Skin Care

Four Beauty Pick-Me-Ups From RenÃ© Furterer, Repêchage, Dolce & Gabbana and EstÃ©e Lauder

March 4th, 2013 by Karen 16 Comments

Kicking off the week with a beautiful start! Well, trying to at least. 🙂

Last weekend, ugh! — totally floored me. That two-day migraine felt like a symphony of jackhammers in my head, and it was rough. It’s gone now, thank goodness, and I’m feeling more like myself again.

So, earlier today, just as I was about to jump back into the pet assisting grind, I thought, “Ya know what? What I need right now is to do something that makes me feel really, REALLY great, even if it’s just for a half an hour.”

I needed a beauty pick-me-up, so I made a cup of chamomile tea, grabbed a few new fave beauty products from RenÃ© Furterer, Repêchage, Dolce & Gabbana and EstÃ©e Lauder, and told Tabs that I’d back to work in a few.

RenÃ© Furterer KaritÃ© Intense Nourishing Mask

First order of business: a hot shower and RenÃ© Furterer’s KaritÃ© Intense Nourishing Mask ($46 for a 6.93-ounce jar), a five-minute deep conditioning treatment for dry hair that smoothes and hydrates with a mix of fair-trade shea butter and plant oils.

I just started using it last week, and I think it’s the reason why I had a series of near-epic hair days — like, the best I’ve had in months. KaritÃ© adds body, shine and leaves my hair smelling like lilies. I love it!

Repêchage Hydra Dew Illuminating Cream Mask

Have I mentioned that I’ve been on a face mask kick? I don’t know, but there’s something about a good face mask that gives me…hope, LOL! I’m also a big fan of sitting on my butt and doing absolutely nothing while I wait for a mask to work its magic.

My skin’s been a little dry lately (you know, ’cause winter) so after I jumped out of the shower, I applied a layer of Illuminating Cream Mask for Normal to Dry Skin ($38 for a 2-ounce tube) by Repêchage, an under-the-radar brand actually carried in spas all over the world. Their whole line contains products with “nutrient-rich seaweed” harvested off the Brittany Coast of France.

After 10 minutes, I tissued off the mask and could almost hear my skin sighing with relief. Ahh…

Dolce & Gabbana Desire

If I could, I’d hug every single one of the perfumers over at Dolce & Gabbana. I feel like they get me, ya know (says the girl who wore Light Blue on her wedding day)?

Desire’s, a de-lovely fruity floral, is their newest scent ($93 for a 1.6-ounce bottle). It lasts all day long for me and brings to mind overseas adventures, exploring foreign cities at night with a new love.

The official fragrance notes include…

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Friday Skin Care Chitchat: Kate Somerville, Caudalie, GLAMGLOW, AMOREPACIFIC and Ole Henriksen

February 1st, 2013 by Karen 43 Comments

Wow, it’s been a while since we chatted about skin care. Heck, I think the last time might’ve been last summer? After that trip to the Bliss Spa in SF, when those helpful aestheticians gave me those great product recs.

Anywho, last weekend I noticed I was running low on a couple of things I’ve come to adore, so on Saturday night I stopped by Sephora to restock, and I figured that while I was there, I could use one of my Christmas gift certificates to find something new. 🙂

Two of the products I picked up, Kate Somerville’s Anti Bac Clearing Lotion ($39) and Caudalie’s Vinosource Quenching Sorbet-CrÃ¨me ($39), I’ve loved for a while.

Absolute gold!

Kate Somerville Anti Bac Clearing Lotion and Caudalie Vinosource Cream Sorbet — Kate Somerville Anti Bac Clearing Lotion ($39) and Caudalie Vinosource Quenching Sorbet-CrÃ¨me ($39)

Kate Somerville’s Anti Bac Clearing Lotion

I’ve been breaking out, off and on, around my chin and mouth (hormonal acne…UGH!) this past year, and Kate Somerville’s Anti Bac Clearing Lotion, when I use it consistently, has helped clear up my skin.

An acne treatment lotion with 5% benzoyl peroxide, it layers well beneath makeup and doesn’t have that funky, tell-tale benzoyl peroxide scent found in so many other BP products.

Now, I get a tight, panicky feeling in my chest when I think about running out and not having a spare bottle around…
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+

Caudalie’s Vinosource Quenching Sorbet-CrÃ¨me

Second item: Caudalie’s Vinosource Quenching Sorbet-CrÃ¨me. I love it so much, I’m now on my third bottle.

The lightweight, mousse-like lotion absorbs instantly into my skin, and it’s moisturizing enough to handle the driest patches on my face. And WOO HOO! — it doesn’t seem to make my breakouts worse.
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: A+

GLAMGLOW, AMOREPACIFIC and Ole Henriksen

After I re-stocked on the must-have skin care supplies, my basket still felt a little light, so with that gift certificate burning in my pocked, I also picked up…

Ole Henriksen Truth to Go Wipes, GLAMGLOW Super-Mud Clearing Treatment, AMORE PACIFIC Treatment Enzyme Peel — Ole Henriksen Truth to Go Wipes, GLAMGLOW Super-Mud Clearing Treatment and AMOREPACIFIC Treatment Enzyme Peel

AMOREPACIFIC Treatment Enzyme Peel ($60)

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Giving Hands the Royal Treatment With Royal Apothic Perfectly Perfect Hand Creme

January 21st, 2013 by Karen 6 Comments

Here’s a look at Royal Apothic’s Perfectly Perfect handy work, also known as their $20 Hand Creme, which I spotted today over at the Anthropologie store at the mall (I swear, I could spend all day in that store).

Despite being based out of Los Angeles, Apothic, a three-year-old fragrance line, aims for a British vibe, and the scents I’ve tried all seem light, fresh and floral to me, which I like.

Today their hand creme caught my eye.

Cute packaging, yeah? I tried it on right there in the store, and my hands just lapped it up. It left my paws lightly scented, too, like a citrusy jasmine.

The Holland Park scent is my favorite of these. It has notes of lemon, magnolia, peach, jasmine, orange blossom, muguet, white musk, pink grapefruit and anemone flower.

They also have some eau de parfums…

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Hey, BB! Tarte’s BB Tinted Treatment 12-Hour Primer SPF 30 Joins a Bunch of Other BBs on Counters This Spring

January 18th, 2013 by Karen 32 Comments

Tarte BB Tinted Treatment 12 Hour Primer SPF 30 — The new Tarte BB Tinted Treatments in Fair, Light, Medium and Tan ($34 each)

BB creams have been around for years, but it seems like they’re having a moment.

The Sephora by my house even has a special section for ’em, an area dedicated to BB creams, among them the new Urban Decay Naked Skin Beauty Balm, the latest batch of 10-in-1 Beauty Balms from Stila and some older creams from Too Faced and Smashbox.

I perused shelf after shelf crowded with tubes standing at attention, each one promising some combo of sheer coverage and skin care, like anti-aging benefits, priming, moisturizing — you name it.

Tarte’s new BB Tinted Treatment 12 Hour Primer SPF 30 and its white packaging caught my eye (is that “BB” font Helvetica Neue Ultra Light?).

Most of the tubes were smeared with makeup, and dirty, and not in a dirrrrrty Christina Aguilera kind of way. Without thinking, I tried to wipe them clean with my fingers (it was one of those, “holy crap, I’m REALLY my mother’s daughter” moments), but no luck. Apparently, it was going to take a cleanser more powerful than my thumbs.

Just as a heads up, if you decide to bring one of these home, you might not be able to keep the tubes pristine for long.

The product comes in four oil-free shades with broad-spectrum SPF 30 (protects against UVA and UVB rays) — Fair, Light, Medium and Tan — each of which are $34 and can be worn as a primer beneath your regular makeup or all by themselves for light or medium coverage.

Tarte claims all of them will last 12 hours and offer a bunch of skin benefits. First, they’re supposed to be moisturizing, supposed to have anti-aging properties, supposed to diffuse the look of fine lines, and bolster skin’s elasticity.

Of the four, Tan probably comes closest to matching my NC42 skin.

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All Aboard the Chanel No. 5 Trolley! 5 Fun Facts About Chanel No. 5, and a Giant 10.7-Ounce Bar of No. 5 Bath Soap

December 17th, 2012 by Karen 31 Comments

chanel-no-5-trolley-1 — All aboard the Chanel No. 5 Trolley, bound for San Francisco’s Union Square!

Toot, toot! Now boarding the Chanel No. 5 Trolley. 🙂

chanel trolley 2 — Chanel created the Trolley as an art installation of sorts, filled it with stories and lore about the iconic No. 5 fragrance, parked it in front of Macy’s in San Francisco’s Union Square last weekend and opened it to the public for free…

Come on! Let’s check it out. I booked a ticket and saved you a seat.

Our destination today? The world of Chanel No. 5…

What’s that, you ask? Can you take a picture with the male models before we board? Of course! By all means.

[SNAP!]

Um…just so you know, you’re grinning like a Cheshire cat in that picture. 🙂

Unfortunately, Brad Pitt couldn’t make it today, so we’ll be on our own. It would have been neat to bend his ear about No. 5, but apparently he’s on location filming a Chanel commercial with Tabs…

chanel trolley wheel — The trolley from the front

chanel trolley steering-wheel — Picture Mr. Pitt behind the wheel…

Feel free to move about the trolley, and check out the different exhibits and Chanel-esque details…
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The Ultimate Moisturizer for Lazy Lasses! ELF Milk & Honey Lotion Wipes Wipe Out Dry Skin in 30 Seconds or Less

July 5th, 2012 by Karen 24 Comments

elf lotion wipes review

Saw the new Spider-Man movie last night (loved Andrew Garfield as Spidey!), but there’s a creature in the movie, a scaly reptilian beast, that reminded me of my shins.

Yes, I believe I’m on the verge of a dry skin crisis, one brought on by professional exhaustion.

You see, ever since his movie career started taking off, Tabs has been working me to the bone.

On the one hand, it’s good overtime, but by bedtime, I’ve been so exhausted that I haven’t been wanting to moisturize my bod after my shower, so I’ve been skipping the lotion and crawling straight into bed, ashy legs and all (please don’t tell my mom).

I come from a long line of dry skin sufferers… Growing up, lotion was revered in our house like it was manna from heaven, and if I had a penny for every time I got lectured about applying lotion on my legs before going outside to play, well, I’d have a few hundred extra pennies right now.

Segue to ELF’s new $3 Milk & Honey Lotion Wipes. Yes, babe: wipes. 🙂

They’re like makeup remover wipes, except instead of containing makeup remover, they’re soaked with a lightweight liquid moisturizer.

They come 16 wipes to a pack, each of them infused with helpful hydrating ingredients like aloe, cocoa butter, vitamin E, soy, gingko biloba, coconut milk and sweet almond oil.
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Dry Skin Goes Coco-Nuts for Three Whishes Coconut Body Wash

June 29th, 2012 by Karen 21 Comments

Trader Joes Coconut Fruit Floe

Three words for ya: Coconut Fruit Floes.

Coconut Water Fruit Floes I brought home a box this week from Trader Joe’s (four for $1.99) instead of my usual Mango Cream Bars, and holy wow, Egyptian mau! — they’re coco-nutty!

You know those coconut juice drinks that come in the tall cans? I like to get one whenever I go to my favorite Puerto Rican restaurant or go out to get Thai food. Well these are like those…except frozen, and more concentrated, and shaped like a Popsicle.

So tasty if you like coconut and fruity frozen desserts.

On these warm evenings at home, I’ve been opening the windows, cranking up the overhead fan, and posting up on the couch in front of the TV (last night it was Hollywood Exes) with a Coconut Fruit Floe.

Since I can’t go to the tropics right now, Trader Joe’s is bringing the tropics to me. 🙂

It’s been a nice, relaxing ritual this week, and I’m wondering if these frozen coconut concoctions have had anything to do with my affinity for Three Whishes Coconut Body Wash.

All signs point to yes.

Three Whishes Coconut Body Wash

It’s been warm here lately. Not terribly hot, but still hot enough that I’m covered in a sticky layer of sweat by the end of the day (the worst are the backs of my knees, yuck!). So right before bed, I’ve been jumping in the shower to quickly rinse off.

I almost always grab Gud from Burt’s Bees Cherrynova in the mornings after workouts, but at night, Whish’s coconut shower gel ($18 for a 13-ounce bottle) has been my new pre-bedtime jam.

Ahhh… It’s like a coconut daiquiri and a shower under a waterfall, and I love the authentic scent, organic ingredients and moisturizing, cruelty-free formula.

In blending this beauty, Whish left out many drying ingredients like sulfates, as well as parabens, petrochemicals, TEA (triethanolamine) and DEA (diethanolamine), and added moisturizing marvels like organic shea and raspberry butters, and organic aloe, which is the second ingredient on the list.

And to make it even easier on sensitive skin, they added organic marigold and cucumber.

whish coconut three whishes body wash label
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Today I Was Gud and Grumpy With a Side of Cherries: Gud From Burt’s Bees Floral Cherrynova

June 19th, 2012 by Karen 24 Comments

novato-farmers-market-cherries
Life is just a bowl of these…

Hey, friend. Typing right atâ€˜cha from the trenches of my living room couch. I just finished a slow, arduous 5-mile run — arduous because I really wasn’t feelin’ it, but I’m glad I did it anyway — and now, in my freshly showered state, I’m basking in a post-workout high, babbling in print and breathing in the scent of Gud From Burt’s Bees Cherrynova Body Wash on my skin.

But more on that in two seconds. 🙂

I’m also half watching Avatar on TV, eating a big bowl of cherries and trying, so far unsuccessfully, to deter Tabs from scratching my Pier 1 chair.

You know the old saying, “Life is just a bowl of cherries”? Well, I’m feeling that way now thanks to Cherrynova, but earlier today? — MAN! I was grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.

grumpy tabs in the closet
Grumpy with a side of grumps!

I dunno… I’m just really stressing over what to do with the rest of my life. After five years as the executive assistant to an international plus-size kitty supermodel, I’m starting to wonder, “Where is this job taking me?”

Stir in my natural tendency to worry, add a dash of insomnia, and you’ve got yourself a woman on the brink of FREAKING OUT!

But then I took a few deep breaths, talked to El Hub on the phone, pet Tabs, checked the blog, read through some comments, and slowly calmed down enough to hop on the treadmill.

Running usually takes the edge off…

So here I am, fresh out of the shower and eating a bowl of cherries. And kinda smelling like a bowl of cherries, too, courtesy of Floral Cherrynova.

gud body wash
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