end notes

Hi lovelies,
As mentioned earlier this week, today marks my last SugarShock post. I'm moving on to greener pastures at Elle Canada and have to say goodbye to all of you. Parting is such sweet sorrow and I thank all of you who have dutifully read and enjoyed this site. For you Canadian gals, you can keep getting my take on beauty in the pages of Elle Canada.
So, what'll you do without SugarShock to help lead you through the beauty amazon? Well, I leave you with some beautiful tour guides, namely, my favorite beauty bloggers. These are the ladies I turn to for my own beauty fix. Enjoy!
xo Kristen

Beauty Addict If she's not the first-ever beauty blogger, Kristen Kelly is certainly one of the best. Her dry wit and critical eye has saved me from at least a few beauty blunders and she never fails to entertain, whether it's her (mis)adventures with self-tanner or her fashion magazine-cover breakdowns.

Bella Sugar For breaking beauty news, how-tos and trends, Bella Sugar is the place to be. By turns informative and funny, and a little bit skeptical, this site, updated 5 to 6+ times a day, is like the CNN of the beauty blogging world. But with a penchant for covering some of the more bizarre things we do in the name of beauty, I like to think of it as the cool girl's beauty blog.

Beauty Blogging Junkie Amber Katz is totally funny in person and she has a quick-witted blogging voice to match. I love her sometimes obscure pop cultural references and never-ending obsession with finding that perfect hair product to get shampoo-commercial girl hair.

Lipstick Powder n' Paint This site by fellow Canadian Ellen Mirza recently went through a makeover and I love the new retro, Bewitched look and feel. But what I love most about it is the personal, intimate and funny voice of the site that always makes me feel like I'm in on a girl's slumber party, gabbing about our favorite beauty products.

Spoiled Pretty Always keeps me guessing. Whether she's covering the latest mascara or a hot tranny celebrity mess, Daneen Baird has a great mix of content and funny voice that never fails to keep me in stitches. Plus, this girl's the queen of giveaways. So if you're up for free stuff, head on over!

onwards and upwards

My dear loyal readers,
I have exciting news to share with you!
I've recently been offered a job as associate beauty editor at Elle Canada. I don't have to tell you what a dream job this is. What does this mean for you? Well unfortunately, I'll have to put SugarShock to bed, because it just gets too darn confusing when you're going to a myriad of events and launches while representing two different media. I'm sad that I'll have to say goodbye to my baby which has been a labor of love but very excited about this new opportunity to say the least.
SugarShock will still be up and running until the end of this week, after which time it will go into hibernation mode. But you never know - I might just revive it one day....
So keep reading till the end of this week. And on Friday, I'll give you a round-up of my favorite blogs to satisfy your beauty fix.
ciao for now,
Kristen
:)

chewing gum: beauty friend or foe?

I've always been a chewing gum girl, but recently my gum habit got a bit out of hand: I became obsessed with Freedent Total's Bubblemint flavor and would chew through a 12-piece pack in a single sitting. What's the harm, I figured; I'm cleaning my teeth, while helping to whiten them and getting a little something "sweet" without indulging in calorie-laden dessert-y treats. Plus, It tastes great and you can blow bubbles! But recently, when I attended a beauty event for French beauty brand Clarins, we got to talking about how women in France steer clear of chewing gum altogether for fear of wrinkles. What!? How could this be? All that gum-chewing was actually giving me wrinkles? Now, I don't think this has ever been scientifically proven, but hearing this has scared me off of gum, at least for now.
How about you? What are your gum-chewing habits?

would you use a "stem-cell" cream?

I'd been seeing the wordy ads for Amatokin, the so-called "stem-cell cream" popping up in various beauty magazines recently, declaring: "Stem Cells...The Future of Skin Rejuvenation." Allegedly endorsed by one Tiffany Strobel, the "beauty editor" of myfreediet.com (a site which looks suspiciously like a shill for quick-fix weight loss pills), the ads feature such bits of wisdom as "Stem cells are hot, really, really hot" and "Imagine new, fresh, "perfect" skin cells, undamaged by age, sun or pollution." The cream, which sells for roughly $200 an ounce, is said to harness "stem-cell technology" that may shave 20 years off of your complexion. But if you're left with the impression that the cream contains actual, potentially controversial stem cells, you're not alone – I thought the very same thing. As it turns out, this cream contains nothing of the sort (though it still sounds like something you'd see in a futuristic sci-fi movie) – it merely "highlights" the skin's existing stem cells, says the company, via a newly discovered polypeptide. It all sounds a bit vague, and maybe too good to be true, but the company claims the cream is causing near-riots over the pond.
So, I thought I'd ask my readers: what do you think of this strange new phenomenon? and, would you use a "stem-cell" cream?

the mascara brush: is bigger better?

The mascara world is all abuzz of late, literally: Both Estée Lauder and Lancôme will be launching turbo-powered, vibrating-brush mascaras by the end of the year. Seriously. But the other biggest trend of the moment when it comes to getting your fringe on is decidedly more lo-fi: the gargantuan mascara brush. CoverGirl's Lashblast, MAC's Plushlash and the cult-fave Diorshow, among others, boast monstrous brushes, that with their sheer gigantism, volumize and build up your lashes with a single stroke. And personally, I love my Plushlash for creating those big, Bambi-like lashes. However, little brushes have their benefits too – (you can be a lot more precise and get at those hard-to-reach corner lashes) – and some makeup artists, such as What Not to Wear's Carmindy, say that when it comes to mascara, the smaller the brush, the better.
So I thought I'd turn it over to you to see what you think: is bigger better when it comes to mascara brushes? Or is small the way to go?

tag time

Daneen over at Spoiled Pretty and Kyle at Face Candy recently tagged me to answer six questions about myself, so for all the insatiably curious voyeurs out there, this one's for you:

What were you doing ten years ago?
Ten years ago, I was going to University in Ottawa and living with my first long-term boyfriend. That's one for the history books; I haven't heard from him in years.
What are five things on your to-do list today?
* Download new music!
* Launch a new contest on SugarShock
* Go to the gym
* Get groceries
* Get some work done (at work....but that's a whole other "to do" list)
Snacks you enjoy?
In case there was any doubt, I'm a sweet fiend. I have to have something sweet in the afternoon (usually a cookie) and after dinner. I'm currently obsessed with Skinny Cow's mini sundaes and Fig Newtons, which you'll notice are semi-healthy sweets – I'm weird like that.
Places you've lived?
Kitchener, Ontario
Ottawa, Ontario
Toronto, Ontario
What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
* Travel the world
* Buy a house (or two)!
* Donate a sizable sum to charity
* Launch my own business
* Spread the wealth amongst my family and friends
People you want to know more about?
I think this is more people I'd like to hang out with: Chloe Sevigny, John Galliano, Stanley Kubrick (if he were alive) and Jack White of the White Stripes.

Ok, so now I'm tagging Annie from Poetic and Chic, Elke from the Elke Von Freudenberg Blog, Shannon from A Girl's Gotta Spa, Teri from Beautiful Makeup Search, Jazmin from Makeup Moxie and PJ from A Touch of Blusher.
Here are the rules:
* Post rules at the beginning of the post.
* Answer all the questions.
* Tag 6 people, and go to their blog and leave a comment to inform them that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
* Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

be a beauty mogul with beauty factory

Estee Lauder, you've met your match. If you've ever wanted to run your own beauty empire, now here's your chance: the Beauty Factory video game puts you in the driver seat of your own beauty business. Launched by game-maker City Interactive, Beauty Factory makes you CEO of a beauty products company, where you'll create and launch new products, from ingredient development to packaging, market and promote your brands to ever-fickle beauty addicts and carefully manage every aspect of the business to make sure you stay on top. Start in the lab where you'll cherry-pick the notes of the world's next big fragrance and tap into beauty trends to gauge the likes and dislikes of your consumers.
While Beauty Factory is meant to be a sort of learning game for kids ages 3 and up, truthfully, as ludicrous as this sounds, it seems like it would be pure fun. Remember Hasbro's Fashion Plates of the 80s, where you got to be your own fashion designer? Now, we have a fantasy game for us beauty addicts.

what's lurking in your shower?

Not to be a scaremonger or anything, but unkempt grout is the least of your worries; if you're using one of those cute little nylon mesh shower poufs (or scrubbies, scrunchies, or whatever you happen to call them) you may be working yourself into a lather of nasty bacteria. In the June issue of Allure magazine, in an article that shows you step-by-step how to take a shower – (yes, like Hollywood, magazines are apparently sadly bereft of fresh ideas these days) – it's revealed that those unassuming sponges are a breeding ground for bacteria. The mag recommends using a plain old washcloth, which you can easily wash daily. I've also heard that you can wash those poufy things too, but quite frankly, I'd just as soon get rid off it, because who knows what's lurking in those swirly mesh folds!

young, restless, and stylish...

For as long as I can remember, I've watched The Young and the Restless. Let me clarify: I never really had a choice in the matter, because back to when I was just a wee one, the melodramas of Nikki and Victor were always on television somewhere, so I couldn't help but pick up a natural addiction to it. Jack Abbott and Katherine Chancellor (nee Sterling) are like blood relatives to me. These days, if I have a day off, I'll excitedly tune in to the Y&R and am always able to re-immerse myself in the storylines where I left off months ago. So I was admittedly tickled when I came across this weird blurring of real-life and TV – the online fashion and beauty magazine Restless Style, based on the one created on the show by Nick, Phyllis, Jack and Sharon. It's an actual site, with some real (though few) articles about fashion and beauty trends, and there's even a profile piece on Kathy Hilton. The most entertaining are the reader comments that would suggest that some people think Nick, Phyllis, Jack and Sharon are in fact, real.
Juls writes: "Hey Everyone, I am so happy to see this site up and running. Great Job Phyliss with the web design. Nick, I wish you all lots of luck with this, even though you won't need it, this magazine is surely a masterpiece already.. Lets show Victor what a hit this will be..."
Here, here Juls.

oprah's beauty revolution

Have you seen the latest issue of O magazine? The June cover boldy proclaims, "We're Starting a Beauty Revolution!" Rather than buy the magazine, (since it's really not my bag), I went online to see what Oprah's got cooked up. With her new "O Magazine Beauty Revolution", Miss O seems to be taking a page from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty – she's throwing her many years of frustrating diets out the window in an effort to be gentle and forgiving to herself and accepting of her real body. "I've given up scale-watching—letting a number determine how I see myself and whether I'm worthy of a good day," she writes in her editor's letter. On the website, there's a call to arms for readers to join in the revolution by signing a pledge: "From this day forward, I'm going to focus less on how I look than how I see" and readers can sound off on an online Revolution Message Board as well as pull from "scripts to stop the damage" – tips for how to handle discussions of appearance with other women.
The cause of all this ruckus? Oprah's been spending a lot of time with her newest golden boy, Eckhart Tolle, author of The New Earth. She has connected to her consciousness, realizing she is not her body. "Part of my awakening through the New Earth classes has been to recognize how shallow and small that made me."
While I applaud Oprah for trying to kick the shackles of an impossible-to-attain body image, all this is a little too uber-self-help for me. What say you? Are you hearing the message?

dusty simington: the next fekkai?

Is this man the next Frederic Fekkai? He's the slightly spastic, George Hamilton-esque Dusty Simington, a celeb hairstylist from Salon Gregorie's in Newport Beach, California and he's ready for world domination: he'll soon be starring in a reality show called Making the Cut, coming to a TV screen near you.
The tattooed and tanned Dusty, along with his ragtag band of mulleted assistants, worked their magic at the Total Beauty Blogging Summit in L.A. this past weekend, giving a couple of unsuspecting beauty bloggers some hot-mama makeovers. And just to give you a sense of Dusty's intense, off-the-cuff personality, here's a sample soundbite: "If you're unttractive, you're stupid, because there's so many great products out there." I know that I, for one, will be watching.
Photo source: ocregister.com

hero worship: style.com hails the superhero

Lately I've had superheroes on the brain. And it turns out I'm not the only one: The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is gearing up for its Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy exhibit on May 7 and the buzz has been near deafening. I for one, couldn't be more excited, as I've been known to "geek out" over fantasies of donning a splendid lycra and latex costume with cape. As if the amazing "Super-Coco" spread in this month's Vogue weren't enough, style.com has created an amazing, comicbook-style online slideshow featuring superhero-esque fashions and their inspirational counterparts. While some of the inspirations aren't technically superheroes – (Uma Thurman's The Bride from Kill Bill and the band KISS come to mind) – they all have that amazing theatricality and/or slinky sense of cool that befits a superhero. Needless to say, there's plenty of Thierry Mugler's metal body armor and wacky Grace Jones headgear to go around. Plus, MASKS!, CAPES! and BOOTS! With so much selection, what's a caped crusader to do?

Photo: Christopher Moore / Catwalking.com / Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

stila convertible color gets the boyfriend stamp of approval

A little while ago, I held a giveaway for Stila Convertible Color – that lovely multi-tasking lip and cheek color that was named one of InStyle's Best Beauty Buys. Well, one of the ten lucky winners, Shayela Hassan of Springfield, Virginia, was so enamored with the product that she wrote in, and of course, I had to share her lovely little anecdote:

"I just wanted to let you know how AMAZING it is -- if I hadn't won this, I might've gone out and bought it. The peach-brown shade actually looks fresh and natural on my tan skin, and it really brightens up my face. In fact, I was talking to the current guy in my life about what to wear the next day, and he asked 'Were you wearing makeup today? I couldn't really tell, but it looked really nice.' If that's not proof, I don't know what is. Thanks!"

I'll have what she's having....

a whole whack of MAC, all for a good cause

If the waterworks come easily to you, I suggest you grab your tissues now. A fellow beauty blogging friend is going that extra mile to help raise money for a very good cause. Shannon from A Girl's Gotta Spa is hosting several online beauty auctions through to the end of May to benefit Meadow Quinn, a 7 year old girl who has a disease called neurofibromatosis. She has several inoperable tumors and has been on a feeding tube for 18 months. She is an active little girl--like any other 7 year old, but there is a 4 week feeding clinic at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that can help her to learn to eat like any other child her age and help her to come off the feeding tube – however her insurance company has refused to pay for it. It costs $70,000. So far $42,000 has been raised. Many of the beauty auctions contain products from MAC Cosmetics's limited edition collections (Fafi, Heatherette, Antiquitease, N, etc.), while others have great products from Elizabeth Arden, Solessence and Nars. So get on over to Gotta Spa and get all the details to go place your bid!
You can also make a direct donation to Meadow either by mailing a check (details to where in the post).

are you one of the golden ones?

As if you needed another reason to waste time on facebook (or to junk up your fb page even more), there's a new application to assess how perfect you and your visage truly are. From the marketing folks behind plastic surgery show Nip/Tuck comes the Nip/Tuck Golden Ratio application, which lets you upload your photo to get your very own computer-generated attractiveness assessment. Mark up your face with a faux Sharpie pen to highlight the key attractiveness areas, just like the godlike surgeons do. Then, submit your scrawled-upon face to the app, which spits out your hotness percentage rating. And in the ultimate battle of vanity, compare your rated mug to others. Harmless fun or self-esteem crusher? You decide.

want to be an online beauty editor?

Here's something cool for my Canadian girls: glow magazine, Canada's best beauty and health read (and my former haunt), wants you to tell them what beauty booty reigns supreme. It's time once again for the Reader's Choice Best in Beauty and it gives us Canadian gals a chance to cherry-pick our favorite beauty products. And yes, there are some glorious prizes up for grabs: a makeup bag filled with gold medal products* (minimum value of $400) and three chances to win 100,000 Shoppers Optimum PointsTM prize packs (that's a lot of shopping!) Just go to glow.ca and sound off!

bumble & bumble conquers fashion head-on

I don't often write two posts on the same product in one day, but today I'll make an exception to give you a bit of eye candy that is the website for Bumble & Bumble's Spray de Mode. To promote this big-hair-getter hairspray, Bumble's first new product in two years, the brand created a very cool street-meets-couture website featuring the transformations of a bunch of L.A. street hipsters. These ten artsy types get Bumble-&-Bumble-ified with the help of expert milliner Stephen Jones (who has worked with designers Marc Jacobs and Dior). Meet Nicole, a goth-rocker bookstore owner (with more than a passing resemblance to Joan Jett) and her post-makeover persona at left, The Glam Fatale. You can watch videos of the in-progress makeovers as our cast of commoners get tousled, teased and primped (with Bb. products, of course) for hours on end. My only question? Since Bb. was born in New York, why the L.A. peeps?

jumpstart your looks for spring

Need a little spring refresher? You know, something to get you out of the winter doldrums and into fresh and pretty beauty looks. Check out my article, "Spring Beauty Boosts", from just-launched Canadian beauty and health magazine Best Health. The article has loads of on-trend makeup looks inspired by the spring runways to help get you fresh and lovely for the balmy days ahead.
And while you're there, check out the rest of the site, along with the editor's blog – it's pretty fantastic.

sugarshock gets a new home

If you've been on SugarShock in the last little while, you may have noticed a little changing of the guard going on: yes, we have a new home! We wanted a new, punchier and shorter domain, so sugarshockbeauty.com was born. We're still hosted by Blogger and everything should redirect automatically, so not to worry if you're frantically searching for that coveted lipgloss or perfume we reviewed on the site a year ago - it's all still there, just under the new sugarshockbeauty domain. But please update your bookmarks to the new site.
Enjoy!
:)
Kristen

burning question: how much time do you spend on your appearance?

As much as I love talking and writing about beauty products – and selflessly test-driving them – I don't spend nearly as much time actually using them day-to-day as you might think. Most mornings, it's truthfully a smash-and-grab affair: a quick, streamlined shower (sometimes washing my hair, sometimes not, if I can get away with it), followed by my five-minute makeup routine and a fast blowdry with my trusty T3 blowdryer, and I'm out the door. All told, it takes me under a half hour, give or take. If I'm going out, however, that's a different story. I'll sometimes luxuriate over a bath, do the whole body exfoliation, followed by moisturizer, and spend a good half hour or more just on hair and makeup alone.
So how about you: how long does it take you to get ready? Are you hig-maintenance, low-maintenance, or somewhere in between?