Holiday Party Essential: Self-tanner

Yesterday I went out and miraculously found a cute party dress for my first holiday party of the year, all in on my lunch break! Seriously, a huge accomplishment for me. But then I realized I had a beauty emergency on my hands: my legs are SCARY white, after being hidden from the light of day since September. What to do, what to do? Well, since I don't believe in tanning beds, I opt for self-tanner.

If I had a week, I would use L'Oreal's Sublime Glow Daily Moisturizer every night on my legs after the shower. I've found this builds up to a nice subtle tan without looking fake or orange. The scent isn't off-putting and it really does moisturize very well. It had a bit of shimmer to it, which can transfer to your (black) clothes if you put them on right away, but its pretty non-the less. Since it takes a few days to build up, its pretty hard to screw up. But that's the problem, I don't have a few days, the party is tomorrow!

So, I will use Lancome's Flash Bronzer Glow 'N Wear tonight, and have beautifully tan legs for tomorrow's soirée. I bought the shimmer one, but I think I'll buy the non-shimmer one next time. The shimmer is a bit much for me, especially in the winter. This is one of the best self-tanners on the market because it miraculously doesn't transfer to your clothes or sheets after it drys! It goes on tinted but the color takes about 4 hours to fully develop. Be sure to exfoliate beforehand and be extra careful of your ankles, toes, and knees. I had some funny stripy spots on my feet the first time I tried it!

Bronze Lovely!

Holiday Beauty Gift Guide: Bath and Body Gift Sets

The best kind of gifts to give are those that they wouldn't spend money on for themselves. A luxurious bath or body product will make your friends feel pampered and loved. Cuz they're worth it, gosh darn it! This holiday, treat your well deserving friends and family to some fabulous bath and body gift sets, sure to put a smile on their face:

LaVanilla Laboratores's Three Wishes Healthy Body Butters ($28) are a sweet treat for the under-moisturized lady in your life. The set includes three 2.75 oz. tubes of wonderful body butter in pure vanilla, vanilla grapefruit, and vanilla blossom. Pure shea and cocoa butter is infused with anti-oxidants Goji Berry and Kakadu Plum, to provide moisture and nurishment.

Got a jet-setting friend who needs a little euro-luxury in her life? Tocca's Bagno da Viaggio in Cleopatra ($48) has everything she needs to feel beautiful and relaxed far away from home. The set includes a body wash, a body lotion, and a candle all in Cleopatra, a crisp, fresh scent of juicy grapefruit and soothing cucumber enriched with almond oil. Molto Buono!

For your friend or relative who entertains a lot, get L'Occitane's Lavender Hand Duo ($32) for their guest bathroom. The set comes with a hand wash and a hand lotion in classic lavender straight from Provance, all in a practical metal mountable caddy.

Anyone would be delighted to recieve Kiehl's Delights ($34), a gift set with travel sizes of some of their best products. It includes Creme de Corps body lotion, Amino Acid Shampoo with coconut, the fab Lip Blam #1, and Ultimate Strength Hand Salve. How Delightful indeed!

And for some good enough to eat holiday pampering, get your buddy Philosophy's Candy Cane Hat Box ($35). The set contains the scrumpcious candy cane shampoo/shower gel/bubble bath, candy cane hot tub/shower scrub, and candy cane lip shine. Sounds delishious to me! Just make sure your friend like candy canes.

Shop Lovely!

Holiday Beauty Gift Guide: Home Fragrance

With the weather getting colder and fewer windows being left open, my apartment tends to get a little stuffy. To scent my place without losing heat, I love to light candles, spray room-fresheners, and find other yummy smelly things to enjoy around the house. What a better holiday gift to give than Home Fragrances? Here are some great ones to think about this season:


For the fashion-conscious homemaker: Marc Jacobs 'Home' Room Fragrance Spray ($65) is a very stylish, modern way to keep a room smelling fresh and delicious. The scent is dispersed through the room by an elegant fabric atomizer. Gorgeous!






For the baked goods maker: Laura Mercier's Almond Coconut Milk Candle ($42) sounds like it's made of all the yummy things in your holiday goodies but it's calorie-free to burn. Along with almond and coconut, there is powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a hint of cinnamon. Can you say YUM?





For the trendy nester: Fresh's Sugar Lychee Scented Candle ($48) is a deliciously hip mix of citrus scents and lychee fruit. A favorite scent among those in the know, who wouldn't want this burning on their mod coffee table this holiday?






For the brand name lover: Henri Bendel's Fragrance Reeds in Lemon Verbena ($28) is a stylish and yet vintage way to scent the home. The name shows quality, but the price won't break your bank. At best of all, it's available at Bath and Body Works, just a mall away.





For the tree hugger: If you can't have the windows open to the fresh outdoors, replicate the sensation with Blue Spruce and Juniper Berry scented home fragrance oils ($7.50 each) from The Body Shop. Don't forget to include a rustic and stylish oil burner like The Droplet ($16).



Shop Lovely! More Gift Guides to come!

Monday Blues

Not feeling the creative juices flowing today, for all kinds of reasons, much like Yummy411 posted about yesterday. So I'll just post some links to interesting stuff I've read in the blogosphere recently and hope my mood improves by tomorrow.

Now Smell This lists 100 fragrances any perfume connoisseur should smell.

The Daily Cookie shows off her stunning Bridesmaid FOTD. She worked that coral dress like no other!

TheMakeupGirl raves about Smashbox's holiday lip gloss set, which I bought awhile ago. The colors are pretty, but the brushes are cheaply made.

BellaSugar gives some good advice on how to avoid smudging up your manicure, even 5 hours later. Down with sheet marks!

Elke Von Frendenberg lists 5 beauty tips she learned on Thanksgiving, and no, none of them are about dressing turkey!

Link Lovely!

Wishing But Not Buying...Yet.

I am a supporter of the anti-Black Friday movement, aka Buy Nothing Day. The whole concept of a day devoted to buying, buying, buying kinda grosses me out. It reminds me of how obsessed our culture is with consumerism. Of course I am just as guilty as the next guy, especially when it comes to buying beauty products. But for today, I will just look, lust, and linger over my current obsessions and keep my wallet closed:

I really think I need to shape up my wardrobe this winter and get a few more basic, staple items. And who better to take advice from than Tim Gunn and Nina Garcia of Project Runway fame. Make it Work!

Now that I have a new scent, I think the next addition to my product collection should be some new tools. Not powers tools, brushes of course. Bobbi Brown's Pink Quartz Mini Brush Set has the three brushes I really need, and it comes in a cute shiny pink bag. Awww!

When the weather is cold, all I want to do is pamper myself with bath products. Bliss's Merry Citrus set is perfect, and my favorite, Citrusy! Plus, the small sizes are perfect for travel. Who wants to check their bags during the hectic holidays?!

(Window) Shop Lovely!

A Little Online Pre-Thanksgiving Shopping

I know its the season to give... to others. But just now I accidentally clicked on Sephora.com (how'd that happen?!) while watching Project Runway tonight. Fab episode, by the way, with SJP challenging the designers to design an outfit for her Bitten line with only $15. Anyways back to my beauty splurge... I have been lusting over Gwen Stefani's first fragrance, L by L.A.M.B., ever since it wafted into my nose. It is in step with many other new fragrances coming out, in that it mixes feminine floral notes with a masculine kick. I love it, though, because it has a fresh, clean citrus touch as well. I was able to resist the urge to buy it, until I saw the gift set online just now. For $55 you get a 1 oz eau de parfum spray, a 2.5 oz body lotion, and a 0.11 oz solid perfume in a signature gift box. Such a nice set!

I justified buying it by using the 20% off Friends and Family Discount code (use FF2007 for a limited time...not sure when it ends though) and a $10 e-certificate. Am I a bad person?! Well, at least I'll smell good this holiday season!

Shop Lovely!

How To: Winged Eyeliner

I am loving the revival of old Hollywood glamour among celebrities right now. With or without the red lipstick, the intense liquid eyeliner that wings out at the edge is hot! It might look a bit tricky to pull off, and it will certainly take you some time to perfect, but you too can get these sultry eyes. Just follow my lead:

Products: I think the best way to achieve this look is to use a gel pot eyeliner, such as MAC Fluidline in Blacktracks (have I mentioned before it's my fav?!) with a great eyeliner brush. The best out there for precision and control is Bobbi Brown's Ultra Fine Eyeliner Brush. If painting the line on seems too hard, you can try a tradition liquid eyeliner, like Two Faced's Liquif-Eye . The key to a finding a good liquid eyeliner is making sure the tip is short. The longer it is, the harder it is to control. Another option are liquid liner pens, which might be easier for you. Dior's Liquid Eyeliner is great one. If anything liquid just scares you to death, go for an regular eyeliner that is waterproof and smudge proof. Since you are applying so much product, when you are done you want it to dry and stay put. I recommend Chanel's Stylo Yeux Waterproof.

Prep: After you apply your foundation, prep your eyelid with a neutral powder shadow, matte or shimmery depending on what kind of look you are going for. This will help the eyeliner to go on smoothly and stay put.

Method: You'll need to be as close to your mirror as possible. I prefer to stand right up next to my full length mirror so that both my hands are free and unobstructed. Starting with the inner corner of your eye, barely touch the liner to your lash line and slowly drag toward the outer corner. The key is to make your line as close to the lashes as humanly possible--its easy to fatter the line up later, but not easy to thin it out. As you reach the outside corner, flick your wrist slightly toward your temple to create a bit of a "wing". This should all be done with a half open eye, so you can tell the angle you want for the wing when your eyes are open. Go back and gently fill in the line to the thickness you want, with the widest part on the outside of your eye. Any mistakes you make can be easily fixed with a q-tip with a tiny bit of moisturizer and then reapply your eye shadow base.

Finish: Top off the look with a few coats of seriously volumizing black mascara. Whether you go for the daring red lip or the elegant neutral lip, keep the cheek color subtle. There is certainly such a thing as too much when it comes to glamour!

Line Lovely!

Scrubalicious

As the weather gets cooler and the sun sets even before I get home from work, I become super lazy. Instead of hopping over to the gym, I just want to take a long hot bath to soak out the chill in my bones. I know, I am such a weather wimp! I wouldn't last a week somewhere really cold! To prepare for bath times ahead, I thought I'd share a few body scrubs I love to indulge in. After about 10 minutes in a hot, steamy shower or bath, slather on one of these scrubs and your skin will feel baby soft:

The Body Shop's Spa Wisdom Africa Spa Salt Scrub ($26) is a great moisturizing scrub. Best part is you are supporting an association of Ghanaian woman who harvest and sell the Shea butter The Body Shop uses in their products. Its subtle scent and moisture are perfect for the winter months and you can feel good pampering yourself, knowing you are also doing something good for the women of Africa.

Being one myself (a daughter of a Carol), I love Carol's Daughter Groove Sea Salt Scrub ($25) because it uses actual sea salt to scrub and smooth your skin. The scent is a warm and sensual blend of peach, pineapple, musk, sandalwood, and vanilla. Delicious!

For a cheaper fix for dull winter skin, head to Target and pick up Boots Mediterranean Body Scrub in Almond, Olive and Pistachio ($9.99). This very reasonably priced scrub makes you feel like you're at a luxury spa in Greece. Creamy in texture with olive stone granules to exfoliate your dead skin cells, it is certainly a sweet deal.

Scrub Lovely!

Product Review: DuWop's Revolotion Face

As I mentioned a few weeks back, eLuxury.com screwed up my order and I got $30 credit on their site. So I took advantage and ordered DuWop's Revolotion Face after reading rave reviews on a few other beauty blogs. I figured since it's becoming winter (sniff sniff), I might want a little more coverage than my usually concealer, moisturizer and powder. Well I have to say I'm not wowed by this product at all. It is not lightweight the way I expect a tinted moisturizer to be and it makes my skin feel a little sticky. But I have found a good way to use it: mix it with my Purpose moisturizer. That way it has a thinner coverage, so I don't feel like a clown, and the texture is much improved. You can do this with any foundation, just be sure to blend the two products together really well in your palm, so it goes on even!

Blend Lovely!

More Silly Friday Fun

In the market for a new perfume?Find out what's Your Girl Smell!

My Scent is Mango

Sultry, sweet, and mellow You enjoy every moment of life!

Delish! Quiz Lovely and have a fabulous, fun weekend!

Friday is Fun Day

Its a fabulous, yet slightly grey day here in SF and as usual, I can't wait to get out of the office. To make your day go a little quick, take this beauty-rific quiz:

What's Your Beauty Element?

My Beauty Element is Water

Feminine and dreamy, your beauty style is classic and very vintage. But you never look out of style! You have a way of making classic looks modern again.

So true! I am such a water child, being a Pieces and all. I'm even painting my room a lovely watery blue this weekend. I love to take simple, classic makeup looks and mix em up a bit.

Quiz Lovely!

Lovely Locks for Cheap

Sudsing it up this morning in the shower, I realized that all the products I am using on my hair right now are from the drugstore and, believe it or not, I've been having a run of great hair days. While my stylist tells me professional hair products are generally much better for your hair, I think you can find things at Walgreens or CVS that do just fine, especially if you're in a budget crunch like me! Here is what I'm currently using:

John Frieda Sheer Blonde Highlight Activating Volumizing Shampoo, in Honey to Caramel($6.59) This shampoo promises to do the two things I want most: give me volume and help my highlights last. I think it does a decent job at both. John Frieda comes in brunette and red shades as well, if you are of the (natural or otherwise) blonde persuasion. Good plus: it doesn't have a strong smell, good or otherwise.

L'Oreal Vive Pro Nutri Gloss Conditioning Treatment($4.99) A few weeks ago, I noticed how fried my hair was getting especially at the ends, probably due to my incessant blow drying every morning. I can't help it, my fine hair needs that lift! So I went to find a product that could protect and repair my sad, dry ends without weighing it down. The Nutri Gloss can be used after your regular conditioner, or alone, which I have been doing. My ends are looking a little happier and my hair might just last another month before I need to visit my stylist. Thank god, my piggy bag can't take her charms right now!

Garnier Fructis Style XXL Volume Weightless Gel ($3.99) I like this gel because it allows for some control and volume when I'm styling, without adding additional weight to my hair. The best part though is the smell! I love anything fruity, especially in my hair and all the Garnier Fructis products smell delicious.

So for less than $16 I get fabulously volumized, conditioned hair... not bad, eh? This budgeting stuff isn't so bad. Not I just have to stay away from Stila's Virtual Warehouse Sale. Ahh!

Style Lovely!

Baked On Beauty

Right now I am obsessed with anything baked. No, not potato chips... makeup of course! Baked powders are absolutely the best. The pressed powder color is blended and then baked for an excessive amount of time (like 24 hours!) in terra cotta pans. The result is super pigmenty yet smooth color for your face and eyes, without the usual "binders" in regular powders that dull the intensity of the shade.

Laura Geller has a great array of baked products, including different face powders and eye shadows. I think I'll pick up her Baked to Perfection Kit ($60), available only at Sephora, which comes with three face powders (an all over face brightener and two blushes), a eye shadow duo, a mascara, and her excellent Spackle. Spackle is a great light weight makeup primer that has non-toxic silicone to fills in fine lines and leaves the skin nourished and glowing.

MAC Cosmectics' Mineralize eye shadow duos are also baked, to achieve intense, pure frosted color. I picked up Engaging the other day, a dark bronze and dusty pink duo with red veining. The pictures online don't do these products justice, check them out in person. I might have to pick up Family Silver as well, a light and dark grey silver with gold veining. Gorgeous!

Laura Mercier's excellent Mosaic Shimmer Blocs are also baked and have light-reflecting ingredients to gives you a subtle bronze glow wherever you want. The compacts contains four shades that can be blended together to achieve an all over face powder, or worn individually as eye shadows.

All these baked products give you an exceptional amount of color and shimmer, but the best part about the eye shadows is they can all be applied wet and/or used as an eyeliner for a more dramatic effect. Keep your eye out for other baked products and let me know what you find!

Bake Lovely!

Parisian Pretty

One of my favorite brands is often overlooked by American ladies. Bourjois Paris is a staple brand of the Parisian woman on a budget, according to my francophile friends. They do a lovely job combining fabulous color, high quality and a touch of whimsy into each of their products. Bourjois brings a touch of joi de vivre to your look, if you will.

I fell in love with Bourjois when my sister brought me back a tube of their Volume Glamour Mascara from her visit to Paris. Once the brand showed up in Sephora a year or so later, I began exploring the other products. If you are looking for colorful mascara, this is the brand to scope. They have every color you'd want, from plum to navy to bronze, in a variety of formulas. I also love their shadows, aka Ombre A Paupieres. They are baked powders with tons of pigment that come in a cute round pot with a mirror and mini sponge applicator for easy on the go touch ups.

Bourjois' Fall collection is a stunning mix of metallics and neutrals. They came out with a new shade of my favorite Mascara, in Ultra Black. The blush featured also looks like a good bet, Lilas D'Or, a pretty neutral pink. The lip gloss is a three-in-one product, combining the moisture of a lip balm, the shine of a gloss and the coverage of a lipstick, featured in a khaki color.

Try out some Bourjois products and let me know what you think!

Color Lovely!

Bargain Beauty Buys

Today I decided to embrace my new-found pauper lifestyle (thank god for Subway's $2.99 special!) and write about some drugstore products that I love. Although I splurge on fancy makeup all the time, there are a few products I buy at the drugstore, and some I even prefer over their expensive sisters at Sephora.

CoverGirl Perfect Point Plus Eyeliner: This self sharpening eyeliner is a fabulous no mess step to flawless lining. I've been using it for almost 10 years! The colors are practical and who wants to mess with sharpeners?! The point stays sharp and you never have to worry about it breaking off in your eye!

L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara: This is a great drugstore mascara when you are in a pinch. I think it does a decent job at building volume and lasting through the day without smudging. I have to admit to wearing more expensive mascaras more frquently, but I do pick this up when I have forgotten to paint my lashes (which happen to me from time to time...terrible!).

Purpose Moisturizer, Redness Reducing SPF 30: This is a great sunscreen and light moisturizer for anyone who has combination and yet sensitive skin like me. Lots of moisturizers make my face sting, especially if I'm treating my acne with an BHA product, but this does not. I used to use the SPF 15, which is a smidge cheaper, but I opted up for the 30 when I was out in the sun all summer.

L'Oreal Eye Makeup Remover: This is my stand by remover, no matter what. It doesn't hurt my sensitive, contact-wearing eyes and it doesn't leave any sort of oily film afterwards. Most importantly it gets everything off, even stubborn waterproof mascara.

Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser, Normal to Oily Skin: This is a classic face wash, in a slightly stronger formula than the Gentle one, but it works great for combination/acne prone skin like mine. And with the new bottle design, you can feel like you're buying a new fashionable product, instead of a old boring classic. I have the small pump bottle in my shower and it lasts forever.

Bargain Hunt Lovely!

Breakin My Own Rules

I am so bad at this saving stuff. I just have to go to Nordstrom today and buy the MAC Royal Assets Metallic Eyes Palette ($36). After checking out Temptalia's tutorial on a gorgeous golden-red holiday eye, I have to give in to my desires and buy the palette. The package design alone (set right) is gorgeous, but the colors will be so much fun to play with this fall and winter. I'll probably the Uppity Fluidline I've been drooling over. I'll deal with the consequences later, with beautiful eye makeup!

Color Lovely!

UPDATE: I did go buy the Metallic Palette (they were all out, but the lovely salesperson at Nordies's order it for me online and it's being shipping to my house for free! yeay Nordstrom!). I also got the Fluidline in Uppity and the Mineralize shadow Duo in Engaging (a bronze and a pink baked shimmery shadow). I tried out the look Temptalia did on her eyes, but I used the bronze from the duo instead of red, for a more subtle, golden eye. I thought it was beautiful! Unfortuately I didn't go do anything too exciting, so no one really saw it on me! I'll just have to do it again, next time I have a big night out!

Beauty Blogs Galore!

Fabulous links from my fav reads this week:

Get perfect winter "wind-kissed" cheeks by following We Love Beauty's advice.

eBeauty Daily finds the tiniest mascara ever, and it happens to be one of my favorites.

Style.com defines the essential beauty trends this fall, complete with great product recommendations.

BellaSugar discovers a two-in-one "light wand" to wake up your tired eyes.

Beauty Snob discovers the secret to damage-free travel for your makeup; sorry no help for that broken wheel on your suitcase.

Beauty and Fashion Tech loves Elizabeth Arden's new mascara, which even comes in a gift set for the holidays.

The husband we all dream about wrote The Makeup Girl for makeup advice... for his wife of course!

Link Lovely!

Highlight This!

A favorite product of mine right now is highlighter. With the winter months upon us, skin can tend to get sallow and dead looking without proper sun. They bring a little much needed glam to your eyes and cheeks. Highlighters add a bit of shine and life to your features, without any fake-looking tan color. A little swipe on top of your cheekbone or under your eyebrow can make your features POP! It also photographs really well. So rock those wintry pale complexions, with one of my picks for highlighters this season:

Bare Escentual's i.d. bareMinerals All-Over Face Color in True is a glimmering loose powder that can be used all over the face to create a subtle coraly-pink glow.


Benefit's High Beam is a classic liquid highlighter. It creates a soft, subtle glow wherever you brush it on and blend it in. You can even mix it with your liquid foundation to create an all over subtle glow.

For a more sparkly, holiday look, try Givency's Prisme Solitaire All-Over Diamond-Effect Powder. This limited edition compact can be used on the eyes, cheeks, lips and even your shoulders and neckline, to create a subtle yet stunning glow. It comes in a leather ring box with a brush, as part of Givency's Holiday 2007 collection.

MAC has some beautiful options for highlighters, one being their Iridescent Pressed Powder in Belightful. This finely milled powder contains Mica and other pigments to give you a soft, subtle glow. It can be worn alone or with foundation.

Shine Lovely!

Beauty.com Exclusive: LORAC Spotlight Bag

According to Beautiful Makeup Search, Beauty.com is having their friends and family event today: 20% off everything all day. But I can't find any indication of it on their site. Sadly, I can't afford to make any purchases today (sniff sniff), so the discount might get taken off at the end, but I won't be able to find out (what will power, huh?!). If you are more fortuate than I, check out the LORAC Spotlight Bag , exclusive to Beauty.com. It's a damn good deal at $35 and there's no shipping charge.

The set includes a cute black makeup bag with four great products: Perfectly Lit Oil-Free Luminizing Powder, aquaPRIME Oil-Free Makeup Primer, Mocktail Flavored Gloss in Caffeini Martini and Lashes Mascara in Black.

Shop Lovely (without me! :)

Beauty Blog Roundup

Here are some links to blog posts I enjoyed this week:

Yummy411 tests the effectiveness of various different cleansing wipes for removing makeup when you're just too lazy to really wash your face.

eBeautyDaily insists Betsey Johnson's fragrance gift set is going to make gift giving fun again this holiday season.

Beauty Snob rediscovers MAC's Paint Pot in her beauty closet and uses it as an eyeliner. Brilliant!

The Daily Cookie recommends the new Diamond Collection by Laura Mercier to make your skin shine throughout this holiday season.

I absolutely agree with Beautiful Makeup Search that MAC's Holiday Collection 2007 has the prettiest packaging ever!

All About the Pretty finally posted her Friday Beauty News with three weeks worth of excited things going on in the industry.

Beauty Addict swears the Zeno Pro Acne Clearing Device will zap your pimples in a flash, but I'm not sure its worth all that cash.

A Touch of Blusher swears Mebelline's Dream Mousse Eyecolors are very flattering and affordable.

Beauty and Fashion Tech is giving away the entire MAC's Antiquitease Holiday Collection. Hurry and get to posting, contest ends November 15th.

The Makeup Girl's favorite lip plumber LipFusion came out with a new shade that is all blinged out!

Link Lovely!

Acne "Cure" Update and Body Butter Sale

Just a quick update on my purchase and experience with Philosophy's Acne Kit: I still love it! For the first time in week I don't have any new pimples, and my blackheads look like they are slowly rising to the surface (gross, huh?!), soon to be gone forever. I am using all the products in the kit, but I am staying on top of how dry the serum and H2O2 cream can make me, so as not to over do it! My favorite product by far is the Protection Cream. It makes my skin soft and smooth, perfect for makeup application, but you have to be sure and give it a full 2 minutes to set into your skin or you'll rub it off. When I do have a bit of dry skin from the Blemish Serum, I use a dab of The Body Shop's Aloe Soothing Day Cream on top, because it's gentle and won't clog my pores.

Speaking of The Body Shop, they just started one of their best promos ever: 2 for $30 Body Butters and Body Scrubs! Time to stalk up and save $10! The sale starts today online, and Friday in stores.

Shop Lovely!