SFRbeauty is now GlamAlley.com! My latest haul featuring Apothederm, Centrix Q Zone, and a Cricket Brush!

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One of my favorite beauty sites, SFRbeauty, has a new name and a new website design: Introducing Glam Alley!!! The new and improved site design better reflects the awesome assortment of products and allows for better site navigation, too! Overall, a fabulous website makeover! :) Also, I must mention that this company is just so nice!!! Plus, their items always come packaged extremely well. Overall, it is a great experience working with them! :)

Introducing the NEW Website Look and Name of SFRbeauty: Glam Alley:

To kick off the launch of Glam Alley, I picked out a few products that I was interested in trying out. Glam Alley carries skincare, makeup, and hair care, tools, and even some fragrances. The California based site's focus is on natural and organic products and professional quality treatments and tools. 

To find out what I got in my most recent Glam Alley haul and to read my first impressions/mini reviews, please click "read more" below! :)

Make Up For Ever: NEW Artisan Brush Collection and Atlanta Beauty Event this Weekend!!!

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Lets talk brushes! As much as I rotate new makeup into my everyday routine, adding a new brush is a much bigger commitment. Makeup brushes are tools that I tend to use over-and-over for many, many years. Some of my favorite brushes in my collection are even on 12-15+ years old and going strong! I like to think of makeup brushes as investments. These are items that you will use heavily and for a very long time. If you invest in quality tools (not necessarily expensive...but quality) and take care of them, they will last you practically forever.

As you are looking to add some new tools to your makeup brush collection, be sure to check out the amazing new Artisan Brush Collection from Make Up For Ever. I am absolutely blown away by the quality of these. Honestly, they are now the nicest brushes in my brush collection. Yes, they are extremely expensive. However, if you look at expanding your brush collection one tool at a time, the investment is worth it for an item that you will potentially use every day.

To find out all the details about the brushes that I tried from this collection: Powder Kabuki #124, Double Ended Shader + Smudger Brush #204, #244 Precision Shader Large, #130 Precision Powder Brush Large, #150 Precision Blush Brush, and #110 Foundation Kabuki Medium, please click "read more" below.

Also, are you in the Atlanta or North GA area? Make Up For Ever is having a fun beauty event on Sept 21st at the Sephora in Perimeter Mall. Find out more details after the jump!

Makeup Wars: Hair Styling Tools

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It is time for another Makeup War! This time the Makeup Wars bloggers are sharing their favorite tools for hair styling!

What are the Makeup Wars?
Before sharing my choices for hair tools, let me tell you a little bit about Makeup Wars in general. The Makeup Wars Bloggers are a group of top beauty bloggers that publish coordinated bi-weekly posts. The Makeup Wars bloggers collectively pick topics to blog about (e.g., Top 10 Products, Beauty Pampering, etc). Then, we publish our posts at precisely the same time and link up through the graphic links and thumbnails at the top and bottom of our posts. It is always a big surprise to scroll through the links from the group to see what everyone picked! 

In my hair care routine, I rarely stray from my basic styling tools. Once I find something that works, I stick with it! With that said, I do like to discover new tools. If I read about a fabulous tool that someone else is using with my same hair length and type, I tend to try it out. Then, if I like that tool, I will add it to my routine or replace another tool with it.

My Hair:
My hair is super long and somewhat hard to manage. It is highlighted. So, it is dry and it tangles very easily. Plus, it is very thick and somewhat coarse. It is primarily straight. However, ever since my first pregnancy a couple years ago, I have some random wavy patches. Typically, I wash it every other day. When I wash it, I let it air dry about 50%. Then I blow dry with a paddle brush and then a large round brush to work the waves out. On occasion, I curl it with a wand or use a straightener to get it super sleek. Also, I like to use wet-sets to create no-heat curls. However, I will not include these no-heat tools in this post. If you all would like, I could do a no-heat series next? Let me know! :)

Some of my current favorite tools I have been using for years and others are new additions to my hair care routine. Do you want to see my picks? Click "read more" below to hear more!

Get Fabulous Curls: NuMe's Reverse Wand Review *PLUS Giveaway for a NuMe Classic Wand (and Discount Code)

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Have you ever heard of a Reverse Wand Curling Iron? I am so excited about this Reverse Wand from NuMe! It is my new favorite tool for creating gorgeous waves and curls!

NuMe's Reverse Wand is so unique! It is larger at the tip and the barrel tapers narrower towards the handle. This reverse cone shape gives you curls that are larger at the roots and narrower towards the ends of your hair. So darn cool!!! I absolutely love the effect!

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NuMe's Classic Curling Wands' Features:

NuMe offers many wands in their Classic Curling Wand Collection: 13, 19, 25, and 32 inch Wands (in and assortment of colors), the Pearl Curling Wand, and the Reverse Wands (in an assortment of colors). The retail for a normal price of $225 each but are currently on sale for $159 each.

• 100% tourmaline-infused ceramic wand

• • Innovative clip-less design for crease-free curls

• • Heats up to 210°C (410°F)

• • Infrared heat technology

• • Negative ion technology

• • Ergonomic design

• • Dual voltage 110v-240v (50-60Hz)

• • Power: 45w (USA) and 25w (Canada)

• • Heat-resistant glove included

To read about my tips on how to use the NuMe Reverse Curl wand (and see my photo tutorial), hear about NuMe's Pure Remedy Hair Repair Mask, and to enter the GIVEAWAY, please click "read more" below!

Makeup Wars! Battle of the "Best Makeup Brush"

It is time for another Makeup Wars battle! This time the Makeup Wars bloggers are battling over the "Best Makeup Brush".

These Makeup Wars posts are so fun! Basically, the Makeup Wars bloggers are a small group of beauty-obsessed bloggers who like a good challenge (and enjoy giving a nod to Star Wars! lol). We choose a topic, product, or challenge to blog about. Then we publish our posts at exactly the same time linking each other through the graphic on the top of this post (the "Last Brush" and "Next Brush" links). This allows our readers to scroll through all of our blogs to see a variety of bloggers thoughts on a single topic like "Favorite Makeup Brushes". Also, there is a graphic on the bottom of this post that displays all of our blogs if you want to click through that way. I encourage everyone to visit all the Makeup Wars blogger's blogs! I know that I always look forward to seeing what everyone picked for each challenge!!! Did you miss our last challenges? Here they are: Battle of the Taupes, The $20.00 Face Challenge, Battle of the Favorite Summer Lippie, and the Most Expensive Face Challenge.

This is such an easy challenge for me as I have a *clear favorite* in the category of makeup brushes. It is actually a brush that "changed my life" as far as makeup application...Not only is it amongst the softest brushes in my collection, it is also great quality, easy to use, and it made me start liking a whole new category of makeup (because of the ease of application with this brush!). Are you intrigued yet? If you are dying to know which brush I picked, keep reading!

Minerals Mate: Blending Tray for Applying and Storing Your Minerals!

Do you love your Mineral Makeup but hate the mess? Well, you might want to read this post! Minerals Mate has found a solution to this common mineral makeup maven's dilemma! Minerals Mate Application and Mixing Tray is a blending/mixing, application, and storage tray for mineral makeup (or any type of loose makeup pigments or glitters). What an inventive idea!

The founder of Minerals Mate is a fellow Atlanta native (go ATL peeps!). She was tired of all of the spilling from mixing and applying her mineral makeup. So, she developed this handy tray.