My first show at fashion week was Tadashi Shoji's Spring 2012 collection, and it was quintessentially spring from the first floral-inspired hand-painted silk linen frock to the last ethereal draped tulle and lace gown. You didn't need to read the show notes to know that the designer's inspiration was the regal tulip (I hadn't read them prior to speaking to the designer backstage, "The dresses looked like tulips!" I gleefully exclaimed. Talk about stating the obvious.)

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week began yesterday in New York, and my first official stop (after picking up my press pass) was backstage at Richard Chai's Spring 2012 show, where Avon Global Stylist Tippi Shorter and her team were hard at work creating the hair looks (balloons were involved) and MAC makeup artists led by James Kaliardos worked their beauty magic.

A little while back, I tweeted that I was taping a top secret video at the Style Coalition headquarters in NY, and now I'm excited to finally reveal what I've been up to...the truth is, I've accepted a top secret mission, a MNG by MANGO mission, to be exact, to tour the MNG by MANGO headquarters in Barcelona, Spain!

The best part: We're taking one lucky reader along for the ride!

Enter to win a trip and join us in Barcelona to visit MNG by MANGO studios at ELLE.com.

To prepare for our mission, myself and 9 other bloggers are going to be given weekly style missions from MNG by MANGO to create looks inspired by 5 European cities: London, Milan, Paris, Amsterdam and Barcelona. You can join in, too, and create your own outfits inspired by international fashion.

Stay tuned for the 1st style challenge to be launched on Sept 19th!

You can find the latest fall styles from MNG by MANGO, sold exclusively at jcpenney stores and online at jcpenney/MNG.

Follow along:
Twitter hashtag: #MNGbyMANGOmission
Twitter handle: @jcpenney
www.facebook.com/jcp

Disclosure: This campaign is produced by Style Coalition and sponsored by jcpenney.

I would love to hear your budget take on the New York Times article, "The Five Things You Need for Fall" by Cathy Horyn. I am all about shopping for closet staples this fall. —Carolyn

Fashion critic Cathy Horyn might laugh at my attempts to find affordable takes on her designer picks for fall, but I think her article is a great starting point for many women looking to update their wardrobes with a few carefully selected pieces. Keep reading for my budget breakdown.

I envy my sister Chantal's ability to do her own hair, from at-home coloring to perfectly layered cuts to chic going-out looks. Yup, she does it all! So when she tested out Sublime Mousse from L'Oreal, I was really curious to hear how things went. Keep reading to find out. —BB



by Chantal
While L'Oreal Paris Healthy Look Sublime Mousse Haircolor has been on the shelves for a while now, I found myself hesitating to try it because I was never really all that impressed with their selection of colors. I always felt it was a little limited and after many, many hair color faux pas I really wasn't in the mood to end up with orange, or silver, or purple hair (yes, purple, and no I wasn't trying for purple).