Archive for June, 2009:
Ok, got another John Frieda Frizz Ease hair care product to review for you today. One word about the line of products first though. First, these are actually immensely popular hair care products for people with frizzy or damaged hair. He expanded on his line by making special colored hair products for people with blond and brunette hair, which further expanded the popularity off of the main anti frizz theme. I’ve used some products with success and some products with moderate success or that didn’t really work so well on my hair at all. I think that the ones that really work are up there with some salon type products, but they are actually much cheaper than salon products, which is their obvious appeal.
I bought the John Frieda Frizz Ease line Glossing Mist shine finisher, which is a 3 FL. OZ. bottle of a clear shine solution that mists extremely fine shine mist onto the hair. I think the secret with this shine mist is in the way it mists so finely, not really so much the formula, which is your standard silicone based anti frizz formula. Silicone is used in most anti frizz serums and mists that you see, which is why you have to use them in moderation. If you use too much silicone, you could end up attracting a lot of dirt to the hair, and it also tends to weight the hair down and make it look greasy if you use too much of it.
However, you’ll find that with this Frieda Glossing mist, you won’t need to use much at all because the mist mechanism sprays it so fine that you don’t get those huge beads coming out and gooping up your hair. I like the way it added a nice instant sheen to my hair, however, I can tell just from exeperience that you can’t use too much of this product or you will end up with a dull look the next day, and it will be weighed down, so just use it a little at a time for flyaways and dullness and to add some luster.
This product only cost me about five bucks, and because you only have to use a little at a time, that’s a huge bargain in my book. One other note, you are supposed to use it on dry, styled hair, which makes it a great thing to add to your purse in case of flyaways, which adds to it’s appeal in my opinion.
Well, I finally broke down and bought this overnight hair treatment serum that attracted me in the first place because it’s a serum that you put in DRY hair at night, which is nice, because you don’t absolutely have to blow it out in the morning, as long as you don’t over do it and weigh your hair down with the stuff, and also because if you choose not to and have the right hair type for it, like me, you may not even need to shampoo it out that morning after, unless you really need to or want to, even though he does recommend you do that just because most people do wash their hair daily.
I recently had the Brazilian Keratin hair treatment done, and while I love the results, I still feel like my hair looks a little dry from time to time, and I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I did get my hair wet during the first 3 days of the treatment, which you’re not supposed to do, or just because my hair is naturally dry right now. Whatever the case may be, I needed a hair treatment that could be left in that would bring the moisture back into my hair. I also think the shampoo I have to use for the Brazilian Keratin leaves my hair a little lackluster, but I’m looking for another sulfate free one that will not take the product out. That’s another story for another time though.
I bought John Frieda’s Overnight Repair serum at a local CVS for 7.99, which was marked 2.00 off, so it was originally 9.99, although I know you can buy this product for much cheaper on Amazon.com. It’s hard to find in stores, even the ones that carry John Frieda’s full line of products, so I felt lucky to find it at CVS. It comes in a midnight blue package, and the bottle of product itself is pretty small, although he does say on the back that you only have to use about a quarter size of it, but that’s not true if you have long hair like mine, it’s more like three quarter size squirts, which with how small this bottle is, you use up quite a lot of it in just one use.
I’d say it’ll last someone with long hair about four times, would be my guess, although I haven’t put that theory to the test yet. It has a very pleasant, clean smell going on, and it feels like it glides right into your hair. It is a light formula, so it doesn’t feel sticky or weigh the hair down, but rather you see a sheen pretty quickly which is more than I can say for a lot of other hair care products. I woke up the next morning to hair that did look slightly stringy, but felt amazingly silky.
I guess the real test is how long it lasts, but he recommends to use it about two to three times a week at night for best results, so my guess is that it doesn’t last too long, but forms a sort of coating on the hair that lasts a few days. My hair does feel and look better, I can tell you that.
More and more women are choosing makeup and cosmetics sales as a secondary career, or second stream of income, after the recession has beaten and battered so many people savings, retirement accounts and job security. Some women have actually made it their full time career, hoping that if someone doesn’t hire them, well then at least they can bust their butt and make money based on the level of effort they put into something. That’s exactly what cosmetic tier sales like Mary Kay and Avon offer, is pay based on performance, or a commission based job.
They don’t get a base salary, but instead they get pure commissions, so that their pay is exactly commensurate to their level of effort, which is something that is appealing to a lot of people right now in the midst of companies randomly laying off thousands of employees, whether they’ve been there a long time or are hard workers or not unfortunately. Mary Kay has a system where you buy their makeup at cost and then mark it up, usually to double price, and I believe you pocket the rest as your profit/pay. I think they leave it up to you as to whether you can offer special incentives or discounts, it’s just less money that you pocket if you do, which is actually quite an ingenious business model.
I’ve used some Mary Kay products, and they’re actually pretty good cosmetics think. They are made with a better quality than something that you’d get at a drugstore in my opinion. I remember wishing that they had a little more modern color palettes when I’d attended the parties when I was younger, and that the prices were a little more reasonable. I felt that, at the time (keeping in mind I was pretty broke back then), their cosmetics would be a little more fairly priced but at that time I didn’t really know about how their sales and commission structure worked either.
Avon I know works on a much more modest commission structure, and some of their reps complain that the commissions aren’t enough. But when you think about it, Avon’s products are so reasonably priced that it would be hard to actually make a full time living as a rep, unless you concentrated on marketing their higher end anti aging and wrinkle products or things like their cellulite treatments and body care that are a little more of a high ticket item.
Target is a great store to shop for beauty and cosmetic products that are reasonable and have a good reputation as actually working well and being of a high quality for the price you pay. They have the Sonia Kashuk line, which offers almost a full array of cosmetic brushes, including a foundation brush and other blending and blush brushes, and eye contouring brushes, as well as the Eco Tools line, which gets great reviews for being a high quality and working well, and rivaling even the expensive brushes like Sephora and Mac makeup brushes (of course those may still be better, but the Eco Tools gets consistently high marks for it’s quality and durability).
I actually purchased my foundation brush from Target, and I’m pretty happy with it so far. I bought a cheaper brand though, one that’s called Studio Tools, and I’m pretty pleased with it, although I do notice that it is probably built a little more cheaply than the other higher end brands that Target sells, like the Sonia Kashuk, and I might “upgrade” to that one or one of the Mac ones when I have a little more money to see how big a difference it makes in the actual quality of my application of foundation.
So far, I’ve loved using a brush instead of a sponge, which I’ve been using in my makeup application now for years. It takes a little practice at first, and you’re not sure if you’re applying too much because you get so used to the sponge regulating the amount of actual foundation you apply, but overall I think I’m getting better coverage with a foundation brush, and think I will continue to use it to apply my foundation. I also like the concealer brush I bought by them, although I’m trying to decide between concealers now.
I’m torn between the Laura Mercier Camouflage, the BeneFit Boing concealer (supposedly and “industrial strength” concealer, and only $18 as compared to Laura Mercier which runs $25 or so, and another one called Becca, which has gotten good reviews and props for having the largest color selection so you can really match your skin tone well. If anyone has any suggestions, I’m totally open to them since I just want one that really covers up redness well and truly lasts all day long.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found reduced price beauty items at TJ Maxx when I sift through their small, but often treasure-loaded beauty section. If only I could now find the Revitol skin care products there some time, but alas I know those are only available online – oh well! I go through a lot of anti aging and night cream. I believe in loading up the skin at night, when it is most likely to repair and restore since it’s not exposed to the elements and the body’s repair mechanisms are the most available since your energy is not being expended elsewhere, so I’m always reloading on the night time wrinkle and aging prevention creams with goodies like retinols and vitamins in them.
So when I found some RoC night time retinol and alpha hydroxy restoarative night cream for about five bucks less a tube than I can get it for at any other store, including Wal-mart and Target, I decided to buy two of them. These are only one ounce, so I do fly through them fairly fast, but at $12 per tube, I had never seen them for a better price anywhere else. The only thing you ever need to worry about with anti aging creams and other high quality products like this is if they are expired and may perhaps have inactive or less effective ingredients in them because of the time they’ve been on the shelf. These were not old, so I did buy them.
However, what you really have to watch is buying perfumes that are steeply discounted. These you should actually probably buy at a store, because they are new and fresh, whereas high end perfumes usually don’t make their way to discount retailers for reduced prices unless they have expired or are close to expiring.
It really does make a difference with scent. I have purchased them from discounters for great prices, only to find out that the perfume either doens’t smell as strong and takes twice as much to even smell, or that it has somehow turned rancid and smells like a different perfume all together. Other than that, lotions, soaps and bath products are great to buy reduced because they really don’t “go bad” or expire. It’s always worht a look at least when you’re in these discounted types of stores.
You may have seen the Sheer Tan self tanner package before. To my knowledge, it’s only available online. I haven’t seen it in retail stores, although I think it would do really well to be marketed that way with the popularity of self tanners these days. Now that we have sprays, creams, gels and even mousses to help keep us glowing all season long, not just in the summer, it’s really eliminated the need for spending time in the sun or getting in a tanning booth, which I think has been demonstrated as bad for your skin with the increase in skin cancer diagnoses, especially in young women.
Let me say though that I do think some sunshine is needed, you shouldn’t just avoid it like the plague. You just need to have the proper protection applied before you go in the sun, or make sure your time spent in the sun at it’s strongest hours is very limited, since it’s cancer causing UVB rays are strongest between the hours of about 12-4 in the afternoon, give or take a few depending on which expert you listen to. That being said, let me share my review of the Sheer Tan self tanning package.
First off, it costs about $35 for the applicator and the first bottle of the stuff, which comes in a spray can form. It’s big deal is that it comes out in a super fine mist, which is better for a more even application, and less pooling and streaking of the product. It’s nice to apply something that you don’t feel like it’s going on really unevenly for once, because most of the sprays I’ve tried are like that. It goes on with a nice smooth banana scent, but of course, you still get the signature coppery smell as the product develops, it just smells really good at first.
I love when self tanners claim they don’t smell, because that’s never true, they all smell as they develop, they just might be very well masked at first with other scents, but the DHA that makes the skin cells turn brown ALWAYS smells when it develops. Sheer Tan is a little different application than other self tanners. What you do is you spray your body parts with the product, and immediately after, they want you to moisturize. It’s ingenious really, because what you are doing is spreading the product around so you get a more even tan, immediately before it totally dries, so this is part of why it gives an even appearance.
One coat of Sheer Tan will give you a nice color, even if you’re pretty pale, and for me, one can lasted about three tans on my whole body, so you’re definitely getting a better deal than if you do the Mystic tan!
This ELF makeup is showing up everywhere now. I first saw the brand of dirt cheap makeup at Target, and then noticed they also carried it at a CVS I went into in the same day. I guess I was shopping a lot that day! I had heard of it before, but I thought it was primarily an online cosmetics sales company, not really one that you could find in stores around town. ELF stands for Eyes Lips Face by the way. Their niche is making really cheap makeup that actually works fairly well.
I’m not going to say that it’s the highest quality stuff, because it isn’t nor should it be for the mere price of a dollar, which is what everything they make costs. But shoot, if you want to try a fun new eyeshadow color or lip gloss or stick, then you know you can buy one for a buck and if you don’t like it then no big whoop, you just lost a dollar on it. It’s a limited selection, but that’s also what I expected from such a bargain basement pricing system. They also package their stuff in a much cheaper style.
For example, the eyeshadow I bought to try, a light brown shade, was packaged in a cardboard outside, with a plastic (flimsy) container that held the actual eyeshadow it’self, almost like a temporary packaging. The color went on as expected, it took a couple of dips to get the color adeqately saturated to where it would show up on my lids, but it was a nice color, and it had decent staying power once applied, although it did fade toward the end of my long 16 hour day.
I also bought their blotting sheets, which are fantastic. For a dollar, I got a conveniently packaged box of 50 blotting sheets to blot the excess oil off my face, which shows up often and in abundance on my oily skin and makes me look shiny, which is not good when it comes to looking polished and professional. They were only a dollar, as you guessed it, and they work just great! So, for fun, experimental makeup and other little beauty bargain, you can try ELF for a buck!
So, I was on my lunch break at work, and I felt the sudden urge to go buy some makeup. This urge hits me once in a while, and I usually will just run to CVS or Target and see what catches my fancy at the time for a quick little makeup fix. I’ve been eyeballing the newer HIP (High Intensity Pigment) collection from L’Oreal for their new loose versions of the eyeshadows. I’ve been wanting to try loose eyeshadows for a while, but was a little intimidated since I’m used to using the pressed version where I feel like I have a little more control over how much gets on the eyeshadow brush.
So I ended up selecting two shades of the HIP loose shadow, one is a deep, deep purplish shade with flecks of a bright blue in it (which I didn’t know til I opened it up, I wasn’t too sure about that to be honest), but it ends up the blue really doesn’t show, it just adds an extra dimension to the color and a sort of irridescence that’s kind of cool. The one was called “Intrepid”. The other I selected was a pale but shimmery yellow-off white color called “Restless”. There are several other shades to choose from, including some other purple mauves, browns, peaches, tans, blues and greens. I’m really tempted to try this deep emerald green one, I bet it looks really intense on the eyes.
They run about $12 each, although I was able to find them at Wal-Mart after I’d already purchased them for $12 at CVS, for 10.20. Oh well, I’m too lazy to take them back, so I’m keeping the ones I bought for twelve bucks. The loose shadow by HIP L’Oreal also comes with a “professional” brush as well. It’s pretty skinny though, so if you’re used to a fatter brush you may want to just stick with what you have at home. It’s not any better than other commercial brushes, but it does the job.
Now, onto my review of the HIP L’Oreal loose eyeshadow. I dipped the little brush into the light yellow color first, figuring I wanted to sweep that on my whole lid to create a light shimmery base first. I wasn’t too impressed with the intensity of this color. It did create a slight shimmer, but I guess I was looking for a little more actual yellowish color. I did find it hard to control what I was putting on, and tended to glob it all in one area, having to recharge the brush right away with more product to get it on the other side of my lid.
Now, I’m not really practiced with loose eyeshadow, so that very well may be a part of my awkward application with the brush. The other color, Intrepid, which was deep plum/purple was very intense. Almost too much so, but when you’re used to eyeshadows that aren’t super saturated, then it can be a shock when you apply one that is very color intense. That one was very cool though, it was shimmery yet deep, and it didn’t take much to get your eyes to pop. All in all, I really liked the HIP eyeshadow, and will be buying more colors to try out in the future.
Everyone wants gorgeous, luminous, flawless skin. That’s why makeup artists like to use a technique to apply cream foundation called stippling. It is popular amongst television and movie makeup artists as well because it is known for giving better, more thorough coverage with a cream based foundation and cover up. Note that it is not really the best to use liquid foundation for a good cover up job, because it does not provide the solid coverage of a cream based, thicker foundation, so for television, they usually use a heavier coverage foundation, and this stippling makes it go on much better and gives a more even coverage.
You could use this type of cream based foundation if you’re going for a night out on the town, however, it might feel a bit too heavy for the day time. Stippling is when you take a cream based foundation and take a wedge makeup sponge, preferably of high quality and not a cheap latex one which soaks up all your product, and you dab it over and over under the eyes and in the areas that need the most coverage. It’s great for if you have blemishes or age spots because of the superior coverage.
If you’ve ever seen any shows where someone’s face is being made up, you’ll notice that they do this repeated dabbing motion all the time, this is what stippling is, and it works great for getting the makeup evenly distributed and targeting those problem areas. Now, you can also use a brush to stipple your foundation. You can use this with liquid foundation. One of the best places to get a professional brush for the proper technique is the MAC counter since they sell all sorts of professional brushes.
