In the mean time…Indulge in the at-home Spa Experience without the minimalism! You deserve it, Sweet Diva!

Delicious and decadent, our bath and body collection will drench your skin with the finest ingredients while intoxicating your senses with our delicious Italian inspired fragrances.

We are famous for our fabulous girly gifts. The best part is they come with an empowering message for girls and women alike…Be true to yourself and your Diva Sisters!

I thought you might like to see a few behind the scene snapshots of our 2011 product shoot.

It’s always a weight off my  mind when it starts and when it’s finished. I have spent hours the last several years taking my own shots and lots of money paying photographers to take them for me..I can say that I am happy to part with some well earned dollars to have them done by a professional.

I have mine taken by Ron Hart of Ron Hart Photo. He’s the best!

We have another day of shooting tomorrow…the mood shots. Ooooohh! Until then– take a look at the finished product we were shooting at the time these snaps were taken.

What do you think?

The experts being all the friends and family I could slather this delectable concoction onto.

Gelato is one of the most divine experiences you can partake of in Italy. Gelaterie are on every street corner, like Starbucks, but way more fun. The frothy mounds of fresh creamy Gelato in a palette of  colors ranging from jewel tone berries, earthly mochas and citrus brights, they’re a sight to behold and devour with your eyes.

I never tire of taking a peek and inhaling the sugary, fruity air swirling about the outside of a Gelataria. There is always a sense of excitement inside from young and old alike…tourist or local.

By updating our fragrance to a delectable coconut-mango, I think we have attained the same degree of yumminess as an actual scoop of the creamy ambrosia..well maybe the next best thing!

This new fragrance will be updated and launched at Gift Markets in January and available online in February.

First off,  3 DIVA DONT’S:

DON’T bring flowers. This causes stress for the hostess to search for a vase and then find a place to set them. They may not go with her decor for the party and worst of all– you have just taken her away from her guests while she fixes your flowers. You are now her unfavorite guest.

DON’T bring wine that you expect to be opened and consumed. I love getting wine for a hostess gift– but I hate it when the giver then reaches for a corkscrew to open. RUDE. You have just told the hostess you don’t care about her plans, party or selection of wine–if there is one.

DON’T make big deal about giving the gift..others may be uncomfortable if they did not bring a gift. Make sure to tell them about this blog so they won’t make the same mistake again.

Okay, now to the gifts…There are tons of specialty stores that have fabulous gifts — if you actually remember to buy them ahead of time.

The gifts on this list are ones that you can pick up on the way to the soiree at a store like Target, Trader Jo’s, Starbuck’s or a good grocery store.

Top 10 Last Minute Ideas…in no particular order.

1. Starbucks can be your hero. They have lots of gourmet goodies that are nicely packaged, taste great and there’s one on every corner.

2. Coffee: Wrap a ribbon around or tap a bow onto a gourmet pound bag of coffee from the grocery store or Starbucks, Barnie’s or wherever. For tea drinkers, a box of Tazo or some other type of nice tea, ie: not Liptons or other everyday brands. Grocery stores have started carrying a lot of specialty brands that will look festive and, well, special.

3. Gourmet food Items: Target, Trader Jo’s and grocery stores usually have a “gifty” section. You can find a small basket or gift bag and fill with tissue paper and choose 1 or a few specialty jams, chutney, nuts, honey, BBQ rub, smoked salts–whatever…something you think or know your host would like. Seem like a cop out? I have been surprised and humored when given a cute retro style bag of jerk chicken rub from a Jamaican friend. It was store bought — but I thought it was a cute idea. Note: If your Italian don’t bring a jar of store bought Ragu..not cute.

4. Bailey’s is a fun gift. There are different sized bottles and flavors. Most package or liquor stores are open late and have gift bags.

5. Wine or Micro Brew Beer are also crowd pleasers and easy to get last minute. You don’t have to break the bank..but the least I would spend it about $10.99 on a bottle of Cupcake Vineyard wine up to about $20.

6. Magazine subscriptions are not that expensive, some are only $12– like Vanity Fair. I’d pick an off-beat one like a home decor, cooking, or hobby — like Guitar Hero, that you think they would enjoy and probably not have. Roll it up with a ribbon and a bow and send in the card the next day.

7. Candle. Always a good gift. Pick a seasonal scent or even unscented. No mason jar or candles like that. Yankee Candles, etc. are perfectly fine…but buy a nice size..a votive is just cheap.

8. Treats for their Pets. Even though the pets should be put up and out of the way for the evening, I am sure your hostess would LOVE it if you remembered little Bailey or Bella with a bag of gourmet treats or a toy. Again, most grocery stores and especially Target would have a good selection.

9. Bath or Pamper Items: Try to do a little better than handing over a bottle of lotion. Is there a little bath soak kit or kitchen soap set? If you haven’t planned ahead a purchased a uniquely chic gift from the La Dolce Diva Line…you’re forgiven, but we still want you to show that you have manners… stop by a Bath and Body Works, Target, etc. and pick up a cute item–don’t fall for the schmaltzy gift-with-purchase type item. T-T-Tacky.

10. Whimsically Quirky. This is best for someone you know and see often. You can go over the top with a nice wine etc…but sometimes it’s more fun to be quirky. My sister brought over a really pretty box of  holiday tissues that looked like an ornament. Another friend brought over a box of Peppermint Jo-Jos from Trader Jo’s with bow on it. Maybe there is something you always joke with a friend about like eating icing out of a can or their secret addiction to Boston Baked Beans…

Don’t forget a tag. Your hostess will set items aside and may not have a chance or want to open the gift (if bagged or wrapped) at the time you gift her. She will want to thank you later with a phone call. Don’t expect a Thank-You card for a hostess gift– it’s just not done.

What is done is a Thank-you card from you. A nice old fashioned note in the mail..or an email if that’s all you can muster. You don’t have to say a lot..Thanks for the great time! What a wonderful way to spend an evening or the Holidays etc. Looking forward to seeing you again. Smooches.

What are some Hostess/Host gifts that you have been given or received that you loved/hated??

Like Johnny Depp, they may just be made up to look like a band of  outlaw rejects anxious to pillage and plunder, when really they are just pretty boys underneath.

What does all this mean? What is a paraben? If you are adamantly against the use of parabens in your beauty products or any other products, I’m not about to try and change your mind here.

If you have been seeing a lot of Paraben Free or Para-Free wording on products lately and are wondering what the big deal is about… I encourage you to take a few minutes to educate yourself so you can make your own decision. I won’t get too deep on you, but I will provide several links to more enlightened and educated people than yours truly.

Parabens are a preservative widely used in cosmetics and personal care products (also in pharmaceuticals and food  — but we will concentrate on personal care here.)

Parabens are used to give product longer shelf life  as sensitive ingredients such as nut butters and anything containing water are prone to bacteria that can cause fungus and bacterial development.

Common parabens include methylparaben (E number E218), ethylparaben (E214), propylparaben (E216) and butylparaben. Less common parabens include isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, and benzylparaben.

So far, so good. But, here we go:

From The American Cancer Society:

Internet e-mail rumors have suggested that chemicals in underarm antiperspirants are absorbed through the skin, interfere with lymph circulation, cause toxins to build up in the breast, and eventually lead to breast cancer. There is very little laboratory or population-based evidence to support this rumor.

One small study has found trace levels of parabens (used as preservatives in antiperspirants and other products), which have weak estrogen-like properties, in a small sample of breast cancer tumors. But this study did not look at whether parabens caused the tumors. This was a preliminary finding, and more research is needed to determine what effect, if any, parabens may have on breast cancer risk. On the other hand, a large study of breast cancer causes found no increase in breast cancer in women who used underarm antiperspirants and/or shaved their underarms.

Over the last several years, this has been the talk in the body care community. Natural and “organic” companies usually have some sort of core belief against preservatives and came out against the use of parabens. As noted in the Cancer Society quote, it also became viral in social media and like a child’s game of Telephone, the details became distorted and exaggerated to the point of a fear campaign against parabens.

Now, when I launched La Dolce Diva, I really didn’t know about this controversy. I developed my product with a reliable and noteworthy lab with accredited chemists. I compared and contrasted my ingredients with like product up and down the price and popularity scale. I was comfortable and very satisfied with how my product stacked up. At that time, my product did contain parabens, I have since reformulated.

Why did I reformulate? Perceived social pressure. I had one buyer comment that our product contained parabens and I had several friends in the natural and organic community that agreed, I needed to get rid of the parabens.

We are a fast growing company, however, still small in relation to the big picture. I made the decision to error on the side of caution and remove parabens (and phthalates– another story) from my product.

Bigger fish than La Dolce Diva made the same decision. I found an interview with Jergens Cosmetic Chemist Kelly Dobos  from 2009 on Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York:

Pierce Mattie: Do you subscribe to the belief that parabens are bad on the skin and should not be used in skin care products? Or do you find it to be marketing hype?

Kelly Dobos: We, as formulators, must ensure that our products are safe for consumers. As you can imagine, a lot of consumers store cosmetic products in their bathrooms. The warm, moist environment is ideal for microbial growth and improperly preserved products can cause serious problems, especially those intended for use in the eye area. While I believe that parabens are safe for use in cosmetic applications, it is hard to overcome misconceptions once they have gained substantial momentum. There are alternatives to parabens, but each preservative has its pros and cons and formulators often rely on a combination of preservatives to ensure efficacy. We carefully select and test for the right preservative system in every product we design.

Jergens is large enough that they could launch a new product line. I found it encouraging in the direction I decided to take.

Parabens have been used in a safe and effective manner for decades with no apparent downside. The FDA has a page dedicated to parabens and concludes with:

FDA believes that at the present time there is no reason for consumers to be concerned about the use of cosmetics containing parabens. However, the agency will continue to evaluate new data in this area. If FDA determines that a health hazard exists, the agency will advise the industry and the public, and will consider its legal options under the authority of the FD&C Act in protecting the health and welfare of consumers.

Preservatives in general get a bad rap, but they have been around since the beginning of time — salt cured beef anyone? Yes, they have become more and more chemically developed and they are not all made equal. Yet, in this fast paced, consumer safety-driven, perishable world, they are a necessity. Whether you choose to use them is up to you.

The neighsayers are brandishing parabens with a pirate flag of poison. The aye-sayers are claiming scientific results of no connection.…What do you think?

Here are some well written, easy to understand resources:

Parabens In Perspective: Intro — includes original UK report about finding paraben in breast tissue

Parabens In Perspective: Part 1 / Parabens In Perspective: Part 2 / Preservatives In Personal Care / Why Cosmetics Need Preservatives

Butyrospermum parkii

Nope. It’s shea butter.

Why do words we can’t pronounce get such a bad rap? There are lots of words I CAN pronounce that are the names of things that are harmful. Yet, in the cosmetics world, the marketing spin a lot of brands use is that their products are made from simple, easy to pronounce words. That’s nice.

Guess what, once INCI gets through with those same ingredients you won’t even recognize half of them.

INCI is the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients. In other words, specific names that must be used on labels to identify cosmetic ingredients — but SNTMBUOLTICI is really too long of an acronym.

I won’t go into how INCI was formed, who they are or how they establish names, because really all that matters is that the FDA and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act require that the INCI names appear on personal care labels. This regulation law was established and is enforced for consumer safety.

INCI names are also utilized by the European Union and Canada.

Unfortunately, most of the INCI names do look like a bunch of chemical elements. Some are easy to recognize like Purified Water is Water (Aqua). These names are a mixture of Latin, English and scientific names. It is kind of like plants. The common or local names people use for plants may breed confusion if used outside of a geographic area, in spite of their charm. With ingredients, we all want to speak the same language so that the consumer, no matter where he/she lives can identify what’s in the product.

It reminds me of my days as a designer. A colleague was in a rush to approve a color for production and shipment from China. Her final fax to the factory was “It should be eggshell. Please revise and ship.”

What color does “eggshell” bring to mind for you?  Well, what we got was 5,000 dozen reddish tan tees.

Too bad there isn’t an International Nomenclature for Color Standards. Needless to say, Asian Eggshell was the new white that season.

To see more INCI names for common ingredients..go here.

According to Dr. Patricia Wexler, exfoliating is one of the most important things we can do for the health of our skin.

Actually, there is no wrong time to give our body a little “buff!” As it turns out, plain old sugar is one of the best exfoliators around. And there’s nothing a Sweet Diva likes better than a little something sweet!

So we’d like to introduce you to La Dolce Diva’s newly launched sugar scrub! There are plenty of things to love about it aside from the sugary goodness..like it’s oil-free…no more mess in the shower or tub.

Our sugar scrub has a whipped creamy feel, foams softly and rinses away…leaving behind velvety smooth skin.

Gentle enough to use every day, you’ll soon fall in love with the pampering ritual of treating your skin to a little sugar! Available in all four of our fabulous fragrances.

Sugar is better to smooth on your hips than through your lips.…but your lips shouldn’t be denied the spa treatment!

With our new Amore Lip Spa, you can give your lips an Italian kiss! Yummy brown sugar does the exfoliating and our Shea butter Lip Amore moisturizes and softens your smoocher!

Packaged in an adorably tiny take out box, it’s simply irresistible!

Pucker up!