Winter is in full-force here in the American South and many of us, including Atlanta, are buried in snow. So what could be better to thaw off those cold toes than a sneak peak at the hot new Spring 2011 Stella & Dot Designer Jewelry collection?

With design influences from Morocco, Brazil and Palm Beach, Stella & Dot’s new designs definitely get the party started.

Get a new Spring 2011 Catalog today! Email me at belle@auraleigh.com or view the Online Catalog Flip Book. Shop the Boutique today!

Shop til you drop and win a Stella & Dot Soiree Bracelet!

Just because we’re in the middle of a national economic recession doesn’t mean you can’t look oh-so-fabulous. Every smart Belle knows that half the fun of shopping is getting a great deal on something gorgeous. And here’s your chance! The posh Hamilton Mill Women’s Consignment Sale is back with more designer brands than ever! Coach, Alfani, Louie Vuitton, Jones New York, Anne Taylor, Shelly Segal and many, many more top name brands will be there. The Sale starts Tuesday, September 21, 2010 from 5-9PM, then runs Wednesday through Friday from 9:30AM to 1PM with a 50% off sale Saturday from 9AM to 2PM at the Dacula Kids Village at 1152 Auburn Road, Suite 107, Dacula, GA 30019.

How would you like to get a sneak peek at the exclusive Seller’s Preview from 5-8PM on Monday, September 20, 2010? Then raid your closet, ladies, for your gently-worn in-style clothes, shoes or jewelry and bring them in to sell. You can earn a little extra money to keep or to spend on more beautiful goodies. Learn more about how to become a Seller…it’s easy!

A stylish event like this is just too good to keep secret, so help spread the word: Tell all the stylish gals you know (and the guys who want to buy them gifts…remember the holidays are coming soon!) And if you post this article to your Facebook or Twitter status, you’ll be registered to win a gorgeous Stella & Dot Soiree Bracelet to be given away at the sale. So get online to spread the word, clean out your closet and get ready to shop ’til you drop!

The New Stella & Dot Fall Collections are here! This year we celebrate strong women, rich cultures and exotic design. Founder and CEO, Jessica Herrin – named one of Inc. Magazine’s Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs for 2010 – puts it best when she describes the new line:

• The Vintage Luxe Collection is couture for everyday, paying homage to the details like you do.
• The Metro Chic Collection puts an edgy twist on femininity with lots of dimension.
• The Day to Night Collection multitasks as much as you do, wearing as gorgeously with denim as with a little black dress.
• The La Coco Collection is your own style statement that you create with versatile, mix-and-match chains, strands, and brooches.
• The Little Girls Collection is a whimsical tribute to the little girl in your life who matters most and her growing sense of style.

It’s finally here! Stella & Dot just introduced their Little Girl’s Collection just in time for Mother’s Day. There’s even a gorgeous set of pearls, just for the little Belle in your life. After all, every Southern Belle needs pearls to wear, no matter how old she is! To celebrate, I cordially invite you to our Mommy & Me Online Trunk Show>>

Just because you’re a Rogue Belle doesn’t mean you don’t like to shop. And every Belle LOVES gorgeous jewelry. So I’m happy to announce the Grand Opening of the Rogue Southern Belle’s Boutique with our exclusive designer jewelry line, Stella & Dot!

Turquoise & Pave Soirée Bracelet

To celebrate our Grand Opening, I’m giving away this beautiful Soirée Turquoise & Pave Bracelet, worth $29.

There are 5 ways to enter this drawing to win. Use each way once to enter as many as 5 times. The more you enter, the higher your chances of winning. This giveaway will end on April 30, 2010, so hurry!

Enter to Win the Turquoise & Pave Soirée Bracelet

1. Visit http://www.stelladot.com/belle and find one gorgeous piece of jewelry that you just adore for yourself or as a gift for someone else. Then come back here to post a comment below about what you like about that piece of jewelry.
2. Write about the Rogue Belle’s Boutique Grand Opening on your Facebook or Twitter page. Be sure to include a link to this page. Then come back here and comment about it below.
3. Buy anything at http://www.stelladot.com/belle.
4. Sign up for the Rogue Belle News.
5. Become a Fan of the Rogue Belle’s Facebook Fan Page.

Remember, Men: Mother’s Day is right around the corner! Enter to win this bracelet for the Rogue Belle Mommies in your life.

Solange Magnano, 38-year old mother of twins, dies after elective cosmetic surgery

Argentinian beauty queen and supermodel Solange Magnano died Sunday, November 29, of a pulmonary embolism resulting from complications during gluteoplasty, or cosmetic buttocks enhancement surgery. She was so loved in her country that her memorial service was broadcast on Argentine television. Solange leaves behind a husband without a wife and 8-year-old twin daughters without a mother, all in the name of beauty.

So what’s so bad about beauty? Southern Belles know all too well the importance placed on physical beauty – we’re painted and squeezed and tweezed into it from an early age. After all, the South is the birthplace of the American debutante stereotype.  Feeling beautiful feels good, and that is something to celebrate. But the modern definition of physical beauty has become one of starved Barbie doll girls obsessed with youth and fake plastic perfection. And now that we have the technology to cut our bodies into this unrealistic expectation, we are at risk of losing more than just our self respect. Sol, as she was known to her friends and family, was a savvy, successful business woman (she owned her own modeling agency) in the prime of her life who would appear flawless to most of us. But her desire to firm up her already great looking derrière to meet these extreme pop standards cost her life.

Should we blame the plastic surgery industry? No. Cosmetic surgery itself is not the bad guy.  A woman who survives the ravages of breast cancer can feel normal again with breast reconstruction. Women who have been disfigured by the brutal practice of female circumcision can be helped with vaginal reconstruction. And even us non-supermodel belles can get a nip or tuck here or there. But we all must understand the risks and weigh the benefits.  It’s not as simple as buying a new shade of lipstick to go with the new tailored jacket you bought on an impulse because you’d had a bad day. Ask yourself the question “Why do I want to look like this and for whom?” If the answer is “I want to look like the women in magazines/on television/in Hollywood because I’ll get more attention from more men/I’ll keep the man I’ve got/I’ll be happier for no reason that I can put into words…I just will.” than perhaps you should reconsider. Living by someone else’s definition of beauty instead of your own is an unfulfilling, unhappy and possibly fatal way to live.

And if it’s tough for grown women to separate the external voices in our heads from our own definition of self-worth, it’s impossible for young girls. Add to that the fact that marketers are selling sex to younger and younger kids each year and you have a well-trained, plastic beauty-obsessed consumer generation up and coming. Gamer boys would rather spend more time with Tomb Raiders’ Lara Croft and Final Fantasy’s Tifa than with real, live girls. Have you ever really looked at a Bratz doll without expecting her to say “Do you wanna party with me tonight?” What are we teaching little girls when we put them through their paces in the Little Miss Whatever beauty pageants? As a former beauty queen herself, Tinamarie Bernard flatly states that she won’t allow her daughter to participate in that plastic-obsessed beauty contest world because of the risk. And I won’t allow my daughter to own a Bratz doll for the same reason.

We are women – not plastic dolls with a pulse – and our daughters and sons are not for sale. If only Solange had been able to hear this one, beautiful truth over the din of outside voices screaming “You’re not pretty enough!”