Category: drugstore.com

Miracle cream

Cold Cream 'n' Roses


Miracle cream – LMX5™

The hair on my chin and jaw became unmanageable, so it was time for me to look beyond tweezing and snipping hairs with a manicure scissors. A dermatologist’s office tried to sell me on a package of laser treatments, but I balked at the price. Moreover, I’ve read that the effectiveness of laser hair removal depends on the contrast between the hair and the skin. As many of my hairs were light in color, I decided that I was not a good candidate for laser hair removal and went back to electolysis.

Now, I am a baby when it comes to electrolysis. My eyes tear up and I wince and twitch like crazy. This time, however, I quietly lied on the table while the electrologist deftly removed hairs. It didn’t hurt even when she removed hairs near the lips, where there are a lot of nerve endings. The difference? LMX5™ numbing cream, a topical anesthetic.

LMX5™ doesn’t require a prescription, but I had to special order it through CVS. drugstore.com doesn’t even carry it – it carries only the 4%, which, according to what my electrologist heard from her other clients is not as effective as LMX5™. However, Amazon.com does carry LMX5™.

Don’t be turned off by the fact that LMX5™ is marketed as an anorectal cream. After all, if beauty contestants can use Preparation H to treat puffy eyes, why can’t you use LMX5™? It’s also supposed to be good for undergoing treatments such as Botox.


Liv Tyler, as featured on the cover of the July 2007 issue of Allure

NEW The July 2007 issue of Allure (which features Liv Tyler on the cover) also recommends numbing creme when doing a bikini wax.

Finding those hard-to-find inexpensive cosmetics

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Every now and then, I get inquiries about specific Love My Lips products. Unfortunately, finding these products is catch-as-catch-can. I don’t know of any store that carries a complete line of Love My Lips products. Moreover, Bari Cosmetics, which distributes Love My Lips, has not been responsive to my inquiries. To those people looking for Love My Lips products, I suggest prowling dollar and close-out stores, including, but not limited to, the big chains such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Big Lots!

Jordana is another much sought-after brand of inexpensive cosmetics, particularly for their eyeliner pencils. Walgreen’s drugstores carry Jordana’s eyeliner and lip liner pencils, and you can find a broader range of Jordana cosmetics at dollar stores, although I haven’t seen Jordana at the big chain stores. Alas, I can no longer find Jordana’s eyeliner in Bittersweet – it was the perfect black-brown eyeliner that I favor. Now, however, you can shop for Jordana online at BestBeautyOnline.com.


My web stats indicate a number of queries on L’Oreal HIP foundation. It has been harder to find this in stores. My contact at L’Oreal tells me that several retailers are no longer carrying L’Oreal HIP Flawless Liquid Makeup, in order to make room for other L’Oreal HIP products; however, Rite-Aid and Wal-Mart are still carrying L’Oreal HIP Flawless Liquid Makeup. Rite-Aid partners with drugstore.com for online shopping.

My web stats also show a few queries on Boots No 7 products at Canada’s Shoppers Drug Mart. While Boots No 7 and Botanicals may be found at select CVS stores and many Target stores in the U.S., only four Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Canada carry Boots cosmetics: for more information, visit Shoppers Drug Mart.

Great drugstore finds

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As the interview with Aunt Beep for ThisNext showed, I’m an inveterate roamer at CVS, particularly its cosmetics aisles, which not only have the usual mass-market brands, but also Lumene, a cosmetics brand from Finland exclusive to CVS and the French skin care brands Avene and LaRoche-Posay.

Here are some drugstore finds that I’d like to share with my readers:

Maybelline Dream Mousse Shadows in Rose Kiss and Black Spice from their limited edition Sugar and Spice collection for Valentine’s Day (the collection even featured nail polish with heart-shaped sparkles!) . Rose Kiss is a beatiful shade for the lid, while Black Spice is great for the outer corner of the eye for the class smoky eye look. If only Maybelline would add these shades to its regular collection!

L’Oreal has now added liquid bronzer to its popular True Match™ collection of foundations, powders, concealers, and blushes designed to flatter a wide variety of skin tones. I am very fond of True Match™ liquid makeup in N3 – see my review at ThisNext, so I picked up the liquid bronzer in N1-2-3. This liquid bronzer may be blended with your foundation or be used alone.

UPDATE: The May 2007 of Lucky has a good tip: apply liquid bronzer before foundation to even skin tones. It worked for my skin, which has a tendency towards ruddiness


Physicians Formula Mineral Wear™ Talc-Free Mineral Eye Shadow Quad

Finally, Physicians Formula has released six different talc-free Mineral Eye Shadow Quads, all in beautiful shades. My complaint is about the packaging – you have to flip the compact over to use the mirror, so it’s a clumsy way of applying the eyesahdow.

You can find Maybelline, L’Oreal, and Physicians Formula at major drugstores, mass-market retailers, supermarkets, and drugstore.com. Lumene is exclusive to CVS, and you can also find Avene and LaRoche-Posay at select CVS stores. Stores carrying Vital Radiance are now trying clear their inventory, so now is the time to snap up these products (which were good, although the line was badly marketed) at the right price – I was fond of Vital Radiance’s Smoothing Eye Primer mousse, so I bought two at half-price. Paula’s Choice may be purchased through the web site for Paula Begoun.

UPDATE: I have since found out that drugstore.com and Amazon.com carry a wide variety of Vital Radiance products.

L’Oreal HIP High Intensity Pigments

Cold Cream 'n' Roses


L’Oreal has a new makeup line called HIP High Intensity Pigments now available at drugstores and mass-market retailers. I was struck by the outre makeup on the models that looks like something to be found on a MAC display. Even the typeface for HIP looks like MAC’s.

The collection comprises 61 shades of creme blush, base, eyeshadow, lipcolor, lip gloss, bronzer, and eye color.


L’Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Flawless Liquid Makeup, Sand 802

In her article on determining your skintone, Paula Begoun noted that “The goal is to use foundation to neutralize whatever overtones are present with a neutral- to slightly yellow-toned foundation, thus matching the skin’s natural undertone. … There are a few exceptions to this guideline: Native North American or South American women, a tiny percentage of African-American women, and some Polynesian women do indeed have a red cast to their skin.” L’Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Flawless Liquid Makeup comes in a variety of shades appropriate for women of color with reddish casts to their skin (select the link to find other shades other than that pictured). The HIP Cosmetics website states that there are “violet perles” in these bases, but I don’t know how they affect the shade or the shininess of the makeup.


L’Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss, Tempting 378

L’Oreal Hip High Intensity Pigments Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss are packaged in the same tubes used for L’Oreal Colour Juice Sheer Lip Gloss (a favorite of The Style Page BTW). They come in both pearlized and non-pearlized shades.

Overall, this is an impressive debut. L’Oreal is the leader among drugstore brands when comes to innovative product offerings – by comparison, Revlon’s recent product offerings are uninspired.