This every day at-home spa guide features inexpensive recipes, beauty treatments, and tips for head-to-toe beauty. Douglas and Pearlman are the best selling authors of The Black Book of Hollywood Beauty Secrets; in this new book they offer beauty tips to adhere to in these eco-conscious, economically challenged times.

Anything from fresh lemon juice to olive oil can help you achieve smoother, fresher more vibrant skin and hair – all in the convenience of your own home. Here’s a tip from a Victoria’s Secret model on how to restore hair after it is scorched and ironed; mix one tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon and one teaspoon of olive oil, and slather your hair with it, focusing on putting more product on split ends. Leave on over night and wake up to restored, glossy, and super shiny hair. Be sure to sleep on an old pillow case when doing this, the oil residue will wreck your linens.

Women who have kids probably always have some spare Cheerios lying around the house – so why not use them for a facial treatment? Just grab a handful of the cereal, a teaspoon of honey, and few drops of fresh lemon. Blend the Cheerios until they are a fine powder, and once refined, mix in the honey and add the drops of lemon, and voila you have the perfect ingredients for a facial scrub. Apply the mixture to your face, and leave on for 10 minutes. Rinse with warm water, and feel smoother, more vibrant skin.

So, before leaving the house to buy expensive salon products, look in your pantry, fridge, and medicine cabinet first – you may already have the right mixture for an at-home facial, hair treatment, or moisturizer.

Want more tips that have been created and culled from Pearlman and Douglas? Beauty Chat will be giving away The Beauty Cookbook to one lucky winner. To enter to win this ultimate at-home guide, just leave a comment below with one of your “secret” beauty tips for your skin, hair, nails, or face. One of my useful tricks is to apply baby powder to my roots when I don’t have time to wash my hair. The powder absorbs the oils, and immediately makes my hair appear fresher. Share some of yours with me! A winner will be announced on March 26th.

And there’s still time to enter to win a basket of beauty goodies too! Be sure to check out our survey and giveaway!

Photo Credit: Amazon and Cheerios

In addition to providing Beauty Chat for y’all, our company is also home to several other websites, including iEnhance.com, PlasticSurgery.com, and CosmeticSurgery.com. So the writers of Beauty Chat also spend their time contributing to these online properties.

Beauty Chat was actually developed based on the idea that beauty isn’t just about surgery; it’s about finding beauty within and working your way outwards. Skincare, makeup, and fashion all contribute to enhancing your image, which are commonly the subjects of our conversations with you!

So, in order to serve your needs and continue to create a place where you can feel at ease browsing around and reading up on your favorite topics, we have created a survey for you to take. Not only would we simply appreciate this, as it will help to gauge the direction of our articles, but there is also something in it for you too!

As a thank you for being a loyal Beauty Chat fan, we have put together a basket of goodies. By filling out our survey and commenting on this post, you will be entered to win a basket of skincare and beauty products.

This contest, in which the winner will be randomly chosen, will last about two weeks – ’til March 19th! Thank you again for being so fabulous.

Chat with ya soon!

Elana

Photo Credit: Zazzle

Thank you to our readers for participating in our Kiss Down Under sample contest by sharing your hilarious personal grooming stories, we had tons of fun reading them! Although we would love to give out prizes to all of the participants, we had to choose just one winner and there was definitely one story that stood out from the rest!

So congratulations to Alicia!!!

Thanks again to everyone who participated and be on the lookout for another Kiss Down Under giveaway in the near future!

Photo Credit: Kiss Down Under

When we got a delivery from Kiss Down Under, I was pretty excited about it because I have wanted to try this stuff since I first read about it originally sometime last year.

I started out with the Unisex Cleansing Wash, which is meant to be a personal grooming wash for the pubic area (or as I like to call them “Top Secret Lady Parts.”) Kiss Down Under advertises this product as being guaranteed to give you a “wow” sensation, all while providing you with a stern warning as to how much of the product to use. Being that I am a fairly paranoid person when it comes to the care and maintenance of my nether regions, I took this warning seriously and only used a very small amount of the cleansing wash, which I lathered up with water prior to applying it to my body.

Let me just tell you, Kiss Down Under was not kidding about the wow… actually if I’m being honest, I’d say my bodily reaction was something more along the lines of “Owwww.” Let’s just say that it felt like I had covered my lady area with Icy Hot. Although that sensation lasted no longer than the space of time it took me to wash and condition my hair, it was a shocking experience.

When I got out of the shower, I applied the Unisex After Grooming Gel, which is an anti-bacterial “down there” moisturizer that actually helps fight off things like razor burn, chaffing and itching. I really liked this stuff! Its gentle, doesn’t burn when applied right after shaving, and prevented me from getting bumpy in the following couple of days, which ALWAYS happens to me. I was impressed with the results of the After Grooming Gel and definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall, I would say that these products are certainly unique and that they should be tried out. I have a feeling that many women would thoroughly enjoy the tingling sensation that comes along with the Unisex Cleansing Wash, you just have to get past the idea of your lady parts smelling like a pack of Spearmint gum.

We have a really cool little sample pack to give away that contains all of the Kiss Down under products. Do you have a funny or embarrassing story about personal grooming that you’d like to share? The commenter with the funniest story (to be judged by our Beauty Chatters) will win the sample pack! Contest ends on April 15th, 2009.

Photo Credit: Kiss Down Under

Here’s how she contributes:

“I give back to the community because I participate in a lot of things. One of the programs I participate in at school is JROTC. In this class you learn about giving back to others and being a responsible and dedicated leader and a team player. We go over to the middle school every Wednesday and read to the kids that are struggling in their reading classes. I love reading to them because it makes me feel good that I have helped someone out. I also participate in sports, which include volleyball, softball, and I also did the drill team which was a lot of fun.”

We hope you enjoy your gifts!

Photo Credit: RF Binder

She said:

“I keep my skin smooth by exfoliating and using lotion with 10%AHA in it. The AHA does wonders for flakies! The only down side is that you MUST wear sunscreen because the AHA will make your skin more easily burnt.”

Congratulations! We hope One with Nature’s Dead Sea Soap can help her maintain her already silky, smooth skin!

Photo Credit: One With Nature

Beauty Chat

All of our Beauty Chatters are always happy to help those in our communities.

Another exciting tidbit about these parties is that Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter, Ashanti was the host for the kick-off party in New York.

As part of our involvement with Johnson’s Body Care Cause Party, my fellow Beauty Chatter, Audrey, and I had the chance to speak with her ourselves!

During our round table call, Ashanti shared her fave Johnson’s products:

• Johnson’s Body Care 24 Hour Lotion
• Johnson’s Body Care Moisturizing Body Wash
• Johnson’s Baby Oil Gel with Shea & Cocoa Butter

Now we’re offering our readers the chance to try them out, too! Just leave a comment telling us how you give back to your community and we’ll pick one lucky winner on Monday, April 6th. Good luck to everyone!

Photo Credit: RF Binder

Which is exactly the concept behind the products made by One with Nature – by taking the minerals from the Dead Sea, they have created products that help to deliver naturally, silky, beautifully scented skin.

In addition to containing Dead Sea minerals, One with Nature is 100% vegetable based, wrapped in biodegradable packaging, never animal tested, contains no artificial fragrances, and infused with shea butter, aloe, and pure essential oils. If you are looking for skin care products that are all-natural and good for the environment, One with Nature may be the perfect choice for you.

If you want to give your skin an invigorating experience, check out One with Nature’s Web site to see all of the products they offer. Or you may leave a comment below telling us how you keep your skin silky smooth and we will pick a winner at random on April 1st (this isn’t an April Fool’s joke either). The winner will get a chance to try out three of the scents of One with Nature’s Dead Sea Mineral Soap! Good luck!

Photo Credit: Natural Home

Happy Friday everyone!

Thank you to everyone who entered our Hot Pants giveaway, we had a lot of entries! Unfortunately, we are only able to choose one and we picked…Diane!

Congratulations! We hope you enjoy your lipgloss and OP ART eye color!

Thank you to all of our wonderful readers for entering our Kiss My Face SOS lip products giveaway. We received a lot of great comments and tips.

Here are our favorites:

Michelle: I use a lip balm frequently to keep them moisturized and I try very hard not to lick my lips. When I forget is usually the time I go through my lizard lips stage, then I have to break out the moisturizer at night before I go to sleep.

Ashley: I love love love Smith’s Rosebud Salve. It’s got a great silky texture that makes lips feel hydrated.

Clinique makes a great repairwear lip balm that helps heal fine lip lines, but I love the moisture that it gives during the windy season. Their Superbalm lipbalm is good too, but it some of the colors aren’t very pigmented and they tend to all look the same after a while.

I like Burt’s Bee’s….I’m addicted to the burn! DuWop makes a product called LipVenom that burns and makes lips plump for those who lack luscious lips!

Estee Lauder is known for their signature hydrating lipsticks. The colors are variable and the moisture is insane!

Aveda’s glosses are great because their made with a breath freshener, love that!

I’m a lip junkie.

It’s like I got ADD of the mouth

Rooann: i love kiss my face products! i haven’t tried these yet, but i’ve been hearing great things about them & the colors look really cute (a nice range). i use kiss my face cleanser, it works amazing and is very gentle and it also smells like orange creamsicles!

to keep my lips hydrated i try to keep product off of them, i find that most products make my lips even drier or accentuate the dry-ness. if i do use product, i opt for ones with natural ingredients and no preservatives/synthetics, etc.. products like kiss my face!

Congratulations to our winners!

Photo Credit: Kiss My Face