Genealogy is a fundamentally interesting idea—knowing where and whom you come from is interesting at the least. At best, it might help you understand why you are the way you are. But who has time to interview relatives and chase down records, which might be overseas anyway? This is the point at which my interest shuts down. If I were headed to the countries around the North Sea, where my family comes from, you’d better believe I’d be seeking out some more vibrant local color than the shade of paint on the library’s walls.

I might be far more inclined, however, to find genealogy fascinating if all the work was done for me. Amazingly, Legacy Novels offers just this service and more. Turn over your family’s history to the Dallas-based company and they’ll do all the work of interviewing your living relatives to collect their stories and your family lore. After collecting all they can, a team of professional writers will transform your story into a novel, which will be professionally bound with photos, mementos, and whatever else you might like to include. At the very end of it all, they’ll even throw you and your family party to unveil the book. And all you have to do is sit back and enjoy.

The price tag for the project varies depending on how involved it is, but I can imagine how this might be worth the investment as a family heirloom. What kind of story would your family’s history be? A serious epic of hard work and accomplishment? A crime thriller? A sweeping romance? A rollicking adventure?

Whatever your plans this Halloween, make sure you don’t forget to enter the fantastic Rioja wine/Manolo Blahniks sweepstakes! You could win either a delicious case of Rioja wine or a pair of even more delectable Manolo Blahnik shoes.

I know, it’s hard to decide which you’d rather win! We’ll leave the daydreaming up to you, but make sure you snap out of it in enough time to enter, because the sweepstakes closes this Saturday, Oct. 31st at 11:59PM!

It’s official. We’ve seen all the magazines this fall, and Victoria Beckham’s piercing, smoky sex eyes on the cover of October Elle are the #1 Eyes of Fall 2009… #1 and #2 if you count each eye separately.

V-Beck’s hair usually gets all the attention lately with its ever-changing adventure from bob to pixie and back, so it was refreshing that Elle completely left it out of the picture. New focus: THOSE EYES.

And I wouldn’t dream of letting you, dear reader, go any further without knowing exactly how to make them! I took a little trip to Beauty School this morning with celebrity hair and makeup artist Jillian Halouska at the Warren-Tricomi salon at New York’s Plaza Hotel, digital camera and laptop in hand.

I documented PRECISELY how to achieve this look, and here are my diligent Beauty School notes and the slideshow of highlights:

*Do eyes before applying rest of face. It’s a big job to clean up the fallen shadow after making eyes like these.

STEP 1: Apply Primer all around eyes with fingers. Jillian used: Photo Finish Foundation Primer by Smashbox

STEP 2: Use a flat brush to cover entire eyelid up to browbone with flesh colored powder or eye shadow. This will create a smooth canvas to work on. Jillian used: Vanilla by Smashbox

STEP 3: Apply a luminous charcoal shadow to the crease, the outside corner, and under the eye from corner to corner. Blending is KEY. Jillian used: Daydream by Paula Dorf

STEP 4: Use a blending brush to apply black matte shadow heavily in the crease extending past the eye. Pat the shadow with the brush for that dramatic look, like you’re pushing the shadow onto your eye. Apply under the eye from corner to corner. Jillian used: Doeskin by Becca

*Shadow in step 3 should extend further out than the black in step 4.

STEP 5: Apply light shadow as a highlighter to brow bone and inside corners of eyes. Jillian used: Oyster by Smashbox

STEP 6: Use a black pencil – not liquid! You can’t smudge liquid. Line the top and the bottom eye. Very important to line the inside rim of the eye – if you feel like you’re drawing on your eyeball you’re on the right track! Jillian used: Ebony by Paula Dorf (but she would have rather used Mac – darker and better for blending.)

STEP 7: Use a clean medium-sized crease brush to blend all the layers together. Blending away harsh lines for a fluid transition between layers is KEY.

STEP 8: Shape and clean up with a foam makeup pad.

STEP 9: Use flat foundation brush to apply a matte foundation to the entire face. This will even out skin and let the eyes take over. Jillian used Camera-Ready full coverage foundation by Smashbox

STEP 10: Lightly sweep blush onto your cheekbones with a medium blush brush. Feel the bones of your face with your fingers to make sure you’re hitting the right spot. Jillian used Smashbox blush in Prism

STEP 11: Apply 2 coats of black mascara. Make sure you let the first coat dry for a minute before coat number 2. Jillian used: Mac Zoom Lash

STEP 12: “Set” the face with powder using a big powder bursh. Jillian used: Halo-hydrating perfecting powder by Smashbox

STEP 13: Finish the look with a thick nude gloss. Jillian used: Afterglow by Becca mixed with Pop by Smashbox

Now all I need is that crystal clutch! And that lighting. And the dress… but I’ll take what I can get. After all, it’s a Tuesday, it’s rainy out, and I haven’t even finished my coffee.

Will you dare to try? We’d LOVE to see – send us pictures if you do! (michelle@spaweekmedia.com) Jillian and I will be on standby if you need some extra help.

Too much work? If you’re more of a one-step-to-gorgeous kind of gal, try Jillian’s favorite Fall 09 beauty trend: BOLD LIPS. Today Jillian’s wearing nothing but an opaque gloss – Erte by Paula Dorf. Just don’t mix sex eyes with a bright kisser, it’s one of the other ladies.

Here at Spa Week, we’re just getting the chance to start trying out the huge variety of products that were included in the Spa Week Media Party gift bag. The natural hair hydrator from Ole Henriksen has quickly emerged as a popular item for light, effective conditioning!

Ali said: I like it a lot! It’s soft and the textures is light, not greasy, which I love because it doesn’t weigh my fine hair down.

Sam said: I loved it! I used it on Saturday and Sunday with my regular shampoo and my hair felt amazing. Today I went back to my normal conditioner and I could definitely tell a difference.

Lindsey said: It smelled great! It didn’t do much to untangle my hair because it was so light.

Kelly said: Since it was raining cats and dogs this morning, I knew I would be air drying my hair as I refuse to use a blow dryer in these conditions, so it was important to use a conditioner that would do its job without weighing my hair down. I can’t put my finger on what it smells like but the word clean definitely comes to mind. I liked the texture as well; creamy but not too thick or hard to rinse out.

Happy Birthday, Girl Talk! We dedicate this Monday to the musical madman known as DJ Girl Talk, and encourage you to get swept away by his brilliant digital mashups if you haven’t already.

Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals is one of my all-time favorite workout albums (an hour of nonstop, adrenaline-pumping,  decade-sweeping decadence), and it just so happened to be playing on my iPod yesterday when I roller bladed past a kiosk giving away free Girl Talk concert tickets in exchange for test driving the new Kia Soul.

My friend and I drove the artsy new car around the block, landing us just hours later in a musical moshpit of Girl Talk glory. He’s more of a chemist than a DJ, with the ability to melt 80s tunes into Lil Wayne, throwing it into a cauldron of fiery techno, evaporating it into an airy solo by Mariah, then stirring in a David Guetta/Miley Cirus chemical reaction. It’s electrifying, and it’s no surprise he majored Chemical Engineering.

So, who’s a fan already? And who’s going to test drive him like a Kia?

Download Feed The Animals and Girl Talk’s other albums here… and wish him a happy birthday while you’re at it!

Read more about Kia’s Soul Collective campaign here.

Girl Talk photo courtesy of KiaSoulCollective.com