The 16 year old brand many of us have grown to love, particularly Laguna bronzer (I live by it), is finally getting a home of its own. Located at 413 Bleecker Street, in New York City’s West Village, the Nars Cosmetics store will open Spring 2011 and will feature exclusive items to the location.

Purple Lab is a clever new brand of beauty products that is all about “double duty beauty.” I recently got my hands on a tube of Huge Lips Skinny Hips lip gloss, which is more like triple duty because it serves as a lip plumper and has a little Hoodia to help curve your cravings, all while making your lips pretty, shiny and a tasty at the same time.

I’ve had mine for over two months and it’s still going strong. There are eight colors to choose from and my favorite color is Lychee Martini, which has hints of nudes and oranges.

You can purchase for $25 at Purple Lab and in case you’re thinking ahead to the holidays like me, this would make a perfect gift for your girlfriends.

What do Fashion Week goers do for fun outside the hours of the runway shows inside the tents? Fabulous cocktail parties, of course! Some might say sleep, but in all honesty, sleep always gets last priority. Kristin Booker (a dear blogger friend of mine over at Fashion Style Beauty) and Lianne Farbes (aka The Makeup Girl) hosted their annual Cocktails & Couture party last Saturday night at the Ted Gibson salon. What a great place for a glitsy gathering?!

First of all, the hostesses had their hair done by stylists at the Ted Gibson salon and they both looked amazing. During the party they had a make-up artist and two manicurists too! Let’s not forget the servers walking around with Starbucks mini ice cream treats! I’ve never seen that at parties before, but what a sweet surprise!

HTC was a sponsor (heart them) and they sent their stylish PR girl, Jessika Goldstein to show off their latest devices. Lucky me because Jess is one of my BFF’s from Seattle! For the giftbags, HTC put cute little pocket-sized mirrors with a card inside that read “HTC thinks YOU are pretty.” Not sure if you’ve seen the ad campaign, but pretty clever if you asked me. HTC also sent Jess with an Aria for me to try out during fashion week, which could be yours soon! I’m doing a giveaway in an upcoming post. It’s definitely my favorite HTC + Android device for AT&T.

I didn’t make the best choice in footwear and spent most the night hopping from benches to eventually chilling on the floor in the corner (don’t judge!). The party was full from the time it started to  the end of the night. I got to see some of my favorites like Wendy Lam from Nitrolicious, YM of Freshness and pretty much all the bloggers I know. Here are some more pics:

Additional Details:

September 11th, Bravo’s D.C. Housewives cast members Mary Amons and Jason Backe joined social media giants Lianne Farbes and Kristin Booker for their semi-annual Cocktails and Couture Fashion Week event at the Ted Gibson Salon and Spa with title sponsor Mwari Magazine. The event brought national fashion reporters, editors, bloggers and social media gurus together to discuss all things fashion, glamour and beauty. Guests enjoyed passed hors d’oeuvres from Honey Bun Catering, grooved to classic hip hop courtesy of DJ Belle De Jour (India-Jewel Jackson of Glam.com), sipped Moet and Chandon champagne and satisfied their sweet tooth with passed Starbucks ice cream and frappuccinos.

The Mwari Magazine gift bags included products from sponsors L’Oreal, HTC, Stila, Lierac, Visine, Caress, Venus, Olay, Sigma, Zoya, Covergirl, Proactiv, Degree, Fournier, Suave and more.

Photo Credits: Facebook (pulled from various friends)

Avon has dominated the beauty category on a global level whether salon products like the Advanced Techniques lotus shield (best frizz control product) or the increasingly popular among my generation, mark makeup line. Awhile back I was invited to an Avon summer preview, so naturally, without looking too much into the invite, I assumed it’d be new beauty products. Upon arriving to the Avon showroom, I was welcomed by a pleasant surprise – a room full of summer dresses, jewelry, accessories and shoes!

Now, if your only experience with Avon is through your mom or grandma, you might expect the clothes to target an older demographic….not in this case! They sent guests home with an adorable boho maxi dress, gold cuffs, earrings and a summer tote. Check out the dress and some of the jewelry:

As shown in the top picture of this post, I receive the pair of AMAZING, vibrant jewel tone earrings at the Fashion 2.0 anniversary party earlier this summer. Unfortunately for me, I can’t wear most earrings, but I decided to surprise one of my BFF’s, Maggie from San Diego, with the loot when we reunited in Seattle a couple of weeks ago.

Avon also have shoes and I’m eyeing these over-the-knee suede boots. They are only $44.99 and comfort is one of the key features. You can check out all of Avon’s fashion offerings (including some cute jewelry for fall) here.

Last Thursday, I started a three-day juice cleanse from BlueprintCleanse called Renovation, which is the starter level among two other options. It involved drinking six juices per day made from raw fruits, vegetables and other does-a-body-good stuff. Let me preface by saying I LOVE food and am not usually a healthy eater. I just exercise a lot to balance out my bad habits.

Instead of doing a straight up review, I decided to do a play-by-play diary of my experience on the cleanse. I took notes in the moment…even when I whined and had TMI thoughts. Check it out after the jump!

DAY ONE: Thursday, July 29

9:45 AM: Felt a little full even after the first sip! Tastes like a mix of wheat grass and apple juice. It’s taking me a long time to drink this and I feel a little queezy like taking medicine on empty stomach. I didn’t follow the guidance from Blueprint about preparing your body for the cleanse ahead of time…this is probably why I feel a little queezy.

2:30 PM: No more queezy, but the hunger is getting to me. I can’t wait until cashew nut milk later! I heard it’s goooood! I’m kind of freezing. What is going on? Is it the office or the cleanse? I think it’s the cleanse and I like it! I’m also feeling pretty energized. 

4:30 PM: Spicy Lemonade, where have you been all my life?

6:15 PM: Walking to to the Lauren by Ralph Lauren handbag preview while sipping the beet juice. Not my fav, but like the Ginger taste. Oops, just spilled beet juice on my top…it’s the color of wine…awesome! Mmm, wine sounds good right now…and cheese. FML

8:05 PM:  Walking home thinking about cashew almond milk…which is supposed to be yummmmmy. Everyone I pass looks like a taco. Mmm tacos…doh!

9:10 PM: Mmm cashew nut milk…better than I thought it could be! I wanna be tired so I can go to bed feeling full and content like I do right now. My brain is fried and can’t finish my work…oops.

10:30 PM: Just took Tylenol PM…need a lil help tonight. This is probs beyond TMI, but I think I’ve peed 30 times today.

DAY TWO: Friday, July 30

8:15 AM: Woke up after a good night of sleep and not feeling hungry, drinking water with lemon.  The BlueprintCleanse peeps suggested it as a way to get your system working right away. I’m taking a half day off work today, so it might be a little harder to pass the time between juices. 

9:30 AM: Juice numero uno for the day - the Green. Most people love it, but it’s a little hard for me to drink because I have a strong pallete. I just made the bf take a sip…he says it’s not bad!

1:30 PM: Crap! I’m behind on my juices! Time for the Pineapple Mint drink…yumm! It tastes like a Mojito! That was easy!

3:30 PM: Still behind schedule! Number three is the Green juice again…tough! Spicy Lemonade is next…it’s getting me through this one and my favorite (it actually inspired me to create a cocktail like it…not until a few days after the cleanse, of course).

5:00 PM: All caught up! Spicy Lemonade was as good as I hoped but disappeared too fast!

6:01 PM: So hungry and starting to have an internal negotiation about if I can quit the cleanse. ”I’ve experienced it enough to understand it…I’m not doing it to lose weight. Wahhh…NO! You’ve come this far! At least finish day two! Okay…shrugs…

8:30 PM: Okay, so the directions give you a cheat sheet telling you what you should eat if you feel like you’re going to break. A few pieces of celery, slices of cucumber, low sodium vegetable broth or a 1/4th of an avocado. I bought celery and veggie broth and made myself a mini soup. It definitely helped. I then slurped down the beet drink (plugging my nose helps because my palette is extremely strong).

10:15 PM: Cashew nut milk shake time!! Tastes too good to be true. Taking a Tylenol PM because I have a little headache.

DAY THREE (LAST DAY):

10:15 AM: Slept sooo well! Just weighed out of curiosity on my Wii Fit…lost 3.7 lbs since starting two days ago. I did eat bad the night before I weighed though, so it’s prob more like 2 lbs. I’ve been thinking about doing cleanse til dinner tonight and ending early, but maybe not. I’ve come so far!! Time for green juice!

1:00 PM: Still surviving, but it’s so hard to do on a sunny Saturday. I would love to go for a run, but don’t have the drive right now. My energy level is okay though…much better than I would expect considering my 1200 calories per day cleanse.

4:30 PM: Spicy Lemonade…I don’t think I’m supposed to, but I added a little extra cayenna pepper. I LOVE spicy and this is the last of this juice!

6:15 PM: Just ordered sushi for the boyfriend and myself. I chose the cucumber-avodcado-romain roll and am only going to eat half of it. Yes, that means a little bit of sticky rice and low sodium soy sauce, but I could have done much worse. If I didn’t, this would cause me to binge tomorrow…talk about counter productive! I’m also eating a few pieces of celery.

7:30 PM: Skipping the Beet-Apple-Ginger juice since I had a little food. Drinking a green herbal tea from Starbucks. I’m not supposed to use sweeteners, so I added a little Cashew Nut Milk – tastes good!

9:30 PM: Cashew Nut Milk time! Yay, I did it!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I’m definitely not cut out for a cleanse, hence the whining throughout my diary, but this blew my mind! I would definitely do it again, but probably only two days of just juices or 3-5 of the juice-til-dinner option, which allows you to eat dinner.

My biggest take-away?

The experience educated me about the importance of incorporating raw foods into your daily diet. I’m not an expert, but know part of the reason I stayed energized was because the cleanses are designed to aid digestion, making it so your body won’t have to work as hard. For my first meal afterward, I ordered a green bean veggie salad with a lemon vinaigrette and one scrambled egg with pepper.

Ordering BlueprintCleanse:

The Renovation cleanse ranges from $60 – $80 per day depending on if you choose to pick-up, NYC delivery or nationwide delivery. There are several other offerings if you’re looking for something more advanced or want to try a juice-til-dinner option. If you order with three friends, you can get a group discount of 10% off, and it’s probably a lot easier to do with friends because you can be cheerleaders for one another! More details are here.

Photo Credits: BlueprintCleanse, Rockiescast, Flickr (Dianne’s Dishes)