Archives for February 2008

Spring Fragrance Quest, Part I: Bath and Body Works Enchanted Orchid

February 29th, 2008 by Karen 42 Comments

I am flat-out hooked on Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle perfume, but I’m afraid it might be too heavy for warmer spring weather, so I’ve been sniffing around for a lighter, fresher spring fragrance. I call my search Spring Fragrance Quest. I’m on a mission to find something either citrusy or floral, or maybe even a combo of both, and this morning I headed over to the mall to check out Enchanted Orchid, the new fragrance by Bath & Body Works.

Enchanted Orchid’s pretty purple-pink packaging immediately caught my eye (those are Phalaenopsis orchids on the labels!). For some reason, the words Enchanted Orchid make me think of a magical plant creature with the power to hypnotize passers by. I guess I’m just weird like that…

Bath & Body Works Body Lotions ($10) and Eau de Toilettes ($19) are usually my faves, so I gave the Enchanted Orchid versions of both of them a good sniff. Right off the bat, I caught the whiffs of violets and gardenias. Enchanted Orchid’s fragrance notes include:

Top: Pink grapefruit, wet greens, waterlily and crisp apple
Mid: Calypso orchid, gardenia, delicate iris and violet petals
Base: Vanilla orchid, heliotrope, creamy amber and skin musk

I would characterize it as a combo citrus-floral blend. I slathered lotion on my left arm and sprayed the Eau de Toilette on my right. Then I wandered around the store to let the Enchanted Orchid creature work its magic on my body chemistry. After 10 minutes, I gave both arms another strong sniff… First thing that came to mind: Play-Doh! None of the initial fruit and floral notes came through. No more violets, apples, nothing — all I smelled was vanilla, which inevitably reminded me of good ole’ fashioned Play-Doh.

Now, I can appreciate a good can of Play-Doh as much as the next toddler or tyke, but I don’t exactly want to cruise around smelling like a kindergarten art class, so I’m going to have to pass on Enchanted Orchid.

Spring Fragrance Quest continues!

Next up — the fragrance counter at Nordstrom! Do you have any spring fragrance recommendations for me? What should I check out next?

Purchase Enchanted Orchid body products online at Bath & Body Works nationwide.

It’s Friday, ya’ll! To top it off it’s an extra day (Leap Year), which for some reason makes today seem even better, like a special bonus prize. I got home late last night from dancing and am totally exhausted. The DJ played old school hip hop from the ’80s and ’90s, and I danced my booty off on the dance floor!

At some point the DJ transitioned into playing Barry White. I was too into my dancing zone to really notice at the time, but when I finally figured out what had happened, it was like a disco fantasy. All that was missing were my roller skates and feathered hairdo. ‘Twas awesome.

Face it: Barry White couldn’t get enough of your luuurve, baby.

There’s a price to pay for all my boogie-ing down last night: today I’ve got dark circles from hell, LOL.

Happy Leap Year, cuties, and happy, happy Friday! What do you have lined up for this weekend?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Take Me to Hawaii with Lancome’s Pixel Pink

February 28th, 2008 by Karen 26 Comments

Lancome’s got a video on Youtube celebrating Pixel Pink Color Fever Shine lipstick, the limited edition shade created for fashion designer Thankoon Panichgul’s Spring 2008 runway show. While the entire video is an interesting insight into the inspiration behind the lipstick and the backstage goings-on at NY Fashion Week, my favorite parts are the animated sequences of “moving paintings” by experimental filmmaker Jeff Scher.

Still shots of Jeff’s moving paintings

There’s a segment at the beginning when Thankoon talks about what inspired the Pixel Pink shade (it starts at the 00:52 mark and runs through about 01:12) where you see the first animated series of Jeff’s paintings. They’re brightly colored, with vivid blues, greens and reds, and tell the story behind Thankoon’s muse, a carefree girl who ditches her job and moves to Hawaii to hang out, surf and to wear pink lipstick. Um, hello, Thankoon — that’s like, my life dream.

(Note: This video is only about 3 minutes long, not the 9 minutes reflected in the player.)

I love the video sequence in which the paintings change in rapid succession and the one with the Jeep (complete with surf boards in the back) driving over the Haleiwa Bridge on the North Shore of the island of Oahu:

… and here’s the real life Haleiwa bridge!

The bridge shots lead into a sequence in which Thankoon’s muse goes surfing. I so want to be this girl!

lancome-pixel-pink-thankoon-jeff-scher-haleiwa-surf-girl-2

I’m purchasing my tube of Pixel Pink online from the Lancome Web site, but if you can’t wait for online delivery, you can also get it from Lancome counters at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus department stores, or at one of the five Lancome boutiques nationwide. And then there’s also ordering by telephone. To do it you’ll need to provide your credit card number and address over the phone. Here are numbers to the five U.S. Lancome Boutiques:

Manhattan, New York: (212) 362-4858
The Mall at Short Hills, New Jersey: (973) 258-0790
Northpark Mall in Dallas, Texas: (214) 750-9364
Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, California: (408) 244-8334
Brea Mall in Brea, California: (714) 671-0267

Let’s just drop everything and head to Hawaii next week. Come on, the warm tropical breezes, the white, sandy beaches, the hot surfer dudes… YES!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Get Sandal-Ready Feet with Philosophy Soul Owner Foot Cream

February 28th, 2008 by Karen 26 Comments

The sun’s shining in my ‘hood, so a few days ago I dug through my closet, aka the 10th circle of hell, to find my favorite spring sandals. I found them but ended up wearing Adidas Shell Toe sneakers to work instead, because, when I took my socks off and examined my feet closely, they looked pretty gross — flaky heels, dry toes, gnarly cuticles. Ewww! Even though I’ve been good about moisturizing those bad boys at night, my feet still looked rougher than Bobby Brown’s mug shot.

To get them sandal-ready, first I made a weekend appointment for an overdue pedicure. Next, I busted out a tube of Philosophy Soul Owner exfoliating foot cream ($14 for a 3.3 oz tube) to do some interim damage control.

An exfoliating foot treatment with alpha and beta hydroxy acids, Soul Owner reduces dry, flaky skin and exfoliates callouses. Eucalyptus oil, which works as an emollient and skin refresher, gives the cream a fresh, masculine herbal scent. No flowers or fruit here.

The thick, non-greasy formula felt like a body cream, so it took me a few minutes to work it into the skin. The coolest thing (literally) about this cream is the subtle cooling sensation it produced when I massaged it into my heels, soles and toes. It didn’t sting; in fact, it felt just cold enough to be kind of relaxing.

For the past few nights I’ve applied Soul Owner before bed, and now my feet look smoother and feel softer, especially around the heels. They’re looking pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself!

However, there is a price to pay (isn’t there always?) for all this foot cuteness. One caveat to using this product is that while glyolic and salicylic acids are fantastic ingredients for softening and exfoliating, they also increase your skin’s sun sensitivity. While your feet get soft and sexified for spring’s skin-baring footwear, unfortunately they also become more susceptible to sunburn. Oh, the irony. If you’re going to use Soul Owner, Philosophy suggests applying sunscreen to your feet and limiting sun exposure.

Soul Owner is great for getting scraggly winter feet ready for spring, but even though I love Soul Owner’s exfoliating and softening powers, when the weather heats up and my feet see a lot of sun, I probably won’t be using it on a daily basis because of the increased sun sensitivity thing.

I’m really looking forward to liberating my feet from the confines of thick, winter socks and oppressive closed-toe shoes. During the spring and summer I live in flip-flops and sandals, so my toes are free to wiggle, stretch and pinch (yes, you read that correctly. I can pinch with my toes) to their heart’s content. Are you itching for sandal weather, too?

Purchase Soul Owner exfoliating foot cream online on the Philosophy Web site, or at your nearby Nordstrom or Macy’s Philosophy counter.

Tonight I’m hitting the club with two of my friends, NBLACK and C-Lo. I haven’t gone dancing with them in a long time, so I’m looking forward to burning some calories and shaking my booty! Any fun plans for tonight?

Because we’ve made it to Thursday, which is that much closer to Friday, here’s a treat for you.

Video courtesy of Four Four.

Bonus points if your freaky-deaky self can name the title of the song and the artist!

Have a good one and smile today!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Stowaway!

February 27th, 2008 by Karen 48 Comments

Hooray, spring is right around the corner! The weather was warm yesterday so I drove to work bumping my new favorite song, Usher’s Love in this Club, with all my windows down and the sunroof open. I’m guilty of dancing in my car and pretending it’s a club on wheels, ha! But if you roll with me I won’t charge you cover, promise. 😉

Anyway, yesterday I might’ve gotten a little too into car dancing because when I got to the parking lot and parked my car, I forgot to roll up the back windows…whoops. It was really no big deal, because the parking lot is safe so nothing got stolen, but a shady character managed to sneak into my back seat:

I opened the door and waited for him to crawl out, but homie sat there and just chilled for five more minutes. He gave me dirty looks the entire time, like I interrupted his afternoon meditation session. I lured him out by taking out a Chanel Glossimer lipgloss (in the shade Galactic, holla) and waving it around. He eventually sauntered away and wouldn’t even let me pet him. Sigh. At least he has good taste in lipgloss…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Pink Fever Strikes! Experts Suspect Lancome Color Fever Lipstick

February 26th, 2008 by Karen 35 Comments

February 26, 2008 – Pink Fever, a new malady afflicting makeup junkies worldwide, has beauty enthusiasts worried. Seasonally, the spread of Pink Fever coincides with pink lipstick lust and causes one to obsess over pink, cherry-blossom-esque lip colors like the three below from Lancome’s Color Fever Lipstick ($25 each) collection.

lancome-color-fever-lipstick-pink-swatches
lancome-color-fever-lipstick-sos-pink

Symptoms include…

A strong desire to hunt and gather multiple shades of pink lipsticks or gloss.
A faraway, dreamy-eyed look which manifests itself while one discusses last year’s pink Barbie Loves MAC collection.
Obsessive thoughts of lipsticks and lipglosses having the word “pink” in the name.
Rapid pluse rate while standing in close proximity to pink-themed lipstick displays.

Currently, no cure exists for Pink Fever. The scientific community has been at a loss to explain its cause. Treatment has also been difficult. “If you’re rocking the pink lip on a daily basis,” says Karen of Makeup and Beauty Blog, “know that you are not alone. There are others out there just as obsessed with pink lipstick and gloss as you are. We’ve got to stick together!”

Do you have Pink Fever?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Jurlique Versus La Mer: A Cleansing Lotion Smackdown

February 25th, 2008 by Karen 26 Comments

Yes, the skin on my face is drier than well-delivered sarcasm, so I can’t live without my cleansing lotions.

Cleansing lotions typically have a rich, thick consistency, making them better for dry skinned ladies (and gents) than astringent cleansers. Look for moisturizing cleansing lotions that won’t produce a sudsy foam as they’re used because foaming gel or liquid cleansers are notorious for drawing moisture away from the skin. And if you’re struggling with dry skin on your face, consider removing whichever cleansing lotion you use with a tissue, instead of rinsing it off with water, leaving the lotion’s moisturizer where it can do you some good.

I pitted two popular brands of cleansing lotions head-to-head — La Mer’s The Cleansing Lotion and Jurlique’s Replenishing Cleansing Lotion — and the victor earned a spot alongside my previous cleansing lotion champion, Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple.

Two cleansing lotions, one dry face. Which one prevailed in the cleansing lotion smackdown?

First in the ring was Jurlique’s Replenishing Cleansing Lotion ($40 for 6.7 fl oz bottle). It contains marshmallow, viola, rose and lavender essential oils to, as the product packaging says, gently smooth, moisturize and cleanse the skin.

What did my testing reveal?

The Jurlique cleanser felt thick and rich like a body lotion, which to me means moisturizing, and it had a sweet herbal scent that I neither loved nor hated. In the plus column, the bottle has a pump, making it easy to dispense the lotion with one hand.

The amount of product from a single pump of Jurlique thoroughly removed most of the makeup on my face (even most of my eye makeup) and left my face and neck feeling clean and moisturized. So far it hasn’t broken me out, knock on wood. I really dig the fact that half of the ingredients are plant extracts with long scientific names (Althaea officianalis, Symphytum officinale, Stellaria media…), and Jurlique uses plants grown on their own biodynamic farms in Australia, which I thought was kinda cool.

Biodynamic farming was made popular in the mid-1920s by philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who sought to develop a method of farming that would preserve a natural balance of nutrients in soil by growing mutually beneficial companion crops near one another. Jurlique began their biodynamic farms 20 years ago, and now their line of products for face, hair and body contain plants products harvested from two farms spanning over 150 acres at Ngeringa and Mylor in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. Today they grow 50 different varieties of plants and flowers, including lavendar, rose, marshmallow, elder and calendula. The farms are both organic and sustainable, so kudos to Jurlique for being environmentally conscientious too.

La Mer’s The Cleansing Lotion ($65 for a 6.7 fl oz jar, holy crap!), the second contender in the cleansing lotion smackdown, derives most of its most precious ingredients from the sea.

La Mer’s cleansing lotion contains sea kelp, among other ingredients, and gets a lot of hype because of the popularity of the La Mer brand. A host of celebrities proclaim their love for La Mer’s products, most notably Creme de la Mer, the line’s famous face cream. Even El Hub knew about the brand (“Isn’t that what J. Lo uses?” LOLOL!), but I suspect that’s because I subject him to cheesy celebrity lifestyle shows on VH1, ha! I recently received a wee sample of The Cleansing Lotion and couldn’t wait to try it out.

Both of these brands love the scientific sounding ingredients. La Mer’s Cleansing Lotion contains several, like magnetized tourmaline and positively charged waters, which supposedly enable the cleanser to extract dirt, debris, makeup and pollutants without requiring a lot of harsh rubbing.

Although La Mer’s cleansing lotion smelled better (flowers and licorice) than Jurlique’s cleansing lotion (herbs and sugar), the formula felt thinner and wasn’t as rich as Jurlique. When I used it before bed, it didn’t remove as much of my face and eye makeup as Jurlique’s cleanser did, and I had to use substantially more than a dime-sized amount to feel clean. After rinsing off and drying my face, it felt a little tight and dry, ouch.

While I definitely preferred La Mer’s scent, for me it wasn’t enough to justify the $65 price tag. If you’re already a La Mer fan, have oily skin, but don’t wear a lot of makeup, you may feel otherwise.

That said…

The winner, by technical knockout (TKO): Jurlique’s Replenishing Cleansing Lotion!

I liked Jurlique’s Replenishing Cleansing Lotion so much that it’s now going into heavy rotation beside Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple, now my second favorite cleansing lotion. It’s a great option for dry-skinned gals into plant-based, organic skin care. I can’t wait to test more products from the line! I hope they perform just as well as this one does.

Purchase Jurlique products online or in person at Blue Mercury stores nationwide.

I hope your week is off to a good start. Happy Monday!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Lip Look: MAC Fafi Strawbaby

February 24th, 2008 by Karen 25 Comments

Today’s Lip Look: MAC Fafi Strawbaby lipstick ($14) with Squeeze It lipgloss ($14). I rocked this fruit-inspired look while I sat at the computer working on a writing assignment today.

These juicy lips accompanied a stylish outfit of blue pajama bottoms and a red fleece pullover, both from the esteemed fashion house of Old Navy. The hair was kept unbrushed and then swept up into a ratty ponytail to complete the un-showered, filthy freelance writer look.

Am I ready to work the red carpet? Um, no — not unless un-showered is the new clean. But I finished the first part of my assignment, hooray! I plan to share details of the project with you as soon as I can.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Your weekend isn’t over yet! Here are the week’s best posts from Splendicity and the Beauty Blog Network![Continue reading…]

Science Agrees: Yes, You Need More Girl Time

February 24th, 2008 by Karen 22 Comments

Connecting with girlfriends for afternoon tea yesterday left me feeling great, probably the happiest and most relaxed I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve been busy with work lately, and it felt nice just spending time with a big bunch of girls. After tea, as I drove home across the Golden Gate Bridge, I thought about friendship and the power it has to make us feel better.

An outside view of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco

This is one of those painfully obvious things, but research shows that socializing with friends may help you live longer. Maybe that’s why I love blogging so much. =)

A landmark UCLA study suggested that spending time with friends helped counteract the effects of stress on the body. Study after study confirms that having a social network reduces one’s risk of disease by lowering heart rate, cholesterol and blood pressure.

The UCLA study suggested that when the hormone oxytocin is released (the same hormone released during hugging, touching and orgasm) as part of the stress response in women, it has a different effect on women than it does on men; in women (but not in men), oxytocin is believed to have a calming effect. It’s also believed to trigger a desire to tend to others (like children) and to gather with other women. And, when a woman engages in “tending and befriending,” studies suggest that even more oxytocin gets released, further countering the effects of stress on the body.

I don’t know if it was the oxytocin talkin’, but I definitely felt less stressed after tea at the Ritz. Most of Ritz-Carlton’s hotels worldwide offer an afternoon tea service. Tony Roumph, Lounge Manager of the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, suggested directly checking with a hotel beforehand because at some properties tea service is by reservation only.

At the Ritz in Frisco, afternoon tea is served between 2:30-4:30 p.m. on Fridays and between 1-4:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It was served in the hotel’s Lobby Lounge, an elegant room with city views, crystal chandeliers, fine china and live music (a harpist, yo!). Most hotels will choose one of their more elegant rooms for afternoon tea. Dress was sophisticated casual (aka not your scrubby jeans and Adidas Shell Toe sneakers). I wore a black knit dress with boots, and a few of the other girls wore dark jeans with cute sweaters.

My friends and I made reservations a few weeks ago, giving the hotel our menu selection at the time. We had six ladies in our party, but Tony says they can accommodate groups of up to 30 people. It’s also not uncommon at all for people to attend tea service by themselves, so if you’re not a fan of big groups or just want to fly solo, that’s cool too.

Planning an Event…

If you’re in charge of planning afternoon tea (or any other event) with the girls, spreadsheets and e-mail can help.

Start by hammering out the bigger details first, like the size of the group, schedule and budget, and work from there down to the smaller details, like (for afternoon tea) the menu.

If I’m in charge of planning something for a group, the first thing I’ll do is send out a mass e-mail to see who can attend. In it, I’ll ask members of the group to choose from a few dates. Not everyone takes e-mail seriously, so one thing that can help move things along are the words “Reply Requested” in the subject line. After each person provides their preferred dates, I note them on my trusty chart, circling the date on which the largest number of people can attend. Here’s an example chart I made in Microsoft Excel (hand-drawn charts work, too):

I love spreadsheets for planning. After pinpointing a date, I’ll use a similar process to pinpoint a time. Spreadsheets are also a handy way to track a large number of different menu (or drink) choices. LOL, can you tell I’m a freak for details?

Afternoon Tea…

Entrance to the Lobby Lounge at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco…

ritz-carlton-san-francisco-2

After we took our seats, they brought out the champagne! We did some catching up while a harpist interpreted classic Beatles tunes.

ritz-carlton-san-francisco-3

We chose what the SF Ritz-Carlton refers to as the Royal Tea Service, one of five tiers of service ranging from $36-$49 per person. After we finished our champagne cocktails, Neizel, our wonderful server, brought out two trays of food and explained the different types of sandwiches, pastries and sweets.

My favorites were the cucumber, roquefort and walnut on white bread and the egg and chive sandwiches, yum! I also really liked the scone, which I smothered in Devonshire cream.

ritz-carlton-san-francisco-4

Neizel then poured the tea and kept it flowing throughout the party. We choose from among four different varieties: vanilla bean-black tea, chocolate, peppermint and darjeeling.

ritz-carlton-san-francisco-5