The Life of A Ladybug

Fresh Sugar Deodorant

I didn't know that I would ever use a deodorant that actually costs $18.  I still think I'm a bit crazy for buying it, but I've been curious about it for quite a while.  I have to say, Fresh Sugar Deodorant is a really good deodorant.  It goes on with the light, pleasant scent of all of Fresh's Sugar products (which smells like lemon to me, interestingly enough) and serves to keep you odor-free all day.  On the other hand, this is a roll-on, so it feels wet when you first apply it, which I don't care for.  And it's $18!  It would have to be the Holy Grail of deodorants for me to pay that much.  So, I'm thinking that this will be the last tube of this I ever buy.  Secret works just as well and you can get it at the market for a couple bucks.

You can buy Fresh Sugar Deodorant in Sephora stores or on www.sephora.com.

Thymes Red Cherie Hand Lotion

Thymes sent me their Hand Lotion in their newest fragrance, Red Cherie.  When I read the fragrance ingredients: red fruits and flowers, pomegranate, red cherries, passion flower, jasmine, Asian lychee and musk", I was quite eager to try it.  I love the scent of pomegranate, passion flower, lychee and jasmine, so I expected to love this scent.  Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case.  I'm not sure if it was the combination of all those scents or the addition of the cherries or what, but I don't really care for the fragrance at all.  It's much too sweet and cloying for my tastes.  However, I did find the lotion to be nicely moisturizing and liked that the fragrance did linger for quite a while - though I didn't love the Red Cherie fragrance, if I found a fragrance I did like, I would be happy to have it last for a while.

So, all in all, I like the lotion, just not the scent.  I will give other Thymes products a try and hopefully find a scent that I like much better.

You can buy Red Cherie Hand Lotion (and other body products scented with Red Cherie) at www.thymes.com for $15.

Affordable Alternatives: For Christina

Christina sent me an e-mail asking if I could find cheaper option for her faves, BeneFit High Beam and Shea Terra Organic E. Africa Pure Shea Butter.  Well, Christina, I may have found a couple things you'd like to try.

Revlon has some limited edition items out right now and one is called Bare It All Lustrous Lotion.  It's a product designed to be used over your foundation (or alone, if you don't wear foundation) to add a touch of luminescence to the skin.  I'm sure it's more economical than BeneFit and you can find Revlon products at your nearest drugstore, like Walgreen's or CVS.

As for your love of shea butter moisturizers, I hear you!  I am a dry-skinned gal (on my body - my face is oily ... go figure) and I love shea butter, too.  I've found a new love - Boots Body Butters.  As you probably already know, the popular UK line, Boots, is now being sold in Target stores.  I have fallen in love with the body butters, which go on creamy smooth and offer great moisturization without leaving you all greasy.  I particularly love the Olive Oil and Honey/Almond scents.  I suggest you give them a try and I think you'll love 'em!

Are any of you guys looking for Affordable Alternatives to your favorite products or do you have cheaper options you'd like to share with the rest of us?  Hit me up in the comments or shoot me an e-mail!

Comments4aCure: eBay auction update!

Elke, our wonderful founder, just sent us an e-mail listing all the products that will be up for sale in our eBay auction!  You won't believe the huge amounts of fabulous stuff.  Please place your bid, starting 12 noon on this coming Sunday, June 10th.  Whoever gets these goodie bags is a very fortunate woman (or man)!

Nubar 2 Nail Collections + 1 Travel Manicure Set: x5 available

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230139712907

starting bid: $20

1 Manicure Travel Kit: includes

1 Cucumber Cuticle Oil

1 Cuti Cure

1 Nu-Nail

1 Plastic Cuticle Pusher

1 Two sided sanitizable nail file

1 4” Cuticle Nipper ¼ jaw

1 Summer Breeze Lacquer Collection

includes 7 nail polishes

1 Trousseau Collection

includes 7 nail polishes

Gigantic Goodie Bag #1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230139106723

starting bid: $100

IN THIS AUCTION:

GOODIE BAG  #1

So Cosmetics

1 2.5 fl. oz So Sinful body fragrance

1 .67 fl. oz 1 So Wild eau de toilette

1 1.7 fl. oz So Desirable eau de toilette

1 1.7 fl. oz So Kiss Me eau de toilette7uhn

1 3 pack Spa Towells body moisturizing towelettes

the Original body lotion towelettes

1 Dermacia Foundation Set

includes 1 instructional tips dvd

2 brushes

2 breathable toners

1 breathable moisture

1 Medium Kit spf 15 breathable foundation in #5 Ebony/Tawny

Hottiedots!

The perfect way to add a beauty mark.

One in “Chocolate Kiss”

One in “Toasted Kiss”

Retail $4.95 each

1 Pure Pashmina Black Shawl

Size 36x80

1 Sassy Tails Hair Accessory for tweens and teens.

2 (1 black, 1 white)  The Ultimate Shoe Lace.

The Lace that Stays in Place™

Tarte Cosmetics -

A Collection of their Best Sellers

by Tarte Cosmetics

3 Tarte Cheek Stains in tickled . tipsy . flushed

3 Borba Inside Out lip glosses in apple a day . am . liquid sunshine

1 Lights, Camera, Lashes 3 in 1 mascara in Black

1 Rest Assured

1 Clean Slate Face Primer

1 Eye Shadow in bathtub gin

1 mouth off spf 15 lip balm

1 spf 15 moisturizing lipsheer 24.7 in champagne brunch

1 frxtion all natural sugar exfoliator & lip balm

1 Little Blot Book

1 The Toolbox brow know how in medium

1 Rock Royalty bronzer/highlighter/brush palette

1 Glam – to – Go

1 Perfect Eye lash Curler

KENZO Parfums -

1 1.7 fl oz  eau pour l'ete FlowerbyKenzo

1 50 ml eau de parfum KenzoAmour

1 30 ml eau de parfum KenzoAmour

China Glaze Nail Polishes & Treatment Products

by China Glaze

via Michelle at All Lacquered Up

1 Nail Collection in Surf

1 Strong Adhesion Base Coat

1 Patent Leather Top Coat

1 Calcium Gel Fortifier

1 Orange Cuticle Oil

1 4 oz Spa Caviar Green Tea Hand Creme

Skin MD Natural – 1 4oz  bottle

Shielding Lotion

by 21st Century Formulations

Head & Shoulders

1 14.2 fl. oz Citrus Breeze Shampoo . hydrating formula

Herbal Essences

1 6 fl. oz Body Envy Weightless Volumizing Gel in white nector/pink coral flower

1 8 fl. oz Dangerously Straight Pin Straight Hairspray in honeyed pear/silk

Clairol Herbal Essences

1 Bold 'N Brilliant Permanent Hair color in Star Light/Light Blonde

1 ZOYA gift bag. (not pictured)

Everything you need for perfect manicures and pedicures.

Contents:

1 Zoya Professional Nail Lacquer Gift Pack

Jute bag with wrapped items includes 1 each of:

Zoya Color Lock System (includes instructions)

Zipper bag containing

Zoya Remove +

Zoya Anchor – base coat

Zoya Armor – topcoat

Zoya Hurry Up – speed dry drops

Zoya Smitten Collection Sampler – 6 shades

Zoya Candy Collection Sampler – 6 shades

From Bespoke Labs

1 Dual Voltage 110/220 V . 1200 Watt Collapsible handle T3 Overnight Dryer

Gigantic Goodie Bag #2

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230139698810

starting bid: $100

IN THIS AUCTION:

1 3 pack Spa Towells body moisturizing towelettes

the Original body lotion towelettes

DuWop Cosmetics - a few new Summer products

by DuWop Cosmetics, Melanie Peralta - DuWop PR

duwop.com

1 duet eye shadow

1 blush booster

1 real lipstick

1 gloss infused

1 smoothset powder primer

Hottiedots!

The perfect way to add a beauty mark.

One in “Chocolate Kiss”

One in “Toasted Kiss”

Retail $4.95 each

Srina Green Tea Set

Includes green tea packets, and a multi fuction tea pot.

2 Sassy Tails Hair Accessory for tweens and teen.

2 Black . The Ultimate Shoe Lace.

The Lace that Stays in Place™

SkinActives Products

by Derek Thurston, Skin Actives Scientific

1 1 fl. oz Celestite Spriz

1 1 fl. oz Marine Nutrient Serum

1 1.8 oz Anti-Age Cream

1 0.5 oz Bright-I Cream

1 0.5 oz ELS Base Serum

1 0.34 oz Liquid Rainbow Lip Treatment

1 1 fl. oz. Marine Nutrient Cream

$250 worth of Bourjois Paris makeup

by Bourjois Paris

a baggie full of: blushes, eye shadows, lipstick, lip gloss and more.....

KENZO Parfums -

1 1.7 fl. oz eau de parfum FlowerbyKenzo in Oriental

1 1.7 fl. oz eau de parfum FlowerbyKenzo

1 100 ml eau de parfum in KenzoAmour

Alterna Hair Care Items

by Alterna Hair Care

1 8.5 fl. oz Hemp Repair Shampoo

1 8.5 fl. oz Hemp Repair Conditioner

1 8.5 fl. oz Life Volumizing Spray Gel

1 15.5 oz Caviar Working Hair Spray

China Glaze Nail Polishes & Treatment Products

by China Glaze

via Michelle at All Lacquered Up

1 Nail Collection in Blush

1 Nail Strengthener & Growth Formula

1 Strong Adhesion Base Coat

1 Ridge Filler

1 First & Last

1 Fast Freeze Quick Dry

1 4 oz Spa Caviar Hand Creme

Green Tea

1 Ardell Fashion Lashes and Eye Lash Adhesive in dark tone

1 Healthy Hoof Intensive Protein Treatment for nails and cuticles

Skin MD Natural - 1 4 oz. bottle

Shielding Lotion

by 21st Century Formulations

MAX Factor

Volume Couture Mascara

7 MAX Factor MAXalicious lip glosses in

    -- Stood Him Up

    -- Too Much Wine

    -- Secret Rendezvous

    -- Two To Tango

    -- First Kiss

    -- Spring Fling

    -- Table For Two

5 MAX Factor Exotics Collection Eye Shadows in

    -- Serengeti

    -- Rainforest

    -- African Violet

    -- Ravenous

    -- Tigress

Head & Shoulders

1 14.2 fl. oz Restoring Shine Shampoo . hydrating formula

Herbal Essences

1 8 fl. oz Body Envy Volumizing Hairspray in white nectarine/pink coral flower

1 6 oz Totally Twisted Curl Scrunching Gel in french lavender twist/jade extracts

Clairol Herbal Essences

1 Highlights Hair color in Rich Copper

Clairol Hydrience

1 Permanent Hair color in Burgundy

1 ZOYA gift bag. (not pictured)

Everything you need for perfect manicures and pedicures.

Contents:

1 Zoya Professional Nail Lacquer Gift Pack

Jute bag with wrapped items includes 1 each of:

Zoya Color Lock System (includes instructions)

Zipper bag containing

Zoya Remove +

Zoya Anchor  basecoat

Zoya Armor  topcoat

Zoya Hurry Up  speed dry drops

Zoya Smitten Collection Sampler  6 shades

Zoya Candy Collection Sampler  6 shades

From Bespoke Labs

1 Narrow Duality Wet or Dry 1inch Iron

The Opera Collection Clutch from Bo's Art/Los Angeles

A beautiful silver clutch bag.

Flirt Squeeze Super Shiny Lipgloss 4 piece

in Nectar Fizz . Mighty Aphrodite . Cherries Jubilee . Radical Raspberry

I want a clean as real as Ivory!

Today has been a great Mother's Day so far.  My husband and daughter let me sleep in 'til 9:30.  When I woke up, they gifted me with fabulous smell goods and cards. Vic made brunch for us while Sarai and I cuddled in bed.  After brunch, Sarai went down the street to my cousin's house to play while Vic and I watched a Law and Order marathon (and did other things, but that part's none of your business).  I wanted to take a long, hot bubble bath and Vic let me know that he'd bought some soap and put it in the linen closet.  While my water was running, I went into the closet and found a multi-pack of Ivory soap.  At first, I was irked, slightly.  I like scented soaps, ones with pretty colors and nice scents.  I tend toward the soaps at Trader Joe's - highly textured, great colors, heavy scents of rose, lavendar and lemon.  But Ivory was all there was, so I grabbed a bar and hopped into the tub full of froths of ginger apricot bubbles.  I luxuriated in the suds for a while, then grabbed the bar of Ivory.  I winced a bit at the sharp scent, but forged ahead.  I dipped the bar into the water and lathered up the washcloth, rubbing the subsequent lather onto my skin.  I noticed that the lather was way thicker and floofier than I remembered from my childhood - when I was a kid, Ivory soap was the only kind that my grandparents used and I got bathed in those white bubbles every day.  Then, I realized, that as biting as the scent is when the soap is fresh out of the package, it changes when bathe with it.  It became a much softer thing when it hit my skin - I was left feeling innocent, rejuvenated and clean!  It was definitely a pure, fresh feeling.

I don't think I've given up my scented soaps completely, but whenever I need a reminder of childhood or even just to feel that I've adequately washed away all the dirt of the day without the complications of flowers and fruit-filled foam, I'll turn back to good ole Ivory.  It's gotta be 99.44!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas (courtesy of Sephora)

Mother's Day is almost upon us and, as a mom and a beauty junkie, I wanted to give you a few ideas for Mother's Day gifties - Sephora style!  (All gift suggestions can be found in Sephora stores or on www.sephora.com.)

For the frequent traveler mom:

NARS Artist Palette.  If you know a mom who travels quite a bit (that would be me), this palette is a great gift.  It's sleek and thin enough to not add much bulk to your travel bag.  It has a mirror and contains ten of NARS' top-selling shades - four neutral shadows that can be sheerly pretty for day or smoked-out for night, two shades of the Multiple - one for highlighting and one for adding color to the cheeks, and four fabulous lipsticks. 

For the mom who can't afford an island vacation, but wants to feel like she's been on one anyway:

Carol's Daughter A Mango Melange Moment.  Includes a shea souffle, cleansing gel, perfume spray and a loofah.  All the body products are scented with Carol's Daughter's amazingly tropical Mango Melange scent.  This scent is one of my favorites and never fails to make me feel all island girl-y!

For the beauty junkie mom:

Sephora's Summer Blockbuster Palette.  This palette is a scaled-down version of the one that flew off the shelves at the end of last year, only to be seen making the rounds of eBay for astronomical prices.  24 eyeshadows, 24 lipglosses, five cheek colors, one translucent shimmer powder, two shadow applicators, a blush brush, and a lip brush.  What else could you need?

For the animal activist mom:

Smashbox Palettes for PETA.  100 percent vegan eyeshadows that have never been tested on animals.  Comes in two breathtaking trios: Earth Mother (on the left), which is the neutral set and In the Wild, which contains brighter, springier shades.

Stay tuned here!  I'll have upcoming posts with more Mother's Day gift ideas!

This week's beauty haul

I had to go to Target on Wednesday, so, of course, while purchasing other things, I went over to the cosmetics aisle, as well.  Here's what I came home with:

• Iman Stick Foundation in Sand 4
• Boots Body Butter in Almond, Pistachio & Milk
• Boots No. 7 Gloss in Pink Candy
• Revlon Colour Riche Lipstick in Aishwarya's Beige and Kerry's Rosewood
• Iman Luxury Lip Shimmer in Blushing Nude

Thumbs up on the Colour Riche Lipstick in Aishwarya's Beige - I've been using it for the last two days, the Boots Body Butter, and the Iman Luxury Lip Shimmer - I plan to try some of the other shades.  Thumbs all the way down on the Iman Stick Foundation - see my review post.

Take a look at Maryam's Soap Nook!

Maryam Diab of Maryam's Soap Nook very kindly sent me several of her products to test and I'm so glad she did!  I've been jealously watching the other beauty bloggers raving about her wares and I wanted to test them out for myself ... and now I have, with great enjoyment on my part.

Included in the package she sent were Tuberose and Neroli Handmade Soap, Tropical Paradise Whipped Shea Monoi Body Butter, Fresh Cut Flowers Luxury Body Mist, Peach Gardenia Exfoliating Bath and Shower Gel, and Sweet Lavendar Flowers Dead Sea Salt Scrub.  What an embarrassment of riches!  I was overly excited to try out these products.  I immediately took a bath using the Peach Gardenia Exfoliating Bath and Shower Gel, then slathered myself with the Whipped Body Butter.  The next night, I used the soap and body butter.  Then, the next night the scrub.  And today, the luxury body mist.  All awesome - awesome, I tell you!

The Exfoliating Bath and Shower Gel really foams nicely when used on a body pouf and left my flaky skin on my legs smoothed out and noticeably moisturized.  And, since peach is one of my favorite scents (and fruit), I was happy to be surrounded by the scent of ripe peaches as I bathed.  The Whipped Body Butter is a Godsend - it applies so smoothly and doesn't require as much rubbing as shea butter usually does to make it liquify and spread on the skin.  And it didn't leave behind an oil slick on my legs, which I greatly appreciate.  The soap is so beautifully made and looks so fancy laying in the soap dish on the side of my tub.  It feels lush when rubbed against the skin and I really felt like I was pampering myself when I used it.  My husband absolutely loved the scent of it and I'm pretty sure I've been smelling traces of it on him - I would not put it past him to be using my soap ... of course, this is the man who washes his hair with pink Herbal Essences shampoo because it smells nice.  My baby - he's such a girl.  Anyway ... the scrub worked wonders on my dry, leftover from winter, skin and didn't require much clean-up afterward ... I always hate when I have to thoroughly scrub the tub after a bath because of how much oil is left behind from my scrubs and bubble baths.  Last, but not least, the luxury body mist - I was surprised at how much I liked it.  I am a fruity smell girl and am usually turned off by floral scents, but I really liked it.  It smelled fresh and pretty and clung nicely to my skin without making me feel that I'd rubbed around in a pile of dead roses.  Score!

Maryam's Soap Nook is a worthwhile company.  Give these products a try - they get my glowing endorsement!