Haggard

Some days you need a little something extra to combat facial haggardness. One such day would be one where you are woken up at 3 a.m. with the tent collapsed around you. When you open the fly, you are greeted by snow. A lot of it. In May. Then, you have to pack up your camp in the dead dark wearing flip flops and drive an hour and a half back to your home. On such a day, you need to slather your face in Weleda Skin Food. Then you need to go to sleep.

On The Spot

My skin has been steadily getting better with my new skin care routine, but I still have a few red spots and undereye circles (as well as the occasional zit when I get lazy and fall asleep with my makeup on...). This means that a good concealer is still needed. I've tried quite a few, including CG's stick concealer and L'Oreal's mineral concealer, and while they work, they always have some little flaw that makes me cringe. The stick concealers always look a little chalky, and the mineral stuff was a little too dark and made my skin look oddly dry. I've been on the hunt for a good concealer since Burt's Bees stopped making their wonderful wax concealer. That stuff covered everything, stayed on through days at the beach, and didn't look weirdly fake. It was the ideal concealer: didn't look like anything was there, but also made blemishes look like they had disappeared too. And isn't that the point of a concealer? To make you look seamlessly flawless?

I think I have found a replacement! Revlon's Age Defying Spa concealer is my new favorite makeup item. It is quite obviously a rip off of YSL's Touche Eclat, but at under half price compared to the luxury brand, I'll take this fake any day. It is smooth and light, and you only need a touch of product to cover the nasties. Yay! Now lets just hope they don't discontinue this stuff like they do to all of my favorite makeup...RIP, Wings of Love...

Listening to: Loose Wires - Kenna

P.S. Sorry I haven't written for so long, it was exam week. I'm sure all two of you who read regularly were so worried...

Doing The Caterpilar Crawl

Please do something with your eyebrows.

Can you imagine what some tweezers, a magnifing mirror, and a bit of clear mascara could have done for these guys?

I'm not saying you need to pluck your brows into oblivion (on the contrary, a manicured full brow is quite becoming), but please groom and control them. I used to finish my makeup and leave my eyebrows to do as they pleased, and by the end of the day I was doing my best to make my Scottish ancestors proud.

I eventually figured out that a quick swipe of clear gel, teasing the 'brow hairs up just a smidgen, framed my whole face and polished the look. No more wonk stray hairs! No more bangs ruffling the arch and giving me a mildly quizzical expression! Yay!

You can tame your face fuzz with whatever products you wish; Ive heard of chapstick to glue them down, hairspray or hairgel on a clean eyecomb, and brow wax. Find a way that suits you.

Wonky 'brow affects 1 in 3 people...are you at risk?

Listening to: Instant Pleasure - Rufus Wainwright

Breeding A New Bunny

Y'know how everyone does the 'snow bunny' look in winter, with the frosty shadow, pale lips, and shimmery pink blush? Pair with a silver bikini, earmuffs, mittens, and furry white yeti boots, and you've got beer girl at the ski hill...but a hot beer girl...

Anyway, with the advent of spring, the 'snow bunny' needs to uh...change its colours. So, I present to you the 'easter bunny' (come on, gimme a break...).

You can do this with all drugstore makeup if you're doing cheap n chic, or you can have some fun with M.A.C. You need:

• CoverGirl Eyeshadow quad in Urban Basics



• Black or brown eyeliner



• Revlon Matte Blush in Rose Rapture



• Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in Rhubarb



• Your regular old foundation, coverup, mascara, etc.
  

Do your base and give yourself a light cover - let your freckles peek through if you have them, but cover dark spots. You want a creamy, matte finish.

Add blush to your apples and blend out.

With the shadow,use the white highligher on the inner corners of your eyes and highlight your brow bone lightly.

Make a smokey eye with the blue-grey shade. Add some of the taupe for shimmer if you want, or make the grey more opaque for a matte look. This stuff applies pretty sheer, and after 1/2 an hour tones down to more of a grey than a blue-purple.

Line your top lashes with a medium thickness line.

Curl your lashes and pile on the mascara on the top.

Give a quick swipe of the Burt's lipgloss. I know it applies in a weird pink at first, but rub it in well and it is a perfect springy, girly pink. For extra gloss, add some bubblegum liquid gloss. I like Quo's Lip Gloss in Babe.

Curl your hair, throw on a sundress and a cardigan, and smile at everyone who passes. This is very on-par with the spring makeup looks that went down the runways.

I promise you will make a better 'easter bunny' than this guy...

Stroke Me The Right Way

I hate buying makeup brushes. I hate walking into M.A.C. and looking at their horridly overpriced brushes. I hate knowing that I will buy them, even when I know Michael's Craft store has basically the same thing in the painting section for 1/5th of the price. It's garbage. So, out of poverty and need, I usually end up buying brushes from the drug store, which inevitably turn out to be absolute crap; bristles are rough, fall out, don't distibute product evenly, or seem to suck up product like a sponge.

This is an issue no more!

EcoTools makes a wonderful line of quality drug store brushes that I would say are comparable to expensive brands. I picked up their Blush brush for around $8, and was quite resigned to picking brush bits from my cheeks and having to throw the p.o.s. out within the month because it was falling apart. EcoTools has proven me wrong. This brush is incredibly soft taklon, and makes me want to sit and apply blush all morning long, just to have it strooooke up and down my cheek. It's gorgeous. And, you may be interested to know that these brushes are made with recycled or sustainable materials, and the bristles are made of cruelty free hair. It's just a small way to help, if that's your thing.

I haven't tried any of EcoTool's products besides the Blush brush, but the foundation brush looks halfway decent, and the angled liner brush looks serviceable too. I would say the Blush brush is equal to M.A.C.'s 116 Blush Brush, which retails for $38.50. That's a savings of over $30, guys. Go give EcoTools a try, and use the money you saved to buy yourself somethin' reeeaaaal niiice.

Listening to: Electric Feel - MGMT

Milky Milky Cocoa Puffs

I've always liked the idea of moisturizers. I try every one that catches my fancy, thinking they will work for me the way they work for everyone else, and always wind up looking like I've covered my face in Crisco (which, by the way, I've heard is an excellent moisturizer...). My face breaks out, gets red, or feels like it has been sealed with wax. But I always try again...

This time my persistence has paid off! Befine makes a Night Cream with cocoa, millet, & rice bran that I absolutely love! I haven't broken out! My face isn't red! I don't feel like I've applied Burt's Lipbalm to my face! And (this is the cool part) I'M NOT SHINY!

This is a first, people. I'm always shiny. I am the Kuwait of faces. I use this morning and night, and when this soaks in, I don't look or feel like I've put anything on. There is no residual slick, no funny surface sheen. My skin feels like skin...just softer than it was 5 minutes before, and more like I can stretch it and make faces to match my emotions without my skin cracking like a salt flat. And I'm mattified, but don't have that weird grainy-chemically feeling mattifying lotions get. Yes, this is a miracle. I would like to nominate whoever makes Befine products for a sainthood. I'm pretty sure this qualifies.

Don't run out and buy this if you aren't of the extremely greasy of face, I really don't think this will be enough for you. And, I'll admit, this has a slightly off boiled rice smell, but it fades quickly, I promise!You oily girls with strong olfactory defences, listen up: if you moisturize, your face won't try to compensate and over produce oil. Adding moisture can be a good thing - if you find the 'right' product. This one might be it. I bought mine from Superstore for $7, but it looks like this normally goes for about $20. I'd say it is worth it. If you aren't sure you want to shell out the money for this before you discover the magic for yourself, Befine makes little sample packettes, with enough product for about 10 uses, that cost about $2.

Listening to: I'm In Miami, Bitch - LMFAO *This is the international song of the douche. Just listening to it makes me feel like I need to pop my collar, wear Axe, and drive a big truck. But it's sooo catchy...

A Steal Of A Peel

With the demise of the KMF Peaches and Creme AHA lotion, my hopes for an AHA product that works also died. However, being a resilient creature, and hopelessly addicted to beauty products, I recovered my broken heart and returned to the cosmetic aisle of my local drug store.

I love checking out the bargain bin; my love of finding a deal and constrained finances combine to give me quite a thrill when I find something that is actually good in the bin of separated nail polishes and broken powder compacts. During my most recent foray into the bin of lost retail hopes, I found St. Ives' Peel Off Hydroxy Masque for $1.99. I figured this was a pretty acceptable price for something that might just end up shoved to the back of my vanity, bought it, and rushed home to slather my face with goop.

The first time I opened the cap, watery gel rushed out. I'm going to suggest that you don't do that. Shake the bottle very thoroughly and carefully squeeze out a bit at a time. The consistency is a bit thin, so to prevent breaking when I peeled it off, I let it dry for about 7 minutes and then applied a second thin coating. This stuff smells like slightly fermented apples and what I can only describe as acid...something like what you would imagine a mad scientist's laboratory to smell like. And the vapours wafting up while my face dried made my eyes water. I'm serious, this stuff burns the eyes like it was made from the urine of satan's minions.

But for all of the terrible parts of this masque, it works wonderfully. It didn't burn while on my skin, and didn't give me any type of chemical burns along my cheekbones (where I usually get burned from bad products). It is actually pretty gentle when you peel it off, I didn't wince or have to pull slowly. It comes off fairly easily, and doesn't give you the impression that you just applied superglue to your face. My skin was smooth, radiant, and not at all red from over exfoliation. I also didn't feel too tight, and didn't need moisturizer after peeling the translucent masque from my face. And my acne scars and pores seemed diminished, probably from the salicylic and lactic acids. I've now used it twice a week for 2 weeks with no ill side effects or breakouts.I have to say I was suprised and impressed.

Here's the bad part: St. Ives has discontinued this product, so if you want to try it out, get it quick. They started to phase it out in January, so bottles of this should still be around, and should be super cheap. Go get some and join me in the disgusting fun found in peeling this crap off your face and then peering at it to see if any gross pores came loose with it. Repulsive but soooo satisfying...

Listening to: Eyes On Fire - Blue Foundation (Yes, from the Twilight soundtrack...you want to make something of it?)

Play That Record One More Time

I'll admit, I'm not much of a makeup snob. I live in a small city that just got a MAC booth at the Bay a few months ago, and 'high end' makeup is hard to find here. I'm also a student, living on a student's budget, so even if the makeup is available, I can only stare wistfully at it. Going to Sephora in Edmonton is a trying experience for my boyfriend, since I can never make up my mind on what product I want (and can afford) and flit around. It's probably something akin to having a mosquito on a leash.

Anyway, last year when I had a full time, well paying job, I discovered that BeneFit cosmetics were available in my city, and I got very excited. BeneFit cosmetics were formerly found only in very large centres in Canada, like Vancouver or Toronto, and I had lusted over them for some time.

I finally went and bought BeneFit's Some Kind- A Gorgeous foundation, and I'm glad that I did. It is one of those skin matching foundations that you always look at and go "Well, that looks orange in the tin...Skin matching my ass". The S.A. assured me that it would still match me, swiped some on my jawline, and handed me a mirror. I puzzled over it, because it was not orange, it did indeed match my skin. I thought maybe it was the florescent lights in the store, and went outside to check it out. It still matched. Hmm. I was convinced, shelled out the (rather steep for me) $33 for it, and went home to play with my new toy.

I've used it off and on for a year, but I always come back to Some Kind-A Gorgeous to take a break from my newer foundations, or to supplement my mineral powders. I like to use it as a concealer, since it is light and pretty sheer, so my blemishes don't look obviously 'covered up' the way they can look with heavier creamy formulas. I've even used it this winter, and I am ghostly pale. It still matches up.

Don't buy this if you are looking for heavy coverage. This foundation is good for looking like you're not wearing much makeup; skin tone, muted rosiness, and freckles still peek through. It is a great summer foundation, but does require me to use blotting sheets a couple times a day. Definitely not mattefying. And the sponge they supply you with is absolute garbage. Use a foundation brush to get it even and to ensure that you aren't wasting a whole schwack of product.

Do you know of any cosmetics available in Canada for me to try? I'm always curious...

p.s. I just went on the BeneFit website and saw Hello Flawless...restrain me!

Beating Around The Blush

I love love love blush. I'm pretty pale, so a little splash of pink on my cheeks during the winter months really brightens my whole complexion up. I normally use Too Faced Hibiscus Breeze (deep purple in the tube, hot pink on the face) and Quo's Cheek Tint in Blush (a knock off of Tarte, for half the price with more pigment!), but unfortunately these are both discontinued. They will probably take me ages to use up, so I'm not too worried, but I only like to wear them on bare skin. I just don't like the heavy feeling on my skin that layers of moisturizer, cover up, foundation, and blush cause. And this stuff gives a dewy look, which becomes a shiny, greasy look by afternoon. It's too bad, because I like the sheer, realistic look gel blushes give, and generally don't like powder blushes. I just haven't found a powder blush that was sheer enough, and didn't contain enough sparkles to illuminate my entire face. I manufacture my own 'glow', thank you very much! I don't need shimmery crap to make me look plastic and ultra greasy at the same time.

Fortunately for me, Revlon was thinking along the same lines. They have come out with the Matte collection, featuring no fake sparkles and sheer, buildable colours. I picked up the Matte powder blush in Rose Rapture, and I think I have a new love...

This stuff has no shimmer to it, just very fine pigments that spread over your cheeks, and will probably cause people to wonder what you've been doing to look so great. The colour is sheer and blends in well, making it believably realistic, which is a big plus for me, since I like to look like I'm not wearing makeup. If people think I'm just that gorgeous without help, I'm fine with that...

I think my precious gel blushes might be pushed to the back of the makeup bag until beach season. Sorry guys, I've got to do what's best for me...you understand, don't you? It's not you, it's me...Just let me go, ok? I've found someone new.

Listening to: Happiness Is A Warm Gun - Across The Universe OST

Mission Update + New Products

Ok, so It has been a while since I started my skin regimen, and I figured I'd better give you an update.

Things went good for the first couple of days, although the KMF Peaches and Creme lotion made me super greasy by about halfway through the day. I'm talking makeup meltingly greasy. Then, I started having HUGE red zits pop up on my cheeks, chin, forehead. I got a little freaked out, but my skin is known to react from new products, so I toughed it out for a few more days. But, instead of going down, the zits made little zit colonies and got really red. I figured it might have been the lotion, and that I may have changed too much at the same time.

So, I cut my routine down to just the Pond's Cold Cream and the Oxy Benzyol cream. Things improved, but not by much. Then, 2 days ago, I was looking at Lush's Ultra Bland Cleanser (Which is basically a hipster version of Pond's) and some of the reviews said that customers didn't like this stuff when they just washed it off with water, but when they followed the DIRECTIONS and used a wash cloth to scrub it off, it worked wonderfully for them. When I looked at the directions on the Pond's cream, lo and behold, they instructed me to use a warm washcloth.

What a difference that has made! I used a cloth that night, put on my BP, and slept soundly. In the morning, my face was so much better, and the big red monstrosities had already started to shrink down. And here's something a little on the gross side... After srubbing with Pond's, my sick blackheads on my chin and nose come out like nothing else...apply light pressure, and they slide right out, leaving squeaky clean pores...

Even with this improvement, I feel like my skin needs to be cleaned in the morning. I'd like to continue to use the Pond's for nighttime makeup removal and cleansing, but I have this nagging need to have a thoroughly washed face in the morning.

So, I've bought ClayMedicx French Green Clay Soap to try as a morning cleanser. I've had success from bentonite masques before, so I'm hoping this soap will have similar results. Even if it doesn't, this soap has an amazing peppermint-vanilla scent (much more on the peppermint side though) that I would be more than happy to use as a bath soap. It has pretty minimal ingredients, just bentonite, honey, olive oil, glycerin, and essential oils. Nice and simple, and it is also hypo-allergenic, free of colouring, cruelty and animal testing free, and all natural.

Let's hope my successes with the coldcream-BP routine can be mixed in with my need for a cleaned face... fingers crossed...

Listening to: My dog snore...

I'm On A Mission...

Picture from Natalie Dee

I have had terrible skin for as long as I can remember. It's nothing unbearable, but I always have 3 or 4 big, red blighters on my face at any given time. I seriously thought that getting out of my teens would help clear things up, but nothing has worked. Every product - salicylic acid, tea tree oil, sulphur, retinol - has garnered poor results with me. Benzoyl peroxide is the only thing that keeps me marginally managable. I've decided that this song and dance is getting a little old.

So, I'm embarking on a skin clearing mission. I think my skin is oily, but gets even oilier when it is not properly moisturized, and this oiliness is what causes the main problems. I also think that my skin needs to be exfoliated often, because when I don't give it a good scrub every now and then I get terribly clogged pores. Yuck. And maybe it's a little sensitive too, since harsh gel cleansers made for acne prone skin always seem to break me out.

After careful consideration and extensive searching on Make Up Alley, I've settled on Pond's Cold Cream as a cleanser, Burt's Bees Garden Tomato as a toner, Kiss My Face Peaches and Creme Moisturizer as a alpha hydroxy, and Oxy Benzoyl treatment. It's a pretty intense regimen, so I would not recommend most of this stuff for super sensitive skin. I'm hoping it works out. I'll keep you updated, and feel free to add your two cents or products that have works for you in the comments area.

Listening to: Quicksand - B. Spears

How To: Do Simple Makeup, Everyday!

People get intimidated by makeup very easily; it seems like they have to apply a lot to wind up looking not all that different from how they normally do. And for me, this is the point of makeup - highlight the good things and downplay the bad, while still looking like you. Makeup can be fun too, but for day to day, full contouring and primer-base-powder are a bit much. You don't need to apply war paint to go to work, the grocery store, or out for lunch. You need enough to make yourself feel good about you.

Step 1 - Wash your f'ing face! Always!Every morning and evening! If you have oily skin that you can do pretty much anything to, get a gentle everyday scrub, or if your skin is dry but not prone to breaking out, try some Pond's cold cream as a rinse off cleanser. This is a highly individual thing, so what works for one person may not work for you. So...I can't help you too much with this one. You need to play around with different kinds until you find a standby. Always use a new product for 2 weeks, beause sometimes it makes you temporarily break out, but then you get better, and sometimes you get better for a while, and then MUCH worse. And sometimes your eyes swell up and your face gets blotchy, and in this case you should not use this product at all and should probably get some Benadryl stat.

Step 2 - Apply morning treatments - like AHA's for acne, wrinkle creams, etc - and a moisturizer with at least SPF 20 right after washing to lock in moisture. This is the best way to get your skin looking dewy and fresh and keep it looking that way. Trust me, sun damage doesn't help you look dewy (and if you already have damage, getting more is not the answer!). Protect your skin so that you don't end up looking like that leathery tanned old lady...you know who I'm talking about. A word of warning - AHA's and retinoids will make your skin sensitive and a bit red for the first few uses, but as that gets better, so does your skin. These products super exfoliate, and that's the tingling and redness you feel. It's even more important that you use sunscreen if you use these treatments, since you're exposing all that new baby smooth skin that is extra prone to burning.

Step 3 - Take just a bit of foundation and dot it in the darkest corners under your eyes, under your nostrils, on your chin, and on your cheek bones. Blend this in. Don't put foundation anywhere you don't have discolouration, you just end up wearing a mask that way. Dot just a tiny bit of foundation over blemishes and 'blot' the excess off with your fnger until you get enough coverage.

Step 4 - Smile. See where your cheeks lift and get rounded? That's where you need to put blush. Swirl a big fluffy brush over the powder, blow on the tips to get extra powder off, and apply the blush over the rounded areas (the 'apples' of your cheeks). Then, sweep the brush very lightly over your apple and up the curve of your cheekbones. This blends the blush out a bit so you don't end up with doll cheeks, but you also don't end up with 80's dance cheeks. Blush makes everyone look more awake and alive, and is especially imporatant for women 40 and up. You start to lose pigment in your skin at this point, so avoid looking sallow by swiping on blush in the morning. And avoid shimmery blush, you are not a Twilight vampire. Get a matte blush that matches your flush from exercising (which means do 40 jumping jacks in the makeup aisle at the drugstore... No, not seriously...Just find a neutral pink or peach. Jeeze.).

Step 5 - Curl your eyelashes (optional, but gives you eye-opening flutterable lashes!)and swipe on a coat of mascara on your top lashes. I like to use brown mascara because I'm fair of skin and hair, but black works pretty universally. Brown just creates a bit of a softer, less 'made-up' look, so give it a try if you find black to be a bit harsh. Do your bottom lashes if you feel comfortable, but this is not necessary for ordinary makeup.

Step 6 - Wipe off any smudgies with your ring finger and dust on some powder or use some blotting sheets if you're a little too dewy looking. The blotting sheets are my favorite to avoid makeup buildup. Swipe on some lipstick (Black Honey, anyone?) or some balm (Burt's Bees) and you are good to go!

Listening to: Konichiwa Bitches - Robyn

Hit or Miss?

I recently caved into buying some of the trendy mineral foundation that's out there. I went with Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation because it was kind of a mid-line value -- Didn't cost as much as stuff at Sephora, but wasn't cheap and crappy. I figured $16 isn't so much that I'll be out a whole bunch of money if the stuff works like garbage, but if it's good, then I have a reasonably priced new source for foundation. I've been using this foundation for about a month now, and I'm not sure if it's a hit or a miss. I think I'll do a pro and con list to help me decide.

Pro

• Comes in a shade light enough for my skin.


• Has a retractable brush built into the lid.


• Has SPF 10.


• Finely milled.


• Great staying power.


• Goes on sheer and doesn't make me look like I'm wearing much makeup.

Con

• Contains talc as a filler...not good!
  
• The brush loses bits of bristle and is kind of rough on my skin.


• Needs more than SPF 10 to earn bragging rights.


• Doesn't sop up my greasies and becomes visible in very oily areas.


• Has a weird smell...like a hospital.

All in all, not terrible, but not outstanding. It works fine and I would buy it again in a pinch, but for the $16 it cost me, I would have expected no talc. That part makes me mad. I think next time I'll just shell out the $30 for some good stuff that will control my oily areas better and not get all marbled looking when I get shiny. I think this stuff would not hold up to summer "glowing" (when I get shiny and sweaty and greasy as hell in the hot summer months. Yes, I'm already planning for summer, I need something to look forward to at this point in winter... even if it's just becoming the world's biggest oil supplier). Picking brush bits off my face is also a bit annoying...it throws off my groove in the morning.

Listening to: Blur - B. Spears