Make Yourself at Home

Why Didn't You Think of That?

Putting It Together

Design for Living

Anywho:

Failure prone beauty experiments can leave us less then beautiful. Eva Chen, beauty editor from Elle Magazine dropped by to give us a little advice on beauty disasters and how to correct them.

Self-tanner can create some odd skin tones - fortunately most self tanners only effect the top layer of the skin, and you can remove the orange or streaky tones with a body scrub or loofa.

An alternative to self-tanners is a bronzing powder. It's applied with a brush and will give you a healthy glow that can be removed easily and reapplied if it doesn't look right.

Hair coloring can be a scary thing to attempt at home. Frequently, first time home colorists panic at the changes they see happening to their hair and wash it out too soon. You can quell the panic by giving the company's 800 number a call. Most product boxes have a number to call.

Botox freeze isn't pretty. It's the result of too high a dose of the toxin. Acetycholine chloride will un-freeze your face and can be found in most health food stores. It's applied topically, so no more needles are involved! Don't use it if you're pregnant or nursing and be sure not to get it in your eye.

Reducing the need for botox is your best bet, and that can be done by always using a moisturizer with spf.

A hangover can leave our skin looking pallid and dull. Hydration will take care of that in the long run, but if you're looking for a quick fix try Scott Barnes Luminizing Mist. It's a light hydrating spray with microscopic light reflectors in it that give you a beautiful glow and liven up your dull complexion until your body can bring it back to normal.

Help me Brini:

What do you do if guests unexpectedly show up with a toddler?

Child proofing your home is a necessary step if you're going to welcome the sandbox set. If a wee one has been sprung on you without prior notice there are a few things you can do.

Have individual boxes of cereal on hand to keep your young guest occupied. Lay out an old bed sheet to help with clean up later.

You can improvise playthings out of just about any plastic household item, and they usually love exploring the possibilities of laundry baskets and drum sets made of pots and pans.

Quieter pursuits can be achieved with balled up socks and a waste basket for target practice, "painting" the patio with water and a basting brush or playing dress up with old scarves.

Random Thoughts:

The folks at Central in West Hollywood were just lovely - especially the chef Jamie De Rosa. He was just delightful in our segment together. Unfortunately the restaurant has since closed. I guess that's just the nature of the restaurant business.

Eva Chen was just delightful. She was as warm and genuine in person as she seems on the screen. She's since become the beauty and health director at Teen Vogue.

We've been lucky enough to have several great companies give us products that we've used on most of the episodes of the show this season. These companies include:

Sherwin Williams provided all the paint for all those rooms we feature

Christopher Paul Rugs gave us the rug under the living room grouping on the main set

Conso Trimmings provided all the ball fringe we could ever hope for