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How To Blog With Us!
We currently allow for the posting of comments on the blog. Under each item, you'll see the word "Comments." To post a public comment about that news item, ask a question, or just see what other people have said, click on "Comments."
In the future we'll be introducing "guest bloggers" (like industry experts and customer commenters) who will be posting news items, and other fun things.
As HBN's founder and president, I'm excited about this new communications medium, which will make information about HBN and its members even more fun and accessible to the public. I hope that this blog will be a fantastic complement to HBN's comprehensive industry communications program which includes our suite of websites serving the industry (HandmadeBeauty.com, MakeYourCosmetics.com, MangoButter.com), the Handmade Beauty Connection Online Newsletter, the Handmade Beauty Business Magazine, the Handmade Beauty Business Of The Year, members only opportunities and updates and others. Check back frequently for the latest Handmade Beauty Buzz!
Best & Success!
dM (Donna Maria)
HBN Founder & President
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Monday, August 08, 2005
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Handmade Beauty Brief: Another New Face For Beauty
Last night, I watched some of Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance, a beauty pageant for full-figured women that aired on Oxygen . (F.A.T. stands for Fabulous And Thick.) For those who don't know, Mo'Nique Imes-Jackson, the pageant's executive producer, is the outspoken full-figured woman who stars in "The Parkers". While I believe that show has been cancelled, Mo'Nique has moved on to fulfill her lifelong dream of changing the world by showing that full-figured women can be beautiful, talented, smart and all around wonderful.
Mo'Nique and I have a few things in common. Like me, Mo'Nique once worked for MCI, the ill-fated corporate wrongdoer whose former CEO was sentenced to 25 years in jail for helping to mastermind the largest corporate fraud in United States history. Also like me, Mo'Nique quit her job at MCI several years ago to pursue her dreams. Like me, she's a big girl, and she's also from Maryland where I now live.
While it can't hurt to have basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal as a pageant judge, only time will tell whether Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance will be a hit. Some people might view it as a tasteless attempt to exchange advertising dollars for the tears of large women who have been undervalued and ridiculed all their lives. I'll be the first to admit that I've seen enough beauty pageants in my day, but at a time when the average American woman is a size 14, we can all use a break from the skinny and sometimes emaciated images coveted by Hollywood and New York fashion moguls. Unlike any pageant I've ever seen, this one paid more than lip service to the notion that we all deserve to be valued for who were are. The prizes were also substantial, including $50,000 in cash, a fashion shoot with Just My Size (Mo'Nique is the new spokesperson) and a spread in a not-yet-named women's magazine. Not too shabby!
Unilever's recently launched Campaign For Real Beauty ads have drawn praise from the advertising community and women's groups because they advertise products using "real women with real curves." People who make handmade cosmetics have been making this point for years. That is, mass marketed, cookie cutter products do not take into account the individual characteristics of the people who use them. Handmade products are created by people who can often customize products to meet a customer's unique characteristics and tastes, including fragrance preferences, skin type, product color, texture and more.
Like Mo'Nique, they fill a niche that is underserved and undervalued in the larger consumer community. They are changing the face of beauty, one tube of lip balm and one bar of soap at a time, and if you haven't already seen them, they are coming soon to a store near you!
posted by dM @ 8:22 PM
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