The Beauty Blog

Yvette Nsiah has been crowned as Miss Universe Ghana 2008. Nsiah traveled all the way from the United States to Ghana to participate in the contest. According to AfricaNews, Nsiah was been crowned after three rounds of keen competition that tested communication skills, intelligence, beauty, elegance and poise.

Daisy Asare Akoto, a student, came out as1st Runner Up while Joyce Akagbo, a third year student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism was 2nd Runner Up. The competition was judged by Emma Moisan, Dennis Nii Dodoo Smith, Gerad Boakye, Pearl Amoah (Miss Universe Ghana 1996 & Fashion Designer), and Ronke Nedd. All delegates were dressed in clothing by the Royal Dennis design label and styled by Sleek Cosmetics.

Global Beauty Pageant reports that Nsiah will represent Ghana at the Miss Universe 2008 Pageant to be held at the Diamond Bay Resort in Nha Trang, Vietnam, on July 14, 2008.

In Accra, Ghana Yvette Nsiah beauty travelled all the way from the US to participate in the Accra show , 20 year old 5′7″ tall, has been crowned as Miss Universe Ghana 2008. With communication skills, intelligence, beauty, elegance and poise, Yvette stood out the most and was adjudged the winner.

The producers of the Miss Universe Ghana beauty pageant are quoted analyzing Nsiah’s specific role in the competition.

“After weeks of scouting, we are excited to present a remarkable Ghanaian woman, who we are confident, will make a poignant statement for Ghana at the international event. We are looking forward to a strong presence at the Miss Universe Pageant, and commend the judges for selecting a young woman who is indeed the quintessence of Ghanaian femininity.”

The Beauty Blog congratulates Nsiah on her success and wishes her the best of luck.

The USA Fragrance Foundation has announced the names of the top 10 finalists for the 2008 Fragrance of the Year Fifi Award, also known as the “Oscars of the fragrance activity.” The Fragrance Foundation will give the awards to the 5 top finalists during the Fragrance Finalists Breakfast, which will be held on 25 April at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Happi reports that the Fifi Finalists have competed in different categories, including the Fragrance of the Year, Best Packaging, Best National Advertising Campaign, Bath & Body Line, Interior Scent Collection and Fragrance Hall of Fame awards.

The FiFi Finalists Breakfast will include the presentation of FiFi Awards in the categories for Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage for Men’s Scent Feature, Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage for Women’s Scent Feature and Scent Bite and Technological Breakthrough of the Year. These winners will also be introduced and recognized for their achievements during the 36th Annual FiFi Awards & Celebration held on May 20 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

According to FRAGRANTICA, another 2008 Fifi Awards will take place again this year in May.

The Fragrance Foundation has announced the list of finalists for the prestigious FiFi award in 2008. FiFi award, or the Fragrance “Oscar”, will be again this year awarded to the most successful creations of several categories….

The complete list of categories along with the names of nominees is available at P&F.com.

Cosmetic Executive Women Inc.(CEW) has announced the names of this year’s Beauty Product Finalists. The nominations are in many different categories such as Body Treatment, Scented Bath and Body, Acne Treatment, Anti-Aging, Cleanser and Scrub, Eye Treatment, Moisturizer, Hair Care and Coloring Product, Eye Product, Sun Product and Women’s Scent.

AVON Uplifting Mascara, CoverGirl LashBlast Mascara and MAC Cosmetics MAC Paint Pots are all nominated under Eye Product - Mass and Eye Product - Prestige nominations.

The Makeup Girl reports that the finalists of the contest have been selected by CEW members, industry insiders and experts in the field of beauty.

The winners are selected by a special Voting Committee comprised from the CEW Board. Once the ballots have been cast, companies gear up for the culmination of this program, Beauty Awards Luncheon in New York City.

According to Amolife, the CEW Beauty Awards nominates the most innovative beauty products for awards every year.

Based in New York City, with affiliations in France & the UK, the organization helps to develop the career contacts, knowledge, and skills of its members so that they may advance on both professional and personal levels.

The whole list of nominees can be viewed in the CEW Beauty Awards Viewbook.

Photo: © risayv

Makeup Forever Cosmetics has teamed up with Sephora to launch its Ever Lash Contest. Bellasugar reports that the contest hopes “to find the wildest and most inventive eyelashes.”

One of the coolest parts about this launch is that Make Up For Ever has joined forces with Sephora to run a contest to see who can send in images of the wackiest, wildest, and most inventive lash looks.

Candidates of the contest should first sign up, watch Makeup Forever’s Video, choose the best lashes, take a detailed image of it, upload it online and submit.

According to Puckered, the person who has submitted images of the best eyelashes will get Makeup Forever Products, worth $1000, and a ticket of a five days vacation to Paris.

You can use anything to pimp them out. On offer, for the best set of eyelashes, is a trip to Paris to visit the Make Up Forever Academy and have a private lesson with Dany Sanz, found of Make Up Forever, as well as $1000 worth of Make Up Forever products.

Photo: © Hina :-)

Miss Michigan, Kirsten Haglund, has been crowned Miss America 2008. Along with the title, Fox News reports that the aspiring Broadway star also won a $50,000 scholarship to continue her education.

Haglund, who studies music at the University of Cincinnati, grew up in a pageant family. Her mother is an active volunteer, and her grandmother Iora Hunt, competed for the crown as Miss Michigan 1944. Hunt was in the audience Saturday.

Haglund, a cheery, classic blond, wore a revealing silver sequined dress and black bikini during the evening gown and swimsuit portions of the pageant. As her platform issue, she promised to advocate for awareness of eating disorders, an illness from which she has recovered.

Vegas Luxe Life with Robin Leach reports that after the contest the newly-crowned Haglund went to Las Vegas where she spent 16 hours making TV appearances and giving interviews.

She will now travel some 20,000 miles each month acting as the official national ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network at fundraisers also raising scholarships for the Miss America Organization.

News Blog quotes Hagland commenting on her victory and the hard work expecting her in the future.

“(It’s) a dream come true … I can’t wait to get started. Im ready to flly to New York tomorrow … I’m thrilled … I’m ready for my year as Miss America … amazing! My grandmother competed years ago, (she) loved the new show … (there are) no inhibitions–(we can) be ourselves instead of what pageant queens are supposed to look (like) … (we can)strut our stuff and be sexy if we want to.”

Celebrity Mound embeds an excerpt from the TV show shown on Saturday night for the readers and so do we.

After an interval of six years, the administrative team of Miss Rockland Inc. has come up with an idea to have two beauty pageants. The contest promises to carry an important lesson for its contestants.

The Journal News reports that Miss Rockland Inc. will host the 2008 Miss Rockland Teen Pageant and the 2008 Miss Rockland Pageant at the Holiday Inn in Suffern on April 20 and April 27.

The Miss Rockland Teen Pageant is open to girls ages 15 to 18. The Miss Rockland Pageant is open to women 18 to 27. There is no height or weight requirement. All contestants must be Rockland residents.

It is reported that the goal of the contest is to raise funds for charity organizations, and all applicants will be asked to name the charity organizations they would like to donate to.

The journal quotes Jean Caldwell, the co-director of Miss Rockland Inc., commenting on the upcoming contest.

“We don’t want to make it about beauty alone,” said Caldwell, “We thought this year we can ask the contestants to try to give back, to volunteer. We are trying to develop a little character in the contestants. It’s not just about beauty. It’s about beauty inside and out. Its about having heart. That makes the person beautiful.”

This is truly an original contest of character. The Beauty Blog wishes success and best of luck to all contestants.

Jessica Wittenbrink, winner of the Miss South Florida Fair Crown, has been sabotaged. However, the Florida police were unable to find enough evidence to identify a suspect and the case was closed.

Stupid Celebrities Gossip reports that Wittenbrink called police when she found her pageant gown with four red lipstick smears. The blog also says that “Wittenbrink wore the gown and won people’s sympathy and love.”

Jessica, 21, is a business major at Northwood University. She revealed that her ambition was to become a CEO of a stock brokerage company. Her prizes included $4000 for a scholarship, and a performance of “Someone Like You” from the musical of “Jekyll and Hyde.”

According to Celeb Online, the organizers of the event have declined to comment. Moreover, Wittenbrink’s mother had only one thing to say in an interview. That is, she was thrilled by the victory.

The Beauty Blog congratulates Wittenbrink and wishes her further success.

Would you believe that the Ministry of Education in the former Soviet republic of Estonia is launching a beauty contest? However, this contest will not be to find the most beautiful woman in the country, but it will mark an upcoming anniversary of the Republic by identifying the world’smost beautiful language.

The Baltic News Service (BNS) agency reports that the Education Minister Tonis Lukas wants his counterparts from around the world to get school pupils to enter recordings of sentences of up to seven words for the contest.

[…]

“As part of the events for the anniversary of the republic, we’re pleased to turn to other nations with a friendly call to check how our language sounds to others now,” he added.

[…]

Preserving their language was a crucial part of Estonian opposition to foreign rule from the 19th century onwards, and remains an important plank of government policy. Estonia is due to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its first period of independence from Russia on February 24 next year. The country was taken over again by the Soviet Union during World War II, and became independent once more in 1991.

Eurolang also reports that there was once a world championship of languages which Estonia lost, taking second place to Italian which won with the phrase, “soida tasa ule silla,” (”go slowly over the bridge).”

Various comments on blogs show that everybody seems to favor their own native language, which I suppose is to be expected. However, if everyone realizes that this also includes its uniqueness and personality it carries, we can at least hope that the Estonian competition is carried out in the same spirit.

Photo: © maple03

Harvard University’s Harvard Lampoon magazine has chosen Paris Hilton its “Woman of the Year.” Although the world’s longest running satirical magazine likely chose Hilton with tongue-in-cheek, she was nonetheless one of the most searched for celebrities on the Internet in 2007.

The Hilton Files reports that the award will be handed over during a public acceptance event.

Founded in 1876, the Harvard Lampoon is the world’s oldest continually published humor magazine. The Lampoon has many accomplished alumni including Conan O’Brien, John Updike and William Randolph Hearst and is responsible for the creation of the National Lampoon.

Incidentally, the Hollywood Offender reports that Hilton is now conducting a multi-city tour to promote the release of her latest film, “The Hottie & The Nottie,” which opens in theaters nationwide on 8 February 2008.

The tour includes Park City, Dallas, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles and begins Park City on January 20th and concludes with the Harvard visit on February 6th. The film premiere will be held at the historic Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles on February 4th.

Photo: © Gaira House

SpecialChem: Cosmetics Innovation & Solutions reports that according to leading consumer and retail information provider in China, the NPD Group, Inc, skincare products make up the majority of prestige beauty sales (71 percent), followed by makeup (17 percent) and fragrance (12 percent).

The prestige beauty industry in China looks much different than it does in the U.S. Nearly three-quarters of all sales in China come from skincare, compared to just a third of sales in the U.S.

It is reported that whitening products are the second most popular skincare product in China, making up 17 percent of skincare sales. Edward Wang, the manager of China beauty, The NPD Group, Inc is quoted as saying:

“Whitening products are next on our list of products to watch in China’s beauty sector. The use of whitening products starts at a very young age in China and continues through adulthood. This is a product that is more popular in Asia and we see this trend continuing to grow and gain strength in the coming years.”

Fragrance is the smallest category within the beauty industry in China and thus makes up only ten percent of the total industry. Reuters reports that the five top fragrance lines in China continue to be Chanel No. 5, Dior J’adore, Miracle, Chance and Addict 2.

Photo: © madaboutasia