Happy Holidays 2010!

I'd like to wish you, dear reader, a very happy holiday season.  This year has been one of the best and busiest of my life.  I had the opportunity to meet and work with so many incredible people, the opportunity to learn really useful and amazing things, and lots of family fun and craziness with friends thrown in between.  Reflecting on this year I realize how truly blessed I am.  Cheers to all the adventures and memories we will make in 2011! 

At Last...A Website!

I am very excited to announce the launch of the Cassandra Kennedy beauty website! So many friends helped me while putting it together and so many generous photographers were willing to share their work with me.  Thank you all! 

New Hampshire Beauty Haul

I'm just back from a GLORIOUS vacay in New Hampshire where I enjoyed a refreshing trip to the beach and loaded up on some new beauty goodies.  The source of my treats was none other than New Hampshire goddess Joanne McDonough of Joya Beauty.  Joanne is my "it girl" and I want to be her someday when I grow up!  Not only is she super talented and generous with all of her knowledge but she has this amazing studio where she does all kinds of things like makeup lessons and spa treatments.  One of the things that sets her apart is her custom makeup blending.  Knowing that I have a product that's made especially for me that no one else has gives me such a little thrill.  Ok, I am really LOVING the souffle' she whipped up.  They are little frosted glass pots of whipped jelly cheek color that give off this gorgeous luster.  Such a nice way to freshen the face and offset the powdered down t-zone.  I'm also trying her shimmery eye creams that dab on ever so lightly with a wand to wake up tired eyes.  Joya Beauty also carries other hard-to-find lines like Three Custom Color and I scored two of their Mood Lighting Shimmer Cremes. I am totally obsessed with the paler color Afterglow, although the golden On Fire color is great for the times when I'm more tan or for those with medium to dark skin tones.  The problem with highlighter creams is that they tend to be overly frosty or shimmery.   The pale ones  often have a pinkish tone that I'm not a big fan of. You want one that just blends into the skin and makes it look glowy without anyone detecting a streak of frost.  The cream-to-powder feel of it is exquisite and these are sheer enough for anyone to use with ease.   I think I like how light it feels and how it really isn't too powdery after it sets.  Thanks Joanne!  You never steer me wrong :)  People, if you are in New Hampshire or even passing through, you need to set aside a little time to visit Joya Beauty!

 My favorite vacation photo of the kiddos...

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to take a moment and wish everyone Happy Holidays. I have enjoyed meeting so many new people this year and re-connecting with old friends. Thank you for your support of this blog and for all of your wonderful ideas. Looking forward to 2010! Love, Cassandra

p.s. Here's a picture of my guys (Kai, Sho, and Takeshi) choosing our tree. This was a big decision that needed serious discussion :)

My Allure Magazine "Debut"

On my very first blog post I talked about how exciting it was to have my ideas for an Allure magazine article make it all the way to their editor. She even said the ideas were great! The story was to be a re-cap of "The Year in Beauty" so I submitted ideas for makeup, hair, and fashion. I was absolutely thrilled to receive the October 2009 issue and find three of my ideas there in print! Of course I'm sure I wasn't the only one with those ideas, but still....! The three ideas that made the cut were 1) the uproar over Michelle Obama's bare arms - especially in her official First Lady portrait, 2) the media backlash over Jessica Simpson's "mom jeans", and 3) the "ugly duckling" story of the year: Susan Boyle. So I have to recommend this issue to everyone, not just so you can see my "debut", but because it's the Allure Best of Beauty 2009 issue. People like me wait for this issue all year to see what products win in each makeup, hair, and skin category. If you are confused about products or find the sheer amount of them overwhelming, this is the issue for you!

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

So today as I prepared to enter the blogosphere, I was hoping something interesting would happen that I could write about. Sure enough, I received a fabulous little email from my friend who works at Allure magazine. Now you have to understand that for me Allure is the holy grail of beauty magazines. She mentioned a piece for the magazine they were working on and wondered if I had any ideas to contribute. HELLO!!! Bien sur. And best of all, these ideas made their way to the editor and she responded back that they were good and thanked me. Woo hoo! It will be fun to see if they make their way into magazine after all.