by Kristy on July 29, 2010
As someone who enjoys changing their hair quite often, I was really tempted by these bangs for long hair. It’s a full on wispy bang sported by Nicole Richie – razor cut into feathery edges in a way that’s perfectly tailored to her face. To get the look of these flattering bangs, Elle.com has a few styling product recommendations such as Oribe’s Dry Texturizing Spray.
For more great hairstyle suggestions and styling product tips, check out Elle.com’s Best Celebrity Hairstyles for 2010!
by Elvira on July 29, 2010
image from http://www.us.boots.com/
Hi All. Elvira from Pink Sith Blog here again. Today I am going to tell you about a revelation that I had recently. You see I have fairly oily skin. The summer is the worst time of year for me as my makeup literally slides off my face in the heat and humidity. After many years of trial and error, and I mean MANY years, I think I finally found the best combination for hot weather makeup. Because, after all, I can’t leave the house barefaced. I believe in the famous quote from Coco Chanel:
“I don’t understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little – if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that’s the day she has a date with destiny. And it’s best to be as pretty as possible for destiny. ”
Destiny aside I just don’t think I have an even enough skin tone to go sans makeup anyway. On days when I’m in a big rush I’ll use a tinted moisturizer. Because I like the lightweight feeling of it, I don’t want to be burdened by a heavy powder blush, but I also don’t want my cheek color to disappear by noon if I wear a crème cheek color. So what’s an obsessive compulsive, ready for destiny girl supposed to do?
Boots No. 7 Cheek Tint!
This product is my perfect no blush/blush alternative. The Boots No. 7 Cheek Tint is a crème blush that dries almost instantly to a powder once it is applied. This blend of soft cream and micro fine powders imparts a natural blush to your skin. It comes in three colors (Rose Silk, Peach Silk and Maple Silk) that I think are perfect for Warm Toned, Cool Toned and Neutral toned skin. I use the Cheek Tint in Rose Silk. It gives me a very natural flush.
Boots No. 7 Cheek Tint is easiest to apply using your fingers. Just a little on the pad of your index finger applied to the apple of your cheek and cleanly blended out using your ring finger in a patting motion makes for the ideal application. You can easily build up the color without the product creasing or caking up on your skin and once blended, the Cheek Tint looks so natural people won’t believe you are wearing makeup. You know those No Makeup, Makeup people? Yeah, you are on your way to looking like one of them if you use this product.
Now I will say that having the right canvas for application is important. Because the Boots No. 7 Cheek Tint dries to a powder fairly quickly, you want to make sure your skin is well moisturized before application, or else you might have trouble blending. As for me, since my skin is naturally oily, blending isn’t an issue, staying power is. I found that this crème blush lasted for almost 6 hours on my skin on a hot and humid day…longer on days spent mostly indoors. That, for me, is excellent. I didn’t see the product slide off my face and reapplication was simple as I didn’t need any brushes to apply, and the product itself applied well in the middle of the day over other makeup.
Now I will always be ready for my date with destiny and I’ll have a nice natural flush at the same time.
Boots No. 7 Cheek Tint retails for $9.99 at Target or Online!
LORAC’s latest “Sweet Steal” – today through August 10th LORAC’s Perfectly Lit Luminizing Powder in SPOTLIGHT will be offered at $9 (Originally $32) exclusively at Sephora stores and Sephora.com. The luminizing powder gives you a radiant glow to make it look like you are glowing from within. It optimizes the effect of the light to diminish imperfections, even your skin tone and brighten your complexion.
Ideeli has Boyd’s cosmetics for sale. Never tried the brand, but the blushes look beautiful!
Biotherm is on sale again at Hautelook – I loooooove all their lotions! Skin by Alison Raffaele is also on sale.
Happy Shopping!
by Kristy on July 28, 2010
I have fine lines in my forehead that I was concerned were becoming more prominent….. probably from doing this too much, being skeptical of outrageous beauty product claims!
When I got the offer to a try the Crystalift, I was definitely a bit skeptical. Could this unusual looking machine really bring about a dramatic change in my skin’s appearance?
I’ve been using the Crystalift on my skin for about three weeks now, and I really have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with how effective this machine was! I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I hadn’t used anything involving crystal resurfacing or vacuum therapy before, but the results were spectacular. Their website explains how the product works: “Crystalift’s Dual-Action process fights the visible signs of aging. This patented system combines two professional technologies — crystal resurfacing and vacuum-lift therapy. The unique Dual-Action process gently lifts away old, damaged skin cells allowing newer, fresher skin cells to emerge – leaving your with a healthy, radiant glow.”
The machine is really easy to use – you plug it in, insert the crystal capsule, and go! Once you turn it on, you use a wand to apply the crystals to your face. The opening on the end of the wand isn’t huge, and if it isn’t touching your skin completely a vacuum won’t be formed and the crystals won’t flow. I found that as long as I continued to apply uniform pressure I didn’t have a problem with maintaining the “seal,” and it was easy to move across my face. I found that moving the wand slowly produced the best results (and the website estimates that the time to complete your face should be 3-10 minutes, so you’ll want more than a few quick swipes!) The only really tough spots to reach are the corners of your nose, those require you to lift the wand off your face completely and reposition them on the edge of your nose.
Once you’ve completed a full ‘pass’ of your face, there is a bit of crystal residue left on your skin. I found this helpful to me as it showed where I had already used the wand and it was easy to prevent accidentally doing the same spot multiple times. I didn’t have any sensitivity or discomfort after use, but my skin was slightly pink only due to applying pressure. This went away within a few minutes.
The change is my skin has been amazing – my skintone is more even, my pores are smaller, and my skin has a really smooth texture.
Using the crystalift has reduced the fine lines on my forehead significantly:
Maybe it even made me a little bit less skeptical of the intentions of beauty product manufacturers – I had a really fabulous customer service experience when my first machine had been damaged via shipping. They sent me another one the next day, no questions asked! They were so nice and easy to deal with that I would absolutely look forward to purchasing anything from this company in the future.
I highly recommend the crystalift – the results were so good that I was really surprised to have such a dramatic improvement without using a chemical peel or going to a spa!
You can purchase a Crystalift online! Your skin will never be the same.
I’m so incredibly happy to be posting on Beauty Debutante! It’s so exciting to be part of this very cool site.
My name is Amy of Café Makeup, a relaxed beauty blog that looks at all kinds of gorgeous makeup. When she can, my daughter Liz helps me out with the blog–and she was able to model the two products under review today. I’ve been a makeup lover for years, and especially love Chanel, NARS, Edward Bess, Burberry and a host of other high end brands. That being said, I love a bargain and so love to go looking in drugstores to find the treasures that won’t break the bank. That being said, I try to apply high standards for judging products.
As part of my guest appearance here, Rimmel London sent a few items from its Beach-Ready Essentials line. This includes several water proof items, and UV-protecting lipglosses and nail polishes. Today, I’m going to focus on two: Sexy Curves Full Volume & Curve Mascara – Waterproof in Black (around $7.50, depending on the store) and Rimmel’s Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer Pencil in 230 Deep Ocean (between $4 and $6). To complete the disclosures, I bought an extra Sexy Curves mascara–one for me, one for Liz–so we could both try it out.
First, the mascara. I love big, plushy lashes. With a name like “Sexy Curves Full Volume and Curves,” I had high hopes. I’ve gone through a few tubes of Rimmel London Volume Flash Mousse Mascara, which in my opinion gives a very similar big-volume effect to the higher-priced Dior Show Mascara for less than one-third the price. Could Sexy Curves be even better?
Sexy Curves Waterproof has a triple-curved brush, which according to the package, curves in for volume and out for curl. It sort of looks like three balls on a stick, doesn’t it? The brush has a lightweight feel.
For volume, both Liz and I had trouble getting huge volume from the brush–we wiggled it, then we didn’t wiggle it, and then we held it both horizontally and then vertically. Eventually, Liz held the brush vertically, and painted her lashes using only the outermost ball. That technique seemed to maximize volume the best. We gave it three (3) coats.
Sexy Curves colored Liz’s blonde lashes well, and added some volume, especially at the base. We found that the mascara tended to create little “groups” of lashes, rather than separating the lashes out individually. This grouping seems to give Liz fewer lashes than she naturally has. Here is the final effect (top and bottom lashes) with Sexy Curves:
For photos and more, click here!
by Krystal on July 28, 2010
Howdy! I’m excited to share my first review as a part of the Beauty Debutante team. I had the opportunity to review the line of 100% natural body care collection from (seed), owned by husband and wife team Benjamin and Rebecca Gournay. SEED was born after the couple looked for ways to detoxify their life both physically and mentally in hopes of being able to become pregnant. Benjamin, who loves wine, was inspired about harnessing the power of the grape seed after Rebecca came across of a line of upscale spa products made from grape seeds, and the rest is history.
SEED products are paraben free, preservative free, phthalate free with no artificial colors, no animal ingredients and they do not test on animals.
[click to continue…]
Receive 20% off any purchase of your favorite Kérastase products plus complimentary shipping on all orders. Offer ends tonight (Wednesday, 7/28) at midnight!! To receive the discount, enter FAMILY at checkout.
MOR Bath & Body Products are on Hautelook today as well.
Vincent Longo is on sale at Rue La La, their lip products are worth picking up.
Lastly, Beyond the Rack has Ernest Laszlo skincare!
Happy shopping!
Hautelook has DDF (Doctors Dermatologic Formula) Skincare on sale for over half off. If you need something for your acne, or anti-aging products, this brand will have you covered!
Baudelaire Soaps are on sale at ideeli. Great smelling soaps, which are perfect for your guest bathroom.
Happy Shopping!
Although there is a sea of products out there claiming to reduce under-eye puffiness and dark circles, I’ve had bad luck with any of them actually working, or at least working well enough that I could see a difference. Not so with Reviva Labs Collagen-Fibre Eye Pad kit. To be fair to some of those other ‘dark-circle’ creams, the collagen-fibre kit is a bit more involved that just applying a cream, but after a 20-min treatment with the eye pads and the accompanying Skin Energizing Gel, my poor eye bags were sent packing, my dark circles diminished, my under-eye skin smoother, and I could convince myself some of my thin wrinkles might be a little bit finer.
The Eye Pad kit has two components: the freeze-dried collagen-fibre pads with Myoxinol and the Skin Energizing Gel. You apply the gel to the under eye area, and overlay the pad, and leave it in place about 20 minutes. Reviva Labs says that the skin energizing gel is “an almost 100% concentrate of a special species of Hawaiian seaweed” that “provides almost ‘electric’ energy”. I would describe this sensation more as, well… stinging. The first time I tried out the pads, it felt almost like spritzing alcohol on a wound! The second time, it was a bit tingly and not as acute (there would not have been a second time if I hadn’t seen good results the first time!).
So how does it work?
Reviva labs advertises this skin care kit as having “Quick BOTOX-like benefits” with “Myoxinol” infused into the collagen pads, which honestly made me a little nervous to try the kit (the numerous typos and spelling mistakes on the Reviva labs website didn’t exactly inspire confidence, either). Botox is, after all, a neurotoxin, and presumably the ‘BOTOX-like’ Myoxinol is as well. If you are unlucky enough to encounter Botox in its natural source–from botulinum bacteria–you would be greeted by waves of paralysis starting with the cranio-facial nerves, and if you were really unlucky, proceeding to the nerves that control breathing. Botox / botulinum toxin works by blocking the signal (the molecule acetylcholine) sent by motor neurons to muscles that causes muscles to contract. Small doses of botulinum toxin, as used in cosmetic treatments, force tiny facial muscles to relax, reducing “expression line” wrinkles (like the forehead lines that appear after a frustrating day at work, and disappear after a good night’s sleep). Botox is also used to treat individuals who have clinical conditions caused by the inability of muscles to relax properly. Okay, that’s Botox – what is Myoxinol?
Okra Seeds
Myoxinol is made from proteins extracted from Hibiscus Esculentus (okra) seeds. Despite the drug-sounding name, it isn’t approved as a pharmaceutical, but rather a botanical ingredient. Its manufacturer, Laboratoires Sérobiologiques Cognis, did perform some in vitro tests that showed Myoxinol reduced muscle contractions in cultures of neurons with muscle cells, and that applying a Myoxinol cream twice daily for 3 weeks reduced the depth of wrinkles in test subjects (they did not show, though, how and if Myoxinol penetrates into the skin, or whether it actually affects the nerve-muscle signaling in facial tissues, and these results were published in a trade journal, not a peer-reviewed scientific journal). Since Myoxinol inhibited muscle contractions in the neuron and muscle cell culture, the manufacturers compare it to Botox, although much less is known about how Myoxinol affects neurons than Botox. It’s also hard to relate these results to the Reviva Labs eye pads, since the amount of Myoxinol in the product isn’t revealed on the ingredients label.
What about the Collagen Fibre Pads? Collagen molecules are too large to penetrate beneath the outer surface of the skin, but it seems that applying the collagen pads in conjuction with the Skin Energizing Gel quickly moisturizes and fills out the surface tissue, noticeably softening and smoothing the under eye skin. It’s likely the pad helps hold the gel close to the skin during the 20 min application. I wondered how much of the eye bagginess and dark circle reduction was due to the Skin Energizing Gel versus the Myoxinol-infused pads themselves, so I also tried the pad with water alone on one side and gel on the other. My skin was noticeably smoother on the gel side than the water side. Taking it one step further, I tried just the gel without the pad. After about 20 minutes, the gel seemed to contract, pulling my skin tighter and making it smoother. To me it seems like the gel was doing more than the collagen and Myoxinol pad! As the energizing gel is just seaweed extract with a few preservatives, it’s not really clear what it’s doing on the skin – whether it’s just mechanical contraction of long molecules in the gel as it dries, or if there are some unknown bioactive ingredients in there!
The effects of the Collagen Fibre Eye Pad Kit only last for a few hours, but long enough for a night out on the town, or to hide the effects of that night out on the town from your coworkers the next morning : ) Reviva labs suggest that there would be cumulative benefits with repeated use, but offers no evidence supporting that claim (in the Myoxinol report, the manufacturers reported wrinkle reduction with 1% cream twice daily, but the amount of Myoxinol in the Reviva Labs Collagen Fibre Pads is not listed, and they are only recommended for weekly use).
Looking for some defense against dark baggy, puffy eyes? You can get the Collagen Fibre Eye Pad Kit directly from Reviva Labs or many health food stores and online retailers. Since the kit comes with much more skin energizing gel than you will use with the 4 sets of included pads, you can also buy more pads separately from the same retailers mentioned above.
by Derek on July 26, 2010
I don’t know why I haven’t heard of a 
shaving-specific blade oil before. There’s a pretty established history of applying oil to metals in order to preserve sharpness and reduce rust, such as with professional tools and firearms, but in general the practice is a bit messy. So the blade-sized applicator that Pacific Shaving Company created for their Blade Oil product really makes the difference for how useful this oil is. I started using it in mid-June on a standard Gillette Mach 3 blade, and these blades typically last me about 20 shaves comfortably. I swap the blades when they feel like they’re pulling the hairs out of my face, which is never a pleasant feeling.
The tube that I received was a little oily to the touch when I opened it, possibly from shipping. It’s easily travel-sized, and the long, skinny tube makes it easy to fit into your carry-on bag. However I’m not sure if the tube will leak slightly due to the pressurization and depressurization that happens during air travel, so you might not want to pack it next to your toothbrush for your first trip.
It goes on easily; just invert the tube and rub it across your blade until you can see it (your blade will look slightly thicker) and that’s it — don’t rinse your blade afterward. As of this morning I’m on shave number 20, and while my blade is showing a little wear, I’m not feeling the need to replace it yet, which is fine by me! As mentioned above, the idea behind an oil for a shaving blade makes sense and certainly works, so this product really comes down to the economics. You can order the Blade Oil directly from Pacific Shaving Company’s website for $9.95, and they claim that the oil will last for one full year (I assume this means applying once daily). So the math is pretty simple — just calculate how many blades you go through in a year, and, to be on the safe side, multiply it by 50%. If that’s more than the cost of the blade oil, it’s a good value for you. My Gillette razors cost me on average about $35 a year if I’m lucky, so this product would end up saving me money. On the other hand, I’ve known people who use a single disposable Bic for a few months before trading it out. Coincidentally these are usually the guys with bad shaves and who complain about how much shaving hurts, but sadly you can’t convince everyone to take care of their face.
You can buy this Blade Oil for $9.95 directly from the company, and you may be able to find it locally as well.
