Beauty Shopping: Dior Eye Shadows and Estee Lauder's Bronze Goddess

I just cannot help myself when I see makeup in golden shades... So when my eye caught Dior's eye shadow from their summer 2010 collection Golden Spotlight 616 I could not resist... I just had to have it... It took me 1 minute to think... or not to think it over and I bought it right away... Beautiful... beautiful eye shadow with a wet intense sparkling effect... aaaahhh I love it!

I also decided to get something that will give my skin a more intense color than Shiseido's bronzing daily moisturizer . Since I trust Estee Lauder with my sensitive skin and their quality has never failed me, I decided to give Bronze Goddes Self-Tanning Milk for Body a try. I know I still owe a review for Shiseido's bronzing moisturizer still... sigh... no time but I will do my best!

Beauty Review: Guerlain Substantific Neck Decollete Treatment Spf 10

Promise:
Helps to stimulate the skin’s natural activity, the skin is intensely redensified, regains its natural consistency, plumped from within
Leaves skin looking more even and radiant, prevents the appearance of pigmentation marks

Product Profile in Short:
Non oily, richly textured neck and décolleté treatment enhances and smoothes these delicate areas

Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Active Ingredients:
Octinoxate (ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) 7.5%
oxybenzone (benzophenone-3) 2.5%
Octisalate (ethylhexyl salicylate) 1.0%,
avobenzone (butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane) 0.5%

Other ingredients:
aqua
c12-15 alkyl benzoate
Isohexadecanebutylene glycol
Hydrogenated coco-glycerides
Glycerine
Steareth -21
Stearyl alcohol
Glyceryl stearate
Cera alba (beeswax)
Aluminum starch octenylsuccinate
Polyacrilamide
Octyldodecanol
Oryzanol
Parfum
Cetearyl alcohol
Methylparaben
….
All the active ingredients mentioned at the beginning are compounds used to block UVA and UVB rays. I like the fact that this décolleté cream has SPF, I wish it was a bit higher than just 10 though.

Experience:
Texture: very thick, not oily
Fragrance: no fragrance

The first thing I notice about Substantific Neck and Décolleté Treatment is the thick texture. It has a luxurious feel to it but I find it too thick and not so easy to massage into skin. So I try applying this cream on the skin still damp from the shower and it works. Substantific Neck and Décolleté Treatment feels very rich but not oily and gets fast absorbed by the skin. The fragrance is sweet and quite pronounced, be prepared! After application the skin feels very soft and moisturized. However after a month of use I didn’t see such dramatic changes in décolleté area as I did when I used Clarins Advanced Extra-Firming Neck Cream. It didn’t start to look smoother… it did look and felt moisturized but that is it.

Price Tag:
100-120$

Bottom Line:
Nice product, but maybe you need to use more than one jar to see anti-aging results.

Read more about Guerlain products

Beauty Talk: How to Get Cute Flat Tummy After Pregnancy

In this post I am continuing to discuss skin care and beauty during and after pregnancy. I have already blogged about my experience with stretch marks and stretch mark creams. Now I want to share my thoughts about one thing that, in my opinion, played a huge role in my postpartum recovery. This important thing is a postpartum girdle! Postpartum girdles are a bit of a controversial topic as there is no direct scientific evidence that it benefits skin and muscle recovery. Most women don’t even think about using a postpartum girdle after they deliver and most of them don’t unless their OBGYN advises. In my case it was my husband who brought it to my attention. In fact, he did a small research online and found out how beneficial postpartum girdles are for abdominal recovery. The beneficial effect of postpartum girdle may be similar to that of a compression bandage or garment which helps to reduce post surgical swelling (edema) and this helps the body to heal faster. A postpartum girdle may also help to bring together stretched abdominal muscles. I got my girdle among other presents under a Christmas tree. It worked great for me. I started wearing my girdle the next day after the delivery. In fact, my OB/GYN put it on me the first time. I would make sure it was as tight as it was when my OB/GYN put it on and I wore it day and night. In a couple of days I could already see the effect – my skin looked tighter and my tummy flatter. I started wearing my pre-pregnancy clothes in 3-4 week after delivery. I wore the postpartum girdle for about a month.


I have to say that I did do some other things that could have helped the recovery. For example I started light exercise routine in about 10 days after delivery, I breastfed and had a very healthy diet because my boy was colicky all the time. I also used moisturizer regularly. However I still believe that my successful recovery was mainly due to the postpartum girdle. In fact we were so impressed with the results that we decided to create a website about postpartum girdles to share our knowledge here at Belly Bands website.

Beauty Review: Dove Daily Treatment Conditioners

Who would know more about damaged hair than a girl who used to bleach hers for more than a decade… Now I try to limit myself to highlights… well, I confess I do quite intense highlighting :-) Which leaves me with pretty dry dull head of hair.

Recently I have been trying out new Dove Daily Treatment Conditioners. I've been using Daily Moisture Conditioner and Intensive Repair Conditioner.

I have to admit I am the product of my generation. I like the idea of “intensive” everything. Because nowadays life IS intense. Don’t you agree? You need results fast: right here - right now. That’s why I actually liked results I’ve noticed after using INTENSIVE REPAIR Conditioner.
Hair looks brighter, feels and looks bouncier. And the volume looks bigger! I also got good results from Daily Moisture Conditioner. Both products use Fiber Active technology - they penetrate deep inside the hair and help to reconstruct damaged proteins. They also contain Micro Moisture Serum which repairs and nourishes hair and helps to seal lifted cuticles to help protect against further damage in the future.

Dove recommends their new line of Conditioners to those who like a diversity of hairstyles and subject their hair to a lot of action like bleaching, blow drying, brushing and styling etc.

While working on this review I learnt that Dove is the Official Hair Care Sponsor of the Glee Live! Concert Tour! Actually Glee’s star Lea Michele is partnering with Dove to promote Dove’s daily shampoos and conditioners. With her help Dove is trying to send a message to all the women saying that they can enjoy doing their favorite hair styles and do their favorite hobbies no matter how damaging they could be for the hair. Check out dovegleeforall.com for more cool details. And you can actually enter for a chance to win a visit to the set of Glee!

FTC Product Review Disclaimer: The author of this blog received a sample product for this review.

Beauty Controversy: Sperm Has Anti-Aging Effect On The Skin

Photo by Sperm Art at flickr.com
What only won’t you slather on your skin in the hope of becoming younger and more beautiful, right!? Oops, wait! Maybe there are limits to the weird stuff we put on our faces. What about recent discoveries revealing that sperm can effectively fight free radicals and have an anti-aging effect on the skin. Some time ago I came across an article in Cosmo (May 2010) talking about the new “wonder drug”. Scientists call it Spermidine – we call it just sperm. It appears, that in addition to semen being effective against depression when absorbed through the walls of vagina, it also increases lifespan of human immune cells. Studies also show that it acts as a powerful antioxidant protecting your skin from destructive free radicals. Guess what… a couple spas are already offering spermidine facials. Thanks God the sperm is not donated by guys from the street but is created synthetically. Finally, according to Cosmo there are already spermidine creams available on the market. Really? Any examples?

Would you use a spermidine moisturizer?

Beauty Review and Giveaway: Dove Ultimate Anti-Perspirant Deodorant

If you remember, recently I made a post on how to get lighter and softer skin under your arms. A couple tips included rubbing in whitening lotion and frequently replacing your shaver… Well, just about a week later I was surprised to learn that Dove actually came out with a new line of deodorants developed specially to take care, moisturize and protect the very area of armpits! That’s a really good idea, taking into account that with all the care you need to take of other parts of our bodies we tend to ignore the needs of underarms skin. We think it needs no care whatsoever, even though we subject the delicate skin in this area to daily shaving which, in fact, thins out the top layer of the skin by as much as 20% and as a result often leads to irritation, discoloration and dryness.

Deodorants in Dove’s New Ultimate line are developed based on a tri-moisturizing system and contain ingredients that provide occlusive, humectant and nourishing effects on the skin. Here is how it works: Humectant draws water to the skin, occlusive keeps the water locked in and the nourishing moisturizer of natural sunflower oil softens and boosts the skin's natural moisture barrier. As a result skin is moisturized and conditioned, soothed and protected and is beautiful, soft and smooth.

Dove contacted me and asked if I would like to try out this new product. Of course, I would! I got so curious! So I’ve tested the Sheer Silk and Light Radiance deodorants. Here is my honest opinion. I usually avoid anti-perspirants with fragrance because my skin tends to get irritated and I just prefer to wear my favorite perfume alone :-). In case with Dove Ultimate Sheer Silk deodorant I had no problem with either irritation or fragrance which is so very subtle and tender… It just has this very very light pleasant floral smell of cleanliness! Light Radiance has a more pronounced fragrance with wooden and floral notes. As far as the texture goes, Dove Ultimate is a solid deodorant but when you apply it to the skin, it feels like a silky cream. The skin definitely feels softer and moisturized. And even though I can’t get into a habit of frequently replacing my razor for a sharper one I had no problem with irritation after shaving whatsoever…

And for the end of my review I saved a couple tips for an at-home spa treatment for your armpits!!! Dove came up with a special treatment and with a special name for a procedure to pamper underarm skin - PitiCure (analogical with pedicure!). First, exfoliate underarm skin with a washcloth, shave under the shower to soften the skin and make sure to use a shaving cream, pat dry and apply Dove Ultimate to soften and moisturize. I guess here is all you need to know to have smooth and soft underarms! :-)

Want to try Dove Ultimate Deodorant for yourself? Leave a comment and tell us what you think of the PitiCure and Dove Ultimate Deodorants. And d0n't forget to let me know your email. The winner will get Dove Ultimate Anti-Perspirant Deodorant in Light Radiance and one more chosen deodorant from the Ultimate line:

Ultimate Beauty Care (NEW Light Radiance, NEW Sheer Silk, Smooth Cashmere, Original Clean)

Ultimate Sensitive Care

Ultimate Visibly Smooth

Ultimate go fresh (NEW Revive – pomegranate and lemon verbena); Burst (nectarine and white ginger); Energize ( grapefruit and lemongrass); Cool Essentials ( cucumber and green tea)

The winner will be chosen randomly. The giveaway is for US residents only and is open till 20 June 2010!

FTC Disclaimer: The author received a free product for this review.