DelectablyChic! is excited to present its 3^rd Annual Summer Bridal feature, this time a four part series on Wedding Prep, Make Up & Beauty Must-Haves for the 2012 Summer Bride, The Wedding Day, as well as Wedding Related Ideas.

We begin with Wedding Prep.

Once the engagement ring is on, the official Wedding Prep begins including wedding etiquette:

Something New

There are some fantastic books on wedding etiquette.  We recommend Something New: Wedding Etiquette for Rule Breakers, Traditionalists, and Everyone in Between by Elise Mac Adam, which is a very modern, relevant handbook to ensure your guests feel comfortable, even in the stickiest of situations.

C.R. Gibson Wedding Planner, Now & Forever

Even if you decide to go with a wedding planner, it can be handy to have your own Wedding Planner book full of checklists and we simply love the Now & Forever Wedding Planner book by C.R. Gibson.  If you are planning your own wedding, this is a fantastic guidebook full of worksheets to keep the bride organized and on schedule, invaluable tips, as well as room to record everything from the guest list to the bridal registry.

My Fair Wedding

Once you know your wedding etiquette inside out and are completely organized by your planner, it’s time to think of those how to add an extra oomph.  Check out David Tutera’s My Fair Wedding: Finding Your Vision . . . Through His Revisions! which highlights how a little tweaking can make your wedding much more special and memorable.  The book has examples of common or traditional ways of doing things and then has David’s innovative revisions which add that certain flair or panache to the same element of the wedding.  This book and its inspired ideas are for that bride who wants that certain something extra.

While the wedding organization is critical, it is even more important for the bride to look radiant on her special day.  Hence, the other really critical wedding prep that should be begun immediately is ensuring the bride is healthy, glowing and looking her best.

Brides have traditionally taken time off to be pampered, massaged and well rested.  However, even modern, busy brides can still look their best with a few insider beauty tricks.

For the Face:

Vasanti’s Detox Nutrient-Rich Purifying Facial Cleanser feels like heaven on your face and almost like a nightly mini-spa treatment.  Although you can start using this anytime, we recommend at least one month before your big day to ensure a natural bridal glow.

If you want a more intense facial cleansing and plumping, consider a Silkpeel Dermalinfusion facial by trained Esthetician Rose Cruz at Ivory Salon & Spa.  This is a more advanced technique than microdermabrasion and is said to work wonders with acne and sun damage by intensely hydrating the skin and stimulating the growth of new healthy cells.

For the Hair:

For your hair, try Salon La Coupe Volume, Moisture or Curl Refresh dry shampoo.  We recommend using this shampoo at least two months prior to your wedding day to ensure your locks will be in tip-top shape.

Or, if you want to lighten your hair naturally, LUSH Cosmetics’ BIG shampoo is quite an industry secret.  Made of seasalt and citrus, it breaks down henna and not only adds volume (hence the name) but gives your hair a sunkissed look with a killer bounce.  It’s very potent stuff, however, so you should be careful not to use it more than once a week, particularly if you have baby fine hair.

For Overall Relaxation:

For overall relaxation, try LUSH Cosmetics’ Relax, Take a Bath trio of stress-relievers.  Indulge in a hot, steaming bath fragranced with lavender and chamomile in the three different bath products – a Waving Not Drowning bath bomb, Bathos bubble bar and Dreamtime bath melt.  Use them one a week for the three weeks leading up to your special day, or indulge in one a day for the last three days prior to your wedding.

How to enter the contest?

To enter, just post a comment below with your name and why you think you are “divalicious.”   For extra points, follow us on twitter (@ladiesfund) and tweet about this event, and post a second comment below linking to that tweet and informing us you are following us on twitter.  All entries must be received by 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, 15th July 2012.  The prize is a pair of tickets for 2 women to attend Divalicious 4.  Only women can enter this contest.  Good luck and may the most divalicious gal win!

For their Retro section, LUSH Cosmetics has brought back their Canadian Maple soap.

Made with real maple syrup and topped with sugar, it has a gentle scent and feel that’s quite soothing.  Unfortunately, when wet it loses much of that scent but the dry soap really does spread the scent throughout your bathroom. The soap also lathers up nicely and is more moisturizing than most soaps.  It would have been nicer if it had come shaped like a maple leaf, but since LUSH soaps are generally sliced by weight, we will forgive them this one.

Happy Canada Day!

Lloyd Robertson and Principal Dancer Greta Hodgkinson

Outside the centre, mannequin style models wearing specially designed tutus posed in the blistering heat while the 1500 guests were greeted with chilled water bottles.  The red carpet was filled with the who’s who ranging from the Old Guard to some very avant garde party-goers.  Most of the women were wearing long ball gowns with some in sassy cocktail dresses.

Jorn Weisbrodt, Rufus Wainwright and Emmanuelle Gattuso

The night began with an overture from Polovtsian Dances by Alexander Borodin that was on the programme of the National Ballet’s very first performance on November 12, 1951.  This was followed by a welcome from Artistic Director Karen Kain who looked stunning in navy.  The ballet portion of the night than began with an hour-long performance of very special short works, particularly sets of pas de deux.

Bernice Royce and Victor Royce, President & CEO of Rolex Canada

First up where Xiao Nan Yu and Jiri Jelinek performing a sexy, sassy, modern pas de deux from Amarant, a ballet that had premiered in Belgium in 2011.  Husband and wife Guillaume Cote and Heather Ogden then performed a World Premiere of the very romantic Polar Night choreographed by Robert Binet for this special occasion.  This was followed by the World Premiere of Silence Screams Venom, a riveting tour de force choreographed by Principal Dancer Guillaume Cote that featured Greta Hodgkinson and four male dancers and is certain to make him an exciting, upcoming choreographer in the dance world.  It was the talk of the after party and created great twitter buzz.  Sonia Rodriguez and Aleksandar Antonijevi (who is celebrating his 20^th year with the ballet this year) partnered for a vignette from the evocative and humorous ’90s contemporary ballet Herman Scherman.  The night then returned befittingly to the more classical and aptly selection excerpt from Diamonds From Jewels by George Balanchine.  This featured the entire corps de ballet dancing to the 1967 traditional ballet.

Dance installation

Afterward, guests mingled at a cocktail reception featuring the night’s signature drink a lemon martini titled Skyy with Diamonds, and hors d’oeuvres such as mini cupcakes and smoked salmon pinwheels from North 44°.

The dinner onstage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

Some notables spotted included Lloyd Robertson, Cleophée Eaton, Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan, Ross Petty (husband of Karen Kain), Rex Harrington, Roz Ivey, Veronica Tennant, Victoria Jackman, Lydia Prince, Galen & Alexandra Weston, Elvio & Marlene DelZotto ,  John Macfarlane, Victoria Webster, Thor & Nicole Eaton, Lynda Prince, Jian Ghomeshi, Jorn Weisbrodt and Rufus Wainwright and Albert Schultz.

Principal Dancers Jillian Vanstone, Greta Hodgkinson, Heather Ogden & Xiao Nan Yu

Moi

About 550 of the guests were then escorted to the Four Seasons Centre stage for a special dinner prepared by celebrity chef Mark McEwan.  Table for 10 tickets for this special privilege ranged from $15,000 – $25,000.

Photos by Gary Beechey

This article was originally published in DelectablyChic!

Beth Ditto is a singer-songwriter formerly of the group Gossip.

Beth Ditto

Her 24-piece collection for M∙A∙C is fierce, provocative and colourful, reflecting her soft candy gloss side as well as her passion for punk.

Beth Ditto Collection

Powder to the People is the piece de resistance of this collection.  This playful pressed powder has polka dot bits that you can experiment with to create highlighting effects by blending on your eyes, or you can simply use this as a multi-tone powder for your face to give a smooth finish.

Powder to the People

Other highlights include Life and Beth nail laquer and Blue Charge zoom mascara.

Life and Beth

Blue Charge Zoom Mascara

The nail polish is a special high gloss formula made with conditioners and UV protection.  It glides on very smoothly and the shade really flatters nails.  The mascara truly packs a punch and reflect Beth’s playful personality.  The blue shade is very flattering and coats in one stroke.

Next is the M∙A∙C 17 piece Casual Color Collection where the highlight is the Lip & Cheek Colour.

Casual Colour Collection

Casual Colour Lip & Cheek Colour

Keep it Casual was my favourite because it had a deep, sexy pink shade (officially called warm wine) that really brought great colour to my lips and cheeks.

Keep it Casual

If you prefer a more paler or subtle look, Lazy Sunday (a baby pink) and Have a Lovely Day! (neutral nude) are ideal.

These two-in-ones apply very smoothly with a sheen finish.  Absolutely love.

Moses Znaimer addressing the audience

It turned out to be a lucky event with plenty of opportunities for chance meetings with some of the world’s greatest thinkers and extraordinary trailblazers.

This year’s roster of 50 speakers included guitar legend Liona Boyd, illusionist Simon Coronel, politician Preston Manning, Wealthy Barber author David Chilton, singer Jann Arden, pianist Michael Kaeshammer, possibilian David Eagleman, and so forth.

Jann Arden

Most of the speakers stayed throughout the conference and enjoyed hearing one another and mingling with each other and the guests, many of whom were extraordinarily successful or interesting in their own right.

Liona Boyd was particularly delighted because when she met the The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario The Honourable David C. Onley, O.Ont. at ideacity, he promptly invited her to receive one of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Awards being awarded this week.

Liona Boyd

The networking lounge

This year’s ideacity theme was “The End is Nigh” or TEOTWAWKI, which stands for “The End of the World As We Know It.”  Recognizing that “every new beginning comes from other new beginning’s end,” ideacity found that its audience was 81% optimists and their cheerful outlook and hopeful nature did not change over the course of the conference.

Composing the Toronto Symphony

Some of the most memorable moments included sexologists Ogi Ogas & Sai Gaddam calling poutine “the shemale porn of international cuisine”; illusionist Simon Coronel seamlessly making a card appear and disappear from a variety of places; composer Tod Machover creating – in collaboration with key Canadian musicians – live on stage the genesis of A Toronto Symphony, a work he is composing with the entire city of Toronto; one week job worker Sean Aiken reminding us that at any age we can work toward finding our true life passion; David Jay sharing his story of Asexuality and discovering that 3% of ideacity attendees were asexual; Dignified Death advocate Wanda Morris speaking of respecting an individual’s right to determine the nature and timing of their death; the entire audience performing Kabalah Yoga with Audi Gozlan, Shimmy belly-dancing with Shivaun Corry and bhangra-ing with BollyFit’s Reshmi Chetram.

Sean Aiken

Shimmy

Pinball Clemons

It’s not surprising that the crowd was so happy because in addition to being constantly mentally stimulated by the jam-packed speaker roster, each guest received their own Blackberry playbook with the ideacity app preloaded, was given a trendy Roots leather bag filled with goodies, was pampered with Aveda aromatherapy neck massages, enjoyed decadent networking delectables including oysters and shrimp hors d’oeuvres, and socialized at the famous afterparties at some of Toronto’s poshest hot spots including Spice Route, C-Lounge and Rosewater Supper Club.

A worthwhile and unforgettable conference that the guests look forward to all year.

This article was originally published in DelectablyChic!

Massoud Abbasi

Massoud Abbasi is convinced that Toronto has what it takes to be the next “it” international city.  And, he’s happy to trailblaze the way, particularly on the party scene.  His Omega Group New York-London-Paris style events are really standing out in a city that prides itself on being a “kinder, gentler” New York.  Omega Group soirees get happening at 11:30 pm (although they officially start at 8 pm) and go on easily til 2 am, with much of the crowd poring in after midnight.

Partygoers at Summer Soiree

“We’re providing a social platform for sophisticated Torontonians to professionally network and meet like-minded individuals,” stated Abbasi, “We want to bring the sophistication of big cities like London and New York to Toronto and create a community and encourage camaraderie among members in refined settings.”

Berkeley Church

The recent summer soiree, held at Berkeley Church, was another great success, attracting over 600 of Toronto’s hip and happening crowd, particularly professionals and those with global connections, heritage or businesses.  Many of these jetsetters recently moved to Toronto from New York or Europe and are quite restless and Omega Group events are like a mecca for them.

Paul Pedersen T U Dawood Pallavi Valabji & Lasana Burrows

The poets, philosophers and party-goers enjoyed the unique set-up, the cocktails and the free-flowing Perrier and Purdy’s Chocolate.  The venue lacked the opulence of The Carlu, but as the evening wore on, was ideal for a clubbing vibe and definitely had its own charm.  Although DJ Lissa Monet played a new remix of Beyonce’s classic commitment cheer Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), this party was a sign of the times with the mostly single and ready to mingle crowd full of free spirits and Call Me, Maybe girls in summer dresses.

The guests may have been uber busy professionals and entrepreneurs by day, but at the event, were able to let loose and socialize and network in a relaxed yet sophisticated way.

Photos courtesy of Omega Group

Event PR by Evolution PR

This article was originally published in DelectablyChic!

Laura Furtado & Nikki Bergen

Laura Furtado, founder of DivaGirlFitness describes Divas in the City as “a socially driven, goal-directed event that will feature experts in various areas that are essential to the urban girl lifestyle – beauty, relationships, finance, career, fashion, nutrition and fitness.”  Her co-founder of this event is Nikki Bergen, founder of The Belle Method, an exercise program for women.

Melyssa Moniz

This year’s speakers included Katia Millar (Positive Fabulous Women), Wendy Crystal (Inspired Cosmetics), Kimberly Moffit (Kimberly Moffit & Associates), Florence (Flo) Grunfelder (Money With Flo), Hannah Yakobi (FAJO Magazine), Angela McNally (Eating Pretty) and Sandra O’Brien (Goddess Creation formerly Bootcamp Goddess).  Most of the speakers were animated and did a fabulous job of keeping the audience engaged and conveying very usual ideas and tips from their various fields.  Particular highlights include Networking Ninja Katia Millar, Relationship Guru Kimberly Moffit and Fashionista Journalist Hannah Yakobi.

A bit of shopping at the hula hoop booth

Katia mesmerized the crowd with her authenticity and effortless ability to make connections and network.  She explained the importance of a personal brand and how the first step was identifying, knowing and embracing your core values, what she eloquently described as your “secret sauce” that is special and different from everyone else in the world.  She spoke about the importance of getting into the flow of conversations and shared that the net was a powerful networking tool for introverts.

Kimberly Moffit, a true dynamo, was also very effective.  She shared her Top 5 tips for having it all, which include 1) setting goals, 2)  Be honest with yourself and your partner about your ambitions 3) Finding a partner who supports you in all your ideas and goals (a good relationship should make u soar) 4) Never apologize for your success; instead own it, let yourself feel it; it’s the most rewarding feeling in the world; and 5) Thinking effortlessly. If want to live an effortless life, you must think effortlessly.  Ms. Moffit also informed the audience of a Harvard study that discovered that only 2% of people set goals and write them down, but those 2% of people control the majority of wealth.

Tamika Auwai

Hannah Yakobi really gave a useful talk where she went through current trends including classic shapes, structured jackets and bright colours (neon orange royal blue yellow pumpkin especially for dresses).  She informed that runways showcased conservative necklaces but uber daring slits, flowing fabrics showing serious leg, floral patterns, thin to medium sized belts, lots of head wear and 80s inspired suits.

This article was originally published in DelectablyChic!

We checked out their Sugar Cookie Body Butter, Quiver Body Spray, Luna hand cream, Quiver dryer disk and Coconut Lemongrass Washer Whiffs.  The Layering principle is that you can either layer one scent or mix and match for your own unique preferred fragrance.

The scents are very distinct.  Sugar Cookie is a very sweet scent with butter, sugar, and creamy vanilla while Java is much more subtle with delicate white florals (jasmine, sweet pea, and freesia), juicy berries, and sandalwood undertones.  I particularly like Coconut Lemongrass which as a Washer Whiff made my laundry smell like I was in a spa!  When I layered it adventurously with a Quiver (subtle vanilla, sandalwood and tuberose) dryer disk, I was too impressed with the combo and with Quiver on its own, there wasn’t enough of a scent to the laundry.

I preferred to find a flavor I love such as Coconut Lemongrass and layer it through a variety of products rather than to mix and match, but I’m sure other people may prefer their personal blends.