Women’s Wear Daily attended the Total Beauty blogging conference in Manhattan Beach last month and writer Rachel Brown’s piece on beauty bloggers’ evolving influence appears today.  Special thanks to Anne Fritz from Jet Set Girls for alerting me to the article!  (I should really get a WWD subscription, huh?  But, but…$99 per year?  In this day and age??  Eh.)

From left: Kirsten Lamberton from Beauty Riot, Jolie, Anne Fritz of Jet Set Girls, Tia Williams of Shake Your Beauty and Annie Tomlin of Bella Sugar.  I have girl crushes on all of them

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Beauty bloggers, once snubbed and now coveted by many of the beauty companies they adore, are on a bumpy evolutionary trek from detached commentators to industry insiders.

“They are like the QVC of this time,” said Don Ressler, co-chief executive officer of Intelligent Beauty, owner of Redpoint Cosmetics and iQ Derma. “They have been really involved in the [beauty] space. They have really shown they have a voice.”

At the Total Beauty Blogging Summit held partially at Intelligent Beauty’s headquarters here from May 16 to 18, the advantages and disadvantages of bloggers’ rising power were etched out. On the plus side for bloggers, much of the beauty apparatus is taking them seriously as formidable links to consumers, and a support system of bloggers and online networks has blossomed to foster their success.

On the downside, increasing competition has made it difficult for individual beauty bloggers to stand out. Bloggers complain about pesky publicists expecting coverage, and burgeoning media awareness has led to a perception that they’re swag addicts with trigger fingers for positive reviews.

Dangling on the precipice between fringe and mainstream is certainly a tricky place to be. Many beauty bloggers are making an effort to keep beauty companies at a distance since traditional media, they said, often gets too chummy with beauty firms. (more…)

ConstantChatter.com just posted a recent interview, asking me all sorts of beauty questions from “What three things do you think every woman should do to make the most of what she’s been given?” to “What’s in your makeup bag right now?” to “For those of us not willing to splurge on beauty products, what are some of your favorite drugstore products?”  My answers, here!  (Oh, yes, they’re also giving away five free copies of Beauty Confidential, so be sure to enter if you haven’t already bought yours!)

MAC makeup, in general, isn’t known for its subtlety.  You want nude…quietly chic…effortly tasteful?  Go Bobbi Brown.  Raucous color, wild shine, anything-goes fun?  It’s all MAC, baby!  A collection with fashion house Heatherette (they of the glitter and sequins and hot pink everything) was inevitable; I went to the launch party at the MAC store on Robertson Boulevard Thursday night, where I interviewed designers Traver Rains and Richie Rich–before they attacked me with a makeup brush and plied me with cocktails!

 Jolie: How do you sum up the line?    

Richie:  It’s paint-by-numbers–    

Travers: But you don’t have to stay within the lines!   

Richie:  We were going for a Kabuki-feel.  We think Halloween is the best holiday, and we wanted to capture that, like a drag-queen stumbling home at 4am.    

Travers: It’s fun and bright, but nothing that makes you look like a clown!   

Jolie: Which products are your favorites?   

Richie: I love Phone Me Text Me.  It’s a double-ended eyeliner (in Charcoal Gray and Metallic Silver), that’s both creamy and hard.   

Travers: Alpha Girl! (This is a coral-colored blush that Richie proceeds to spread all over my face–very brightening and flattering!)   

Jolie: Before you get stolen away (at this point, a woman in a Heatherette creation starts hanging on Travers), tell me quickly, who’s your style insipration?   

Richie: Madonna, circa 1987–love that! 

And then we snapped a quick picture (for a photographer, not for my personal collection alas!) and I was whisked away, a fruity martini presented to me.   Apparently Kim Kardashian and other Q-list celebrities (including The Blogger Who Shall Not Be Named) showed up later, but I was quickly off.  

My personal favorite products: The Eyeshadow Trios (Trio 1 is peach, turquoise and army green; Trio 2 is light pink, hot pink and dusky violet); Beauty Powder in Alpha Girl; And $$$$$ Yes nail polish in attention-grabbing silver (a shade that will soon be everywhere!)

Trio 1 

Look ma, I’m on Gothamist!

Tuesday, August 16th, 2005

I suppose it’s very meta to link to an interview that talks about and links to this very site, but I was thrilled to participate in one of Gothamist’s famous interviews and so I’m posting it here anyway. I currently have a killer cold, so I apologize for the infrequency of my posts over the last few days. I’m hoping to be back up and running at full-speed by Wednesday!Nadine Haobsh: beauty journalist and “Jolie in NYC” blogger (Gothamist)