FusionBeauty has been known to hype pretty girls’ lips (my lips are still ballooning, Angeline-style, thanks to the original LipFusion). Now the brand is launching a set of four new shine glosses as part of its new “Luxe Boudoir” LipFusion Capsule Collection.

The four new glosses have a shimmer effect and also link to a charity called “Kiss Away Poverty” which receives a dollar from every sale of LipFusion Color Shine (each gloss retails for $29, so they aren’t cheap).

Kim Kardashian will be the face of this new collection, as well as the company’s new Illumifill Line Filling Luminzer which will hit stores this spring. Our dear, curvalicious KK has indeed been a busy bee lately, with the launch of her fragrance and diet supplements.

It’s a lot to keep up with, KK, no pun intended. We haven’t tried the glosses yet, but as soon as we do, we’ll give you fresh print, Butterflydiary style. Mwah!

- Charu Suri

I grew up with Pantene, and chances are that your grandmother did too. So, I was surprised to read this article in today’s WWD that Pantene’s planned reinvention is not only about grabbing your attention when you walk into the drugstore (the new bottles are rich in color, texture and almost as eye-popping as packaging by Stella McCartney, Smashbox or some of the leading makeup brands.)

Kudos to Pantene on creating eye candy.

In the shampoo and conditioner category, Pantene has always given value. Last year, its Nature Fusion line wowed me with its cassia seed strengthening properties, and its ever-so-faint “take me to the tropics” smell.

With its new set of product launches, Pantene will offer customers fewer SKUs, an entire shelf for fine hair products, Color Hair Solutions (including Color Preserve Shine Line), and solutions for Curly Hair. The products will use some 13 new, never before used ingredients, and be less expensive and offer more value.

I love them already.

- By Charu Suri

Source: WWD

The fair-skinned English knew a thing or two about protecting their skin in the summertime when they carried parasols as religiously as Lindsay Lohan wears leggings. Well, luckily, we’ve heard of SPF, right?

In this amazingly techno-beauty age where sunscreens now come in the form of soaps and spritzers, leaving the house without some form of UVA/UVB protection is no longer acceptable. Especially if you’re freckled with skin a la Julianne Moore or even the lassie Lindsay — and even if you have skin as dark and mocha pretty as Halle Berry’s, don’t leave home without that SPF.

Especially for your hair.

Which brings me to a very timely and laudable launch by REDKEN called “Color Extend Sun Solar Screen SPF 12.” It’s a lightweight, leave-in serum that strenghtens and protects sun damaged and flustered hair. It’s particularly recommended for people who have side/middle and fringe parts.

This Redken Sun Solar Screen with SPF is a great lightweight oil that you apply to your exposed scalp and hair to prevent burning and peeling. When you apply it, the hair becomes coated with UV filters, and the company’s exclusive Interbond Conditioning System deliver nutrients like Ceramide (that strengthen), and Mango Oil (that hydrates).

How do you use this marvellous orange bottle? Spray onto damp hair or dry hair a half hour before you skip out into the sun. $16 at Redken.com or Redken salons.

As a blogger, I take my relationships with publicists very, very seriously. As my career has progressed, I have learned to love them, respect them and really come to understand the demanding nature of their careers (they are people, too!).

I’ve started this new weekly series of posts called “The Blogger-Publicist Marriage” so that fellow bloggers can get a sense of how different firms view bloggers and what they do like or don’t like about them. If anything, I hope this series helps you with your posts and to see publicists in a different light than simply people who “fill up your inbox.”

Here’s my interview with the phenomenal Sarah Parker, Account Director at Tractenberg & Co.

1. I’m sure during the course of your career you have engaged with traditional media quite frequently. How do you find interacting with the blogosphere? Is it different and if so, how?

SP: I’ve found the interacting with bloggers is more casual. As a publicist, you tend to build a casual relationship with traditional media editors overtime, some more than others, but with bloggers, , it starts out more casual from the beginning.

2. What do you love about bloggers?

How quickly what they can say spreads, and how they can instantly turn a product into a trend.

3. What are your pet peeves?

I don’t really have pet peeves per say. I’ve been working with bloggers now for a few years and it’s been a great experience. It’s exciting to see how much that part of the media has grown over the years, and I know it is only at the very beginning stages.

4. If you could offer one piece of advice to bloggers, what would it be?

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This week -SpaFinder Deal Days– is like a Journey to Planet Vulcan for beauty Trekkies. And with several spas offering $50 treatments during the bi-annual Spa Week (the next one is in April from 12-18th), the lines become thick and as long as the Great Wall of China, and the chance to browse through several spas in your locale and actually SNAG an appointment becomes more and more frustrating.

Welcome to the iPhone’s latest app, brought to you by SpaFinder. You can search SpaFinder’s global database, browse through treatments and - most importantly - book that damn oxygen facial (currently in the U.S. only).

Now only there was an App to book yourself a single, cute and commitment-ready man.

The Beauty Alchemist steps into an Italian garden with Annick Goutal Ninfeo Mio.

Clumps of Mascara is having weight frustrations.

The Product Pasha has a frank chat with DeVries President Stephanie Smirnov about blogging, PR, and everything in between.

Divadebbi returns to her roots again!

Krasey Beauty spotlights the brand new Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette.

I’ve been a big big fan of COVERGIRL’S LashBlast mascara, so I was quite twitterpated when CoverGirl announced that its latest mascara — LashBlast Fusion –was introduced today! There you have it, fresh and hot off the press and too hot for skinny lashes to even have an excuse to exist.

It is COVERGIRL’S first ever volume and length mascara, and was previewed by celebrity makeup artist Pat McGrath during the Fall/Winter 201 Fashion Week shows (Anna Sui). Check it out here.

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Naturally inspired, yet EFFECTIVE cosmetics are really as hard to find as the Pink Panther diamond. Trust me, I know — having ransacked countless drugstore and high-end department stores in the hope of finding concealers and foundations made with mostly natural ingredients and ending up leaving as disappointed as a kid who didn’t see Mickey Mouse at Disney World. 

There is a ton of BODYCARE that is organic and natural and most of those products are very effective, but we’re talking about the foundation of your beauty: the foundations, brushes, concealers, primers.

Ever since I got my hands on a perfectly movie-star worthy concealer from Alison Raffaele Cosmetics at The Makeup Show New York, I’ve been hooked to the brand like cat to catnip.

Check out our Q&A with the founder, Alison Raffaele, below:

What is the primary difference between organic and green makeup? As I understand it, organic has to be 100%, while green makeup can have synthetic ingredients in them as well?

AR: Precisely. “Green” makeup is more about not containing harmful chemicals, like parabens, talc, mineral oil, synthetic fragrances, aluminum, etc., whereas “Organic” makeup must be made with only certified organic ingredients. It is very difficult to create makeup that is “organic” that still performs, however, many “Green” brands are beginning to use organic ingredients whenever possible.

Are you planning an organic line soon? Why or why not?

I am looking to use organic ingredients in my formulas, but not to go 100% organic. One thing people must remember is that just because an ingredient is “organic” or “natural” doesn’t mean that it is good for you. In fact many naturally occurring substances - take lead for example - can be very harmful to one’s health. The guideline I generally follow is for an ingredient not to be ranked more than a 3 or a 4 on the Enviormental Working Group’s “Skin Deep” database.

Tell us a bit about why you created your line. Was there a niche or need you wanted to fulfill?

Alison Raffaele

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We love La Prairie for its super-luxe skin treatments targeting lines and wrinkles, so we were excited to learn that the beauty company has launched a trio of products to effectively attack slackness and discoloration of the skin. Harnessing the legendary firming benefits of caviar, the White Caviar Illuminating Système is a three-part system that lightens, tightens and firms while preventing future age spots and pigmentation patches.

White Caviar Illuminating Cream drenches the skin with moisture as it provides lifting and firming benefits. Pearlescent powders in the cream give immediate illumination, while a complex of brightening ingredients works to control age spots and discoloration on the skin’s surface. Continued use promotes brighter, younger-looking skin as dark spots are prevented, and the skin is firmed and protected from environmental damage.

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Some shower gels are good enough to get “Lifetime Achievement Award” on their first impression, and Kathy Ireland’s Fresh Shower Gel (Green Tea & Aloe Vera; $11.99) may well be sudsing its way into the nominees list.

Natural plant extracts and Dead Sea minerals all make their appearance in this little green, almost cubist bottle. But there’s hardly any nauseating fragrance, and the skin is left moisturized as well as clean, which is a lot more than we can say for our drugstore soap we tried the other day.

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