Categorized: Articles

May is skin cancer awareness month. But really it should be a year-round conversation because you don’t only get cancer or get exposed to UVA and UVB rays in the spring or summer. True, the sun’s rays are stronger now and daylight is longer during these months but really, skin protection needs to be done every single day of the year. 365 days. No matter the weather. No matter your skin type. Seriously.

I have been preaching about sunscreen since I was in my early 20′s and realized how damaging (and horrifically aging) the sun can be. And when I say preaching I mean preaching. Friends and family probably find me completely obnoxious about it. But I don’t care. I mean most cancers are not avoidable. Don’t you want to avoid the ONE that is basically completely and easily avoidable? Thought so!

Here are some scary facts about skin cancer from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health and the Skin Cancer Foundation:

• It’s the most common form of cancer in the US
• Over 68,000 people are diagnosed with melanomas of the skin
• Over 48,00 are diagnosed with an early form of the disease
• Over 2,000,000 people are treated for basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer every year
• Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.
• One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.

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Today I’ve got five ways for you to do a fairly fast manicure.

We all have those times when we really want (or need) our nail polish to dry SUPERFAST, right? For instance when you are just finishing a 5-hour Friday Night Lights marathon and it’s 1:00 am, but you just can’t go nekkid.

Or when you have an important day the next day but you just spent 7 hours straight pinning things on Pinterest and are exhausted from working so much.

Or even maybe when you JUST painted your nails but suddenly you have to pee worse than you ever have in your life and you need those nails DRY, darnit!

There are ways around this luckily!

Metallic Polish

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Note: Cruelty free

Hey there!

Too Faced is having their semi-annual Friends & Family sale starting May 10 (today) and running through May 16th. This sale will offer 20% off everything when you use the code FFSPRING12.

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After recent news about MAC cosmetics and other Estee Lauder companies not adhering to cruelty-free standards in the manufacturing of their products in other countries, it has become apparent that I cannot in good conscience subtitle my blog as “cruelty-free” anymore. Although I do not agree with animal testing, I realized that I support companies that do test in other countries in order to distribute their products to a wider consumer base. I continue to purchase and review only those brands that do not test on animals in North America, while hoping the same standards will be some day changed in other countries.

I will still not be supporting Cover Girl, L’Oreal, Maybelline, Lancome, Sally Hansen, Neutrogena, Oil of Olay, etc. and all those who I previously didn’t support when I decided to take this stance nearly two years ago.

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March 15th was a day I had been looking forward to for 6 months (more on that at another date) but also turned out a day I had been dreading for even longer.

March 15th was the morning I read from cruelty-free beauty blogger, Logical Harmony, that MAC tests on animals. They sell in China. China law requires animal testing. MAC told her in part that they only do animal testing ‘when required under the law’. Similar to what Estee Lauder recently told me (MAC’s parent company), and countless other companies who sell in China have stated.

I have no idea how long they have been selling in China, so maybe this isn’t that new. But this is the first I am hearing about it which is why I decided to address this since people have mentioned it to me a few times in the last week.

I felt this day would come, if only because I am a totally skeptical person, and they are my favorite brand. If something seems to good to be true, it usually is. When everything seems to be going just peachy, something always comes along to throw a wrench in it. You get the idea.

MAC is a brand I have been wearing for twenty one years. TWENTY ONE YEARS. Longer than some of you have been alive possibly. And we have a history.

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