By trying them both ways, i have noticed your hair stays in the bobby pin much tighter and longer when you do it "the right way". Try it out!
Olay In-Shower Body Lotion, where have you been all my life? All those cold winters, stepping out of the shower, shivering, only to apply body lotion that made me feel even colder? All those rushed mornings when I was in too much of a hurry to slather myself up? All those nights when I discovered little flakes of dry skin sloughing off my body, the result of skipping that crucial moisturizer step?
I mourn the days before I discovered this most excellent product, and now I'm determined to never let it out of my sight. Olay In-Shower Body Lotion is a lifesaver, and a timesaver, too. Apply it while still in the shower, after cleansing your body, and then rinse briefly. The water and steam from the shower help the product spread evenly, and you're left with a light coating of moisture-sealing softness - eliminating the need for a post-shower application for body lotion. It's especially great in the winter, when you really want to minimize the time you're out of the warm shower slathering anything on your freezing naked bod. And it's EXCELLENT as a post-shave moisturizer. One note: if you're not a fan of petrolatum in your beauty products, skip this one. That's what makes it work so well - it coats your skin and keeps moisture from escaping (it's when the moisture escapes that your skin gets dry). I don't mind petrolatum (it's the main ingredient in good old Vaseline, after all), but just thought you'd want to know. The funny thing is, In-Shower Body Lotion comes in three varieties - Quench, Ultra Moisture with Shea Butter, and Age Defying with VitaNiacin - but I can never seem to find all three in the same place. Walgreens will have Quench, Target will have Shea, and Duane Reade will have Age Defying, but never more than one variety. All three are great, but the stock situation is bizarre, and I keep worrying that this product is going to end up getting discontinued or reincarnated under another name that I'll have to hunt down. Luckily, drugstore.com carries all three. This isn't such a great week for Avon & Me. First my hopes for the Lotus Shield were dashed, and now I'm disappointed by another product that sounded so good on paper and looked great in the tube.
Jillian Dempsey for Avon Professional Eye Duo is a GREAT idea -- it combines a shimmery liquid shadow on one end with a coordinating liquid liner on the other. I tried it in White with Jet Black eyeliner. But, for starters, the "white" liquid shadow isn't white; it's a pinkish champagne with white shimmer -- which is definitely better than straight-up white shadow, but then why not just call it Champagne? The shadow applies easily with a sponge doefoot applicator and dries quickly; however, it's not very pigmented and it's REALLY pale--if you have a darker skin tone you might want to go with one of the other three shades. I do like the iridescent quality of it, though, and I may reach for it in the future as a highlighter. The other end, the black liquid liner, was what really disappointed me. The formula is thin and a little watery, so once the first stroke starts to drag out, the liner loses its intensity and opacity. You might need to go in for another dip to finish the job. Additionally, the brush is a little too soft. With liquid liners, a good brush is CRITICAL. If you're new to the medium, this isn't a great one to start with; the soft brush makes it too easy to make the line too thick or lose control of it. I'm a pretty experienced user of liquid liners and I was able to get a nice even line with this, but it's just not the best of the bunch. It also took upwards of 20 seconds to dry fully. Overall, it was okay, but I'd never buy it and can't really recommend it. Another one I wanted to love but just couldn't. Bummer! Could it be that I've finally fallen in love with a MAC mascara? I'm a colossal fan of so many things from the brand (among them, Face & Body Foundation, Volcanic Ash Exfoliator, and just about any lip gloss item), but the mascaras have never, well...moved me.
Until now. Haute & Naughty is MAC's latest mascara offering, and while it has a ridiculous name - not to mention a tube that looks like it was designed by Christine Taylor's character in The Wedding Singer - the mascara itself ROCKS. Haute & Naughty gives you two application options in one tube. Unscrew it from the sparkly purple cap, and you'll reveal a fat, fully-loaded brush. Unscrew from the pink cap, however, and it's a whole different ballgame. This action will pull the brush up through a narrow tube, wiping off most of the excess product. This process is actually rather fascinating; I stared, open-mouthed, like a four-year-old, as the same brush appeared from the tube looking either fat and loaded up, or skinny and clean. So how well does it work? Well, Sparky Purple, as I like to call it, delivers fat, bold lashes in just two coats. Awesome if you're a mascara application pro and/or you don't have the time or patience to carefully apply coat after coat. Relatively speaking, though, the formula is rather "wet," so if you're not careful you can end up with a gloppy mess. Just keep your hand steady and go for it. Swoop, swoop, and you're done. On the flip-side, Hot Pink allows for a much more controlled application. With one or two coats, you'll get a natural look, but keep building, and you can achieve some serious volume and length. The best part about this lighter application is that it manages to maintain AMAZING lash separation, coat after coat. To recap: if you're going for a natural look, or looking to add just a touch of mascara to lower lashes, 1-2 coats of Hot Pink'll do it for ya. And if you're looking for length, volume, and separation -- and have some time and patience to apply several coats -- Hot Pink delivers here too. So, if you're looking for multiple options in one sparkly, 80's inspired tube, go for Haute & Naughty. Available now from MAC and Nordie's for $18. OMG, can we talk peel-off masks? Seriously, just thinking about them reduces me to tweenspeak. During my high school years I LOVED a good peel-off mask; I used to raid my mom's skincare stash on the regular, looking for something I could slap on my skin and then slowly peel away.
Right! Moving on. Boscia's new Luminizing Black Mask satisfies the nostalgic craving for a peel-off mask in a major way. It goes on thick, black, and shiny, and you can feel it drying and tightening up. I love that feeling! Instructions say to leave it on for 15 minutes, but depending on the humidity level and the amount you've applied, it may take a little longer to dry. Here in Hawaii, even in my air-conditioned house, I needed 25 minutes because of the incredibly high humidity. And upon peeling it off? I'm gonna have to break out the OMG again. I could actually see little bits of dry skin and well, crap, for lack of a better word, attached to the mask. It was like a light version of a Biore pore strip, but for my entire face. And afterward, my skin felt smooth and soft, not tight or dry. Now, a key point: the secret to a great peel off mask experience is to resist the urge to blend or "feather" the edges as you would with any other face product like moisturizer, primer or foundation. If you apply the mask too thinly at the edges, it'll be difficult to peel off evenly. Make sure to apply a thick, even layer, and pay attention to the edges, around your hairline, jawline, eye sockets, and mouth. Thickness is the key! That said, you might have a few stray bits stuck to your face after you peel the whole thing off. Not to worry; just rinse with warm water and you're golden. Overall, I'm loving this mask for both nostalgia factor and effectiveness. Highly recommended! In this tutorial we’ll teach you how to make your nails look like turquoise stones, but instead of using black as the accent color (which would make it quite literal) we’re using gold for a slightly softer and more glamorous look. Here are the 6 simple steps:
How many of your fancy faces will be rocking GLITTER tonight?? If you’re planning on it, here are some quick tips & tricks along with some of our favorite glitters, glues + tools. I've also listed which stores will have them so you can go in and pick them up last minute…
1. NYX Cosemetics “Glitter Cream Palette” $5.50 Urban Outfitters, Ulta & some CVS stores 2. Deborah Lippman nail polish in “Boom Boom Pow” $20 Nordstrom 3. OPI Muppets Collection in “Rainbow Collection” Ulta or your local beauty supply 4. Sephora Collection Glitter Eyeliner $12. Sephora 5. Sephora silicone glitter applicator brush $3 Sephora 6. Makeup Forever Glitter Pots $13. Macy’s 7. Makeup Forever Eye Seal $17 Sephora 8. TooFaced Glitter Glue $18 Sephora, Ulta 9. Urban Decay “Heavy Metal Collection” $14 Ulta, Sephora 10. NARS “Super Orgasm” blush $28 Sephora, Neiman Marcus BEST TIPS + TRICKS:
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