Hydrate winter skin with Aqualia Thermal Rich Cream

Dry skin be damned!  As I sit in a very snowy and cold part of the northeast, my skin is thanking me for bringing Vichy’s cult classic moisturizer: Aqualia Thermal Rich Creme.  Fancy hyarulonic acid ingredients draw moisture to your skin while the famous Vichy Thermal Water helps protect your skin against damage.  My recently very sensitive skin loves how gentle the cream is and it absorbs so fast I can throw sunscreen right on top.  Moisturized skin is happy skin………. and always makes you look younger.  Also… it comes with a wallet friendly price at about $31 per jar.

Stay warm!  xoxo

Ole Henriksen’s Perfect Truth CC Creme absolutely delivers

CC Creams are my foundation of choice this year because they are essentially a tinted moisturizer with added skin benefits.  Another awesome CC Cream to add to your shopping list comes from best selling natural skincare brand, Ole Henriksen.  The Perfect Truth CC Creme is super light to the touch, but really evens out your complexion in a natural looking way.  I should know, as I had a nasty reaction to something months ago and The Perfect Truth kept me looking “normal” until I healed.

The Perfect Truth contains five sources of Vitamin C to brighten your complexion and fight against free radicals.  I love the green tea extract for reducing redness, the amazing peptides in there to prevent fine lines, and the pigment concentration for even yet natural coverage.  Your skin will absolutely look soft and lovely… as if it’s naturally that way.

Happy Holidays loves!  xoxo

A little Black Magic is a good thing

Happy Holidays lovies!  Yes it’s been a while, but rather than bore you with the details as to where I’ve been lets spend our time together discussing my favorite topic: mascara!

Eyeko is the British makeup brand that makes lovely eye products, such as this sexy little Skinny Liquid Eyeliner.  I have been unable to put down their Black Magic Mascara which gives you crazy amounts of volume (drama) and curl (check out the wand)… as the packaging so correctly states.  Even better: the mascara is free of parabens, keeps my lashes soft for the entire day because of shea butter, and comes off easily with any face wash at night.  I get crazy amounts of lashes with 2-3 coats… and my other favorite factor: no flakes ever.

Fresh Umbrian Clay Mattifying Face Exfoliant

Gone are the days where the rough apricot scrubs were the only exfoliant available to us.  Sugar scrubs are something I’ve come to love for the winter as they hydrate… but today lets discuss the new Umbrian Clay Mattifying Face Exfoliant from Fresh.

These are the most miniscule (yet uber effective) granules I’ve felt in a face scrub yet, which to me means they are incredibly gentle… unlike that apricot nonsense.  My skin has yet to look inflamed after use, only “fresh.”

The clay components help to absorb oil and extract impurities, and the chamomile and lavender extracts sooth your skin so it doesn’t appear irritated.  I leave the shower feeling clean and super duper smooth.  I suggest using this scrub two to three times a week so as not to dry out your skin, and always follow with a moisturizer and SPF.

Umbrian Clay Mattifying Exfoliant

If you suffer from dry skin, I have a post coming soon for another scrub that is sugar based :).

KMS FREESHAPE keeps your style , no joke.

This hair product is insane!  KMS California FREESHAPE completely blew my mind away as it claims to protect your hair from hot styling tools all the while keeping the shape until your next shampoo.  That is literally what happens.  No, seriously!  My sexy beach waves were in tact each morning, just like the first day, and the volume was restored thanks to my dry shampoo.  (And for the record, I only went three days between shampoos because of this amazing style keeper.)  A few spritzes in damp hair, then style with your dryer and iron etc, and you are good to go!

So brides… get thee a bottle of KMS FREESHAPE; and basically anyone that chooses to look their best should too.  Hop to it and have a great weekend!  xoxo

Marc Jacobs Beauty

Oh la la do I love this new makeup line!  Sexy packaging combined with lush formulas = must buy.

Lash Lifter Gel Volume Mascara is one of the most impressive mascaras I’ve seen this year.  The liquid gel formula combines E-lash-tic Lash™ technology with a uniquely shaped brush to coat all lashes giving them serious volume and length.  It’s so strange to see this viscous of a mascara come out of a tube, however it does not bleed during application.  What I also love is that your lashes remain soft the entire day so you have the option to build later on.  I def suggest using eye makeup remover to take it off b/c I’ve found it to fall off similar to the way tubing mascaras do… cleanser just doesn’t do a good enough job alone.

Lip Vinyl Full has such an awesome texture, I am amazed each time I put it on.  It’s quite opaque (in a good way) but is by no means thick and petroleum-like.  The plumping ingredients give you just the slightest amount of tingle to make your pout fell fresh.

Highliner is a super sleek gel liner that literally glides on for you.  And how sexy is the silver packaging?  Super futuristic.

Plush Shadow palettes give you intensely silky color with superb staying power.  Both the trios and the sets of seven showcase colors that pair beautifully together, you can’t screw a combo up.

Grab these gorgeous items and others from the line at Sephora!!!!  If you will only splurge on one item for now, I beg of you to get the Lash Lifter mascara!!!

Voluminous Million Lashes Excess

I was super pumped when I saw this mascara was coming on the market.  Given my lovely experience with VML (the original) I had to get my hands on the next gen.  After stalking Walgreens and Target for what seemed like ages, Voluminous Million Lashes Excess finally arrived.

Great brush with the plastic bristles that I love so much for separating to coat and creating lots of drama.  I have to be honest… I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping for more.  This formula feels a bit heavier than the first VML and therefore does more thickening than give you any lengthening at all.  I would buy it if you need to really thicken what you already have- def a worthwhile purchase!

Blemish Fighters

I made some changes in my personal life earlier this year, and these changes have in turn changed my skin. I.e. I am getting ugly pimples on my face during that time of the month. Boo! So here is my list of Blemish Fighters that have helped get my skin back in check:

• Cleanser with Salicylic Acid like these Yes To Tomatoes Facial Towelettes – I love using these right before I head to the gym… and after. Salicylic helps gently kill bacteria to fight and prevent those pesky spots. Also try this Clarifying Facial Wash from Earth Science Naturals.
• Fresh’s Umbrian Clay Mattifying Mask is a wonderful spot treatment; after washing your face leave it on your blemish for 15-20 minutes and then wash off. It’s also great for keeping pores clean around your nose.
• Good ol Tea Tree Oil. I was so impressed at how fast this solution dried out a large pimple- gone in a day. I’m going to keep a bottle of this in my medicine cabinet ALL OF THE TIME. Here are a few more uses for tea tree oil– talk about multi-tasker! I suggest dabbing one drop on the pimple and watch it disappear.

blemish fighters

Please let me know if you have other successful tips and products to try!

 

Nars Fall 2013 Collection

I swung by the Fillmore Street location this weekend to check out the latest goodies from Nars, and left with a new eye look that I never would have tried on my own.

Nars Fall 2013 Collection

This fall Nars is introducing two new Larger than Life Longwear liners, four shadows, two polishes, brow gels AND brow pencils.  I asked my artist Laura to introduce me to a new daytime and office appropriate look using the new colors.  This is what we came up with:

Laura took a yellow gold (say WHAT?!?!) liner, Las Ramblas and lined my lower lid.  Not inside the water mark, but under the lashes.  This created a bright and awake look when worn alone… but I was still a bit hesitant.  Then, with a flat concealer brush, she patted a beautiful teal shimmer shadow called Bavaria over the gold liner.  On my lids she swept a light wash of Bavaria, and then added depth along the brow bone with Yamal; a very gray putty color.  To polish off the look Laura added a coppery-brown liner to the outside corners call Via De’ Martelli.  This was such a unique and fun look for me, but not so over the top that I have worn it to work already!  To play it up at night I would deepen the Bavaria and the liner… maybe even go for a winged look.

Supergoop Daily Correct CC Cream

BB Creams were all the rage a year ago, but now companies have introduced “correcting creams,” like this one from Supergoop.

I must tell you, I’m jumping on this train more willingly than with BB Creams.  Supergoop’s SPF35 Daily Correct CC Cream is self-adjusting to match my skin perfectly, and I think the texture is more palatable than the BB creams.  It’s softer and blends easily into my skin leaving just enough coverage to even out skin tone and camouflage imperfections.  What’s also different with this CC Cream is that it feels more like a tinted moisturizer and not one bit like a silicon laden primer.

Similar to their amazing suncreens, the SPF 35 CC Cream includes skin-saving antioxidants and a PA+++ rating to fight UVA, UVB, and infrared rays!  In case you are unfamiliar with the PA+++ rating, this is the highest rating for UVA protection; those are the most harmful rays out there.

Another winning product from Supergoop!  Right now you can purchase it from supergoop.com, Nordstrom, Ulta and Birchbox for $32.