It’s a motorized wand. No, wait, it’s a mascara on steroids. Holy cow, it’s a slow-motion lash separator.

You’ve heard about it, read about it, now get the candid, unbiased opinion here. I had heard so many things (good and bad) about Spinlash and got one to review last week.

I have to admit that it was a little bit like reading a manual to figure how everything works. The cap of the Spinlash comes separate from the body, and the cap is actually the part that contains the mascara (in a little cartridge inside the cap, there’s mascara that looks like ink). The problem for me is that the “ink” leaked when I stored it away for a day so I had to wash the mascara off the cap.

Once you stick the wand inside the cap, you’ll get the bristles all coated with Spinlash’s own mascara. This is not really advisable, since that mascara is not my favorite…it’s clumpy and not waterproof, and will smudge. I prefer to use the Spinlash with my mascara, Diorshow.

I tested one eye with my normal, everyday mascara, and my other eye with Spinlash. The Spinlash definitely separated each last with finer precision than my regular wand. No question! My ordinary mascara wand left my lashes extremely clumpy, no matter how much I tried to comb them out.

But what’s the ideal situation for the lash-loving girl? If you simply must have each lash separated, give this a whirl. Even though the motorized wand spins v-e-r-y  s-l-o-w-l-y, I still love the manual labor of separating each lash manually.

I’ve broken down the review into pros and cons:

Pros

o You can use your own mascara and wand with it
o It DOES separate each lash, probably better than my own application.
o It’s automatic, and therefore good for people with arthritis or dexterity problems

Cons

o It costs $15. I mean….seriously?
o It doesn’t always work. Click, click, kaput.
o Once the battery dies, it’s dead as a tombstone. You have to shell out another $15 to get a new one.

The Spinlash retails at Target and other drugstores. So, are you going to give it a whirl?

Beauty Anonymous reviews La Mer The Hydration Infusion.

Enter to win Y.E.S. skincare products valued at $98 from Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog.

Beauty411 shares the best online beauty shopping websites from the NovemberShopSmart by Consumer Reports magazine! Did your favorite site make the list?

Monique at Beauty Girl Musings has tried Kinerase Under Eye Rescue, and is surprised at what she discovers. Find out what she thinks!

Alison of the Advice Sisters is blogging about the hair, makeup and nails backstage at Fashion Week fromVera Wang to Carmen Marc Valvo, and gives readers a birds-eye view of the American Express Skybox.

The Jet Set Girls are giving away Crest Weekly Clean. Stop by and register to win!

MissWhoever YouAre reviews the forgotten Rich & Ripe lipgloss from MAC’s Cult of Cherry collection for her Pucker Up Wednesday series!

The Makeup Divas reviews Make Up For Ever HD Invisible Cover Foundation and tells you why they love it.

Boutique Flair‘s fab finds will help you get fall’s decadent dark lips. Is the power pout beautifully romantic or tragically goth? You decide!

What anti-aging skincare brand does Beauty Blogging Junkie swear by these days? Find out here!

Latest Hair Trends Seen at the 2008 Emmy Awards-by Talking Makeup!

Meg Ryan is looking better than ever in the new movie, The Women! Find out what hair products help her create those gorgeous waves on A Mom in Red High Heels!

Jenn from Beauty in Real Life has found a new moisturizer perfect for Fall. Click here to find out what it is.

Glossypink has a hot new look and has an awesome Dita Von Teese photo gallery!

Spoiled Pretty is giving away a Junior Drake handbag worth $528. What are you waiting for? Enter today!

This is – by far – my most favorite moisturizer I’ve tried in a loooooong time. As a lassie with Indian ski, I’m prone to hyperpigmentation (eesh…I hate that word!). Lasers, peels, mojitos…you name it, they haven’t really done the job.

But the “Protect and Correct” moisturizer from DDF does exactly that. It corrects those pesky spots, and protects you from UV Rays (SPF 15). It has a potent Micro-Radiance Complex that evens skin tone just as well as any fractal laser I’ve tried.

The texture of the moisturizer is as thick as paste. There’s no goopiness, and your skin doesn’t feel like a parched creature in the Atacama Desert. In three days, my acne scars and discolorations started to vanish like the ozone layer.

I would buy this product faster than Dorothy could tap her ruby red heels. $58 for 1.7 fl. Oz. at www.ddfskincare.com

Ah, the White Room at Kate Somerville’s plush pad in Hollywood. If I had a room like this I’d never leave it. It would be my bed, breakfast and beauty boudoir, where I would entertain notables and turn down the shabbily dressed at the doorstep.

Vogue recently reported that Kate opened her White Room in August, and the line of stars outside her door has been growing faster than lightning.

This room is where Emmy hopefuls like Felicity Huffman, Molly Sims and Kerry Washington all got Signature White Room facials before the Emmy awards.

You wouldn’t get me to leave once I step into such a room. I’d bring a pitch tent, torch and food rations and set up shop!

Flat out gorge as a Romantic Screen Siren, Hayden Panettiere wears smokin’ makeup that added fizz to the Emmy palette on Sunday evening. It’s all about the eyes, ladies. Since Hayden is a Neutrogena spokeswoman, these are the shades that went into her Emmy “do” (makeup by celeb artist Amy Oresman):

SKIN: Neutrogena Mineral Sheer Powder (even all over her neck and shoulders).

EYES: Nourishing Eye Duo in Iced Coffee (for the lids, for a nude finish). Take the darker shade and sweep into crease to create contour. Use eyeshadow as liner to create a smoky look

Also, use Healthy Volume Mascara in black

LIPS: Lip Moisturizer and a low-shine lippie like Lipsheers SPF 20 in Sparkling Nude

We’re trying to stop gagging over a press release we received from The Alchemist’s Apprentice, an online apothecary carrying a roster of natural and organic beauty brands. It seems the company’s house brand, Alchemy of Colour Mineral Cosmetics, has come up with a “Power Pink Lipstick” dedicated to Sarah Palin, and they’re going to donate $1 from each lipstick sale to her campaign. The joke is supposed to be that Palin is a self-professed pitbull with lipstick, provided courtesy of Alchemy of Colour. What’s funnier to us is that the press release couldn’t even keep its canines straight, referring to Palin as a “bulldog.”

But that gaffe pales in comparison to Palin’s endorsement from The Alchemist’s Apprentice. It’s hard for us to understand how a company that prides itself on its environmentally sensitive products could donate money to a “drill, baby, drill” governor who kills animals for fun. Are they really onboard with a candidate who wants to dictate to women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies? Can they throw their weight behind someone who wants to censor library books?

The beauty industry promotes causes ranging from breast cancer research to preservation of the Amazon rainforest. We applaud that. But we don’t know of any beauty company other than The Alchemist’s Apprentice that is taking a political stance in an election year. It seems to us that it crosses an ethical line when a company hawks a terminally flawed candidate to promote lipstick sales.

What’s next? We think a Sarah Palin blush would be very apropos. God knows she’s got enough to be embarrassed about.

How does one describe that time of the month?There’s nothing (for me at least), that makes me cringe like the words “I have my period.” Not even the words “You may be about to die,” or “Your horoscope’s not looking so hot,” or even “He didn’t return my phone calls.”

Why did God have to do this to the women? Well, obviously because we can take it (imagine a man going through this monthly ordeal…he’d probably go through a gender transformation).

So, when Sweet Spot Labs’ “Bidet in a Bottle,” surfaced in the market (it aims to freshen up the sweet spot –aka your Betty–during that time of month), I felt as enthusiastic as Ryan Seacrest does when someone recognizes him as a celeb.

So, how does this sweetness work?

You get a plastic bottle which you fill up with water, and then put a packet of “Spot Clean” liquid and shake hard. The “Shower Power” liquid comes with 7 refreshing Basil Grapefruit fragranced packettes.

Then you drizzle the entire liquid contents of the bottle over your sweet spot while standing in the shower or sitting on the can (okay–the process is not ladylike, but the rewards are unbeatable). You get a sweet-smelling Betty and a refreshed one, and can I tell you that I’ll take that any day.

A Starter Kit retails for $20 at www.sweetspotlabs.com

When our beloved Butterfly Diary Editor Charu Suri asked me to cover the Joanna Mastroianni spring 2009 show, I just couldn’t say no. And I’m so glad I didn’t. From the backstage beginnings to the designer’s runway bow out, I felt as though I had a brilliantly colored ephiphany.

The collection was presented on Tuesday evening, September 9, 2008 in the “Salon” of the Bryant Park tents. Backstage, I had the pleasure of meeting with the head hairstylist and makeup artist-Louise O’Connor, Owner and Creative Director of OC61 Salon and Spa, and JP McCary, Vice President of Artisty for Temptu, respectively.

O’Connor went for an romantic “upside down chignon” look and was “inspired by a French twist.” “Nothing too contrived looking and I wanted texture,” she says. “Also, something more up than a chignon, with volume at the crown but not so much at the top of the head.” The reason for this, she explained, was that if the hair was worn down, it would have taken away from the beauty of Mastroianni’s necklines and in some instances “puffy shoulders.” Check out the pics below of O’Connor and her team in action!

As for beauty, McCary and his team used only Temptu’s airbrush makeup (except for the lip gloss and mascara, of course) to create the vibrant and flawless look that can only be achieved in that way, along with dramatic top and bottom lashes a la Twiggy to complement the citrine and amethyst shadows as well as Mastroianni’s “nod to mod” in some of her pieces. I was curious to find out the meaning of the “Temptu” name-McCary shared that it’s an abbreviation of “temporary tattoo” and that they launched their airbrush makeup in the 1990s, which has since been #1 in the world. I also found out that he joined Temptu earlier this year and was formerly with such cosmetics giants as Shu Uemura, Bobbi Brown and Trish McEvoy. Plus, before McCary discovered makeup artistry as a career, he was an opera singer, which goes to show how all forms of art can somehow be tied together.

At last, it was show time! I took my seat in the second row at the end of the runway and was delightfully greeted by dresses and ensembles, mostly in refreshing citrus shades of tangerine, lemon and lime. For this collection, Mastroianni was mainly inspired by the work of the late costume and set designer Tony Duquette.

This inspiration came through, especially in the luxurious fabrics she used and beautifully layered in some cases, as well as the fine embroidery and beading, which even consisted of malachite and onyx. Given all this, it’s easy to see why Mastroianni is a red carpet favorite and yet versatile enough to create looks that were more suitable for daytime as well.

One of her creations (or “children”, as she lovingly refers to them) that really stood out was a royal blue tea length dress featuring a peacock-like motif in the bodice paired off with a most adorable accessory-a Pomeranian! The music was very inspiring and energetic as well, featuring songs such as Alicia Keys’ “No One” and closing out with Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor”, as Mastroianni came out to take a bow to well-deserved applause.

As for the gift bag, although I didn’t get what appeared to be a complete one, it contained model Carol Alt’s first novel, This Year’s Model (which explains why I spotted her backstage doing a bunch of TV interviews) as well as hair care and styling products from the Barex Italiana line, which is exclusively distributed by Oloff Beauty in the U.S.
For more information visit:

www.joannamastroianni.com
www.oc61.com
www.temptu.com
www.oloffbeauty.com

Phillip Lim may well be having an identity crisis. On the other hand, he may have a lot in common with Picasso. His Spring 2009 RTW collection showcased Moorish influences, 1940s inspiration, avant-garde flourishes with minimal use of color.

The hairstyle was clean and swept back into bowed ponytail (think Eva Peron meets Juliet Lewis). Master stylists from Aveda used Air Control Hair Spray to smoothen the hair, and Aveda Light Elements Defining Whip to the hair that was slicked back into a bow and secured with pins.

As for the clothes, well, they were as varied as Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” (or Britney’s 2007 and 2008 VMAs). From flapper-like thread details to ruffled layers on dresses, the variety of offerings was like Picasso gone wild.

What was the unifying theme? Perhaps the Moorish influence, perhaps the moonshine, perhaps, perhaps his vision. He needs a unifying theme and a look, though. It’s just way too all over the place.

The gift bags, however, were fabulous, we heard (worth $250 and filled with Aveda and NARS booty).

Plus Emmy Rossum looked like a screen siren sitting front row (she did her own hair). Bravo Emmy! Above are pictures of her while she was in the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge before the show.