Sunday, April 20, 2008

Beauty Review: Sisley Gentle Eye and Lip Make-up Remover



Product Tag Line:

Perfectly cleansed eyes and lips, with gentleness and respect.

Product Profile in short:
(as described on Sisley Website)
•Dissolves makeup quickly and thoroughly
•Does not dry out skin
•Instantly provides a feeling of freshness and comfort

Promise:
Removes make-up thoroughly without making skin dry
“Particularly suitable for sensitive, fragile eyes and contact-lens wearers”

What’s Inside:
•Matricaria, Cornflower, Gardenia, Orange Blossom.

Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis- Orange flower extract, also contained in Sisley’s Eye and Lip Contour Cream
PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate – nonionic surfactant (very mild), derived from coconut.
Gardenias Florida Extract – used in cosmetics to impart fragrance and as an antioxidant
Butylene Glycol - humectant (attracts moisture to the skin)
PEG-40 Glyceryl Cocoate - conditioning, cleansing agent derived from coconut
Propylene Glycol - emollient, hydrating agent
Chamomilla Rewcutita (Matricaria) Extract – provides gentle soothing, healing, anti-inflamatory effect
Centaurea Cyanus Flower Extract – Cornflower extract, very often used in products for the skin around the eye, has soothing qualities, beneficial for sensitive skin. In addition, provides gentle stimulating and effective moisturizing, refreshing effect
Panthenol - the provitamin of B5, humectant, emollient and moisturizer, panthenol is able to penetrate into deep skin layers, provide essential moisture and a plumping effect. Panthenol is used to treat/releave minor various skin disorders and irritations
Sodium Coceth Sulfate-mild surfactant
Phenoxyethanol – has multipleuses as antiseptic, antibacterial, fixative in perfumes etc.


As always in Sisley products, a couple parabens at the end are used as preservatives.

Experience

Texture: light liquid with no oil additives
Smell: Very very light and natural, I believe, I did not find perfume in the ingredient list

This is another product from Sisley that I just love! It removes makeup easily and effectively and is simply a pleasure to use it. Just as Sisley promises, Gentle Eye and Lip Make-up Remover gives you an instant refreshing feeling and eyes feel comfortable, soothes and clean! I love that it doesn’t contain oil and your skin doesn’t feel oily or sticky after using. Niiicccccee!

However, what is not mentioned on Sisley’s website is that Gentle Eye and Lip Make-up Remover is not suitable for water resistant makeup. my own observation is that it works just fine with “long-lasting” products. When I was buying this product, the sales girl explained that Sisley promotes philosophy of balanced healthy skin and waterproof makeup is not at all healthy for your skin. I agree and use waterproof mascara VERY seldom.

Price Tag:
about $ 50-55

Reviews on other Sisley's Skin Care Products:

All Day All Year
Sisleya Radiance Anti-Aging Concentrate
Buff and Wash Gel
Sisley's Energizing and Foaming Exfoliant

Get more information about Sisley products range or shop for Sisley's Beauty Products

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Beauty and Makeup: Concealer Overview, Application and Tricks

When I was looking for a good concealer, I did not have time to look into what actually makeup artists recommend and what application tricks they are using. So in this post I will mention the concealers I tried out and share some YouTube vids I found useful. A couple videos are by makeup artists and one is a show episode from Tyra Banks where she gives tips based on her experience as a model.

Concelaers/Highlighters I've tried:

So I've tried concealers from Bobbi Brown's Creamy Concealer Kit (available with loose powder), MAC (comes in a small container with a brush applicator), L'Oreal (comes in a pen with a brush applicator),Bourjouis(pen-brush), Laura Mercier's Undercover (combines Secret Camouflage & Secret Concealer in one compact), Dior's Skin Flash (comes in a pen-brush applicator), Helena Rubinstein’s Magic Concealer (comes in a tube without an applicator).
Now I am using
  • Highlighter - YSL's Touche Eclat (i think it is Luminous Ivory but they have no number on the pen so I need to make sure),



  • Concealer - Elizabeth Arden's Flawless Finish Concealer (Anti-Cernes)# 02 Medium



    and am experimenting with a

  • concealer palette by Catrice that includes light salmon, green, beige tones.



    Concealer Color and Application Technique:

    First of all, what only experts don’t recommend! Some swear by yellow concealer tones, others, by salmon tones, some recommend to set concealer in with a powder, others don’t. Everybody has their own technique I guess.

    In terms of the color choice, makeup artist Eve Perl made it clear once and for all. It should be salmon color! Sharing some makeup tips in her video, Eve said: “Think about it for minute, if you mix yellow with blue, what do you get? Green. That’s how we get these racoony undereyes…” Well, out of my experience, I think pink tones do help to neutralize dark under eye shades but I don't think concealer has to be intense salmon color. The light ivory tone with a touch of pink in YSL Concealer works for me excellent. See the video below.


    I have not come accross many salmon colored concealers. But check Laura Mcier's Undercover.

    In the next video a makeup artist applies concealer on the inner corner lower lid, of the eye (not completely over the whole lower lid) and a bit of it on the outer corner. As she says, "everybody has a bit of the red eye" on the outer corner of the eye. I tried this technique and I like it a lot - it does open up your eyes and make them look brighter.



    In the next video below a makeup artist addresses the problem of a concealer creeping into fine lines and looking so obvious that you actually look better without it! So she recommeds to apply it only in the inner corner where the darkness is most intense and set it with a loose powder. She claims the loose powder will prevent concealer from getting into the lines.
    As I have mentioned above, applying concealer only in the inner corner works great for me. However, I don't really think setting it with a powder makes a huge difference (at least what I noticed). I believe, it still mostly depends on the consistency of the concealer if it will eventually get into the fine lines and accentuate them or not. If you want to apply concealer to the whole undereye circle area, choose a very light texture. When I have very intense dark circles, I apply Elizabeth Arden's Flawless Finish Concealer (that has quite thick texture) close to the inner corner and then tap a bit of YSL on top and all over the circle. So the bottom line is that I would recommend using high coverage (thicker type) concealer when the circles are really-really intense and only on the inner part of the eye. See 2 videos below.



    This last video is an episode from Tyra Banks' show where she explains how to apply a concealer. Her tips are mainly the following: sellect concealer to match your skin tone, warm it up before application on on your hand, apply foundation over the concealer and a ton of loose powder which you will remove together with any bits and pieces after you do your eye shadows and lashes. Have not tried this technique but will test in the near future :-) Tyra is very animated in her explanations - enjoy.

  • Monday, April 14, 2008

    Best Beauty: German Glammies - Best Hair Products

    Today I’m continuing the list of Best Beauty Buys 2008 announced by the German Glamour. I am listing in this post Best of Hair Products Nominies and the Winners.

    Best of Hair-Care

    Age Densiforce, L’Oreal Professional - strengthens hair with Omega-6 and provides volume

    Perfect Color Rich Protective Mask, Douglas Hair – intensive treatment for colored hair

    14-day Treatment Shampoo with Almond Oil, Guhl – helps against split hair

    The Winner as chosen by German Glamour readers is 14-day Treatment Shampoo with Almond Oil

    Best of Hair Styling

    High Hair Style Foundation, Wella – spray that allows easier brushing and adds shine

    Got2B Happy Hour, Schwarzkopf

    Extra Volume and Shine Mousse, Dove – ensures your hair color lasts longer

    The Winner as chosen by German Glamour readers is Extra Volume and Shine Mousse, Dove

    For the skin care and makeup nominies and winners take a look at this post.

    Saturday, April 12, 2008

    In-Between Internet Contracts

    The recent two weeks have been a challenge. We have been moving not just flats, not cities... but countries. From Switzerland, Zurich all the way to Lithuania, Vilnius. So for the last 2 weeks I have been living in-between internet contracts and in a complete chaos of the move. But now, thanks God, everything is getting more or less back on track and life is starting to become more organized and is beginning (just beginning) to get back to normal. So now I can get back to what I love to do - beauty blogging!
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