beauty products – Page 14 – Forty, Flirty & Fabulous

Pure Beauty? Pur Minerals Now at Ulta

Intrigued by my foray into mineral makeup (bareMinerals) a couple of weeks ago, I decided to explore the Pur Minerals brand that is now being sold at Ulta.

The first item I tried was the 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Makeup SPF 15 ($24.50 US). This is a very nice product. It is a pressed powder that glides on smoothly. It is made of, “pure mineral pigment ground to the smoothest texture and bound with soothing Shea Butter and Vitamin E”. This formula is good for my combination skin. It doesn’t cause breakouts or leave dry patches.

I also really liked the Mineral Eye Defining Pencil with Smudger ($16.50 US). I tried the Smoky Graphite pencil, a nice dark gray. This is a “state of the art, waterproof, smudge resistant eye color. Glides on easily and resists bleeding even when wet.” And it did stay on all day.

The third item I’m reviewing is the Mineral Lip Tint SPF 15 ($16.50 US) in Sandy Quartz, a pinky-peach color. The color is natural and pretty, but the feel of the product was a little dry. Some of the ingredients are Olive Oil, Mango Seed Extract, and Cocoa Seed Butter, so it should be a little more hydrating.

Another thing I really enjoy about mineral makeup is that after wearing for a while, my skin seems to improve. It becomes clearer and glows, even when I’m not wearing it.

I think the next time I try a mineral makeup it will be a drugstore brand. It would be nice to find a product that has the same benefits, at a more affordable price.

Fun Fragrances From Gwen Stefani — Harajuku Lovers

In the 90’s, I was a huge fan of No Doubt, mostly because of the irrepressible Gwen Stefani. She was tough and cool — a completely strong, sexy woman.

She still is. Her music is pop now, not the cool alternative songs she used to sing, and so not much to my taste. But her style is original. And so are her fragrances.

I think her first fragrance L.A.M.B. is nice, but a bit understated for Gwen. her new fragrance line, Harajuku lovers, is inspired by the trendy Harajuku shopping district in Tokyo. The perfume decanters are in the shape of cute dolls and are named G, Love, Lil’, Angel, Music and Baby.

I have tried them all, except for Lil’ Angel, which wasn’t at the Ulta I visited. I really liked G, which is floral and fruity and Baby which is soft and musky. Love is very floral and Music is sweet. They are all really distinctive, and I would recommend trying them out– maybe there’s a Harajuku Lover for you!

Here’s a short description of each:

G — Notes: Mandarin, Coconut, Apple Skin, Jasmine Sambac, Freesia, Magnolia, Coconut Cream, White Sandalwood, and Cottonwoods

Love — Notes: Bergamot, Pink Pomelo, Peach, Bamboo Leaf, Watery Peony, Living Hydroponic Lace Rose, Jasmine Sambac, Nectarine Blossom, Creamy Paperwhites, Egyptian Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Vanilla, Musk, and Blond Wood.

Lil’ Angel — Notes: Raspberry, Cranberry, Blackberry, Pineapple, Pear Blossom, Violet, Rose, Lollipop Accord, Hinoki Wood, and Crystal Amber.

Music — Notes: Clementine, Pear, Jasmine Sambac, Sweet Pea, Honeysuckle, Vanilla, Skin Musk, and Sleek Woods.

Baby — Notes: Freesia, Bergamot, White Rose, Orange Flower, Tiare, Jasmine, White Musk, Soft Woods, Heliotrope, Vanilla, and Violet.

L’Oreal Bare Naturale Mascara — Natural Ingredients, Wow Lashes

Mmmm mascara. I do love it. Especially when it makes my lashes longer and fuller and doesn’t smudge. L’Oreal’s new Bare Naturale Mascara ($9.99 US at Walgreens) does this, with the added benefits of natural ingredients.

Actually, I was quite surprised with this product. With a name that has the word “Naturale” in it, I automatically think that my lashes will appear bare. So I chose the darkest color, Blackest Black, for a better chance at the dramatic look I like. When I sweep it on, my lashes instantly appear longer and thicker. This mascara is a good day look, but not too natural. There is a bit of drama there!

The formula for the Bare Naturale mascara includes jojoba oil, vitamin E and aloe to condition lashes. L’Oreal claims that, “the innovative formula contains 86% natural-origin ingredients, shine-enhancing minerals and is both parabin- and fiber-free.” The brush is made with natural bristles that are not supposed to tug on lashes.

I like that the cosmetics companies are leaning towards natural ingredients. It makes me feel a little better about covering my face in lotions and powders, and especially mascara. Mascara defines the eye and gives a glamorous look. And now it is good for you too! Yay!

Well Hello, Bright Eyes…Almay’s New Line

: Almay Bright Eyes Liner/Highlighter Duo

With my kids and husband back in school, I am getting less sleep doing more work. So my eyes are looking kind of tired. At forty, I do not want to look tired. That’s why I was drawn to Almay’s new Bright Eyes line.

The claim for this line is that it, “instantly refreshes and enhances your eyes. Now, you can always have the natural radiance that comes with a great night’s sleep.” The main brightening ingredients in the line are white tea and marine extract, whatever that is.
There are three products in the line, the Liner/Highlighter Duo, the Eye Base + Concealer and the Eye Shadow. I purchased the Liner/Highlighter Duo in Dark Chocolate/Shell and the Eye Base + Concealer in Light.

I usually wear black, purple or navy eyeliner and I usually wear eye shadow as liner. I haven’t purchased a dark brown eyeliner in years. It’s nice, though. The eye liner is a little hard and tugs at my eye lids a bit, but I like the color, it’s a rich dark brown.

The highlighter on the other end is very soft. On my first use, I didn’t see any color when I used it. Then I looked at myself in natural light and noticed a soft, light pink shimmer. Very nice. I use the highlighter below my browbones, in the inner corners of my eyes and on my cheekbones. Can we say youthful glow?!

The concealer is wonderful. You sqeeze the tube and the product comes out through the brush on top. I dab it on then rub it in gently with my finger. It instantly brightens up my eyes. I also use it as an eye shadow base and I have to say, my shadow seems to stay on longer.

If you are looking for a youthful eye look at a reasonable price (both were $8.99 at Walgreens), check this line out.

Hey All! Enter my 100th Blog Post Giveaways! I will be giving away products from It Cosmetics, Yes to Carrots and EcoTools! To enter, just leave a comment on ANY of my posts between 4/26 – 5/2. I will draw 3 names on Sunday 5/3/09 and notify the winners! To see exactly what I am giving away, check out my post http://tinyurl.com/dgnxda. Good Luck!

A Mineral Make-up Virgin No More — bareMinerals by Bare Escentuals

I don’t know why I’ve been so hesitant to try mineral make-up. Everyone raves about it. It has changed lives, well, at least it has changed the look of people’s skin.

The honest truth is that I love liquid and mousse make-up. I love slathering on a creamy potion that matches my skin tone and evens out my skin’s texture. The idea of exchanging my Cover Girl TruBlend (what I use now) for powder just hasn’t appealed to me.

But since I am now blogging about cosmetics, I think it’s fair that I touch on many of the trends, including mineral make-up.

I decided to try the most popular brand, bareMinerals, while browsing through Ulta last weekend. They had a 4 piece introductory set on sale for $15.00 USD. “Wow, what a bargain”, I thought to myself. And it is. The set includes two .03 oz foundations, a .03 oz mineral veil, and a mini kabuki brush.

I purchased the Light kit which includes the Light and Fairly Light foundations. Ulta was nice enough to color match my skin and the Fairly Light was my perfect color. I of course tried it as soon as I went home. The steps included are:

1. Swirl a small amount of bareMinerals in the lid with the brush until all the bareMinerals are tucked into the bristles.

2. Tap away excess. There should be no visible bareMinerals on the outside of the brush.

3. Buff bareMinerals onto the skin in a circular motion, starting on the outside of your face near the cheekbone and swirling as you go. Buff until you are satisfied with the coverage.

I followed the directions. The look I got on the first day was glowy, but a bit powdery. I have used this product all week and I tried different ways to apply it. I used it with primer, without primer. With the mineral veil and without the mineral veil. I think I have become pretty handy with the brush, but I have noticed that my skin looks and feels much drier than it did in the beginning of the week.

So my verdict is…still out. I like the glow I get using the minerals. But I don’t like the dry feeling or the work it takes to apply it perfectly. I will try it again in a week or two to see if I like it better.

In the meantime, if any of you wonderful readers have any tips or tricks or another mineral product you love, please leave a comment. I am keeping an open mind!

Long Lashes That Don’t Smudge? Try Too Faced Lash Injection Pin Point Mascara!

I love me some mascara! I love long, thick, eye-opening lashes and many of the modern mascaras give me just the look I want. Not natural, or sweet. I’m 40. I need WOW eyes, 24-7.

It wasn’t always like that for me. I used to hate mascara. It would clump and run. And not really make my tiny lashes look much bigger then they were. But so many new, wow formulas and brushes are afoot, and that makes my eyelashes much happier.

One good example of a great new mascara is Too Faced Lash Injection Pin Point Mascara. This is a mascara with a smaller wand that gets even the puniest lashes and lengthens them.

The cool thing about the Lash Injection Line from Too Faced is that “Lash Injection Pin Point’s exclusive 3D polymers build waterproof tubes around each lash that expand and stretch far, far beyond the natural lash while the sleek pinpoint precision brush separates and curls for the most divinely detailed, healthy lash look imaginable. Like paraffin dip treatments, moisture is locked into the lash by each tube, and lashes stay conditioned and hydrated.”

The tubes are cool, but difficult to remove. You need a good, oil based remover to get it all off. Lancome’s Bi-Facil is a good one. But this mascara WILL NOT SMUDGE, so it is worth the work to remove.

Priced at 19.50 USD this mascara is a bit of a splurge, but it is worth it if you like long lashes. Another good skinny-brushed mascara at a cheaper price is Maybelline’s Lash Discovery Mini-Brush Waterproof Mascara. This one is priced for $7.29 USD at Walgreens. It also grabs all of your lashes and is waterproof so it rarely smudges. Both of these mascaras are worth checking out if this is the look you are going for!

FFF’s Skin Care Musts — Hydration and Protection

Luckily, I have been blessed with pretty good skin. But as I get older (40!), I have noticed my skin looking a bit dull. So I have turned to — gulp — anti-aging moisturizers.

This is new to me. In the past I have only worried about SPF in my moisturizer, but now I’m looking for ingredients that will keep my skin looking fresh and slow the onset of wrinkles. Yes, I am vain.

Oh, well.

So to begin my quest I am reviewing two anti-aging products with sunscreen. Philosophy’s Hope In A Jar SPF 20 ($45.00 USD) and L’Oreal Skin Genesis SPF 15 Lotion (20.99 USD).

I really like the classic Hope In A Jar. It is a heavy cream, but it makes the skin very soft and glowing. So I was really excited to hear of the Hope In A Jar SPF 20. But would it be the same wonderful cream, with the added benefit of SPF? Not really. It does have a little of the lavender scent of the original, but with a slight sunscreen smell to it. When I first put it on, it is very greasy and it never really sinks it, just gets less greasy over time. My skin is combination and still breaks out sometimes. This has not helped and I seem to be getting more breakouts.

As much as I wanted to like the Hope In A Jar SPF 20, I don’t agree with the claims that it “hydrates the skin, provides a gentle exfoliation, and helps improve the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, texture, and tone.” If it didn’t make my skin so oily, I might over time find that it does all it claims. But I will not be continuing using this product to find out.

With this next product, the L’Oreal Skin Genesis SPF 15, I did something crazy. I bought it without trying it first. I was hoping that it would be a light lotion that would soften my skin, make it glow and protect it. Tall order, yes, but this product delivers.

This lotion claims that it “reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, combats the signs of aging, helps to even skin tone and texture, helps to firm and tone skin, helps moisturize dry skin”. I don’t really have wrinkles yet (knock on wood), but this lotion does reduce my pores and makes my skin glowy, without leaving it greasy.

I think the best advice I can give while looking for a skin product is to keep your skin type in mind. Having combination skin, I shouldn’t be looking for heavy creams. But as I’m aging, I do need to look for skin brighteners, pore minimizers and especially, SPF.

New Beauty Products at Target Part 2 – NP Set by Napoleon Perdis

np-set-pasarella-mascara2 — NP Set Pasarella Mascara

Another intriguing new line at Target is NP Set by Napoleon Perdis — Australia’s makeup guru. Perdis had said that his new line is “dedicated to effortless glamour”. Inspecting the display of white and black sleek products, my first impulse is to agree with him.

I only tried a few items of this line. Some of the stand outs are the Concealer Look which gives amazing cover for my dark under eye circles and the Loose Dust Duo eye shadow that has a double ended wand, one end with a darker shade, one end with a nice highlighting shade. There are ten shade combinations for this product, so you can surely find colors you like.

The item I was most impressed with is the Pasarella Mascara. This is a conditioning, volumizing mascara that contains beeswax. It plumped up my paltry lashes and didn’t smear all day. That’s a good mascara! And for $15.00 not a bad price for a higher end product.

np-set-pasarella-lip-stain-and-plumper3 — NP Set Lip Stain and Plumper

Although I like this line, one item I tried left me cold — actually it left my lips burning and they are still red today! That is the Lip Stain and Plumper. Wow, I did not care for this product. This comes in two shades, Moon Pink and Star Coral. Both shades are very bright and candy-colored. I don’t wear either shades, so I picked the coral one because I thought it might look okay on me. It didn’t. Besides the unflattering color, this product does not apply evenly, sitting in globs on my lips and oh did it BURN! And, unfortunately, my lips didn’t show any plump for the pain. It’s been almost three days since I tried it and my lips are still sore. This is one craptastic product. Save the $15.00 that this will cost you and buy the mascara instead!

New Beauty Products at Target Part 1 – Pixi by Petra Strand

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Watch out Ulta and Sephora (and major department stores), Target has added three professional makeup artist’s product lines to their cosmetic section. These lines are NP Set by Napoleon Perdis, JK Jemma Kidd, and the one I am reviewing today, Pixi by Petra Strand. These products claim to be comparable in quality as other professional brands, and at pricing from $12.00 – $39.00, these items cost a little less than what you may find at a high end department store or Sephora.

I love the colors of packaging of the Pixi line. In pinks and greens, this line does evoke a fantasy of fairies and nature. The colors are very bright and spring-like, with a lot of corals and pinks.

One of my favorite items in the Pixi line is the Illuminating Tint and Conceal. This is actually two products, a tinted moisturizer with an SPF 20 in the tube and a solid concealer in the lid. The claim for this product is that “it acts as your moisturizer, sunscreen and tinted treatment to provide sheer coverage that makes skin appear flawless”. The formula has minerals and it features antioxidants A, C and E. I find the texture as thick as a regular foundation with great coverage. The concealer is wonderful as well, it did a great job of making my under eye circles almost disappear.

A couple of other Pixi items that I really enjoyed was the Rose Lip Treat in LipNude and the Eye Beauty Kit. A vitamin E enriched balm, the Rose Lip Treat feels wonderful and looks very natural on. The Eye Beauty Kit contains eight eye shadows and a two ended brush, one end is a shadow brush, one end a liner brush. This product comes in thirteen different kits, so there are many color combinations to choose from.

These are just a few of the beautiful items included in the Pixi by Petra Strand collection; there is much more to see. Take a trip to Target and try these wonderful items out for yourself!

It’s Prime Time for Primers!

I have to admit that I am fairly new to the wonderful world of foundation primer. The idea of it is intriguing to me. A lotion or cream that is neither a moisturizer or foundation, but will make your skin even, smooth and allow your pores to appear smaller? Could this be a miracle product?

The first primer I’ve tried was Benefit’s That Gal Brightening Face Primer. This pink-tinted cream is touted to smooth and brighten the face. As with all primers, this can be used under foundation or on it’s own. I tried it first without foundation and I loved the glow that it gave me. It’s a very fresh look. The glow is somewhat reduced under foundation, but my face definitely looked smoother. At $28.00, it’s a bit of a splurge, but worth it if your skin (like mine) needs a little refinement.

Lately I have tried two new primers. The first one is Stila’s Hydrating Primer SPF 15. I love Stila, especially the eye shadow color Kitten and my favorite mascara, Major Lash Mascara. As fall approaches, my skin becomes dryer, so a hydrating primer sounded good. The consistency of this primer is like a heavy moisturizer and, unfortunately it felt a bit greasy on my skin. Beside the feel of the product, the look was fantastic, especially under foundation. My whole face glowed and I even looked younger! Maybe this would work better once my face dries out in the winter. This product would be great for ladies with dry skin. At Sephora, this sells for $34.00.

The second new primer I have tried is Avon’s Magix Face Perfector SPF 20. Avon claims that this balm-like cream makes all skin types look flawless. I don’t know about all skin types, but this product makes my combination skin look smooth and feel very soft. Unlike Stila’s moisturizing formula, Magix gives a nice matte look that last all day. At $10.00 for the Magix Face Perfector, this is one I highly recommend!