Carolyn Braden's Citrus Duo Pedicure, Avon and Revlon Polishes

I was experimenting with Avon "Sunshine" and Revlon's scented polish, "Mad About Mango".
It's a hot summer look that looks great with my Havaianas.




Carolyn J. Braden
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Carolyn Braden's Avon Yellow Nail Polish

Hot summer polish: Sunshine
Yellow! I bought mine from Avon and did the nail art myself. The color looks great with my spray tan!



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Carolyn Braden says "Check out Avon and Mark. for some great products!"

Keep safe in the sun!  Wear a hat this summer!  I got my black reversible cotton sun hat from Avon.  It was super packable for my recent beach vacation.  Have you checked out the latest Avon or Mark. Magalog?  They are totally in sync with the latest trends and staples you should always have on hand.  My mother-in-law sells Avon and I love looking through her catalogues.  I can never get through a book without wanting something out of it.  The prices are great!!!  They have things priced very well!  I recently ordered a evening purse.  It can double as a chic fanny pack for a hands free dancing purse!  I know that fanny packs may have a bad rep, but if you look at this one, it will show you how cute one can be. Another great Avon product is Mark. Glossblossom Ripening Lip Tint.  I usually order this in bulk so I never run out.   It goes on clear and then the color "ripens" to a wonderful color that matches your own skin tone.

Also, my husband and I love the deodorants by Avon.  My grandmother swore by the the Black Suede roll-on.  I ordered 2 dozen for her one year for Christmas so she wouldn't run out.  I always joked with her about using a men's deodorant.  When she passed away, there were several unused roll-on's left.  I decided I would see what all the hype was about the product.  It was great!  It was better than any other deodorant I've ever tried!  Some people may not like it, as it does go on pretty wet.  It dries very fast though, so you may end up liking it.




Go to www.avon.com to check out more products.  Or, click on the above photos and buy the products I listed in my blog from Amazon.com.

What's In Style for January 2009!!!!

Happy 2009!!!!!! Here is my first blog for style for 2009.
Here's what is up and coming in the style/television/music world:

The first two inspirations are some things I knew were going to be popular back in September 2008. Our local paper, The Courier Journal, did a quick little blurb about me and what I liked. I didn't know it quite then, but my style ideas were right on! I am starting to see these ideas in magazines right now.

Oils!
They are wonderful to mix in unscented lotions to make your own custom scent. I do this myself by picking some up at Whole Foods or go to Aveda and pick out a few scents for them to make for me there. It's actually really inexpensive and the all natural idea doesn't irritate my sensitive skin. I love the scent of clove mixed with Nivea Firming Body Lotion.

I really like my Vaseline Cocoa Butter scented gel oil. It's really good because it is in gel form and not as messy as regular oil. I got it last year at Walgreen's, but I am sure they still carry it.

My mother in law got me Avon Skin So Soft Whipped Body oil and I really like it too! Not only is it not messy, but it has a lovely, clean, almost baby like scent.

Flowers.
Whether they are the print on a shirt, dress, or you just have a bunch in a vase at your house, they are so wonderful! Having some fresh greenery or flowers around the house really bring the outdoors in for me.

Tye Dye!!
The current designer at Target has it all over his collection right now. I will be featured on HGTV's show "That's Clever" doing Shibori (Japanese cloth dying). They filmed the episode back in 2006, and the 400 series (my series) is finally on the schedule! Check out http://www.hgtv.com/thats-clever/show/index.html to see when my episode will air. I must have been onto something back in 2006! Thanks to my Fiber Arts teacher, Lida Gordon, for showing me how to do Shibori while I was an art student at the University of Louisville! I just bought a really cool peace sign (blogged about that a while ago!) t-shirt at Target for 10 bucks. It's really cool!

Eating healthy is ALWAYS IN STYLE! Try organic.
The prices of organic foods have really fallen over the past year. I know because my husband and I really pay attention to this. Woman's Day magazine suggested taking a spinach wrap (try a low carb/calorie one...they usually have quite a few calories if you don't watch it) and spreading a little low fat cream cheese on it. Then take some fresh veggies like carrot sticks or peppers or whatever you like, and put them in the middle of the spread out cream cheese. Then roll it up, cut it up like pieces of sushi, and voila! You have a healthy snack or lunch meal that looks really cool too! Try giving this to picky kids who only will eat food if it looks fun!

Try painting your own shoes!
My agent told me about a leather spray that you can spray shoes with to change the color. I always knew you could have shoes dyed, but never thought to spray them myself. I found a website, www.shoehardware.com, that sells NuLife leather shoe spray. They also sell Angelus Acrylic Leather shoe paint. I bought some raspberry and pink sparkle spray to paint my vintage fab rollerskates (been looking for some cool ones forever and my husband finally found some!) and I bought some neon red, neon blue, and neon yellow paints to paint the white areas of my Adidas Samba shoes. Oh yeah....the Samba is back baby! I wanted mine to look different, and the paints will make this a reality. Dying shoes is a huge process, so I think I'll stick to having a shop dye my dream scarlet red toe shoes for me. I just love scarlet red shoes. SATIN scarlet red shes. Toe shoes in scarlet red are really rare and the girl who wears them in any ballet automatically becomes the star. I am seeing Revive's Rite of Spring in April and the star will be wearing scarlet red toe shoes. Just beautiful. I just want a pair to put on display in my closet.


Old School Children Television Shows!
Did you know the Electric Company is back???? I am so excited! I don't know much about it yet, but it is back. I also hope that Sesame Street really gets a good media pump up soon. I loved that show as a kid and would love to be on it now as an adult. Who knows, right? Teaching has prepared me for many things, so maybe a kids show could be one of them. I know Sesame Street airs still, but not in my hometown, Louisville, KY. What's up Louisville? Get Sesame Street back!

Last, but not least: Watch these two guys called Mysto and Pizzi.
They are a young producer duo that are up and coming. They remixed the song "Somebody's Watching Me" for the most recent Geico commercial, and it is really good. They have already done re-mixes for Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, and Britney Spears, so they are going to do really well.

Wow...this was a long one! I had a lot of inspirations over the past couple of weeks. Thanks for reading!

Till next time,

Carolyn