Category — Beauty Goodies

Everyday I check my Google reader to see if there are any new musings from I’m Not a Buddhist.  When she mentioned she had found the “best nail polish ever” I asked if she would be willing to write a guest review.  So with no further ado …

Hello Juicelovers.

I’m fairly certain that Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri Nail Color was created specifically for me, and I suppose I could just keep this little gem to myself, but, I do like to help out my fellow man (or woman) so I’ll let you juicelovers in on the secret. The primary reason to fall in love with this nail polish is that it literally dries instantly. As much as I love to have neatly painted nails, there has never been an occasion on which I did not fudge up at least one nail (if not four or five) because I could not sit still long enough for my nails to dry. Because my impatience is accompanied by laziness, I often leave the fudged up nail as is and move on with my life. Less than 24 hours later, at least one nail will be featuring an unsightly chip, thereby eliminating the attractiveness of painted nails. Herein lies the second most wonderful feature of

Old Sally’s Insta-Dri miracle: this stuff literally stays put for three days without a single chip. Apparently, Sally has worked out some kind of ingenious scientific phenomenon where the chemical make-up of the nail polish allows it to move slightly when your nail comes in contact with other surfaces. This slight movement prevents the polish from being chipped away from the surface of your nail. Initially, I was grateful to maintain chip-free nails throughout one evening. But I was especially impressed when my nails remained chip-free after several long sessions of guitar practice. In addition to being the greatest nail polish ever, Sally Hansen’s Insta-Dri only costs 4.99! I assure you, this stuff is way better than that 8.00/bottle OPI-nonsense people are so into. So, there you go juicelovers…a high quality beauty product at a reasonable price. Enjoy!

 A giveaway is a great way to beat the Monday blues! You can win a RelationLIPS lip palette in “Seduce” from Beauty Addicts simply by telling us why you think you deserve to win.

The Beauty Addicts palette comes in a super cute compact with mirror, perfect for applying on-the-go (a $28 value).  In four colors, this lip gloss is infused with Shea butter, Aloe Vera, Vitamin E and a hint of wild berry essence for lip protection and high shine color.  Go to BeautyAddicts.com for all of their irresistible makeup.

 The giveaway will be open to commenters until 5pm on Friday.  Good Luck.

Update: A commenter was randomly selected and congratulations goes to Karrie King who wrote “I DESERVE TO WIN BECAUSE AFTER HAVING GIVING BIRTH MAY 27TH, I HAVEN’T HAD TIME TO SHOP FOR NEW MAKE-UP”.  Thanks for the comment Karrie.

My sweet Mr. Juicefairy was very sweet to treat me to a facial a couple of weeks ago (have I mentioned on this blog yet how lucky I am to have him).  This is only he second facial I have ever gotten, and minus the part where they extract blackheads, I think they are even more relaxing than a massage.   I went the the Spa of Thornton Park in downtown Orlando where Dominic was my esthetician (he says when he tells people what he does for a living they ask, “you work with dead people?”).

I asked Dominic frankly what skin product would be best for a twenty-something to prevent wrinkles, beside a moisturizer with sunscreen.  I know the commandment about sunscreen …  “Thou shall wear sunscreen everyday, all over thy body, in order to keep away age spots and wrinkles”.  He told me one of the first things I could do was drink more water. But he warned that dehydration is not apparent in your skin when you are in your twenties but as you age your skin gets drier naturally and dehydration becomes visible in those lines around your eyes and mouth.  “Those ladies that claim they have wrinkles around their lips from smoking are mistaken, most of that is from dehydration.” he informed me.  Honestly, a camel drinks more water than I do.  I just don’t need that much liquid I guess.  So I suppose I could heed his advice.  So new rule “Thou shall attempt to drink more water throughout thy day.”

His other advice really surprised me.  He said “I am actually not going to try and sell you on a bunch of expensive products.  Drug store anti-aging products have become a lot smarter and are really competitive with the more expensive products out there.”  At this point the owner of the spa walked in a told him to take his last weeks pay and leave.  Actually that didn’t happen, but I am surprised that they didn’t have some expensive line of products they would make him hock.  He told me for my skin type (combination skin with dry patches and a little bit of redness) that Loreal RevitaLift is a great product.  He says it is oil free, so for a young woman’s skin it is not too greasy, and that it is very effective as a night cream.  He warned that the RevitaLift eye cream is essentially the same exact thing as the face cream but in a smaller bottle so not to waste my money on the extra product, which is a tip I appreciated.

So I cashed in some Ulta points and I am have been giving RevitaLift a try.  I wont be able to tell you if it worked until I am fifty but Dominic claims it may help with my redness leftover from old pimples so I will keep you updated on that. So far all I can tell you is that it has a very perfumy smell and I wake up in the morning with my skin feeling a little oily but not too bad.  So far no breakouts from it.  Thanks Dominic for all of your honest advice.

Keep your wardrobe youthful, while on a budget, by shopping wholesale clothing

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If you have been reading my blog then the one thing you know about me is that  I enjoy finding things to pamper myself on a relatively small budget.  So since monthly facials, manicures and pedicures are out of my budget I like to change up my soap.  Sounds silly but everytime I finish a bottle of soap I try a new one.  I like to mix up the scents and the brand, depending on how my skin has been feeling or what kind of mood I am in.  It makes me excited to open a new bottle with a new scent!  Plus I always feel like I am getting to pamper myself with a new and improved product.  My newest bottle was Caress Evenly Gorgeous Exfoliating Body Wash.  The scent is sweet like brown sugar and vanilla and it has a little bit of exfoliator to keep your skin healthy, but not enough to rough you up like sandpaper in the morning.  For around $4 I feel like I am pampering myself.  You can check out all of Caress’s new products at www.caressyourstyle.com.

While you are at the website make sure to enter the cool giveaway they are doing.  They are giving away $100 Caress gift card and a trip for two to NYC’s Fashion Week.  Three nights hotel stay and a $500 shopping spree, a consultation with Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on your style and an invite to a VIP party are all included.  I would kill for that trip!  Also, Carson has a video blog on the site where he offers fashion tips to the ladies for a change.

Last week the esthetician who waxes my eyebrows suggested I use a clay mask to reduce the size of my pores since I am having my engagement pictures this weekend.  My skin has been a wreck the last month because Mother Nature can’t decide if Florida is still in winter or moving straight to summer (if you have ever been here you know that we skip the comfort of spring altogether).  Anyway, the only mask I have on hand at the moment is a peel-off alpha hydroxy one so I went to Ulta to get my tried-and-true-favorite Queen Helene’s Mint Julep clay mask.  But then I saw  Freeman’s Avocado & Oatmeal one that honestly smelled a little more appealing and was about $.50 cheaper (yes, I am that cheap).

So I slathered it on me and on Mr. Juicefairy (I want him to look his best too … and now he is going to kill me for sharing this) and he says …

“This burns a little.”

Me: “I don’t feel anything. Its only oatmeal and avocado how can it burn?”

Mr. Juicefairy: “Are you sure there is nothing else in here?  It feels funny.”

… I look at bottle …

Me: “Oh.  There is a lot of other stuff in here.”

… pause …

Me: “Whoa!  This burns”

Mr. Juicefairy: “I told you!”

Yes, now I know trying a new skin product right before my engagement pictures are taken is sooo stupid.  Luckily when we removed it our skin was unaffected and it actually did feel a little smooth.  But I certainly don’t recommend this product. Apparently I am not the only one that had this reaction as well.   Anything that is so harsh it burns cannot be good for your skin.  And btw, I called Ulta and they are willing to exchange the product for something else.  Thanks Ulta!