Monetize This!

About a week ago, Make Do Style had a long post about blog writing and business and I wanted to write about the same subject but haven't had the time.
But to go on record here, I know how much time you put into writing your blog, and if you can monetize your blog through ad sales or affiliate sales, I'm all for it.

Also, if I am going to buy a particular product, I would prefer to buy that product through your blog than through a department store. And, let's face it, I read your blogs, I enjoy what I read, and I appreciate your advice and product recommendations so naturally I'd love to shop through your site.

Years ago I signed up as an affiliate for Myla, Yoox, Boden and a few other random stores...but as you can see, I rarely have time to post about these products and still get in all my ranting on BHB. (For the record, I've been turned down by Neiman Marcus as an affiliate...which kinda cracks me up given that it is pretty much the only department store that I shop at! Maybe the powers that be at Neimans just don't have the proper appreciation for my posts on politicians and sex tapes.)


But, I would really like to become an affiliate of Amazon.com because I love to read and I enjoy recommending books to you. Perhaps BHB is not too objectionable for Amazon affiliation!


I am also not an affiliate of Beladora.com....for obvious reasons. But I invite you to become a Beladora affiliate. So no, you won't be paid in gold bars but you will be paid by check or paypal a commission for any sale on any full price item that occurs from a click through from your website.

And, Beladora as part of Kazanjian & Fogarty, Inc. is serious about paying commissions to any one who refers a client. We would rather pay commissions than pay for an ad in a newspaper or magazine.


I'm so not shy when it comes to my brand so you will probably receive an email from me inviting you to become an affiliate.
But if you want to start right away here are the links:
You can sign up as an affiliate for Beladora.com here
http://www.beladora.com/affiliate_program.asp
and for Beladora2.com here
http://www.beladora2.com/affiliate_program.asp

It's easy, all you do is send your name, email, and blog url and we will send you an email with your individual affiliate number and information about what code to use when you want to link to a product.


And this holds for my blogging peeps in Canada, Australia, The UK and Europe. Beladora will ship jewelry anywhere in the world as long as the shipment can be insured....so that kind leaves out Russia, North Korea, Somalia, etc.

Women Get So Ripped Off - Cont.

How did women end up in a situation where they just can't get by without spending a huge amount of money on products that men never have to pay for.

The beauty/make-up industry, aka Big Beauty, has created and marketed products that we have become addicted to...
and now like crack addicts we'll pay the going price to get our fix.

How many products do women use on a daily basis just to get out the door in the morning?
Here's a potential list
cleanser
toner
moisturizer
sunscreen
concealer
foundation
bronzer
powder
eyeshadow
eyeliner
mascara
eyebrow pencil
lipstick

And how many product do men use on daily basis
come on people I mean real men here...
maybe sunscreen...

And, how much does all this cost?
Well I don't know the exact amount...but it isn't inexpensive.
Let's just take a look at the cost of one product, foundation.
Your basic low end foundation by L'Oreal cost $14.49 at Drugstore.com for 1.25 fluid ounces
so that works out to $11.78 per fluid ounce.

Your basic high end foundation by Chanel at Neiman Marcus cost $65.00 for 1 fluid ounce

A bottle of Dom Perignon cost $159 for 24.7 fluid ounces...or $6.43 per ounce.

Can someone please tell me why make-up cost more on a per ounce basis than champagne.

What in this stuff anyway....magic faerie dust mixed with unicorn tears?

And don't go telling me that I just don't have to buy this stuff...because as far as I know there isn't yet a twelve step program for recovering make-up addicts.

Don't Bet On Beauty In A Bottle Unless It's Botox (or Retin A)

Do we get more out of magazines like More?

I was thinking about the subject after reading this post by Miss Cavendish and reading what image consultant Karen at Of A Certain Age posted an article about her dissatisfaction with More this week.

Her pet peeve is why do these magazine show outfits that we can only afford to knock off instead of showing outfits that we can actually afford.

Don't make me knock off your expensive fashions, just show me ones that I really can afford, please! Oh! And while you're at it, how to wear them in my real life!

With so many articles about beauty products, particularly about those that buy ad space, can we believe anything that is written?

I don't read More, but I do glance at Vogue, Bazaar, W, Elle, Marie Claire, Lucky and In Style every month to see fashion and jewelry trends. But glance is the key word here.

And I totally ignore articles promoting beauty products.

I have always been skeptical of any cream, lotion or gel that claims to make you younger looking. Aging of course is genetic and perhaps the only way to slow down the process is to live a healthy lifestyle an avoid sun damage. No matter how much you spend on products like La Mer you're not going to change your DNA.

I spent my childhood in Southern California, except for one short year in Southeast Asia, and this was back in the days before sunscreen, when a tan was considered healthy. Of course I was out in the sun all the time.

So now I'm on a regime of sunscreen and Retin-A and when the time comes there will be appointments with my own Dr. Dreamy, Dr. David Sayah who has the loveliest way of saying "we can do something about those jowls"...."yeah, oh great, thanks maybe later".

The Center Epiderme at Frederic Fekkai on Rodeo Drive is Dr. Sayah's salon center for non surgical procedures and I'm thinking about investing in laser treatment. I know that it won't change my DNA but I think that it will be a better investment than $150 face cream.

Question: Has anyone tried an IPL Photofacial and if so what were the results?

Never Beautiful Enough

Does this woman, a healthy, 27-year-old, five-foot-nine-inch, 120-pound figure, need plastic surgery?

Yes, apparently so.... according to her exposé in Vanity Fair after she consulted three New York City plastic surgeons.

When I began this project, I was relatively certain that I didn’t need plastic surgery. I also suspected that plastic surgeons might tell me otherwise. To test my hypothesis, I went undercover. In the process, I hoped to learn something about what happens inside examination rooms across New York City and, by extension, the United States. Are teenybopper idols and those who emulate them freely choosing plastic surgery? Or is plastic surgery choosing them?

My mission within this sterile examination room is simple enough: to catch an up-close-and-personal glimpse of a multi-billion-dollar industry. This is my first stop in a series of three consultations with plastic surgeons at various price points. I plan to give each one free rein over my face and body, to discover how far each will go in urging me to alter my objectively healthy, 27-year-old, five-foot-nine-inch, 120-pound figure.

I won't post all of the comments made by Dr. David P. Rappaport and the other surgeons but the money quote is this.

In total, Dr. Rapaport proposes roughly $33,000 worth of plastic surgery. By this time my self-image is so battered that, had I the money, I sincerely doubt I could refuse.



Now, I'm not in any way anti-surgery...if you need it. My Beverly Hills doctor has already suggested a mini face lift for me....though it wouldn't be my first choice in surgical self improvement...I'd much rather have a boob job and lipo now and a face lift later.

Do you think that $33,000 in surgery is a reasonable investment for a 27 year old woman with a figure like this?
Just curious...

Please Don't Feed The Models

The Correctly Sized Model

The Oh So Hefty Miss England - Laura Coleman

The Daily Star...where I get all of my important news and Plumcake are all over this story.

Apparently the very lovely Laura Coleman, the current Miss England, has delved a little too deeply in the peaches and cream and been deemed to be too fat to become a model.

Maybe she'll never model but somewhere out there I can just imagine a world of men saying to themselves "I could hit that".

And from Plumcake, one of the best lines written in the fashion blogosphere

"Oh England, you bunch of green and pleasant nutjobs, do me a favor and put down ye merry olde cracke pype..."

Around Town - Blowouts and Botox in Beverly Hills

How would you like to meet Dr McDreamy....and no I don't mean that guy from that silly TV show. I mean the real thing...the number one Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, who also just happens to be the most charming and handsome physician in this town.

Dr. David Sayah will be hosting a beauty event at the Fekkai salon on Rodeo Drive to benefit the City of Hope.

As someone who grew up in Southern California in the age before sunscreen and who then went on to spend her young adult years hiking, horseback riding, skiing, and taking her kids to the beach...all without SPF 30....it's probably too late for me to benefit from Dr Sayah's agility with injections. (But...I'm still going...for a much needed martini!)

But it's not too late for you!

The New New Face

The New New Face

Madonna - Gaunt Body, Plump Face

Since Botox is now really just for 20 somethings that party too much, what the real beauties are going for is the New New Face...softer, plumper, fuller and babylike.

This New York Magazine Article has all the details.

In the end, the science of beauty seems to point to a few general parameters: We tend to like large eyes, high cheekbones, a small nose, a large smile, and a small chin. What the scientific literature doesn’t mention is that we like it all to be as young as possible. This wasn’t always the case. The Gibson Girl ideal of the early twentieth century, writes Daniel Delis Hill in Advertising to the American Woman, had the features of a mature, fully formed woman: “heavy lidded eyes accented with thick lashes; fine, high eyebrows, pronounced cheekbones and firm jawlines.” In the forties and fifties, the most successful models of the day—Dovima, Lisa Fonssagrives, Suzy Parker—were elegant, haughty, aristocratic, especially when photographed by Irving Penn or Richard Avedon. The sixties and seventies brought a sea change that created a younger beauty ideal, but the aesthetic was more casual than adolescent.

But in the last ten years, perhaps with the coming of Britney Spears, the age of the ideal has dropped precipitously. Now both fashion and celebrity magazines are filled with images of teenagers—whether they’re Eastern European models or tanned California reality stars. Their faces are plump and dewy and flushed with youth. As thin as their bodies are, they still haven’t entirely shed the baby fat in their faces. This, it seems, is what women in their forties and fifties are now after: baby fat.

Recently I had dinner with an elegant friend of mine, a lady of a certain age, who despite her 90 pound body, had a lovely, glowing and I noticed quite plump and youthful face. She looked gorgeous.

Unfortunately, I'm still so old school that I've skipped the botox and gone straight to gourmet cuisine and fine wine: Past a certain age, to paraphrase Catherine Deneuve, it’s either your fanny or your face. And believe me...I've got the derriere to prove it!

Party Girls and Botox Babes

25 Year Old Botox Party Girl

Ibiza Rave

From The Sun

Clubbing was taking its toll so I use Botox

MANY Ibiza tourists are hardcore ravers who drink, dance and smoke away their nights then spend their days in the baking sun.
No wonder it is known as the island that never sleeps.
But however much fun it may sound, the non-stop lifestyle takes its toll on the sleep-deprived, dehydrated partygoers’ faces, with many needing more than a dab of concealer to cover their facial creases.
But the party girls refuse to rein in the late nights and heavy-drinking sessions.
Instead, they have found the perfect way to revive their looks — Botox.

“It’s great — the moment I land, I call Christine to get some Botox before I hit the clubs. Then after two weeks of clubbing, she gives me a top-up before I get on the plane home.

“It’s all about looking good for the party. Thankfully now, no matter how bad I feel on the inside, the Botox will always make me look better on the outside.”

Note to Self: Be sure to budget for before and after vacation Botox injections.