What do you get when you have me trying to perform a memory upgrade on my own computer? You get a busted computer. I got a little ambitious over the holiday weekend and tried to install some memory in my computer, I guess I was inspired by the deal I got. While I was trying to disconnect everything, I somehow messed up the cord to my monitor (the one that doesn’t come out) and my computer seems to be stuck in DOS mode now. Moral of the story, I’m out of commission for a little while but I’ll be back as soon as I can.

In the meantime, let’s pretend you have the chance to ask a world renowned makeup artist any question you would like. What would you ask? Here’s your chance. We’ll give you more details on this when we’re back in full operating mode but for now, leave a comment and ask a question. You may see you’re question answered here soon.

This weekend, my husband and I took a spontaneous trip out of town to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. The hotel was beautiful and I, of course, beelined for the bathroom to check out the toiletries. They were provided by British luxuries line Gilchrist and Soames. Aside from being adorably tiny (what is it about small versions of regular products that makes them so cute?), the products smelled amazing and were very good quality.

I especially liked the Chamomile Glycerin Soap. The scent is clean, slightly citrusy and soothing. The cake of soap works up a smooth lather – and lots of it! After rinsing the lather off, the soap leaves a moisturizing film on your body. This might sound a little suspect, but it’s actually really nice. One of the biggest issues I have with most soaps is that I feel dry after washing with them. Gilchrist and Soames’ glycerin soap feels very healing and moisturizing.

I also really liked the Chamomile Aloe Vera Body Lotion. Scent-wise, it’s a really nice compliment to the glycerin soap. The formula is light, almost of a whipped consistency, as opposed to thick like a body butter. It spreads on evenly and blends into the skin almost instantly. I felt soft and hydrated all day long.

I snagged extra samples of my new favorite Gilchrist and Soames products from the house keeping cart of the hotel on our way out. I’ll be heading to their web site in the future to replenish and pick up full size soaps and lotions. Bonus – every time I use them, I’ll remember our fantastic weekend!

With Black Friday in just a couple days, Lancome is holding their Friends and Family discount event.

From now until November 26th, just enter in OURGIFT as a promotional code when shopping at Lancome’s website to receive 20% off your purchase. Or just print off this page and take 20% off your purchase at any Lancome boutique. I wish I had one of those in my area.

A Touch of Blusher reveals, “This is the only eyelash curler I ever need!”

The Organic Beauty Expert promotes her own line of organic, handcrafted Signature Gingerbread Collection for the holiday season.

GlamBlush: For those of you with Sex and The City: The Movie fever, tell me – what’s Carrie Bradshaw’s best hair hue? Is she better as a brunette, or a blonde?

KRiSTOPHER gives away a Gifts.com gift certificate. And she doesn’t even want brain in exchange.

Ellen loves the new Calvin Klein MAN fragrance on her hubby. Could this might be the perfect gift for your honey this Holiday?

TheMakeupGirl has a guest blogger – Jolie in NYC! Nadine Haobsh dishes on winter skin while Lianne reads her amazing book.

We Love Beauty Stylemaker and celeb makeup artist, Rachel Goodwin, gives us the step by step on how she created Sarah Michelle’s sexy glow for the Southland Tales screening.

So in my unending quest for the better and best mascara(s), I came across Cover Girl’s latest, Lash Blast Mascara. Besides the great ads with Drew Barrymore splayed all over the place, what really drew me (no pun intended) was the big, bright, orange tube.

The mascara comes with an extra-large, rubber bristled brush and is touted as “a patented volumizing formula” that promises to “max out” lashes for the “ultimate big lash look.”

Well it’s a good mascara, but not great. The brush, being so large, is not the easiest to maneuver and my lashes are not anymore “maxed out” than other volumizing mascaras I have used. The good part though, is that it goes on relatively clump free, removes easily with soap and water and has not smeared on me yet.

For a new, affordable mascara, I would recommend this, but don’t expect miracles.

The other day I get an email from my little sister asking me for some eyeliner. Normally, this wouldn’t be an odd request but the thing is, this girl is only 11 years old. I’m not quite ready to start sharing my stash with her but I don’t mind giving her some stuff that is a bit more age appropriate.

The Sephora Girls line is geared towards the “not quite ready for makeup” set, the girls just on the verge of raiding their big sister’s or mom’s makeup bag. I ordered this Pearly Lipstick for her in Strawberry, a light pearly pink. What’s great about this line is that the products are not overly pigmented, they are all designed to be sheer and they have a nice sweet scent to them. There’s just enough to give lips a bit of a glow. To top it off, isn’t the packaging cute? It’s almost like Hello Kitty and Sephora designed a product line together.

Isn’t it adorable? There’s also Glitter Lipgloss and Flavored Lip Balm. You can see the entire Sephora Girls line here. There are some great gifts for the younger gals on your list.

Not only do you have The Stylistics to look forward to on November 21st but the Metal X collection will also be released on that day. It features 9 all new cream shadows and 5 glitter eyeliners.

I haven’t gotten my hands on this collection yet but I’m hoping that these new cream shadows will be like Paint Pots only with a more intense metallic look, we’ll just have to wait and see though. I’m imagining that they will be what Cream Color Bases should have been; multi-purpose eyeshadows without the sticky finish. These cream eyeshadows feature a new combination of waxes that help them go on smoothly and blend well so they can be used anywhere. Shades include:

• Virgin Silver: white with silver pearl.
• Pure Ore: metallic green gold.
• Goldspice: metallic coppery gold.
• Fusion Gold: light pinky beige with gold pearl.
• Pink Ingot: mid-tone blue pink with gold pearl.
• Metalblu: navy blue with silvery pearl.
• Cyber: metallic silver with silver pearl.
• 6th Sin: forest green with silver pearl.
• Plum Electric: deep purple with red pearl.

I’m thinking that I may need to add a few of these to my wishlist! As for the glitter eyeliners, the colors remind me of the previous incarnations of glitter liners. Judging by the pictures the shades seem pretty similar to shades like Saucepot, Silverspun or Glamour Gold but we’ll have to wait and see on that as well. Shades include:

• Blitzed: yellow gold with multicolour glitter.
• Wonderwhite: silvery white with multicolour glitter.
• Enbronze: deep brown with multicolour glitter.
• Pewterpink: blue purple with multicolour glitter.
• Lime Dandy: mid-tone yellow green with green glitter.

For those of us in the US, isn’t this a great way to ring in the holiday weekend?

It sounds like the name of a band but MAC Cosmetics Stylistics collection is a very luxe release. Remember last year’s Couture collection? The Stylistics is this year’s higher end product line with distribution limited to MAC freestanding stores only. I love the vibe this collection has, a very stylish and hip design… if I drank I’d be putting on my party dress on and toasting martinis.

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This collection includes 4 lipsticks in In Vogue, Soft Pout, Stylistic and The Scene, 4 glosses in Coversational, Witty, Tastemaker and Hyperchic, pressed powder in Solitaire, Warm Ice, Pave and Fashionette, mystery powder in Model Chic, Lighthearted and Dark Secret, 3 special edition brushes (316, 224 and 129), a gorgeous Stylistics clutch and Air of Style scent concentrate.

If last years collection was any indication, this collection is going to be amazing. As a lover of all things highlighting, I’m really looking forward to the Sheerspark Pressed Powders but I’m also very intrigued by the Sheer Mystery Powders and Air of Style. MV1 is my favorite MAC fragrance but with notes of white pepper, dates, tuberose, orange flower, jasmine, precious woods, leather, vetiver, amber crystals, ylang ylang and orris, this will be interesting.

You can find The Stylistics in stores on November 21st or head down to your local store to reserve yours now. Once these are gone, they are gone.

As of today, you can also find MAC’s Of Beauty collection now in stores. This collection features new Loose Beauty Powders and comeback of their Studio Lights.

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I am all giddy with excitement with this release. Anytime a product description mentions the word “pearlescent”, I am all over it. That’s exactly what this loose powder has been described as… a “pearlescent loose powder that provides a sheer, lightly reflective, shimmering iridescent finish to the skin.” I’m sold, but it doesn’t take much for me these days. You can use this powder on eyes and cheeks and it should have a light feel to it. This powder comes in:

• Dancing Light: creamy gold with white gold reflect.
• Drizzlegold: fleshy beige with copper and gold reflect.
• Natural Flare: peachy champagne with white and gold reflect.
• Sunspill: coral peach with white and gold reflect.
• Tenderdusk: soft pink with red and gold reflect.
• Soft Flame: rich plum with reddish copper reflect.

Studio Lights are not pearlescent but they do have some light reflective properties in them. First introduced with the Catherine Deneuve Icon collection, this limited edition product is not a concealer (although some can get away with using the product that way). It doesn’t have as much pigment as a concealer so it’s more of a sheer highlighter you can use to brighten your eyes and other parts of your face as well as contour. It’s even drawn comparisons to the infamous Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat.

Every year around this time, I’m always super excited about the MAC Cosmetics holiday releases. This year they have unleashed a wonderful antique themed collections of color, palettes, brushes and gift sets. From the colors to the packaging, I was left in awe as I loved everything I put my hands on.

Let’s get into each one, one by one…

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Well, not quite. I actually got acquainted with Jo Malone’s fragrances for the first time. One of the other changes to my local Nordstrom’s also includes a new Jo Malone mini-boutique and it’s worth a look.

The downtown Seattle Nordstrom’s Jo Malone boutique is very easy on the eyes. There are rows of products lined across the shelves and then a table where all of the perfumes are lined up for you to take in. With a bowl of test strips in front of us, we started going through event fragrance on the table and I found a favorite, it’s Jo Malone’s French Lime Blossom Cologne. It’s a sweet floral fragrance with notes of lime blossom, bergamot and tarragon weaved together, inspired by a walk along the Champs Élysées in Paris. I’ve been wearing this fragrance since Sunday and it has good lasting power, I’m in love. I guess La J-Lo and I have something in common now, we both love this scent.

If you’re in the Seattle area, go downtown and check out Jo Malone’s boutique. The SA’s are super helpful and won’t mind if you ask them for samples.

This weekend we were browsing around downtown Seattle’s Nordstrom store and admiring the changes to the store like the new MAC and Chanel mini boutiques. While I was in awe at Chanel, I saw the cutest little gift sets.

The Chanel Trois Les Soleils gift set is a treo of three smaller Glossimers in warm and cool shades, all of which are very pretty. The warm set includes Pin-Up, a beige peach; Coral Reef, a pink beige; and Glow, a bronze peach. The cool set includes Magnifique, a sparkly pink; Glaze, white pink; and Satinette, a pearl pink. I’m leaning towards the warm set, it’s colors are a bit more everyday-wear friendly for me but it’s hard to decide. Isn’t it?

Can you tell I’m in a Chanel phase?

From time to time, I’m approached to spread the word about certain websites. Sometimes they aren’t really relevant here but this time I thought I’d pass it along.

The Healthy Skin Portal is a website you can use as a resource to research skin conditions or even treatments you may be considering. Let’s say you wanted to research microdermabrasion and perhaps even find a specialist in your area who could a procedure for you. The Healthy Skin Portal can help you do just that. It even includes average costs of treatments, lengths of procedures, recovery time and even insurance information. Any helpful information is good information and this is an organized skin resource right at your fingertips.

When Erika mentioned Kiehl’s now had a pear flavored lipbalm, I picked some up right away but that’s not all I got.

I also picked up their limited edition Liquid Body Cleanser in Pear. It was a hard decision between this and the Hand Milled Soaps but I’m happy with what I have. The pear scent is amazing, it’s smells so much like a real pear that you can almost imagine biting into a big, juicy, crisp pear. So what did Kiehl’s do? They combined the cleanser, body lotion, a candle, lip balm, hand cream and shampoo all in one set you can give as a gift this holiday. Or you’ll think it smells so good that you’ll just keep it for yourself.

A Touch of Blusher has just got the DiorLight Jewelled Necklace.

Beautiful Makeup Search discovers a natural, yet luxurious cosmetics line in Josie Maran Cosmetics.

GlamBlush stopped by the DKNY Delicious Night fragrance launch party last week. See exclusive video of Zoe Kravitz and Rumer Willis dance the night away.

KRiSTOPHER explains how she became “Kristopher? With a ‘K’?”

This past weekend saw the 1st Annual Canadian Makeup Show. Lipstick, Powder ‘n Paint was there and met up with MAC on site.

Make Her Up has the best stocking stuffer idea – care of Bliss!

The Organic Beauty Expert offers a Green Beauty Video Review of Suki Color.

TheMakeupGirl tells us how to winterize our skin by exfoliating.

We Love Beauty Stylemaker, Celeb Makeup Artist and “Lip Gloss Queen” Mary Klimek, reveals her must-have gloss picks for Fall.