It's not Special FX- Cover FX Gives You a Flawless Face

Sometimes, I feel like I need the aid of some special effects to cover up my habit of not getting enough sleep. My busy way of life is not exactly conducive towards looking bright eyed and bushy tailed on the regular.

Ideally, I want to go from this:

To This: (Milla Jovovich ftw)

In order to get past the dreaded zombie girl system, I call in the aid of the big guns from Cover FX, THE company that specializes in corrective cosmetics.

Up for your reading and viewing pleasure are the Skin FX Treatment and Priming Serum, Camouflage Concealer, and Total Coverage Cream Foundation.

Treatment and Priming Serum is an antiaging primer, designed to smooth out fine lines while hydrating the skin. It does an amazing job at helping foundation glide on and stay put.

Camouflage Concealer is a thick, creamy concealer designed to provide medium to heavy coverage. The shade I received was light, which looks dark but is really just right. A little trick when concealing is to actually use a shade that is close to or slightly darker than your actual skintone. This will conceal dark circles the most naturally. Since this concealer is so thick, it needs to be set with a light powder to ensure it doesn't migrate.

Before:

After:

Bottom line, this concealer works! I loved the full coverage and wearibility, along with its staying power. This concealer lasts all day after setting, and didn't settle into the super fine lines underneath my eyes.

Total Coverage Cream Foundation is exactly that, a full coverage cream to powder foundation designed to hide even the nastiest of imperfections. It is a bit dry, so application with a sponge or stiff brush is ideal. Once on the skin, it offers up amazing coverage that is just right. Somewhere between medium and full coverage, this foundation is ideal for those with a bit more to cover. It didn't feel heavy or make me shiny after a day of wear, like some cream foundations tend to do (MAC Studio Tech, I am talking to you). Total Coverage is incredibly forgiving.

Swatches, L-R Camoflauge Concealer, Total Coverage Cream Foundation

And a full face before and after:
Before:

After:

Cover FX's 3 step coverage literally has me going from raggedy to flawless in no time flat. I highly recommend it for those of you who have a bit to hide.

The whole line is conveniently available for viewing here. To purchase, just hop on over to the Nordstrom or Sephora websites.

Score a Free Make Up For Ever Refill Palette from Sephora

During my usual morning beauty blog reading tour, I came across this little gem on the Sephora blog:

Yes beauties, you read correctly. With the purchase of any 3 Make Up For Ever Shadows at Sephora, you can score a FREE 10 pan refillable palette! The pans in each individual compact pop out for easy access, allowing you to consolidate all of your MUFE babies into one great big pool.

All you have to do is enter MUFE at checkout, and the palette will be added to your order.

So hop on over to Sephora, and go shopping. Your eyeshadow wardrobe may never be the same.

La la la Lemmings

Time to torture myself a little and spotlight the items I am really wanting right now.

Dior Night Butterfly Quint- You know I love me some Purples, and this quad is purple heaven. I have never actually purchased a Dior quint, but I am thinking this might be my first.
Dior Plum Liquid Liner- More purple lovin'. This time, it is a gorgeous deep plum liquid liner in one of my absolute favorite delivery systems, the pen.

Nordstrom Exclusive Nars Loves San Francisco Set Is it wrong that I want this, just for the novelty and collector's factor? I am keeping fingers and toes crossed that NARS whips out a Nars Loves New York set.From Nars Fall 2009, Mekong- I originally thought this would be ridiculously similar to Galapagos, which I already have. I was wrong wrong wrong. Mekong is much darker, with strong red undertones to it. I think this would make an amazing fall smoky eye.
That is all for me, what has made your wishlist lately?

Lancome Bi-Facil

You know that one product that you always go back to no matter how many other versions of it you try?

Well for me, that product is Lancome Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Makeup Remover

Taking a sweet trip down memory lane, I can say that the love affair began back when I was a dancer and beauty maven in training. For those of you who have performed on a stage before, you know that stage makeup goes way beyond mascara and lipstick. Stage makeup is heavy folks, designed to be visible to a faraway audience while bright lights are shining on your head. Not wanting to bring out the powerwasher after a long evening of rehearsals and performances, I resorted to stealing my sister's blue bottle of bi-facil. It was the only thing that could gently remove the layers upon layers of makeup, without rubbing off half the skin on my face in the process. My sister wasn't pleased, but boy were my peepers happy! Bi-facil was definitely a sight for sore eyes at the end of the day.

Of course the good stuff never comes cheap, and at a cost of $26, I savored each and every bottle of this coveted blue liquid goodness that I could get my hands on. Deterred by the price, I tried to convince myself that there was a cheaper alternative out there somewhere. I scaled and searched, tried and tested; but to no avail. Nothing even came close to Bi-Facil in performance, period.

Having been to the edge and back, I have finally closed the book on my search and have gone back to my beloved Lancome Bi-Facil once and for all. Life without bi-facil was scary, filled with endless nights of rubbing stinging, tired, eyes with subpar makeup remover. The moral of this story is that you cannot put a price on quality and comfort. There is a reason Lancome Bi-Facil has won so many beauty awards, because it works like no other! It is gentle and effective, luxurious and useful. Yes it is pricey, but this stuff is worth its weight in gelt.

An oldie but most definitely a goodie, Lancome Bi-Facil is a gift from above, and hands-down the best makeup remover that I have ever used. It is available wherever Lancome is sold, or by visiting the Lancome website here.

Body By Brigitte Wax Strips Kit Review

Body by Brigitte is a line of at-home waxing products that allow you to wax painlessly whenever and wherever you want. Each kit comes with self adhesive waxing strips, pre-treatment anesthetizing towelettes, and post-treatment soothing towelettes with lavender to ensure the process is as painless as possible from start to finish. After having tried my luck and failing miserably with an at home hard wax kit, I hoped that this kit was the answer to my at home waxing woes.

Having of course tested this out, I have devised a convenient step-by-step guide to using this particular kit.

Step 1: Find a box.... errr I mean, open up the box and lay out the strips and wipes

Step 2: Prep the area to be waxed by swiping it with the pre-treatment towelette

Step 3: Peel the adhesive backing off the strip, place the strip on your leg, and run your hand over the strip to make sure it is on there well.

Step 4: Psyche yourself up to rip the strip off in the opposite direction of hair growth while holding the skin taut

Step 5: Hesitate, and think if you are really ready for the pain. Five minutes later, decide its about time

Step 6: Quickly peel the strip off, and marvel over how painless that was. See, you were just being a big baby, weren't you?

Step 7: Repeat until the desired area is as smooth as a baby's bottom

Step 8: Wipe the soothing treatment towelette all over freshly waxed skin
Step 9: Admire all the used strips covered in nasty, coarse hair (the carnage). Pat yourself on the back for your fearlessness and ingenuity, and prepare to show off those legs

The good:

Relatively painless

Comes with both pre-treating towlettes to clean and anesthesize, and lavender towlettes to soothe

Once hair is off, it stays off for a while. I found my results last me over a week, whereas with shaving it is 2 days.

Easy to use and completely foolproof, just peel, stick, press, and yank

The bad:

For those with thick, coarse hair like mine; these strips don't always yank out all the hairs. As a result, you may have to go over an area a second time.

One box provides a single use for both legs, but if you have a larger area to wax, the box might not be enough.

If you have manageable hair, I say definitely go for these. They are low on the pain and effort factors.

Check out Body by Brigitte here, and tell me what you think. What are your experiences with home waxing?

Softlips- The Essential Product for Fall's Hottest Trend, Fierce Red Lips

Question: How many times have you gone to put on an amazing new lipstick (burgandy is so hot right now), only to have it drag across a dry and flaky pout?

Answer: Probably more times than you would care to admit.

There is nothing worse than not being able to pull off a lipstick, all because you forgot to moisturize your flapping lips. Fortunately, it is a problem that is easily solved with the right product. A nifty little lipbalm appropriately called Softlips is the product your dry lips desire.

Softlips Lip Conditioners are to supple lips what little pink umbrellas are to a pina colada, a necessity. They glide on effortlessly, taste amazing, and keep your lips slick and pouty no matter what. When you consider the fact that these cuties also provide your lips with sun protection, its a virtual no-brainer.

When you hold that slim white tube of moisturizing goodness in your hands, you hold the golden ticket to a world full of hot new lip trends for fall. Not sure which trends I am talking about? Well, Celebrity Makeup Artist Belinda Moss has some clues.

RED LIPS REIGN FOR FALL/WINTER; LIP FASHION FORECAST

This fall and winter, bring fullness, boldness and definition to the lips by applying rich, red hues. The word of mouth, according to Moss, who has worked with Eva Longoria, Beyoncé, and Scarlett Johansson (to name a few), is that you don’t need to be a Hollywood starlet to pull off wearing red on your lips.

Moss, who is a consulting makeup artist for Softlips, says “everyone can pull off this look so long as you understand which shades complement your particular skin tone and hair color, and you used some tricks for application.”

Here, Moss pours out her red-pout advice:

For Picking the Best Red for You: Moss suggests that fair-skinned ladies choose true red colors (i.e., berry or brick), medium-skin hues try orange-based shades (i.e., spicy or brown-based reds) and dark-skinned women pick deep red shades (i.e., blackberry and burgundy).

Mix and Match: Moss suggests purchasing a few lipsticks and glosses to experiment with them, like most make-up artists do, to help create your perfect shade of red…mixing and matching several colors to come up with a signature color.

Chase Away Chapped Lips: Moss says red colors can emphasize any chapping/flakes or lip creases, and can more easily “bleed” outside the lips. To help effectively pull off this beauty style, Moss suggests the following tricks:

· Repair: Slough off dead skin with a soft toothbrush in order to have a smooth base for lipstick or lip gloss application.

· Cover: An excellent, anti-feathering lip base is already in your bag…your concealer or liquid foundation; apply this facial make-up to the outside edge of the lips to help prevent the lip color from “bleeding” onto surrounding skin.

· Line: It is very important to match your lip liner to your lipstick; it is equally important to apply this liner to the entire lip, not just the edges; using a lip liner will not only help define your lips, but it will also help set a border for both the lip balm and lipstick.

· Balm Your Lips: After the application of lip liner, apply a coat of Softlips lip balm with SPF 20 to help condition your lips and protect them from sun damage. This product will soften and moisturize the lips without making them waxy or greasy for the top coat of lipstick or lip gloss.

· Brush on Red: For maximum precision with the red lipstick, use a lip brush to apply your lipstick neatly and evenly.

· Smile: Check to make sure no lipstick has rubbed off onto your teeth; red lipstick on your teeth can be unforgiving.

This is the look we are going for:

Clearly, smooth lips do a great red lip base make. At $2.99 each, Softlips are ridiculously affordable and very recessionista friendly. You can find them available everywhere from Target to Rite Aid, and come in fun flavors ranging from mint to acai berry. There is literally a flavor to suit every one of your cravings.

Adovia Dead Sea Bath Salts for a Spa Experience

A day in the life:

6:30 am: Alarm goes off, I gaze angrily at my cell phone turned alarm clock and quickly hit snooze. Five more minutes, I promise

Repeat several times

7:30 am: Shut off alarm for the last time, realize that I have 20 minutes to get up & out the door

7:32m am: Operation don't look like a sleepy slob begins. Quick makeup, dress in 15 minutes.

8:00 am- Fall asleep during the subway ride to work. Try to ignore the evangelists, screaming children, and run of the mill subway crazies.

9:00 am- Yep, work all over again. Try to make it through the day as unscathed as possible.

5:00 pm- Freedom. Time to freshen up and get ready for beauty event/dinner/meetup/etc

8:00 pm- Fun times are in full swing

10:00 pm- Finally back home. Time to blog, and blog I do. Somewhere in there I shower, have a snack, and mentally prepare for the next day.

2:00 am- Crash, do it all over again the next day

Now where am I going with all of this? Well, with a schedule like mine (or yours), a girl can surely use her rest and relaxation once she finally finds some time for herself in the mess above. Everyone has their "me" time, and for me that involves a soothing bath and a good book. For the sake of enhancing that relaxation thing, I am always looking for products to make the experience even more beneficial and enjoyable. Enter Adovia Bath Salts, a product as magical as the Dead Sea that it's main ingredient hails from.

Source

The Dead Sea is not only gorgeous, but has long been known for it's healing properties. Many beauty brands have tapped into these healthy benefits by incorporating Dead Sea salts into various beauty products. Here are some of the the benefits of dead sea salt and mineral deposits, just in case you are curious:

- Stimulate circulation through body as well as skin

- Relieve joint/muscle aches and pains.

- Soothe and soften your skin.

- Warm and relax the muscles.

- Helps relieve lower back pain

- Relieves pain due to over exertion.

- Effective at relieving Eczema, acne, Psoriasis, muscle aches and pains

As if all that isn't great enough for your body, the addition of Acai Berry Oil brings vitamins and essential fatty acids, which are excellent for rejuvenating skin. We are entering the realm of holistic beauty now folks, clearly. Thanks to the addition of Bergamot oil, these salts give the bath a relaxing scent while serving to moisturize and soften skin. Clearly a win-win.

All in all, it is good to know that while I am enjoying some much needed me time, that I am also doing my body, skin, and mind some good.

Adovia Bath Salts with Acai Berry is available online at AdoviaSpa.com. I highly recommend it to those looking to unwind.