Category: Beauty

Blushes as Bronzers

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bronzers

Bronzer isn’t just for summer; it’s great for warming up pallid or drained winter complexions. Sometimes, however, products marketed as bronzers are simply too brown and muddy. Tawny or reddish brown blushes might be a better choice.

Here are four price-friendly blushes that can work as bronzers (note that the shades as portrayed may not be true):

Revlon Powder Blush in Sandalwood Beige 08 (top left) is great for fair to light midtones.

L’Oreal True Match Super-Blendable Blush, Neutral in Sweet Ginger N7-8 (top right) is marketed for deep skintones, but would be right for medium skintones.

Rubiglo in Earth (bottom left) would be great for dark reddish skintones, as would Iman Luxury Blushing Powder in Sable (bottom right).

What are your favorite bronzers and blushes for your skintone?

Funny … but not surprising

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Here’s this intriguing snippet from WWD: Droll Dame Edna Creates Mac Color Collection:

There’s a new dame in MAC Cosmetics’ arsenal: the irrepressible Dame Edna Everage, who has created an eponymous limited edition color collection for the company.

“I’m doing this out of love — I’m a giver,” said Dame Edna, the lavender-haired alter ego of Australian comedian Barry Humphries. “The audience’s applause was a little louder when I was wearing MAC on stage, so I was a convert. They didn’t have to coerce me.”

To compose the line, Edna holed up in a conference room with James Gager, senior vice president and creative director of MAC Worldwide, and Jennifer Balbier, senior vice president of product…


Dame Edna (Barry Humphries) channels Christine Keeler

TotalBeauty.com members rate foundations

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TotalBeauty.com
Top-Rated Foundations

One of these 14 crowd pleasers from Revlon, Prescriptives, MAC and more could give your skin a flawless finish — sans airbrush experts

We’ve heard complaints about foundation ranging from too heavy and drying to too light and oily, not to mention “too few shades” and “too expensive.” So we made a list of the foundations that garnered praise from TotalBeauty.com members.

See reviews

Obsessive Compulsive Colour Lip Balms

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OCC Colour Lip Balms

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics started its lip balms with its Tarred (black) and Feathered (White) shades. These lip balms weren’t goth: Tarred darkened lip color and Feathered lightened lip color.

Now OCC has expanded its range to include Latte (deep beige to neutralize reds), Melange (warm neutral), Plum, and Vintage (sheer deep purplish-wine).

OCC has also changed its formula since I first blogged on Tarred and Feathered over two years ago. The original Tarred and Feathered were waxy in consistency; today, all OCC’s lip balms are creamy in consistency and formulated with coconut oil, with a touch of peppermint oil. OCC’s also changed its packaging. The original Tarred and Feathered were packaged in tins; today, OCC’s lip balm collection come in pots.

I loved the original Tarred and Feathered, but I like the new formula even better. I was so smitten with the beautiful new shades that I bought the entire collection.

You may shop for Obsessive Compulsive color lip balms at the OCC website.

Deals and steals

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TotalBeauty.com content:

New! Discount Deals of the Week

Check out more free samples, beauty product steals and contests from top brands like Clinique. Hurry, they won’t last long!

Everyone loves a good bargain, which is why we’ve rounded up some of the best deals, sample offers and contest opportunities from favorite beauty brands like Estee Lauder, Clinique, Smashbox, Bare Escentuals and more. Take advantage — they’ll only be around for another few weeks!

Shop deals

Other deals include:

Stila – 20% discount and free shipping on any order of $30 or until Dec. 16th. Use coupon code ECYX12 at checkout.

Julie Hewett – Julie Hewett is known for her red lip colors. 20% discount until November 30. Enter code NOV20 at checkout.

Elke notes that tarte is offering a free cheek stain in Blissful (sheer soft warm pink) with any purchase of a tarte complexion product. Shop tarte and enter code BLISS. This special ends November 14, 2008 at 11:59pm EST.

Beauty411 notes that Lancome is having a Friends & Family Event through November 12th. Shop Lancome and enter code HOLIDAYJOY to receive 20% off of your purchases.

And (shameless plug) promotions being run through More than a pretty face:

Spell Cosmetics – 20% off through Wednesday, November 26. Also giveaway of customized “I’m a Spell Girl” set.

Vosges Haut-Chocolat – 10% through November 30.

Specials and a giveaway from Spell Cosmetics

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More than a pretty face is pleased to present an offer for 20% off all purchases from Spell Cosmetics. To take advantage of this offer, use the coupon code stylepage.


I’m a Spell Girl Kit

In addition, the lovely Gemma of Spell Cosmetics has set up a giveaway of its I’m a Spell Girl kit. The I’m a Spell Girl Kit contains the following: Spell (Harmony) mineral foundation, one lipstick, one mineral Blush, three mineral eyeshadows, one mineral Eyeliner, one Spell Wet n Set eye shadow sealer, one Lip Gloss, and one “Spell Girls” membership card for 25% off all future orders. The best part is that you can choose your own colors!

http://contestmachine.com/embed/survey_js/H1WT6DIPVI

The 20% discount and giveaway end on Wednesday, November 26, 2008.

I’m now ThisNext’s Beauty Expert Maven

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Beauty booty” style=”border-style: solid; border-color: rgb(221, 221, 221) rgb(187, 187, 187) rgb(187, 187, 187) rgb(221, 221, 221); border-width: 1px; margin: 0pt; padding: 0pt;” width=”390″ height=”399″ />

Well, knock me over with a feather. ThisNext, the social shopping website, has not only named me a Maven for 2008, but it’s also named me its Beauty Expert Maven.

So how does an Expert Maven differ from an ordinarily Maven? This Next says this about Expert Mavens:

“They’re the crème de la Maven crème, ThisNext’s most visible specialists in a product field. You can see what they’re recommending on our Community page.”

See more of my Beauty booty list at ThisNext.

Five Great Uses for Your Average Washcloth

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Pursuant to my post Quick Fixes, which featured content supplied by Total Beauty, comes this article from Julyne Derrick of beauty.about.com: 5 Great Uses for Your Average Washcloth.

Formerly, Paula Begoun opposed the use of mechanical exfoliants such as washclothes, as these could create micro-tears in the skin. Paula has changed her position, given the prevalence of long-wearing, non-budging makeup. For the same reason, she now advocates using eye makeup remover.

As for myself, I don’t use an “average” washcloth: instead, I use the Wonder Cloth, which I purchased from Bed Bath & Beyond. Lately, I’ve been using the Klorane Soothing Eye Make-Up Remover with Cornflower Extract lotion to remove eye makeup, and I’m pleased with how it removes eye makeup.

Christopher Drummond Beauty

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Veludo Velvet Foundation

Makeup artist Christopher Drummond began his eponymous line with SAÚDE PELE Radiance Booster. SAÚDE PELE (which means “Healthy Skin” in Portuguese) is a soft gold loose powder which can be used to highlight the cheekbones, brighten the inner corners of the eyes (my favorite use), or as an all-over luminizer. Christopher is a purist when it comes to cosmetics, and he formulated SAÚDE PELE with only organic and vegan ingredients.

Christopher has brought that same ethos to his new products Veludo Velvet Foundation and Finale Finishing Powder. He has also introduced a cream concealer. Veludo Velvet Foundation is a loose powder makeup that comes in six skintone true shades, from Luz/Light (lightest) to Marron/Brown (deepest). It is infused with botanicals such as açai and green tea. Finale Finishing Powder comes in two shades: Neutro/Neutral and Amarelo/Yellow. Christopher recommends Neutro/Neutral for Caucasian skin and Amarelo/Yellow for ethnic skin tones, but I see no reason why Caucasian skin shouldn’t use Amarelo/Yellow.

Before writing this review, I tested Veludo/Velvet Foundation in Justo/Fair and Finale Finishing Powder in Neutro/Neutral for a week. I used the kabuki brush from the Bare Escentuals Get Started kit to apply the Veludo Velvet Foundation and the powder brush from the same kit to apply Finale Finishing Powder. I cleaned the brushes thoroughly beforehand to make sure that the shades were true. Here are a few things I’ve learned to make loose powder makeup work:

– Prepped skin is a must! Apply a moisturizer or primer before applying loose powder.

– Powder makeup is usually not enough to cover redness, despite what you see in those fake before-and-afters from Bare Escentuals. I use liquid or cream makup to cover redness on the cheekbone.

– If you use cream or gel blush, apply these before you apply loose powder makeup. Flawless even toned bare skin is a must! Otherwise, apply a pressed or loose powder blush after you apply loose powder makeup. Given the redness in my skin, I use powder blush to take advantage of the light-diffusing characteristics of loose powder foundation.

SAÚDE PELE, Veludo Velvet Foundation, and Finale Finishing Powder are great for a sheer, soft-focused look. I also recommend these products to those who find ingredients such as parabens and bismuth oxychloride (which is used in Bare Escentuals) problematic and want organic and vegan ingredients. Christopher’s products, as a rule, do not contain these ingredients.

LaurEss Neutralize Mineral Corrector

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LaurEss Neutralize Mineral Corrector

I’ve been experimenting with powder concealers as an alternative to cream or stick concealers.

This lurid yellow-green loose powder corrector covers red and purplish areas, especially around the eye. It’s very opaque, so tap off the excess on your lay-down concealer brush and use a light hand.

You may shop for LaurEss Neutralize Mineral Corrector through LaurEss or Time for Me.