I’m pretty sure that the picture I used in this post is showing metallic foils instead of a straight-up metallic nail polish.
But, here is a nice little tutorial from annaversary on how to make regular old metallic nail polish pop a bit more than normal.
I used to be a skeptic of flash sale sites, but I became a convert when I started subscribing to one for children’s items.
Now, I think I’m in on at least seven, and I just might be addicted. Some of them didn’t even have beauty products when I first signed up, but branched out into them eventually.
My husband is not necessarily pleased.
But seriously, a Three Custom Color eye palette specifically formulated for green eyes that retails for almost $70.00 was to be had for less than $30.00 on HauteLook. How could I possibly resist? Er, or the retractable lip brush for a measly five bucks? Fine, and I’m not proud of the lipstick that is normally over twenty but for which I paid ten bucks.
They have all kinds of makeup and especially skin care, the expensive stuff. It’s still expensive, just not necessarily prohibitively so. As for makeup, I’ve seen everything from e.l.f to Stila.
Another site for makeup/skincare worth a look is My Habit, which if you have an Amazon account, you’re already hooked up.
I think the key to these sale sites is knowing exactly what you want before you go on, and promising yourself to stick to that. So if you are the type who doesn’t mind taking a bit of a risk with your makeup, this might just be the thing for you. Return policies are pretty generous, though.
Now, if only I could take my own advice.
*I did not use my personal “invitation code” for these links, so no, I’m not making any money off of you!
I think I’ve mentioned this before, but if you have makeup and you want to use it to its best advantage, then you’ve gotta have the right tools.
Sure, you can buy Bare Escentuals foundation, but if you don’t have one of the kabuki brushes, then forget about it.
Want to do a smokey eye? Well, then you will need a large shadow brush and a crease brush at the very minimum.
How about using eye shadow as an eyeliner? Helps a lot if you have an angled brush to apply it with.
I know that my personal go-to beauty tools are my regular kabuki brush, my large domed brush, my large shadow brush and crease brush, my large angled contour brush, and my eyelash curler and my eyelash separator.
Wow.
No wonder people who don’t use a lot of makeup find it intimidating.
And I don’t even consider myself to be someone who has a lot of tools and brushes.
What I do find is that it’s worth it to pay a bit for your tools, but you don’t have to go top of the line to get something decent that will last and not shed on your face every time you use it.
How about you? What are your indispensable tools?
INTO a pot, to be exact.
You see, I am one of those people who tends to leave a lipstick in the car at all times so that I may have one on hand whenever needed. Because sometimes I take my big purse, sometimes I take my small purse, and sometimes I take no purse at all. So, I just like to have one there in case of an emergency.
Uh, yeah, being lipstick-less DOES qualify, thankyouverymuch.
Anyhoo, wouldn’t you think I would remember some silly fact like it is summer and the car gets superhot? As in, melting-my-lipstick hot?
Well, I didn’t remember and now one of my Dior Addicts is all mooshy and I hate mooshy lipstick. I also have a Benefit one that somehow got broken, probably because I forgot to take it out of my pocket and it went into the washing machine. I do that a lot, too.
Enter the helpful ladies of this forum discussion at Spektra.
It seems you can melt your mooshy/broken lipsticks into an empty lip balm container and as long as you don’t mind using a lip brush, you are good to go. In case you don’t read all the way down, it is possible to put the whole thing in a microwave instead of melting above an open flame.
Now, why didn’t I think of that?
My, that is such a service-y type of title isn’t it?
I figured that since it is mid-June, it is probably time to start discussing the ways in which we change our beauty routines when the hot and sometimes humid weather kicks in.
I am fortunate to live in a fairly temperate climate. Sure, we’ll get hot here, but humidity is rarely a huge factor. Not that I’m far from the ocean, but for some reason the days in which the heat and humidity are positively unbearable are few.
So, my beauty tips for hot weather, limited as they are, are as follows:
-Figure out a flattering way to wear your hair up and get your hair off your neck. You’ll be at least five degrees cooler, I promise. Or, if you are the type that doesn’t mind, get a short haircut and fugeddaboudit.
- Powder is your friend.
- As are blotting papers. And in a pinch, did you know that the ubiquitous toilet seat covers found in public restrooms make fantastic blotters? Uh, straight from the dispenser, which goes without saying.
- Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. We all know this, but it bears repeating. Be even smarter than you already are and combine powder and sunscreen together. My very fair-skinned sister uses this handy portable powder sunscreen and swears by it.
- And even with sunscreen, I’ve lately become very fond of hats in hot weather.
- Even though it also sounds obvious, go for light washes of color rather than dramatic statements. Well, dramatic statements can be saved for nighttime, anyway.
- Fake some color with a great bronzer.
All right ladies, step up and share your best hot weather beauty tips! We are dying to know!
When I recently wrote a product review of Guerlain Meteorites, wildflower asked:
I’ve also seen the pressed powder equivalent of this–where the colors are discrete, and you swish the brush over all of them to get a blend of them all.
What is the purpose of either of these? Why not blend the powder together before packaging it?
And I thought to myself, damn, that is an excellent question.
Now, if I only knew the answer.
I kicked around on the intertubes for a bit, but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Then the other day, my daughter grabbed the box that the Meteorites come packaged in off my bathroom counter, and lo and behold, a product pamphlet!
This is what Guerlain had to say about why they make the Meteorites in pearl form (and as mentioned, pressed powder with discrete colors) rather than as a pre-mixed pressed powder:
For this unique creation, Guerlain took its inspiration from the way light separates into a spectrum of colour. When white light is split through a prism, it transforms into a myriad of different colored rays. Conversely, when these colours are brought together, a single ray of absolute white light is formed. Meteorites reproduce absolute white light to enhance your complexion by blending together small multicolored pearls, creating that sought after perfect radiance.
So, there you have it straight from the manufacturer’s mouth.
Is it true?
I am no scientist.
But I do know that the product does indeed work.
YOU MUST WATCH THIS
Now, it seems this device was originally made for people who needed to regain muscle strength in their faces after a stroke, so don’t think I’m knocking it.
But this particular ad is both mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.
Not just for lips any more! I’m always a big fan of beauty products that can multi-task, and this product, which has been around in commercial form since 1870, fits the bill nicely. Women have been using it as a cosmetic aid for at least a century.
And just for clarification, I’m talking about the product that is 100% pure petroleum jelly. Which could technically be another brand other than Vaseline, but let’s face it, Vaseline is the most famous.
Vaseline can be used for:
Now you know why it is sold in such a big tub!
Did I miss any?
I’m not really a pedicure person. Oh, the idea of a pedicure sounds heavenly, but I don’t really have time for pampering myself at the moment. And probably won’t for at least another year or so, if not a bit longer.
So in the meantime, I decided to give the Diamancel foot files at Sephora a try. I live in Southern California, where it is possible to wear shoes without socks for at least 330 days out of the year. Some years more than that. This requires that feet be kept in tiptop shape year ’round, and since the birth of my daughter a year and half ago, I’d fallen way behind on the foot maintenance.
I ordered both the Diamond Foot Buffer #11 and the Diamond Foot File #20 because I figured my feet needed all the help they could get.
These files, if you couldn’t tell by the name, utilize ground-up diamonds to scrape those rough spots away. So fancy! They are easy to clean with soap and water, and I imagine that they will last for years with proper care.
I’ve found that the best way to use them is at night, before a shower. Feet must be dry when using, and then after the shower, a nice rubdown with your favorite foot lotion will result in some fairly awe-inspiring feet in the morning. I know you are supposed to sleep with socks after the lotion application, but I cannot STAND doing this. My feet must be free to breathe, and I imagine my results would be even better if I did so.
The Foot Buffer is a well made, heavy-duty tool, and is for an overall foot smoothing effect. It is so nicely weighted that you hardly have to put out any effort to get an almost alarming amount of dead skin off. It is not, however, cheap. But for someone like myself who does not make it to the spa, I would say it is well worth the money in the long run.
The Foot File is made to attack corns and callouses. I don’t have any corns, but I definitely have my fair share of callouses. This lightweight, easy to use file is also a bit pricey, but it is frighteningly efficient at getting rid of hard spots on the foot. Again, well worth the money.
If, like me, you enjoy having soft feet but don’t necessarily have the time or money to spend on frequent pedicures, this tag team of foot tools just might be the answer you are looking for.
*As always, my own money was spent on these products.
Because there was so much reaction on my Bare Escentuals post, I simply had to make another one!
The superfantastic Jelly wanted to know:
This powder foundation: I can use it with my oily skin? It won’t cake-up on my face at 2 p.m. like my foundation/powder process that I’ve given up on?
Jelly, as someone who has oily skin herself, I can say with quite a bit of confidence that the mineral foundation will not cake or slide in the dreaded mid-afternoon slump. It is so finely textured, and the kabuki brush I use to apply it does a great job of really getting it on there. Also, if set with the Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil, not even a hot summer day will cause this stuff to look much different than when you applied it. Thus my undying love for it.
The lovely Toyouke also had this to say:
I’ve tried Bare Escentuals before, but I didn’t really see any benefit over regular foundation/powder. Is it something you need someone to show you how to do? I don’t wear makeup a lot, and it’s entirely possible I was doing it wrong. Is there a trick? Should I have someone at the store show me what to do?
I’m sorry that you didn’t have a good experience with the product. Without knowing a lot about how you put it on, my first guess would be that you might have used the wrong type of brush to apply it. Mineral makeup looks and works best when applied with a type of brush known as a kabuki.
Kabuki brushes tend to have shorter handles (although they do make them with regular-sized ones) and a set of soft, full bristles. The wide arc of the bristles is perfect for applying powder foundation evenly.
I love my short-handled BE kabuki brush (as pictured above) lots. I also have one with a long handle, and for no reason that I can pinpoint, does not seem to work as well. So Toyouke, I would suggest that you try the kabuki brush (if my guess is correct, which it may not be) and give it another shot.
The only other trick I have, as I said in my reply to Jelly, is to set it with the Mineral Veil finishing powder to really give it the oomph to last all day.
And when in doubt, it can never hurt to have someone show you how to do it if you are unsure! Or, if you still have the makeup, try YouTube, they’ve got lots of makeup tutorials. I found one that didn’t annoy the crap out of me.
A few people mentioned a bad reaction to one of the key ingredients in mineral makeup, which as noted by some astute commenters, is Bismuth Oxychloride. More than a few readers recommended Everyday Minerals as an excellent bismuth-free alternative, and I’m inclined to believe them! I noticed on the website that you can actually order a free sample online, so if you have any doubts, that would definitely be the way to go. Lord knows I love free makeup.
So I hope this helped a bit. I’m determined to have everyone I know switch to mineral foundation! And, I have gotten a big fat zero in compensation of any sort from any mineral makeup producer, so rest assured that my motives are pure!
