By Guest Blogger Jeanne Dupuis

As a biracial woman, I have always had a hard time finding a foundation that would match my skin properly - they were always too dark or too light.  Revlon’s new Beyond Natural Skin Matching Makeup could mean the end of my troubles.  If you believe the claims made in the commercial (see below), the foundation goes on white but then self-adjusts to match your exact skin tone!  That’s incredible!  You still have to choose the shade closest to your own skin but that’s it!  This product also provides protection from harmful UV rays (SPF 15).

Even if it does work, it’s important to know how it feels.  Some of the reviews I have seen refer to it as feeling weightless and sheer which is a good thing, usually, but some people think it is so light that it should be referred to as a tinted moisturizer and not a foundation.  I guess it boils down to personal preference.

Need to see it to understand how it works?  Watch this commercial featuring Latina actress, Jessica Alba.

From the Splendicity community, comes this week best in beauty, fashion and shopping.

FASHION

The Well-Heeled Society highlights a worthy Breast Cancer Awareness event: Shoes That Inspire, where you can buy a $10.00 raffle for silk Peter Fox shoes, hand-painted by Tracey Asai.

BEAUTY

A Touch of Blusher counts down the best 10 fall 2008 makeup collections.

Steeping Beauty has a low cost fine mist spray by Evian.

As the cool fall weather kicks in and we change our wardrobes, we should all change our skincare routines as well.

For example, when it’s hot outside, you can get away with using just a light moisturizer. But when the cold, windy weather sets in, use something a bit heavier for extra hydration. Many skincare lines are geared toward the needs of darker complexions. A great choice is Elessia Cosmetics & Skin Care.

They offer a terrific line of products formulated for women of color that nourish and replenish your skin. If your skin is a little sullen or ashy, use an exfoliating scrub like their Honey & Almond Scrub to get rid of dead skin cells and rejuvate your skin.

You can moisturize and cleanse your skin at the same time with their fabulous Milk Cleansing Creme. It’s effective and gentle enough for everyday cleansing. For a night cream, use replenishing creme with collagen. It helps smooth away fine lines and fights the causes of wrinkles.

You can find their complete skincare collection online along with makeup and more at elessiacosmetics.com, where most products are $20 or less. Right now you will receive 2 free Vitamin E Lipsticks as a gift from Elessia with purchase.

Try to establish a skincare routine and stick with it. Exfoliate once a week, then cleanse, tone and moisturize your skin daily to leave your face beautiful and radiant.

Photo credit: Elessia Cosmetics

Hi my lovelies!!!

It’s with a sad and heavy heart that I announce that today is my last day as blogger for Hot Mama Daily. :( Yes, I know, I know.. this comes as a shock to most of you, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news…

As I’m sure all my frequent readers have noticed, since the summer, my posting has been very, very sporatic. This is because I returned to a full-time job a few months ago (boo-hoo!) and have been trying to keep up blogging, work-life, family-life, and extra-curricular-life (if that makes any sense! LOL!) and my decision to continue blogging on HMD is something I’ve been struggling with for weeks now…To blog? Or not to blog?

So… with that said, I am hanging up my blogging hat here at Hot Mama Daily. However, the good news is that b5media will keep Hot Mama Daily as a blog on the Beauty & Style Channel and will have another writer or 2 (who have not been announced yet) to take over writing duties starting tomorrow, October 1st 2008.

Thanks to b5media–who have been absolutely fantastic to me during my year and a half as HMD’s blogger (and have left the door open for me to come back whenever I want, which I love them for! Thanks Kori!)

Thanks to Christina Jones for taking a chance on me, a new mommy who had very little blogging experience, and for allowing me to have a voice and be a part of thee best Channel on b5media! Miss you much CJ!

Thanks to Deborah Ng, (who I consider to be my blogging mentor of-sorts–but she doesn’t know it–LOL!) and who allowed me to pester her time and time again with a million+5 questions as a blogging noob even before I joined b5media. Thanks so much for your patience and kindness to me (a complete stranger at the time!) when I had no clue of what I was doing! Ha!

To all my lovely fellow b5media Beauty & Style Channel bloggers (Dexie - muah!), you girls and guys ROCK!!! I’m so proud to have been a part of such a wonderful team. Keep up the great work!

And last but absolutely, definitely, not least, YOU, the reader! Thank YOU!!!! Whether you found this blog via a Google search by accident (yes, even you Rihanna and Halle Berry fanatics), whether it was from a friend, or whether you know me personally and just wanted to support another one of Pascalle’s crazy “ventures” (ha!), I thank you and appreciate you for reading, for checking back occasionally, for leaving a comment, and for showing love & support.

I’ve met so, so many great people and new friends from writing this blog, it’s been nothing but wonderful–so wonderful that I can’t even begin to express my gratitude by typing alone.

My goal when I first approached b5media with the Hot Mama Daily ‘concept’, was to write a blog for the new mother, and to offer advice on how a new mother can stay looking, well, hot and fashionable (Hot Mama, hello?), even after becoming a new mother. I was tired of seeing the same maternity outfits, and even the boring post-partum fashion all over the place. It always surprised me how people kind of expected me to become ’soccer-mom’-like and live in Mom-jeans/attire after giving birth to my son (not dissing the soccer moms, but you get my drift, right?)

With Hot Mama Daily, I wanted to write something light and fun, in my own voice and personality, where I could pass along tips and advice on what I thought was cute and ’stylish’ for expecting moms, brand new moms, and even veteran moms. I even tried to make you guys laugh a bit along the way. The idea was to write a beauty & style blog that was non-intimidating. Most importantly, I wanted to show women how to re-create great fashionble looks for LESS and without looking like a fashion victim.

As it turned out, I was writing for the everyday woman–you and me, mother or not, young and young-at-heart *wink*. The response was phenomenal! In less than a year Hot Mama Daily grew in leaps and bounds and that was GREAT to see. I’m a mushy and sentimental chick therefore the growth in readership and positive response my heart tremendously :)

In closing (if I could ever finish this thing–lol!), I want to say a heartfelt thanks to every last one of you. And, I want to let you all know this isn’t the end of my blog experience. You WILL see me around blogging again one of these days. Count on it.

Feel free to e-mail me every once in a while to check in, or just to say hi, or… whatever! pascalle7 (at) gmail (dot) com

Since I don’t believe in goodbyes I won’t say goodbye. I’ll just say…”later…for now!”

Moms, how many times have you gotten dressed to go to work in the morning, given baby/kids their goodbye kisses and realize as your baby is hugging you, that your little one’s hands are full of sticky banana/applesauce/(add your own breakfast item)?

Or, how many times have you thought to yourself–while helping your cutie pie with that art project–that you’ll be extra careful and not mess up your clothes (because you’re the super vigilant multi-tasking Queen, right?) and wind up being WRONG?

Look, I don’t know about you, but this crap happens to me allll the time. My clothes are always getting dirty courtesy of my little puddin’ pop and I don’t have the budget for brand new clothes every week. Some of us actually have to wash and re-use our clothes (yeah, I”m looking at YOU Victoria Beckham) as part of daily life.

That said, I present you with…The Mommy Apron!

No boring muu-muu-looking apron here.

Here’s some more info on The Mommy Apron:

”The Mommy Apron is an art smock, a cobbler’s apron, a gardener’s apron, a utility apron, a chef’s apron, and a hostess apron all rolled into one!

What makes The Mommy Apron unique is the Nano-Tex treated denim. The cutting-edge technology allows the fabric to remain spill-resistant no matter how many times you wash it.

Design
The Mommy Apron is designed in trendy dark indigo denim and is accented with printed grosgrain ribbon and coordinating adjustable button fastener just below the left shoulder.”

Sounds brilliant. Read more about it here!

(Thanks Stacey!)

All images courtesy of Mommies In Mind Brands.