For our fifth giveaway this year, we are teaming up with Specific Beauty. In honor of their new Clarifying Wash Acne Treatment, Specific Beauty will gift one lucky Blaq Vixen Beauty fan/reader a Specific Beauty Regimen bundle and the Clarfiying Wash Acne Treatment (a $100 value).

Click here to see giveaway requirements and enter.

We are extremely honored as Specific Beauty is the first (ever) skin care collection collection formulated specifically (hence the name) for African American (brown), Latina (olive) and Southeast Asian women (tan). It is also paraben- and fragrance-free! Don't you just love when dermatologists create skin care lines that are effective but affordable? Kudos to Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd!

Also, you can save 15% with our special coupon code "BLAQV15" when you shop at SpecificBeauty.com.

Sun Care at Target

The Specific Beauty Regimen bundle includes:

Clarifying Wash Acne Treatment Cleanser ($8.99). A salicylic acid wash gentle enough for daily use, yet tough enough to get into the pores to help reduce acne blemishes.

Professional Moisture Complex ($14.99). Paraben free moisture complex that uses plant derived ingredients to mimic the structure of natural skin lipids

Daily Gentle Cleanser ($8.99). An ultra gentle cleanser designed to maintain and replenish the skins' natural hydration.

Exfoliating Cleansing Cloths ($6.99). Dual-sided to carefully exfoliate the skin, while providing a deep clean to remove impurities, all without the need to rinse with water.

Daily Hydrating Lotion SPF 30 ($17.99). Daily moisturizer that provides broad spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays with SPF 30.

Night Treatment Complex ($18.99). Lightweight skin brightening formula that helps improve skin texture while you sleep. [La La Vazquez is a fan!]

Skin Brightening Serum ($24.99). A special multi-benefit complex of licorice, antioxidants, retinol and niacinimide - to provide the skin with the ultimate brightening benefits.

To enter (all is required to have your entry counted):

• Be a Specific Beauty FB fan:http://www.facebook.com/SpecificBeauty
• Be a Blaq Vixen Beauty FB fan: http://www.facebook.com/BlaqVixBeauty
• Comment on the corresponding status for this post on our Facebook page along with your email address in this format: your_email at gmail dot com. Let us know you completed the requirements of this giveaway.
• To decrease the risk of spam, please do not type it in this format: youremail@gmail.com.
• Please do not comment anywhere else as it will be deleted and you will not be entered in the contest.
• Have to be in the continential U.S. to win.

Contest will end at 12:01 AM on Monday, September 26, 2011. No other entries will be accepted after that time.

Winner will be announced on this post and our Facebook page. Winner has 24 hours to respond with complete mailing info (name, home/work address, phone number) to blaqvixenbeauty at gmail dot com. If initial winner does not respond within designated time frame, the winner-up will be contacted and so on.

Thanks for entering and good luck!

Editor's note: This giveaway is now over! The winner of my InStyler Rotating Hot Iron giveaway is JASMINE GRACE JOHNSON. Congrats Jasmine!!! If I do not hear from you within 24 hours, I will choose another winner at Random. Thank you to everyone one that entered and please stay tuned for our next giveaway on August 22nd!

Blaq Vixen Beauty and InStyler is teaming up to give one lucky winner a chance to "make waves" with the InStyler! This amazing rotating iron made its debut at the Cia.Maritima Beachwear Show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim 2012. Also, if you haven't read my previous post, check out "How to Recreate Three Hot Styles from the 2011 BET Awards with the InStyler."

Read on to enter!

According to Random.org, the winners of my bareMinerals giveaway are #12 and #1 (lol). Congrats to Tina Renee Barker and Jennifer Doe!! Ladies, please send me your complete contact info (name, address, phone #) to blaqvixenbeauty at gmail dot com. I'll be sending you an email as well. Please try to respond within 24 hours. ;)

Last Friday, the bareMinerals team sent over the Deep Cleansing Foam and the Purely Nourishing Moisturizer for me to review. Five days in my mini bareMinerals regimen, I have the following to say:

I've noticed that the Deep Cleansing Foam ($20, 119g/4.2 Oz) is definitely rich - if you stick to using a pea-sized amount, this cleanser could last anywhere from three to six months. My skin was a little flaky around my T-area but I just chalked it up to the cleanser "delivering faster cell turnover." This is in my top three favorite cleansers as the foam didn't leave my face feeling tight or "stripped."

Read more to enter...

Finally, I'm announcing the winner! I used Random.org to pick a winner. Here were the results:

Read more!

As a college student and a blogger, you would think that I would keep my laptop in optimum condition, right? Well, two laptops later, I still haven't learned my lesson. Recently, I had a Comcast repair technician tell me that my slow PC, my Acer Aspire One, was "crap." Even though I didn't want to admit it at the time, I knew he was right.

How healthy is your computer?

This giveaway has ended!!! The winners of the Design Essentials giveaway are Regina Pearl and Jamilia Sutton! Ladies, please send me a message with your name, address AND phone number!

Our first holiday giveaway is with Design Essentials! They have graciously offered to give 2 (two) Blaq Vixen Beauty readers two holiday prize packs which includes products from the regular line and the Natural line:

Products in this prize pack include the Sleek Edge Control, Moisture Retention Conditioning Shampoo, Express Instant Moisturizing Conditioner and Details High Gloss Setting Lotion.

Edit: The products in the second holiday prize pack were changed by Design Essentials earlier today. Instead of four products, there are only two products up for grabs - the Natural Curl Cleanser Sulfate-Free Shampoo and the Natural Daily Moisturizing Lotion. We are so sorry for the inconvenience ladies!

Interested? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me something about your hair  - how you wear it for the holidays, what products you swear by, why do you wear your hair relaxed or natural, etc. - you can tell me whatever you want! I want to know. ;) Also, tell me which prize pack you would like to have. You can increase your chances by:

• Clicking the RT button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
• Becoming a fan of the Blaq Vixen Beauty Facebook Fan Page and joining the Design Essentials Facebook Fan Page.

This giveaway will be live until Monday, December 20 at 11:59 PM PST. Winners will be announced on this post, on our Facebook page and by email. If the winners do not respond by email within 24 hours, new winners will be chosen and notified by email.

Good luck vixens! To find out more information about Design Essentials and their new Natural line, visit their website.

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.

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!

I received the actual prizes two days ago and there's been a change: You'll receive the Suave Skin Therapy Vitamin E Moisturizer, Suave Naturals Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Body Wash and the Suave Naturals Wild Cherry Blossom Indulgent Body Wash. Also, the contest has been extended to July 24th, so there's plenty of time to follow my blog if you change your mind!

Contest over...will not be accepting any other entries. Thank you!

Quick! What's the connection between Suave, Holly Robinson Peete and Blaq Vixen Beauty?

We all want to remind you to take the time to indulge in the small things - you know, the things that make you feel beautiful, you busy vixen! That's the purpose of the "Shower Yourself Beautiful" campaign in which Suave Skin and Holly Robinson Peete have recently started. In the process, you can add a new product to your "Gotta Get It" list: the fairly new Suave Naturals Wild Cherry Blossom Indulgent Body Wash.

You should also make an effort to indulge in the "Shower Yourself Beautiful" sweepstakes. Every week leading up to July 27th, take a minute to log on and create your "dream registry" for a chance to win all the products that your deserving heart desires and to win the grand prize - a lavish at-home shower for you and your best homegirls!

I thought this was so awesome that I have teamed up with Suave to give three (3) Blaq Vixen Beauty blog followers a "Shower Yourself Beautiful" beauty bundle which consists of the Suave Naturals Wild Cherry Blossom Indulgent Body Wash ($1.99), Suave Naturals Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Body Wash ($1.99) and Suave Skin Therapy Vitamin E Moisturizer ($2.95). I definitely cannot wait to try these three products myself since I am all over anything involving cherries and cocoa butter!

What makes this particular contest different from my other giveaways is that to qualify, you have to be an a follower of my blog. If you followed my blog on Blogger, please take a few minutes to register for OnSugar so your entry can be counted...if you want to enter the contest!

In addition, I ask that you leave a comment with your email address. Or if you prefer, you can personally email me (by Contactify) with your OnSugar username and email address so I know to count you that way. By the way, it's free! Just register and be sure to follow my blog! Or if you just prefer not to make an account, sign up to receive email updates for my blog. Just be sure to let me know who you are!

Three (3) entries will be chosen at random among the entrants (followers). This giveaway will end Friday, July 24 at 11:59 AM (CST). On Monday, July 27, Blaq Vixen Beauty will announce the winners' names. Only one entry per person, please; entering multiple times will not increase your chances of winning. This Suave Naturals Wild Cherry Blossom giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Please use an email address that you check often. Thanks for entering and good luck!