Baby Love here!  I love products that are designed for children by parents who either experienced sensitive skin issues themselves, or had to watch their children suffer through them.  These are the products, the ones born out of necessity that really work.  There are no gimmicks with these lines, and it’s great.

Two weeks ago, my husband, boys, and I were in Florida visiting my father in-law.  If you subscribers think that the weather here on the east coast has been bad lately, I urge you never to visit Florida in August.  The only way it is possible to be outside is if you are in a pool or at the beach.  My husband loves the ocean, so that’s where we went.  We’ve all been in the salt water after shaving our legs, or skinning our knee.  We all know that salt water heals skin beautifully, but it also hurts like hell.  It didn’t dawn on me while we were at the beach, that the majority of William’s body is raw.  He cried and cried from the pain, and spent the afternoons playing with me in the sand, or dipping his feet in to cool down.  The sunscreen he was coated in was aggravating his skin, and the salt water was burning.  It was not a good day.  It really broke my heart when he asked me, “Why doesn’t Cali’s skin hurt like mine?”  Even though Calum has food allergies, they have not manifested into eczema.  It was the first time in a long time, that we hit a speed bump with him, and I tried my best to explain his situation to him.  For the most part, even with all of his allergies and skin issues, William lives a very normal, blessed life.  There are substitutions for the foods that he cannot have, and we make every attempt to find them.  He understands that there are things that he can’t eat, and very rarely brings his allergies up.  His eczema flare ups are the worst.  Is skin becomes red and raw from the constant itching, and sometimes there is really no relief.

I was very lucky to have packed one of my very favorite products that have come to me via megsmakeup.com.  I had never heard of Zoe Organics before this past spring, but it has become a necessity in my home.  Zoe Organics Baby Bath Tea are little tea bags full of super safe, and effective ingredients that combat inflammation of the skin.  As a child, Zoe Organics founder, Heather Hamilton, suffered from allergy induced eczema and asthma brought on by “safe” children’s products.  When she became a mother, she focused her energy on filling the major gaps in the market of products for children.  After losing her sister in-law 12 weeks after she had given birth to her baby girl, Zoe (means “life”), Heather Hamilton named her company which focused on “celebrating the lives of family, community and planet.”

Stacy B here! I have a beautiful, hilarious 22 month old baby boy. He's a riot and the best part of my day (week, year, month, LIFE) but he wears me out! Sleep is definitely a commodity in our house, and I'm learning new tricks all the time about how to look well rested when I'm not. While I do place my son in the center of my life, I also try hard not to be one of 'those' parents. You know, the ones where EVERYTHING revolves around the kid they constantly bail out of things because 'they have a baby and are just so worn out, they couldn't possibly go out and have fun'. Kids are tough, I know, but you have to have fun on your own once in awhile!
 
I try to still get together with friends, do a few things for myself like some shopping, a girls lunch or yoga because I truly believe that happy parents are the best parents. A dinner out or a movie once in awhile isn't going to hurt your kid and it gives you a chance to be you again. And if you're like me, you have parents beating down the door to spend time with the little kiddo. A grown-up night out, a happy kid, satisfied grandparents...it's a win-win (and win) situation.
 
Those fun "for the Moms and Dads" nights out may not happen that often, but they do come around every few weeks. With a very active toddler, I just can't sleep in the next day, or get to bed a night earlier so I'm more rested for the outing. I have to make do with what I have: cover up, eye shadow primer, a good eye liner and a tube of mascara that splays out those lashes and opens my eyes right up. You can fool anyone with a good arsenal in your makeup drawer!
 
This week, I am in love with Rimmel London's "The Max: Volume Flash Mascara" . It's comes in a sassy hot pink tube and it wakes my eyes right up. I have it in black, but I've been known to try mascara in 'very brown' or 'black-brown' before since I do have lighter brown hair. But this black works fine for me! When I first opened it, I was a little iffy on the brush. I had a 'you get what you pay for' moment. It looked a little cheap, really thick but the bristles were kind of all over the place. I thought "I'm totally poking myself in the eye so many times because of this". But...I tried it anyway. No eye injuries yet!

Like many of us, there are and will always be a handful of "great loves" in my life: you know who and or what they are because for whatever reason, they leave their mark on your heart or your style and whatever else may come along is subsequently gauged by their effect! Goddess Granny won't bore you with the details of my personal list but I am here to declare that the "Urban Decay" company IS one of the "great loves" of my beauty-life and continues to impress and delight me year after year!

Who can live without SOMETHING this trendy but always classy group of genius-beauty lovers create? I have a long list of favorites but "Midnight Cowboy" has been with me for years as have many of their eye shadows, lip glosses, (Have you SEEN the newest "Lip Junkie" shades? TDF!) and their "Surreal Skin" foundation is never far from my reach! The marketing is amazing, the models used to demo the latest looks are divine, and every season Urban Decay is on the top of the best makeup artist lists of "must have's" to create  looks that are never average and always red-carpet worthy!

I simply can't get dressed for an evening out anymore without a pouf of their "Marshmallow" flavored body powder to add some shimmer and glam and it's been my number one perfect no-brainer gift for a couple of years. I receive some really wonderful things to review. I am always a bit more excited when I see that familiar edgy purple graphic packing. I KNOW whatever is inside will be good! 10 years in a highly competitive market has only enhanced Urban Decay's ability to shine and the fact that they believe,"It's pretty. Maybe a little twisted but never prissy" allows their products to be "Feminine, dangerous and FUN!" Who doesn't want to be all that PLUS the fact that it's a vegan company who has earned tons of respect from all in the biz for their exemplary practices! Be still my heart...

Recently Urban Decay knocked it out of the ballpark yet again with a FABULOUS line of brushes: nothing average about these-they are vegan and cruelty-free. The hard working, skin loving bristles are actually made from recycled PET plastic bottles! They say "You can keep your good KARMA without sacrificing performance" I totally agree! The brushes are reasonably priced and the line includes some really unique styles that everyone needs in their beauty arsenal! They cany be used wet or dry and each brush is specific to it's use by name and function. There is no guesswork or need to use a glitchy "live chat" website to learn what to do with one. I want them all because they are SO pretty but the two shown above "Good Karma Blending Brush" and "Good Karma Multi Tasker Brush" are truly unique. I suggest trying these first if you only have room for a couple more things to love in your life or makeup bag!

Sweetassgal here showing some serious love to Meg and the Meghead's tonight.  Or should I say...this morning.  I've been completely engrossed in two tasks.  #1...completing my first ever department budget for the entire HR department of my company for 2011 (shudder) and #2...readying my guest room for the arrival of one of my best friends and her boys from Hawaii.  Both are consuming my life and looking up at the clock just now I realized it's 12:20 Tuesday morning, I have a 9:00 budget deadline and I haven't sent off my Megs.  I can either scurry off to bed or let you guys in on my daughters new Green Chi Tuesday's approved favorite product.  Meg wins...and Gabriel's Zuzu Luxe Mineral Bronzer is up for your consideration.
 
A little background on my daughter's skin.  She is a glorious  mixture of Portuguese, French and Hispanic descent and she got the most interesting mix of just about all of them.  Of course I'm biased because I'm her Sweetassmama but between her Father's Portuguese complexion and her Mother's Hispanic dark features she's pretty much a knock out.  Her challenge has been her fair skin against such dark features that tend to wash out and go ghostly white in pictures (especially with flash)...especially if she doesn't have the right combination of powder/blush/highlight blend.  She's a fan of Bare Minerals and its taken her years to get the right mixture of product to compliment and not overpower her.  Now that she's in college money is getting tighter and tighter and extra money for product is going to be harder to come by.  Enter Meg and Mama to save the day this weekend.  I had just received Gabriel's Zuzu Luxe Mineral Bronzer and she's the perfect test subject to try it out.

Hi, it's Meg, I'm really sorry I destroyed the ozone layer. I had no idea that using a 5 pound can of aerosol Aqua Net weekly could wreak such havoc. It was 1992, I was 15, as you can see from the photo above I really believed "The Higher The Hair, The Closer To God!" At fifteen I had upped my cosmetic purchases to not only include my frosty pink Wet-N-Wild lipgloss but also a light pink Chanel lipstick that set me back $20 babysitting bucks. I wore "Society" by Burberry (still love that scent-always makes it in my winter fragrance rounds) and used Aussie shampoo and conditioner in a purple bottle. I don't remember spending a lot of time on my face back then. I do remember spending a lot of time burning the heck out of my forehead with my curling iron. Those poufs didn't create themselves!

The gorgeous woman in the photo by Evan Kafka is Amy Zalneraitis. As you can see by her high school photo, she didn't have it out for the environment as much as I did. We both grew up in the same small town outside of Boston, MA (Holla! Ashland High School!) Amy was a year behind me. We all knew each other pretty well, this is common when the average grade size is 80 kids.

I was at my girlfriend Zoe Alexander's house and saw (Facebook of course) that Amy was our "mutual friend." They both had worked in NYC Media together. This is impressive. It is not nearly impressive as Amy and I sharing the same Clocker mascot (no, I am not kidding, our high school mascot was a clock! Ashland is where the first electric clock was invented-thank God we didn't invent the toilet.)

Still hot here in Texas: scorching to be exact! However Goddess Granny spent a lot of the past week shopping with her granddaughter and believe me when I tell you the stores are full of some of THE most fabulous fashions and looks for Fall 2010 that I've seen in quite a few years so it was worth it to venture out of the pool for a while! Classics with an edge, shades of grey, purple, camel and metallics...just gorgeous upcycled glam-girl looks but still with enough of a rocker chick vibe to keep it all from looking totally "been there, done that" and I'm SO ready to reinvent my closet!

Of course, most of us have to use a bit of restraint these days and I admit I breathed a deep sigh when I picked up the perfect pair of buttery grey suede Stuart Weitzman boots to check out the price on the sole...Ouch! Will have to break it all down into that "price per wearing" equation in order to justify that "little luxury..."

The very first job I had that related to what would become my obsession with all that's "beauty" was in a classy family owned "shoppe" that was among the first to bring the Chanel cosmetic line to the US in Upstate NY: I was soo poor back then but Chanel supplied "their girls" behind the counter with really nice silky black smocks that actually could be worn like mini-dresses and also gifted us with HUGE boxes of product every couple of months so I managed to be oh so Frenchified and pulled together at my counter in spite of the fact that I only owned one pair of heels...those were the days?  We were the elite in the beauty biz at the time and people flocked in to see what all the buzz was about and they bought so they too could carry that iconic glossy black shopping tote out of the store! I was was known to carry a small one as an evening bag back then and believe me-I rocked it! We wore our smocks out to the park to eat our shabby processed cheese sandwiches for lunch and often would get hit on by the young lawyers who were equally as poor but had cool business cards to share. If you dated an "Addis Company Chanel Girl" it was like dating a Victoria's Secret model in THAT little city! HA! At least to us it was...and sometimes that's good enough!

Meg here! A line that had done amazingly well on Megsmakeup.com is Juara! Their Rice Facial Cleanser is reviewed HERE. It got glowing reviews. Meg Heads went crazy for this. It tones and balances skin out amazingly. It's organic. It works! It is 40% OFF on Hautelook.com until Monday!

Are you not in the market for a face cleanser but are still intrigued to try something else from this fabulous line? When Megsmakeup.com reviewed Juara's Avocado Banana Moisture Mask-review Here.  Again, everyone went um..Banana's for it! The reviews had comments like "Can't live without." If you've been looking for a new "Can't live without item," then our reviewers recommend this and really recommend it at 50% OFF on Hautelook!

Maybe you're looking for a "silky fragrance free eyecream that really works?" Our own Sweetassgal could be Juara's offical ambassador. She is the expert on green beauty and she swears by Juara's Sweet Black Tea Eye Cream! I think you know what I'm going to say next, just in case you are just catching on, I'm going to repeat myself...It is 50% OFF at-well, you should get it at this point!

I know a lot of you are going to be clicking off to Hautelook to enjoy your savings! There is no high like a bargain so I hope you enjoy!

Baby Love Here!  I have two BIG dogs in my house.  One is a 75 pound Doberman whose name is Rocky, and the other is 65 pound boxer named Savannah.   My house is tiny!  So with two adults, two toddlers, and two dogs, sometimes it can get a little bit tight.  The one thing I learned, the hard way, about having two big dogs, is that unless they are exercised, they are BIG trouble.  So, three or four times a week, the boys and me head down to the local state park.  We walk the paths through the woods, and the dogs run.  Another lesson I learned the hard way is that unless you are wearing bug spray, no matter what time of day it is, you will be eaten alive.

Mosquito bites can kill you.  It's quite scary actually that a little, pesky bug can do that, but it can.  When  I was growing up, a bug bite was itchy, but not really deadly.  Protecting yourself and your little ones has now become a necessity.  I don't mind spraying myself with bug sprays that contain DEET, but I'm pushing 30 and have been using these products for years.  Did you know that DEET can peel paint, damage rayon and spandex, and melt plastic? With all the information that we're armed with these days about organic products, it seems senseless to put these kinds of chemicals on my children.  Therefore, I was thrilled when I read rave reviews about Lafe's Organic Baby Insect Repellent.  I had seen their line of products at Target before, and reached out to their representatives to grab some samples for review.

Lafe's Organic Baby Insect Repellant is USDA certified organic, chemical and DEET free, fragrance free, and Vegan.  With new concerns raised over estrogen activity on childrens hormones, Lafe's has gone one step further and packaged their new baby line in EA free plastic.  At Lafe's, they believe, what goes on your body goes in your body. Made from a blend of essential oils from cedar wood, eucalyptus, lemon, lavender, and sweet almond oil to repel insects, Lafe's is safe for the little ones at home.

Stacy B here! Guilt is a funny thing. Sometimes it creeps up on you and smacks you on the head and you can think of nothing else but rectifying whatever it was you did immediately so you can reclaim your sanity. Sometimes it's more of a slow burn that you know is there, but you can't do much about. I often feel that slow burn kind of guilt...every time I drop my son off at daycare. I wish I could be home with him, and feel guilty that I have to work and leave him with someone who is not me all day. But, those are the times we live in, one income just doesn't always cut it. At least I am lucky enough to have a trusted daycare lady. Said lady, by the way, is an amazing woman and I love her to death but she sucks the paycheck out of my pocket like an industrial vacuum cleaner. I can deal with that guilt though, because ultimately it will be OK. My son will be well-adjusted and social and thanks to what's left of my paycheck, we will live in a house with electiricity and running water.
 
The other kind of guilt is not so fun. Last week, I was in a huge rush and backed out of my driveway without noticing that my neighbor had parked right behind me and I scratched his car (no, he should NOT have been parked there, it's MY driveway, but yes, I should have been paying more attention). I immediately was smacked with the bad guilt so I had to write the neighbor a note and then I paid for the damages. At least that kind of guilt made me be the better person. I could have just driven away and not told him but rush or no rush, I'm a good person and I did the right thing!
 
After last week's review of the NYC New York Color's Smooth & Natural Matte Powder Foundation, I felt some guilt. I hate being negative, but I just didn't love the product. And I felt bad about it! This week, I want to redeem myself and NYC and write something totally positive. Luckily, I found not only one, but two products from NYC that I loved!

Meg hair! I know a ton of you are absolutely dying to hear about my writing process so here's the secret...There isn't one. I just sit down and start typing. There's no notes and no preparation (at this point you're thinking-no kidding O'Brien, we didn't think the drivel that you put out actually requires a lot of analysis.)

I was coming back from dinner and my date said to me...

Date: Do you have to write an article tonight? Do you have notes and stuff. What are you going to write it on?
Meg: It's Wednesday, Hump Day Hair Day. I'm going to write it on the Kerastase in your shower (yeah, it's in his shower-he's more then a casual date if I'm leaving Kerastase there but that's a whole other post.)
Date: Oh, the Kerastase it makes my hair so soft and it smells so good and is so much better then the Trader Joes stuff I have been using. It really makes my hair look and feel so much fuller!

Oh my God, I've done it again. I've created a product monster. I swear he was a total man's man when I first met him and now he's raving over the "delicious smell" of Kerastase.

Back to the Kerastase, it's no secret that their products have a huge fan base so I was so excited to try the Bain Nutri-Thermique line. It is for "very dry and sensitive hair," I'm always coloring so I definitely fall into that category. It is formulated to protect against the harmful use of heat-stying tools and the sun. I have oily roots though so I was pleasantly surprised that this didn't leave my strands limp on top. It is part 1 of the system "cleanse." It has a definite summery citrus smell. If you're expecting guests at the beach house this Labor Day and want a crowd pleaser in your shower then look no further.