At SpaBeautySchools, we’re all about beauty, wellness, and education. That’s why I was delighted to hear that Identity Magazine was hosting an essay competition that supports what we stand for.

In order to “Feel Beautiful Everyday”, Identity encourages its readers to “Accept, Appreciate, and Achieve” everything they are. Through their essay competition, current female students over the age of 21 (undergrad or other) can enter for a chance to win $500 toward education expenses.

All you need to do is answer one of their questions in about 500 words. To learn more about the competition, visit Identity Magazine and enter by August 1, 2009, 11:59 p.m. EST. You must be enrolled in a program (this includes beauty school and other career schools), as the winner’s check will be made out to the school. This is a great opportunity for women in school so get going — the deadline is next week!!

-Amanda Fornecker

While many of us have heard about hypnotherapy classes given by reputable hypnotherapists to stop smoking or lose weight, were you aware that there are hypnotherapy certification programs for individuals who want to make a career out of hypnosis? Like other alternative health and wellness courses, hypnotherapy classes are typically offered from beginner to advanced. These alternative healing programs range from hypnotherapy to clinical hypnotherapy — covering a broad range of mind-spirit techniques to help individuals with a number of behavioral and emotional issues.

Common hypnotherapy classes include NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), clinical guided imagery, inner child healing, past life regression, emotional clearing, hypno-healing, intuitive healing, Gestalt therapy, and music therapy, among other methods unique to hypnosis. Far from what many of us may have seen on comedy shows demonstrating grown adults clucking like a chicken, hypnotherapy is a real and effective form of alternative healthcare that has helped thousands of individuals overcome stress and anxiety, the battle of the bulge, quitting smoking, and other negative behaviors.

Focused studies in hypnotherapy classes involve in-depth training and practical applications of the power of suggestion, interviewing techniques, goal setting, awakening methods, stress-reduction strategies, teaching self-hypnosis, Ericksonian techniques, quantum healing, hypnotic regression methods, chronic pain relief methods, and other success-wellness techniques.

I had so much fun last night at Mom It Forward’s #GNO. What is this, you may ask? #GNO is an event held on Twitter on Tuesday nights and stands for “Girls’ Night Out.” Each week, participants gather together on Twitter.com to have a discussion about a particular topic. The topic? Having the family and bringin’ home the bacon, a.k.a. lifelong learning!

I was a supporting panelist last night on #GNO and talked about the beauty industry and the perks of earning a beauty or wellness degree. Flexible schedules and a 46 percent self-employment rate in the beauty industry are key benefits to fitting into busy lives. In fact, I think I may have convinced myself that I want to go to beauty school.

So where can I and all my other loyal followers get started? The Moms Back at School site is just the place to do so. And you don’t have to be a mom to get in on the action – I’m not.

Take it from @HeatherO …

Don’t worry if you missed the Twitter Lifelong Learning event. You can read some follow-up posts and follow us on Twitter for more info. Or, to get in on a school search right now, head to Moms Back at School.

Thanks to all those who participated and made this such a successful event!

-Amanda Fornecker

Beauty blogging is my favorite kind. Here, you’ll get some good feedback from beauty bloggers who have tried out products and are really into what they do. From product reviews and beauty school spotlights to everyday beauty advice and new tricks-of-the-trade, you’ll find a wealth of information from those who really enjoy what they write about.

Even lovelier? We’ve decided to put all of this beauty information in one place — a blog carnival all about “Beauty Smarts.” This includes cutting-edge information on beauty and cosmetology schools, new products to enjoy, to-die-for make-up and hair styling, and just about anything that will make our everyday beauty routine easier (and us more glamorous!).

Haven’t you always wanted all the best beauty bloggers to come together in one place?! You can have that now in the “Beauty Smarts” blog carnival. The first one will be hosted right here at SpaBeautySchools.com/blog, but future installments will be hosted at different beauty blogs to spread the love to all readers and make them aware of the most beautiful blogs on the planet.

The “Beauty Smarts blog” carnival is scheduled to appear every 3rd Monday of the month. Get going and submit your blog posts to the carnival now for consideration! (We reserve the right to refuse anything off-topic or irrelevant. Gotta’ keep the spammers out!)

Be sure to share this information with other beauty bloggers and spread the word! The goal here is to build a strong network of beauty bloggers to share links, drive traffic, and get all your hard work out to both beauty-obsessed and beauty-challenged individuals.

Questions? Send me an email or DM me on Twitter.

Check out the latest versions of the Beauty Smarts blog carnival!

• The Mind, Body, & Soul – 1st Edition
• The Oscar After Party – 2nd Edition
• 2009 Spring Beauty – 3rd Edition
• The Beauty Grab Bag – 4th Edition
• Summer Summer Summer Time – 5th Edition
• Beautiful Bloggers – 6th Edition
• The Labor Day Prep – 7th Edition