Miss Manga !!

As I have mentioned before, I am always searching for THE BEST mascara..I have tried so many over the last few years, always going back to Maybelline's Great Lash for lack of anything better. Recently, I have been using Benefit's They're Real, it's really good..no clumping..but no "pow" either. (I guess that is why it's called They're Real). Still searching...
 I had seen the ads for Miss Manga and figured it was for younger girls who might know who "Miss Manga" is. But there I was in the makeup dept in Target and there was Miss Manga mascara by L'Oreal..less than $10, why not.  Here's what L-Oreal says about it:

L’Oréal Paris introduces new Voluminous Miss Manga mascara featuring the 360 flexor brush to build bold volume with high intensity from top to bottom. For the first time, L’Oréal Paris creates a flexible brush with a unique conical shape to catch those hard to reach lashes with an incredibly even application. The Mega Impact Formula instantly builds oversized volume for 15X lash volume in a flash. Top lashes are amplified and bottom lashes maximized for the ultimate wide-eyed Manga Look.

Love the brush, it is full, soft and it flexes, which is different, that was the first thing I noticed.. the second thing I noticed was my great looking lashes. Long, dark, full..no clumps…perfection, at last :)

How to Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran's books are not for the faint of heart..Moran is a gutsy, raw, hold nothing back writer. She writes what she knows and that's what keeps you reading..you know that she knows. Oh,  did I mention she is funny?

How to Build  a Girl is the story of an overweight teen named Johanna Morrigan..a girl who has never been kissed, who doesn't cause any trouble, who fades in to the wallpaper. After a humiliating experience reciting poetry on TV, Johanna decides that life for her must change and she begins by changing her name to Dolly Wilde… she begins to build her life into what she wants it to be.
Johanna's family with five children is on the brink of real poverty, her dad is a washed up wanna be rocker , an alcoholic, on the dole for being "disabled".
Her mom seems to be oblivious to all the strife, but in her defense here she is with three children and just delivers a set of twins.  Johanna, or rather Dolly, gets a job writing reviews for a music mag ( to save the family from ruin) and there the change of life truly begins. To fit in with these guys at the magazine, she must smoke, drink, and carry on as an adult, even though she is only 16. When she writes her first big review of wacked-out rocker John Kite , the other writers think she was too soft on him and her work falls off. In order to keep the work coming, she decides to become the most hated band reviewer ever…writing scathing reviews that made most bands cower at the site of her..all dressed in black wearing a top hat as a trademark. To further her new identity, she beds most of the rockers she meets and gives reviews at the water cooler trying to impress all with "Dolly Wilde's" wild life. But, is this really how to build a girl? 
As I read along, it was like reading about a train headed for a granite wall. The drinking, the smoking, the drugs, the sex..she is just a kid…I was waiting for this horrific crash….

Caitlin Moran was born Catherine..she changed her name when she was just a young teen..and it is pronounced "Cat-lin" just to be set apart from the others. She also worked at a music magazine as a teen..see where I am headed? She writes what she knows, that is why her books are so worth reading.
Moran's book will be on shelves in September.

Ballroom by Alice Simpson

Told in interconnecting stories, Ballroom is a beautifully crafted debut novel—reminiscent of the works of Elizabeth Strout and Jennifer Haigh—about a group of strangers united by a desire to escape their complicated lives, if only for a few hours each week, in a faded New York City dance hall.

Time has eroded the glamour of the Ballroom, but at the end of the 1990s, a small crowd of loyal patrons still makes its way past the floor-to-ceiling columns which frame the once grand hall each Sunday evening. Sweeping across the worn parquet floor under a peeling indigo ceiling, these men and women succumb to the magic of the music, looking for love and connection, eager to erase the drab reality of their complicated lives.

Nearly forty and still single, Sarah Dreyfus is desperate for love and sure she’ll find it with debonair Gabriel Katz, a dazzling peacock who dances to distract himself from his crumbling marriage. Tired of the bachelor life, Joseph believes that his yearning for a wife and family will be fulfilled—if only he can get Sarah to notice him. Besotted with beautiful young Maria Rodriguez, elderly dance instructor Harry Korn knows they can find happiness together. Maria, one of the Ballroom’s stars, has a dream of her own, a passion her broken-hearted father refuses to accept or understand.

As the rhythms of the Ballroom ebb and flow through these characters’ hearts, their fates come together in touching, unexpected ways.

EmerginC Body Butter

I love these new Scientific Organics products from EmerginC. In an earlier blog post I told you about their spirulina toner that I love and use on my face everyday. Now comes this fresh-citrus-scented nourishing total body cream. It contains grape stem cells, spirulina, algae, green and white teas, shea butter, jojoba seed oil, vitamins A, C and E, palmariapalmata, pine bark extract and more to nourish, soothe and soften the skin.
I usually shy away from body butters because they always feel so greasy, not so with this one. I was absolutely amazed after I applied it, how quickly it absorbed into my skin. I can apply it after the shower and get right into my clothes without fear of getting grease spots on my linen blouses. And,  I have been applying it to the back of my hands which are so dry this summer, using it twice a day for a week now. I noticed they are much softer, less dry looking, younger looking.. even during the day after many times in soapy water.  Love, love this body butter!
So get yourself to the EmerginC website for ordering…www.ermerginc.com

The Visitors by Sally Beauman

Author Sally Beauman brings us back to Egypt, back to the exciting discovery of treasures in the Valley of the Tombs. The discovery of King Tut's undisturbed tomb was one of the great discoveries of the twentieth century. The golden coffin with the mummified remains, the jewels and the riches, beyond our wildest imagination!
Author Beauman did not try to re-write  history, but  added the human side to it..the highs and the lows, the celebration and the heartbreak.

Lucy Payne is an eleven year old girl, recovering from the typhoid virus that took her mother's life. She is sent to Egypt with a caretaker named Miss MacKenzie ( Miss Mack for short), by her father, a rather self-centered, cold university professor. What an opportune time to be in the Valley of the Tombs, when Howard Carter is excavating along with Lord Carnavon & other famous archeologists.
Miss Mack believes that Lucy will recover when she is out in the fresh air, taking part in life again.. not only  has she been seriously ill but  is also grieving for her mother.  On the first venture to the tombs, Lucy spies a young girl running about the excavation site..she turns out to be Frances, daughter of an archeologist. And so begins the human story within the magnificent story.
The story is told by a now elderly Lucy, in retrospect. There are many characters in this novel, but the crux of it is centered around Lucy, along with best friend Frances. She meets Rose & Peter, two more children caught up in the drama unfolding in the desert. Lord Carnavon & his daughter Evelyn, social butterfly Poppy D'Erlanger ( Rose & Peter's mother who meets an untimely death),  Howard Carter, and others help to personalize the story. Love and life and loss of both, make this a bittersweet tale.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the characters were just so fully formed, the story so well developed-
I didn't want to put  it down-which is hard to do with a book of 500  plus pages:)
 The fascination with King Tut's tomb lives on and this fictional account of the lives changed by it, makes it even more thrilling.

Hair fun with Mia Beauty

I am having the most fun with my  hair this summer…Mia Beauty has some great new accessories, they are my favorite company for hair fun!

String Bling is a fun way to add sparkle to your hair without using glitter spray, or spray in color. Each kit comes with String Bling and some small barrettes. You can cut off any length of bling and tie it into your hair or attach it to a barrette and snap it into your hair. If you tie the String Bling in , you can leave it in for days..you can wash hair, blow dry, curl..it will stay put. Just a lot of fun!

Tony Ties are ponytail elastics that you can wear on your wrist for those

 " just gotta get my hair off my neck " moments. They are cute, patterned, glittery or plain colored, and they don't pull your hair. I have a shortish bob, but when I get home on these hot summer days, I just want to get the hair away from my face. I pull the sides and bangs straight up on top of my head and still manage to look cute because I have the navy polka dot ties…love 'em!

 Go to miabeauty.com to get these items and have a look at all the other great products they sell. 

The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith

Save a rainy weekend for this new novel due out next month. Author Smith has written something that you will not want to put down once you start it. Set in three distinct parts, this novel is about the strong love of parent's for their children and the strong pull of land and sea.
Set in the late 18th century,  we first meet Tabitha, age 10. A precocious child, motherless (mother Helen died in childbirth), she loves the sea. Her father John, was a seagoing pirate of sorts in his younger days and he filled her head with all sorts of stories of the high seas. He had wisked her mother Helen away from her grandfather Asa's plantation, married her and taken her off to islands unknown..returning a year later pregnant with Tabitha.
And then we learn of Tab's mother, Helen. Her mother also died in childbirth and she was raised by her widowed father, Asa, a very prominent business man in the town of Beaufort. He made his living from the land, gathering pine tar for turpentine. On Helen's 10th birthday, Asa had gifted her with a slave girl named Moll, and they had formed an unusual friendship as they grew up together.  Helen turned into a very strong willed, capable young woman and when politics (the end of the Revolutionary war) call her father away from home, Helen runs the plantation. In one of the last skirmishes of the war, which happens in Beaufort, Helen meets John, a Continental soldier and falls in love.
The third part of the novel, is filled with guilt and grief. For Asa , a grieving father and grandfather..for John grieving a wife and daughter. For Moll, grieving a son sold off to slavery.
I was so taken with this story, that I felt like a swift blast of wind had blown right through me at the end of it. I closed the book and put my hand on the cover and rested it for a minute, to catch my breath.
This is a must read on your book list.
Harper Collins Publisher, due out in August.