Montagne Jeunesse

I received the cutest little Fruit Smoothie face mask from Montagne Jeunesse in my complimentary Influenster Holiday Vox-Box.  I see these frequently at Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and CVS.  My 6 year old daughter is obsessed with face masks and beauty products in general, so she immediately glommed onto this and begged until I agreed to do a face mask with her.  She applied it to both of us and it was a lot of fun–it smelled fantastic and left both of us with silky smooth skin.  Of course she has perfect baby skin anyways, but she really had a great time doing this with me.  More information about Montagne Jeunesse can be found on their official website at http://www.montagnejeunesse.com The official word on Montagne Jeunesse as provided by Influenster:

 

 

Fun, pampering beauty treats

 

Whether you enjoy looking after your skin, being pampered, or indulging in some me-time, be it alone or with friends, you will absolutely enjoy one of these ‘Life Little Pleasures’… With a huge array to choose from, our face masques are packed with the most delicious natural ingredients and are bursting with luscious fragrances. Suitable for all different skin types, there is one to suit every mood and everybody!

 

Montagne Jeunesse beauty treats are free of parabens, vegetarian approved and never tested on animals. So treat yourself today to a masque that will hydrate, nourish and leave your skin cleansed, smooth and glowing. Available at ULTA Beauty, Walgreen’s, Claire’s, Walmart, Kroger, CVS Pharmacies and other retailers across the US, these masques are available in a variety of succulent flavours, including:

 

• Cucumber Peel Off
• Passion Peel Off
• Dead Sea Mud
• Fruit Smoothie
• Strawberry Souffle
• Chocolate Mud
• And many more!

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NYC New York Color

I recently received a complimentary NYC Liquid Lipshine in ‘Nude York City’ as part of my Influenster holiday Vox-Box.  This is a fantastic gloss to toss in your purse for a quick touch-up.  The color is a nice neutral nude that has a similar consistency to a MAC Lipglass but at a much more inexpensive price point.  It applies with a flexible doe’s foot applicator and has a pleasant cocoa-y vanilla scent that I like.  It gives a nice shine and MLBB appearance but if you’re looking for it to cover your lip color you will want to choose a different shade.  My pigmented lips still peek out from underneath this, but I don’t mind that.  This is a sticky gloss, again reminiscent of MAC’s Lipglasses, that you will want to reapply after eating or drinking.  You can find more information about NYC on their official website at  http://www.newyorkcolor.com/  The official word on NYC as provided by Influenster:

NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshine

Straight from the city that never sleeps, NYC New York Color offers products with uptown style at down-to-earth prices, from $.99 – $4.99. The energy, style and color of New York City shines through the wide range of shades, textures and innovative products. NYC always delivers the most on-trend products & shades hot off the runway!

 

A beauty-editor favorite is Liquid Lipshine ($2.49). It has pure pigments that created a 3-D gloss effect. Vitamin E provides shine and a moisturizing feel. The formula is non-sticky, super shiny & soft. Available in 10 on-trend shades from neutral nudes, to berries & fuchsias. Start shopping for NYC at these stores nearest you: Walmart, Target, Rite Aid, CVS, Family Dollar, Duane Reade, Kmart, HEB, and others.  Visit newyorkcolor.com to check out all shades and fun products from New York Color!

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Guest blogger: Dispatch from the Luckiest Girl in the World

At the risk of sounding like a bad Ashton Kutcher movie… Dude. I kind of couldn’t believe it when I read that I’d won Beautysleeping’s first giveaway (thank you, random number generator!), and I was really pleased that I’d chosen the surprise — I love surprises!

Well I didn’t think too much more about it until a mysterious box arrived in my mailbox. Even then, I didn’t put two and two together. I was confused to find the world’s smallest, cutest Sephora box, containing a Starbucks card… and a note from one of my favorite bloggers, congratulating me on my win! Aha! The box was filled with an assortment of adorably wrapped, color coordinating goodies — each sealed with a K sticker (for Karla, of course). If I were a patient person, I would have thought to take a picture of the lovely ensemble before I ripped them all open… patience has never been my strong suit.

A minute and a half later, I was sitting in front of a pack of amazing, hand-picked-just-for-me goodies, including a Estee Lauder High Gloss (have you tried these? They’re fabulous), a pack of Bobbi Brown blotting sheets, and… the coup d’grace… a brand new YSL eyeshadow quint! I’ve been dreaming about this for months! I think angels sang when I opened the compact!

Beautysleeping, I can’t believe you financed this giveaway yourself. And thank you so, so much for going to such lengths to find this perfect prize.

Karla

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What I Learned This Weekend

Lessons:

*  If you ever have a few hours and a few brain cells to kill, try to explain the internet to a 3 year old.

*  Look inside the toaster before you plug it in.  You never know when a sneaky preschooler might decide it needs a rubber band in it.  And then you’ll be sad when you’re eating rubber-scented Pop Tarts.

*  You can be 100% sure that if you put on a clean white shirt either your child or your dog will reward you with a muddy paw or a sticky hand (or both if it’s your lucky day) within the first five minutes.  Bonus smart points for you if you’re such a genius that you go put on another clean white shirt after the first one gets trashed.

Beauty find:

*  My skin is irritable right now due to Retin-A and I’ve been digging through every product I own to look for something soothing.  A friend sent me a sample jar of Shiseido’s Future Solution Total Revitalizing Cream a while back and it’s the only thing I’ve been able to put on my face in the last two days that doesn’t feel like a bath of gasoline and lit matches.  Alas, the full size carries a price tag which I fear would send Boy Scout to an early grave (either from shock or apoplexy) if I seriously entertained the idea of purchasing a jar.  I’ll put it on the list of things to buy if we ever have more disposable income than we know what to do with.  As if.

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5 Beauty Products I Do Not Love Right Now

Since I’m a Libra and we’re all about balance, I thought I should share the counterpart to my ‘5 Beauty Products I Love Right Now‘ post.  Without further ado, here are my 5 most recent disappointments:

1.  YSL Rouge Volupte lipstick–For $34 I expected this lipstick to do a lot for me.  YSL says: “Both light and covering, the cream texture becomes fluid on contact with the lips, for a delightful feeling and an exceptional gliding effect.”  For me that translated to a slimy-feeling lipstick that didn’t provide even coverage for my pigmented lips.  No matter how much I applied there were still patches of my lip color peeking through.  I have to admit that the packaging is dead sexy, but the product itself can’t justify that hefty price tag.

2.  Napoleon Perdis eye shadow–I found a few of these on clearance from Sephora a while back, and I have nothing positive to say about them.  I got a few different formulas in several shades and they were universally awful.  Chalky, unpigmented, and no staying power even when applied over a good primer.  A waste of money even at clearance price.

3.  L’Oreal HIP Color Rich Cream Crayon–These got a lot of positive attention on Makeupalley.com so when I saw them in the store recently I figured I might as well try one.  I chose ‘Meticulous’ which L’Oreal describes as being a taupe shade.  I think I may have mentioned my love for all things taupe once or twice on this blog, so I was fairly excited about this.  I thought maybe it would be a less expensive version of MAC’s Shadesticks.  Except…it really isn’t much less expensive.  It was $11-ish while a MAC Shadestick is $16.50.  It also doesn’t look taupe to my eye…more like a metallic tan.  It is pretty, just not the color I was hoping for.  However, the real problem I had with this was the fact that it wouldn’t blend and turned flaky after it dried. 

4.  MAC Zoom Lash Mascara–I love me some MAC, but this mascara is probably the worst I’ve ever tried.  Turned my poor lashes into a smudge-alicious, clumpy, flaky mess.  FAIL.

5.  Korres Pomegranate Lip Butter–It’s two of the things I hate most in a lip balm:  it’s potted and it’s scented.  I hate dipping my fingers into a pot of anything that’s going on my lips.  I also prefer my balms to be fragrance free, because I have a healthy suspicion of any scented lip product that claims to be moisturizing.  In this case the suspicion is validated because this balm did not moisturize my lips at all.  Quite the opposite.  At $9 a pop I’ll stick to Neutrogena Lip Moisturizer.

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Five Beauty Products I Love Right Now

I’ve had a serious influx of new beauty products in the last few months which has resulted in discovering some new HG (that would be Holy Grail for the uninitiated) items.  Some of them I adored after just one use (hello Guerlain Kohl) and some took a few practice runs (Chanel Exceptionnel Mascara, I’m looking at you) before the love started to flow.  Here’s my current top five:

1.  Guerlain Terracotta Loose Kohl–I’m in LOVE.  This is an absolutely amazing eyeliner.  I’m way too much of a klutz to master tightlining, but this makes my eyes look flawless and it’s practically foolproof.  My eyes look so smoking hot I want to make out with MYSELF!  So far I’ve only tried it in black and I *must* try as many of the other shades as I can get my hands on.  If you have any of the limited edition shades (oriental bronze, oriental metal, etc.) and want to part with them for some unfathomable reason, clickity-click on that ‘contact/press’ tab up there and let’s chat.

2.  Bobbi Brown Shimmering Nudes palette–All the reasons you’ve been using to talk yourself out of this palette–it’s so sheer/boring/dupeable–are keeping you from owning one of the best palettes ever.  It’s perfect for a lovely and easy daytime look.  You’re definitely not going to create any over the top looks using this, but if you just want to look polished and pretty this is your go-to item right here.  The shadow formulas are silky and buildable and the shades complement one another perfectly.  I could honestly do without the ‘Espresso’ shade that’s included as a liner but the remaining colors more than make Shimmering Nudes worth the slightly hefty price tag.

3. Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder–I was slightly skeptical when I read the claims that it will reduce the appearance of blemishes and produce a perfect, radiant complexion without accentuating wrinkles.  Until I used it.  The first time I used this I slapped it on bare skin–no primer, foundation, or concealer.  My bare skin is certainly not perfect, at least not yet (come on Retin-A, work your magic!)  I have large pores, blackheads, flakies, and a few blemishes.  After dusting with the HD powder I looked pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.  Not perfect, but close enough for rock and roll.  It really did make my pores practically disappear, minimized the visibility of pimples, and made me look kind of soft and glowy.  Applied over a properly made-up face the effect is even more profound–I look airbrushed.  My only gripe about this product is the packaging.  The tiny canister and sifter top are a headache to deal with.  Good thing the result justifies the means.

4.  Chanel Exceptionnel Mascara–This mascara gives new meaning to ‘false lashes in a tube’.  I have short, stubby eyelashes and this mascara makes them look a mile long.  The applicator is the only one like it I’ve ever seen–alternating rows of combs and bristles.  It would be really easy to overdo it with this, so a light hand and a separate lash comb is in order unless you’re trying to achieve an over the top look. 

5.  T3 Bespoke Labs Featherweight Dryer–I’ve already professed my love for this dryer in a previous post, but it bears repeating.  This. Dryer. Is. Perfection.  ‘Nuff said.  I’m currently test-driving T3’s Medium Duality Iron and some of their liquid styling products and hope they can meet the astronomically high bar the Featherweight has set.  Stay tuned for a review on those products in the near future.

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