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Beauty Editors reveal their beauty must-haves

October 30th 2007 03:59

They get free samples of new beauty products before they hit counters and their reviews on what’s hot and what’s not are lapped up by the many beauty and age-defying-obsessed. Want to know what beauty editors have stocked their bathroom cabinets? Here are 10 of the beauty editor must-haves, according to NY Daily News :

Cetaphil Face Wash

The fact that the packaging isn’t the most attractive (virginal white with a pump and a blue label stuck to the front – very no frills), it only shows that the manufacturers are confident that the product actually does the job and doesn’t need the fancy get-up to garner sales and positive reviews. The face wash was originally formulated for dermatologists’ use. It’s gentle, soothing and fragrance-free. Suitable for all skin types (even babies!) but especially for those suffering from dry, sensitive and/or acne-prone skin.

Cost : AUD$14 for a 500ml pump from E Pharmacy. Check out cetaphil.com.au to get free samples!

Kiehl's Lip Balm #1

Lip Balm #1 is Kiehl’s best-selling product. Like Cetaphil, this product comes in plain white packaging but with black writing all over it. It helps relieve chapped or cracked lips and from the drying effects of the wind and frigid weather and lasts longer on your lips than your average lip balm. The lip balm feels and smells a little like Vaseline but glides more smoothly on your lips.

Cost : While you can buy this product in a jar for AUD$16 from Mecca Cosmetica, I think I’ll stick to my Vaseline, thanks.

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

Beauty editors have raved about this eyelash curler in their magazines since it came out. Does it live up to the hype? According to the reviews I’ve read online, yes it does. Stainless steel, sturdy with a black rounded rubber pad, it fits snugly at the base of the lashes and to the contour of the eye for a long-lasting curl. Touted as a ‘wonder’ eyelash curler, it works better than the heated ones and suits all eye shapes.

Cost : AUD$17.95 from www.fountaincosmetics.com.au

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion
Containing a blend of calamine and salicylic acid, a tiny dab of this lotion on an unsightly pimple (particularly that one on the tip of your nose) will soothe it and clear it up overnight. Overnight! Sounds almost too good to be true. Where was this when I had to stay home from a ‘disco’ and missed the chance to make out with my Polish crush because of that unsightly pimple?

Cost : AUD$22

Phytodefrisant Botanical Hair Relaxing Balm

Using only a minimum amount to damp hair, this relaxing balm takes away those nasty-looking frizz (that makes you look more stressed than you are) and tames even the most stubborn stand of hair. The result, after it’s dried, is like coming out of a hair salon – silky, shiny hair that ripples through your fingers like water. Voted as #1 haircare product by Allure magazine time and time again, the balm doesn’t leave residue so it doesn’t make your hair look flat and oily by the end of the day.

Cost : AUD$26 from strawberrynet.com for a tube that can last up to 6 months

Bumble & Bumble Does It All Styling Spray
This medium-hold hair spray keeps your locks in place without making your hair clumpy and stiff that can rival a hedgehog. It leaves your hair shiny and glossy and you can use a heat-styling tool straight after without hearing that sizzling sound of your strands being cooked.

Cost : AUD$30

Nars Blush in Orgasm
For the fairer-skinned woman, this blush reputedly gives you that peachy shimmer flush that apparently creeps up to the cheekbones after…well, read the product name.

Cost : AUD$32

Lancome Definicils
Another bestseller by Lancome, this mascara goes on your lashes smoothly, lengthening them and leaving your new glamorous-looking lashes clump-free. It doesn’t smudge and washes off easily. The mascara won’t give you the dramatic-looking eyelashes that are huge in Hollywood right now and supposed to be THE trend for summer but go for this one if you’re after a low-maintenance mascara you can wear everyday and can give some attention to your eyes without the others looking at them and thinking spiders have crawled up and settled on your lids.

Cost : $48

Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Radiant Touch

Yves St Laurent Touche Eclat Radiant Touch

Make-up not doing anything to hide those dark circles under your eyes after a long night of tossing and turning? This ‘miracle’ highlighter contains light-reflecting particles that deflect any attention from shadows and blemishes on your face, instantly brightening your skin. So who needs foundation then, eh?

Cost : AUD$48

Lancome Instant Colour Self-Tanning Leg Gel
Give yourself that healthy, shimmering, sun-kissed glow for summer without even stepping a foot outside your house. The gel dries on your skin within one hour of application, giving you an overall, natural tan.

Cost : AUD$50

Out of the above, I’m quite keen on trying out Cetaphil Face Wash (simply because it’s excellent value for money, compared to what I’m paying for my current cleanser), Phytodefrisant and the YVES Highlighter. But with the exception of Cetaphil, the other products seem just a bit pricey to me, despite the glowing reviews I’ve read online. And since I’ve vowed from last week on to curb my spending habits on beauty products, I might have to put this on my Xmas wish list for 2007.

Any of these tempting you to buy?

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Posted By: Aimzster - Category: Skin Care, Face, Hair Care, Body Care, Eyes

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What's your tried-and-tested Beauty trick?

October 4th 2007 02:43

Whether you came across them by accident, your favourite celeb swears by them or your friend strongly recommends them, there are some beauty tricks that actually work and don't break your budget. Here are some of mine, what's yours?

1. This one I found by accident when I had a slight shaving mishap and had to stay in the bathroom for a while. Directly after showering, rub moisturiser all over your body and stay inside the bathroom for 10-15 minutes (brush your teeth, wash your face, sit in the toilet, etc). I find that the warm, damp air makes my skin absorb the moisture, making my skin softer and more supple.

2. Another one I found by accident - directly after a morning workout, wash your face and slather on some moisturiser. You'll have a natural healthy glow that will last all day that you'd hate to cover up with make-up.

3. How many times have you find yourself rushing home from work to prepare for a big night to find you don't have time to wash your greasy, limp hair? Add volume and absorb the grease by rubbing talc powder into the roots of your hair and blow-drying it. This is a trick a lot of hairdressers swear by.

4. To make the curl on your lashes stay longer, use the eyelash curler AFTER the mascara, but wait about a minute.

5. Lips looking and feeling chapped because of the recent weather? Condition and plump your lips by gently scrubbing vaseline onto them with a dry toothbrush at night. In the morning, create your own coloured lipgloss by mixing vaseline with your favourite shade of lipstick.

6. If you're Asian, you'll understand what I'm talking about when I ask - don't you hate how the hairs on your eyebrows go straight down, sometimes creating a ragged, uneven bottom line? Brush your eyebrows across with a hair gel and cut off any stray hairs at the bottom.

7. I tend to stay away from eyeliner pencils to fill in the gaps as they can make your brows look harsher. Besides, having 'leaking' eyebrows in the rain aren't very attractive, you know. Opt for a brow bush powder instead - one or two shades lighter (if you're a brunette) or darker (if you're blonde) for a soft, natural brow look.

8. After washing and towel drying your hair, bend over and let your hair hang down then blow dry from the root to the tips to create instant volume in your hair. Never blow up against the hair tips as this causes damage to the hair and more split ends.

9. Here's a facial scrub masque that you can whip up yourself at home or if you've forgotten to have your daily dose of fruits and there is a bunch of rotting bananas on your counter. Mash one banana and mix well with 3-4 tablespoons of honey. Apply an even layer to your face and let it set for 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly to reveal an oh-so-smooth face.

10. I've only recently just tried this and will be looking out for the results but apparently, this is a huge hollwyood beauty trick, according to Diane Irons, a model who's written several books on beauty and make-up tips she's picked up from the modelling industry. Did you know that caffeine is a key ingredient in many expensive products targeting cellulite? Don't throw away those used coffee grounds just yet. While still warm, rub the coffee grounds onto your problem areas (you may want to line your bathroom floor with papers to catch all the residue), seal the grounds to your skin with a cling wrap and leave for 5 minutes. Shower afterwards.

*images from www.wikipedia.com

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Posted By: Aimzster - Category: Skin Care, Face, Hair Care, Body Care

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Weird, Wacky (Wonderful?) Beauty Treatments

September 18th 2007 01:57

A nanny once told me that one surefire way to get rid of pimples is to rinse your face with your own periods. But before you scoff at this, check out some of the more bizarre beauty treatments that have piqued people’s curiosity enough to queue up outside certain day spas :

Nightingale Facial
Nothing like bird faeces slathered all over your face to make your skin look more translucent and flawless. This is Diamond Hawaii Resort & Spa’s signature facial and the geishas were the first to discover the benefits of nightingale excrement for the skin. Perhaps in ten years’ time, someone will discover the benefits of dog crap that will have us scurrying toward our pets with a plastic bag everytime they hunch over and we can say goodbye to swearing viciously everytime we step on one when we have a picnic…

Butt treatment
We get our faces scrubbed and exfoliated but someone had the bright idea that we should also look after our second set of cheeks down south. I call this the Buttial where your backside is cleansed, exfoliated, applied a mask to, waxed (if required), massaged and moisturised so your ass can look polished and feel oh-so smooth. Perfect for summer when you want to gallivant around on the beach with a g-string.

Cupping
Remember when sticking needles into your body drew some raised eyebrows and elicited the ‘WTF?’ Well, cupping is another form of acupuncture that’s supposed to encourage blood flow and ease muscle aches and pains. Small glass cups are lit and immediately applied to the skin. Even though clients will earn deep purple bruises that will last about a week, the process is painless. And if it’s good enough for Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s good enough for the rest of us.

Beer Spa
Here’s something that would encourage more men into day spas – in Czech Republic, Austria and Germany anyway. How’s soaking into a huge bubbling tub of warm beer sound? Landhotel Moorhof in Austria would have us believe that the yeast in beer contains vitamins that give you a better complexion while relieving the stress from your muscles. And don’t worry, before you can sit there and contemplate on whether you should dunk your head in the tub and gulp as much of beer as you can, you’re given a few pints of beer – to drink.

Ramen Noodle Spa
Immersing yourself in a tub of ramen noodles and pork broth, as you would in Yunessa Spa, Japan, supposedly boosts your overall metabolism while cleansing your skin. Just add a sprinkle of sliced green onions and a teaspoon of soy sauce and you can feel like the pork in a soup.

Snake massage
Would you pay $80 to have six snakes slithering all over your back? NO! A salon in Northern Israel now has a waiting list of clients who want the experience of having these reptiles writhing all over their bodies to soothe aching muscles and stiff joints. While Ada Barak who performs this treatment is always at hand to ensure the non-venomous snakes don’t go into certain…er…delicate areas, that’s hardly enough to convince me that this treatment is meant to be relaxing. What’s next? A crocodile rolling on your back as another form of remedial massage? No thanks.

*image from www.wikipedia.com

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Posted By: Aimzster - Category: Skin Care, Stories, Body Care

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#9 Stupid Thing I've done for Beauty's sake

June 26th 2007 17:52

#9 Detox your body - Drink 8 to 10 litres of water a day

Water, water everywhere

Water cleanses out the toxins in your body, not to mention it helps clear skin of pimples and blemishes that are so much a part of the awkward, embarrassing adolescent years. At the time I had read about the benefits of water for the body and skin in a Dolly/Girlfriend/Cosmo article, big red pimples had started popping up all over my face that I had to turn my inexperienced hand at applying foundation. When you’d only ever dabbled in the art of make-up by applying loops of eyeliner to the outside of your lids, prompting your own dear father to remark, “You look like a prostitute”, it was no wonder when my attempt at applying foundation resulted in white, pock-like marks on my face. With a ‘dance party’ looming five days away and the anticipation that it was the event that would mark the beginning of a romance with a certain Polish dude, I was too impatient for just an 8-glasses-of-water-a-day. In a move that clearly showed I am my mother’s daughter, I decided to take this tip a step – make that, several glasses – too far. If I drank 8 to 10 litres of water a day, surely, my skin would clear up in a matter of days? Or, more precisely, in five days so I can dance the ‘Ice Ice Baby’ with my Polish crush? So I drank one litre of water per every waking hour per day. That’s approximately one glass of water every six minutes, one trip to the toilet every hour, and two trips from 11pm to 7am when I should be asleep. Finally, at 3am on the fourth morning, I was half-asleep when I needed to go to the toilet but my brain probably realised enough was enough, ignored the urging from my bowels and tugged me back to sleep where I promptly dreamt that I had gone to the toilet. When I woke up in the morning with the bed all soaked (gross!), I finally decided this 8 to 10 litres a day thing had to stop.

*image from www.wikipedia.com

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Posted By: Aimzster - Category: Skin Care, Face, Stories, Body Care

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