stubbley legs.

Well, Charla has a coupla ideas to help with both of these things and they are both drugstore buys, which you know I love. First, she says to use the new Olay Total Effects 7-in-1 Advanced Anti-Aging Body Wash, with its ability to fight "the 7 signs of body skin aging for radiant, younger looking skin. So, not only are you clean, you are also helping to improve your skins elasticity and improve how it looks - (*sugg. price $5.99 or $7.99, depending on size). And for smooth legs, she suggests the first disposable razor with 5 blades, the Venus Embrace Disposables. It gives you the same close shave as with the other razors, just without the need to change blades. (*3 to a pack. sugg. price $9.99 to $13.99).

Let me know if you pick up this book and if you take any of the tips to heart. I know we are all different and have diff things we try to adjust for, so, I may have skipped one that you found super helpful. I'd like to know about it.

(*Big thanks to Charla for her time and the teams that made it happen. I really appreciate it.)