Murphy's Law of makeup

It figures. As soon as my quest for the perfect mascara ends, thanks to one amazing product, I find out it's being discontinued.

Allow me to elaborate. As I've stated many times, I've been on a mission to find the perfect looks-like-I'm-wearing-false-lashes mascara for, well, as long as I've been wearing makeup. I've found a few standout products along the way, but nothing has satisfied me completely.

My quest ended when I tried Christian Dior's Maximeyes mascara in Maxi Black. I tried it upon a recommendation from a friend and I was wowed the second I put it on. It was as if I had put on false lashes. My lashes were long, full and curled. And NO clumps!

Of course, it's just my luck that this mascara is being discontinued. Apparently the Forces That Be are against my quest for perfect lashes. At the least, it's a classic example of the Murphy's Law of makeup. Next time I find the perfect product, I'll be sure to knock on wood to ensure it's not stolen away from me!

I'll still be able to get this mascara for the time being, but it saddens me that one day, I will have to find something to take its place. But for now, me and my almost false lashes will continue to look fabulous. And if you want fab lashes like mine, pick up a tube - before it's too late!

Puttin' on the glitz

I have an unhealthy amount of shimmery makeup. Anything that sparkles, shimmers or glitters is - in my opinion - to die for! You're probably picturing me walking around like a human disco ball, but the key to pulling off shimmer is moderation. I pick one feature and play that up with a little sparkle. Today I'm going to talk about my favorite shimmery products for my eyes!

Hands down, my go-to shimmery eyeshadows are Bare Escentuals Glimmers. These loose eyeshadows are very sheer and super shimmery - the shimmer isn't obvious, but rather a subdued, grown-up kind of shimmer. You can put them on dry for a super sheer hint of sparkle or you can put them on wet for a more dramatic "foiled" look. If I had to recommend just one Glimmer shade, I'd pick Grace. This shadow is a perfect shade of light beige with a hint of gold. It's perfect for every day.

I also love Wet and Wild's MegaEyes creme eyeshadows. These tiny tubes are $2 a pop, and come in a variety of shades. They are very sheer and perfectly subtle, and they have a lovely shimmer to them. My favorite shade is Cafe au Lait, a neutral beige with a hint of bronze and just the right amount of sparkle. These shadows also are great as a base for layering other shimmery shadows .

Finally, my newest favorite shimmery shadow is Stila Kitten. Again, this shade is a neutral beige with a beautiful pearly shimmer. I just traded a fellow beauty lover for this shade, and have been wearing it every day since then!

Rather than saving your shimmery makeup for nighttime, try it for daytime. But make sure you don't overdo it! Pick one feature to accentuate with shimmer - eyes, lips, cheeks - and focus your sparkly products on that area only. You'll love how you look!

Pucker up!

I discovered the most amazing lip gloss yesterday. I was at Walgreens picking up dish soap and envelopes, and wandered into the beauty section for an obligatory look-see. I nearly walked past a display of cosmetics right next to the cash register, but a wide range of lip glosses in fun colors caught my eye... not to mention the "2 for $3.00" signs all over the display!!

The brand? InColor by Jordana. Most of you may be unfamiliar with this line, as I was before I joined an online makeup discussion site (I know, it's a sickness). But after hearing about how some of the women love items from this line (we're talking women who usually use nothing but high end brands like MAC or Chanel), I made a vow to give it a shot!

I picked up two of their lip products - their Natural Glaze Lip Shine and their Squeeze n' Shine gloss. Wow. That's all I can say. I'm so impressed with the quality of a gloss that cost me $1.50! The Lip Shine shade I selected was Pink Grapefruit. It's a lovely shade of sheer pink and it smells just like pink lemonade. It doesn't get sticky and I don't have to reapply it every 10 minutes!

The Squeeze n' Shine is equally gorgeous! I chose the Be Coralful shade, which looked like a rather obnoxious shade of bright coral pink in the tube. However, I remembered a makeup buddy saying that this gloss was not highly pigmented and the shades were nice and sheer. And indeed that was the case! The obnoxious shade in the tube turns into a lovely sheer color on my lips and has a hint of sparkle. It has a sweet smell, which I don't mind, but others may find a bit cloying.

(L: Lip Shine in Pink Grapefruit, R: Squeeze n' Shine in Be Coralful)

For a minimal investment of $1.50 per tube, I'm forever hooked on these glosses! I'd love to try some other shades as well. The Natural Glaze Lip Shine comes in four other shades: Raspberry, Mochacchino, Banana Creme and Watermelon. Squeeze n' Shine comes in an additonal five shades: Clear, Lollipop, Peach Sand, Pink Punk, and Honey Luau. Heck, I could try them all for $13.50 - less than the cost of one MAC or Chanel lipgloss! With a value like that, how can you pass?

The Holy Grail of mascaras? Quite possibly...

You may remember I have eyelash issues... Eyelash envy, if you will. I'm constantly lusting after the long, lush lashes you see on the models in magazine ads. Granted, many of these models are wearing falsies, so realistically, I probably never will achieve such greatness with my own God-given eyelashes. But, I might be able to come pretty darn close.


How, you ask? Thanks to my latest discovery, I'm sporting long, thick separated lashes. This miracle product is none other than Chanel Inimitable mascara. I've been a fan of Chanel cosmetics over the years, but they come with quite the price tag attached. Thus, I usually pass on the brand. But I read so many great reviews and saw so many amazing pictures of people wearing this mascara on MakeupAlley, that I figured I couldn't go wrong.

The reason it's so great, in my humble opinion, is because it takes a similar "revolutionary" brush that you'd find in Cover Girl's Lash Exact, and pairs it with an amazing, high-end mascara formula. So lashes are longer, more volumized and more separated than ever!

And (as if it could get better), it's used by a well-known celebrity. Jennifer Aniston is also a fan of Inimitable. So if it's good enough for her, you know it's gotta be good!

You can get it in Black (Noir) or Brown (Brun), and it will set you back $26.50. A big splurge for mascara (I budgeted in other areas so I could justify buying it!), but believe me, I don't think you'll regret it!

I'm a Barbie Girl...reluctantly

Rarely do I get caught up in the hype of advertising. Companies can try their best to convince me that I want something, but it's not until I hear from other reliable sources about how great a product really is, that I actually want it.

My case in point is the Barbie Loves MAC limited edition make up line by MAC Cosmetics.


The Barbie Loves MAC collection is a collaboration between MAC Cosmetics and Mattel. As you can see from the marketing photo, the colors are inspired by the makeup Barbie wears (those are real models, not dolls - I swear!) and are named appropriately. One could pick up Malibu Barbie colored lip gloss (which, if you're wondering, is bright fuchsia - which is all too appropriate for Barbie, but probably not so much for the average woman), or an eye shadow in Springtime Skipper (if you remember, Skipper is Barbie's little sister), which is a pearly mint green shade.

I'm not a regular MAC make up user. It's not that I don't like the line. I just haven't bought much from it. I did, however, own a good many Barbies when I was little. And although I always wanted to look like her when I was younger, I can't imagine wearing those bright colors now. Thus, I had no desire to buy anything from this collection.

That was, until people on MakeupAlley (my trusted source for beauty information) started talking about one particular eye shadow shade - Moth Brown. This shade was previously released in a different limited edition MAC collection, but due to its huge popularity, was brought back for the Barbie collection. My fellow make up comrades on MakeupAlley raved about this eyeshadow shade - it's what you'd call a "complex" shade. It's brown, but has silver, grey, purple and blue undertones. With all those undertones, you can pair it with tons of other shades. People raved so much about how fabulous and versatile it was, that when I went to the MAC counter to get a birthday present for a friend, I decide to check it out for myself. I was sold on it as soon as the sales associated showed me the color on her hand. In the pot, it looks blah, but when you put it on your skin, it shines. It's iridescent and beautiful. The perfect shade for a smokey eye that's not too smokey.

So if you're like me and don't get caught up in advertising hype, take my advice to at least check this shade out. It could be a valuable addition to your makeup collection.

Un"bare"ably beautiful

I bet you've seen the infomercials or the perky QVC women gushing over how well this product works. The countless demonstrations of "Swirl, Tap, and Brush." I'm, of course, talking about bareMinerals makeup, made by Bare Escentuals.

Minerals are the In thing right now, but Bare Escentuals has been around since 1976 (I'm as shocked as you are about that!). They started this mineral revolution. And, in my opinion, they are the company to check out of you're considering mineral makeup.

What is mineral makeup? Well, unlike traditional liquid foundation, bareMinerals is in powder form. According to their website, they make their products with crushed minerals from the earth, which makes it 100% pure. No preservatives, talc, oil, fragrance or other things that cause your skin to freak out. And (as if it could get any better??) they claim that using their makeup will actually improve your skin. Can it possibly be true? Can minerals help your face?

Well, I say they do. I switched to bareMinerals about six months ago, after becoming frustrated with how liquid foundation felt on my face. I'd seen the demonstrations on TV, and thought it could be gimmicky. But the claims, if they were actually true, warranted testing it out. After all, I could always return it.

When I ventured out to the store to pick it up, I learned that there are several options for purchasing the makeup. You can buy the kit, which comes with 2 shades of foundation, their Mineral Veil finishing powder, a "warm" all over face color, and 3 brushes. OR, you can just buy the foundation on its own. The latter is the way to go. I say skip all that stuff in the kit, and just start out with the foundation. It will cost you less than half the cost of the kit, plus you can pick out a foundation that matches your skin better.

Another super important thing you'll need to invest in is a brush. But don't bother to buy the Bare Escentuals brushes. You can save yourself money by picking one up at your local drugstore that's just as good. I strongly urge you to buy the Essence of Beauty Kabuki brush. It's amazing, and it's almost a third of the price of the brand name brush. (Please note that the brush pictured below is Bare Escentuals - I just want you to know what a kabuki brush looks like so you can go to CVS and pick out the Essence of Beauty brush, which apparently you can't find a picture of on the Internet!)

OK, back to the part about how great it works. I used to get occasional breakouts, like many other women. That has dramatically decreased since I began using this makeup. They say it's so good for your skin that you can sleep in it. I have done so on many occasions, and although I wouldn't recommend doing it on a regular basis (come on, your skin needs to breathe sometimes!), it certainly won't cause you to wake up to a zit forest on your chin. Plus, it makes your skin tone look so even and smooth. Supposedly, the Mineral Veil creates even more of an "airbrushed" look, but I've personally never used it.

Bottom line? It's not a gimmick. It will make your skin look amazing, clear up problem areas (some have said it's even improved fine lines!), and will feel like you're wearing nothing on your face. And if you're at all like me and hate the feeling of heavy makeup, you'll appreciate that feature more than any of the other benefits combined.

Something to smile about

I was paging through the February issue of Allure (one of several fashion/beauty mags I read on a regular basis) and a sidebar in the magazine caught my eye. "Put on a Happy Face," it read. The content of this mini-article certainly put a smile on my face, as it provides evidence that wearing makeup is good your well-being. Finally, my passion has been legitimatized.

Rather than try to put author Jessica B. Matlin's words into my own, I'd rather quote them here verbatim for those of you who don't read Allure. (And I suppose I'm also feeling a little lazy, given it's late on a Sunday evening and I just want to go to bed!)


Put on a Happy Face
As if you needed an excuse to buy a new lipstick - according to experts, cosmetics can actually make you happier. Seeing yourself in a new shade or patting on a luxurious product can give more payoff than even the most lavish gift with purchase.

IT'S UPBEAT
"Applying makeup is a fundamentally optimistic act," says Michael Cunningham, a professor of psychology and communication at the University of Louisville. "It shows that you are ready to go out into society and want to be looked at in a positive light. When people become depressed, they stop caring about their appearance. They get into sweats and sleep."

IT'S COLORFUL
"The shades you choose can affect how you feel," Cunningham says. "Warmer hues, especially rose, produce feelings of hope, while cooler ones, such as light blue or dark green, induce feelings of calm." Select your lipstick, blush, and eye-shadow colors accordingly.

IT'S CONTAGIOUS
"Cosmetics send signals to other people," says Helen Fisher, a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University. "And happiness breeds happiness. People actually feel better when they're around others who radiate positivity, and that's the purpose makeup aims to serve. Rosy-colored cheeks and large, bright eyes connote youth, vitality, and happiness."

IT'S EXCITING
"Novelty is a natural stimulant," Fisher says. "It drives up dopamine in the brain. That feeling you get when you find that perfect lipstick is your reaction to its newness."

IT'S CALMING
"The whole ritual of putting on cosmetics is soothing," Cunningham says. "Performing small actions deliberately and carefully can be tranquil. And spending time focusing on yourself can be very restorative."

I couldn't agree more.