A Month of Beautiful Giveaways: Essie Nail Polish Collection

A Month of Beautiful Giveaways is a very special feature here on The Beauty of Life! Throughout the month of August, I will be giving away an array of unbelievable beauty prizes from some of my all-time favorite brands. Check back for your chance to win each day!

It's August once again ... and that means it's time for my annual month of beauty giveaways! This is now the 6th year of this giveaway feature, and I've been fortunate enough to work with some of the best beauty brands year after year to bring you some truly amazing products. And this year is no exception! I'm kicking things off with one of my very favorite brands of all time, the one and only Essie.

Loyal followers of the blog will already know of my often Essie-painted nails. (Click the link above for a look back at some of my past Essie manicures.) And now I'm bringing one lucky person the chance to win some of my very favorite colors, in addition to the new Summer 2014 Collection. One person will win the following colors:

For The Twill Of It: a gorgeous grey/purple/green duochrome (triplechrome?) polish (full review here)
Mint Candy Apple: the perfect minty green (full review here)
Butler Please: a rich cobalt blue (full review here)

PLUS the Essie Summer 2014 Nail Polish Collection:
Urban Jungle (alabaster orchid)
Fierce, No Fear (cocoa mahogany)
Roarrrrange (bold orange)
Strut Your Stuff (cobalt aqua)
Ruffles & Feathers (peacock teal)
Haute in the Heat (hot guava)

This giveaway has a retail value of 76.50! To enter, use the Rafflecopter widget below. Good luck!

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Throwback Thursday: My Favorite Theater Role (And Most Interesting Makeup) Ever

Introducing myself as Jiminy Cricket during my first appearance on the stage in Pinocchio.

So, here's the thing. I was a total theater geek back in the day. (All right, I still am, I just haven't performed in awhile.) But I am super proud of my theater background and wouldn't trade any of the experiences I had onstage for ANYTHING. All right, that being said ... my favorite role of all time was definitely Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. Take a look back with me at some of my favorite photos (and a video!) of my experience playing the role, like the one above -- and check out the awesomely crazy makeup I got to wear, too.

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What to Do in Pittsburgh: Volume 1

Looking out on the city of Pittsburgh during a weekend visit last fall. And no, this was not posed!

As many of you may know, I made the choice to move from NYC to Pittsburgh this past December. Leaving New York was something I'd wanted to do for awhile, but I was waiting until the right next step presented itself. Moving to Pittsburgh has proven to be beyond rewarding, and has certainly enriched my personal life in many ways just in the past 7 months. I decided to start this column, What to Do in Pittsburgh, as a way for you to share in all the wonderful experiences I've had -- and as a guide for you to experience my fair city for yourself! I'll be doing this column at least bi-weekly (if not weekly) and will include places to eat, things to do, sights to see ... everything you could possibly want to learn about such a fascinating city.

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#ManiMonday: Zoya Harper from the Summer 2014 Bubbly Collection

While I'm normally not a wearer of pink nail polishes -- they're a bit too #normcore for me -- I'm making an exception for Zoya Harper. This is one of the colors from the Summer 2014 Bubbly Collection, which contains 6 super glittery colors.

Harper is a pretty fabulous Pepto Bismol/cotton candy pink packed with tons of iridescent and holographic yellow gold glitter. One coat yields almost perfect coverage, but two make it completely opaque. This is definitely one of those colors that make me want to keep staring at my nails over and over (and over). You get a jelly sandwich-like effect with two coats, which trap the glitter in between the solid pink.

Honestly? If pink nail polishes always looked like this, I'd wear them a lot more!

Zoya Harper retails for $9 at zoya.com.

Lusts of the Week: Egyptian Magic Skin Cream & the Band-Aid Friction Block Stick

You know those products that people have told you about over and over (and over) again ... but for one reason or another, you just never get around to trying them? Well, that's how I was with Band-Aid Friction Block Stick and Egyptian Magic Skin Cream. No matter how many times I heard how amazing they were, I just never picked them up. Until now, that is.

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