lip stains - the way to go

I have finally realized why I have 100+ lip glosses and dozens of lipsticks. It's because I keep trying them, waiting to find THE perfect one, only to be disappointed in one way or another.

Case in point: most lipsticks taste funny to me. They also don't last very long, and the ones that claim to last forever make my lips dry and gross. Then there are lip glosses, which I love the concept of because they are pretty and glossy and girly. However, when you're walking around NYC on a windy winter day and you have long hair, well, you know how that ends up. I also don't love how sticky they are. And the non-sticky ones never last longer than 10 minutes. Lip balms are pretty close to perfect, in my opinion, only if they are tinted. An untinted lip balm is useless to me, unless I'm going to bed.

Enter lipstains. Most on the market look like markers and have a felt-tip, which makes them portable and easy to use and if the color is light enough, you can probably get away with not looking in a mirror to apply. I'm obsessed with them for their staying power and because they aren't creamy like lipsticks, the color actually sinks into your lips and lets their natural texture show, making it look like I was naturally born with berry stained lips. My dream!

Which ones do I love? This one, by Cover Girl, and another one I found in Target by the brand Pixi. My favorite Cover Girl one is a shade called Sassy Mauve, and it turns my lips the prettiest shade of berry pink. Pixi makes a nude peach called Purity - another favorite of mine.

A lot of people claim lip stains dry out quickly, but that's only if you leave the product uncapped for a long time. Mine has lasted over a month and it's still going strong.

Yay for lip stains!

happy shaving

A few days ago, I decided it would be wise to stop shaving my legs with Dial soap and start using shaving cream like a real grown up. My legs were getting so dry that I'd have pile on layers and layers of lotion after my shower just for them to stop itching.

I remembered that a while back I got this shave cream called eos (stands for evolution of smooth - cute!) but kind of forgot it existed. I dug it out from the back of my kitchen cabinet - yes, I store beauty products in there - and gave it a whirl. I am so impressed with this stuff! It's a rich shaving cream that contains aloe and shea butter and REALLY moisturizes. I didn't even need lotion after shaving. The website says you can even shave dry skin if you use this stuff. Very impressive indeed.

The bottle is also pretty cool. It's not slippery at all - instead it feels smooth and kind of velvet-y so you can get a good grip in the shower. And the Vanilla Bliss scent is to DIE for. It's very soothing and calming and fills my whole bathroom when I use it. They have a ton of other scents - including cucumber melon, island blue, and lavender jasmine - that I can't wait to try.

Ok, now for the best part - I thought eos felt so luxurious that it was sold in department stores or something. Not so - it's under $5 at drugstores. SCORE. I wonder if it's illegal to buy the entire shelf of product.

If they could talk, my legs would thank me for using this stuff!

a fresh scent

I collect perfumes like it's my job. In just the past month, I've added a few new ones (namely, Bulgari Omnia Amethyste, Child perfume, and Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Abricot) to my collection of perfumes I love but will never finish. Fragrance, to me, is like hair color - when you wear a new or different one, you kind of feel like a different person. But unlike hair color, your scent is something you can change daily. Very fun indeed.

Anyway, my current *obsession* is this one by Fresh. It's called Fresh Sake and it's a beautiful citrusy blend that has vanilla and musk in it. I really love it because it's not your typical woodsy floral that I smell on everyone else. This is unique and a little mysterious. It kind of smells like incense to me, because it's a tad spicy. The only downside is that the boyfriend thinks it smells like something - and yes, these are his exact words - a grandma would wear. Bummer! I'd usually just buy the darn thing and not care, but for $75, I want to be able to wear it whenever, wherever.

Decisions, decisions...

tres jolie

Well, I can understand where that Octo mom is coming from. If I was having plastic surgery, I'd bring in pictures of Angelina, too. Anyway, A.J. has clearly been blessed with some fantastic bone structure and looks great with minimal makeup, like black eye liner and pink lip gloss as we see here. Besides, who needs a lot of makeup when you have those ridiculous emerald jewels? Love!

Her skin is glowing (as always) and her hair, although it's pulled back, is still voluminous and wavy - very pretty.

Celeb makeup artist Mary Burton did Angie's makeup here, and used Lancome Le Crayon Kohl in Black Ebony to get the look. To enhance her eye shape, she lined her top and bottom lash lines and extra liner to the outer corners of the eye. She applied a few coats of Lancome black mascara on the top lashes. To do this look on myself, I'd definitely apply an extra coat to the outer lashes (hint: for all you girls out there with close-set eyes, this trick will make them seem further apart). Mary finished the look with Lancome Juicy Tubes in Spring Fling, a pale pink shade. Lovely!

photo: style.com

Jessica Biel at the Oscars

Jessica is such a pretty girl. I'm not quite sure why she chose to do her hair like this for the Oscars. I mean, it's a cute style if, say, you're running errands on a Saturday morning. Or if you're looking for a way to salvage that ratty, sweaty gym hair by putting it half up. But it just looks a little TOO tousled for this event. Love the color, though! I really want those highlights.

The eyes here are a little too bare for my liking. It looks like she's got just a coat of mascara on, and I wish her makeup artist added a little more brown shadow or liner.

The lips, however, are great and I'm glad she went for this deep berry tone. I have a color that looks JUST like this and the texture is similar too. It's a lipstick by Benefit called Good To Go, and it's a creamy, plummy brown. It's like my own lips, but much better!

photo: style.com

oscar beauties

Well, the Oscars came and went and I've compiled my list of beauty favorites (and not so favorites) to share.

First up, Penelope Cruz. LOVE everything about the hair. The color, the incredible shine, the bangs. Very Audrey Hepburn-ish.

The makeup was equally pretty. Penelope usually goes for a smoky, black-lined eye and some variation of a pink lip, but this time it seemed more of a coral pink than a baby pink. She never disappoints, in my book. I also love her strong, thick brows here. I wish I had those!

photo: style.com

kate's new chop

I know I talk about hair a lot, so I promise this is my last hair-related post for a while (unless something really fantastic and interesting comes my way).

Speaking of interesting but not so fantastic, Miss K. Beckinsale here went and got bangs! We all know I love some fringe but I don't know about this. Something isn't right...the bangs with her face shape, maybe? The way they are combed? Maybe it's that the REST of her hair is too long and unlayered. I can't quite put my finger on it. Anyway, she's still gorgeous for sure. Maybe I just have to get used to the newness of this 'do.

Photo by Bauer Griffin / Imnotobssessed.com

one of the best beauty inventions ever

There's nothing glamorous about dry shampoo, really. It's not glossy. It's not pretty. The packaging isn't cute. It is not something you whip out and watch people's eyes widen and ask "Where did you get that? I must have that!" But in defense of dry shampoo, it is probably the most practical thing a girl could own.

More than anything, I hate washing my hair (twice a week is really all I can manage). Well, the washing part is great. There's nothing like a head of squeaky clean hair. But washing always leads to the intense physical labor of...blow-drying. Since I'm a perfectionist with my hair I blow dry in sections from back to front and make sure every one is smooth and dry before proceeding. Then I roll each section up in a velcro roller for volume at the root. What a ridiculous chore.

But I digress... dry shampoo is genius because it makes my hair look really clean in 10 seconds. It soaks up all the oil at my roots and gives it volume and makes it smell good. I love that I can make my blow-outs last for days with the help of this magic spray.

To use it, I spray it 5 inches from my roots, fluff with my fingers, and I'm good to go. My current favorite is this one by Ojon (at Sephora for $24) but when I'm dead broke, Pssssst! at the drugstore works well, too.

I'm curious if anyone else out there swears by dry shampoo...anyone? anyone?

confession of a dyeaholic

Saw Confessions of a Shopaholic this weekend and loved it. Cute movie, although it made me feel really guilty about shopping and having credit cards and just wanting things in general.

Anyway...

I would like to say that I am totally awestruck by the color/length/texture/condition of Isla Fisher's hair. If you opened a dictionary and looked up "Perfect Hair", I really believe this picture should be there.

In my next life, I'd want to be born a natural redhead because I truly believe that no dye job could replicate such an amazing color. I was a redhead for about two months and the color looked good about 20% of the time, depending on the lighting in the room. In the bright summer sunlight it was a little scary. It also took so much dye that my ends were frazzled and frizzy and any girl who has colored their hair red knows that red conceals NO damage. In fact, it magnifies every split end every frizzy strand you have. Not good.

Technically speaking, it should have worked. I have some freckles, the pale skin, the light brows, and a very skilled haircolorist - what went wrong I will never know. I guess I'm just meant to be brunette...

pretty in peach

In my mind, Fashion Week should really be called Makeup and Hair Week because that's all I pay attention to when I see runway photos. I'll be posting my favorite looks this week and the first comes from the Carolina Herrera Fall 2009 show yesterday morning. Not a huge fan of the pulled-back hair but her gorgeous dewy, peachy-rose face and lips certainly make up for it. I love this look because it's wearable - it's light enough for daytime but also striking and elegant for a night out.

MAC created the look here (that's not surprising - they always do some of my favorite looks at Fash Week) and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the lipstick on the model here is Twig, a shade that I wore in high school and college! You'll be happy to know that Twig, a creamy rosy brown shade, looks good on everyone and is buildable, so you can wear one light coat for a hint of color or layer it for a more dramatic look like this one.

AND....Don't you also just LOVE the glowiness to her cheeks? For a similar look, I'd use a dab of Benefit High Beam (a beautiful pearly pink luminizer) on my cheekbones and Smashbox Blush Rush blush in Paradise (the perfect pinky peach that I like better than NARS Orgasm...that's like blasphemy in beauty editor circles) on my apples and blend upward.

Gorgeous!!!

my hair healer

You can't really tell by the looks of it, but my hair is as dry as the Sahara. It's also pretty damaged from the million times I've dyed it.

I wanted to let you all know about Hamadi Healing Serum(although they should have really named it Jill's Little Miracle in a Bottle). If you're not familiar with the brand, Hamadi is an all-natural hair care line that uses organic essential oils and plant extracts in their products. To be honest, I'm usually not enthused by all-natural beauty products because some aren't very effective. This stuff, however, is my go-to deep conditioning hair treatment (and yes, I've tried Kerastase, Phyto, L'oreal Professional, Biolage, Fekkai, and pretty much every other treatment out there) and it's only 12 bucks.

To use it, I pour a quarter-sized amount of the serum onto my hands and rub them over the middle and ends of my hair where it's most damaged. Disclaimer: it's pretty greasy so you'll want to do this before bed and if you plan on washing your hair in the morning. The miracle ingredients in it are avocado oil and olive oil - both leave my hair nourished and really soft. I get a lot of compliments on how shiny my hair is, which confuses the heck out of me because I abuse it like CRAZY.

I guess this stuff works!

makeup expires :)

One of my greatest joys in life is educating people on all sorts of beauty matters. Like, for example, I was the one who introduced my college roomie to concealer (Benefit Boi-ing) and truly it was one of my proudest moments. Can you imagine not knowing that there's a tool to cover things on your face? It's a glorious thing.

Last night I shared some beauty wisdom with a woman who actually isn't totally clueless on the topic. My mother knows quite a bit about makeup. Did you know that it was her who taught me how to apply eye liner and smudge it with a Q-tip? I was in 11th grade and it's something I now do every day. Unfortunately, I discovered something rather disturbing while over at her apartment last night. She has been using the same foundation for A TRILLION YEARS. It's this Maybelline Express Foundation Stick that I actually passed on to her when I was a freshman in college, I think. She needed to borrow it one day and loved it so much that I just let her keep it. Anyway, I haven't seen it in drugstores in years and I think they might have discontinued it. I was so grossed out that I lectured her on the importance of throwing away makeup after X amount of months because bacteria builds up and can make your skin breakout and cause eye infections and whatnot.

I doubt the mascara police are going to come knocking on your door if you keep the tube for four months instead of three. But use this as a general guideline (MOM) as to when you need to trash your stuff:

Mascara - 3 months
Foundation- 1 year
Blush- 2 years
Eye shadow and eye liner - 2 years
Lipstick and lip liner - 2 years

Personally, I look forward to detoxing my train case because then I get to try new products! Heaven!!!!

xoxo

purple polish

I'll never forget my first bottle of nail polish. It was a creamy lavender made by Hard Candy and I was so excited about it because it came with a ring. I bought it because I read that Alicia Silverstone wore it and she was, at the time, my idol (Clueless = love). It was the only nail polish I ever used until the bottle was empty.

Anyway, purple nail polish has come a long way since then. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know dark nails are everywhere. First we spotted jet black on celebrity fingertips, then we saw the rise of almost-black colors then came navy blue for about 10 seconds. For Spring 09, Chanel has created this GORGEOUS dark plum called Vendetta that has a slight sheen to it in the sunlight. I personally can't wait to try it because I'm getting sick of my rotation of the same 3 nail polishes (Essie Sugar Daddy, OPI Lincoln Park After Dark, Essie A-List. Repeat...). I'd like to keep wearing dark nails throughout the spring but I want to add a pop of color for fun. Sure, it's over $20, but I always thought that nail polish is something to invest in. A quality one will last long, won't chip or fade or get dull, and the bottle lasts a really long time. And when it comes to unique colors like this, it's hard to find one that's totally identical.

So what do you think of Vendetta? Which nail polish shades you're currently loving? I'm stuck in a nail rut =)

xoxo

WHOA, legs

I was watching the Grammy awards with my dear boyfriend when Carrie Underwood took the stage. A few minutes into her performance, he asked if she was wearing stockings. I thought it was funny that he said the word "stockings" in the first place, but then I really wondered - IS she wearing any? Doubtful. Her legs looked like they'd been airbrushed to perfection. They were shimmering and glimmering and very tan - everything my legs are NOT during this time of year. Now, Carrie's got some nice legs to begin with...it's obvious the girl has been doing her lunges and squats and whathaveyou. But there was clearly a lot of help from leg makeup here, and to be honest I can't wait for that first warm day where I can show off my leg makeup skills as well.

I first became obsessed with the concept of leg makeup when I found out that they stockpiled the stuff backstage at the Victoria's Secret fashion show. And here I am, thinking these models have naturally tan, contoured, perfect legs. Not so! When I was a beauty editor at CosmoGirl, Linda Hay, makeup artist for VS, came to visit and brought a model along with her. She demonstrated how to make over one's legs so that they look picture-perfect:

1. Exfoliate and shave. St. Ives Apricot Scrub (yes, the face one) is my favorite exfoliator to use on my body. It's cheap and smells good!

2. Start with self tanner. You already know I'm a big fan of Dove Energy Glow. It will camouflage veins, cellulite, and anything else going on that you don't care to put on display. Here's how:

- Tan your lower legs (back and front, obviously) first, then your thighs (back and front) using circular motions with your hands. If you use an up-and-down motion, you'll streak. Use the excess lotion leftover on your palms to tan your ankles and top of your feet. My own personal tip: lightly rub a tissue over your kness to absorb any excess tanner. Knees tend to have creases and are drier than the rest of your legs, resulting in more color deposit, i.e. blotchiness. Too-dark knees are a dead giveaway that you self-tanned.

3. Add pale pink or gold shimmer straight up your shins and straight down the middle of your thigh. This adds a slimming and elongating effect to the legs and makes the unhighlighted, darker areas - your inner and outer thighs - seem smaller. You must try Tarte Celebutante Dry Oil Shimmer Spray it's the best ever. I also LOVE NARS Body Glow but at $60 it almost exceeds my monthly Sephora expenditure budget. I treat myself to that in the summer when my legs are on display every day.

I must say, doing this leg makeup routine is so entertaining. It's like my legs go from horrific to hotness in 10 minutes. The epitome of instant gratification.

xoxo

mmmm....moisture

Between the cold, dry weather, indoor heat, and frequent hand-washing, you can just imagine how disgustingly dry and cracked my hands and cuticles are. The thing is, I'm way too lazy to not only carry around hand lotion with me but to put it on religiously.

Enter the BEST hand lotion ever - Olay Body Quench Therapy Hand Cream. I'm a big fan of the whole Olay Quench line, but this lotion is particularly good for hands because it somehow lasts through hand washings. I slather this on only twice per day and my hands are smooth, soft, and, uh... quenched... for a really long time. A little goes a long way - it heals dry skin and prevents it from getting dry in the future. A little two-for-one deal. Nice.

The ONLY downside to this stuff is that it's a little big to carry around in my purse (the 4.5 oz tube is about 6 inches high and 4 inches wide). But then again, I never understood teeny tiny hand lotions, either. I'd go through those in, like, a day! No thank you. The tube is a pretty shade of purple, which I also love. Ok, and one more thing I love about this is the scent. It's light, fresh, almost baby powdery. I don't feel bad about putting this on in public. Don't you just hate when someone whips out their berry melon coconut vanilla blueberry hand lotion on the subway? I do not want to be one of those people.

Try this stuff - your hands will love you!!!

red for v-day!

I'm not one to wear red clothing a lot - I just don't think it looks good on me at all. But I do love me some red lipstick once in a while. I particularly loved wearing it when my hair was jet black because the contrast between the dark hair, pale skin, and cherry red lips was just very Snow White to me. Super pretty.

Now, my hair is more of a medium golden brown and I haven't reached for red in a LONG time. I just felt like it wouldn't work that well - that is, until, I saw this picture of Jessica Alba on InStyle.com. The pic is about a year old, but you have to admit, she looks timeless and beautiful with her red lips and golden brown waves. Needless to say, I'm inspired to try this look for Valentine's Day, since I'll probably be wearing my "uniform" of black clothes. Hey, when you wear as much black, white, brown, and gray as I do, you are forced to experiment with hair color and daring makeup!

If you wanna go the red route too, use this simple "rule" for finding your skintone's perfect shade. If you're olive-skinned or tan (like Alba) go for warm, orange-y, brick reds. If you're pale, burn in the sun, and have pink undertones, go for blue-based reds. Every skintone can pull off a true red (MAC Russian Red is the only true red I've ever tried - this is the one I'll be wearing on V-Day). Oh, and if you're sitting there thinking that red is scary and grandma-like, go for a red stain instead of lipstick. I have to give props to Benefit Benetint here (my all-time favorite stain that EVERYONE and their MOM should own), but I've also tried Stila Cherry Crush Lip & Cheek Stain and that's becoming another fave as well. Both make me look as if I just ate a cherry popsicle and the color lasts for hours. Tip: always add some ChapStick over these to keep your lips hydrated. Stains tend to make lips look dry.

all-day makeup

As I was getting ready this morning, Good Morning America ran a segment called Beauty Behavior Lab about long-lasting makeup. The tester, GMA's Taryn Winter Brill, put on an entire face of makeup that claimed to last 16 hours. It was like the soup to nuts of makeup - she started with foundation and concealer and finished with eye shadow, liner, and mascara (her total look cost $88). Her mission? To find out if the makeup lived up to its claims. To my surprise, it did! As she made her way through snow and rain (the WORST days for makeup, by the way. It's like you walk out of your house and you get a face washing in 2 seconds), the makeup stayed put, didn't get runny, and looked pretty fresh by the end of the day.

I found all of this very intriguing because I haven't been wearing much makeup lately (mascara and a dab of Benefit Benetint on the apples of my cheeks), due to the wet, cold NYC weather. My eyes tear when it's cold out so my liner is messed up before I even get to work. Not a pretty sight.

I broke out my never-been-used stash of long-wear makeup, put it on, and prayed it stays the day:

1. Cover Girl Outlast Smoothwear All-Day Eyeliner in Espresso
2. Clinique Work Out Makeup All Day Wear
3. Revlon Colorstay Overtime Sheer Lipcolor in Sheer Petal
4. Maybelline Expert Wear Bronzer in Sun Light
5. MAC Pro Lash Mascara (MAC says this is hard-wearing and non-smudging. We'll see!)

I'm going on two and a half hours so far, and it seems as though my lips have faded a bit through breakfast. The rest looks GREAT - but then again it is still pretty early in the day. I'll be back at 10pm for the final update :)

xoxoxo

myTunes =)

I'm sitting here redeeming the last of my iTunes holiday gift cards, and I'm reminded of my other obsession (aside from beauty) - working out. Some things to know about me: I have to go to the gym almost every day or I go a little crazy. I get sad, I feel lazy... I'm not happy when I don't move enough.

However, I'm not a fitnessaholic by any means. I don't run marathons and I don't play sports (never have). I don't get on scales or measure body parts or do 1000 crunches every day. I do like getting my sneakers on, hopping on a treadmill, zoning the world out with my iPod, and working up a good sweat most days of the week. It's nearly impossible for me to do this without good music and a few new downloads a week to keep things fresh and new because let's face it, there are only so many times you can listen to Bombs Over Baghdad without getting really bored.

So here's where I share my favorite workout songs with you. Whether you're a treadmill fan, an elliptical girl, or like to bike, these will get you pretty pumped (I also like listening to these upbeat songs while I'm walking to the subway in the morning. Works better than coffee, I'm convinced).

The OLD :

1. Let's Get Loud - Jennifer Lopez

2. Yeah - Usher

3. Crash and Burn Girl - Robyn

4. God is a DJ - Pink

5. Maneater - Nelly Furtado

6. Disturbia - Rihanna

7. Pump It - Black Eyed Peas

8. Til I Collapse - Eminem

9. Cup of Life - Ricky Martin (I hate to say it, but this is an amazing pumper upper for the first few minutes of any workout)

10. 7 Things - Miley Cyrus (see above)

11. World Hold On - Bob Sinclair

The NEW:

1. Disco Heaven - Lady Gaga

2. If U Seek Amy - Britney Spears

3. Human - The Killers

4. Right Round - Flo Rida featuring Katy Perry (I'm fully aware this is a remix of an oldie but this version is better for workouts, in my opinion)

5. Poker Face - Lady Gaga

6. The Fear - Lily Allen

7. Krazy - Lil Jon

Downloads are done and it's bedtime. May all your workouts be fabulous ones :)

xoxo

getting a tan from a can in the dead of winter

Like most people, I think I look better with a tan. Not your crazy, obvious, too-dark, "I've-been-vacationing-in-Miami-for-the-past-2-weeks" sort of tan, but more like a healthy glow. That said, a healthy glow is not something I have naturally (case-in-point: see bangs picture below).

Therefore, I must rely on a slew of tanners and bronzing products to help achieve my desirable color. The questions I get asked a lot are, how do I choose the right one and how the heck do you put it on? I won't lie - it's tricky for first-timers and it's even trickier in the winter when you're white as paper (less room for error). Here are some top tips to guide you to a gorgeous glow:

1. If you're extra pale, don't have expectations of looking like Eva Mendes. It a) won't look natural, b) you may need an entire bottle of self tanner and major skills, and c) probably won't work in the first place. My personal wintertime goal is to not look like I'm Casper's first cousin and quite frankly I think that's reasonable.

2. Gradual tanners are THE way to go, especially in February when your skin hasn't seen ample sunlight for 6 months. I haven't used a regular self-tanner in years. These formulas are not buildable. This means that if you apply at night, you might as well write a note your forehead the next morning that says "HI, I SELF-TANNED IN MY BATHROOM". Streaks and screw-ups are more obvious with full-on self tanners.

3. My all-time favorite gradual self tanners are Victoria's Secret Bare Bronze Gleaming Self-Tan Body Tint and Dove Energy Glow. They smell the best, last the longest, and give the most convincing sunkissed look. I mix equal parts of each in my palm, then apply it in circular motions to my whole body. If I want to be tan for the weekend, I start tanning on Tuesday night. By Friday, my skin tone is perfection :)

4. Use face formula when self-tanning your face and neck. They are less greasy than tanners for the body and produce the most natural color (definitely a plus, since your face is something you can't hide if you mess it up). Jergens Natural Glow for Face is the one that I use. It's cheap and doesn't cause breakouts.

5. Self tan at least one hour before bed and sleep in very loose clothing (or, uh, none at all). You might feel a little sticky when you lie down, but trust me - you aren't messing up your efforts.

6. In the winter, I only self-tan parts of my body that people see -face, arms, hands, chest (my secret's out) Saves a ton of product and a lot of time.

7. Maintain your pretty tan by keeping your skin hydrated (apply lotion after every shower) and using bar soap rather than scrubbing your skin with a loofah or washcloth. Vigorous scrubbing exfoliates the skin and will fade a tan in half the time, obviously.

I know everyone has their own personal methods to their self tanning madness but these are mine. Whether you're a clueless tanner virgin or a seasoned pro, it always helps to have new tips (I like hearing new ones too, so let me know what yours are...)

xoxo