Total Beauty is a new website that will be launching soon and All Lacquered Up is proud to to be a part of their “Blogs We ♥” blogging community.

As readers of All Lacquered Up you are invited to preview the site before it’s official debut.

Go to http://www.totalbeauty.com/debut, click on the “Sign Me Up To Win!” button and create an account. Once registered, not only do you get early access to the site but you also have the chance to win prizes by writing just 3 product reviews.

“We’re giving away over 100 great prizes. You could win a brand new 2008 Pontiac Solstice, one of three great four day, three night all-inclusive spa vacations for you and a friend, and more. 100 runner-ups will win a $50 gift certificate to Dermstore.com” “Every three reviews submitted give you another chance to win! The more products you review the more chances you have to win.”

So you’re wondering… Is this just another beauty site? What’s so special about it? Am I right? Total Beauty is not just a product review site. It has a lot of unique features. Tips, editor and user unbiased reviews, a comprehensive database of products with descriptions, video tutorials and so much more. I just watched the 5 Updos in 5 Minutes video tutorial and WOW is it cool. I’m going to try the half up/half down look at my next evening event.

One function that I love is called The Beauty Scout. After completing a series of detailed questions about your preferences in hair, eye, foundation, lip and skin care products, your beauty scout will recommend products based on your specific needs. And unlike a lot of generic product finders, you can tell the Beauty Scout what ingredients you want to avoid. How cool is that? As a sulfate-free shampoo user that is a major bonus.

Ok so when you’re done playing and testing and scoping out the site, you all have to do me a favor. Click on the “Blogs We ♥” tab and click on the link back to All Lacquered Up. The link love I receive through Total Beauty’s site will help me climb the “Top 10 Blogs” ladder. You want your favorite nail fanatic to be popular, don’t you?

When you come back here, let me know what you think of Total Beauty. And cut them a little slack as the site is still in beta and all the kinks aren’t worked out quite yet.

Dutchman offers ‘cure’ for nail biting
September 8, 2007 01:03:28 AM PST

Do you find your fingers drifting into your mouth when you’re nervous, anxious or just bored? Are your nails chewed to splinters or your cuticles gnawed to bleeding pulp? Nail biting is more than a bad habit. Doctors say it is one of the most common symptoms of stress or of an obsessive-compulsive disorder, especially for teenagers or younger children, and can lead to disfigurement and serious infection.

Alain-Raymond van Abbe, a former health industry and cosmetics promoter, estimates the world’s pathological nail biters number 600 million or more. He saw that onychophagy was so widespread that he has opened a business devoted to a cure.

“In four weeks, nail biting can be over and over forever,” he says.

Studies show around 45 percent of adolescents nibble their nails. That drops to about 20 percent as young adults learn to cope with their anxieties or become too embarrassed by their self-inflicted deformity.

In public, compulsive biters typically keep their hands out of sight as much as they can, buried in their pockets or behind their backs. They often feel depressed and shamed, and avoid social contacts. Van Abbe says his clients suffer so much from the stigma that none would volunteer to be interviewed or photographed.

He calculates Holland alone has 2 million chronic sufferers, enough to keep his enterprise busy and profitable. He charges up to $670 for a course of treatment.

Van Abbe, whose field is marketing rather than medicine, describes himself as a problem solver. His treatment relies on a tooth guard molded to fit either the upper or lower teeth. Barely visible, the “preventer” makes it impossible to bite, but can be removed for eating.

A car carrying an advertisement of the nail biting clinic with a slogan saying: “Stop nail biting now!” drives in front of the nail biting clinic, O-Centrum, in Venlo, Netherlands, Monday, Aug. 20, 2007. Alain-Raymond van Abbe, a former health industry and cosmetics promoter, estimates the world’s pathological nail biters number 600 million or more. He saw that onychophagy was so widespread that he has opened a clinic devoted to curing nail biters. “In four weeks nail biting can be over, and over forever,” he says. (AP Photo/ Ermindo Armino)

“After four weeks, the impulse disturbance is so frustrated that it is controlled. You don’t have any problem any more,” he said.

After developing his solution over two years and working with about 150 pilot customers, Van Abbe refitted a gabled brick house in Venlo, near the German border, with reclining leather manicurists’ chairs where cosmeticians can begin reviving damaged finger and toe nails.

Yes, some of his clients habitually bite their toe nails, including one man in his 40s, Van Abbe said. “If you start young, you stay flexible.”

Nail biting is one of a category of obsessive-compulsive disorders known as Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors that is gaining more scientific attention. Others include hair pulling, skin picking or incessantly biting the inside of the cheek.

Lawrence S. Micheletti, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch, says most research on nail biting focuses on the psychological stress and on the therapies that treat the source of the problem.

But there also is a chicken-and-egg factor, because the ugly result of self-mutilation heightens anxiety. “If you cure the symptom, you reduce the stress, and the person is a happier person,” Micheletti said in a telephone interview.

Micheletti, who works with many adolescents in stress management, says nail biting is one of the most common symptoms he sees among his patients.

He said Van Abbe appeared to have developed “a plausible approach” since, in clinical terms, the treatment involves both cognitive and behavioral aspects. But he wonders about Van Abbe’s business model.

“I never thought of opening a clinic just for nail biters,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to rely just on nail biters to make my living.”

story: Associated Press