Mama’s got a brand new bag.  To my list of all-time favorite beauty obsession lines (including Bare Escentuals, Nude Skincare, Lancome, JolieMD and Shu Uemura), I now add LiQWD hair care!

I discovered LiQWD a few months back, tried the products, and then was blown away by them, particularly the Volumizing line.  (Um, seriously.  Volumizing Catalyst?  Where you been all my life, baby?)  When Cameron Diaz showed up at the Academy Awards, her hair stealing the show, I wasn’t surprised to discover that her bouncy side sweep was courtesy of LiQWD (and stylist Lona Vigi).  So now, full disclosure, I’m working with them as a beauty consultant, hoping to help get the word out about this fan-freaking-tastic line.  That means you.

The entire line features Color-Safe Technology and Nano-Hydraspheres (next-gen nanotechnology), designed to help the ingredients more effectively penetrate the hair shaft, getting down to the inner cortex.  This equals volume and hydration from the inside-out, without weighing hair down, and longer-lasting color that won’t fade or wash-out.  Plus: the products smell ridiculously great, to the point where every review mentions the delicious scent.

Want to try LiQWD for yourself and see why I’m singing its praises from the rooftop (and why the bottles are taking over my bathroom)?  Help them get the word out, and you’ll automatically be entered into a contest this week to win the entire line!  All you have to do is follow @LIQWD on Twitter and then re-tweet “Want the best hair day of your life? RT to win the @LiQWD nanotechnology hair line and discover the difference for yourself!”

One US winner will be chosen at random from the retweets next Friday.  Good luck!

Exciting news: the venture I’ve been working on the past year as Creative Director, JolieMD Metamorphosis, launches today!

Created by Beverly Hills Facial Plastic Surgeons Dr. Peyman Solieman and Dr. Jason Litner, Metamorphosis is a two-step kit designed for all ethnicities (don’t worry, it’s paraben-free, hydroquinone-free, phthalate-free…and just generally without any of the nasties you don’t want) that will walk your dog, do your laundry, and give you a massage after a candlelit dinner.

Well, okay.  Obviously, it doesn’t do that…but it really does approach skincare-panacea territory!  Here are the highlights: Metamorphosis evens pigmentation, reduces redness, diminishes fine lines and wrinkles, brightens your complexion, and calms the triggers of new discoloration including acne, inflammation, and sun damage.

Most skincare products you’ll use have a low percentage of actives (normally around 2% or 3%) – meanwhile both step 1 Softening Serum and step 2 Enlightening Lotion, designed to be used in tandem at night after your favorite cleanser, are chock-a-block with acids, peptides, antioxidants, and extracts, all at significant, effective percentages and levels.

I’m super excited for you all to finally have a chance to try it out yourself.  The kit costs $96 for both products–more than some of my readers can afford, for which I send you my very sincerest apologies!!  However, it’s been very illuminating learning about the realities of how and why beauty products are priced (not to mention packaged and manufactured) the way they are.  If I could give this stuff away for free, I would–I believe that strongly in its results.  (Check out the clinical testing information here.)

Thank you so much for your support along the way, and if you buy JolieMD Metamorphosis and like it, please spread the word!  We’re currently available at JolieMD.com, and will soon be available at DermStore.com, and at Studio Beautymix at Fred Segal in LA, and at CO Bigelow in NY.

xo, Nadine

So says a recent article in the Daily Mail that I discovered on BellaSugar (one of my favorite beauty blogs!).  While everybody used to yammer on and on about facial symmetry, now it turns out “the evenness and glow of a woman’s skin” are the key factors.  It all comes back to reproduction: those with glowing skin must have better genes, so think modern-day Neanderthals, and are therefore worthy of mating with.  (Whether all of these highly picky men peering at your pores are worthy in return is another story.)

Bueno!  Yet another reason to get on board the Bare Escentuals Express: a little Bare Minerals followed by Clear Radiance (my holy grail product for fabulous-looking skin and an airbrush-miracle in a jar), and you’re good to go. 

And T-minus 1 month until JolieMD Metamorphosis is released, which was designed to (gasp!  how timely!) make skin more radiant, even-toned, brighter and all-around healthier.  It will not do your laundry and it will not snag you a man, but at least your complexion will look freaking fabulous.

Huge news! Our new skincare venture, JolieMD, was recently featured in the beauty and fashion industry’s bible Women’s Wear Daily.  To wit: we launch in December at Studio Beautymix at Fred Segal in LA and at CO Bigelow in New York…with more retailers coming soon.

The line, meanwhile, which I co-created with Dr. Jason Litner and Dr. Peyman Solieman, two facial plastic surgeons (known around these parts as “the docs“), is a problem-solution line, with our first product Metamorphosis, designed to treat hyperpigmentation problems, like uneven tone, post-acne marks, sun damage and even help reduce melasma.

I can’t wait for it to finally go on sale so you all can try it for yourselves.  This has been the main thrust of what I’ve been working on since last December, and there have been a lot of challenges.  How to create something effective…but which is also glamorous?  We wanted the line to work for women of all ethnicities, at any age…and not just work, but excel. (more…)

I’ve missed you all!  My blog has been down for the past week, and you wouldn’t believe how much I’ve been tearing my hair out over it.  (Thank you a million times over to my little brother, P., who spent hours fixing it.)  Luckily, it happened while I was in New York, so I’m betting most readers probably just thought I was too busy living the high life to get to my computer.  Not the case!  I actually spent an hour posting on Tuesday night, only to have my hard “work” (okay, I was posting about a hair giveaway, but still) vanish into thin air.  Alas.  Them’s the breaks!

New York was amazing but exhausting.  I traveled with my business partners in our new skincare venture, JolieMD, to present the products to magazine editors, which brought everything full circle.  Standing in the lobby of the Conde Nast building, where I first stepped foot as a 20-year-old, was quite a trip as I reflected on what’s happened these past four years.  It was very much a “Nadine, this is your life” moment.  I also turned 29 while in New York (um…I mean, 23) so now begins the last year of my twenties.  Hoping to make it one for the ages!

On Tuesday, The Fairest launches.  I’m nervous and excited, and have my unmanicured fingers tightly crossed that it all goes off without a hitch.  (Of course, it won’t, but that’s to be expected.)  Please join me there on Tuesday–TheFairest.com–and for those of you on Twitter, be sure to follow @the_fairest for a fantabulous kick-off prize!

Love in lipgloss!

xo, Nadine