Manolo for the Beauty

Given a rare 4.9 out of 5.0 rating on Sephora, these glittery temporary lip tattoos ensure that the glitter stays on your lips.  They come in five different colors and last four to eight hours.

I have to say that I adore this type of look, but for some reason, the glitter has a tendency to migrate off my lips, creating an unflattering smattering of tiny glitter particles around my mouth.   Especially if I’ve been dumb enough to eat a sandwich or bread.  Hellooo glitter chin!  And trust me when I say nobody wants to see a glitter chin.

These tattoos from Violent Lips look to be a bit high on the glittery scale, though, perhaps a bit too much for someone whose club days are long behind her.

But, that doesn’t mean I can’t like them.  And then be jealous of the people who DO wear them.  Don’t tell me ladies, I don’t want to know who you are.

Perfume is what 57% of you use when you want some scent. 17% of you like to layer various products, and I would throw myself in that category. Not only will I use perfume, but I will definitely use a complimentary lotion. 9% of you prefer to be without an artificial scent, and only small percentages use soap, lotions, and body sprays to achieve your desired smell.

Buying beauty products can be an expensive endeavor. However, it is possible to create anything from lip balm to exfoliators to shampoo in the comfort of your own home. And for a fraction of the price.  How DIY are you when it comes to beauty?

What can I say, I’m a bar-soap in the shower kind of gal.

Even with all the bajillions of liquid soap options out there for me, I prefer a to use a bar, period.  Based on the bar soap to liquid soap ratio I see on store shelves, I’m a dying breed.

Up until very recently, I’ve used whatever bar soap they carried at Costco, mostly some version of Dove.

But unlike years past, my skin would be dry and flaky (oh the joys of getting older) and I just didn’t feel totally clean.  I always felt like there was some sort of residue on me, and don’t tell me to use the liquid soaps, because those are even worse.

Enter Dr. Bronner’s.

This soap, it changed my life.

Full disclosure, I am an unpaid products tester for a PR firm that deals with all-natural products.  Well, I get paid in products, but not cash.  One day I was sent a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap in its liquid form.  I used it because even though I dislike liquid soap, the agreement was that I try it out and rate it.  And try it out, I did.

Religious and other rantings on the label aside, I am inloooove. 

You are skeptical.  I can sense it.  In love with a soap, eh Glinda?

I have never used a liquid soap that smelled so wonderful and produced so much lather.  Nor made me feel almost obscenely clean.  And despite my recent Dove habit, I’ve used some pretty expensive soaps in my time. Warning, though, if you use the Peppermint on your private areas, it will make them tingle.  And not necessarily in a good way.  Not in an “oh-god-shoot-me-now” way but more like a “damn-I-need-to-rinse-this-stuff-off-ASAP” kind of way.  Once it is off,  though, its off and there are no ill after-effects.

So after trying the liquid, I found out the soap also comes in bars. The heavens opened up and the angels trumpeted and smiled indulgently as me as I eagerly bought the almond version.   I adore almond scent and nobody makes anything with an almond scent any more.  At least, not that I can easily find.

The aromatherapy aspect is reduced with the bar soap, but it is every bit as effective. You can use it to shave, and I assure you it is just as good if not better than using a product like Skintimates or something similar.  You can use it on your face in a pinch as well, although I wouldn’t personally recommend it for every day.  It comes in many scents, including lavender and citrus and one especially for babies, which I am so totally going to buy for my toddler once I use up the California Baby stuff I’m currently on. Oh yeah, and you can wash your floors and veggies with it too. 

Now, let me get a little TMI with you.  If you don’t want to read anything vaguely TMI, skip the next sentence or two.  I have always been self-conscious about my lady-bits and any smells that emanate from that area.   It seemed that no matter how much I cleansed, some kind of smell would eventually arrive.  Can I tell you that this soap has stopped that IN ITS TRACKS.  My lady garden now smells like NOTHING.  It is amazing.  I cannot promise that it will do for you what it did for me, but I swear I will never stop using this soap. 

And my veggies have never smelled better, either.

Last week I wanted to know if you would consider getting a vaginal steam bath as a spa service, and 52% of you voted nay.  30% didn’t know what the hell I was talking about, and 14% said they would consider it.  Only 2% answered in the affirmative.  I posted the question not as a referendum on Western versus Eastern medicine, but curious as to whether people would consider it appropriate that it was being offered as a spa treatment rather than a medical service.  And I really couldn’t resist after the woman I quoted from the article referring to it as a “facial for her private area.” 

Today, I’m all about the green.  Green cosmetics, anyway.

In this essay and accompanying interview with the founder of Aveda cosmetics, Ms. Kamali says she has given up wearing lipstick altogether.  Horst Rechelbacher apparently scared the bejusus out of Ms. Kamali by stating that we ingest liptsick (which is true, to some extent) and therefore we are poisoning ourselves with lead and arsenic and who knows what else.

I did some research, including here, here, and here to find out if Mr. Rechelbacher knew what he was talking about. 

 Because I’m not going to say that I’m a big fan of putting poisonous things on myself on a daily basis.  Monthly, maybe, but daily is a bit much.

I also went here, here, and here to read a bit more from the other side.

My thoughts?

We are exposed to toxins on a daily basis, including from our homes, work, and the environment.  So there is no escaping toxins, really. 

Second, I’m not necessarily a big fan of the FDA, and I do believe that the ingredients in cosmetics should be listed for all to see and that there should be more transparency in that department from the cosmetics industry.

Third, I noticed that almost all of the more “inflammatory” articles were either from sources with a vested interest in people buying their “green” products, or people who are heavily invested in a green lifestyle.  Nothing wrong with a green lifestyle, but some of these people are the same ones who believe that children shouldn’t be vaccinated, which I highly disagree with, so there’s that. 

The consensus seems to be that in a lifetime, a woman will ingest about four pounds of lipstick.  Over a lifetime, not a year, as stated in one of the articles above.

In taking all of this information into account, as well as my love for lipstick, I’m going to say that Ms. Kamali is just slightly overreacting.  I’m not going to tell her to put on some red lipstick because she apparently believes that lipstick is toxic, but man, talk about living in fear.  I’m thinking that she is exposed to more toxins breathing the exhaust-laden New York air on a brisk walk than she is wearing lipstick.

And Mr. Rechelbacher, while technically being correct about what lipstick contains, doesn’t go into the specifics, which are actually very important.  Which is a shame, because I really do love Aveda lipsticks, they smell fantastic. Shame on you, Mr. Rechelbacher.  But I’m not sure it’s enough to get me to stop wearing your lipstick.

Do I trust everything companies and the goverment tell me? No.

Am I already being poisoned by lots of other things, including the air that I breathe? Yes.

Is four pounds over a lifetime all that much? I’m thinking no.

With all the research I’ve done and facts at my disposal, I’m going to pick my poison, in a manner of speaking, and continue wearing lipstick.

Wanna join me?