Almost Pretty

Borghese Splendore Brightening Makeup

We are naturally incredulous about shimmers and other ski brightening products. The appeal of brightening one's complexion is natural but we have never actually seen a product that delivered on the promise of a more luminous complexion through the power of sparkles! You usually look like you spent too much time in arts and crafts with the rest of the toddles. But we recently were given a sample of Borghese's Splendore Brightening Makeup at the opening of their new boutique at the Manhattan Bloomingdales.

We generally mix tinted moisturizers to achieve a color that goes with our unique skin tone but we were out of our lighter shade on this particular day. Searching for a solution to "mask face" we mixed our darker tint with the Borghese. It was love at first application. We literally glowed just as one does after a good facial or on one of those perfect good skin days. We may actually spring for this product when the sample runs out.

100% Pure Shea Butter

We are beginning to feel like we have full body chap with the frigid temperatures we have been experiencing. Having been up in the mountains we began to experience serious aprés ski skin on our face with full on red blooms and peeling skin.

We somehow ran out of our facial moisturizer and left in a bind we began applying the 100% Pure Shea Butter we had purchased at our favorite hometown herbal apothecary Rebecca's. And low our ski skin was repaired! We are seriously considering using shea butter on our entire body and chuck the rest of the products we dabble in. We would even go so far as to suggest bulk ordering shea butter as the prices one sees for shea butter products can be pretty astronomical. But if you like L'Occitaine has 100% Shea Butter. Its quite pricey at $8 for .25 ounces when you consider that buying in bulk will give you a pound for 7 dollars.

Barex Tricolife Serum

Living near the ocean we often forget just how stressed hair can get when subjected to dry climates. Compound that with a little bit of altitude and you have classic Colorado hair static.

Our hair has been going wild ever since we came home for our Holiday break. Thankfully we rediscovered Barex Tricolife Serum. We had purchased it a few years back after an obsession with blonde highlights made us frizz prone. We had left the jar at home one season because we wanted to carry on our bags. And to think if we hadn't left it we might be facing all this static and freeze with no product to save us!

Beauty Classic: Estee Lauder Youth Dew

The allure and romance of youth is a classic theme of the pastoral story. We have been giving it a lot of thought on our other blogs. But one key element that most evokes the imagination is scent. All the imagery and sounds of romance can't even begin to touch the emotions that bubble to surface from one whiff. We imagine that is part of the success of Estee Lauder Youth Dew. It captures the beauty, mystery and power of youth in a scent. Or at least that is what the marketing team want you to believe. The Youth Dew Sumptuous Favorites might just make a nice gift.

Are You a MAC Original?

M·A·C Cosmetics announced the “Are You A M·A·C Original?” contest to launch their new limited edition collection The Originals.  The contest is a celebration of one’s individuality and originality—qualities intrinsic to the M·A·C brand.  Launching nationally through the M·A·C website, the contest will also run regionally in 6 key cities across the United States: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Houston.

The Originals pays tribute to popular product shades both discontinued or existing that consumers covet and can’t live without.  The Originals, a collaboration of the new and the old, introduces new textures and modified formulations of must-have Lipsticks, Lipglass, Eye Shadows and Pigments. We personally love the creative that goes with the campaign.

MAC has always celebrated the unusual and even though too much  deliberate originality can in fact have the opposite effect we think MAC toes the line perfectly.

Gucci Westman To Leave Lancome

We are a tad sad to learn that Gucci Westman will be leaving her home as the International Creative Director of Lancome. We have always enjoyed her work and found her collaborations to be particularly innovative.

Before Gucci came to Lancome we had in truth never given the brand much thought, considering it to be a staple of our mother's beauty closet. But in the last two years it has grown into one of our favorite brands. So long Gucci! We can't wait to see where you end up.

Fragrance Friday: I Want Sex and Perfume

We have never quite understand why it is that perfume commercials have to be so overtly sexual. Sometimes they just border on silly as far as we are concerned. We like this quick spoof commercials we found on Youtube very much.

 

It could function as a nice satire of the the atrocious marketing campaign of Calvin Klein's new CKIn2U perfume. TechnoSexual indeed.

NARS Makeup Your Mind Beauty Guide

Russian-American poet Joseph Alexandrovitch Brodsky said that "There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." And even if you prefer a life that is more visually inclined there is still much one can do to learn. This NARS Makeup Your Mind Beauty Guide includes 65 before-and-after photos of models of various ethnicities and looks, including Naomi Campbell and Erin O'Connor to help you learn about the entire process of makeup application from start to finish.