The Must-Have Beauty Subscription Box for Woman of Color

Lovely ladies, adjust your crowns and get ready to get your glow on. The Beem Box has arrived to encourage and inspire your beautiful souls, inside and out.

Expect to be obsessed by The Beem Box, the essential beauty subscription box for black and brown-skinned beauties. Frankly, it’s the box that every woman of color wants and needs tailored just for them.

The Beem Box includes beauty must-haves such as liquid lipsticks, eyeshadows, makeup brushes, liquid liner, moisturizer, lip liner, setting spray, eyelashes, lip glosses, mascara, lipstick, body lotion, and much more!

Included in each box are useful tips and information on the goodness of each product and how to use it. Practice your makeup looks while being safe at home and stay ahead of the trends (there’s only so much Netflix you can watch, right?).

Founded by a woman of color, The Beem Box is an easy, fun, and practical way to discover the best luxury and indie makeup brands for women of color that are conveniently delivered straight to doorsteps.

Gift to yourself and share the love with family and friends (great for birthdays and Mother’s Day) with these wonderful options:

Get a Box

Receive a beautiful box every other month ($39.95 per box, plus $5 shipping)

Give a Box

Order a subscription as a gift and the recipient will receive three Beem Boxes as they’re released on the 17th of each delivery month ($109 plus shipping)

Give a one-time gift box with seven full-sized products ($45.95 plus shipping.)

Holiday Prep and Onecklace Gift-Giving

The holiday season is right upon us.  I don’t know about you but there are specific details that need to be checked off the list in preparation for seasonal celebrations.

In previous years, I would take down the decorations and get straight to work.  This isn’t ideal because I would enter the new year with frozen meals and closets filled with miscellaneous items.  Thankfully, I learned from my unorganized ways and began to structure my home to truly ti’s the season.

Featured Photo Style:  Tweed Blazer: Express | Heels:  Jimmy Choo | Bow Ring:  oNecklace

#4 Lessons for Holiday Prep:

Lesson #1: Start de-cluttering before the new year. This is not up for debate!  If you wait until after Christmas, this will include gifts and leftover household items.

Lesson #2:  Clean the freezer prior to Thanksgiving.  This simple task will make room for extra food and potential freezer meals.  The holiday season can get busy, having freezer meals on hand eliminates the question, “What’s for dinner?”

Lesson #3:  Put up the Christmas tree prior to holiday festivities.  The longer you wait, the more stressful the holiday season will become.  I like to gather my entirefamily and pull down the tree at least two weeks before cooking the turkey.

Lesson #4:  The previous lesson leads me into the next one.  If the month of November is your busiest season in business or civic engagments, consider ordering the turkey.  There are several delicious options and this can be a time-saver (and energy-saver.)

Oh, in terms of gift-giving, check out oNecklace for one of a kind, personalized pieces.

The Sideways Letter Necklace and Bow Ring has been a elegant addition to my jewelry collection.  Both of the pieces are timeless. 

What are some personalized gifts that you will be giving this year?

Sideways Letter Necklace

Collaborative Post with oNecklace

Amazon Reports Record-Breaking Holiday Season

Amazon today announced a record-breaking holiday season thanks to its customers all around the world, with more items ordered worldwide than ever before. Amazon customers shopped at record levels from a wide selection of products across every department, discovering top holiday gifts and trending products offered at deep discounts and low prices. Some of the best-selling products this season included, all-new Echo Dot, L.O.L. Surprise! Glam Glitter Series Doll, fashion items from Carhartt, and Bose QuietComfort Wireless Headphones, among others.

Prime membership continued to grow this holiday season, with tens of millions of people starting Prime free trials or paid memberships, to benefit from FREE Same-Day, One-Day or Two-Day shipping, in addition to FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now, and exclusive shopping and entertainment benefits. Prime members enjoyed shopping a wide selection of products with fast and free shipping throughout the season – in fact, this holiday millions of unique items in the U.S. shipped with Prime FREE Same-Day, Prime FREE One-Day or FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now.

“This season was our best yet, and we look forward to continuing to bring our customers what they want, in ways most convenient for them in 2019. We are thrilled that in the U.S. alone, more than one billion items shipped for free this holiday with Prime,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer. “Thank you to our employees all around the world who are committed to bringing our customers the widest selection of products with low prices and fast and free delivery options throughout the holidays and all year long.”

Amazon Devices & Alexa

  • Customers purchased millions more Amazon Devices this holiday season compared to last year – the best-selling Amazon Devices this holiday included all-new Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K with all-new Alexa Voice Remote, and Echo.
  • It was a record holiday season for Amazon’s Kids Edition devices; customers purchased more Echo Dot Kids Edition and Fire Kids Edition tablets than ever before.
  • Customers purchased millions of Amazon Fire TV, Fire Tablet, and Kindle products this holiday season.
  • Ring and Blink sold more devices this holiday season than ever before, as more and more customers are keeping their homes safe.
  • Customers made their homes even smarter this year with a record number of smart home devices sold on Amazon.com; best-selling smart home devices included Amazon Smart Plug, Ring Video Doorbell 2, TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini Outlet, and the iRobot Roomba 690.
  • Customers used Alexa to listen to hundreds of millions more hours of music this holiday season compared to last holiday season, and on even more services – including Amazon Music, Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music, among others.
  • Customers asked Alexa to turn on their holiday lights tens of millions of times this holiday season, with the number one request being “Alexa, turn on the Christmas tree.”
  • Alexa delivered 8x as many reminders this holiday season compared to last.
  • Alexa set more than one hundred million timers this holiday season.
  • Customers requested nearly 3x as many recipes this holiday season compared to last and asked Alexa for cooking-related advice twice as much.
  • Alexa helped mix hundreds of thousands of cocktails this holiday season – with eggnog and Moscow Mule being the most requested drinks.
  • From carolers to delivery drivers and holiday guests, customers received millions of doorbell and motion announcements via Alexa this holiday season.
  • Customers were into the festive spirit with Alexa Skill Blueprints – popular Blueprints this holiday season was The Holiday Story, Santa’s Letter, and the Hallmark Holiday Greeting.
  • The number one holiday song that customers requested this holiday season was “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey.
  • This holiday season, customers listened to more than one million holiday stories from Amazon Storytime on Alexa – the most popular holiday story was Rapping Paper.
  • Customers around the world asked Alexa how many days or sleep until Christmas this holiday season – customers in the United Kingdom were the most excited, asking twice as much as customers in any other country.
  • Customers used Alexa nearly twice as much on Fire TV devices this holiday season compared to the same time period last year.

Amazon Best-Sellers and Seasonal Trends

Toys

  • The best-selling toys in the U.S. and worldwide included the L.O.L. Surprise! Glam Glitter Series Doll with 7 Surprises, Nerf N-Strike Elite Strongarm Blaster, Melissa & Doug Scratch Art Rainbow Mini Notes with Wooden Stylus, Crayola Inspiration Art Case, and LEGO Creator Mighty Dinosaurs Toy.

Electronics

  • The best-selling electronics this holiday season included Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) Wireless Headphones, the Samsung Flat 65″ 4K UHD 8 Series Smart LED TV, Apple iPad (Wi-Fi, 32GB) in Space Gray, Wemo Mini Smart Plug, Blue Yeti USB Microphone in Blackout, Wyze Cam 1080p HD Indoor Wireless Smart Home Camera, and HP Sprocket Photo Paper.

Amazon Brands

  • Some of the best-selling products from Amazon brands in the U.S. included Amazon Essentials Men’s Long-Sleeve Plaid Flannel Shirts, Goodthreads Men’s Short-Sleeve Crewneck Cotton T-Shirts, Daily Ritual Women’s Skinny Stretch Jeggings, the Stone & Beam Ceramic Geometric Table Lamp, Pinzon Faux Fur Throw Blankets, AmazonBasics Multipurpose Scissors, Amazon Elements Baby Wipes, Presto! Toilet Paper, and Solimo Dark Roast Coffee K-Cup Pods.

 Amazon Fashion

  • One of the most popular brands sold on Amazon during the holiday season was Carhartt, with over one million of its items ordered.
  • Some of the most popular brands bought with Prime Wardrobe during the holiday season were Amazon Essentials, Daily Ritual, and Goodthreads, in addition to Calvin Klein, Champion, and UGG.
  • As a top trend, athleisure was a holiday gifting favorite this season with a wide assortment available on Amazon from customer-loved brands including Champion, Alo Yoga, Nike, adidas and Monrow.
  • Amazon Essentials and Simple Joys by Carter’s, along with adidas, Columbia, and Nike were some of the most selected fashion brands added to Amazon Wish Lists this holiday season.

Fast and Free Shipping & Delivery

  • Customers continued to enjoy FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now throughout the season, and even up until the last minute – the last Prime Now delivery on Christmas Eve was made at 11:30 pm in Berkeley, CA and included LEGO Super Heroes Captain America Building Kit, a Hallmark card, Greek yogurt, and shampoo.
  • The five cities that had the most last-minute Prime Now deliveries on Christmas Eve were San Francisco, Austin, Miami, Dallas-Fort Worth and Springfield, VA.
  • This holiday season, millions of unique items in the U.S. shipped with Prime FREE Same-Day, Prime FREE One-Day or FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now.
  • In the U.S., more than one billion items shipped for free this holiday with Prime.

More Ways to Shop

Prime

  • Prime membership continued to grow this holiday – tens of millions of people worldwide started Prime free trials or began paid memberships, to benefit from FREE Same-Day, One-Day or Two-Day shipping, in addition to FREE two-hour delivery with Prime Now.

Alexa Shopping

  • Customers use of Alexa for shopping more than tripled this year compared to last year.

Amazon.com in Spanish 

  • Customers who made Spanish their language of choice when shopping on Amazon.com this holiday season more than doubled compared to last year, with millions of customers shopping on Amazon.com in Spanish.

Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

  • Small and medium-sized businesses had their best holiday season ever in our stores, with items sold growing at a faster rate than retail.
  • More than 50 percent of items sold in our stores this holiday season came from small and medium-sized businesses.

Amazon Physical Stores

  • Customers enjoyed shopping at our physical stores, including Amazon Books, the brand new Amazon 4-star locations, Amazon Go, and Whole Foods Market to find hot holiday products and edible favorites.
  • The best-selling items at Amazon 4-star this holiday season included Amazon Smart Plug, all-new Echo Dot, Becoming by Michelle Obama, L.O.L. Surprise! Under Wraps Doll Series toys, and the DASH Rapid Egg Cooker.
  • The best-selling items at Amazon Books this holiday season included Becoming by Michelle Obama, Diary of a Wimpy Kid #13: Meltdown by Jeff Kinney, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Kindle Paperwhite, all-new Echo Dot, and the L.O.L. Surprise! Bling Series toys.
  • The best-selling product at Amazon Go this holiday season was Amazon Go Theo Dark Chocolate Bar, Cacao with Sea Salt, and the best-selling freshly prepared food was the chicken bahn mi sandwich.
  • Some of the most popular holiday goodies at Whole Foods Market were California Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and 365 Everyday Value traditional eggnog.
  • Prime members saved tens of millions of dollars this holiday season from Prime member deals at Whole Foods Market.
  • The best-selling Prime member deal at Whole Foods Market this holiday was turkeys.
  • Customers opted to eat healthy between holiday feasts – the best-selling items for Prime Now pick up at Whole Foods Market were organic honeycrisp apples, boneless/skinless chicken breasts, and Atlantic farm-raised salmon filets.
  • The fastest grocery delivery this holiday season took place in St. Paul, Minnesota and was delivered in 12 minutes and 19 seconds, and contained La Croix Sparkling Water and Zevia soda.
  • Cities that opted for convenience and had the most grocery delivery via Prime Now and Whole Foods Market were Boston, Hoboken, NJ, and San Francisco.

 Community Engagement

  • This holiday season, Amazon unveiled an easy way for customers to donate a toy to a child in need via Alexa. Since its launch, thousands of customers have donated a toy to Toys for Tots with Alexa, and Amazon has matched each donation toy for toy, delivering smiles to thousands of deserving children.
  • Amazon Future Engineer launched in November, and aims to inspire more than 10 million kids each year to explore computer science, help over 100,000 underprivileged young people in over 2,000 high schools in lower-income communities take introductory or Advanced Placement (AP) courses in computer science, and provide 100 students from underrepresented communities with four-year $10,000 scholarships as well as guaranteed internships to gain work experience.
  • Amazon enjoyed #DeliveringSmiles this holiday season making more than $1 million in donations across the country to various organizations supporting homeless children and families during the month of December.

 

Celebrate the 12 Days of Cava this Holiday Season with Freixenet

It’s always a grand idea to pop some bubbly during the most festive time of the year. Grab a case of Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (SRP $12) and celebrate Freixenet’s 12 Days of Cava this holiday season! At just $12 a bottle, Freixenet Cava allows you to invite all your friends and keep the celebration going longer. Freixenet Cava is delightful when served on its own, mixed in cocktails, and added into holiday recipes. Follow Freixenet’s 12 Days of Cava plan to ensure a jolly celebration with your friends all season long:

DAY 1: Personalize Your Present

 Need a last minute Holiday party hostess gift? Don’t panic – a bottle of Freixenet Cava is all you need. The matte black bottle is the perfect canvas for a personalized message. Grab a gold pen and turn the bottle into a unique gift that everyone can enjoy.

DAY 2: The Sparkling Maple Leaf
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine 1 oz whisky, 1 oz maple syrup, and 1/2 oz lime juice. Shake and strain the mixture into a glass. Top off with 3 oz Brut Cava.

DAY 3: Brie + Cava Fondue
Rub 1 whole clove garlic in a saucepan. Add 1 c Extra Dry Cava and 1 tbsp cornstarch over low heat. Do not boil. Add 2 c Brie cheese in portions while slowly increasing the heat, (do not let boil). When cheese has melted, add 2 tbsp kirsch (fruit brandy), 1 tsp lemon juice, and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, cinnamon and brown sugar. Serve in a fondue pot with your favorite choice of fruit and bread for dipping.

DAY 4: Grab a bottle of Freixenet Cava and decorate the bottle with holiday stickers! Give to a coworker or friend to enjoy with you after work.

DAY 5: Candy Cane Cava-tail
Fill 1/3 of a flute with White Crème de Cocoa and the rest with chilled Sweet Cuvée Cava. Garnish with a whole candy cane.

DAY 6: Add Cava in cake balls!

DAY 7: Pomegranate Cava Punch
In a large bowl, stir together 1 juiced lemon, 1 c Old Orchard pomegranate juice, 1/3 c pomegranate seeds, 1 c orange liqueur and 2 c Brut Cava. Add twists from lemon peel and rosemary sprigs for garnish.

DAY 8: Cava Ginger Hot Toddy
In a small mug, combine 2 oz brewed gingerbread tea, 1/2 tsp molasses, 1 tsp raw sugar, and top off with Extra Dry Cava. Garnish with a lemon slice and cinnamon stick

DAY 9: Marshmallows fluffed with Cava.

DAY 10: The Ginger Swing
Purée 1 ripe pear in a food processor, set aside. Combine 1/2 c water, 1/2 c sugar and 4 inch piece of fresh ginger, quartered in a small pan. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover, turn the heat off and let sit for 30 minutes. Remove ginger pieces, pour the syrup into the pear purée, stir, cover and refrigerate until cold. Once cold, spoon 2 tbsp of mixture into a flute, top off with Brut Cava.

DAY 11: The Evergreen Twist
Bring 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/2 c water, and 1/4 c juniper berries to a simmer in a pot, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool completely. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids. Refrigerate 1 hour. Combine 3 tbsp juniper syrup with 1/2 cup Freixenet Cava to a glass. Garnish with a pine sprig; serve immediately.

DAY 12: Cava Wonderland
Prepare rims by combining 1/4 c coconut flakes, 2 tbsp granulated sugar, and one scraped vanilla bean. Coat the rim of a glass with lemon juice to make the sugar mixture stick. Pour 2 oz coconut juice blend or coconut puréed nectar into bottom of glass. Fill with Extra Dry Cava and stir to mix.

DAY 13: Grab a bottle of Freixenet Cava and a few friends and toast to 2017! Add some black and gold decorations, a fun playlist and sip Cava all night long while re-living the most hilarious moments of 2016.

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About Freixenet:

Freixenet (pronounced “fresh-eh-net”), best known for their iconic Black Bottle, was first introduced to the world in 1914. It is a family-owned winery based just outside of Barcelona. Under the leadership of the Ferrer family, the Freixenet Group is the global leader of sparkling wines made in the traditional method, and the pursuit of quality has been the family’s priority for more than a century.

Prime Now: Amazon Holiday Items to One-Hour Delivery

Just in Time for the Holidays: Prime Now Adds 4,000 New Items Available for One-Hour Delivery

From top gift-giving items across toys and electronics to wrapping paper and baking supplies, Prime Now has added thousands of items this holiday so you can skip a trip to the store and stay focused on doing the things you love

Starting today in Manhattan, Prime Now has added delivery of beer, wine, spirits and items from Eataly to the service

In under a year, Prime Now has grown from one location to more than 20 metropolitan areas across the U.S.

SEATTLE–Dec. 10, 2015– Amazon.com announced that it has added more than 4,000 items to its Prime Now service just in time for the holidays. Whether it’s a big-screen television, top toys and gift-giving items or supplies for yuletide baking, Prime Now has everything customers need to skip a trip to the store this holiday season.

“In the year since we first launched Prime Now for customers in Manhattan, we’ve grown rapidly to more than 20 metropolitan areas across the U.S. and we are excited to continue to expand our offerings whether that’s adding beer, wine and spirits in Manhattan starting today or continuing to increase the number of local stores and restaurants in the service,” said Stephenie Landry, worldwide director of Prime Now. “This holiday, we’ve also added thousands of products to Prime Now and we’ll be delivering up until midnight on Dec. 24—we are a procrastinator’s dream, offering tens of thousands of items that can be delivered right to your door in an hour or less.”

Prime Now is offered exclusively to Prime members:

Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orange County, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Seattle and Richmond. In select cities, in addition to the products offered by Amazon, the service also includes deliveries from local restaurants and stores. Through Prime Now, one-hour delivery is $7.99 and two-hour delivery is free.

Some highlights since launching Prime Now include:

  • The fastest order delivered to date was a four-pack of Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino to a customer in Miami. The delivery was made in under 10 minutes;
  • In Seattle where the company offers one-hour delivery of beer, wine and spirits, the top-selling beer is Elysian Brewing Company’s Space Dust IPA and the top selling wine is Chateau Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon. Starting today, Prime Now is adding beer, wine and spirit delivery in Manhattan;
  • Prime Now customers in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle enjoy free, for a limited time, one-hour delivery from local restaurants. The most popular cuisines ordered through the service so far are American and Thai; and finally
  • Delivery from local stores is offered through Prime Now in Chicago, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Portland and San Diego. The most popular items ordered by customers for one-hour delivery from grocery stores include organic bananas, avocados, tomatoes and organic apples. Starting today, Eataly is being added to the lineup of local stores offered in Manhattan and Prime Now Chicago is adding local store delivery from Plum Market, Sprinkles Cupcakes and My Fit Foods.

You can see some of the top-selling items by city through Prime Now in the accompanying infographic. To learn more about Prime Now, visit www.amazon.com/primenow.

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Ann Taylor Holiday Season Gifts

Gift-giving can be effortless this holiday season thanks to Ann Taylor and their must-have winter collection. From cozy cardigans and stylish crossbody bags, to lush faux fur accessories, there is the perfect present (at every price point!) for all of the women in your life.

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For the perfect gift that gives back, Ann Taylor’s Limited- Edition Elephant Charm Jewelry Collection donates 50% of the purchase price of each item sold to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Below, please find a selection of ideas for gift-guide consideration

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