Beauty Fact: Hairy Legs Are OK in Brazil

I was surprised to learn this (culturally shocking for many of us) fact on J.Simpson’s show “Price of Beauty”. It appears that in Brazil some women do not shave but bleach hair on their legs. They consider it sexy! After some surfing online I did find several discussions on this topic and apparently it is true and is mostly done by those very tanned beauties with beach bodies.

This interesting fact made me wonder once again: when did it all begin? When and why did the body hair become inappropriate? How did women end up shaving, depilating and eradicating hairs on their bodies? I’ll share what I’ll find out in my next “beauty fact” post.

Beauty Shopping: Clinique SPF 40 Face Cream and Garnier After Sun Ambre Solaire Spray

We are finally going on holiday!!! Yes I know everyone has already had their fix of swimming, lounging and cocktailing… aaand we just got around to finally treating ourselves to a nice relaxing holiday. What can I say? We travel off season… weather is still good, it’s not so crowded and prices are better…
Anyway, I am so excited to finally go to Greece! We are going to Crete to an all inclusive resort! How cool is that?
So, of course, I have been shopping for some stuff for the trip!

I am going to use sun protection creams I have since last year. One is by L’Oreal and the other, developed specially for kids, by Eucerin.(I think) What I don’t like is to put sun protection developed for the body on the face. Because usually it feels very oily. So I thought I should get something else for the face. Without any prior research, just based on the fact that Clinique’s SPF 40 face cream has no fragrance and is allergy and photoallergy tested , I bought this cream today.

I also wanted something soothing and hydrating for the skin for after the sun. So I bought Garnier Ambre Solaire After Sun with cactus extract.
...in Greece, Rhodes about 2 years ago... gonna pack this dress! ;-)

Beauty Review: Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel

Promise:
“instantly targets the appearance of puffiness under the eye area”
Product Profile in Short:
invisible and lightweight gel that helps target and reduce the appearance of puffiness under the eye area. It “helps provide an overall youthful-looking appearance.”
Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water (Aqua), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond Seed Extract), Sodium Hyaluronate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Carbomere, Wheat Protein Extract, Cucumis Sativus (Cucumber) Fruit Extract, Caffeine, Yeast Extract, Grape Seed Extract, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben
This is one of the best ingredients lists I’ve ever seen. Yes, ok, there are parabens at the end but look at all these extracts at the beginning. Those are precious! All of them are very beneficial for the skin around the eye as they help to moisturize, protects against free radicals, drain excess water build up, stimulate collagen…

Experience:
Texture: light gel
Fragrance: free of perfume

The good news is that Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel works. However it still does not completely solve the problem for me. Yes the eye area looks more lifted and less puffy after application but the puffiness does not completely disappear… I would say improvement is about 30-50%... I can also appreciate that Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel fights eye puffiness on several levels. It physically lifts up eye bags because I can feel skin tightening when it dries up. It also provides drainage plus stimulation with caffeine and soothes with Sweet Almond Seed Extract and Aloe. It moisturizes and provides anti-aging plus anti-oxidant effects with Cucumber, Wheat Protein Extract, Grape Seed Extract.
There is one thing to watch out for. If you apply powder over the Baggage Lost gel, it tends to crumble. Not good, I agree... However I noticed that if you use cream under-eye-concealer over Baggage Lost, it works very well...

Price Tag:
$ 23

Bottom Line:
It’s definitely a high quality product. Very well thought through, great ingredient list. But I am not getting the effect I need. Be it the fault of the product or the age or whatever other reason… I don’t think Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel will be on my regular skin care list but I would recommend to try it out if you just are starting to get the cursed eye puffiness problem. Because, trust me, there are not so many products out there to help you deal with it :-(

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

Beauty Shopping: Diorshow Iconic High Definition Mascara

Guess what I finally got??? I made up my mind and got Diorshow mascara! Yay!!! It took me looong... The problem was tooo big choice and since mascara is now my daily quick make-up essential, I had to make a good choice!
When I was looking for the best mascara out there I asked on twitter for advice. Several people said they really liked Diorshow Mascara. However, one person said she would sometimes get raccoon eyes from Diorshow but she anyway liked it most of all. I decided to try out a couple other brands before getting it. But since I am not so much out shopping these days and because I am always in a hurry, I just couldn’t really completely focus on making the right mascara decision. So once I dropped by a store together with my Mom and painted my eye lashes with 4 different mascaras. Which do you think she thought was the best? Diorshow! You are right!
So last week I went shopping determined to finally get it! And I even got a present with it – an adorable miniature eyeshadow palette with 5 shades for creating a classic “iconic” look!


Diorshow Iconic Look (Mascara + Mini 5-color-eyeshadow)
O90 Noir-Black High DefinitionLash Curler Mascara

My present!!!

Quick Fix: Toothpaste Helps to Get Rid of Orangey Palms!

I cam across this tip in Cosmo and thought you may like it as much as I did. You know how pals get all orange after you apply self-tanner. It appears whitening toothpaste can fix this problem! I would have never thought of this! It should contain peroxide and silica. The peroxide helps to lighten the tint and silica exfoliates the top layer of skin. Just put a small amount on your palms rub together a little and then wash it off! That’s smart!

Beauty Review: Dr Denese’s Advanced Firming Facial Pads

Dr Denese’s Advanced Firming Facial Pads are now one of my favorite skin care products! I'm very impressed with what this product does to my skin so read on to find out the details!

Promise:
"...delivers a profound firming effect over time. Each pad delivers the prefect dose of exfoliation, improves radiance, even out skin tone and clarity. It dramatically reduces the look of lines, wrinkles and it drastically shrinks the look of pores."

Product Profile in Short:
"...professional-grade glycolic peel delivers the perfect dose of daily exfoliation and firming effect. Each pad is infused with innovative ingredients such as peptides, high percentage glycolic acid and alpha lipoic acid to address lines and wrinkles, uneven skin tone, large pores, and lack of radiance to the skin."


Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water (aqua), Glycolic Acid (+10%), Propylene Glycol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Polysorbate 20, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein, Avena Sativa (Oat) Protein, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Tetrapeptide-7 Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, Carbomer, Yeast Extract, Zea Mays, Ascorbic Acid, Retinyl Palmitate, Tocopherol Acetate, Thioctic Acid, Triethanolamine, Diisopropyl Dimer Dilinoleate, Diiostearyl Dimer Dilinoleate, Orzanol, Ubiquinone, Sodium PCA, Trisodium EDTA, Potasium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol
The key ingredient of these pads is glycolic acid. What glycolic acid does is exfoliate stratum corneum (higher layer) of your skin and helps your skin to get rid of the dead old cells and expose the new live cells this way effectively helping to improve skin's appearance and texture. Glycolic acid is used by skin care professionals to help reduce wrinkles, acne scarring, hyperpigmentation etc. In addition to glycolic acid Advanced Firming Facial Pads
contain other peeling ingredients such as Ascorbic Acid and Retinyl Palmitate for example. Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) has strong anti-oxidant properties, it stimulates collagen synthesis and has also been proven to improve condition of photoaged skin and reverse some of the sun damage. Retinyl Palmitate is a form of Vitamin A. When absorbed into the skin it gets converted to retinol which, as most of us know, helps to renew and rejuvenate skin.
I also see several peptides on the ingredient list which boost collagen production as well.
There are some plants extracts among the ingredients. For example, Aloe leaf juice is an effective anti-oxidant and has strong anti-inflammatory properties.

Experience:
Texture: premoistened cotton pads, soft, really soaked in the product
Fragrance: i see no fragrance on the list but it definitely has some artificial fragrance added
I was very afraid to try this product. I have somewhat sensitive skin and I was sure I will just react badly and will be burning red.
According to the directions on the package, those with normal and oily skin can use Advanced firming pads daily. You should start slowly and build up the rubbing time to 30-60 seconds. Following recommendations provided, I rubbed a cotton moistened pad on my skin at night after cleansing my skin. The first time I was so worried I did it for several seconds and then in 10 seconds I was already washing my face scared that the stining was too strong... To my greatest surprise I did not get any irritation. So I continued using the Advanced Firming Pads every evening. In a couple days I built up some courage and did not wash my face afterwards. Results were very impressing and almost immediate! In a matter of days I would wake up to a fresher smoother complexion, looking better with every day! Actually immediately after application my skin felt so soft and smooth to touch it was amazing… I love this product. Skin exfoliation becomes a key to a fresh smooth complexion when you hit mid-twenties because your skin just doesnt renew itself so fast anymore... so all the dead cells just build up on its surface and it starts to look dull and tired and rough. Finding the right product to exfoliate your skin is crucial. It cannot be irritating and it has to be strong enough to be effective. Dr Denese’s Advanced Firming Facial Pads work miracles for me!

Price Tag:
$35 for a jar with 60 pads

Bottom Line:
It's a great product! I would make this product a regular in my routine. However maybe to keep on the safe side I would avoid using it in the summer and reserve it for autumn and spring.


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

Beauty Digest: Jessica Simpson’s Beauty Show on MTV

Have you seen Simpson’s beauty show on MTV and vh1? It's called The Price of Beauty . I love the idea! Together with her two friends CaCee Cobb, Jess' ex-assistant, and Ken Paves, hair stylist, she is traveling the globe and discovering what’s considered beautiful in different countries. At the same time Jess is learning about various beauty secrets and tricks and sharing her discoveries with viewers. I’ve always been curious about differences in beauty perceptions and beauty values between different cultures. In some places it’s hair or thin ankles that are key attractive features in a woman, in others being thin is beautiful in others the same virtue is considered a sign of sickness. It’s also interesting to find out what the roots of those differences are. And even more captivating is to learn about beauty secrets and measures women take around the world to achieve perfection and to fight skin aging. For example, I know that Japanese women believe in consuming collagen infused foods/drinks to help them fight aging, in Slavic cultures they have hundreds of herb and fruit based recepies to help achieve or retain skin beauty and youth. Unfortunately I don’t have time to watch each and every episode of Jessica’s wonderful show but a couple series I saw were lots of fun and very informative.

Beauty Preview: Dr. Denese Skin Care Products

This is what I love about beauty blogging… You get to discover amazing brands, products and lines that probably you would have never tried… I was contacted by Dr Denese promotional team and asked if I would like to test one of their products… I looked at the website and saw among many other interesting products the Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel
You can imagine how curious I got… I mean, any brand that has a special product for under eye bags and eye puffiness is on my must-try list! I definitely think this problem is overlooked by skin care brands. There should be more special products developed to help deal with it.

Here is a bit of background on Dr Denese. Born in Hungary, Dr Denese started creating skin care products as early as 9 ears of age. She has been involved in skin care and anti-aging research all her life. Currently, having world class medical education and extensive experience, Dr Denese develops a variety of products for a wide range of skin care and skin aging issues. Dr Denese says what makes her products different from others is that she uses high concentrations of advanced active ingredients clinically proven to work.

Coming up are 3 reviews of the three products I’ve tried:

the Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel

Advanced Firming Facial Pads


Wrinkle Rx - Deep Wrinkle Environmental Shield Serum

Beauty Radar: Poof! Fighting Eye Puffiness!

Here are a couple eye care products I came across recently that attracted my attention. They all target the problem of eye puffiness! I think they look very interesting and would like to try them out:

Kiehl’s Facial Fuel Eye De-Puffer - Contains caffeine and hibiscus and promises to revive tired eyes.

Clinique All About Eyes Serum comes in a tube with a roller ball. Promises to increase blood circulation and reduce puffiness.

The Baggage Lost Puff Reducing Eye Gel by Dr.Denese. It contains almond, aloe, grapeseed extracts as well as the de-puffing caffeine. I actually had a chance to test this one. I’ll post about it next.

Let me know if you have tried any of these and what you think!

Beauty Find: Reusable Revolution - Eco-Friendly Cosmetic Solutions

Recently we had relatives visiting with us for a week and that was not only fun but very educational! I learnt a lot about healthy vegetarian diet, meditation and what it really means to be eco-friendly… One of the new concepts I learnt is the "reusable" approach to things you use in your daily life. Not only can you apply it to your shopping bag but you can take one step further and start using reusable face cotton rounds and wiping tissues! Do you ever think how many of those makeup cotton rounds we use daily, weekly… monthly… I personally don’t even pay attention to how many I go through. But it appears there are reusable cotton rounds to remove makeup from your eyes and face available. They are made from high-quality ecological cotton and are soooo super-soft and smooth. Here, I got a link for you http://betterforgrownups.com/ However, am not sure about the shipping policy and if they are available in Europe…

Beauty Shopping: Dior All-In-One Artistry Palette 008 Smoky Design

Recently I have been drawn like a magnet to Dior makeup. Just about a month ago I invested into a limited edition gold eye shadow. And now I got a palette of 5 shadows. I have been eyeing this palette for a long long time. I wanted a good palette for doing a smoky gray-silver-black eye. What I was looking for is a combination of shades that would allow me to vary intensity of the smoky eye makeup. Dior All-In-One Artistry Palette 008 Smoky Design has 5 shades from white to dark (liner dark black).

Before making the final decision I made sure I consider all of my options and asked the sales assistant to put next to each other various smoky eye palettes to see which I like most. Between Chanel, Lancome, Estee Lauder and Dior, the latter came out the winner.

Promise a review soon!

Beauty Review: Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Self-Tanning Milk for Body vs Shiseido Daily Bronze Moisturizing Emulsion

Recently I’ve been using these two bronzers to give some summery color to my pale skin :-) Here are my impressions.

Promise:
Shiseido Bronze Emulsion “promotes a gradual natural bronze color and dramatic silkiness with daily use”
Estee Lauder Self Tanning Milk “dries quickly, leaves a radiant glow”, “even golden color starting in under an hour”


Packaging:
Shiseido Daily Bronze Moisturizing Emulsion comes in a pump which is super convenient. While Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzer is packaged in a bottle with a screw on cap. Pump seemed much more convenient, hygienic and practical to me. I could see with time that Bronze Goddes Tanner was starting to oxidize and turn a bit brown. With Shiseido’s Bronzing Milk you can easily control the amount you want to get out by pressing it all the way down or just lightly pressing down the pump or for a bigger amount pushing it several times. It’s excellent!


Close-Up on Ingredients:
It was interesting to compare ingredient lists of the two self tanners. I remember sales girl advertising Shiseido's bronzer as having some anti-oxidant properties. I found no anti-oxidant ingredients on the list. In fact, it’s a very short ingredients list. I do see several humectants and emollients though, such as glycerin, butylene glycol, and dimethicone. There are no natural extracts and all the ingredients are just artificially created chemicals. In Bronze Goddess Bronzing Milk, on the other hand, I see a lot of natural ingredients, some truly surprising! For example it contains such exotic extracts as Spike Moss Extract, Rosemary Extract Hops Extract, Grape Seed Extract, Pomegranate Juice extract, Apricot Fruit Extract; waxes like Narcissus Poeticus Flower Wax Jasmine Flower Wax; stone powders Sunstone Powder, Amber Powder; oils Kukiu Oil, Olive Fruit Oil…
I was not going to write about ingredients in this review but when I compared the two lists I was so surprised at the huge difference and contrast that I decided to point it out… So actually Bronze Goddess Self-Tanner has a lot of anti-ageing, anti-oxidant natural ingredients. Pretty impressing!

Experience:
Texture: I liked textures of both products. None was oily or sticky. Estee Lauder Bronzer is lighter and more liquid. Shiseido’s Self Tannin Moisturizer has a more creamy texture to it which is still very light.

Fragrance: As you know self-tanners can stink but these two are stink free! Both have pleasant light fragrance to it. Bronze Goddess just as the description says has this beachy scent that your skin gets only in the sun…

*Shiseido’s Daily Bronzing Moisturizer is an axcellent product to achieve just a touch of color. It’s also a plus that you can use it on your face as well. It didn’t break me out or gave me any allergic reaction. In fact this product was dermatologically tested.

Streaks: I never got any streaks with Shiseido Tanning Emulsion.

Color: The color looked very natural. I even got a compliment from my husband after applying it for several days to my face he said I looked fresh and rested (reminding you – I have a baby who keeps me up at night!)
* Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Self-Tanning Milk for Body I would use if you really want and need to see the color. One thing I didn’t like so much was that after application my skin felt hot as if a bit burning…

Streaks: Once it gave me streaks but probably I just didn’t apply it properly. What you need to do is to blend it well and fast. It also absorbs into dry skin on the knees and elbows so make sure to apply moisturizer on these parts to make your tan more even.

Color: In terms of the natural color. It looked to me less natural than the color I got from Shiseido’s Bronzing Emulsion. But I do not remember how my suntanned skin looks :-) I have not suntanned in years :-)

Price Tag:
Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Self-Tanning Milk for Body – 26-27 USD
Shiseido Daily Bronze Moisturizing Emulsion – 36 USD

Bottom Line:
I would definitely get Shiseido’s Bronze Moisturizing Emulsion for daily use again. But for a more intensive tan I may try to look for a middle ground in terms of naturally looking color and intensity between the daily bronzer by Shiseido and Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Self-Tanning Milk.

Beauty Talk: Skin Care By Age: 20s - Laying The Foundation

Just as everything in our life skin care should be age appropriate. Skin needs differ at various stages of our life. In your twenties it is mostly about prevention measures and controlling breakouts, in your 30s it is often about sensitivity, in forties, you deal with lines, sun spots, skin dullness and in 50s you face loss of firmness. I have researched skin care and skin issues by age before but decided to revisit this subject to remind myself some things I should be doing now and what I should look out for in the future.

Let’s start with the 20s. Here is when you can lay a great foundation for your skin’s beauty and health. You don’t have to do much nor invest a lot into skin care. Just follow a regular skin care routine correct for your skin type, i.e. cleanse and moisturize daily, exfoliate as often as advisable for your skin type. Don’t forget to protect your skin from the destroying UV rays. You will be so glad when you are in your late 40s and you don’t have any sun spots unlike your sun damage oblivious friends of the same age.
Here are a couple more tips:
• Get into good beauty habits from early on

Wear sunscreen protecting your skin from UVA and UVB
• Though temptation is great, do not use solariums : nice sun tan for a month comes alongside prematurely aged (i.e wrinkled) skin.
• Do not sleep in your makeup no matter how wild and late the night is.
• Drink plenty of water, keep to a healthy diet, and please, exercise – staying fit has done so much good for my skin!
• Do not overuse or abuse skin care products, use products appropriate for your age – you don’t want to start intensive anti-aging treatments now – what will you do when you are in your 50s?
• When fighting acne, do not be too aggressive on your skin. Too much cleansing and peelings will only aggravate the problem
• And one last thing: Trust me, you look GREAT! (even with a couple pimples!) Enjoy your young firm skin and fresh bright complexion!

To be continued...

The Blonde is Back

Big news! My natural-looking-highlighted-hair days are over… I went blonde again! Just couldn’t stand looking at myself in the mirror any more… One day I just felt bursting with deisre to have lighter… brighter… blonder hair… So what do I do? I just call up local (quite prestigious and expensive) salon and make an appointment to dye my hair. Why didn’t I go to my usual hairdresser? The answer is because I was wondering “what’s out there” and if “I am missing out on something” … So I come to that well-known salon and say that I want to go a couple shades lighter, I don’t need to have it extremely white but PLEASE, no yellow or orangey color. No, of course not! In an hour I am staring at my yellowish head of hair. So I say: “It’s yellow and I specifically asked you to please do something so that it’s not yellow” (Well, I say it more diplomatically of course.) 30 minutes later I am staring at my bluish hair… (Damn!) It will come out in 2 washes I am told, and after paying (I had to pay for that!!) off I go hoping the blue color is not too obvious.

In a couple weeks the orangey hair is back and I am dialing my hairdresser to get an appointment. I lie to her saying that I decided to go blonde but could not reach her… sigh… Have you ever lied to your hairdresser? Not so easy if you have her mobile and her home numbers…

Even though I am stuck now dying my roots, dealing with the orangey pigment and my husband’s constant inquiries as to why I go to hairdresser’s every couple weeks, I still don’t regret becoming blonde again. Good to be back! Blonde rules! *wink*

Beauty Shopping: Shopping in Brussels, Belgium

Traveling on business and for pleasure to Brussels a week ago I was looking forward to doing some shopping! Our hotel was right next to Grand Place so I did not get to shop at the world famous Avenue Louise...sigh... No time for long taxi rides…In fact in the end I am not even sure what the name of the street I was shopping at was … there were numerous brand names Zara, Sisley, Pimpkie, well known sores like H&M, C&A, Hema and of course beauty stores like internationally known ICI Paris XL plus some local beauty supply stores. The latter ones often have effective but unavailable in other countries products... one can discover some treasures there.

Actually I was looking for some brands not available where I am currently living like Payot and La Mer. But funny enough they were not available in Brussels either. I was told that La Mer can be purchased in Waterloo… out of all places…
So I ended up buying some products for the skin around the eyes:
Shiseido Benefiance Pure Retinol Instant Treatment Eye Mask (instant treatment that is actually mostly for wrinkles and circles but I love the smoothing effect on the skin and it does help to reduce puffiness)
Hydra Patch by Phabel Paris with plant extracts (it promises to re-moisturize and reduce fine lines, these are pads based on gel, I am not a big fan of those though some do give a good effect)
Puffy Eye Reducer Pads by L’Action Cosmetique (those are pads soaked in moisturizing ingredients, they come in a shape of a leaf which is cute, but they leave an unpleasant sticky residue on your skin – huge minus!)
Out of the products mentioned above I will write a full review on Shiseido’s masks, they are really worth it…

Brussels is a fun place! Unfortunately not enough time and opportunities to explore the city but had a chance to enjoy mussels, Belgium fries, waffles and of course world famous Belgina chocolates!