I found out this weekend that TotalBeauty.com is sending me to Paris in October!  Apparently, more Jolie readers visited the TotalBeauty.com “Totally Green Sweepstakes” link than those from any other blog…so, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!  (I hope it will make you proud to know that your clicks were more than double those of the number two blog!)  I’ll be attending the Beyond Beauty conference in the City of Lights and will report back to all of you on the latest, greatest and oh-so-chic in beauty. 

Your new mission, should you choose to accept it, is to click on the button below to visit the Spas of America website.  The blogger which sends the most traffic via link clicks will visit a spa and write an article for Spas of America/Total Beauty.  Can we prove, once again, that Jolie readers are far and away the most awesome?  Methinks we can!

By the by, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a few really spectacular spas in my day, so I’ll post all month on my favorites.  Stay tuned…

A. writes: “I just bought Benefit’s Some Kind-a Gorgeous foundation….absolutely love it….goes on best with foundation brush. Thought you might be interested……check it out!! It’s very light and soft and turns to a powdery finish…..natural looking and lasting.”

I’ve had a Something Wicked candle on my desk for the past few weeks, and everybody who picks it up remarks, without fail: “Wow!  That smells awesome.”  The candles were gifted to me, so I have to be honest that I haven’t paid much attention to them, but today I looked at their website and was deeply impressed by the company.  All Something Wicked candles are made by hand from sustainable, toxin-free soy wax, with hemp wicks, and the packaging is 100% recycled.  Toxin-free soy wax equals no rings around the glass (which comes from the toxic soot)…nice to think you’re breathing that in with other brands, eh?  My candle flavor that everybody dies over is Saira, a tuberose scent, but I’m jonesing for Lola (black currant), Sukkyu (lemongrass, lotus blossom and Asian spices) and Hannah (fig apricot), too.

Okay, maybe just Rihanna, but they’ll catch up. 

Bright and attention-grabbing makeup has been on the style cards all season, and the new trend, flourescent nails, is similarly color-drenched: think green, yellow, day-glo orange and shocking pink.  Blame it on Chanel, who launched their limited-edition Robertson Boulevard collection a few weeks ago; now Essie has launched the much cheaper Neon Collection, which basically contains the same shades, but only costs $18 for the mini-kit, as opposed to the $25 you’ll shell out for each shade of Chanel (available only at the new Robertson Boulevard Chanel boutique in LA.)  I’m a pale-pink kind of girl, but, hey, a little vivid experimentation never hurt anybody!

I was not planning on having an all-Rihanna nail polish pictorial…but the girl obviously loves her crazy nail shades!

Lime-green nails?  Bring it
 

Orange crush…

Banana-yellow…

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Anne Hathaway shone at the Grand Palais in Paris yesterday for the over-the-top launch of Lancome ’s latest fragrance Magnifique.  What’s this?  An all-new scent that’s not piggybacking off an existing juice?  Revolutionary!  I’ve never met Anne, but (super lame story to follow, whatever) we were once in the powder room simultaneously at a Broadway premiere, and she was gracious, chatty, friendly and patient when a fan approached.  Even since, I’ve been impressed with her…and I love that she’s pale and proud!

Photo from People.com (Julian Hekemian/WireImage)
This is a hard lip color for many women to pull off, with strong orange-y tones, but it looks lovely on Anne. 

 The music of Cole Porter reportedly played as revelers waited for the name of the new fragrance to be revealed.  Lancome is also launching a new website at Magnifique-Women.com that they’re billing as a community platform to connect and celebrate women via video.  I can’t check it out because it uses Silverlight, and my computer sucks.

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With the weather heating up and Jolie frequently forgetting to apply her beloved OC Eight Oil-Control Lotion (it’s my favorite trick to keep skin matte), I’ve had to use the following deslickifying trick more than once: public restroom toilet seat covers double as oil-blotting sheets in a pinch.  Try it; it really works! 

After growing up in Georgia, country music holds a special place in my heart.  (Nowadays country is so crossover that it’s basically indistinguishable from pop!)  Last night’s Academy of Country Music awards in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand brought out several high-profile stars like Nicole Kidman, Taylor Swift, Julianne Hough, and Queen of them All, Carrie Underwood.  Loving the fringe, Carrie.

I normally have issues with Carrie’s makeup team, who seem to delight in giving her a perennial five-o-clock-shadow “tan”, but she was looking mighty flawless…if a bit, well, country!

Nicole Kidman’s glowing, but I’d gently suggest to her dermatologist to go easy on the Restylane in the lips next time.  We don’t need a Meg Ryan/Melanie Griffith situation here

More photos from last night’s awards below

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Prepare yourselves…Carrie is nearly here.  Sex And The City premiered in London today, and if Sarah Jessica Parker’s Phillip Treacy hat is any indication (see photo below, in which giant mutated butterflies appear to be attacking her head), we’re in for some sartorial adventure.  The girls all look lovely, but my personal winner is Cynthia Nixon.  Yowza!

Yeah, the hat is weird…but I love it.  Does that make me weird?  I’m just so sick of seeing boring, blah, safe, bland prettiness on the red carpet.

What do you think?