Makeup and Beauty Blog: Makeup Reviews, Beauty Tips and Drugstore Beauty Finds

Vintage Beauty: What It Was Like for Beauty Addicts Back Then

Fri, 07/30/2010 by Karen | Posted in: Just For Fun, Makeup

Vintage beauty

Chanel, indoor plumbing, the Internet and allergy meds are just a handful of the many reasons I’m glad we live in these modern times, and here’s another: old school beauty was kinda rough!

Back in the 1800s and early 1900s, you couldn’t just walk into a Walgreens (well, Walgreens was around then but not like today) and buy a tube of gloss or a bottle of polish and call it a day. Many women made their own cosmetics at home, and some of the ingredients they used were downright naaaasty.

Pale skin was all the rage; to get the look, women would dust their visages with lead-based face powders (we now know how harmful lead can be). As if that wasn’t bad enough, they would darken their hair with shampoos made from iron rust, and for soft, supple smackers, they made lip salves from spermaceti, a waxy substance collected from the heads of sperm whales (classy).

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The Estee Lauder Blue Dahlia Collection Makes Me Happy to Sing These Blues

Thu, 07/29/2010 by Karen | Posted in: Makeup, Product Reviews

Tags: estee lauder

estee lauder blue dahlia swatches review photos

Do you ever just stop and stare up at the sky as it changes colors at dusk? As the day slinks away? Doesn’t it look like someone’s cranking up the saturation on everything? Okay, yeah, so it might sound kinda boring, but you gotta do it every so often.

Estee Lauder Creative Makeup Director Tom Pecheux says that’s the kind of light — the colors that emerge at the moment day turns to night — that inspired the company’s new Blue Dahlia collection (have you seen the 1946 movie of the same name?).

The punchy purples, electric blues, pale pinks, elegant taupes and juicy raspberries in the 16-piece limited edition release tell a tale of cool-toned colors for eyes, lips and nails.

Today I explored five of Blue Dahlia’s delights…

Both the Blue Dahlia Five Color Eyeshadow Palette ($42) and Sepia Sand Eyeshadow ($20) to my eye demonstrate how far Estee Lauder’s eyeshadows have come over the last few years, both in terms of color and quality. They strike me with a sharper edge than the EL of days gone by.

Despite how pigmented they are, these soft, smooth powder shadows could almost blend themselves. They’re everything I love most about what Estee Lauder has become — rich, classy and eminently wearable. Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

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I’m Straight Trippin’ over $5 TRESemme Heat Tamer Spray

Thu, 07/29/2010 by Karen | Posted in: Drugstore Beauty Finds, Hair, Product Reviews

Tags: bargain

tresemme heat tamer spray review

Seriously, where would we be without our friends to show us the beauty light? I imagine we’d bumble our way through the beauty-sphere, eventually finding the best stuff on our own, but isn’t it nice when a buddy offers a heads up about something truly great (and cheap!)?

To wit: my pal Marisol recently turned me on to TRESemme Heat Tamer Spray ($5), and HELLO! — talk about bomb-@ss drugstore beauty finds.

I’d been seeing it on shelves for months but wasn’t compelled to give it a try until Marisol’s recommendation.

TRESemme designed the spray mist to protect hair from heat damage, to tame frizz and to add shine.

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Comment to Win L’Oreal Infallible Stars Never Fail Lipcolour Compact in Beyonce’s Red [5 WINNERS]

Thu, 07/29/2010 by Karen | Posted in: Just For Fun

My body may not be as bootylicious as Beyonce’s (um, where can I buy her bum?), but my lips can now look almost as luscious as hers thanks to Beyonce’s Red, a new long-wearing lip color from L’Oreal.

It’s one of six shades in the new L’Oreal Infallible Stars Never Fail Lipcolour Compacts sub-collection of long-wearing lipsticks, each one named after a different lovely star (overall, the Infallible collection contains more than 30 shades!).

If your pout would like to shine in Beyonce’s Red, this could be your lucky day.

It’s giveaway time!

THE PRIZE

(Winners randomly selected)

Five lucky ladies (or gents) will each win one (1) L’Oreal Paris Infallible Stars Never Fail Lipcolour Compact in Beyonce’s Red, a vibrant, long-wearing red that veritably demands attention (a $12 value).

Beyonce’s Red

The packaging for the L’Oreal Infallible Stars Never Fail Lipcolour Compacts

Strike a pose, B!

TO ENTER

Just answer the following in the comments (no worries; there are no right or wrong answers):

“How do you feel about red lipstick?”

My answer: There’s a time and place for red lipstick, and at those times and places, red rules! It’s just so classy and polished.

RULES

The giveaway is open to US readers only. Please, one entry per person, and don’t forget to leave a valid email address in the comment form so I can reach you if you’ve won.

I’ll choose the winners at random from the entries received by 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, July 30, 2010.

Good luck!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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Would You Slather Your Face with Snail Gel in the Name of Beauty?

Wed, 07/28/2010 by Karen | Posted in: Drugstore Beauty Finds, Just For Fun, News, Skin Care

Gross and ewww! Add this to the weird beauty product files — De Tuinen Snail Gel, a skincare product made from the slime of Chilean snails (!), supposedly softens, smooths and supports skin elasticity for a more youthful-looking you.

Apparently, these snails ooze a slime high in allantoin, a compound found naturally in most mammals (but not in humans). It’s an active ingredient in many over-the-counter beauty products for its purported moisturizing and exfoliating properties (it’s said to help loosen and shed the outer layers of skin).

Chilean snail farmers (now there’s a phrase you don’t hear often) first discovered the moisturizing power of the slime, and clinical tests have shown that snail secretions high in allantoin can, in fact, plump the skin.

For a mere £20.45 (about $32 US dollars), Britain’s Holland and Barrett, specialists in natural supplements and herbs, will send you your very own jar of snail goo.