Thanksgiving & threading

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I’ve updated the blog here. Oops. Well, I hope everyone had a tasty and relatively drama-free Thanksgiving. Our feast included a meat-free Quorn roast on a bed of Brussels sprouts and walnuts:

Looks delish, doesn’t it? Sorry, I’ve eaten it all… I also whipped up a small cheese tasting:

L to R: Boucherondin, Drunken Goat, Year-old Manchego and Parrano

Beautywise, I’ve been occupying myself with swapping on MakeupAlley.com. Though the site has been around since 1999, I didn’t sign up and start swapping until a couple of months ago. Though my husband is convinced I’m going to end up with strangers’ cooties, so far the experience has been positive and has been an excellent outlet for my product junkie tendencies.

Another first for me is threading. Let me tell you a little story: In the summer of 2004, I stopped at a Professionail in a local mall to have my fake fingernails removed. While the nail tech was ripping those off (little did I know then I should have asked her to soak them off), she looked me square in the face and said, “Eyebrow wax, $8?” It’s a sign when an cosmetologist looks at your face and suggests a wax, I thought. It wasn’t my first eyebrow wax, but when I woke up the following morning with my forehead and brow area so inflamed that my eyes were practically swollen shut, I decided it would be my last.

I never figured out what caused the allergic reaction, but for the past four years, I have tried to maintain my brows through plucking only, which to me, doesn’t give as clean and groomed a look as waxing. So when a co-worker mentioned she was going to get her brows threaded, I jumped at the chance to try out this hair removal process.

Photo by Brittan

My co-worker Brittan snapped this photo with her phone while the slightly surly threader was working his magic. I have a low pain threshold (when I say that, I always think back to Erma Bombeck joking that her pain tolerance was so low she was bedridden for two weeks after getting her ears pierced), so I was afraid I would tear up or wince during the threading process. But it was surprisingly painless–to me, even more comfortable than plucking.

My fall and winter shaving routine is quite lax, so I’m sure if David (the threader) had spotted my pits and legs, he would’ve wanted to reach for his industrial-size spool. Am I the only one that surrenders to the hair during long-sleeves season?

Read Full Post »

8 Off-Label (and Cheap) Beauty Buys

You cruise the cosmetics aisle on every visit to the drugstore or superstore, just to check out the new products, right? But it’s not just the cosmetics aisle that offers a bounty of beauty buys. Check out these “off-label” uses of familiar products.

1) Monistat Soothing Care Chafing Relief Powder-Gel ($7.81): This gel works nicely to prevent chafing (thighs in summer, need I say more?) and blisters. But the active ingredient, dimethicone, is a silicone similar to the cyclomethicone in Smashbox’s Photo Finish Primer ($36). Furthermore, Makeup For Ever’s HD Microperfecting Primer ($32) is dimethicone-based. If you’re looking for a cheaper primer, this Monistat gel is worth a look.

Chafing Gel can double as a foundation primer.

2) Aspirin ($2.19 for 100 tablets): No one I know uses aspirin as a pain reliever, but some may have a big bottle in the beauty arsenal. Aspirin is an acetyl derivative of salicylic acid, which you may recognize as a common BHA exfoliant and acne medication. A paste of aspirin can be used as a mask or a blemish spot treatment, or you can mix up a batch of aspirin toner.

3) Aloe vera gel ($3.69 for 6 oz.): Beach babes know to toss some aloe vera gel in their bag for after-sun soothing. Post-skincare, rub a dollop through your hair—it makes a great, light hair gel. In a pinch, it can also triple as shaving gel.

4) Milk of Magnesia ($6.49 for 12 oz.): The magnesium hydroxide in milk of magnesia acts as a laxative when taken internally. But when smoothed on your face as on a mask, or even as a foundation primer, the same ingredient controls oil.

5) Panty liners ($3.69 for 60): You know a well-timed pantyliner has saved your clothes and lingerie more than once. Slightly trimmed down, panty liners can also act as underarm shields, absorbing sweat and protecting your clothes from deodorant stains.

6) Cornstarch (approx. $2 for 12 oz. at amazon.com): If you cook much, you probably have a can of this in your kitchen cabinet for thickening gravies and sauces. Cornstarch, or zea mays, is a key ingredient in dry shampoos such as Bumble & Bumble Hair Powder ($19). A tiny bit of cornstarch dusted on your roots with a large makeup brush absorbs excess oil. (You can also try talc-free baby powder, which is cornstarch-based, but usually contains fragrance.)

7) Microfiber cloths ($8 for 6 at autozone.com): Aquis charges nearly $8 for a single microfiber washcloth, but you can usually find a value pack of microfiber cloths (intended for detailing cars) in the auto section of  discount stores and supermarkets. These work well for gentle face and body exfoliation, and with a pack of 6, you can use a new one almost every day (as you should to prevent bacterial growth on your washcloth).

8) Lansinoh Lanolin for Breastfeeding Mothers ($9.49): Pure lanolin is great at soothing sore nipples, and is a rich emollient for bleeding, chapped lips.

Prices are from drugstore.com, except where noted.

Read Full Post »

Japan Fashion Week: Japanese Beauty Products

In celebration of Japan’s Fashion Week, which kicked off Monday, we bring you a look at a few Japanese cosmetic products.

Photo courtesy of ohayousa.com

Clear Eye Talk: I guess even women across the world sometimes find fault with their genetic lot; in this case, Asian eyelids. It took me a second to figure out what this product does, but it essentially a glue to make double or “Caucasian” eyelids. $10.99 at ohayousa.com.

Photo courtesy of webichi.com

Mikan Chan Lip Cream: Lip balm with orange extract, collagen and hyaluronic acid. But who cares, look at the adorable orange shape! $8.99 at webichi.com.

Photo courtesy of ohayousa.com

Bison Wakilala Clear Wash: There’s a reason the graphic on the tube shows a woman with her arms raised. This is an exfoliant specifically for your armpits that, as far as I can tell, helps prevent ingrown hairs and reduce underarm odor. $11.99 at ohayousa.com.

Photo courtesy of webichi.com

Biore Powder Sheet in Peach Tea: A deodorant wipe for, well, anyplace stinky or sweaty on your body. Haven’t you always wanted to smell like peach tea? $4.99 at webichi.com.

Photo courtesy of webichi.com

Kenassy Finger Hair Remover: Ew, you have finger hair (or, God forbid, toe hair, as the package hints)? I can’t even stand to look at your extremities! Hurry, order these—you are so gross. Available soon at webichi.com.

Photo courtesy of ohayousa.com

PELICAN Dei-Tan-Seki Clay & Charcoal Body Soap: OK, I actually want this one. A) The clay sounds great for my oily skin, and B) I adore the bottle. $13.99 at ohayousa.com.

Photo courtesy of ohayousa.com

Calorie Off Massage Slim Pant: What if packaging was this in-your-face in the States? Instead of inspiring you with a picture of a slender woman, they remind of you of the oinker you are. This girdle supposedly massages your fat and allows you lose 355 calories in one hour. (And I’m pretty sure the yellow graphic says “Let’s diet!” rather than the more ominous “Let’s die!”) $16.99 at ohayousa.com.

Read Full Post »

Doing Good: L’Occitane en Provence

Love L'Occitane's products and their social conscience.

L’Occitane en Provence always entices me into buying (at least) a bar of soap with their pleasant, “natural” scents such as lavender, almond and verbena, and the quaint-but-stylish jars, tins and bottles. But I have wondered before why most of their packaging incorporates Braille.

The writers over at Sephora’s Beauty and the Blog answer that question in a brief blog series about The L’Occitane Foundation.

Read about the foundation’s threefold mission here:

1) Projects for sense-impaired individuals, in particular the blind and partially sighted

2) Sustainable economic development headed by women in poor countries

3) Preservation of nature’s knowledge

Read Full Post »

Luxe Travel: Kiehl’s + Derek Lam

In most cosmetic/toiletry kits, the makeup bag or dopp kit often seems more like an afterthought rather than an essential part of the package. Not so with a new, limited-edition set from Kiehl’s, in partnership with Derek Lam.

Though Kiehl’s products aren’t necessarily cheap, the $225 price tag on this kit is mostly paying for the Derek Lam travel bag that comes with it (the value of the products is $36.50). Though Kiehl’s doesn’t display any interior pictures on the bag, style.com says that Lam designed a specific pocket inside for a tube of Lip Balm #1, his product of choice. Other contents include:

• Crème de Corps 2.5 oz.
• Amino Acid Shampoo 2.5 oz.
• Crème de Corps Nurturing Body Washing Cream 2.5 oz.
• Conditioner & Grooming Aid “Formula 133” 2.5 oz.

And as you may have noticed, all of the product are just the right size for airline carry-on.

Read Full Post »

Shower With Brad Pitt…

…or at least a product he helped design.

WWD announced yesterday that Kiehl’s is partnering with Brad Pitt in the development of Kiehl’s Aloe Vera Biodegradable Liquid Body Cleanser. Pitt will not be the “face” of the product, but 100 percent of the net profits for the item will go to JPF Eco Systems, “a charitable foundation created by Kiehl’s and Pitt to support global environmental initiatives that ‘minimize impact on the environment through thoughtful design.'” The product will sell for $16.50 at Kiehl’s counters and on their Web site.

What is interesting about this product, besides the involvement with an A-list celebrity, is that it is the first beauty product to be certified under Cradle to Cradle, which means that the both the packaging and the product itself are designed with the intent to minimize environmental impact. The bottle is created from post-consumer recycled plastic. The cleanser is paraben- and SLS-free, and the ingredients, once released into the environment, biodegrade in 28 days

Full article: wwd.com

Read Full Post »