New for spring

We may still have a good few months of frigid weather to fight through, but the spring beauty collections are already starting to trickle in and one of the standouts is the newest Rimmel London one. The collection emphasizes bright, beautiful eyes offset by a natural flush by boasting high impact shadow shades, precision liner, ultra-plumping mascara, and perfect-fit cheek colors.

We’re loving the Volume Flash ScandalEyes Mascara as a frugal alternative to our treasured DiorShow and the collection’s Glam’Eyes HD Eyeshadows are densely packed with multi-reflective pigments for a poppingly, vibrant look.

Equally worthy of a shout-out is Kate Moss’s first ever, specially created lipstick collection featuring her favorite shades.  Called Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate Moss, the creamy Rimmel shades are packed with vitamins C and E for antioxidant protection and include the below shades —

• 01 – a deep brick red
• 04 – a royal purple
• 08 – a dusty rose
• 12 – a candy coral
• 14 – a blushed nude

So while we’ll never look like Mrs. Moss at least now are lips can dazzle like a supermodel’s.

Dish with us: what spring beauty product are you most excited about?

Forget the mundane

Who would have ever thought that we could give our dishrack an architectural bent? With Black and Blum’s High and Dry Dishrack we can!

Sculptural while being functional, the rack comes in white, green or grey colorways and it folds down to a flat compact shape for easy storage. The wave of spikes is designed to hold glasses and there’s a drainage tray with a flip up spout so that you can chose to drain or not, depending on your kitchen set up. There are also two sleek cup holders for cutlery. Better yet despite its innovation design since it’s made from polypropylene and stainless steel it’s super easy to clean.

Hey folks at Black and Blum – when are you going to give cutting boards, dish towel holders, and the rest of our mundane kitchen items a makeover too?

Dish with us: do you try to work high design into your kitchen?

Insight from the popular QVC host

It’s hard to deny the fact that, sometimes, gluttony can be just what the doctor ordered, but after indulging one has to inevitably switch back over to somewhat more guilt-free eating. To that end David Venable, program host of QVC’s popular cooking and dining show In the Kitchen with David, has some helpful tips. Venable, tells us that rather than sacrificing taste when preparing a healthy meal, do the following:

Spice it up and switch it up: When preparing high calorie meals such as chili and mac & cheese, choose lighter ingredients. Use turkey instead of beef in your chili. Use reduced-fat cheese and milk in your mac & cheese. And, in all of your cooking, you can always replace sugar with a substitute or trade salt for extra spices.

Eat at home: Not only will your family benefit from the togetherness of gathering around the table every night, but you can control what your family eats. At restaurants, that’s virtually impossible. Encourage children to get involved during the cooking process so that they can learn how to make nutritious meals. And, always use the freshest ingredients possible.

Make dinner more colorful: Fruits and veggies are loaded with nutrients your body needs, so make an effort to incorporate rich color into every meal and not just dinner. In general, the deeper and bolder the color, the more of a health-punch it packs. If your family doesn’t like veggies, sneak them into foods they do love with recipes like chicken and broccoli casserole, veggie soup, and more. You can find these recipes and more great ideas by searching “David’s Recipes” on QVC.com.

That all sounds great to us! Hey David, what about coming into our kitchen and showing us how it’s done? Hey, moms can dream, right?

Dish with us: Who’s your favorite cooking expert?

Killer iced coffee

Don’t get us wrong we love the convenience of our Nespresso Pixie, but sometimes a mama needs a nice, cold cup of iced coffee – yes, even in the winter (thank you very much hot flashes…). Sure we could run to our corner coffee shop or chill our hot coffee in the fridge, but let’s be honest here, hot-brewed coffee that had been chilled isn’t all that delicious. Unfortunately cold brewing isn’t an option for us, but that doesn’t mean we have to settle. A Brooklyn coffee-brewer recently came out with a cold brew by the bottle called Grady’s Cold Brew. All you do is mix the concentrate with milk or water (one to one ratio) and pour it over ice — ahhh our caffeine and calcium fix all in one!

The concentrate is hand-brewed daily and comes with a sticker that let’s you know exactly when it was made and how long it will be good for and, given that it’s made with ground chicory and spices, the resulting drink is smooth while packing in some hearty flavor.

Just remember that when you find yourself sweating buckets in near-zero degree weather it’s the small stuff that will make you happiest…to that end, we might have to swap out ice cubes for ice cream.

Dish with us: Are you discerning about your iced coffee?

Specially formulated shampoo, conditioner and nourishing shake

Want lightweight hair that’s full of body and natural movement without the risk of weighing your hair down? Umm…who doesn’t? Now, thanks to Pantene’s just-launched Pro-V Aqua Light collection we can get it without much muss or fuss. The brand’s newest offerings include specially formulated lightweight shampoo, conditioner, and weightless conditioning shake, each of which are specifically tailored to combat the causes of heavy, lifeless hair (we’re looking at you Japanese straightening addicts…).

While all hair types can suffer from this weighed down feeling, fine hair is particularly susceptible because it contains up to 50% less protein, which is all the more reason why proper conditioning is so essential for nourishment, improve manageability, smoothness, shine, and for reducing damage that can occur during combing and heat styling.

The collection ranges in price from $3.99-5.99 and includes a special dual-phase leave-in shake to provide a final layer of light nourishment and heat protection, while both the shampoo and conditioner contain new Clean-Rinse formulas.

Now if only there was a way to tackle hair thinning as effortlessly….

Dish with us: Do you suffer from dull, lifeless hair?

The star is spotted in Hannen boots

We don’t know much about football, but we do know that the games are a lot more interesting when they involve Tom Brady. Not only is Gisele’s hubby athletically gifted (and genetically blessed!), but he’s got killer off-the-field style. Case and point this photo of Brady, wearing UGG “Hannen” boots in the cordovan colorway while out and about in Boston with his family.

We’ve been trying to get the hubbies to cozy up in a pair of UGGs for years now, but until we had this photograph in tow (you know…to prove that UGGs can be “man-ly”), we got little in the way of excitement.

From the Fall/Winter 2011 collection, the Hannen boot is a rugged lace-up hiking boot with an upper made of waterproofed/oiled full-grain leather, a Vibram lug outsole sole for durability as well as signature UGG sheekskin lining , which provides breathability and moisture-wicking benefits – and thank god because we’ve already got one child sick and the last thing we need is all the boys in the family lying in bed!

Dish with us: Would your husband go for a pair of UGGs?

Melting coconut water with coffee

Coconut water + coffee = sheer brilliance.

Who would have ever thought of combining two of our favorite beverages? Turns out a yogi/surfer who needed an extra AM boost to make it through his morning yoga practice did – and we’re quite grateful! The delectable beverage combines all of the health benefits of coconut water (think potassium, electrolytes, and antioxidants aplenty), with the stimulating effects of coffee for a perfectly balanced morning pick-me-up.

Made with low fat milk and fair trade organic espresso it’s mild in calories and works double duty to satisfy a mid-afternoon latte craving.

We’ll never down a Diet Coke or Starbucks Frappuccino again – no, seriously.

Dish with us: What’s your favorite caffeinated beverage?

Drink the healthiest meal of the day

There are so many health drinks out there that do more bad than good it’s refreshing to come across one that we can actually trust and that, to boot, taste so good we have to restrain ourselves from downing more than one!

Called Orgain it’s the world’s first doctor developed ready-to-drink organic meal replacement (or if you’re trying to load up on protein and fiber, it makes a fantastic diet supplement), each of the two shakes offered – creamy chocolate fudge and sweet vanilla bean – blend organic protein, organic brown rice, fiber, organic green teas, and pomegranate extracts as well as 24 vitamins and minerals. More impressively for those days where the thought of trekking to the farmer’s market is too much of a burden to bear, Orgain has the antioxidant equivalent of 10 servings of fruits and veggies.

Wash Ensure, Boost, Muscle Milk, Slimfast, and all those other wannabees from your memory because Orgain trumps them in every aspect (including sugar content).

The one downside is that we now have no excuse to not trek to the gym in the late afternoon because we haven’t had time to get a our protein fill…nor do we have an excuse to indulge in candy bars…regularly at least!

Dish with us: What do you turn to when you’re too busy to stop for a quick bite?

All natural way for longer lashes

Talika, a favorite of Jennifer Aniston who says she uses the brand’s lash products instead of mascara, has come out with a fantastic cleanser called Oil Free Lash Conditioning Cleanser. Designed to nourish and strengthen lashes, while it gently removes even the peskiest of waterproof eye makeup, it’s packed with silk proteins and cornflower extract in a non-grease base. This product is so gentle in fact you can use it even if you’re super sensitive or have lash extensions.

Two thumbs up for finally being able to forget Latisse – and all its scary side effects – and embrace thicker, stronger, all-natural lashes.

Dish with us: Are you worried about the length of your lashes?

Stop cold/flu season in its tracks

Now that all the cocktail and dinner parties we hosted in our homes are behind us, it’s time to disinfect and protect! Flu season is officially upon us and we’re doing all that we can to prevent any one of us from getting sick. A nifty little device to help us along is the Pocket Purifier.  Super easy to use, it effectively eliminates and kills intensive germs/bacteria found on any hard surface. The handheld germ-killing UV light kills 99.9% of all germs that cause colds/flu, e-coli, salmonella, mold, fungus and more. Better yet, it’s small enough to fit into even the teeniest of diaper bags and has dozens of uses from sanitizing pacifiers, bottoms and inside purses or kids’ backpacks, diaper bags, toys, kitchen counters and cutting boards, bath sinks and door handles, cell phones, the same keyboard everyone uses during flu season, public bathrooms, hotel remotes and phones, handheld games and controllers…you name it.

All you do is pass the unit over a particular surface area for 10-15 seconds and voila!

We’re not gonna lie…this has become like our version of the Windex obsessively used by the dad from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

Dish with us: How concerned are you about germs?