Five Favorites: August 2011

So here are my five favorite products for the month of August. A few of the products I’ve had but used more this month and there are a few new great products I purchased this month. I can’t believe next month I will be writing about September products already. This summer went by really fast, but it was a good one  

 Vaseline Cocoa Butter Vitalizing Gel Body Oil

I've been using this body oil after I get out of the shower all summer long. I’m so glad I bought it because I can’t imagine not having right after I get out of the shower. Vaseline has come out with a lot of good products and this is definitely one of them.  The almond oil fortifies your skin with essential minerals and antioxidants while the Brazil nut oil helps boost skin’s natural moisture barrier to lock hydration. Not only does it help revitalize the skin, it also gives your skin a more supple, healthy glow. So not only does your skin feel extra smooth and soft you can actually see how your skin glows from this oil, but don’t worry just because your skin looks shiny doesn’t mean its going to feel oily and greasy. Unless you go overboard and put globs of it on. A little amount goes along way too.  It also smells really good! I apply this right after I get out of the shower then apply my usual body lotion for extra hydration.

Studio Gear Dual Identity Wet/Dry Foundation

I was looking for a really good wet/dry powder foundation for a while. I really did my research on this because I knew I wanted a non drugstore brand this time, the reason being is I’ve tried pretty much every powder foundation (wet or dry) drugstore brand and was never really too impressed with any of them. So I went to one of my favorite stores website, Ulta and looked up their best powder foundations and found Studio Gear Dual Identity Wet/Dry Foundation. I read all the reviews and descriptions and it sounded like just what I was looking for. I like liquid foundation but there’s those days when you don’t have as much time or don’t need full coverage,  so that’s when this kind of foundation comes in handy. Plus I like the dewy finish it gives me when using it wet. This product plays two different identities, powder foundation and water based foundation. It comes with a sponge called Angel Skin, it’s a dual surface sponge, one side for dry application and the other for wet application. I really actually liked this sponge until I realized you can only use the wet side once because after its been moistened the water ruins the material. So this is a trick I do,  I mix 3 parts of glycerin with 4 parts of water and mix it together in a small spray bottle, then mist my face before applying the powder and use a kabuki brush to blend it in and it gives me a fresh dewy look. You can actually use this with any powder if you wanted. The glycerin also gives me extra moisture and helps set the product.  This product comes in five different colors I believe. I use Praline, its like a dark beige. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good quality wet/dry powder.

Velcro Rollers

I can't rave enough about Velcro rollers! There so great, especially for my hair type. which is straight/wavy, that tends to get frizzy and puffy right after blow drying oh and is also very thick! Right after I'm done blow drying my hair I separate the top of my hair into three sections and roll each backwards into a large roller. Then I usually roll two sections in the middle and roll those as well.   I wouldn’t recommend spraying any hair-spray until you take the rollers out or you might have a sticky hot mess while trying to take the roller out. Do this with any sections of your hair, it's up to you. I try to leave them in for at least 20 minutes and use that time to do my makeup or get dressed. Then right before I'm ready to leave my house I take them out. The rollers also give me some volume too which is a plus and you can find these basically anywhere for cheap. You can get them in sets of 12, 24 or you can just buy 3 at a time. So the prices vary.

e.l.f Defying Eye Brush

Im still amazed that I only paid $1 for this wonderful little brush, I’ve actually went back and bought a few more just in case it went out of stock or was ever discounted. I’ve found that I can use this brush in a few different ways. My favorite is to define the crease and defining the outer V, then I like to use it for highlighting the inner corner of my eye, brow bone and even to contour my nose. The size of this brush is perfect for fitting right into the crease, its small enough but also has that rounded tip to highlight the inner corners, and also is a good fit for the sides of your nose. elf has some really great eye brushes, one of my favorite eye shadow brushes is also from elf and only a $1.

Clean & Clear Advantage popped pimple relief

Although we all know we’re not supposed to pop pimples, sometimes its just really hard not to. I'm definitely guilty of this, and that’s why I bought clean & clear’s popped pimple relief. It promises to diminish any trace of the pimple while the gel begins to work. It’s designed to soothe soreness and clear up acne pimples. I bought this a few months ago hoping everything they promised to deliver would work. It has 2% salicylic  acid, which is a great source of clearing bacteria and clearing scars. I used this the first time I popped a small pimple (by accident) lol. and after a day I noticed that any marks or the beginning of scaring was gone.  this product is excellent to prevent any scarring from acne that occurs after you pop your pimples. I remember I bought it at Walgreens for $6.99, at first I was a little taken back by the price but that’s just the bargain shopper in me. Overall, I'm not disappointed in the price now knowing that it was worth it. 

Wednesday's Beauty Tip

Beauty Tip of the Week

Instant Colored Mascara

Colored Mascara can give your eyes an instant pop of color. I think I still have my Maybelline’s Great Lash Mascara in Royal Blue. Every now and then its fun to use and I always get compliments when I do wear it. That is the only color besides black I’ve ever tried but I always wanted to try maybe purple or green.

If you want to experiment with other mascara colors without going out and buying them, here’s a really cool trick I read in Cosmo recently:

Dip a wand in clear mascara then into any shade of loose shadow (the powder will stick to the bristles). Then swipe lashes gently to tint them. Rinse the brush and use it to make a new mascara hue anytime!!

Pretty cool, huh?

Have you or do you like using colored mascara? If so, what colors do you use?

Review: Revlon ColorStay Overtime Lip Color

16 hour ColorStay Overtime Lip Color with Soft Flex Moisturizing Top Coat in Neverending Nude

This is one of those lipstick’s and clear top coat in one deal. Whenever I buy lipstick or lipgloss, which isn’t too often I always buy one that promises to stay on for a long time. One of the main reasons why I don’t usually wear anything but chapstick is because I hate how you apply it then ten seconds later you have to re-apply it. Or when you're wearing lipgloss and you go outside and your hair blows in your face and sticks to you lips. I don’t know that just really bothers me lol.



I saw this at Walgreens and really liked the color, plus it promises to stay on for 16 hours so I figured I would give it a try. Oh and plus it was 50% off so it only came to $5. It’s lighter on your lips then it looks in the swatch I did.

“Advanced ColorStay formula with SoftFlex Technology provides 16 hours of comfortable color. No touch-ups needed-even after meals.TopCoat enriched with 99% moisture, chamomile and soy extract keeps lips comfortable and delivers the shiniest shine.”

-Revlon



PROS

- It does stay on your lips for a good 8 hrs. (maybe even 16 hrs. but I couldn’t wait that long)

- The color including the top coat looks exactly the same hours later

- The color is really pretty and the top coat is shiny but not too shiny. Subtle

- It doesn’t stick to your hair when the wind blows outside (a plus for me)



CONS

- The color isn’t very easy to apply evenly

- Even though the color lasts a while, it doesn’t feel as comfortable on your lips as they said it would

- I don’t like how the lip color gets on the top coat brush every time you use it. I feel like it can ruin the top coat application

- The moisture only lasts for about an hour or two.

Overall I don’t think this is a bad product but I don’t think its great either. It does stay on like they promised. But I feel like it should go on more evenly. I don’t think I would recommend this product to anyone unless it was 50% off or you got a really good deal for it. Besides all the cons the color is very pretty. Personally I wouldn’t buy it again. But you live and learn lol

Review: Elemis Fresh Skin Products

I won!!!  

Thanks to one of my favorite beauty sites, Daily Glow.com  I am so lucky to be able to do a review on this new skin line that’s specially designed for woman in their teens and twenties called Elemis FreshSkin.

This line was created by Noella Gabriel, Elemis' Director of Product & Treatment  Development, she was not only inspired by her three younger nieces to create this line but also driven by her young team of beauty therapists. 

“Being in your teens and twenties is all about having a busy packed life, and that’s the way it should be. So it is important to have a trusted skin care regimen, which is more than just basic cleaning, it should nurture your skin, help prevent premature aging and brighten tired, dull and lifeless days…and of course those late nights! As the leading British skincare brand, we believe that skincare begins with Elemis FreshSkin. Each product is formulated with active raw ingredients such as elder flower, rosehip seed oil, apple, blackcurrant, goji berry, and geranium combined with skin kind bases specially chosen for their ability to help cleanse, exfoliate, prevent damage, moisturize, and boost skin’s elasticity to keep it youthful for longer”

-Elemis FreshSkin

I was so excited when I found out just a few days ago that I was chosen as the winner of this great giveaway and even more excited yesterday when I received the package in the mail which included:

- Peachy Perfect Gentle Face Wash

-Skin Glow Exfoliating Skin Wash

-Dreamy Sleep night-time moisturizer

-Tired eyes soothing eye rescue

-Softly Softly daily moisturizer

-Loving Lips quenching lip balm

-Deep Clean & Magical Moisture face mask duo

-Makeup-Away cleansing wipes

I was only able to try out 3 products so far; the makeup-away cleansing wipes, the peachy perfect everyday facial wash and the dreamy sleep night time moisturizer.

So far I like all 3, the makeup wipes took off my eye makeup easily as well as my face make up, the smell of the face wash was yummy and it seems gentle enough to use day and night, the night time moisturizer also smelt good and when I woke up my face looked brighter and felt very smooth.

I wanted to post this now even though I haven’t tried every product yet, but I will come back and fill you in on all the others once I’ve tried them.

Thank you Daily Glow!!!!

Wednesday’s Beauty Tip

Beauty Tip of The Week

FILING NAILS!!

 I like to file my nails with nail polish still on; not when freshly painted but before I remove the old polish. I do this because I find it the easiest way to shape them evenly and the way I want them.  When I file them without any polish on I tend to follow my nail beds and the white tip of the nail (that are not always even), then I end up having uneven lengths and different shapes.  I know this is different from the way most of you probably have been taught to file your nails, but if you give it a try you might see a difference  

Try to use a glass nail file as opposed to the regular ones. Glass files cause less tears and chips in your nails. Always file in one direction only and don’t over file your nails.

Review: Hard Candy Glamazon Glow

I couldn’t resist when I saw this cute little package filled with golden goodies by Hard Candy. I had to run to Wal-Mart yesterday to get one thing, but I knew I couldn’t leave without checking out the beauty isles. They had a few different other combos; a pink blush set and a smokey eye package. I just thought this was so cute for $8. I always wanted to try their baked bronzer and the 24 karat glow all the way face & body luminizer, I just recently ran out of their primer too so that’s one of the major reasons I bought it.

The size of each product are equal to travel sizes, it came with:

 Glow All They Way Face & Body Luminizer infused with 24 karat gold

Plexi Gloss Glossy Lip Shine in Genie 

So Baked Bronzer in Tropics

Sheer Envy Face Primer

I did a swatch of each product except for the face primer because there’s no color to it. When looking at the swatches keep in mind that my camera combined with the lighting didn’t do the best job at showing their true colors. I have to work on adjusting the lighting but you’ll get the idea, this is also my first time swatching colors, I know right? lol

I’ve never seen these packages before, maybe it’s something new they came out with or maybe its just a random product they are selling for a short time because there were only 2 other packages left. I'm happy I bought it though, I need to try more of Hard Candy’s products.

How do you guys feel about Hard Candy’s products, have you tried a lot of them, like them or no?

Teeth Tattoos: Yay or Nay?

TOOTH TATOOS- JAPANESSE FASHION

Notice anything different on this woman’s face? Yup, that’s right she has a decal on her tooth, which is matched perfectly with her lipstick and nails.

I was on the internet  looking at different Japanese trends when I came across Tattoos for Teeth!  Am I the only one who’s never heard of this until now?

Apparently these have been around for years now, but just recently have they become the latest trend among Japanese woman. Some even match there nail art to there tooth art! Tooth decals do exist here in the U.S but haven’t caught on…yet. Who knows, we’ve seen big hip hop artists from men to woman sport grills to add some bling so why not tooth art. These temporary tattoos are applied with a special glue and last up to a few days.

There’s a man named Steven Heward who is a professional tooth artist, he actually does hand drawn paintings on your teeth, you can get a picture of your favorite celeb to any artwork you might want (painted on your tooth)!. Here are some examples of his work.

George Washington, Amy Winehouse, Elvis, Tiger Woods are just a few examples in this pic.

If you only want to try this for a day or two, they sell decals that last for only 24 hours. They come in smiley faces, emotions and other symbols. They sell these at  www.smileshop.com,  each sheet of decals are priced at $3.99.

Talk about adding some BLING to your smile, they also have gemstones, colored crystals, diamonds (real or fake) which are known as dental jewelry. You would have to go to a dentist to get these put on, they supposedly don’t damage your teeth bc there isn't any drilling or holes. They are placed usually on one of your front teeth with adhesive and will last until you’re ready to take them off, they say if you have oral habits such as chewing on pens then it might not be for you.

So what do you guys think, would you ever consider getting anything tattooed on your teeth? I was surprised to find out that people actually do this, but hey who am I to judge. Personally, I can’t see myself ever trying this. I guess its just not me, I don’t even have any regular tattoos! lol.