Rethink What Love Is :: CLOSED

Leslie Blodgett is just a ball of fun if you ask me. When I reviewed her perfume line, I felt that her thought process in her campaigns for her products completely epitomizes a woman; I mean she really nails what life means to be a woman.

Her newest brain child is "Rethink What Matters" where women can participate in fun quizzes to let loose their thoughts and feelings. Maybe confess to some secrets you have held inside about love, finding yourself, even your views on politics. Each week a new topic and Leslie's fabulous products will be featured as well as the option to enter to win more goodies!

This week the topic was love and public displays of affection. I offended myself by fighting to answer these the way I needed. The questions are cheeky and brutally honest in regard to maybe the simple flirtation in the office. But those events happen with people and by rethinking about how we act and how we can better ourselves is part of the fun and to see the results of other women taking the quiz.

So in conjunction with this week's topic I have a giveaway!

I am giving away 1 Smoky Eye Tutorials from bareMinerals specifically for this campaign. Here's how you can enter to win:

1. Follow my blog and or subscribe AND then
2. Leave me a comment to tell me how you are rethinking love as we come into Valentine's Day. Are you a cynic for love (like me) or a die hard romantic? (This is a one comment entry)

For extra entries:

1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Tweet this giveaway being sure to include @KariewithaK so I see your tweets. ;) (Tweet as much as you want as long as you have a comment in between your previous comment.)

CONTEST ENDS FEBRUARY 16TH @ 11:59PM

Best of luck!
*I will receive my own kit for review but I am holding a promotional giveaway with no product at this time and make no claims otherwise.

Monave: Beautiful New Year Giveaway :: CLOSED

Welcome to a New Year and a new you right? Exactly!

I say new you because so often with a new year many men and women resolve to make the year a mulligan of sorts, start over, start fresh. Well I like to say that a new year and a new you means that you are reinventing yourself. So if you are reinventing yourself why not do so with a new look?

The wonderful team at Monave was so gracious to let me review the New York gift set, which includes the powder blush, foundation, eye shadows and corresponding brushes. I also reviewed the lip glosses if you recall correctly. I found Monave on my quest to find a better, healthier cosmetic line for my already "going green" reinvention of myself last year. As most of you know, I am a skeptic. I am always wanting to see the proof in the pudding with products; marketing is always great and sounds great, but I am a results driven individual. I want to see how the product really works for myself first hand to share with you, how well (or not so well) the product stands up past marketing.

If you read my gloss post you know how wonderfully rich and luscious the products are for women. Well the mineral line is just as fabulous. Honest! What I have found in using mineral products is that they tend to be cakey looking, albeit they make you look older, MUCH older, because the mineral powders settle into your fine lines and wrinkles. Especially if you use too much powder and your face is not properly hydrated and or moisturized. Not to mention that the coverage is not all that fantastic with some mineral powders; again the problem of too much or too little and a non-even look.

What I have thoroughly enjoyed about Monave mineral cosmetics is the amount of coverage with such little powder. This product is truly the swirl and tap that other powders claim to be. I have used everything too from Bare Minerals, Sheer Cover, Pure Minerals, Arbonne, you name it, I bought it and used it and was never satisfied. With Monave, my skin and make-up looks natural, bold, daring, or subtle if I want it to just based on application. But the bottom line is that the mineral foundation does not sink into my fine smile lines (yes I do have some even though I am in my 30s...the downfall of being a former smoker) around my eyes the powder does not look cakey and best of all, the tone is totally natural, totally true to the color of my skin.

Have you noticed that makeups have a pink hue? Um, the only person I know with pink skin is generally plastic and is branded with a toy name of sorts. Our skin has a yellow base, we all do, not pink, and the Monave line has wonderful products that are true to the tone of a woman's skin no matter how fair or how dark.

Do you want to win this beautiful mini set? Oh you do? Well I am happy to say that THREE, yes you got it!

3 LUCKY ladies (well men too if I don't want to be discriminatory here) can win this wonderful set of cosmetics from Monave! Here is how:

Mandatory Entry: Visit Monave cosmetics, peruse the site, come back and tell me what products you want in addition to the set and lippies I mentioned.

Before ANY entries can be accepted please follow the mandatory entry and be sure to make your Blogger profile public so I may view your email address or leave a valid email addy so we may contact you with your winnings.

Extra Entries:

• Follow my blog
• Follow me on Twitter
• Daily Retweet entries available by Tweeting this:  New You in the New Year and a new look with Monave Cosmetics! Win a Monave.com NewYork set from @KariewithaK http://www.thefivefish.com
• Subscribe to my feed
• Add my button
  
• Fan The Fish
• Blog this Giveaway (worth 5 entries)
• Stumble my blog (not this post...its against TOS with StumbleUpon...lets keep it fresh)
• Leave a relevant comment on a NON giveaway post (2 entries for each comment on a post)
• Email this giveaway to a friend for them to enter (worth 2 entries)

CONTEST ENDS JANUARY 20TH 

@ 11:59 PM ARIZONA TIME 

Best of luck

Gifts for Her: Monave Cosmetics Lip Gloss

 *Five Fish always blog ethically and with transparency. Click HERE! 
Ladies do you have a hard time finding the right cosmetics? I know I have. I always have. Just when I think I have found my right color, my right blend, my right ingredients, I find something horribly wrong with either the product, the way the product reacts with my skin, or the company is not as they seemed. I went on a quest to find a vegan, if not organic, cosmetics company. Because really what woman does not enjoy the gift of cosmetics, especially quality cosmetics.

Some of you may know I make my own soap. I love it. This way I know what is in my soap that is used on my family, not some fancy chemicals and perfumes. Honest to goodness vegan products. So I wanted a cosmetics company to do the same. Offer rich wholesome products that I knew the ingredients and I knew they were fabulous.

I found Monave and I researched everything they have in inventory as best as I could. What I saw I loved. The company is owned by a woman. PLUS! She formerly worked in cosmetics and knew what women loved in a mineral, vegan, and natural cosmetics line. PLUS! The owner also supports other women owned businesses and entrepreneurs. PLUS! The name is even derived as an acronym for "Modern," "Natural," "Versatile." Needless to say I was head over heels when they told me I could begin by sampling and reviewing their liquid lip gloss line.

Who doesn't love lip gloss. Girls and women of all ages love lip gloss. But as long as the lip gloss is not goopy, sticky, messy, all the troubles we run into with lip gloss. I personally used to be a HUGE, die hard fan of Victoria's Secret Beauty Rush lip line. LOVED them. Until I tried Monave. From now on I will be shopping with Monave, I am brand loyal when I find a fabulous product. I mean Victoria has gone with me to San Francisco and back, so sad that I have to retire her.

I personally LOVE the way the glosses feel. They are smooth, silky, no sticky feeling, no build up, no curdling like some glosses do as they dry up and wear away, leaving those nasty chunks in the corners of your lips. Ladies you know what I am talking about. Often a result of a petroleum based product. Just ick!

The lip glosses are fabulous because they deposit a minimal amount of sheer color that enhance your lips without being a lipstick and without being too sheer for a standard gloss. Plus with the majority of the glosses are almost all vegan, I felt the product truly moisturized my lips as opposed to standard glosses that truly just glossed over and never moisturized. I say almost all vegan because some do have beeswax in them, however, I was assured by the ladies at Monave that the beeswax is from a fourth generation apiary that ethically harvests and sun bleaches as opposed to chemical bleaching which is HUGE considering most cosmetics are made of nasty fillers and chemicals.

I tried out these fabulous colors:

• Merlot 
• Divine
• Cool Maple
• Neutral
• Autumn Leaves

What I really enjoyed about all of these colors is that they are versatile enough for any skin tone, make-up blend, and of course they are smooth, silky, and long lasting. I want to be able to wear make-up without looking like I am wearing make-up, I want a fresh natural look, where my make-up enhances my beauty, not where I have to wear it to make me look beautiful.  As I said these glosses are silky, not sticky or drying like standard glosses because these have fabulous vegan products, not petroleum which causes stickiness and curdling and dryness.

Not to mention, not great for the environment.

Monave launched a fabulous holiday theme that every woman (and man for his wife or girlfriend) could appreciate! The theme is "Give the Gift of Healthy Beauty" where you my faithful and beautiful readers are able to enjoy. For every purchase that is made at Monave a matching sample product for a friend is delivered; their choice of color, FREE with any purchase of a full size product from our website. How fabulous is that. So if your husband is out shopping for you, he could kill two birds with one stone by buying for you and sending the full size free gift to say his mother or sister. Or ladies you could do the same if doing any personal shopping for yourself! So go now, go "Give the Gift of Healthy Beauty" with Monave.

Don't forget to DOWNLOAD your Copy of the catalog HERE and all the fabulous participants, savings, and giveaways!