Sephora Brand - Great Products, Even Better Prices

I'm back today with a quick little blurb highlighting one of the products you can find at your local Sephora - their own brand of color cosmetics.  Yesterday I was out and about and, of course, was drawn into the Sephora in my local JC Penney.  While this shop does not have nearly the selection of a stand-alone Sephora, it's good for a quick makeup fix, and does have the benefit of carrying the Sephora brand products - brushes, eyeshadows, lipsticks, and, thank heavens, LIP LINER!  

As some of you may know, I have been heartbroken since the Aveda line stopped making lipliner, as I had been using their brand for years and years, and found nothing to compare with the color, minty (yep, there's that minty taste again!) flavor, and longevity on the lips of this product.  Some of the brands I'd tried include Bare Minerals (and, alas, THEY, too have stopped featuring lip liners in their line); Lancome (very expensive and no good color selection for me); Makeup Forever (too-bright colors); Hourglass (bleeds!!!!!!); Cargo (sorry, that reverse lipliner doesn't work); MAC (might be good if I could find the right shade); and Clinique (not a bad formula, but that line doesn't have the perfect color for me yet).

Here is a small sampling of my lipliners.  As you can see, the Sephora purchases are in the front.  The texture is wonderful, and the two colors I purchased (for a mere five dollar bill) are good for the colors of lipstick I wear on a daily basis.  However, look at the SIZE of these babies!  What's up with that?  These are brand-new, and are basically half the size of any other lipliner I've ever purchased.  But then again, they're half the price, too, so I guess when you need a new one, just get two at once and you'll be good to go!

There was a very decent color selection - I did not actually count them, but from memory, I'd say that you could choose from about ten or twelve shades.  The colors range from red to pink to brown, so I'm sure that there is a shade that would be just grand for any lipcolor you are wanting to match.  Minus the mintiness.  (A blessing for some, others not so much.)

Next time, I'll tell you about the neat Sephora brand eyeliner I brought home. :)

Josie Maran's Argan Oil Products!

I don't know how many of you have heard of Josie Maran, as she's perhaps not exactly a household name, but she is a lovely young thirty-something model and mother of two little girls who started her own line of Argan Oil products roughly a year and a half ago.  I first became aware of her products (where else?) on QVC about a year ago.  These products are pretty decent, and, while they will NOT suddenly make your fifty/sixty/or seventy+-something face transform into the sweet young thing you were in your twenties (yes, dearie, of course we were ALL once sweet young things), they WILL give you some bang for your buck, and even bring a little smile to your face when you use them.  Maybe.  If color makes you smile the way it makes me smile. :)

A 1.7 oz. size of Argan Oil was Josie's first product in the line, and I confess that my lovely bottle of the stuff is nearly ALL GONE!!!  This, in itself, is pretty impressive, because Makeup Ho that I am, I RARELY finish a product.  (The exceptions being mascara, lipsticks, and the occasional lipgloss.  And my bottle of Lauren, the Ralph Lauren classic fragrance that is my all time favorite scent.  Evah.  Yum.)  Here is the bottle of Argan Oil:

I like to use it on the Crow's Feet (on me they might be more like Buzzard's Feet) at the corners of the eyes, the lovely Crypt-Keeper lines above my less-than-lush lips, my elbows, the tops of my hands, and on my cuticles.  It's very light and absorbs pretty quickly.  If you are very diligent and use it daily (as I do not, because I just am not that good about any beauty routine except for applying makeup....LOL), it really does have a softening effect on the lines and wrinkles.  I believe I have been using my bottle for about a year now, and there's probably half an inch left in the bottom of the container.  It hasn't gone rancid yet, which is quite decent, as I've had other products that don't last nearly as long.  It's not terribly inexpensive, as I believe this bottle was in the vicinity of $48.00, but if you shop on the Q, you can probably get it in combination with another product, such as the Argan Color Stick I am going to talk about next, which makes it a much more palatable price. :)  Josie Maran Argan Oil is 100% Moroccan  argan oil, with no fillers or additives.

Which brings me to the other Josie Maran product that I really like, the Argan Color Stick.  This is a product that reminds me of the Nars Multiple, but in my book, this product beats the Multiple hands down, as the Multiple costs quite a bit more at $39.00 (The Argan Color Stick is a mere $22.00), and does not last nearly as long on the lips as the Argan Color Stick does.  Plus, Josie's product has a fab minty feel on the lips, and is infused with the softening properties of - you guessed it - ARGAN OIL!  :)

My Argan Color Stick is the Petal Pink shade, and it's a beautiful, warm pink, with a touch of shimmer.  I believe that there are several other different shade choices available.  Check them out at www.josiemarancosmetics.com.  You can also stop by your local Sephora (OMG, don't tell me you don't HAVE a local Sephora - I would die a thousand deaths if I couldn't pop by that Cosmetics Mecca weekly to drool over the latest goodies on display, but that's just me) to check out the beautiful Josie Maran offerings there....

You can use this product on your cheeks and lips, and it gives a lovely sheen of color on the cheeks - dewey, ladies - just what we are looking for to make our old, crepey cheeks appear YOUNGER, right?  Just dot a little of the product on the apples of your cheeks and blend outward and upward.  And when you're done with your cheeks, apply some to your lips.  I wore it today, and the lipcolor lasted a good three to four hours for me, and it didn't sink into the vertical lines now permanently making their home above and below my mouth!  For that alone, it deserves applause.  And a big KISS! 

I highly recommend these products.  Josie's "Magic Marker Lip and Cheek Stain", not so much.  I tried it.  And then I ran screaming out of the bathroom.  That product was not even REMOTELY wearable for this old broad, and, believe me I bought SEVERAL in the hope that one of the shades would work.  Total waste of my cash.

However, I recently sampled another of Josie's products at - you guessed it - Sephora - and now I have something that I can put on my Wish List for Christmas.  It's the Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter in Vanilla & Apricot, although there is a Citrus version as well that I have not gotten to sniff personally.  This product make my skin feel nothing short of divine, and the scent was absolutely delicious.  The Argan Balm is also really nice, and I loved the way that made my skin feel as well.

So, what are you waiting for, girls?  Get yourselves over to Sephora, or shop online on the Q or Josie's own website, and get one of these little beauties home.  You'll thank me, I just know it!  

Till next time, my Beauties.  

Let's Talk Nails

Today I'd like to share a fun nail discovery with you all.  About six weeks ago or so, my oldest daughter, Aimee, hosted a Jamberry Nails party, and it was nothing like I had imagined it would be.  Well, let's be honest here, I had not the foggiest clue as to what a "Jamberry" nail WAS, so what sort of preconceived notion of the party could I have had?  In any event, I learned about a great new product, and I am finally getting around to sharing it with you, my Fabulous Readers. :)  (You ARE out there, aren't you?)

Jamberry Nails (www.jamberrynails.com) is a very cool concept that I was not aware of.  I'm not really 'up' on nail stuff, though, so some of you Sophisticated Nail Mavens probably already know about products like these.  Jamberry products are something called nail shields, and they are a very easy way to give your nails (finger OR toe) a hip, happening new look, and we Old Broads can generally use a little help, can't we?

So, Jamberry Nails is a company rather like Mary Kay, where the products are sold at home parties.  To find a consultant in your area, you need to check out the aforementioned website.  I handily was just invited to a party, so there was no searching for a consultant for me. :)  At the party, you are given a short demo on how to apply the nail shield, and then you get to try a few on your own.  I only applied one, since, as usual, I was yakking away with the other attendees, and stuffing my face with the yummy treats Aimee had provided for all of us.  There might have even been a glass or two of sangria involved.........

 

Above is the picure I took approximately three weeks after attending the nail party.  Of course, I should have taken the picture right away, when the Nail Shield was freshly applied, but I didn't, and so you can clearly see where my nail has grown out, BUT this picture also demonstrates just how well these little suckers stay on, doesn't it? :)  They defintely stay on until you decide to take them off, if applied properly in the first place. 

Application is pretty easy.  It consists of choosing a shield that fits your nail bed width, cutting it to the general length of your nail but slightly longer, warming the shield for about ten seconds with a blowdryer (you hold onto the shield with tweezers so that you don't burn yourself), applying the shield to your nail, pressing firmly, and, finally, filing off the bit remaining that extends over the tip of your nail with a downward motion of your nail file. 

Removing the shields is also easy.  I used nail polish, but if the shields are in place for less than ten days, you can simply heat the shields with your blowdryer and break the seal at the edge of the nail by pushing up with a nail file.  They peel off quite nicely.

Below are pictures of some of the various patterns and colors that are available:

The last picture is the 'french manicure' version, which I have not yet tried out, but am looking forward to applying.  The look of a french manicure without all of the hassle.  The pictures are a very, very tiny sample of what is available.  There are shields that represent your favorite sports, shields with flowers, shields in geometric patterns, and shields that will get you noticed when you walk into a room. :)  If you like that sort of thing.

Below is a picture of my daughter Aimee's feet, which I took the other day when she was not looking.  hahahaha  She'd dolled up her toes for the trip she and two of her sisters took to Vegas recently, and I wanted you all to see how cool this product looks on toes as well.  (You can also see that the nail shields stay looking perfect long after nail polish starts to, ahem, wear....Aim, you need a fresh pedi, Dear!)  Often women will apply one shield to a ring finger nail, or a big toe nail, as my daughter has below, and then paint the rest of the nails in a coordinating color.  This stretches the product further than when you would apply shields to ALL of your nails, and is a fun accent look.

Nails are something that usually don't show your age, and we Older Beauties can follow trends for nails with little adaptation, although I confess sometimes I am shocked when I see a woman in my age category sporting Poison Green talons....er, I mean fingernails. :)  Just don't forget your handcream......with sunscreen......because our nails are surrounded by skin, and we all know what that biotch Mother Nature likes to do with our skin when we've been around the block a few times!

Jo Malone Fragrance

Hi All!

Another lag between posting times....oh, dear, the summer has just gotten away from me - I did make a quick trip to Boston to visit my daughter and her family for a week, and I've  managed to fly through a number of books in the last six weeks......hmmmm.....then there was all that knitting....... but still!  Six weeks without beauty chat is five and a half weeks too long, don't you think?

Today I want to talk about fragrance.  Fragrance is not, strictly speaking, 'makeup', but it's certainly part of the whole cosmetic mystique, and it definitely deserves a mention now and then.  I first fell in love with fragrance in sixth grade - guess that would make me eleven years old.  (Let's not do the math here and figure out exactly how many years ago that was, okay?  I'll just admit that it was more than forty years and let it go at that.......)  My mom always had a few bottles of cologne on her dresser, and one of my very favorites of hers was called Christmas in July.  She also owned Shalimar and Je Reviens.  I don't believe that Christmas in July is around anymore, but Shalimar and Je Reviens certainly are.  Some fragrances are timeless, and if the company that produces them stays in business, well, all the better. :)  Actually, come to think of it, most of the famous fragrance houses ARE still in business.....fragrance might just be the one thing in our beauty lives that remains constant....when I think about many of the fragrances that I wore in my youth, I realize that most of them are still available today.  Wow!  So if you want to go back and re-visit a bit of your youth, YOU CAN! :)

I started babysitting around sixth grade, and therefore had some disposable income of my own, which I promptly spent on makeup and fragrance......I started young.......one of my first fragrance experiences was with the 'splash' Jean Nate, which was billed as a refreshing citrus scent.  To this day, some of my favorite scents are strongly citrus, and Grapefruit might just be my very favorite scent of all time.  But don't make that stop you from reading on.  LOL  I could reminisce here for quite a while, talking about all of the wonderful fragrance memories I have, but I won't bore you with my past.  You can talk a walk down your own Memory Lane of Fragrance in the privacy of your own home.....it might make your heart beat a little faster to remember what fragrance you wore when you had your first kiss........I've read that fragrance is a very strong memory trigger, and that if you smell a particularly memorable scent, it takes you back to the moment you were when you smelled it.  So spritz on a little Jontue and let the memories begin!  LOL

But back to the subject at hand.  I recently discovered Jo Malone fragrance.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I first sniffed Jo Malone at Nieman Marcus several years back, and, frankly, I was NOT impressed.  This was supposed to be such an amazing brand of fragrance from London, but the first few times I tried the stuff, I could not (try to) wash it off quickly enough.  I say 'try' because, for me, once a fragrance has been applied to the skin, it's NOT coming off till it WANTS to come off, which is usually inversely proportional to how much you like it - when you love it, it seems to wear off in a matter of minutes, and when you hate it, it lasts for ten hours, and you could scrub your arm till it bleeds and the stuff will not come off!

However, I decided to try it again, and this time, I have fallen in love.  Specifically, I have fallen in love with Nectarine Blossom & Honey; Lime Basil & Mandarin; Verbena of Provence; and White Jasmine & Mint.  (Pictured above, from L to R are:  Bath Oil, Body Creme, and a small spray Cologne.)  Now, Jo Malone products are not inexpensive (Aaah, I admit it, pretty much NOTHING I love is inexpensive...does that make me 'high maintenance'?), but it lasts a good long time.  The Bath Oil on the left in the picture above was purchased about four weeks ago, I daub a small amount on my wrist nearly every day, and, as you can see, the bottle is basically still full....yes, I use Bath Oil as fragrance and not as actual Bath Oil - I don't think I've taken a bath since the 1970's.  I hate being naked to begin with, and naked sitting in the bathtub is just too much to take. 

But, I digress.  Back to Jo Malone.  The helpful sales associate at the Jo Malone counter at my local Nordstrom's (well, not entirely local - it's about a forty five minute drive - for those of you in the greater Chicago area, I'm naming the Woodfield store) was amazing.  She freely gives samples of all of the products, which is why I now can carry my four favorite Jo Malone fragrances in my handbag.  I hope that all of the Jo Malone counters operate on the same principle, but I suppose that you might come across a less-than-helpful salesperson when you shop for these products.  In any event, this wonderful woman suggested a lovely combination of Jo Malone products and fragrances for me when I told her my preferences.  Did you know that you can rub on a bit of Nectarine Blossom & Honey Bath Oil and top it with some Lime Basil & Mandarin Body Creme and have a gorgeous fragrance that will last all day?  Now you do!  And if you want, you can spritz on a little Verbena of Provence on top, and off you go, trailing a cloud of yumminess behind you.

I really recommend stopping by the nearest Jo Malone counter you can find and experimenting a little.  Fragrance speaks to each of us very differently, of course, and what one person loves, another gets a headache from.......so please, make that only ONE spritz of your favorite scent, and not fifteen.  You never want your fragrance to arrive before you do.  People should have to be in your personal space before they can experience your fragrance.  It's not an across-the-room kind of product.  At least, it SHOULDN'T be. :)

Hello, Again!

Well, I see it's been a while since I last pontificated about beauty, so here goes another round...........My husband and I took a trip to New Mexico in early June, which is a beautiful state - I highly recommend a visit there if you've never been - and I wanted to write about something that inspired me while we were there.  (Besides the jewelry and the fabulous artwork!)

We stayed for nearly a week in Santa Fe, and while we were there, I saw more older beauties walking around with their natural (and by that, of course, I mean GREY and SILVER) haircolor than I have ever seen in one place before!  It was amazing.  Perhaps it was all because of the type of energy Santa Fe seems to generate, but it seemed to me that hardly any of the women I saw there who were in my 'older' age range colored their hair.  I saw so many beautiful, natural heads of hair!  It was quite inspirational.

Let's face it, usually by the time we are fifty, many of us have lost some (if not all) of our original haircolor.  It might have been chestnut when we were in our youth, but now it's chestnut mixed with silver, or entirely silver.  Or you might have (like my mom) had glorious auburn locks, which are now not-quite-auburn-but-not-quite-silver.  Sometimes our hair stops producing whatever it was that it had when we were young, but that doesn't mean that we automatically look like our eighty-nine year old grandma.....(oh, wait, at our age, that would be our mom and not our grandma, but, in any event, you get the picture)......the women I saw striding down the streets of Santa Fe were all very vibrant, powerful, and youthful looking, in spite of their grayed/silvered heads!  It was really neat to see, and I encourage you all to re-think whether or not you really need to apply that Miss Clairol or have your hairdresser use that Goldwell next month at the salon.  Grey/silver is quite lovely, and sometimes it's not our haircolor that makes us look old, but the STYLE that our hair is in, or even the style of our clothing that makes us look (here come the dreaded words!) dowdy or frumpy. 

But that's a topic for another post. :)

The Truth About Lipgloss

Let's face it, ladies, once we have reached a certain age, lipgloss is not really our friend......oh, sure, lipgloss seduces us with its gorgeous shimmer and shades, and the promise of fuller, lusher, younger, jucier lips.  Then:  WHAM!  The romance is over and reality sets in:  Crypt Keeper Effect.  You know what I'm talking about.  You apply the gloss in the morning, and your lips look pretty good - fresh, dewey, enticing.......then you check your look an hour or two later (using that all-important Magnifying Mirror), only to find that the gloss has traveled Where No Gloss Should Go - into the canyons and crevasses above and below your not-so-lush-looking lips!  Oh, the indignity of it all!!!  Why can't the stuff just stay where you put it?  Believe me, I have tried. And tried.  And foolishly tried again.  Short of building the Great Wall of China around your lips, that gloss just ain't gonna stay where it belongs on lips that have passed a certain expiration date.  If yours are not there yet, consider yourself extremely blessed, but be forewarned - at some point, you will have to kiss the gloss goodbye and resort to other products to achieve that dewey look.

Luckily, there ARE products out there that can help those of us no longer in the Bloom of Youth create a pretty pout, and one of my very favorite of those is Tarte Lipsurgence Natural Lip Stain.  These wonderful lipcolors are clinically proven to increase lip moisture content by a lot (they say 6000%, but that seems insane to me), they have a delicious peppermint infusion, and they feel absolutely divine on your lips.  Of course, they claim to give your lips a plumper appearance, but, again, it's time to turn and face the sad truth:  If you have not been blessed with a plump pout, no product in the world is gonna give you one, so just save your money if you think that your pancake lips are magically going to be transformed into trout lips by applying a product you found at Sephora.  (I'm talking to You, LipFusion!)  What Tarte Lipsurgence Natural Lip Stain WILL give you, though, is a yummy color, with an equally yummy flavor, and the color will last a pretty decent amount of time and will not travel to unauthorized places.  Not bad for a $24.00 product, huh?

Yes, I did say that each one of these puppies is going to set you back twenty four dollars, however, I don't think that I have ever purchased one all by itself, and you will usually find a great kit from Tarte that includes one of these products for a much lower per-item cost.  Last Christmas there was a great set of four or five of them for a mind-blowingly good price - can't exactly recall what the price was, but I distinctly remember that it was a great bargain.  Aaah, the joys of Old and a Bit Forgetful Minds!  :)

Back to the product:  Tarte has expanded their color offerings in the Lipsurgence line, and there is truly a color for every single skintone available.  I have a few favorites, which are great for my fair, warm skintone, and they are:  Achiote (until recently this was only available at QVC, but now is offered by Sephora),  Dazzled, Delighted, and Perky.  These all run to the coral/red hues, but there are lots of pink/mauves to pick from as well, such as Amused, Charmed, and Enchanted.  There are also several different effects you can receive from these products - there are the the Stains ("regular"), the Mattes (which give, well, a "matte" effect), and the Lusters (for a more shimmery, "flushed" look).  I personally am not really fond of the Mattes, but perhaps that is because there is not a good shade in that grouping for my skintone - they seem to be more for the darker skintones that are flattered by berry shades.  In general, though, since we are trying for a shimmery, glossy effect, matte, by definition, is probably not your best choice to achieve that effect!

Here are a few pics and swatches: 

With lids, fresh from the store!

Lidless, and well used - from L to R:  Achiote, Dazzled, Delighted, and Perky

Swatched, top to bottom:  Achiote, Dazzled, Delighted, and Perky

You can see the lovely shimmer in this shot.  Also my arm hair.  Now I understand why some women choose to remove the hair from their arms......sigh.

Swatched indoors, top to bottom:  Achiote, Dazzled, Delighted, and Perky

Of course, on Old Lips, even these lovely products need a little bit of special attention in their application.  I personally could never wear them without first applying lipliner, but maybe some of you (I hate you!) can just apply them and go merrily on your way. :)  Okay, I don't really hate you.  I'm just jealous.

Nail Stuff

Hi ho, Beauties!

Today I would like to talk about nail polish.  I really love nail polish for the same reason I love jewelry - it doesn't really matter how old, how not slim, or how under the weather you might be feeling - your nails will, under most circumstances, NEVER give you away! :)  Isn't that wonderful?  So nail polish should be your friend, and you should avail yourselves of the pretty colors out there on a regular basis - you can always look down and see that pretty color you chose - just ignore the age spots and crepey look and you'll be In Like Flynn.  (It's an OLD saying, girls.  If you were born after about 1962 you won't ever have heard it before.  But then again, if you're born after 1962 you probably won't be reading this, will you? )

So, on to the pretty stuff.  Most of us oldies have probably had the luxury of having had a professional manicure at least once, but if you haven't, no reason to despair.  I think that I can safely say that most of us can do a pretty decent job of making our nails look nice.  The toes, that's another story, but we're not going to go there today. :)  In any event, though, I think we all know the basics of a nice manicure:  remove old polish; soak in some sort of warm, soapy liquid for a while; push back the cuticles; trim and shape the nail; apply a base coat; apply two coats of color; apply top coat; let dry for a good, long time; enjoy the lovely effect for as long as it lasts, which may or may NOT be quite as long as you had hoped.

I've been sucked in by Butter London, same as many of you might have been.  I read about it, I saw it in the stores, and, sure enough, I bought a few bottles of it.  This stuff is a tad expensive.  At least, I, for one, consider fourteen dollars for ONE BOTTLE of nail polish to be a LOT of money!!!  It makes OPI's  eight or (for the 'designer series') nine dollars a bottle to seem pretty reasonable.  And, let's face it, even eight dollars for a bottle of nail polish might be pushing it, so I think it's fair to say that Butter London's fourteen dollars is truly over the top.  And it might even be worth it if it lasted, say, three days without chipping.  But, guess what, ladies?  IT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE IT 24 HOURS without chipping.  At least, it didn't last for me, and I'm not working as a cleaning lady these days......I'm kind of living a life of leisure now, what with having only one teen child left at home and the rest out on their own, cleaning their own houses, cooking their own meals, and washing their OWN dishes!  In theory, my nail polish should last quite some time and still look good.  In theory.  Real life always kinds of trumps theory, though, doesn't it?

Above you can see a selection of some colors I tried out recently:  from L to R, we have OPI's UhOh Roll Down theWindow (horrors!!!! my aged eyesight did not realize the name of this color until just now with my readers on!!!); Butter London's Wallis; Butter London's Fash Pack; and A Taupe the Space Needle from OPI.  Ladies, I really am not sure that we Older Beauties are meant to wear colors like these.....or, well, maybe we can WEAR them, but it might take us a while to get USED to seeing them on our hands.  I don't know about you, but having grown up in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies, I was kind of brainwashed into believing that our nails were meant to wear pinks, purples, mauves, and reds.  Greens, blues, blacks, and browns are kind of Goth, and most of us are at the age where Goth doesn't read very well...hell, it doesn't even read well on the young'uns, so how could it possibly fare well with US?  :)  I know that I've seen Joan Rivers on the Q wearing blue or green nail polish, and gawd knows, she's even older than most of us, but it is still kind of shocking to me to see anything other than the colors of my youth on nails.  Give me a Peach-A-Boo any day! 



No matter what color you choose to wear, though, please remember to add that all-important Top Coat!  I have been using Seche Vite, and like it very much - it seems to add an extra dollop of shine that really makes the color you are wearing look wonderful.