In looking back over my posts, I failed to share about my wonderful time a VISIONS, The Women’s Expo the other weekend.  VISIONS is a great girlfriends event and overall I enjoyed meeting the vendors in attendance.

One of the highlights this year was the Southwest Dairy Farmers Culinary Stage. Cooking demonstrations of easy to make recipes really captured the attention of attendees.  My favorite demonstration was done by Chef John Franke from Whiskey Cake.  Chef Franke made Roasted Garlic Hummus and it was fabulous and the best part of the demonstration was the tasting and recipe card takeaway to try at home.

For the beauty junkies like me, the presentation on the main stage with beauty expert and author of “The Beauty Buzz” Victoria Snee and her personal makeup artist Jeff from the Neiman Marcus Giorgio Armani counter, was a must see.  Victoria and Jeff gave real life demonstrations of how to wear upcoming fall makeup trends.

The major takeaways from Victoria were:

1) use a makeup primer to prep your skin for makeup application

2) exfoliate lips…lipstick will not stay on or look good on dry lips

3) get color matched for foundation

4) clean your makeup brushes

5) don’t sleep in makeup…stop this ladies, seriously

6) wear sunscreen regardless of your skin type or shade

The major fall makeup trends and tips Jeff says you need to know:

1) red lipstick is here to stay…find your perfect shade of red…ease into it and wear it well

2) a blue based red will make your teeth look whiter

3) if you wear a red lip, find a perfect pink blush to compliment

4) eyes for fall are all about shimmer

5) grays and slates are hot colors, find a way to work these into your eye shadow palette

6) a smokey eye is not a black eye…the smokey eye can be created in any color, be creative

7) keep your eyes open when applying eye makeup…you will get better color placement

I think Victoria’s book is THE BOOK all women need to help make better decisions at the makeup counter.  Why?! Because she talks straight to educate you, save you money, and help you look beautiful.  You can’t argue with that!

I am excited to give readers a chance to win an autographed copy of Victoria’s book “The Beauty Buzz…NO MORE BEAUTY B.S.!”.  The contest is simple!  Send an email to info@popgoesthecity.com with I WANT THE BEAUTY BUZZ in the subject line and tell me about your skincare or makeup challenge (For example: I have oily skin and I need help learning how to combat it and keep my makeup from sliding and looking bad during the day).  Yep, it’s that simple!  Be sure to include your name in the email and please send only one entry per person.

This giveaway is open to anyone in the GREAT STATE OF TEXAS and entries must be received by 11:59pm cst Sunday, September 16th.   One lucky reader will be selected at random and notified via email on Monday, September 17th.