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This just in: Roses that are crushed micro fine and end up so powdery smooth you can use them as a face powder! We also got in a micro fine Coconut Powder. I chose these two particular powders because they do not have a strong odor (as some botanicals do), and between the two of them, we have the basic skin tones (pink from the rose and a yellow/brown from the coconut). As a result we can use them to make finishing veils or even foundations if we wished. We've started playing with them, and although the color payout isn't fabulous, they do offer some color. Here are some links to some recipes we have started with. More to come in our Recipe section. Rose Glee (a blush or finishing powder) Oil Control Primer Rose Lip Gloss Enjoy! Kaila Westerman TKB Trading, LLC

As you may know, we have added a "customer review" function to our website. I would like to get the ball rolling on this and the best way is to get a lot of reviews up. Once there are a lot of reviews on the site, more people will be likely to put in their two cents, and hopefully everyone will benefit. So, here's what I'm proposing. For every review you post, between now and Sunday night (midnight) July 19, I will credit you $.75, up to a maximum of 26 reviews . This adds up to $19.50 which is equal to the amount of a minimum order of $16.50 plus first class shipping. Therefore, you could end up getting an order shipped to you completely free. Or, you can simply apply the gift certificate to any order you place, large or small. On Monday, July 20, I will issue gift certificates for the total of your credit. Now here are the all-important ground rules which we will enforce strictly, arbitrarily and without checking in with you first. Please do not participate in...

We are working on getting about 50 matte color blends up in our recipes section .

Like about a million other people, I am a newbie at Twitter.com . (Twitter is the moment-by-moment social networking site which turns blogs into a slough of primordial goo). When I read the tweets, I feel like I'm squeezed into the 14 Mission Trolley in San Francisco: hot, crowded, surrounded by strangers speaking a foreign language and trendsetters busily making plans on their cell phone. And out of it. In desperation , I recently twittered a plea for instructions and got a tweet back with a link to Twitter Etiquette . Amidst the suggestions at this link this one really struck me: The author suggests people keep their private conversation or their business and private lives separate by creating separate Twitter accounts. It probably sounds really obvious, but the original idea of Twitter seemed to blur the line and made me feel that whatever I shared went to business associate, lover and enemy all alike. For me, the suggestion boils down to setting up one twitter accoun...

"liar lips" "pink suspense" "blond venus" "first bite" "almost nude" This four minute video is both a drag queen makeup tutorial and a list of lipstick names. Get inspired. Kaila Westerman TKB Trading, LLC www.tkbtrading.com

Did you know July 26th was Savvy Auntie Day? A day to celebrate neices, nephews, and godchildren. Conveniently, there is also a website for us ladies who love kids (that are not "our" kids). Savvyauntie.com . Savvyauntie started just one year ago (anniversary is July 9th). Let's give them a shout! Other women's oriented sites to visit: bettyconfidential.com : Geared to the professional woman in her 30's. Typical advertiser is Joffreys coffee from Seattle. DivineCaroline.com : Geared to social women who like to share problems and solutions. Typical advertiser is Nordstrom. Shine.Yahoo.com : Young and urban, Sex and the City on a budget. Typical advertiser: McDonalds. Wowowow.com : Geared to the brainy, sensible, doctorates among us. Typical advertiser is Tiffany's. Kaila Westerman TKB Trading, LLC www.tkbtrading.com

Recently I attended a Green Expo in San Francisco and it was interesting to see the number of booths dedicated to various different enterprises. Surprising to me was the number of independent organic chocolatiers. Seems that hand crafted chocolate is just as dynamic an entreprenuerial industry as hand crafted soap, toiletries and cosmetics. Locally, we have several chocolatiers many of them quite large. San Francisco's Ghiradelli, of course, Berkeley's Sharfenberger, and then a bunch of others including a company you can find in between Pier One and Fisherman's Wharf, TCHO (pronounced Choh). Let's talk about TCHO. This American Life radio shows explains in episode #383: Origin Story how much we American's love a good entreprenuerial back story. That's why HP spent millions to recreate the garage that was used by Mr's Hewlette and Packard at the start of their company. And why Google, which started at Stanford University with lots of backing dollars,...

Say Bye-Bye to another cosmetic company with fascinating entreprenuerial roots. In 2010, the current owner of Max Factor will discontinue the product in the U.S. Max Factor was begun by Maximilian Faktorowicz in the early part of this century. His company became really famous during the golden age of Hollywood (1920's and 1930's), where his products were used and promoted by famous actresses such as Judy Garland and Claudette Colbert. Max Factor's list of innovations in the cosmetics industry is long, including the fact that he actually coined the term "Makeup" to describe making up ones face! But what really interests me is some of the interesting ideas the company had which might have life in them today as a kind of "retro return" to the somewhat greener roots of cosmetics: Nail "Polish" in which beige colored powder is sprinkled on the nails and buffed with chamois to give shine and some tint. This is nail polish without the toxic chem...

Last week we added a Recipes tab to our website. This week, and all through July we will be diligently adding recipes. Our first project has been to photograph and upload all the various nearly 100 color blends created by our customers in last year's Pop Mica Recipe Roundup. These will give everyone more ideas on how to work with the Pop Micas to create their own unique products. As we finish that project, we will turn our attention to more complex challenges such as foundation blends, how to make pressed powders and more. Our Recipes Section is probably the most exciting thing at TKB right now, so check it out often in July. Kaila Westerman TKB Trading, LLC