Yesterday I got a tweet from Jeannine at BeautySweetSpot.com that said: "Oh yea and @oldergirlbeauty I tagged you in this campaign! Create a video and @proactiv will donate $100 to your fave charity too!". Well, of course I was intrigued to find out what was up, esp if it involved charity.

Turns out that she had been chosen to participate in Proactiv's "12 Days of Christmas" program where she made a video about her favority Proactiv product & they donated $200 to the charity of her choice. As you can see in her video here that she is donating to NYC based charity "Women in Need". She was also allowed to pick another person to donate $100 to their favority charity & I was lucky enough be "tagged". Check out my video about being tagged:

As you see, I wanted to continue the spirit of the BeautyBloggers.org charity auction I participated in during the holidays and am donating my $100 to Doctors Without Borders, so they can continue the great work they are doing.

I want to give a big thanks to Proactiv for the contribution in my name and to Jeannine for tagging me in the first place! :)

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

I don't usually wear accessories for a litany of reasons. Like:

• I have enough frontage with the "girls" that I don't need any more reason to draw attention to my chest.
• I have super sensitive ears, so just about any kind of earrings causing them to get infected.
• I have fat fingers, so it's hard to find rings that fit.
• I have big wrists, so it's hard to find bracelets that fit.
• If I find a bracelet that fits, I don't want to wear it because I type to much & it's annoying on the desk.
• A watch? That's what my cell phone is for. Also: see bracelet issues.
• I have no reason to wear a hat, so the only chapeau you will find on my head is a ballcap on lazy hair days.
• Size 11.5W shoes. Really?
• I drive my mom nuts that I don't change out my purses more often - the one I'm carrying holds everything, why change?

But, besides that, I would wear extra stuff all. the. time. Okay, yeah, not really. But the Fashion Gods are continuing to conspire to get me to change my ways. This past trip to NYC, they brought out the big guns - seriously.

I had the opportunity to attend a tweetup at the DVF "Experience Lounge" where CFDA Executive Director Steven Kolb (*he loves some twitter) moderated a discussion panel that included Harper’s Bazaar Accessories Editor Ana Maria Pimentel, jewelers Alexis Bittar, Dean Harris and Philip Crangi, miliner Albertus Swanepoel and shoemaker Alejandro Ingelmo.

After listening to these heavy hitters discuss how accessories are really a personal thing, in expression and in what grabs you, I was inspired to expand my limited accessories wardrobe when I got home. And this is where I started to get discouraged and would love to get your feedback. Finding plus-size jewelry is hard, and so far I feel that I have been limited to Avenue and I would love some more options - that are *affordable*. I hate feeling like some plus-size products hold my wallet hostage & I give up.

So, can you help a girl who actually WANTS dangly bangles, but is stumped? I would appreciate it!

Today is the last day to help me try to win the "Natural Instincts Hair Color Contest". That also means this is the last day that I will have to harass all of you lovely people via Twitter and Facebook to vote for me. Hooray!

While I hope that I haven't been *too* annoying in my vote begging, I want to take a minute to thank all of the wonderful lovelies that have shown me so much support during this voting period. The following beauties were generous enough to share the contest with their blog readers and I want to make sure that you go over and support them, too:

• Anne at BeautyXpose
• Kelly at Gouldylox
• Amber at Beauty Junkies Unite
• G. at Nouveau Cheap
• D. at Beauty Alchemist
• Kari at Fab over 40
• N. at Beauty 411

And, I can't even *begin* to list all of the wonderful folks that have supported me on twitter by RT'ing my begs and letting me know they voted for me and cheered me on via @messages. I sincerely appreciated every single one of your votes/messages/comments that you have left me on my site & on other folks. Not gonna lie - the warm wishes are a bit overwhelming, yet I wholeheartedly lap up each and every one of them. ;)

So, consider this my final beg for your last daily vote on the Natural Instincts contest page, with a side of appreciation thrown in for good measure. xo

Hi guys! I am back & trying to catch up and look back on everything that happened this last week. I just wanted to let you guys know that I a starting to upload some of my backstage videos to my YouTube page, if you want to get a look at what I was seeing before I post about them.

I had a chance to do and see so many things - I can't wait to tell you about it all! :)

If you guys have ever wondered what I tote around with me in my purse all the time for touch-ups, etc (*I know you have, we're all nosy - don't lie.), my loanshark girl, Meredith, from Retrodiva's Beauty has got a post up showing *exactly* what I haul.

Check it out and then let me know what you carry around, because I'm just straight up nosy and will ask you any way. :)

Hey all you NYC lovelies! For one week, beginning Tuesday, June 8th, in celebration of Revolution In Cut, Ric Pipino & his team of expert stylists from Pipino Downtown and Spa Chakra will be on hand to offer blowouts, light styling & color consultations at Henri Bendel's.
Ric himself will be making special appearances at the event on Tuesday, June 8th and Thursday, June 10th from 11am to 7pm. For more info, check the Henri Bendel website or give them a call at 1-800-hbendel.

It's that time of year again - time for The Makeup Show in NYC. It's a trade show of makeup vendors open to the public and pros alike. Last year was my first time to go and I was excited to go again this year.

I have lots of photos, video & info to share with you. However, my kiddo broke his arm, here in Oklahoma, the Saturday night I was in NYC (*I just touched down today and immediately grabbed my liquid love before I even left the airport!). He'll be fine, but he needs doctor visits & surgery on Thursday. So....I might be a bit busy this week before I can give you the full report. Just know, this was another great event that allowed me to talk to so many experts and see so many neat and innovative ideas. I can't wait to tell you all about it.

On Sunday, I was front and center for what I call "my own personal Superbowl" - the OSCARS®. I love all the granduer and glamour associated with it (*and apparently the letter "u") - and get choked up over winners to movies I had never heard before, let alone could pronounce its name. I just get "involved".

Part of the big "pregame" stuff before the show is the "Red Carpet". I love seeing what everyone is wearing & how they are made up. Now, I'm not going to get all "armchair quarterback" on you with my opinions on everyone. I just wanted to point out one actresses' look & how she was made up - and esp about one product that *immediately* caught my eye when I read about it. (*watch the bold words).

-Maggie Gyllenhaal's Oscar beauty look, by COVERGIRL celebrity makeup artist, Molly R. Stern:

"Oscar day with Maggie!!

Maggie is the muse of spring. Her Dries Van Noten gown is a swirl of bright colors that fades into white. For her makeup I wanted to bring out the color of her eyes with some depth while keeping with the brightness of her overall style.

We started off the look by refreshing the skin with Jurlique Rose Water spray. Then I prepped the skin with Shu Uemura red:juvenus vitalizing concentrate and lightly moisturized with La Mer moisturizing lotion.

For a flawless complexion I primed Maggie's skin with COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless Serum Primer (out in July!!).

Then I lightly applied some Chantecaille future skin foundation in the color 'cream' only where she needed it. Then lastly I dusted La Mer powder foundation in 'Ivory' to set the skin for the big night.

For her amber peachy cheeks I used COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless Sculpting Blush in Rich Cinnamon. And dusted some NARS 'dolce vita' blush on the apples.

For Maggie's eyes of layered copper smoke I based her eye with COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast in Bronze Fire.

Next I deepened her lid with NARS soft touch shadow pencil 'skorpios'. Then I blended into the crease Shu Uemura pressed eye shadow 'p brown 810' and lastly I lightly dusted Shu Uemura pressed eyeshadow in 'n me brown 860' all over the lid for a golden finish. For the undereye, I resmudged the
COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast under her lash line to bring out the blue of Maggie's eyes. Finally I defined her lashes by combining brown and black mascara. I painted the lashes with both colors using COVERGIRL LashBlast Length for perfectly flirty long lashes.

On Maggies lips I applied NARS 'schiap' lip color -it was the perfect shade to finish off the look. Its bright hue matches Maggie's vibrant sense of style and confidence.

The finished product was perfection. She looked like herself. Authentic, cool and beautiful. Being a part of Oscar day with a nominee is such an honor. It's like an actress' wedding day with Hollywood. I love being here. I feel so blessed."

Didja see it? Covergirl & Olay are teaming up again for another Simply Ageless product, to complement their existing Foundation, Blush, Concealer and Corrector - for a Primer! I love me some primer. In fact, I should really do a video about some different ones, soon, I think. Anyway...it's not going to be released until July, but I am hoping to get some info sometime May/June timeframe. As soon as I do, you know I'll let you know, too.

You guys - I am so lucky today. I have had the opportunity to "live tweet" the behind the scenes rehearsals, and the pageant itself, for the Mrs. Oklahoma pageant.

If you are on twitter (*and why wouldn't you be?), then follow @TheMrsOKPageant. Or if you *aren't* on twitter (*Why not?), or you just don't want to add to your follower count, you can follow along by searching the hashtag #MrsOK2010.

I do hope you will check in with what is going on here at the pageant, as these lovely ladies have been working very hard and would love the support of their platforms, too.