Have you been paying attention to Dove Soap’s Campaign For Real Beauty. The whole gist of the campaign is that normal everyday women – not the underweight, 6-feet tall, airbrushed models you see on TV or magazines, but real life ladies you’d be likely to see at the grocery store – are beautiful, too. Poignant and engaging, Dove’s simple attempt at revealing the phoniness behind the beauty industry while reintroducing us to ourselves again in these commercials is just mesmerizing. Check out two of my fave examples here and here.

I admire Dove’s intent because, let’s face it, most women on some level or another have body issues. And, the ironic part is, many of these same women who are unhappy with what they see in the mirror are really, really pretty in their own unique ways. This movement toward helping women to see and leverage their own inherent beauty has even found its way to TV reality shows like What Not to Wear or How to Look Good Naked.

I recently met photographer and Tampa Bay entrepreneur, Liz Curtan, who is also doing her part to change the way women look at themselves. “I am just a girl trying to define beauty in different ways and sharing that with other women,” Liz explained. And she does this by providing in her words “the ultimate Boudoir Bombshell experience.”

Spend an hour or so with Liz, and you’ll be pampered with a hair and make-up session fit for a Diva. The glamour continues as you don frilly and flattering costumes. Lastly, bold and romantic colors, lush fabrics, and/or unique venues are selected to set the stage for your own intimate and personalized photo shoot, which Liz calls “Boudoir Photography.” The whole process is designed to make you look — and more importantly FEEL—beautiful and sexy! And the resulting photos? Some are smoldering, while others are demure, but the end result is classy and amazingly consistent. These. Ladies. Look. Amazing.

Though Boudoir Photography’s popularity has recently heightened, Liz has been practicing her craft for over 3 years, before most people had even heard about it. And for all the right reasons! “Sometimes it is so hard to feel comfortable in our own skin when we have the TV, magazines and Internet telling us we need to be something that we are not to be considered beautiful,” said Liz. “We are beautiful just the way we are, which is why I am so passionate about boudoir photography. Every woman deserves to feel beautiful, like a supermodel, and boudoir portraits are the perfect way to do that!”

Liz touts her boudoir sessions as a unique way for a bride to treat her bridesmaids or celebrate her bachelorette party, as the ideal gift for that special someone, or as the perfect opportunity for a woman to pamper herself and get re-acquainted with her own beauty. As Liz explains, “One of the most fulfilling moments I’ve had as a boudoir photographer is when a woman I recently photographed told me she could not find one thing about herself in those pictures that she could be critical of. It is great to know that I had played a part in helping her to see herself for who she really was…beautiful.”

Liz is the quintessential CRAVE Tampa Bay lady! Check her out online at the-bombshell.com.