Romy Raves

A couple of weeks ago, my son and I were invited out to the swanky rooftop patio at the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills, California for a lovely Spring Soiree with the gorgeous and down to earth Whitney Port for cocktails, appetizers, chatting  about beauty tips/trends and getting updated about the latest Whitening Products from Crest 3D White.

Needless to say, my little man was in hog heaven when he met the beautiful Whitney Port and she was so sweet to him! Check out the look on his face

After we settled in with a glass of bubbly and some tasty appetizers, I got to know Whitney a little better. She is super nice, accessible, real, beautiful, leggy and very driven. I learned all about her fashion forward clothing line Whitney Eve and she even told me about her favorite go-to healing ointment that she gets in Australia (I wanted to snatch it from her )

Then we got down to the important business at hand, what are Whitney Port’s top 3 Beauty Tips:

1. Get as much sleep as possible! We both agreed that this is simple but very challenging to commit to.
2. Clean your skin morning & night no matter what! Whitney said that washing her face every night and then in the morning followed by a good moisturizer is the key to keeping her skin healthy. She even confessed that no matter what state she is in after a night on the town, she ALWAYS washes her face. 
3. Less is More! She is more of a product minimalist when she is not on camera and feels it’s best to let your natural beauty shine through. She prefers to keep it simple and feels that you should use beauty products and makeup to enhance but not cover up your features. 

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.

Have you ever heard of or tired Not Your Daughter’s Jeans also now more commonly known as NYDJ? The name is a bit misleading because these jeans are not at all ‘mom jeans’ but rather chic, hip, fashion forward and beautifully made jeans. These jeans are curve lovin’, size minimizing, makes-you-feel-oh-so-sexy-and-svelte jeans! Need I say more? NYDJ have been my absolute favorite jeans of choice over the last several years because they fit my curvy body beautifully, feel so comfortable, have the perfect rise, hold up beautifully wash after wash and are reasonably priced for the quality of jeans you are getting. So needless to say, I am an ardent fan of the brand!

I think this sound bite that comes directly from the brand, perfectly captures the essence of the NYDJ: “We know that real women have real curves and real lives. So we designed our NYDJs not just to fit real women but to make every woman look amazing. We use premium denim with just the right amount of stretch – for comfort with no bagging – even between washings. And we invented the patented NYDJ criss-cross panel that provides gentle control in front while our Lift Tuck Technology® shapes and smoothes in back. And then we added something else…style. With NYDJ, you’ll find the washes, the colors and on-trend looks that you want all with a fit that actually makes you look and feel one size smaller.”

Sounds pretty amazing right? Well after years of loving these jeans, I was absolutely delighted to be invited to the NYDJ Spring 2012 media preview!

I arrived at a lovely suite in Hollywood and had a chance to meet with the lead NYDJ Designer and learn all about the Spring line, jean trends, the NYDJ target customer (me!) and what we can expect from the brand in the upcoming season.  Here’s what you can expect from NYDJ this season:

• Spring 2012 is all about bold colors like coral, persimmon, green, fuchsia, aquamarine and optic white
• Printed denim will also be highlighted this season with patterns like lizard, lace and henna
• NYDJ will continue to offer a large variety of denim washes this season with options such as medium, dark, gray, faded and vintage washes
• Ankle lengths will also be big this Spring because they offer versatility and can be worn with sandals, flats, heels, and wedges or tucked into boots

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