Manolo for the Beauty

Oh BB creams, we hardly knew ye.

You are now being unceremoniously shoved aside for something called a CC cream.  The CC stands for color correct, or color and care, or something similar where you can mix and match appropriate-sounding words that begin with C.

Whatever.

CC creams are supposed to provide better coverage than BB creams yet still retain their sheerness, contain more anti-aging ingredients, and moisturize better.

Well, I guess I can see why BB creams would be a thing of the past.

However, I’m sure there is someone waiting in the wings to invent a DD cream, or even an EE cream.

I think I’ll wait a little while before I spend my money.

A little while ago I read a beauty tip that caused me to pull a Homer Simpson.

Forgive me for forgetting the source, but the article suggested that if you have a fancy schmancy facial cleanser that contains fancy schmancy ingredients, that you should leave it on your skin for a minimum of thirty seconds.

Because of course you want your skin to have the maximum exposure time to those special ingredients, and if you just apply it and quickly wash it off, then you aren’t really giving the product a chance to work in the way it was intended.

I tried it out while using my glycolic acid cleanser, and by golly, I did see a difference in the performance of the cleanser.

Should have been a no brainer, right?

58% of you voted thumbs down on purchasing an at-home gel nail kit, which can be pricey.  5% of you were excited about the idea, and 36% of you weren’t sure.  As someone who really likes nail color but dislikes the upkeep, I have a feeling that gel nails might be the wave of the future for me.  But, not yet.  Probably after my toddler gets a little older and I’m not washing my hands eighty billion times a day.

Now, with a pinky promise not to look it up on the sly, I’ve got a question for you:

Let me get this straight.

You shell out perfectly good money for a doctor to take some blood from your arm, separate the platelets, and then inject it into your face?

Sigh.

I suppose the argument could be made that it is better than injecting botulism cells into your face.

I’ll leave this one to other people.

Talk to me in twenty years, though.  I might change my mind.

No, not snow.

It’s what’s coming off my dry winter skin.

It’s finally cold enough here that the thermostat is set to heat all the time. My daughter is a petite two year old who has pretty much no body fat, and so is prone to getting very cold, especially at night. She refuses to sleep under the covers, so heavy fleece pj’s and a high temp is what gets her through the night.

However, it’s wreaking havoc on my skin, of course. That and the fact that I often have to throw the covers off me in the middle of the night have me highly annoyed.

I’ve got my Bare Escentuals Skin Rev-er Upper, but it’s got salicylic acid in it, which isn’t exactly moisturizing. I love what it does for my skin in normal weather, but my skin is dying right now.

Should I supplement? Change lotions altogether? What is your favorite winter skin moisturizer? Do share!

33% of you love getting beauty products for the holidays, and 33% of you would rather have a gift certificate to get them yourself. 20% like it only if they know exactly what they are getting, while 11% say no way.

Sad to say I like picking out my own stuff, but sometimes I will tell my husband what perfume I want and he can get that.   Unless it’s something like lotion or soap, I am more than happy with a gift card.  However, I’ve never been known to turn a beauty product away.

The past four days have found me busy, busy, busy and needing to put product in my hair, which I normally go without unless I’m going somewhere.  The bad thing is that when I go to bed with stuff still in my hair, I break out.   Sometimes my face will break out if I even apply the product, which happens with almost all Paul Mitchell products. It isn’t so bad if I can get it out beforehand, but did I mention the busy and the toddler?

Because on me, it would simply translate into “oily.”

When the Sonicare toothbrush first came out, I poo-pooed the raves.  Good lord, people, I would think, it’s just a toothbrush.

Then I got one, and understood what everyone was talking about.  Whenever I use a regular toothbrush now, my teeth just don’t feel clean.  Whether there truly is a big difference, I’m not sure, and I’m too lazy to do the research on it right now.  But it certainly FEELS like a big difference to me.

So when the makers of the Sonicare came out with the Clarisonic, which is the skin version of the toothbrush, I really wanted one.

I’m big on exfoliating, or at least thinking that I’m exfoliating, and this thing sounds right up my alley.

But for whatever reason, I’ve yet to purchase one, probably because there are too many expensive lipsticks out there calling my name seductively.

However, that would officially make me an idiot because if your skin doesn’t look decent, then no amount of lipstick is gonna save you.  Not even forty dollar lipstick.

One day, Clarisonic, you will be mine.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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!

I was on the lookout for a daily treatment that would help even out my skin tone and possibly quicken some skin cell turnover.   I decided that ultimately I wasn’t totally happy with the Boots I had been using, and sometimes I like to change it up for no good reason.

So I found myself purchasing the  Bare Escentuals Skin Rev-er Upper, (Which is a pain to type, by the way. Also, each time I have typed it out, I spelled it Sin Rev-er Upper so maybe there’s something wrong with me) and have been very happy with the results.  Since I use Bare Minerals as my foundation, I figured it was worth attempting, as this product is also meant to act as a sort of primer for the powder.

I’ve used it for about three weeks now, and have noticed a bunch of wonderful things.  My pores are a bit less noticeable, I have fewer breakouts and anything that happens to crop up is gone the next day, and my skin tone is more even. It is light, non-oily, and even seems to control my shiny tendencies, perfect for the upcoming hot months.

I have absolutely no drawbacks to to discuss about this product.

Add the fact that this item is not a bank-breaker, and I think I’ve found The One.