We all love some of the benefits of a gel manicure. Your nails look almost blindingly shiny. The polish doesn’t chip at all, not a bit, for at least 2 weeks. It just doesn’t come off till you have it taken off. What a great invention, right? Recently The New York Post, no shrinking violet …
Kiss Me Heroine Make Mineral BB Cream: Product Review
Yikes, what a long product name! My friend Sybille has been on the hunt for a good BB cream with a high SPF. She read a recommendation in either Marie Claire or People Style Watch magazines, and she managed to find the Japanese company Isehan’s BB cream on eBay for $16 plus $2.99 shipping all …
OWN Lifting Eye Cream & New Approach to Gauging Product Effectiveness
I am trying a new lifting eye cream (http://bit.ly/11KWld4 to learn more) from Own Skin Health, a 3 year old skincare company based in San Francisco, that emphasizes healthy living and creates natural products without harsh chemicals. Their products were highlighted in Whole Living magazine in December 2012 and in Natural Solutions magazine in the …
Almay Smart Shade Anti-Aging Makeup Base
Continuing with the foundation makeup theme, I thought I’d mix things up and shift from BBs to cream foundation. In my post, Foundation Makeup: Friend or Foe, I mentioned that a few years ago I used Almay Smart Shade foundation, the regular version, and I liked it. Almay Smart Shade Anti-aging Foundation is a relatively new …
How to Buy Beauty Products on Never Say Die Beauty
My cousin Lois, one of my loyal subscribers, suggested that I apply to join the Amazon Associates program, and I was accepted. The program gives me the opportunity to “sell” products via Amazon on my website. For products that are purchased through Never Say Die Beauty, I can earn between 4-8.5% based on the volume …
Ulta: 21 Days of Beauty in March
March is finally here, and starting on March 10 till the end of the month, Ulta will be hosting 21 Days of beauty demonstrations and how-to’s as well as sales on specific days for specific products. Below is a screen shot of part of the calendar, but check out the whole thing at http://www.ulta.com/21days/. The …
Pantone Color IQ: A System for Color Matching Foundation Makeup
Have you ever stood at the foundation makeup display and tried to figure out which shade was the right match for your skin? Have you wondered whether you should test on your cheek, your jawline, your neck, your hand, the inside of your forearm? Women in my focus groups always tell me that one of …
Bobbi Brown BB Cream: First Impressions
I think I’ve finally found the BB cream I’ve been searching for: Bobbi Brown BB Cream. Browsing around my “laboratory” — AKA the Sephora on Boylston Street in Boston, I wasn’t looking for anything in particular. I picked the brains of a couple of the saleswomen on a couple of products I’m interested in, and …
50 Beauty Products to Buy Before You Die from allure.com
50 Beauty Products to Buy Before You Die: Beauty Products: allure.com. Click on the link above to see a fun post from Allure.com listing their picks for the 50 beauty products they can’t live without. It’s a list of classics as well as of-the-moment beauty musts. “nothing to disclose” I’m embarrassed to say, or not, …
Spring 2013: Brights! See Which Colors Are Right For You
Brights are the thing for spring this year in fashion and color cosmetics. If you’re not comfortable with an entire outfit of brights — channeling the 1980s, lol, add a pop of bright color to an otherwise neutral outfit based on black, grey or khaki. Same with color cosmetics. Bright eye makeup and a bright …
Look More Awake with White Eyeliner
Late night? Early wakeup call? Just feeling tired? Use white eyeliner to make your eyes look more awake and also much bigger. A few years ago, I saw my next door neighbor at Bunco (that silly dice game that people use as an excuse to get together to chat), and her eyes captured my attention. …
Quick Beauty Tip: How to Keep Moisturizers in Jars Clean
In focus groups I’ve conducted over the years, many women tell me they prefer lotions to creams because they don’t like to put their fingers in the jars. They say too messy, or they’re concerned about adding bacteria from their fingers and face into the jar. But for mature or drier skin, lotions are often …
Revlon Photoready BB Cream
I recently read a couple of reviews by younger beauty bloggers of Revlon Photoready BB Cream that were quite positive, so I thought I’d give it a try on my “mature”, dry, sun damaged skin. Torture test, right? I’m looking for a BB cream to use when I don’t feel like taking the time to …
20% off Sale @ Urban Decay
Not sure if you’re familiar with Urban Decay. It’s an edgy line of color cosmetics created by entrepreneur Sandy Lerner, who was one of the founders of Cisco. Talk about a “Jill-of-all-trades”! She also wrote a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice highlighting the opportunities for women in the 18th century, and she is …
Foundation Makeup: Friend or Foe?
For most of my life, I didn’t wear foundation. I was lucky that I always had “good skin” with few breakouts, rosy cheeks and a few freckles. I couldn’t understand why I would want to wear foundation. I thought it was messy and heavy. Although I can’t remember the brand, I can see in my …