Wish you could get up out of bed and be instantly prettier? Of course you do. If you could altogether avoid or cut in half the daunting task of dolling yourself up for the day – wouldn’t you? Absolutely!

Well, now you can with this list of 5 ways to wake up prettier. No more of those days at work having someone tell you, “Ooh, you look tired.” Nope! You can kiss those days goodbye.

Shower it – then braid it

If you want to achieve that nice wavy look, then stick to this old motherly secret. You’ve heard the saying, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, this bedtime beauty secret is old school for a reason – it’s not broke, so don’t fix it!

Double layer it

Wearing primer over skincare products at night might sound odd, but it allows them to sink in and work their magic. Try it out if you’re a non-believer and see how good you look in the morning.

Keep it tamed

Want to protect yourself from the reincarnation of ‘80s riot hair? Then flip your hair upside down, pull it into a ponytail and secure it tightly (but not too tight – you’ve got to sleep comfortably after all) with a hair tie. No more striking a morning pose looking like Madonna.

The rub

You’re not the only one who wants to be comfortable when you lay yourself down to sleep at night. Your skin wants – no, deserves – to be comfy, too. Next time, moisturize yourself all over – elbows, knees, toes, ankles, armpits. If you can name it – moisturize it.

Get the glow

Self tanner is an important beauty product for maintaining exceptionally vibrant skin throughout the year. The best time to apply it? Right before bed. By self-tanning before bed and letting it dry overnight, you’ll find yourself waking up radiant-er.

By utilizing these 5 beauty-before-bedtime tips, you’ll be well on your way to waking up prettier and saving yourself that bothersome task of getting ready in the morning.

It seems like there’s a smartphone app for anything and everything these days. Now the beauty industry is even benefitting from our mobile devices.  You can check prices, read reviews, and test out hairstyles and nail polish colors with a simple click on your cell phone.  What’s next — sampling perfume scents and trying on lipstick?  Ok, maybe not yet, but here are our current top five favorite beauty apps for your iPhone or smartphone.

1. OPI’s iPhone app — Before you head to your manicure check out OPI’s iPhone app.  Instead of wasting time at the salon you can “try on” shades virtually.  The app gives you the chance to check out OPI’s latest colors without having to use any finger nail polish remover!

2. Sephora to Go — Our favorite beauty store now comes in the palm of our hand! Literally! This app allows you to shop, review past purchases, make a shopping wish list, post ratings and reviews, and scan bar codes for product information.

3. TotalBeauty.com — Never pay for a beauty product you don’t like or won’t use again! With this app you can read unbiased reviews of 45,000 products on your phone before you go shopping.
4. iStylist Makeover — This app allows you to load a photo of yourself and see how you’d look in a wide range of hairstyles and colors. Want to see what others think? Easy! You can post the potential hairstyle on Facebook.
5. MakeupTagg — With MakeupTagg, you can find makeup recommendations based on your eye color, hair and skin tone.  The best thing about it?  You receive three suggestions for each makeup category and at different price points depending on what you want to spend.

Ready to take your passion for the beauty industry from the smartphone into real life? Start looking into beauty school today!

Hollywood magic and the power of photo shop welcomes us into a daily life of false perceptions. Imagine if you could wash off the concealer and lipstick, take off the fake eyelashes, wipe down the blush and the highlighting eye shadows, do away with the bronzer, volumizer and hairspray, and undo the curls to see the real person, the real untouched  beauty. How would that person really appear?

The Self-Esteem Fund is Dove’s way of trying to change the Western concept of beauty being conceptualized as ultra-thin models and instead making every woman feel positive about their looks. The Dove Self Esteem 2006 campaign that is still surfacing demonstrates exceptionally clever, online-based short films promoting self-esteem and perception. These thought-provoking ads are meant to build confidence and send messages that embrace all levels of beauty teaching us today’s beauty standards displayed in our favorite celebrities and highly-sought after supermodels are made up of false, photo shopped perceptions.

Watch to see what ordinary billboard models like look before being touched up:

How does the Dove Self Esteem campaign make you feel now?

In an attempt to compete with retailers like Sephora and Ulta, Macy’s is debuting a new self-serve beauty department in select stores around the country. These new beauty outposts have been named “Impulse Beauty”, and are designed to let customers peruse their favorite brands at their leisure.

I, for one, am glad to see this kind of presentation. I prefer to test out a product on my own, rather than have a sales person try it on me. What remains to be seen is whether or not customers feel less pressured by commissioned sales people to make a purchase.

What are your thoughts? Would you like to make your department store beauty purchases in an area like “Impulse Beauty”, or do you prefer traditional beauty counters? Share!

DIY-beauty can be a great way to save some dough. But if you’re thinking you have to resort to crazy (and smelly…) tactics involving mayonnaise, egg yolks or other odd kitchen items, think again!

Here are a few affordable (even totally free in some cases) ways to look and feel your very best with the help of common household items.

Great Hair

1.       Pump up the volume

Try adding mousse into your hairstyling routine. It brings more bang for the buck than some other hair-pumping products.

Another (totally free!) way to add some lift to your ‘do is by blow-drying your hair upside down. Flip your hair over and dry the hair away from the scalp. When it’s barely damp, flip it back and continue styling.

2.       Bring out the shine

Add a weekly hot-oil treatment to your beauty regimen. Sound expensive? It doesn’t have to be! Pick up some jojoba oil (you can find it at natural food stores for around $10) and substitute this for pricier hair-repair products.  Just spread the oil generously through dry hair, pop on a plastic shower cap, and cover your head with a hot towel for about a half-hour. When time’s up, rinse your hair with cold water to seal in the moisture. Then, head out and show off those shiny tresses!

Glowing Skin

1.       Erase the redness

To reduce redness and soothe irritated skin, all it takes is a quick trip to the fridge. When you soak a washcloth in cold milk and place the washcloth over your face for about 10 minutes, the proteins, fat, amino acids and vitamin A found in milk can rejuvenate your skin and help it look soft and glowing.

2.       Banish puffy eyes

The caffeine found in tea bags can help tired-looking eyes appear brighter and more awake. By shrinking the underlying dark blood vessels that create puffiness around the eyes, the caffeine can help your eyes look bright once again. Find two tea bags and soak them in hot water for about a minute. Then, dunk them in ice water for a few seconds. Lie down and apply the tea bags to your eyes for about 15 minutes while you take a breather.

Dazzling Smile

1.       Mix your own smile-whitener by creating a homemade paste of baking soda and water. By brushing with this paste a few times a month, you can whiten your teeth by as much as one or two shades.

2.       Keep your teeth white between brushings by treating new stains before they set in. When drinking red wine, choose some crunchy raw vegetables to accompany your drink. By chewing up the veggies, you can help rub away any new stains.

It’s time to go forth and look beautiful! All in the comfort of your own home, no less. Have some tips to add to our list? We want to hear ‘em!

Today, we get everything fast. Fast food, high-speed internet connections and so much more – it’s all available when and where we need it.

Now, we can say the same for the beauty products we don’t want to leave home without. Right next to the vending machine where you’re purchasing that mid-afternoon chocolate fix, you can find a new kind of vending machine. Beauty vending machines!

In Japan, vending machines selling all kinds of unorthodox (to us, anyway) items are more common. Need a new iPod? There’s probably a vending machine for that.

But the new trend stateside is every beauty lover’s dream come true! The Body Shop, Sephora and Elizabeth Arden are just a few of the product lines embracing this idea. Are you ready to see one of these babies near you? It could happen in the near future in places like airports, shopping centers and supermarket chains. In fact, in cities like San Francisco, Las Vegas, Nashville, and more, the beauty vending machines have already arrived!

What do you guys think about this concept? I know I’m on board with vending machines that sell everything I could possibly want. Including emergency lip gloss!

We all know H&M for their budget-friendly, fashion-forward clothing. Now get to know their new skin care line! That’s right! H&M has introduced a collection of bath and body products made with certified organic ingredients and organic packaging! The line includes shower gels, body scrubs and body lotion in either Lavender & Mint (which I’m dying to try!) or Raspberry & Melon scents. There’s also a vanilla lip balm to round out the skin care collection.

The collection also includes toiletry and makeup bags in cheery colors, just in time for spring! The skincare items will retail for $4.95 each, while the makeup and toiletry bags will be $4.95 and $7.95 each, respectively. These eco-friendly items will hit H&M stores this month. I know you can’t resist, so what items will you be picking up?

Not much about soap is exciting. Some are interesting, but you can’t really say it’s provocative. Unless you’re talking about the naughty & nice collections from Villainess Soaps.

Villainess is a bit naughty because they have scents named after deadly deeds like Pyromania, which gives off a sweet, smoky odor and uses poppy seeds as a mild abrasive. I bought my younger sister a bar of Silk & Cyanide for Christmas, which gives off the scents and flavors one experiences while slowly being poisoned. She cautiously thanked me for my trouble.

Villainess is a bit nice because all their products are cruelty-free, and they operate through a full-disclosure policy about all materials used in manufacture. It’s kind of like how the arch-enemy details all her nefarious plans to the hero before she engages the unnecessarily slow-moving crane toward the shark tank.

Villainess Soaps and cosmetic products are hand-made in Waverly, TN by people who are truly passionate (and a bit evil) about their ideals. The soaps are nicely priced and arrive in un-sculpted hunks of glorious texture, color and odor. Ask your local beauty biz if they’ll stock some, or just visit their website at www.villainess.net to see what devilishly clever new things they’ve devised.

Photo: Villainess Soaps

As any savvy makeup and animal lover will tell you, it takes a lot of work to search for animal-friendly cosmetic products. Unfortunately, in the cosmetics world, many companies test their products on animals like mice and guinea pigs to help prevent allergic reactions in humans.

Driven by a ban on animal skin testing planned to go into effect in Europe by 2013, a New Jersey-based company called Hurel Corp. is making advances on the technology that could replace animal testing. (more…)

About a year ago, there was a new trend hitting the nail salon circuit – but now, it might be in hot water: fish pedicures.

A salon in Gilbert, Arizona, which is a suburb of Phoenix, is suing the Arizona State Board of Cosmetology for overstepping its legal authority to stop fish pedicures from being offered at area salons. The board has shut down a Fish Spa where small Garra Rufa fish, or small carp, eat away dead skin from the bottom of feet.

The board claims that when exfoliation is being administrated, it’s falls under the board’s rules and regulations, which essentially is what the fish do: exfoliate feet.

The lawsuit states that the salon acknowledges that the board is entitled to regulate pedicures. But it specifically argues that having fish eat away the dead skin on a patron’s feet is not a pedicure and, therefore, outside the board’s jurisdiction.

The board claims that since the fish cannot be properly stored and sanitized, they are a health code violation. Is this going to be the new trend following the fish pedicure around? There are several states and cities that allow fish pedicures but since this is a new area of beauty treatments, it’s difficult to tell whether other cosmetology boards will follow suit.

Tell us what you think! Are fish really performing pedicures or just exfoliation? Should the beauty service fall under the rules and regulations of the board?