Stop me if you've heard this one before, but: October is
Breast Cancer Awareness (
BCA) month! The sad truth is that most of us have friends or family who have fought breast cancer, or at least know of someone who has lost a loved one to it. Although men are susceptible to breast cancer as well, women are diagnosed more often - about 1 in every 8 women (
in the US) will develop invasive breast cancer at some point in her life. If you have a close relative who has suffered from breast cancer, you may already have been told that your risk of developing breast cancer is roughly doubled if it was a first-degree relative (
such as your mother, sister, or daughter); but did you know that 70-80% of breast cancer diagnoses are made in women with no family history of it? Anyone can be at risk. The two most significant risk factors are
gender and
age - being female, and growing older.
Frightening, right? The reason BCA month was created was that not enough people are aware of the very real risks breast cancer presents, and these people may be less likely to do or request breast exams, making prevention difficult or impossible. Prevention is the biggest weapon we currently have in the fight against breast cancer, along with early detection. The more people know, the more likely they are to encourage their loved ones to go for regular check-ups, or do frequent self-exams, or spread awareness and knowledge by supporting BCA.
Here's where us bloggers come in! Our goal is to raise awareness of breast cancer and empower people to go out and spread that awareness even further. We also aim to raise money towards breast cancer research - every little bit helps, whether it's $1 or $1,000 - and cover the internet with the color PINK to get people talking about breast cancer! I'm working with the awesome Frances and Rebecca of
Team Pink Eye,
along with many other bloggers, to bring you BCA posts and giveaways this month :)
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| Very shaky nail art for BCA |
On that note, here is my BCA manicure! I applied four thin coats of
OPI Do You Think I'm Tex-Y? (
more pink than it appears here) for the base, then added OPI I Lily Love You on all but my thumbnails. I then used a nail art pen to very shakily and inexpertly draw a ribbon on each thumbnail (
white on pink was more striking than pink on white, so I went for flashiness over accuracy). The combination of the crazy rainbow flashes from I Lily Love You and the bright white ribbon against the deep pink background are very eye-catching - so the more people notice my manicure, the more people I can speak to about BCA :)
And now, if you've made it through all my facts and amateurish nail art, you're in for a real treat! I'm hosting one of the six Team Pink Eye giveaways this week, and here's what you could be eligible to win*:
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| Gift set from sponsor Overall Beauty featuring Mink and Pearls 5g jars |
From the generous sponsor*,
Overall Beauty, one lucky donor will win a gift set featuring a 5g jar each of Mink, a creamy brown, and Pearls, a super soft creamy yellow, as well as their choice of any one of
the seven blushes Overall Beauty sells (
not pictured).
Now you may have noticed I said "donor" - so here's how the Team Pink Eye giveaways work! If you would like to be eligible to win
any or all of the six giveaways we're doing this week, you will need to go to
the Susan G. Komen site (
please use this link!) to donate at least $5 (
the minimum donation possible), 100% of which will go to
Susan G. Komen Positively Pink for the Cure. Team Pink Eye will be doing six giveaways each week this month, along with posting eye and nail looks like mine to raise both money and awareness, with your help!
Your donation will enter you into all six of this week's giveaways, as long as you follow these steps:
- Donate using the same name you comment under
- Comment on each of the six relevant blog posts, stating that you donated, would like to enter to win, and the best email address at which we can reach you if you do win!
So to recap, if you want to donate to this fund, and enter the six giveaways going on this week, visit
our team's donations page and then check out the
Team Pink Eye blog to find the other five bloggers who are hosting giveaways this week so you can comment on their posts, too. This week's giveaway will run through 10PM Central Standard Time on Sunday, October 9, at which point the winners will be drawn via
random.org Winners will be announced and emailed on Monday!
If you are unable to donate $5 at this time (
the cost of about one mineral eyeshadow) to possibly win one of our prizes (
valued up to $30), please consider helping out in other ways. You could write your own blog post about breast cancer, and link to charities that fund breast cancer research. You could wear pink, and/ or a pink ribbon, in public this month and explain to anyone who asks that you are supporting BCA. You could donate as little as $1 and still make a difference - just think of how much would be raised if everyone in your town donated just $1 each! The point is to raise awareness, spread knowledge, encourage frequent exams, and support research for the cure. Don't let anyone make you feel guilty if "
all" you can do is wear pink this month - you could help save lives by spreading awareness.
And most importantly, remember to take good care of your breasts! Learn how to do self-exams, and go in for check-ups, too.
*
This giveaway is sponsored by Team Pink Eye and Overall Beauty, NOT Susan G. Komen.
Breast cancer stats in this post are from breastcancer.org
