Sunday, August 8, 2010

Is Your Perfume Poisoning You?

Sometimes it takes the FDA years to catch up with the constant developments in cosmetics, and often, other countries ban the use of certain ingredients before we do.  Most of the ingredients on the danger list in Europe are not common in over-the-counter products (they're more common in injectable treatments you would get at a dermatologist's or plastic surgeon's office).  But frighteningly, one of those ingredients is quite common in perfumes and nail polishes to help them last longer: phthalates.  There are many different types of phthalates, and studies have linked all of them to cancer, liver damage, and reproductive harm.  The CDC recently found that five percent of all American women between the ages of 20 and 40 had 44 times more phthalates stored in their body than they should.  That is because phthalates accumulate and are stored in the tissues. 

In Europe, there is a ban on selling cosmetics that contain the phthalates DEHP and DBP, which has been in effect since 2003.  These are both legal to use in cosmetics in the United States.  However, some fragrance manufacturers still use another potentially harmful phthalate, DEP, which is currently legal for use in cosmetics in both the United States and Europe.  Interestingly, the U.S. has laws banning the use of phthalates in children's toys, but not cosmetics and fragrances. 

The lesson here is that we need to be educated consumers and do a little homework before we buy instead of assuming that just because it's available over the counter, it's safe.  You can start by checking the labels and look for phthalates, but since the U.S. does not even require fragrance companies to list phthalates on their ingredient lists, the best way to find out for sure is to directly ask the manufacturer.  I have an email in to Jo Malone right now in this issue since I use their fragrances, and I will post an update on this thread once I hear back. 

I'm also looking into OPI nail polish and LUSH Cosmetics' fragrances.  By all indication from the web page, the LUSH fragrances are safe and mostly natural but I'd like to get confirmation from the company.  Many of their fragrences are vegan as well, including the lovely Vanillary, which has an intoxicating but very light blend of vanilla, tonka absolute, and jasmine absolute. It's one of my all-time favorites scents, slightly sweet but much more sophisticated than the vanilla stuff we wore in junior high.  The jasmine and tonka give it some edge without making it too floral.

Another way to buy safe fragrances without doing extensive research is to buy European.  If the fragrance is manufactured in the E.U., then you can assume it doesn't have DEHP and DBP because of the E.U. regulations.  Remember that just because the brand is European, it doesn't automatically mean it's manufactured there.  Check the label and/or web site for manufacturing information.  Also, keep in mind that DEP is still used by some manufacturers there since it's not regulated yet.  DEP is not necessarily a carcinogen like the other phthalates, but there are studies linking it to reproductive harm. 

Spritz safely!

Get Buzzed!

Most people are familiar with Burt's Bees lip balm (the classic soothing balm is made with beeswax and honey, but there are other variations available now), but fewer have taken advantage of their wide range of natural homeopathic products.  You can find Burt's online at www.burtsbees.com and many other online retailers, but it's also commonly found at your neighborhood drugstore and Whole Foods.  Here are a few of my faves from Burt's:

Hand Salve:
This is one of the most universal and useful of Burt's products.  Although it's obvious use is as a salve for dry, rough, or cracked hands, I find it's also a universal salve for any dry patches.  It's particularly useful for knees, elbows, and heels.

Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme:
This is a really nice softening butter for the cuticles.  It's made with lemon oil, so it smells like fresh citrus, and it also has cocoa butter and vitamin E to moisturize those dry nail-beds.  It's also great to use around the toenails, particularly during sandal season, to keep your pedicure looking fresh.

Beeswax and Banana Hand Creme:
To be honest, I don't find that this one moisturizes and better than any other hand cream, but it smells delicious.  And the scent lasts throughout the day without being overwhelming.  The moisture stays with you pretty well too, although you do have to reapply after washing your hands like many hand creams.

Aloe and Buttermilk Body Lotion:
This one is fantastic after you get a sunburn.  Aloe is the best way to soothe and heal burned and blistered skin, but that green sticky formulation stains your clothes and doesn't smell that great.  This one still has that aloe scent, but it's much much softer than the green gels, and it's not sticky.  The buttermilk is another great natural remedy for irritated and burned skin, so the two ingredients working together in a softening lotion will have your skin feeling better in no time.

You can get a kit with trial sizes of all of the above plus more great Burt's Bees items for $13 at most drugstores, including their online counterparts and www.drugstore.com.  It's a great way to check out the brand.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Home Cookin: An Aspirin a Day

For the occasional blemish, here's a recipe for a quick homemade paste that will calm redness and swelling quickly.  Take a non-coated aspirin (or two baby aspirins), crush it with the back of a spoon or chop it with a knife, and then mix in a bit of water to form a paste. Apply to the affected area and leave on for about 15-20 minutes before washing with warm water and a washcloth.  This makes a great spot treatment, and it actually helps kill the bacteria to keep it from spreading and causing a full-fledged breakout.  It's a great quick-fix, and it's less drying than most store-bought spot treatments (and much more cost-effective too!).

You can also use aspirin to make a great purifying mask.  It will help clean and minimize pores, and it makes dull dry skin soft and luminous.  For the mask, take four non-coated aspirin tablets, crush or chop, add a few drops of water, and blend with a honey to form a paste.  Usually, about a 1/2 teaspoon of honey does the trick but add more if it looks dry or doesn't spread easily.  Apply to the full face (avoiding the eye area, just like any mask), and leave it on for about 10-15 minutes.  Then rinse the face with warm water.

Friday, August 6, 2010

7 Days of Nude

In my quest to find the best of the best of skincare, I decided to try a week's worth of products by U.K. skincare line, Nude.  As you might suspect from the name of the line, this line is focused on bio-compatible and organic ingredients as well as recyclable packaging and fair trade sourcing (a cosmetics line first as far as I've heard).  The line uses a lot of pre- and probiotics and exotic botanical ingredients.  Their non-ingredient list is almost as exciting as their ingredient list.  I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that Nude's products are free of nearly all of the questionable stuff common in most skincare and makeup products: parabens, sulphates, DEA, and potential carcinogens to name a few.  Since I dig eco-friendly and good-for-you cosmetics lines, I was excited to give Nude a whirl.  If you're interested in trying Nude skincare before you buy, check out their Skincare Selections box exclusively on sephora.com for $18.  It's a great way to test-drive the products before you invest.  Here's what I tried:

Cleansing Facial Oil
I'll preface this with saying that I am a drugstore-cleanser girl.  I've just never understood why you would want to spend a lot of money on cleanser when there are so many great drugstore options like Cetaphil.  That said, this is by far the best and most moisturizing cleanser I've ever tried.  I'm still not sure if it's worth the hefty $36 price-tag, but I'd consider it.  It's interesting in texture because it's an oil that turns into a milky lightweight cream when you apply it to wet skin.  It smells fantastic.  I can't pinpoint the scent exactly, but it's light and fresh and very botanical-smelling.  Besides that minor detail, it feels like you're not just cleansing your skin, but nourishing it as well.  It has Omega 3 essential oils and vitamin E, which leave the skin feeling soft but clean, almost like you've cleansed and moisturized in one step.  Now you still need to use a moisturizer, but I'm very impressed that this cleans as well as it does without stripping the skin.  It even got off my liquid eyeliner without irritating the eye area.  Usually the "moisturizing" or "gentle" cleansers don't feel like they clean that well.  Overall, I'm still a little hung up on the price, but I think that I would consider it a few years down the road if my skin continues to dry out (as it seems to do each year).  This is definitely a godsend for dry skin, although I think it's suitable for normal and combination skin as well.

Miracle Mask
This is supposed to be a once-weekly mask, but I got a large supply so I decided to use it twice during my week-long experiment.  Honestly, this mask is so gentle, you could probably use it every day if you so desired.  It's a 5 minute mask, and it's supposed to firm and brighten the skin while increasing collagen production.   I did feel like my skin looked more luminous and even-toned after each use.  I'm not sure that it really helped with firmness or lines, but perhaps over a longer period of consistent use, it would be good.  Overall though, this is a gentle mask that does make your skin glow and eliminate redness/unevenness.  Again, it's a high price to pay at $62, but still a really solid product.

Advanced Eye Complex
As far as I'm concerned, the eye cream was the weak link in the Nude line.  It was difficult to blend in to the skin, and even though it eventually absorbed, it felt a bit tacky at first.  Now once it absorbed after a few minutes, it left my eye area feeling silky soft.  And it seemed to help reflect light to make the eye area look luminous and minimize dark circles.  But I didn't feel like it helped enough with firming and minimizing lines.  And at $88 for half an ounce, frankly, I expected it to do more for me.  After a week of use, my eye area felt very soft and soothed but I don't think it dramatically improved the look of the eye area.  It has some good ingredients like antioxidants and acacia, but I just don't feel like the results are worth the price.

Age Defense Moisturizer
This moisturizer feels very good on the skin.  It's softening and hydrating without leaving the skin feeling greasy or sticky.  I did feel like my skin felt a bit firmer and much more hydrated after a week of use. The long-term clinical results over a 6-week study showed some impressive anti-wrinkle results too.  My only complaint (besides the price, again) is that the smell is a bit overpowering at first.  It's not bad, just strong.  It smells very botanical, like some sort of tree.  It's not an unpleasant smell, but it's definitely noticeable while you're applying and for a few minutes before it absorbs.  It wouldn't dissuade me from using it, but I know some people are very sensitive to strong scents in cosmetics.  I don't think it's an added fragrance.  If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably from the combination of Cupuacu, Manketti, and orchid flower oils.  Overall, I liked the moisturizer and felt like it was the best-priced item in relationship to the quality of the product at $78.

Shine On: The Latest Glossing Cream for Hair

I recently scored a deluxe sample of Oscar Blandi's Pronto Gloss.  Blandi is a big name in hairstyling and luxe hair products alike, and even though I tend to prefer drugstore hair products, I've heard good things about this glossing cream.  It's supposed to smooth frizz and flyaway strands while giving that perfect magazine-woman sheen without weighing down the hair.  The directions say you can use it on either damp or dry hair. 

I used it on damp hair before blow-drying, and I must say, it delivered on the light-weight non-sticky texture.  I didn't feel like I had a ton of product in my hair (hate that feeling).  After blow-drying, I noticed my hair was definitely smoother than normal, but I still had a bit of frizz that had to be smoothed with a flat iron.  The best part of this product was definitely the added shine.  I have color-treated hair, and this cream left it looking glossy and fresh like it looks right after a fresh coloring.  It also felt very soft and silky.  It's a bit pricey at $19 for 4.2 oz, but a little goes a long way so it might be worth it.  I do wish that it gave you more anti-frizz bang for the buck, but considering it's truly weightless and left my hair feeling and looking more healthy and shiny, it's definitely a product worth buying.

Styling Products by Ulta at ShopStyle

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

New Kids on the Block

New makeup and skincare lines are popping up all the time.  Some go far and some fizzle quickly, but for you product-junkies out there looking for the next big thing, I thought I'd do a quick wrap-up of what's new.

Hourglass

What It's About:
This line is all about old-Hollywood glamour and luxury.  It does good-quality products with high-impact color.  Best feature?  The line is dedicated to paraben-free products, and most of the products are fragrance-free as well.  Downside?  The expense, luxury doesn't come cheap in this line.  It may be expensive, but Hourglass doesn't make a bad product.  You can certainly find products that are as good or better for less, but you know if it's got the Hourglass name on it, it's going to be solid and high-quality.

Who It's For:  
The woman who loves quality and predictable excellence.  You may be paying $26 for a lipgloss, but you know you're getting a moisturizing, non-sticky, pricey-ingredient-list lipgloss. 


What to Buy:
I'm a fan of the aforementioned $26 lipgloss.  I only have one shade, in part because of the expense and in part because of the limited selection.  Nevertheless, it's a good every-day shade, a medium peach-nude.  The best thing about this lipgloss is the moisturizing Vitamin E formula.  It's very silky and lightweight, and it leaves your lips feeling soft and hydrated for hours.

The Veil Mineral Primer is another standout product.  It's not cheap at $52 for an ounce, but it has SPF 15 and it leaves your skin feeling smooth and looking pore-free.  It also absorbs this excess oil in the skin, so you get a perfectly matte but still luminous base for applying makeup.  This is one of the best primers, if not the best, I've tried.  You can read more about it in my Prime Time article.

Where to Buy: 
Right now, Hourglass is available at Sephora stores and on their web site.  It's also available at www.hourglasscosmetics.com and www.dermstore.com

Buxom

What It's About:
Buxom is a playful offshoot of Bare Escentuals.  It started as part of the Bare Escentuals line with a plumping lipgloss called the Big and Healthy Lip Polish.  From there, the line has expanded to include a plumping lipstick, lip balm, mascara, eyeshadow, and eyeliner.  And it's constantly growing.  Best feature?  Color selection.  There is truly something for everyone.  Downside?  VERY sticky lipgloss.

Who It's For:
The woman who loves bright colors and kitsch.  Buxom is full of kitsch from the scantily-clad Buxom characters who appear on the packaging to the creative marketing, including salacious stories about the Buxom girls' adventures.  (I recently bought the "Laura Does London" gift-set just because it boasted my name, so I guess I fell into the kitschy marketing gimmick).

What to Buy:
I'm just not a fan of the Big and Healthy Lip Polish.  I wanted to like it, and I particularly wanted to like the shade with my namesake, but it's just not working for me so back to the store it goes.  Even though I think that the colors are great, the names and packaging are cute, and the menthol-induced tingly plumping action is bearable, I just don't like the formula.  It's far too sticky.  Let's face it: it's silly to be walking around with sticky lips just because the package has a cute little cartoon character with your name in a pin-up costume.  So the lipgloss for me is more of a "what not to buy."

The lipstick on the other hand is a winner.  It gives a creamy matte finish, and it comes in a slender package, sort of half-way in shape and size between a lipstick and a lipliner.  And in fact, it does both.  It also comes with a detachable sharpener on the other end so that you can keep the tip sharp to line and then fill in the lips.  It gives the same menthol-plumping action of the lip polish (great as long as you don't mind a lot of minty tingle but not the best plumper I've ever tried.  The real benefit of the lipstick is not so much the plumping, but the smooth creamy staying power.  It's formulated with vitamins A, C, and E, so it leaves your lips feeling soft.  Also, a light application gives you a powerful punch of color, particularly in the bright shades.  I tried Monte Carlo, a bright fuchsia-magenta shade, and I loved it.  This is actually a very wearable shade for most-every skintone (I'm fair with auburn hair and green eyes), but I think it would look particularly amazing on medium tanned-to-olive skin.  I'm dying to try it on my lovely Lebanese friend.  She has warm medium-golden skin, and I think this shade would look amazing on her.

The Buxom eyeshadow is also surprisingly good.  It's very silky and lightweight in texture.  It blends easily and stays well without creasing.  This is a new product for Buxom and it's still very limited in shade-selection, but I'm hoping it will expand because this has a very similar texture to NARS eyeshadow, but it's less expensive at $17.

Where to Buy:
Right now, you can find the full collection of Buxom products at Sephora exclusively, but the Bare Escentuals and ULTA web sites also have a limited selection of the lipglosses.

Josie Maran

What It's About:
Josie Maran is all about eco-friendly, organic, recyclable, and biodegradable packaging and products.  The entire line of skincare and cosmetics is green, nontoxic, and free of animal-testing.

Who It's For:
The environmentally-conscious eco-chic woman who wants simple, high-quality products.  All the products are made with high-quality organic ingredients, most famously, Argan oil, which is a famous beauty-secret for literally everything from skin to fingernails to hair to eyelashes.

What to Buy:
Definitely get at least a little bottle of the Argan Oil to try it.  A half-ounce is only $14, and it's a great introduction to the line as Argan Oil is a star ingredient in almost all of Maran's products.  But it's also a great cure-all on its own.  It's rich in antioxidants and good-for-you fatty acids.  It's an all-in-one skin treatment and moisturizer.  It's great and very gentle around the eyes.  It helps with fine lines and firming, but it also nourishes dry skin.  I love to rub a tiny bit into the ends of my hair after washing and before drying to moisturize and ward off split ends.  You can also use it pretty much anywhere that could use some softening and hyrdration, especially the nailbeds and lips.

I'm also a fan of the mascara.  It has the Argan oil, and it also has jojoba oil, which nourish the lashes to prevent lash-fallout.  If you tend to lose lashes when you remove your mascara, this one's for you.  It's a lash treatment in addition to being a good basic mascara.  The wand is nothing fancy, just simple and classic, but it gives good clean coverage and lengthening without clumping.  This is no revolution in mascara, but it's gentle and good for the lashes, and of course, eco-friendly.

Sephora also has a great introductory Josie Maran kit with a small Argan Oil, a full-size mascara, a full-size eyeliner, a full-size lipgloss, and a cream blush for a great price, $24, which is how I got acquainted with the line.  I have a link to the kit below.


Where to Buy:
You can find Josie Maran products at www.josiemarancosmetics.com, and of course, Sephora.

Illamasqua

What It's About:
This U.K. brand was designed to be an edgy nighttime line, inspired by 1920's Berlin nightclubs.  The colors are highly-pigmented and dramatic.  It's a high-quality and long-lasting color makeup line, meaning no skincare.  If I was Lady Gaga's makeup artist, I'd use this line.  Best feature?  Quality product in sleek and chic packaging.  Downside?  Limited color-selection for the faint of heart, many of the shades are highly pigmented, dark, bright, or some combination thereof.  Then again, this is only a downside for me because I'm fair-skinned and work in a conservative office environment.  This would be a definite plus for many women of color who feel washed out in standard-fare lipsticks. 

Who It's For:
The edgy, trendy makeup connoisseur.  Also excellent for the woman of color who is looking for a selection of highly-pigmented brighter/darker lipsticks and eyeshadows that don't wash her out.  But even though many of the colors are daring, Illamasqua makes one of my favorite day-time lipsticks as well. 

What to Buy:
Definitely get one of the lipsticks.  They're all matte in formula and very rich in pigment.  They go on smooth and creamy and they stay put all day.  Illamasqua has some truly gorgeous bright reds, magentas, oranges, eggplants, and even a black lipstick (not my cup of tea, but certainly hard to find for those in need of a black lipstick).  For daytime, I love Scandal, a pretty medium-toned warm coral-pink.  For a bit more evening drama, I think that Illamasqua makes two of the best of-the-moment orange-red lipsticks, Blaze (a true matte tangerine) and Ignite (a more reddish orange).

Check out Illamasqua's Liquid Metal eyeshadows is you like metallics on the eye. They're a light-as-air whipped cream in highly-pigmented metallic colors.  It blends easily and stays well without creasing.  It also makes a great base for other powder eyeshadow shades if you just want to add some soft shimmer that glows underneath your eyeshadow and helps it to stay in place all day.  I tend to wear more matte eye-shades than shimmer or metallic, so I'd love it if they brought out this formula for matte eyeshadow shades. 


Where to Buy:
You can find Illamasqua at Sephora and www.illamasqua.com

Makeup Don't: Shimmery Beige Lipstick/Gloss

This is one of my personal pet peeves, and I remember it being big in the grungy 90's era of my junior high days, but it seems that it has made a BIG comeback lately: shimmery beige-tan lipstick and/or gloss.  It's particularly bad on women with tanned skin, where the lip color blends in with the skintone, creating a washed out effect.  Tragically, this lip color has become popular among many Hollywood actresses who are self-proclaimed "cougars."  Many women in the general populace have followed suit, and the result is not good.  

It's not that shimmery beige lipstick doesn't have its place, it does.  Depending one one's own skintone and the undertones of the lipstick itself (some are more cool/pink based and others are more warm/yellow based), a golden-toned beige can be a very nice shade on African American women (particularly with medium skintones, like Oprah) and on the other end of the spectrum, very pale but golden skintones and light hair color, as seen with many natural blonds (think Renee Zellweger).  And even then, it looks better in a creamy formula than a shimmery formula.  However, as a general rule, beige lipstick (especially shimmery beige) is the most unnatural looking lip color.  And it looks terrible on women with tanned skin.  It is much better to go with a sheer pink, berry, plum, coral, or something with at least a hint of color similar to the natural lip than a beige/tan/light brown shade.  And shimmer just adds a layer of unsophistication to an already unflattering lipcolor.  I don't tend to like shimmery lipsticks and glosses in general because they tend to look dated, but with beige or tan, it looks particularly unattractive. 

Although there are many many Hollywood offenders, I offer for your consideration Teri Hatcher and Lisa Rinna, two beautiful forty-something actresses that have an unfortunate tendency to over-tan and wear a coordinating beige-tan lipstick that blends in with their skin. To her credit, Hatcher is not tanning in the photograph below, but note that the beige lipstick still looks awful.


Yet when these same women wear a more natural and flattering pink or berry shade, they look so much better (and alive!).