LADIESFUND®

By T. U. Dawood

Once a year, Canada’s IT and Web insiders get together annually in Toronto to listen to cutting edge speakers and network.

MESH was founded in 2006 by five enthusiasts for the “Web and all the next-generation things happening.”  These five founders are Mark Evans (Principal, ME Consulting), Mathew Ingram (Senior Writer, GigaOm.com), Mike McDerment (CEO, FreshBooks Online Invoicing), Rob Hyndman (business lawyer, Hyndman | Law) and Stuart MacDonald (entrepreneur, marketer, founder Expedia.ca).

The Flyboy Cozy Couches

This year’s conference had a new venue, AllStream Centre at CNE, which was ideal for the larger crowd, the small workshops, WIFI environment and fantabulous breakfasts, lunches and numerous networking coffee breaks.

The MESH set-up with speakers discussing topics on stage

2011 topics included “the role social media is playing within political protests in the Middle East, the value and importance of influence, the changing work landscape, and the psychology of online behaviour and motivation.”

With the increasing importance of the web to marketing, loads of marketers attended and the conference keynotes and workshops were divided into four categories: marketing, media, society and business.  One interesting fact mentioned was that 80% of Canadians are now on Facebook!!!

Gabe Zicherman was a keynote speaker

The star keynote had to be the Marketing Keynote with Gabe Zichermann who spoke about gamification and its possibilities in various fields. Passionate, witty and a lot of fun, he kept the crowd riveted with his anecdotes about how the Farmville model can be applied to other, more traditional marketing models.

The ever popular Janice Diner who was speaker at MESH for the third time edified a packed audience on how to change a Facebook like to a buy.  She also shared well thought out and insightful examples on companies such as Diesel and Chanel that were using facebook commerce in innovative and profitable ways.

Rob Fishman (left) and Janice Diner (right) also spoke at MESH

David Armano and Valerie Maltoni spoke about Klout scores and how you can really measure influence. The Huffington Post’s Social Media editor Rob Fishman who had flown in from NYC spoke to a jam-packed crowd that was seated on floors and out into the hallway on the trailblazing newszine’s philosophies and social media strategies.  Much of their work with Facebook and Twitter has been homegrown and user friendly from day one.

There were some weaker speakers and sections as well.  The not-for-profits panel gave plenty of examples but wasn’t quite able to help audience members see a clear strategy or trend.  Similarly, Zoe Siskos’ How to Build and Nurture an Online Community spoke more about her trials and errors in experiencing different online communities rather than an inspiring, exciting and productive way for the community leaders in the audience to move forward.

The male-female ratio of attendance was 53%-47% which made for invigorating conversations and underscored how wonderful the web is for women, especially the ability to have virtual businesses.

Day 2 was stronger than Day 1 but overall MESH was one of the most worthwhile and current conferences in Toronto.  Very highly recommended.

This article was originally published in DelectablyChic!

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Hedonistic kisses, decadent dreams and passionate moments come to mind when you try LUSH’s latest lip tint “It Started with  a Kiss.” Bright sparkly pink in colour, glides on silky smooth, this balm adds the lightest of shimmer and the sexiest of feels to your smackers.

Even the ingredients are inspiring: White chocolate, organic rose hip oil, sweet wild orange oil, cinnamon leaf oil, red currants, and so forth.

If you like lip tints, don’t walk, but run to the store to pick up this winner.

It Started with a Kiss

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A lot of women entrepreneurs are so great at marketing that their products create a nice buzz.  Many are natural networkers and good at PR so their brand gets great exposure in fashion magazines or the media.  However, in too many cases, the bottom line is not there.  So many “known” women brands are simply not making money.

When women come to us at LADIESFUND® wanting to scale up and adding a second or third product to a financially weak model, one of our first suggestions is to whip a business plan up and ensure existing products are financially sound. Otherwise, adding more lines it’s just quicksand …

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Kung Fu Panda was one of those feel good films that has unexpected charm, a loveable hero and an original screenplay. Family-friendly, it inspired kids everywhere about being in the impossible and fulfilling one’s true destiny. Jack Black as Po the cutie pie panda bear hero was sweet and witty and you couldn’t help put root for him to triumph and become The Dragon Warrior, being the chosen one to protect the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five.

The Furious Five

With the film’s sequel, however, that charm is on a very low simmer. Po is as cute as ever and the storyline has such great potential, particularly as it addressed head on the history behind Po’s adoption, a very evident reality that was not addressed in the first film where we only know that our favourite panda bear has a goose for a Dad.

Now Po craves to learn more about where he came from, especially since he has a flashback of his birth mother. Father Goose explains that Po is indeed adopted, having been discovered in a crate of radishes but he too is at a loss of what happened before that.

While Po struggles with these issues, villainous peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman) appears on the scene determined to kill The Furious Five and eliminate Kung Fu forever. As Po and his team pursue Lord Shen, he soon discovers a connection between this evil bird and Po’s separation from his parents.

However, just when you think this movie is no chop suey, our protagonists redeem themselves with a heartfelt third act which features terrific animation and a belief in the destiny of a true hero.

At the same time, there are also a few nice moments of great chemistry between Po and Tigress, who is voiced perfectly by Angelina Jolie.

Kung Fu Panda 2 may not that the abundance of “awesomeness” of the original film, but there are enough worthwhile moments to ensure the franchise has a far share of karate chops to go.

See the film trailer here.

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Ahoy Captain! Pirates of the Caribbean 5: On Stranger Tides may not have been the best sequel by a long plank, but their collection for OPI has some winners.

The laquers are pastels with matte lilac Planks a Lot, candy floss pink Sparrow Me The Drama and light leaf green Mermaid’s Tears being fresh, spring shades that will transition beautifully to summer.

I’m not sure what the shade connections are to the film, but they are a well designed, holistic, clear, consistent and colourful range.

The showstopper, however, is Shatter by OPI which is a grey coating over any shade and dries in a broken or “shattered manner.”

Shattered

Check out the entire collection:

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MOROCCANOIL is quite the wonder hair treatment line out right now and it’s truly magical.

As they have two hair masks out right now, we thought we’d compare them to give readers the heads up which one to buy.

First off, the Restorative Hair Mask is incredible.  Trying it on, people actively commented how great my hair looked.  It seemed to add bounce, strength and reduce frizziness and still looked great the next day.

The Intense Hydrating Mask was also effective in softening the hair shaft and plumping up the hair, but was much lighter than the Restorative.

If you are looking for something truly transforming, especially for a big night out or special occasion, the Restorative Hair Mask is a must have.  However, if you simply want something that’s just a little bit stronger than a typical conditioner or you want to use it more often, then the Intense Hydrating Mask is probably the better buy for you.

MOROCCANOIL Restorative Hair Mask

MOROCCANOIL Intense Hydrating Hair Mask

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Recognizing that each person has areas on their body with different degrees of dryness - for example the soles of your feet may be drier than your upper arm - The Body Shop has ingeniously come up with a body butter with a compartment or section for regular and dry skin cream.  This way, with just one container, you can cream yourself effectively.

This Body Butter Duo comes in four scents:  Macadamia, Sweet Pea, Vanilla and Floral Acai.  I tried the Floral Acai and must say it was a joy to use.  I was surprised the dry and normal divisions were equal - I would have thought most people would have less need for dry than normal - but since both spread smoothly and easily onto the body, you really can’t go wrong.

This is a great example of a long-standing, well respected, popular brand that continually innovates while staying within its strengths and successful products.

Floral Acai Body Butter Duo

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