Romy Raves

This past Friday I attended a fun and fashionable event thanks to Glam Media and Philips Beauty. A handful of influential bloggers were invited to the Grove Shopping Center in LA to have breakfast, get glammed, schmooze with other bloggers, meet the Glam team and most importantly to learn all about Philips new Satin Perfect Deluxe Hair Epilator and have a Meet and Greet with Philips Celebrity Spokesmodel Alessandra Ambrosio.

OK I must confess, I am an Epilator virgin and have never actually tried this type of hair removal product so I was intrigued. After I was armed with a yummy soy latte, the brand manager for Satin Perfect walked us through this new product, explained all the products included in the deluxe kit (1 epilator, 4 attachment heads and a pair of illuminating tweezers) and demonstrated how easy it is to use. She demonstrated the epilator on her arm, didn’t flinch and her arm was smooth and hairless, my curiosity was peaked and couldn’t wait to try it at home later.

After the demo, I had my make-up done by a pro

Mingled with other bloggers, ate breakfast and sipped SatinPerfectini’s in honor of this special occasion (Yum!)

Then the highlight of the day came when we were treated to some intimate Q&A time with the uber gorgeous, yet equally down to earth, Victoria’s Secret Super Model and Philips Beauty Global Brand Ambassador Alessandra Ambrosio

She is absolutely stunning in person and was dressed in a cute cream shirt dress and Jimmy Choo heels barely showing at two months pregnant

She shared her top three beauty secrets which are hydration, SPF, and anti-aging serums from her derm. We asked her what she thought American women could stand to learn about beauty from the Brazilian culture, and I was delighted by her answer which was to accept and love your body no matter what size you are. She told us that in Brazil both large and small size women wear Brazilian Bikini’s (which FYI show a lot of tush), strut on the beach and really own it no matter what size, I love that!

Then we got into the pressing matter of the day: Hair Removal! She shared that Brazilians are obsessed with hair removal (after all they created the Brazilian Bikini wax, right?!) and ever since she was a young teen her mother told her not to shave her hair but rather to wax or epilate. She used an epilator in her early days of hair removal and is really impressed with how far these devices have come and how much gentler they are today. She aligned herself with Philips because they make a great portable epilator that she can easily use on the road and in between professional waxing. She even gave us a pseudo demo on her stellar smooth and golden bronzed legs, to show us how easy it is use. Oh how I wish I had legs like that!

Then we were all gifted with these fabulous summery yellow striped beach bags

Which included the new Satin Perfect Deluxe Epilation System to try at home, as well as a fab yellow beach towel and a gift certificate for a blow out from Dry Bar, Nice!

Then we went outside to watch the Philips Spring fashion show hosted by Alessandra and Celeb Stylist, Inge Fonteyne highlighting the brights of the Spring season and showcasing gorgeous smooth legs courtesy of the Satin Perfect Deluxe

It was a fun day and I was really excited to go home and try the Satin Perfect Epilator on my underarms. I have to say, removing hair with an epilator is a totally different experience than waxing or shaving and I think that the Philips epilator is very finessed and streamlined. It is super easy to use and does an amazing job at removing hair from the root, but it is a bit zingy and takes a little getting used to. However, I am delighted with the results of removing my hair with the Satin Perfect epilator and am happy to report that almost four days later my underarms are soft and smooth without stubble or a hair in sight.

Disclosure: Glam Media and Philips invited me for breakfast, glamming, an interview with Alessandra, to see their fashion show and gifted me with an epilator and blowout. All opinions and smooth underarms are my very own.

For the next six weeks, I will be participating in the AVEENO Beautiful Change Challenge, which means that at the beginning of every week I will be sharing a post (each week focusing on a different theme) about the steps that I am taking to make beautiful, meaningful and healthy changes in my life. Sounds good, right?

As many of you know, I have been a Brand Ambassador for AVEENO for over a year, and I really enjoy working with this brand because not only do they make affordable better for you products, but they also have inspired me to make healthy changes in my lifestyle and beauty routine. I honestly feel that my involvement with AVEENO has improved the quality of my life and it has raised my consciousness about my health and beauty choices and I feel really good about that.

I am really excited to kickoff the first post in this campaign by sharing what I have done to shop for and eat healthier, greener, seasonal and more colorful foods. And the timing couldn’t be better, because I actually just finished a 21 day detox cleanse to clean out the sludge from the holiday season. I felt so amazing eating clean and drinking green juices (and lost 5 pounds too!), that I have decided to make fresh green juices a regular part of my diet and this will be my first step towards making a beautiful change in my life.

So here’s my what I am committing to do throughout the Spring months: Everyday, either in the morning to start my day off right or in the late afternoon around 4pm when I get that snack/sugar craving, I am going to make myself a bright, healthy, refreshing yummy green juice to give my body a healthy dose of fruits and veggies and treat myself right. I am loving the combination of juicing cucumbers, spinach or kale, parsley, green apples, pears, celery, a slice of lemon and healthy dose of fresh ginger. I put all that goodness into my juicer and out comes a bright green juice fit for a goddess. I just love it! I think the ginger gives it a nice punch of flavor and spice (plus it’s good for digestion) and I try to go lighter on the fruit so its not too sweet. This is a totally manageable change, it’s easy to do and my body just loves it!

And speaking of green and healthy ingredients, I also really appreciate how AVEENO makes an effort to use more healthy ingredients in their products (which they call ACTIVE NATURALS) as a way to offer products that are better for consumers. For example, their new hair care line PURE RENEWAL, contains Seaweed Extract which is rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals and helps remove impurities in a more gentle way. This made me think of my own detoxing and green juice cleansing and how I am gently trying to get rid of the impurities in my system on an ongoing basis.

Make sure to come back next week for Beautiful Change Challenge #2: Simplifying My Beauty Routine 

New AVEENO® PURE RENEWAL™ lets you renew your hair to its naturally balanced state daily. Unlike ordinary shampoos, these sulphate-free formulas have Balancing Seaweed Extract; bringing hair back to its naturally healthy, most balanced state with each wash, for beautifully healthy-looking hair. Learn more here http://bit.ly/A1cjWg

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by AVEENO® via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of AVEENO®

According to Kim Donovan, Marketing Director of Aloxxi, “Women know the color their manicurist puts on their nails, the product their esthetician uses on their skin, but if you ask a woman the color their hairdresser puts on their hair, most don’t have a clue.” So true, right? Even me, a self-professed beauty junkie who has her hair professionally colored every couple of months, leaves the hair color selection and formula to the pros. Well, Aloxxi is fixin’ to change all that with their brilliant category busting approach to professional hair color by creating a hair color experience that engages the consumer and even makes it fun for them. I just love this concept!

Actually and not surprisingly, George W. Schaffer, the Founder of OPI, who turned the nail care industry on it’s head with amazing nail color formulations with catchy and memorable names, has recently acquired Aloxxi and wants to create a new blueprint for professional hair care with this line. It starts with having an amazing, high quality product that offers intense, pigment rich color and ground breaking technology that emphasizes the overall health of color treated hair. And second (and here’s the game changing innovation), Aloxxi has designed an approach that allows the professional to  engage their client in the hair color process by collaboratively creating a statement making color that showcases their personality. Basically, Aloxxi is shining a light on the mystique of professional hair coloring and making accessible to the consumer. Kinda cool, right?

So here’s what to expect from an Aloxxi Hair Color Consultation & what mine was like:

• First, you and your stylist spend some time perusing the Aloxxi Hair Color Consultation book to explore a variety of color personality possibilities. Skin tone, eye color, lifestyle, commitment to maintenance, as well as your starting color are all taken into consideration in order to determine the best color for you. This book is fabulous, sorted by shades, and within each shade there are hair color swatches with amazingly catchy OPI-esque names like Don’t Prosciutto The Messenger & Expresso Yourself. These names make it easy to see what color resonates with you. So once you pick your color, next time you can request it by name, and with fun names like these you are not gonna forget it.
• I had the pleasure of working with celeb stylist Marco Pelusi (whom I hit it off with right of the bat) and based on my washed out brown/blond balyage color and highlights, Marco and I collaboratively decided that I needed to go darker and richer to freshen me up and highlight my features. I just loved the rich deep warm brown color and catchy name of Steamy Porcini, so we decided on that. I really enjoyed being part of the color selection process, it was certainly more fun and it empowered me to know more about the color that was going on my hair.
• After this fun consultation, Marco applied the Aloxxi ColourPrime Pre-Color Treatment to get rid of buildup and prepare the hair for a more even color application and then he put the color on my hair. I sat and caught up on celeb gossip for 20-30 minutes (not under the dryer) and then as the final step he applied Aloxxi’s ColourLock Post-Color Finisher which cleans, conditions and treats the hair with antioxidants and closes the cuticle all in one step. All these products work synergistically to give you gorgeous shiny silky hair with color that lasts.
• As an added bonus, I was treated to a chic haircut from Christy Pacifico at Marco’s West Hollywood Salon.

And here are several shots of my finished look:

I love the rich dark color, shine and how healthy my hair looks and feels. And the modern cut just ties it all together, what do you think? Am I rockin’ my Steamy Porcini or what? (FYI-The top two pics more accurately reflect the rich dark color and the last picture showcases the chic cut.)

So, I have also been using Aloxxi’s ColourCare products at home for several weeks to preserve this color and protect the health of my hair. I am very impressed with the how long the color has lasted and how well these products support the Aloxxi system. I am especially loving the Leave-In Conditioner which revitalizes my hair and the Dry Shampoo which sprays on clear, gives my hair volume and smells like grapefruit, yum!

Disclosure: Aloxxi and Marco invited me to experience their new color system for editorial consideration. All opinions and sassy Steamy Porcini hair are my very own.