Ballin’ on a budget? Yup, I hear ya. If you’re trying to think of ways to save money on your beauty and skin care routine, skin experts like Erin Welch, dermatologist at Denver Dermatology Consultants in Denver, Colorado, suggest hitting up the local drugstore.

“There is definitely a misconception that drugstore products can’t get the job done,” says Dr. Welch, “but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only are you saving lots of money by avoiding the department store for similar products, but you’ll find that some of the items are actually very impressive.”

Here are five drugstore skin care tips (and a giveaway) to keep that purty face lookin’ great!

1. Look for a gentle cleanser and avoid harsh soaps.

Skin produces a layer of natural protectant called the acid mantle, which contains a mixture of oils and other secretions that help it retain moisture and prevent the growth of unhealthy bacteria.

“If you wash your skin with a very harsh soap and strip off the mantle, it takes over 24 hours for the skin to regenerate it,” says Dr. Welch. And if you’re stripping off the acid mantle faster than your body can repair it, you’re leaving your skin vulnerable to drying and more prone to infection.

For sensitive skin, Dr. Welch recommends a gentle pH balanced cleansers like pHisoderm Cream Cleanser ($5), pHisoderm Deep Cleaning Cream Cleanser ($5) and pHisoderm Unscented Facial Bar ($5). “All these cleansers will help maintain the skin’s protective acid mantle in order to retain the skin’s natural moisture and healthy balance.”

2. Opt for salicylic acid treatments if you have adult acne.

“Adult women’s skin is very different than teenage skin,” says Dr. Welch. “With time and with age our skin becomes drier, so if you’re experiencing acne, you want to be sure you’re using products that aren’t going to dry your adult skin.

“I tend to steer my adult patients to products that contain salicylic acid only and to use benzoyl peroxide in moderation (or to skip it altogether).” She likes Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash ($6), the Clean & Clear cleansers ($6) and pHisoderm Anti-Blemish Cleansing Pads ($5).

3. Incorporate an effective anti-aging product into your skin care routine.

With so many overpriced and overhyped anti-aging products on the market, how do you choose one that actually works? “I recommend Olay Regenerist Daily Regenerating Serum ($20) to my patients,” explains Dr. Welch. “Ranked number one in effectiveness for mass market anti-aging serums by Consumer Reports, this anti-aging serum contains pentapeptides shown to boost colagen prodution and stimulate cell row, helping to smooth out lines.”

4. Remember to apply sunscreen on your lips!

Yes, your face and neck need protection from the skin’s rays, but don’t forget to also protect your lips with a lip balm containing SPF. Dr. Welch recommends Softlips lip balm ($4). It contains SPF 20 and feels smooth upon application — perfect for layering beneath your favorite lipstick or lipgloss.

5. Find a nightime anti-aging treatment.

RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Night Cream ($22) is an intensive anti-wrinkle treatment that works while you sleep to reduce expression lines and deep wrinkles. “This exclusive combination of pure Retinol and an essential mineral complex is a great alternative for people who find prescription strength Retin-A too irritating,” she says.

New Year, New Skin: The pHisoderm and Softlips Giveaway!

I think it’s time for a giveaway. Win $60 in skin care products from pHisoderm and Softlips!

Enter today’s Phisoderm and Softlips giveaway by signing up to receive my updates by email or by leaving a comment on this post (or both!). If you’re already signed up for the updates, you don’t have to do anything else to be entered to win — you’re already entered — but you can double your chances by also leaving a comment on this post (a comment about anything at all).

The Prize

One lucky winner will receive 13 items from the pHisoderm skin care and Softlips lip care lines ($60 value).

• pHisoderm Cream Cleanser for Sensitive Skin ($5)
• pHisoderm Anti-Blemish Cleansing Pads ($5)
• pHisoderm Unscented Facial Cleansing Bar ($5)
• pHisoderm Deep Cleansing Cream Cleanser for Normal to Dry Skin ($5)
• pHisoderm Foaming Facial Wash ($7)
• pHisoderm Anti-Blemish Gel Facial Wash ($5)
• pHisoderm Anti-Blemish Body Wash ($6)
• Softlips Raspberry with Green Tea Extract ($4)
• Softlips Cherry ($4)
• Softlips Strawberry ($4)
• Softlips Vanilla ($4)
• Softlips Tint in Rose ($3)
• Softlips Tint in Bronze ($3)

How to Enter

Again, there are two ways to enter, and you can do both of them to double your chances.

1. If you haven’t already signed up to receive Makeup and Beauty Blog daily email updates, then enter your email in the pink box below (or click this link).
2. If you have already subscribed to the email updates but want to double your chances, add a brief comment at the bottom of this post (be sure to use a valid email address).

I’ll choose the winners at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 8. The contest is open to all US and international readers. Good luck, my budget-loving beauties!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

McLurvely alert! The 2009 Lady Dior spring makeup collection arrives next month, and I’ve been drooling all over the pics.

Earlier today I remembered a game my BFF and I would play when we were kids. It was called What Would You Get?, and whenever one of us would get a catalogue in the mail (hello, no internets), we’d flip through the pages, picking out one thing we’d each get if we could.

Are you ready for WHAT WOULD YOU GET?

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to spend $200 in virtual makeup bucks on the Lady Dior Spring 2009 makeup collection! Let me know what you’d get in the comments.

I love the $95 cheek and lip palette, with it’s oh-so-cute quilted compact.

Choose from any of the items from the collection…

Eyes

• 5-Colour Iridescent Eyeshadow in Parisian Lights, $56.00
• 5-Colour Eyeshadow in Elegante, $56.00
• 2-Colour Eyeshadow in Nude Look, $35.00
• Crayon Eyeliner in Elegant Taupe, $26.00

Lips

• Rouge Dior Lipstick in Rita Beige, $28.00
• Rouge Dior Lipstick in Actress Chestnut, $28.00
• Dior Addict High-Shine Lipstick in New Look Beige, $26.00
• Dior Addict High-Shine Lipstick in Couture Pink, $26.00
• Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Trenchcoat Beige , $25.50
• Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Ribbon Beige, $25.50
• Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Clutch Pink, $25.50
• Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Reflect in Satin Pink, $25.50

Nails

• Dior Vernis in Porcelain, $20.00
• Dior Vernis in Nude Chic, $20.00

Cheeks

• Lady Dior Palette in Parisienne Chic or French Chic, a complexion highlighter and a creamy tint for both cheeks and lips, $95.00

Those quints are calling my name…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Dude, am I the only person who thinks the Burt’s Bees line kicks arse? I love their lotions, hand soaps and lipglosses, and I’ve had my eye on some of their fancy Travel Kits for a while.

I. LOVE. SAMPLE SIZES, and these travel kits are chock full of ‘em. Those mini-bottles and jars make it easy to discover new products from a line without having to commit.

Case in point: the Radiance Collection Kit ($15), which I sampled last week.

It comes with seven mini-items from the Radiance Collection, a body care line featuring products containing royal jelly (a nutritious substance eaten by queen bees in the hive) to restore glow to dull skin: Radiance Exfoliating Body Bar, Exfoliating Body Wash, Body Lotion, Day Creme, Night Creme, Eye Creme and Lip Shimmer.

I liked everything in the kit, but my favorite product turned out to be the one I least expected to like — the Exfoliating Body Bar.

Scented with rose and freesia, she foams up like crazy and leaves my skin feeling clean without that annoying tightness some cleansers can cause.

I figured out that it also works fab as a shave cream, too (I have hairy Yeti legs…).

I was able to try a product I may otherwise not have tried and now may even spring for the full-sized $4 bar.

Burt’s Bees Radiance Collection Kit

Price: $15
Use: Seven sample-sized body and bath products from the Burt’s Bees Radiance Collectionn
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

Whatever happened to Lil’ Ceaz?

I’m almost too ashamed to admit that I still know the lyrics to Crush on You, by Lil’ Kim and Lil’ Ceaz (”I know you see me on the video, TRUE!”).

Raise your hand if you remember being in a club when this song played. It always made everyone go NUTS! Ahhh… memories.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Drugstores aren’t always home to great makeup brushes, which is why Sonia Kashuk took so many of us by surprise.

But Sonia’s not the only one making superb yet affordable makeup brushes. Say a warm hello to Eco Tools and their fantabulous 5-Piece Brush Set ($10)!

They’re the softest drugstore brush heads I’ve ever used, even softer than Sonia Kashuk’s. That, coupled with the great price, makes this kit (which includes four travel brushes and a carrying case) a total steal.

From left to right: Eye Shading, Concealer, Powder/Blush and Baby Kabuki brushes

Made from the synthetic fiber, Taklon, Eco Tools brush heads feel both silky AND soft, LOL! — like my favorite fussy tabby’s fur (meow!).

The kit goes on sale next month and comes with the following:

• Baby kabuki brush: While not as dense as my MAC 182 Buffer Brush, this lil’ baby applies powder with aplomb. The small brush head really gets into the nooks and crannies around my nose.
• Powder/blush brush: You can use this brush to apply mineral foundation or face powder. I like to use it as a blush brush (both powder and cream), because the head fits precisely onto the apples of my cheeks.
• Concealer brush: I like the precision of very thin concealer brush heads. This head’s a little too big for my taste, but it still works like a charm, applying Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows like a pro.
• Eye Shading Brush: A tapered brush great for simple washes of color over the entire lid, for crease work and for blending.
• Cosmetic Bag: Cute and tiny, this cotton and hemp bag carries all four of the kit’s brushes with room to spare.

Eco Tools wants to go green. Their brush heads aren’t made from animal furs, and their brush handles which fit nicely in the palm on my hand (I wish they were longer, though, sigh), are made from sustainable bamboo and recycled aluminum.

Read the rest of this entry »

For New Year’s I resolved to get back into shape, so yesterday I headed to the gym at the booty crack of dawn.

I figured a workout sesh would help me accomplish two valuable things: 1) I could burn off the obscene amount of mint chocolate chip ice cream I ate the night before, and 2) I could road test L’oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Lip Conditioner ($9).

L’oreal claims that Gentle Lip Conditioner is “96% of natural origin.” Like you, I’m not entirely sure what that’s supposed to mean (what’s the remaining 4%?), but the product does contain sweet almond oil and vitamin E, and I do know what both of those are, LOL!

It comes in 10 sheer (read: subtle) shades, taste- and fragrance-free, each designed to soften and moisturize lips. I tried Sheer Peach, a nearly transparent, shimmery peach.

I was running late for spinning class, so I slathered on Sheer Peach while going from my car to the gym in the parking lot.

Right away the texture reminded me of Philosophy Kiss Me Lip Balm. It’s a little thinner than MAC lipglass and non-sticky, as well.

At the gym I huffed, puffed and sweated like Whitney Houston circa the Bobby Brown years, and I could feel Gentle Lip Conditioner workin’ its magic on my lips the entire time.

I can usually tell the good from the bad lip conditioners by how my lips feel a few hours after putting one on. In Bare Naturale’s case, my lips felt great — soft and flake-free.

L’oreal Bare Naturale Gentle Lip Conditioner

Price: $9
Use: To soften and moisturize dry, flaky lips (gym approved!)
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: A

I’m keeping a tube in my gym bag, fo’ sho!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Kailua Beach, Oahu

1. Mood:

A mish-mash this morning: feisty (ready to kick booty, haaaaay!), ravenous (mmm Eggo Waffles) and cheerful

2. Eyeshadow:

Chanel Mystic Eyes quad from the 2009 Spring Bohemian Fantasy Collection

3. One random thing you don’t know about me:

I don’t like calamari.

4. Fragrance:

Vera Wang Princess

5. Outfit:

Skinny jeans, black turtleneck, black knee-high boots, black striped hat and gold hoops

6. MAC essentials:

Concrete eyeshadow, 266 brush, Blushbaby blush, Select Moisturecover Concealer

7. I would really love to ____:

Get back in shape, to write full time, to care less about what other people think and to take a trip to Italy

8. Makeup lust:

MAC Redhead!

9. Nails:

Chanel Vendetta

10. Weekly goals:

To go to spinning class at least twice, to write a tutorial for the blog, and to start looking for some new freelance writing projects.

Let me know how you’re doing today. Just copy the empty list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.

Le list

Mood:
Eyeshadow:
One random thing you don’t know about me:
Fragrance:
Outfit:
MAC essentials:
I would really love to ____:
Makeup lust:
Nails:
Weekly goals:

Not even Monday can stand in our way!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Lombard Street, San Francisco

Heya, ladies. How was your weekend? I can hardly believe it, but the holidays are officially over. Seems like Christmas came and went before I knew what happened.

For Tabs, it was a rough New Year’s. He came down with a kitty cold a few days ago and has been sneezing and coughing up a storm. He’s on antibiotics and sleeping even more than usual, which for a cat means he’s up maybe 15 minutes a day.

The photo of San Francisco’s steep Lombard Street at the top of this post uses a Photoshop technique I’ve been wanting to try. It’s called tilt-shift and supposedly gives the illusion of a miniature model (click to see a larger version). That’s Tabs there in the corner. He says hi.

Hope your week gets off to a good start!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen