My Beauty Space : Product Reviews, Tips and Experiences

This New Year’s Eve, if you wanna really impress your date, or your significant other, most men are big fans of the sex kittenish smoky eye look.  A great way to achieve the smoky eye is by getting the right eyeliner.  I like gunmetal or dark greys instead of black, because black can often times look a little too harsh when trying to pull off the smoky eye look. 

Another tool needed to get the smoky eye party look is a good smudger.  I use a separate smudger, as the ones that are sometimes included with the eye pencil itself do not work right, and really just take it off rather than smudge it. 

Lining the eye underneath, you want to make sure you make the line a little thicker than you normally would for your daytime makeup application.  This means that you will probably think it looks a bit severe, but don’t forget, you’ll be smudging the heck out of it.  I usually do not use any liner on the top lid, as I rely on a hefty coat of mascara on the upper lashes to balance out the eye when creating a smoky eye.

When you’ve created your thick line, go back with your smudger and gently push the line across the bottom of the eye by blending it, and carry this line to the edge of the eye for a gently “winged” look which adds to the sexy drawn out look of the eye.  If you have smaller eyes, you can even try lining the very inside of the lower lid with a bright white pencil (Benefit makes a good one).  Eyeshadow is totally up to you, but I prefer a smoky grey color, you can also use deep greens, violets and other rich colors too.  Voila, there’s your smoky eye.

I got this cool stuff as a Christmas gift from a friend who knows I’m all about lip plumpers and lip gloss.  Here’s the indications for this Clinique intensive lip care product : “Delivers immediate and long-term results,Minimize the fine line, wrinkles and sun damage,Provides the lip area a smoother & firmer look”. 

I started using the Clinique All About Lips product at night now, just as a moisturizing and soothing treatment just before bed so my lips would be softer and more conditioned overnight. 

It comes in a small pump, like a moisturizer, so don’t expect it to be in your typical lip-stuff application container.  This is probably the one thing I would change about it actually, but that’s just personal, since I like to apply lip stuff either with a wand or be able to glide it on in a lipstick form.  You just pump a tiny amount out on your finger, and swipe it on the lips. 

It feels good going on, and it definitely hydrates the lips, as I have not had any flakiness problems since I started using it, and I usually have issues with my lips flaking off and peeling in the winter at least a couple times a week.  I have noticed that it does help to immediately minimize the fine lines in the lips and “plump” them out right away.  Overall, I’d say this is a great lip conditioner, especially for when your lips need a little TLC, and especially also for night time, when you don’t necessarily want to slick on anything goopy of glossy. 

With the outrageous onward and upward trend of cosmetic surgery and the beauty and aesthetics industry as a whole, it’s a wonder men didn’t get in on the plastic surgery and cosmetic improvement action sooner. 

With the increasing acceptability of men who groom themselves just as meticulously as a women, and who also keep a regimented skin care routine, more men are getting cosmetic improvements performed as they age or if they just aren’t happy with a certain feature about themselves (hey, they’re just like us!)

The most popular cosmetic surgeries and procedures currently for men?  There are three actually.  Sharing a nice success with these virtually untapped markets for men seeking self improvement and to look as young and as good as they feel. 

These popular cosmetic procedures for men include the following (in order of popularity) :

1.)  Botox injections

2.)  Microdermabrasion

3.)  Laser hair removal for the removal of allover “manly” body hair.

You hear more and more today also about men getting facelifts to turn back the cruel hands of time.  Some celebrity men I can think of who’ve been speculated on as having this most dramatic of surgeries are Axl Rose of Guns n Roses, Michael Douglas (he’s gotta keep up with that gorgeous young wife of his!), Mickey Rourke, and Sylvester Stallone. 

In my humble opinion, these men all looked way better and way hotter without the fake-o look of a face lift, which tends to make the skin look pulled and “plastic”, but whatever makes them happy, I guess.

Happy Holidays from My Beauty Space!  Here’s to a beautiful day, and I hope you get some fun beauty booty! 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I just read the most interesting article by a medical commentator on FoxNews.com.  He said there is a “secret weapon” against skin cancers, which are mostly caused by sun exposure, that most women don’t even know protects them probably better than most sunscreens. 

What is this great SPF?  It’s makeup!  And more specifically, mineral foundations work very well.  He goes on to explain that the mineral makeups actually contain reflective particles in them, and because of this, they can reflect the sun’s radiation off of the face. 

Not only that, but the pigment in makeup actually helps to further protect the skin from the sun, since SPF creams really only reduce exposure and block rays, they do not completely block the sun out as a heavier foundation that is heavily pigmented can.  

This information made me realize that using my Bare Minerals makeup is probably doing my skin better than what I think, especially since I really can’t stand to wear a liquid SPF cream under my makeup, and I had grown tired of the liquid foundations. 

Also mentioned was the fact that mineral makeups actually contain antioxidants, which many times help to repair the damage that has been done by sun exposure (free radicals develop from sun exposure, and contribute to abnormal cell growth, AKA skin cancer). 

Remember how I said I had ordered quite a few bottles of Xen-Tan?  I ordered both their old product, which is the standard deep, dark tanning lotion which gives a great instant tan, and develops into a nice, deep olive colored tan unlike any other self tanner I’ve tried, and then I also orderd the facial self tanner, which is also very dark, and their lighter self tanning version, which goes on clear and really just maintains the color during the week that you got from the dark self tanner.

I really still love the original dark tan self tanning formula.  It goes on with this awesome cherry almond scent and the smell is still there after the self tan develops, but it is not as bad as some of the other self tanners out there. 

The lighter self tanner smells good too at first, but this one does result in the same coppery smell as most self tanners do, although I do like the look of it once it dries and has developed (I will say there is not a huge difference between this and other common self tanners though).

The facial self tanner is nice, but it goes on a little too dark, and I feel almost like I look like I have a sun burned face when I put it on, so I’m not sure if I’ll be ordering much of that again.  The dark tanning formula still rocks though, and I must stick to my original rave review on the original formula. 

Another thing that was included in the flier I received from the cosmetic surgeon and skin care specialist’s office, was news about a new offering in the skin care products department, more specifically, for anti aging and wrinkle skin care mostly, as well as some for acne prone skin. 

They were offering a special where if you bought from their new line of Esente skin care, which is serious, physician strength peels and other skincare products that are packed with peptides, antioxidants, neuron-peptides (this is a new one to me, but it sounds serious!), essential vitamins and acids. 

The Esente peels are supposed to be excellent for agressively topically treating wrinkles, fine lines, skin discolorations and hyperpigmentation, and even some improvements for acne prone skin as well.  The result is supposed to be an overall rejuvenation and cell renewal and turnover. 

The results of peels like this can be pretty amazing sometimes, definitely.  Sometimes when a person first gets a deeper peel, their skin does appear shiny and almost “plastic” for a few days or so, but after this goes away, they are often left with very smooth skin. 

Peels are definitely on their way up in the world of skin improvement, you just need to make sure the person applying them to your skin is skilled and knowledgeable on how to apply peels and how long to leave them on.  Definitely go to a person who specifically specializes in this type of deep skin renewal work.

The return of the legality of silicone breast implants caused a stir in the news at first, but I haven’t really heard too much about the actual availability of the newly re-approved breast implant as of late, have you? 

Supposedly the implant was to become almost immediately available again after the FDA allowed it to become available to any woman wanting breast implants, whereas before, a woman had to have specific conditions which required reconstructive surgery to be able to get silicone legally implanted into their chest here in the US. 

Silicone was banned several years ago when women with this type of implant began to complain routinely about several health issues, mostly related to the autoimmune system, and as a precaution the FDA banned their use in the US, although I do believe they were still offered overseas to women wanting implants. 

Opponents of the return of silicone say that there was a flawed reason for their return, and that there are actually conflicts of interest between the approving agency and the primary manufacturer of the silicone implant, which raised suspicions as to whether the findings that the newly improved implant with silicone was really safe, or not.

Many women claim they think silicone is superior for cosmetic reasons, because it feels more like a real breast and moves like a real breast and looks more natural, but some of the saline ones look pretty darn real nowadays too, I guess we’ll be seeing more silicone out there now though.  I hope it’s really safe… 

I have to laugh at this, only because I keep forgetting that my newest entreprenurial endeavor was going to be making makeup from scratch, but I get these biyearly newsletters from a very cool Cosmetic Ingredient supplier company called Somerset cosmetics, who sells everything to make makeup and cosmetics in bulk. 

It is pretty awesome to look at their catalogue actually, because you get to see what all goes into cosmetics, like waxes and emulsifiers, anti caking agents, natural and organic ingredients (which of course do tend to run a bit higher pricewise), different mineral and talc powders and pigments, you name it, they sell it! 

I was specifically looking into making a self tanner that would actually have real staying power and go on very dark, but found that the price for making such a thing, including packaging and everything would be cost prohibitive for someone just starting off like me, especially if I wanted to price the stuff at a competitive price for an unknown quantity to consumers.  Anyways, I recommend you take a look. 

If nothing else, you might want to experiment with making your own, custom made cosmetics!  Somerset Cosmetics Company : Making Your Own Cosmetics . 

Full lips never seem to go out of style. Even in the eighties, when full lips were not necessarily all the rage, we saw Hollywood beauties like Kim Basinger and Kelly LeBrock as the epitome of female beauty, and guess what, they both had those enviable “pillow lips” that women pay money to achieve in a doctor’s office today.