Blaq Vixen Beauty

Miracle Skin Transformer (MST) is hosting a pre-launch "Ten Friends, One Miracle" Facebook promotion to give everyone who's interested a chance to try their newest next-generation, 3-in-1 concealer. MST says that Treat & Conceal is "the first-ever naturally derived silicone based concealer."

As I mentioned on Twitter, Treat & Conceal covers skin imperfections, under-eye circles, fine lines, wrinkles, blemishes and dark spots - something that I really want to try right now. This seemingly miraculous product will be available for purchase at www.miracleskintransformer.com for $36 on April 1st. What a treat, right? Of course, you'll need to sign up 10 friends before April.

This promotion started two days ago but if you can sign up 10 friends at http://www.miracleskintransformer.com/site/10-friends-1-miracle-2/ and get them to become a fan of their Facebook fan page, MST will send you a complimentary full-size tube of Treat & Conceal. This offer is only valid for U.S. residents.

Some benefits of Treat & Conceal:

• Instantly conceals darkness & redness and visibly diminishes signs of aging with collagen and cerasomes.
• Treat, correct and cover any problem area on your skin including pigmentation.
• Natural plant complex & powerful antioxidants vitamin K & F

In the Winter-Spring 2011 issue of NewBeauty (one of my favorite magazines), you can read about the "best of the best" in the NewBeauty Beauty Choice Awards. On their blog, they posted a sneak peek of the top-pick products in the body, hair, makeup skin, smile and spa categories. What makes this an even sweeter deal is that one lucky DailyBeauty reader will score an assortment of award-winning products totaling $200.

To enter, tweet: Hey @NewBeauty! I want to win a Beauty Choice Awards bundle between Friday, January 28th, 2011 and Sunday, January 30 (before 11:59 PM EST). You have to tweet that exact message or you won't be entered in the contest. Only tweets posted between this time period will count. Multiple tweets will not improve your chances of winning unfortunately! The winner will be announced on Twitter on Monday.

Which brands and products were winners in the 2011 NewBeauty Beauty Choice Awards?

Did you know that Roz May PR launched their Cyber Monday/Holiday giveaway at noon (PST) today? Up for grabs is a gift basket stuffed to the brim with goodies from Revitalash, Aromatherapaes, Good Clean Fun and 3LAB. In order to enter the giveaway, visit the Roz May PR Facebook and become a fan and follow them on Twitter.

This giveaway is only open for two weeks and is only open to fans in the US. The winner will be randomly chosen at random on Monday, December 13th.

Afro Mud Flap Girl Earrings, $8.99 at Girlprops. Also available in silver.

Have you ever heard of "Happy Black Girl Day" before? I didn't until PrettyBrownGirl (of 52 Flavors and Dirty Pretty Thangs) mentioned it on Twitter. Happy Black Girl Day was created by Sister Toldja of The Beautiful Struggler back in January of this year. She originally christened the 7th of every month Happy Black Girl Day but she recently changed it to the second Wednesday of every month. So Happy Black Girl Day to all of you glorious girls out there!

In honor of this event, I decided that I would showcase some of my favorite items that I found on Etsy that "represent you and yours from day one:"

From left: Billie Holiday ring, $22.99; Dorothy Dandridge ring, $22.99 - both from PopBangles. Lena Horne Legendary Diva Button Style Pocket Mirror, $3.50 from Creative Clam.

Based on some of your responses on Twitter, it seems like Bare Escentuals was either a hit or miss. However, I am inviting you to truly be a visionary in 20/10 - join Bare Escentuals' "Rethink What Matters" campaign. What is Blaq Vixen Beauty rethinking? You'll find out soon in due time! In the meantime, what are you rethinking for 20/10?

Every week on Friday, Bare Escentuals will feature a new discussion topic  for you to rethink. For example, today's topic is "Rethink What Freedom Feels Like." As a sort of "thank you for participating" gift, 500 of you will instantly win the bareMinerals Blush - get rather cheeky...with bareMinerals Blush!

Made with 100% pure bare Minerals, this silky blush provides the most natural, good-for-you cheek color available. Offered in a wide range of shades, bareMinerals Blush imparts a long-lasting color that may be worn alone or paired with other bareMinerals All Over Face Colors for additional dimension and texture.

This blush is free of preservatives, talc, oil, waxes, dyes, binders, fillers and fragrances.

Available in Aubergine, Beauty, Bronze, Compassion, Dawn, Dusk, First Class, Flowers, Fresh, Fruit Cocktail, Giddy Pink, Glory, Hint, I'm Amused Rogue, Joyous Jennifer, Kiss, Laughter, Lovely, Poppy, Thistle, Tranquil, Trendsetter, Tulip, Velvet and Vintage Peach.

While you might be anxious to be one of the 500 instant winners, there's an even bigger prize to covet. At the end of March, Bare Escentuals will announce the grand prizer winner, who will have the splendid opportunity of a lifetime to choose a trip to one of the world's most fabulous places like Paris, Costa Rica, Turks and Caicos, Italy or Asia! Unfortunately, this is only available for those of you who reside in the United States (US).

But for now, go on the site, answer the questions, tell your friends, share on Twitter, Facebook...this campaign will run up until March 26, with the last question question appearing on March 19, so get your rethinking on!

Rai from LA.MORENA has teamed up with Bare Escentuals to give two (2) lucky readers a chance to win the Flawless Definition Mascara. The giveaway will end on February 5 at 11:59 PM CST. Click here to read more information about the Flawless Definition Mascara and how to improve your chances of winning!

Stay tuned as Blaq Vixen Beauty will be teaming up with Bare Escentuals on February 5th to host a giveaway. Up for grabs is the bareMinerals SPF 15 Foundation!

Up to 50% Off select Bare Escentuals products at Sephora.com.

Enough with the advertisements and promotions...let's get down to the good stuff!

Today, I received an email from Kush Magazine, which is a publication for women of color in the United Kingdom. I'm the new resident writer for their Beauty Buzz section! It seems so surreal to say that but it's true. This is the first offer that I've received that's actually gone through. I was supposed to write for the beauty section for a local newspaper but that is still in progress.

Next, on August 24th, I'll be attending St. Philip's College in San Antonio. I recently changed my major from pre-nursing to journalism. This will be the first I've stepped into a classroom since high school. For my first and second semesters, I took classes online at Kansas City Kansas Community College. Now, for my third semester, I have four subjects that are in a classroom setting and one online. One of the Airmen from my unit is in my class. I'm excited but at the same time I am nervous as hell. I have Speech this semester and when I'm nervous, talking isn't one of my strengths. We'll see how that goes.

Recently, Tia Lanell and I have teamed up for Brush Talk here on Blaq Vixen Beauty. I don't talk too much about my brush collection but since I'm planning to buy some more soon, I'd figured now would be a good time. The latest brushes I bought were back in April, when I was in Mississippi for TDY. I bought the Face Powder Brush with Folding Mini Brush from Elizabeth Arden as well as their 5-Piece Brush Essentials Set. I didn't bring my ecoTOOLS brush set because I didn't think that I was going to buy any makeup. Since I'm not a morning person, I didn't think that I would be waking up early to apply makeup. I should've known better because I ended up buying makeup! I bought a two lip glosses, six brushes and a foundation. That's not too bad, right? :) Anyway, the first installment is in draft. Stay tuned for that! We'll be talking about brushes that we own, have tried and our favorites. We will also spill what we use to clean our brushes. Just today, Tia told me that she was on a beauty forum when she read that one member uses extra virgin olive oil (yes, the type that you get from the grocery store) to clean her brushes! I knew extra virgin olive oil was good for the hair but didn't know that it was great for cleaning brushes. I hope to have it up either today or next week. But I'm shooting for today though.

Yesterday, I was contacted by BeautyTicket to do a giveaway here on Blaq Vixen Beauty. Now, before, I was swearing off of giveaways for a while, since my last handful of giveaways proved to be a hassle. However, I've changed my mind! For my latest giveaway, I'm giving away a 8-Piece Living Water Spa Set from Borghese. Worth $189, you can snag this luxurious at-home spa set for $49.99 for a savings of $139.01! You can save even more by using my special coupon code for all my lovely blaq vixens! This giveaway starts on Monday so don't forget to stop by and enter your name for a chance to win! For those of you who won my Suave giveaway, trust, I haven't forgotten about you!

Lastly, I volunteered to do a guest beauty review on A Girl's Gotta Spa! I'll be reviewing Freeman's Bare Foot Peppermint and Plum Creamy Pumice Foot Scrub. This isn't the only scent available, as I recently learned. If Peppermint & Plum doesn't sound appealing, you can choose from Iced Teaberry and Mint or Lemon and Sage.  Although it's not as popular as Olay Thermal Pedicure, it is formulated for us who stay up on our foot game. If you have minimal dry skin on your heels and between your toes, you'll benefit from this. If you need something heavy duty, please get the Thermal Pedicure! However, Freeman also has a self-warming version of this product if you're interested. You know, I am instantly reminded of what happened when I went shopping with my best friend. We were at Wal-Mart in the bath aisle. I told her how much I loved Olay Thermal Pedicure and how much I loved the warming sensation. When she saw that it cost about $8, she instantly grabbed the Freeman version. She told me, "$8?! I don't have money like that!" How ironic, when she can easily drop $100+ on sexy lingerie at Victoria's Secret! Let me stop!

You know, sometimes it seems like I have a million-and-one things going on here on Blaq Vixen Beauty. At the moment, I have my How to Stay Feminine in Uniform series, my interviews with beauty editors and people that I admire in general, Skincare Sundays and many more series that I started last year. So yeah, that editorial calendar that I started at the beginning of this year is definitely going to come in handy once my mind shows down and I get more organized. But here is the begining of another series.

What makes this one different is that I've asked some of the beauty editors that have inspired me to guest post on Blaq Vixen Beauty. That way, not only do you get my knowledge, but they're knowledge as well. And besides, at a year and two months (or 14 months), Blaq Vixen Beauty is barely a year old. I'm still learning how to approach things like giveaways, sponsored posts, advertising, link exchanges, social media - stuff like that. I'm also learning how to develop a thick skin and not be so sensitive. That's one of my weaknesses. I get hurt easily and I'm always trying to please people.

However, several wonderful people on Twitter and by email, reminded me that I started my site for myself. Asking absolute strangers for their thoughts will  always lead me to second guess myself and try, in vain, to please them. That's crazy. They're right. Why stress myself out when there are people out there that would love to see me fail? I'll be damned.

The inspiration for this series came after I read an article on a group that I belong to. One of the members took the time to write a basic article on how to approach PR firms for samples. While I was reading it, I could tell it was written for the beginner blogger who was unfamiliar with the pitching process. However, I still found it useful. Unfortunately, one of the members found it appropriate to come off as the "goddess of beauty blogging," like you couldn't tell her anything about running an online publication.

She said that she was the creator of a site (even posted a link), and that she's been reviewing products for over 12 years online. This is the kicker (at least to me). She downgraded the quality of the article, calling it "ok" and "elementary." She referred to writing, reviewing and obtaining samples as a "fine art." She then said that you had to earn your contacts and respect from your online peers.

Before I read her comment, I knew of her. But after reading her comment, I didn't want to personally know her. Her comment wasn't even directed to me yet I got offended for the author of that article.

Let me tell you something: I do not care if you were the first official beauty blogger. It is not in good taste to belittle newer bloggers. Ever. If anything, she should have offered to write an article detailing the do's and don'ts of pitching if she had so much experience. If she found the article to be not to her liking, she shouldn't have commented. You may disagree but that's just the way I feel. She talks about earning the respect of the online community but yet she comes off as arrogant. That's not how you earn respect. "How ironic that bloggers who have been around much less have surpassed her in terms of traffic, readership and popularity?" Oh yeah, and they're humble.

So I found a more positive way to channel my disappointment: start a series for the beginning beauty blogger and here it is. I can document what I learned, neat sites and tools, etc. here. I'm happy that I had the courage to speak up. I'm also happy that I can now help other beginning beauty bloggers! If this appeals to you, tell me what you'd like to see so I'll have an idea of what to feature.

But before I go, I want to share Wendy Felton's "A Glossed Over Guide: Becoming a Big-Time Beauty Editor." This guide isn't meant to be taken seriously but it's entertaining. The whole site is entertaining in fact. I see it as a reminder to stay true to yourself and not be sucked in by the media.