Bobbi Brown Beauty Rules

Beauty rules at Bobbi Brown, with a new limited-edition Beauty Rules Palette ($45) and Beauty Rules ($24.95), Bobbi's sixth book - this one an updated, fresh, energetic beauty bible for young women. When I first saw the new book at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, my lovable Bobbi Brown reps said, "Beauty Rules was not written for you. Think teens and twenties."

Emphasizing natural beauty in the book, Bobbi shares the best tips and tools for fresh, healthy skin and beautiful hair, makeup, and nails. Bobbi Brown's goal is to help women - all women - look and feel like themselves, only prettier and more confident. True to this philosophy, Beauty Rules was written to help young women learn the beauty basics, then get creative and experiment with their look,and ultimately find their own style.

The book isn't just about makeup. Beauty Rules covers everything from good eating habits to self-esteem. Bobbi used "real girls," not professional models for the photo shoots, just like she did in her Pretty Powerful campaign. She wanted to teach young women to appreciate their own unique beauty.

Fortunately for us women of a certain age, despite the fact that the Beauty Rules Palette is geared toward teenage beauty, it's perfect for women of all ages! The palette's box is designed like a school notebook, with lines for the owner's name - cute. What's inside the notebook palette are some fabulous everyday colors.

Ivory Eye Shadow

Lightning Sparkle Eye Shadow

Orchid Sparkle Eye Shadow

Eclipse Eye Shadow

Baby Pink Pot Rouge

Homecoming Pink Pot Rouge

Air Kiss Lip Gloss

Rum Lip Gloss

Crystal Gold Glitter Lip Balm

Jet Creamy Eye Pencil

Most of these shades are new, which meant I had to have the palette!

Even though it was "fixin' to rain" (I chuckle every time my West Virginia friends use that expression), I was able to get some half-way decent photos of the palette colors on my arm. Naturally, I couldn't photograph the Ivory Eye Shadow. I didn't even try. It's the perfect base shade for your eye look if your skin is fair, and a great highlighting color if your skin is dark. Many of the other shades are sheer and natural. You will barely see some of them on my arm photos.

In the photo at left, top to bottom, are Lightning Sparkle Eye Shadow, a very sheer and shimmering shadow that's barely visible under my wrist; Orchid Sparkle Eye Shadow, also sheer, but with a little more pigment; Eclipse Eye Shadow for your smoky eye; and Jet Creamy Eye Pencil.

In the photo at right are the two pot rouge shades for lips and eyes. Both are pink; the only difference is that one is warmer than the other. I will enjoy both.

The photo below left shows the three lip colors. From top to bottom, Air Kiss Lip Gloss, Rum Lip Gloss, and the sheer Crystal Gold Glitter Lip Balm. Gorgeous!

This palette is perfect for your daughter, but it will also be perfect for women of any age who want sheer, natural colors with touches of shimmer or pizazz. I think I'm going to enjoy it! All the shades work together, and they can be applied with the fingers (teen beauty is supposed to be simple!).

Beauty Rules - the book and the palette, is available at Nordstorm, Neiman Marcus, and, I'm sure, all the Bobbi Brown counters. The Bobbi Brown counters are ready to show young women how to use the palette for a look that they will love: gloss, sparkle, and clean colors!

Book and palette photos courtesy of Nordstrom

"Babushka's Beauty Secrets" - New Book, Natural Beauty Tips & Giveaway Contest

Babushka's Beauty Secrets, Old World Tips for a Glamorous New You by Raisa Ruder and Susan Campos is a charming book! I read it recently and loved it - it's riveting from beginning to end. Reading it reminded me of dishing with a gorgeous girlfriend who is finally spilling her beauty secrets. If you love organic and natural beauty, don't want to spend a fortune on it, and love tips for looking fabulous, you will love this book too! I'm going to tell you about it and then tell you how you can enter this week's giveaway contest to win a copy.

Esthetician to the stars, Raisa Ruder, learned her time-tested natural beauty techniques from her Ukrainian grandmother (or babushka, as they say in the old country). Now everyone can discover her all-natural, better-than-botox secrets that celebrities use to shine on the red carpet! Ruder reveals her sought-after beauty recipes to fight wrinkles, plump lips, eliminate crow's feet and acne, and more - using inexpensive, everyday grocery items like eggs, honey, vegetable oil, grapes, and strawberries (and a splash of vodka for freshness!).

At last, by popular demand, Raisa Ruder has opened up her grandmother's secret pantry and shared her amazing and effective beauty advice. She provides explanations and recipes for making your home your spa.

• Skin-saving soufflés - whipped up wonders that shrink pores, brighten skin, and diminish lines
• Hot hair - a cayenne pepper blend that leaves locks silky, soft, and full
• Pedi pure - a soothing, smoothing foot scrub made with milk and mint
• Lustrous lashes - a simple castor oil serum that thickens and lengthens lashes for a tiny fraction of the cost of the latest lash boosters
• Perfect pucker - a mix of salt, green tea, and fruit that plumps lips naturally
• And much much more

This book will leave you wondering why you've never read these secrets before. Sure, we've all read tips for de-puffing eyes (teabags, cucumbers) or conditioning hair (avocado), but Ruder goes way beyond the well-known tips into a world I hadn't imagined. Who would have thought that potatoes, abundant in Ukraine, could be used to reduce puffiness? I didn't stop to think that I could make my own antioxidant-rich and vitamin C-laden remedies.

Rewinding the story...As word spread that her beauty treatments worked - and worked really well - Ruder's grandmother ran a salon, of sorts, from her home. The local women, up to 50 a week, would even trek through the snow to get there. Naturally, Ruder and her mother were enlisted to help, and she learned the recipes her grandmother tirelessly prepared. After she moved to Los Angeles, Ruder worked as an esthetician. One day, she used one of her grandmother's ingredients on a client, and the client was awestruck. Word spread quickly through Hollywood, and the rest is history.

If you don't want to spend a fortune to look flawless, you need this book! It will be at bookstores next week. The publisher has generously offered Best Things in Beauty readers the opportunity to win one! I have three copies to give away.

Want a chance to be one of the three lucky readers? Just leave a comment here once. After you comment, feel free to e-mail bestthingsinbeautycontests@gmail.com and identify your comment. You can never be too careful about sharing your e-mail address on a blog, so I would follow this second step if I were you (an alternative is to code your e-mail, e.g., myname at gmail dot com, in your comment).

The contest is open to residents of the United States and Canada (and if you win, you must be able to provide a mailing address that's not a post office box). The deadline for entries will be Saturday, June 12, at midnight. I will use a random number generator (random.org) to select the winner. The publisher will send the three winners their copies as soon as the book is released (scheduled for next week).

I will post this contest at Free!Grechen, my favorite giveaway site on the Web. If you like giveaway contests, you will love Free!Grechen.

Good Luck!

Photo courtesy of Hachette Book Group, Camden New Journal, and The Daily Green