For the last couple of months, I have been enjoying the Pacifica shower gels - I have Tuscan Blood Orange and Hawaiian Ruby Guava. They are equally yummy. So, imagine my excitement when, walking through Wegman's with the troupe after a meeting, Lotus spotted a Pacifica display and on it ... the entire Pacifica line, including Solid Perfume!
So everything beautiful isn't about makeup, y'all! It is totally not beautiful to be funky. LOL!
As a fan of Lavanila scents, I was keen to try Lavanila The Healthy Deodorant. I am not one of those girls who searches for organic or healthy beauty products, but it can never hurt when you know that you can get the beautification you need without doing any undue damage to your body or the environment, right?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: lip and cheek stains are my favorite things. They are so awesome for multi-tasking when you don't have more than five minutes to spare, but still want to do some prettifying! Here's another one I've added to my arsenal: The Body Shop Hot Brights Lip Shine/Cheek Stain, specifically in Shade 01 Pink.
Continue reading "The Body Shop Hot Brights Lip Shine/Cheek Stain" »
Recently, I've had the opportunity to try Revolution Organics Freedom Glow Beauty Balm in blushed. The Beauty Balm is designed as a multi-purpose stick (sort of like NARS' The Multiple) that can be swiped on cheeks, eyelids, lips, and decolletage for easy and quick beautification. Blushed is a very bright pink with subtle shimmer. I haven't tried it on eyes or decolletage, since I think that bright pink isn't the best look on either of those areas, but as a creamy product for cheeks and lips, it's awesome! I am oily-skinned, so cream blushes often don't last on me, but I applied this at 7 this morning and at 4:30 PM, it's still going strong with no reapplication!
It has no scent other than a faint lipstick-like odor (which I like). It's free of synthetics, chemicals, parabens, sulphates, artificial ingredients and petrochemicals and it hasn't been tested on animals. So you can look beautiful and feel beautiful, too!
As you all know from my "Bronzers for Brown Girls" series, I constantly am on the lookout for a bronzer which actually meets my needs and the needs of bajillions of other brown-skinned beauties. We want to be able to achieve bronzed bombshell look, too! Sadly, many bronzers aren't deep enough in color to work for us. I get it - the beauty industry assumed that, as brown folks, we wouldn't need a bronzer. Well, WRONG!
So, allow me to extend a hearty "Good on ya!" to LORAC for creating the LORAC TANTalizer Baked Matte Satin Bronzer SPF 15. This product is great for many reasons.
Continue reading "Bronzers for Brown Girls: LORAC TANtalizer Baked Matte Satin Bronzer SPF 15" »
LAVANILA The Healthy Lip Shine "uses 100% pure apricot, jojoba, and sunflower oil" to achieve the shine that we desire in a lip gloss. I bought this because my three favorite scents are vanilla, rose, and lavender and there was no way I could pass up something combining two of the three (I also bought the Vanilla Lavender fragrance). While I absolutely love the fragrance and encourage all vanilla and/or lavender lovers to get it, I can't say the same for The Healthy Lip Shine.
There's nothing awful about The Healthy Lip Shine, but there's nothing great about it, either. It goes on nice and smoothly and the scent is lovely. But, while the shine is fine, it doesn't last long at all. The shine, in fact, the gloss itself, is gone within half an hour, I'd say. If you really wanted to buy this gloss, you'd have to be prepared to go through it quickly because you'd be applying it eleventy times a day!
Like many of my beauty purchases, I decided to buy Smashbox's HALO Hydrating Perfecting Powder after watching Saturday Night Beauty on QVC. Come on, if you're a beauty lover, that should be part of your regular weekly viewing.
I was intrigued by the idea of a hydrating powder. Supposedly, the powder has encapsulated water in it, which made me think of Prescriptives' Magic Liquid Powder, which I used for a while and loved. Also, the Smashbox HALO Hydrating Perfecting Powder contains Goji berry, a powerful antioxidant and antiaging agent. Big plus for many consumers!
My initial reaction to the Smashbox HALO powder is that I really like the packaging - it has a nice weightiness to it and I love that it has an included mirror in the compact. Also, including a little kabuki brush is really helpful for application - the smaller brush makes it much more convenient for touch-ups during the day. The feel of the powder on the skin is quite refreshing - it did feel cool on the skin, though it doesn't feel quite as "wet" as Prescriptives Magic Liquid Powder.
I like the idea of being able to shave a small portion of the powder to give the softness of a loose powder with the convenience of carrying a pressed powder. In theory, it's great. In practice, however, it can be pretty messy just like carrying any other loose powder - I think it takes some practice to figure out exactly how much powder you need to achieve your purposes. Otherwise, you still have some loose powder in the top of the compact. However, since the powder is light, you can just layer on whatever extra powder you have left - it won't look caked on.
All in all, I'm really a fan of the product. I wouldn't give it a 5 necessarily, but it's a solid 4.5. I enjoy the finish it gave to my skin - light, dewy coverage, which one wouldn't expect from a powder. As it's now the colder months, the dewiness is really appreciated - it doesn't add to any dryness or flakiness. It isn't a full or even medium coverage foundation, but if you're looking for a finishing powder to use over your liquid foundation or if you like light coverage, this product is for you!
In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, ULTA is making a donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. There are plenty of wonderful products at ULTA - so go SHOP PINK!
An ULTA Exclusive: bareMinerals introduces their 100% Natural Lip Palette! For $28, you get eight wonderful shades and an included lip brush.
Go to www.ulta.com or to your local ULTA store to get it!
BBNBCA
Supermodel Josie Maran has started her own beauty and makeup line, devoted to products that not only make you look beautiful, but are good for you, as well. I found myself intrigued by her concept and, when I saw her recently on QVC's Saturday Night Beauty, I decided to try her line's mascara.
Available in black only, this mascara is great for every day wear. It is paraben and fragrance free and contains organic ingredients like jojoba oil and beeswax, which supposedly condition and srengthen your lashes. I do like how smoothly the mascara applies and it did leave me with lush lashes all day - they were lengthened and curled, not dramatically, but they were naturally pretty. It was a fresh look that I liked.
I have to say, though, for $22, I'm not sure this mascara was worth the pricetag. For a better bargain, you can get the same fresh, naturally pretty lashes from Maybelline's Full 'n Soft Mascara. Get the look you want, and save your money!
Maybelline Full 'n Soft is a great Affordable Alternative to Josie Maran Mascara!
Proud member of Total Beauty, Glam, and The Beauty Blog Network!
Many of you know by now about Carmindy's collaboration with Sally Hansen to create the Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Line. For those of you who don't know, Carmindy Acosta is the featured makeup artist on TLC's What Not to Wear, my and Sarai's favorite makeover show.
Carmindy is one of my beauty inspirations because her 5 Minute Face Technique gives each woman the tools to look and feel beautiful in a short amount of time, since so many of us don't really have much time to spare on beautifying. She encourages each woman to recognize and highlight her natural beauty, which is very much in sync with my personal aesthetic and beliefs.
So now, Carmindy has joined with Sally Hansen to create this beauty line featuring products that are paraben free and contain wonderful nutrients like avocado oil, aloe, gingko biloba, Vitamins A & E, and others. As soon as I heard about it, I knew I had to delve into this line head first. And so, I did.
Being a lip product fiend, I, of course, bought the Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Natural Lip Shine Gloss in every darn color available. I have been wearing them for weeks now and they are the only ones I took on vacation with me. They are almost perfect glosses - lush, moisturizing, high on shine (a troupe member told me my "lip gloss was poppin'" the first time she saw me sporting one), come in a bunch of colors and are affordable. Yay! Carmindy and Sally Hansen got these glosses right. In fact, I'm wearing one today - the shade is Juicy Cherry and it is fab!
Unfortunately, the scent is a bit irksome for me, though I don't think it'll bother everybody. I'm not sure how to describe it other than "sweet". But it fades, so I don't mind after a while. Worse, though, is that my local Walgreen's has stopped carrying the line, which makes me furious, since I love it so much. But, Ulta has the entire line in full force, so if you have an Ulta not too far from you, get it there! You can also find the line in Duane Reade and in some Rite Aid and CVS stores.
In honor of the utter awesomeness of these glosses, I am instituting two new categories here on The Life of A Ladybug. The first is "And it's good for you, too!" in honor of those beauty products that not only make you look your best, but are good for you, to boot. And the second is "Ding! Pick it up!" in honor of those products that I love best. (This comes from a hilarious set of sketches on "In Living Color". Tommy Davidson's character was a deaf short order cook, who would ring his bell and scream "Pick it up!" Holla at me in the comments if you remember those.)
Proud memeber of Total Beauty, Glam, and The Beauty Blog Network!
