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…

Before you dash off to enjoy the weekend, take five minutes to enter Total Beauty’s Summer Spa Sweepstakes.  The grand-prize is an all-inclusive spa trip to the Ceiba del Mar Beach and Spa Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico.  The contest runs from today until August 4th.  Good luck!

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…)

Daily obsession TotalBeauty.com is holding a conference in Manhattan Beach this weekend, flying in beauty bloggers from all over the country.  Lucky me, it’s in my backyard!  I’m particularly excited because I’ve been asked to speak; I’m appearing on a panel with Tia Williams (my former co-worker at Lucky!), Anne Fritz of The Jet Set Girls, and Annie Tomlin of Bella Sugar, discussing turning blogging into a career.  Should be fun, and will keep you posted on any weekend shenanigans.

Gushing over beauty products is easy; it takes real cojones to explain why a disappointing product…well…sucks.  And this is why I love Total Beauty; they’re not afraid to go there!  Here, the editors confess their 12 Lowest Rated Products. 

My own Sorry-But-You’re-Way-Overrated Products?  No surprises here: Maybelline Great Lash takes the cake, followed closely by La Mer, which is no longer the most expensive rip off in history (the price of anti-aging creams has gone into the stratosphere, making the former hullabaloo over La Mer’s price seem practically quaint!), but it’s certainly the best marketed.  What products do you think are overrated?

Okay, peeps, here’s the scoop.  TotalBeauty.com is holding a series of contests in honor of Earth Day, in the attempt to make our planet just a little bit greener…not to mention a little bit prettier.  As I blogged about last week, they’re not only giving away hundreds of organic beauty products, but will also be giving away a Saturn Vue Hybrid (itself filled to the brim with organic goodies!).  Somebody has to win, so why not you, eh?  For all the scoop and to enter, click here:

Next up is a contest Total Beauty is having for their bloggers.  There’s a beauty trade show held in Paris every year called Beyond Beauty, and Total Beauty is sending three of its affiliate bloggers to the October 2008 summit in Paris.  Jolie would be thrilled to go and get the scoop on the latest and greatest beauty innovations…but this is only possible with your help!  Whichever blogger pulls in the most traffic to the site via links will win, plain and simple.  Your part?  Just click on the buttons above or below!  I’ll link back to the contest throughout the month as I post about my favorite and latest organic finds, but in the meantime…you know what to do!  (Click above…click below…click wherever!)

Kermit had it wrong: it is easy being green.  (Groan.)  In celebration of Earth Day, my new favorite website ever TotalBeauty.com is launching their “Totally Green Campaign,” giving away a 2008 Saturn Vue Hybrid filled with a year’s supply of organic and eco-friendly products.  Intrigued?  Go to the website, write a product review…and wait for your brand new car to appear in your driveway!  Ta-da!  (Okay, it’s not quite that easy…but you will be automatically entered by posting a review between April 17th and June 5th.)  Perhaps you already have a car.  Perhaps the offer of an awesome new hybrid vehicle filled with goodies from Sephora and Origins Organics is not exciting to you.  And perhaps we can no longer be friends.  Eh, just kidding…Jolie love you long time.  (Seriously, what’s up?  I am really punchy right now.)

I’m thrilled to report that I’ve finally bitten the bullet, weighed my options, and joined an online community: TotalBeauty.com.  Was it the sheer number of honest products reviews?  The quality of fellow member-blogs?  Or the simple fact that the logo is blue, and Jolie likey?  (I kid, I kid!)  As I blogged several months ago when I first discovered it, Total Beauty has continuously impressed jaded ol’ me: there are straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is rundowns on a prodigious number of products, useful articles that don’t just seem like “read me! read me!” filler, and even how-to videos.  Plus, the site is easy-to-navigate, and the editor’s blog is warm, witty and (hey, don’t underestimate the importance!) written by women who not only love beauty but actually have beauty backgrounds.  So, yeah, kind of tickled pink to be a part of it all!