Delux Beauty: An Oldie But Goodie
So I KNOW there are rules on how long you should keep your makeup, and the majority of my stuff is used up or thrown out well before their expiration date, but there are some products I just can't bear the thought of letting go of.
Do any of you remember Delux Beauty? It was the brainchild of Jillian Dempsey (yes, McDreamy's wifey) and also the brand that kicked off my addiction to lipglosses (McDAMN you!). Eight years ago, I stumbled on their pocket-sized glosses on my first trip to Sephora Times Square and fell madly in love with their portability and shineability. I had to have it in every shade, and pretty much succeeded with the endeavor. And though none of the glosses remain in my collection (I used 'em up!), I've managed to hold on to this little lip/cheek stain from the line:
I collected this on my first trip to Sephora Miami 4 years ago. It's funny how Sephora is always a point in my travel itineraries, even though I frequent the San Francisco stores like every other week...but I digress...what I love about this stuff is it's cute, compact and colorful. Plus it's a lip/cheek product so it's multi-talented. It's everything I want to be in makeup form!
And I'm really good at keeping the surface clean and anti-bacterialized. But to prove how old it is, check out the encrusted liner from sharpeners that have busted open in my makeup bags against my will through the years. Beauty battle scars, as I like to call them.
Anyway, I just can't let go of you, little one. You impart the perfect just-pinched glow from a perfect pint-sized package. And even though your line no longer exists, so you're technically extinct and that makes you a dinosaur in beauty terms, you'll always have a place in my heart (or rather, on my cheeks and sometimes on my lips).
Labels: Delux, Sephora
Put A Ring On It
Lately, I've been on the lookout for cool turquoise rings. Along with my new-found openness to brighter hued glosses, I think it's just another side effect of severe summer fever. This weekend was a gorgeous one in the SF East Bay, and I felt especially inpsired. To embrace my inner sun goddess, I experimented with stacking these two rings (long one is vintage, teardrop is from Target) and trying on a new eyeliner look. This is
Sephora's Nano liner in Silver Green, courtesy of their Birthday freebies for Beauty Insiders. Paired with my new rings, it has a cool, sea-breezy effect. I'm also still experimenting with my Stila Smile in Style set. In these pictures, I'm sporting the Fruit Punch color.
Labels: Sephora, Stila
Beauty Steal of the Week
As I've said before, I'm a sucker for 'variety' kits. So when I stumbled on this Stila set on SUPER sale at Urban Outfitters, I had to throw it in the bag. Stila is the Queen of buttery lip products and in this set, you get five perfectly textured lip glaze sticks and a sharpener for the price of less than one - $9.99 baby! (You have to buy it in stores to get it at this price...sells for $18
in their online store). The lip glaze sticks are wonderful for a hint of bright color, which makes them a great summer product.
Of the five colors, I immediately tried Berry, Plum and Peach. Here's pretty Berry:
And demure Plum (not really my style, but I'll keep this handy for backup):
And my personal favorite, Peach. I've always been a fan of this color ever since I bought it 5 years ago in lipglaze form. I think I like the glaze stick even better because I can control how much product is applied on my lips:
So now I'm feeling Peachy-keen in my glasses and am signing off so you addicts can run to UO to scoop this up, too!
Labels: Stila
Peaceful Tarte Lips
Today I needed a low maintenance lip look to help me ease my way back into the work-o-sphere. Sometimes when I take a mini break from wearing really obvious makeup (dark eyeliner & shadow, really structured and rosy cheeks, supershiny lips), anything beyond a subtle neutral is too jarring for me to put on my face.
Enter this lovely lipstain from Tarte, aptly named "peaceful." It compliments your natural lip shade and takes it up just a notch. The shine it imparts is more in line with a lip balm than a lip gloss. Perfect for a peaceful transition to whatever awaits me this week....
Labels: Tarte
How Chinatown Does Hair
So I know this is supposed to be a positive ad, but the second I saw it, I became obsessed with wanting to hack my hair off:
Luckily my friend Jen was in the same predicament, and she recommended a spot in SF Chinatown she had a great experience at - La Vii. It's a salon where the stylists "get" Asian hair, and cuts cost only $20! Needless to say, I showed up at the salon pretty anxious to get started.
Not even their pharmacy-style hair product displays or the dramatic Japanese game shows in rotation could calm my nerves (they distracted me just long enough to snap this picture).
"Dear God, please let them call my name SOOOOOOON .... "
"WHEN ARE THEY GONNA CALL MY NAME??!"
Anyway, the wait (which wasn't even really a wait, I was just antsy) was totally worth it. $20 bucks later, I felt like I had about 15 pounds taken off my head:
My hair will look like this for about two days, then go back to its wild and crazy ways, but at least there will be less of it for me to fight with every morning. Thank you Jen!!!!
Oh, and for those of you wondering, La Vii is located somewhere down this street :)
