Welcome to the fourth edition of the Beauty Smarts Blog Carnival! There’s lots of news in the beauty world these days and I’m here to break it down for you and guide you in the right direction throughout the blogosphere. This month, you’ll be getting a beauty grab bag, full of a little bit of everything in the way of tips and tricks.

Earth-Friendly
It’s Earth Week so naturally we need to tell you about some organic products and beauty methods you might be interested in introducing to your daily beauty regimen. Whether you’re already into organic products or just beginning to fulfill your curiosity, there are many who have already become experts in the organic beauty realm.

Free Organic News has a lot of advice to offer us in organic news. “There is really no excuse for you to neglect any part of your body,” says the website. “Cosmetics companies offer a potion or lotion for every nook and cranny. But how much thought do we put into buying them?” See more in Nourish And Protect Your Skin And Body.

Don’t forget that “the things that you put on your skin enter your bloodstream,” says Free Organic News. In Organic Skin Care – The Nice And Simple Way, we learn about different organic products for aging skin, vegetarians, men, teens, and more!

Finally, Free Organic News presents Nourish Your Skin Organically saying, “The simpler your skincare regimen, the better. Conventional skin creams and lotions can contain mixtures of 20 or more synthetic ingredients, many of which are of no direct benefit to your skin. Instead, they are necessary to hold mixtures of incompatible ingredients, such as oil and water, together and to extend the product.”

For those of us who work on our own organic skin care lines, Julena has some advice in Packaging Organic Cosmetics posted at Organic Makeup and Skin Care. “Pay attention to your beauty product packaging,” she says. “It’s trickier than it seems, especially for natural products.”

Tried and True
It’s always nice to have a concrete product review before you go out there and spend the money on something you’ve never tried before. Here, you’ll find a few beauty bloggers who tried out a product and then shared their thoughts with their readers.

To continue the organic and Earth-friendly theme of this carnival, Jen Mathews presents Product Review – Wild Rose Facial Oil by Mountain Rose posted at MyBeautyBunny.com. This product not only contains rosehip seed oil, but it also has a few organic elements that may make it more attractive to some. See what Jen thought about it.

Heather’s curiosity of Frownies got her to try out and review the product on Star Fashion Addict in Hollywood’s Wrinkle Treatment?. She says, “Celebrity wrinkle treatment? Or complete waste of money? We tested it out…”

Anti-Aging and Skin Care
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and I really believe it’s so important to treat it properly. What you put on your skin can highly affect what it looks like down the line. Here, we cannot use the quick fix, but rather we should look to find products that have long-lasting and healthy results. Below, you’ll find some skin care tricks of the beauty trade.

Frownies may not be the way to go, but Kyle Richey presents How to Help Your Anti Aging Wrinkle Cream Do Its Job posted at NoYu. “If you use your anti aging wrinkle cream only every other day or just a few times a week, it’s just like brushing your teeth that frequently — you won’t do as much good as you will with proper application. Any product will only work when you use it the right way. This applies to anti aging wrinkle cream as much as to toothpaste. Help your product do its job – use it right.”

There are lots of skin types out there. Julie breaks it down for all you dry skin types in Dry Skin Care Tips posted at Healthtrition Beauty and Health. From moisturizers to lip balms to humidifiers, you can certainly learn a few things from this blog.

No one likes acne, but it may pop up at any age — even when you’ve far surpassed those teenage years. Arnel presents The Importance of Getting Acne treatment posted at Your Skin Care Blog, saying, “Acne treatment for this skin condition may be varied depending on the intensity of the case. Acne is manifested when the sebaceous glands overproduce sebum thus resulting to greasy skin which will then catch more dirt and shed skin. The dirt and shed skin, which accumulates in the pores, will block these and result to inflamed pores.”

Holly presents NEW Mineral Makeup Beauty Secrets !! posted at Funny Chix, saying, “Mineral Makeup Beauty Secrets Mineral makeup products are an interesting development in the world of beauty. Makeup is always an individual choice. Sometimes we are looking for anti-aging makeup for more youthful skin in both texture and appearance. The best makeup makes us feel great about the way we look. Mineral makeup is often a 100% pure, natural makeup. Many women prefer its airy, light-weight feel and the look of mineral makeup.”

In this economic downturn, you may feel that it’s tough to splurge on such luxuries as beauty for yourself. Well no worries, because Camille Kruse gives us Free Things You Can Do For Your Skin! at Skincarelogic’s Blog. You’d be surprised what you could do for your beauty regimen with products you already have in your home!

Miscellaneous Beauty
Beauty does come in all shapes and sizes. There are so many different things to keep in mind when you look to improve your appearance or change your beauty regimen. Here are some miscellaneous tips that are certainly important to keep in mind, especially in this time of recession.

Speaking of the recession, “A” of Makeup Lovers Anonymous gives us insight on some products she thinks are perfect to buy from the drugstore. But does a recession mean she should forego her fabulous finds from Sephora? Find out in CVS or Sephora in a Recession?

Are you looking for a career change? If so, you may want to consider the life of a makeup artist. In our very own A Minute With SpaBeautySchools I talk about a variety of events that call for a makeup artist. Check them out in The MUA.

Lately I’ve had such a problem with flat hair. Maybe HairBoutique can help me give a little more life to my locks. In Flat Irons Can Leave Hair Limp, Karen Marie Shelton gives us some great tips and tricks of the trade. She says, “Flat irons, when used properly can help to instantly smooth unruly hair, leaving it bone straight, sleek and super shiny. When used improperly a flat iron can flatten newly styled strands leaving them limp.” Read more on HairBoutique.

Did you know that you have the ability to make beauty products at home with some products you have right in your very own kitchen? Aparna presents 12 beauty uses of baking soda posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming. “Though it’s a known fact that baking soda is widely used in baking, deodorizing refrigerators, microwaves and in household cleaning, let’s look into some common as well as uncommon health and beauty uses of this household ingredient.”

This concludes our fourth edition of the Beauty Smarts Blog Carnival. Thanks for reading! Happy Earth Week!

-Amanda Fornecker

• Are you a blogger? We invite you to contribute to the next Beauty Smarts carnival: Submit here.
• Readers: Let us know your favorite post here, and what you’d like to read more about in the future. Comment below!

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the very first edition of the Beauty Smarts Blog Carnival! This isn’t just about beauty and spa education. We’ve compiled some of the best blog submissions out there about all kinds of beauty and spa topics — from winter skin care tips and snake massages (yes, snakes!) to some mini makeovers and top beauty tricks (we love us a good trick!).

This first edition of SpaBeautySchools.com’s Beauty Smarts is entitled “Mind, Body, and Soul” because all of you beautiful contributors and readers embody strengths in all of these categories! Enjoy this first edition of Beauty Smarts and be sure to enter your own blog posts for future editions.

MIND
Strengthen your mind at beauty school to get all the firsthand tips you need to succeed in the beauty industry. It’s more than just going through the motions. It’s about experience, learning, and forming your very own practices with clients. Here, you’ll find some beauty school news and tips.

Karen Marie Shelton presents Cosmetology School Insider Tips posted at HairBoutique.com, giving eight tips and pieces of advice to those who may be considering the cosmetology school route. She presents herself with this question: “If I could ‘do it all over again’ and hit rewind to Day One of Beauty School, what would I do differently?”

In Cutting Out Domestic Violence, posted at our very own A Minute With SpaBeautySchools, Robyn Tellefsen tells us what beauty schools are teaching to be sure their students are prepared for the real world. Students are actually being trained to learn how to recognize signs of domestic abuse in their clients. What a great initiative!

BODY
Who doesn’t want to know the best ways to keep up their appearance? From hair to makeup to skin care, there’s a lot to manage on a day-to-day basis to stay beautiful. Here, you’ll find a variety of different tips, products, and general info that can help catapult you to the top of the beauty charts!

What’s So Important About Exfoliation Anyway?, asks Meredith Edwards-Cornwall at Daily Dose of Coffee. There is much to know about exfoliating, including different methods to incorporate into your daily beauty routine. Find out what might be best for your skin type.

Similarly, “A” of the Makeup Lovers tells us about her favorite exfoliating product at Makeup Lovers Anonymous in Clarisonic and Clean. With just the right product, you can really improve your skin quality and the way you feel.

Makeup is always something that a lot of girls are interested in, but not everyone knows which products to use and when to use them. Jenny Muller helps the makeup-challenged along in Beauty and the Blog. To get some fun looks she presents Malibu Makeover: Get the Barbie Look and WATCH IT: Smoky Eye in 3 Steps. See if you can recreate these looks.

When the weather outside is frightful, check out Cold Weather Skin Care Tips, presented at Healthtrition Beauty and Health. Here, Julie tells us how to prevent dry skin and what we should avoid in order to stay healthy and keep that skin glowing.

Lots of people wonder about the hair removal process and in Permanent Hair Removal: How Permanent Is It? posted at FlawlessHairDesigns.com, Joseph breaks down the real meaning, while telling us the various methods that exist to complete this beauty technique.

Do you or someone you know suffer from adult acne? Camille Kruse gives us a look at this skin care issue in her blog Adult Acne… A Rising Concern! posted at Skincarelogic’s Blog.

Kate presents a look at her top beauty tips in Beauty Tricks and Secrets posted at Advice on Love, Life, and Everything Between, while Josanne Anthony gives us some hair advice in Lovely Locks! at Everyday Cupcake.

SOUL
Looking for some posts that’ll soothe your soul? This section of our Beauty Smarts carnival features spa and green stories aimed to calm you, make you feel better, or help you along the soul-searching path.

Everyone likes to go to the spa, but there are some quite out-of-the-ordinary spa experiences that you may have never even considered. In our blog, A Minute With SpaBeautySchools, we present to you A Slithery Spa Massage and A New Day Spa – For Kids?!. The titles speak for themselves…

It’s only natural to have some kind of day-to-day challenge and for some this beauty challenge may be dark circles. How can this be corrected, you may ask? Aparna presents Natural remedies for dark circles around your eyes posted at Beauty and Personal Grooming, saying, “Let’s just debunk some of the myths as well as unearth some of the facts about the causes of those ‘panda eyes.’”

Julena gives us an “honest and detailed review of organic skin care products by Body Deli” in Organic Skin Care Perks – The Body Deli posted at Organic Makeup and Skin Care, while Sheena breaks down parabens in beauty products in The Difference Between Natural and Organic Beauty Products on her Spa Girl Beauty Tips blog.

Does the Fountain of Youth exist? Chris & Chat explore staying young in The Fountain of Youth posted at Chris & Chat Spa and Facial Care Center.

And don’t forget how good sleep is for the soul. That’s what Natalie Fox focuses on in How to have a perfect skin by adapting good sleeping habits in her blog, All Sleep Info. Here, Natalie talks about these issues, and gives us three tips for sleep to help you have healthy and young skin.

Finally, for your MIND, BODY, and SOUL, check out Danelle Ice’s great blog on Don’t Look Like a Tired Mom: 13 Quick Mini Makeovers. And these tips, hosted on Homemaker Barbi, can be applied to just about anyone! She says, “Here are 13 surefire ways to wake up your look when your energy levels are less than full.”

This concludes the first edition of Beauty Smarts. We hope you enjoyed this collection of advice, tips, and ideas to heal your Mind, Body, and Soul. We had some great submissions this time so let’s keep sharing this great info to help all readers get and stay beautiful!

Thanks for reading!

-Amanda Fornecker

• Are you a blogger? We invite you to contribute to the next Beauty Smarts carnival, which is scheduled for Monday, February 23, 2009: Submit here.
• Readers: Let us know your favorite post here, and what you’d like to read more about in the future. Comment below!