Not too bad. Just over a week. And a busy week it has been. I have spent time trying to master my camera (don't ask). I have also been spending time reading blogs. And what fun that is. I have learned a lot!

I learned that my eye makeup skills are in need of work. Now, I have worn eye makeup for many years. I can actually do a superb basic eye. But, I tend to wear browns, taupes, etc. almost all the time. If I wear shadow at all. I actually use a bit of concealer a lot and then a little liner, mascara and brow makeup. Recently, I read somewhere, maybe on Total Beauty, that not wearing eyeshadow is aging. Wow! I never thought of that. So I have resolved to do better. I have learned a great deal this week, especially from the blog Beauty's Bad Habit (OMG!!! Is she a talented MUA or what?).

And one fun thing happened. Rick, my beloved husband of almost 15 years, is fascinated with makeup. He doesn't want to wear it. He wants to play MUA. On me. What fun! And I mean that. He and I enjoy Face/Off, the reality show for theatrical MUAs and we have enjoyed another show about regular MUAs in the the past. And Project Runway and RuPaul's Next Drag Queen as well as America's Next Top Model. Today, we had fun at CVS looking at eye shadow palettes. He picked out a Revlon one and a Milani Eyeliner. And had some fun picking out some NYX palettes on Cherry Culture. This could end up being the BEST thing I have every done. I got him interested in makeup and being obsessed with buying it. When my camera skills improve I will post his work.

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Happy Tuesday!

If there is anything I love more than makeup, it is free makeup. Last week the mailman brought me some Max Factor makeup to use courtesy of BzzAgent. Bzz Agent is a site that I am with that periodically gives the agents something to try then talk up, create buzz about, to friends and family. So I am going to tell all you dear friends what I got and what I think.

First, they sent me a tube of Lash Perfection Volume Couture Mascara (black), Color Genius Mineral Blush in Peach, a Blush Brush, and Original Lipfinity in Brillance.

My first impression was kind of "oh no". The Lipfinity looked very orange in the tube and the blush is peach, a color that for what ever reason I stay away from. I don't know why. I guess I like snappy names on my cosmetics. For example, my number one blush is the ever popular Nars Powder Blush in Orgasm. The Max Factor Color Genius Mineral Blush is a pressed powder blush, and is actually three shades of peach, from very light to fairly dark. I swirled the brush (and it is a good brush - this ranks with a couple expensive ones I have, so I think this brush is a good deal) and applied the blush. Pretty pale on first application, and since I am a pale redhead, that is saying it is PALE. I put on a second coat, using a bit more of the dark, and was pretty pleased with the results. It actually looks a lot like Orgasm by Nars, although more matte. This is not a bad thing, I think the matte look has its place and I am sure this costs a lot less than the Nars. This is staying in the everyday makeup case, as this is a good color for every day.

Next up, the Lipfinity. Confession - I have used Cover Girl's Outlast in Naturalast for YEARS now. It is my daily lipstick base (except when I am using Urban Decay's lip stain). Naturalast is a nice nude color that perfectly matches my natural lip color, but, gives me a more polished look. (One coat - Two coats, or a heavy first coat gives more color. It is versatile). I love the Outlast as I said as a lipstick base. I put other colors over it, knowing that if the other colors do wear off, I still have the Outlast one. I have learned I can use any lipstick or gloss over it with the exception of any product by Clinique. For whatever reason, any Clinique product reacts with the Outlast to make me look like I have severe lip eczema or something. Yuck! (Clinique doesn't react over the UD Lip Envy Lip Stain, though). And it does appear that CG is either discontinuing Naturalast (I bought up a bunch on Drugstore.com earlier in the Spring, but will be looking for a new shade when I run out.)

Now I do know that Max Factor and Cover Girl are both owned by Proctor and Gamble, so one might think that Lipfinity and Outlast would be the same, but, they aren't quite. I have tried Lipfinity in the past, some years ago and can't recall exactly why Outlast seemed better. But, you know me, I am always game to try new things so after putting on tinted moisturizer, a brush of Mineral Vail translucent mineral makeup and the Color Genius Blush, I applied the Lipfinity in the Brillance - which I might have mentioned looked very ORANGE in the tube. I was very surprised to see that it actually looked good. A peachy pink, that really did seem flattering, and it really did seem to light up my face. Plus it made my teeth look very dazzling white. All in all, this is a nice daytime shade. My husband said it looked very pretty. I didn't see anything close to the 16 hours of wear that the label promised. More like 8 - but I can sure live with that. I would never have picked this color for myself and am actually happy to have had the opportunity to try it. There are times it will be in my makeup rotation.

And then there is the mascara. Max Factor Lash Perfection Volume Couture Mascara. WOW! I am very impressed with this and pissed at the same time. I just bought the Lash Stash from Sephora (7 of their best selling mascaras in small sizes) and have to say, that the Max Factor mascara is amazing. It really does lenghthen and thicken quite well in one coat. Two coats and you just have massive lashes. Wears well, all day, and then comes off easily with both Purity by Philosophy and with Sephora Eye and Lip Makeup remover. I can't really express just how amazed I am at this mascara. With two coats of the mascara, my eyes really popped. It looked like I had (light) eyeliner on and I was happy with this. I wore it one day with no other eye makeup except for Stila Brow Powder and was very pleased. Did I mention that the Lash Perfection REALLY gives you long lashes? Very very nice mascara.

All in all, I am very impressed with these products and will be checking out some more MF when I next go to Target. For the price, this is good makeup - it holds up well against high end stuff, and can't we all stand to save some money these days?

Philosophy The Present Clear Powder

My review of Philosophy The Present Clear Powder.

From the website -

"The present
clear powder

the present clear powder is a topical liquid shine reducer formulated for men and women who suffer from oily skin. philosophy do not believe in using powder to absorb oil - it's "cakey" and ultimately clogs pores. we believe in using a special technology that lifts the oil off your skin holding it away from your pores that provides a matte, shine-free finish.

you need this product if...
# you have oily skin shine mid-day
# you want a product that can be applied under or over makeup
# you are tired of using powder over oil which causes a cakey look
# you want something super simple, super portable that can go wherever you go
# you are pregnant and need something safe and effective to minimize breakout"


My opinion - this is a great product. Unlike a lot of other powders in that it isn't actually powder - it is liquid. A very fine fluid, no oil at all. It is a very small bottle but I think it will last a long time, as one uses so little.

Now, I have normal skin - generally. Get a bit dryer in winter, get a little oilier in the summer, in hot weather. I was looking for something to minimize oiliness/shine and this does. I use Philosophy's Pigment of Your Imagination which has SPF 18. I have now tried this two ways. Once just over moisturizer, and I then applied a bit of concealer (Boi-ing by Benefit) on cheeks and under eyes and on lids, creme blush (DuWop's stick in Elixer which is a wonderful beigey pink shade) with brow makeup (Stila) and eyeliner (cheapo from Walgreens, can't recall the name) mascara (Estee Lauder More than Mascara) and lips (CoverGirl Naturalast as a base, and DuWop Venom Gloss in Wisteria). Great look. My skin looked great and I had a lovely finish - not shiny but not dry. It did minimize tiny lines - maybe not as much as other primers do, but looked good.

Then I tried it over makeup. I used on a moisturized face, Estee Lauder's Double Wear Makeup applied lightly. Then the same basic makeup as above, minus concealer and with the addition of more eye makeup. I then applied The Present Powder over all my face makeup. I held my breath as I thought it might take the makeup off or smear it. It did neither. I think the key is doing it lightly with gentle strokes. Result - it looked nice. It really did serve the function of powder - no shine. My makeup lasted all day - but then again, Double Wear does last and is itself a little matte. However, normally with Double Wear in warm situations, I need a little shine control in the T-Zone and I needed nothing else with this. It really did add a nice finish to my makeup. I needed no touchups - but, this was on a warm, somewhat humid day (not too humid) so maybe on a hot day I would.

The Present Clear Makeup definitely does more in the way of filling in fine lines, but, The Present Powder might be a good choice for those who only need a little help.

The Best Beauty Advice I Have Ever Received

The best advice I have ever received, and, therefore, the best advice I pass on is pretty simple. Never go to sleep with makeup on (and make sure your face is really clean), use eye cream, exfoliate, use sunblock, drink plenty of water and get enough sleep. I fall down on the sleep one, but the rest I am pretty diligent about following.

I can count on one hand (with fingers to spare) the times I have slept without removing makeup. Many cleansers say they remove makeup, and, I would use cleanser, then toner. But years ago an exotic dancer gave me one of the best tips. At the time, I sold flowers in nightclubs in a southern city. One of the accounts was a gentlemen's club and I would frequently use the ladies room attached to the dancer's dressing room when there. Many times I would basically take a break there and sit in the dressing room a while, chatting with the girls, (they liked to scope out my basket of flowers and gifts and pick what they wanted and then later get one of their customers to buy it for them). One day, one of the dancers, who had incredible skin, was sitting at the dressing table removing her makeup with cold cream. Now, this interested me as one, we used the same foundation - I was in and out of clubs all night and needed makeup with staying power. This was about the time that the long lasting stuff was first hitting the market and I had recently switched from a stage foundation to Revlon's Color Stay (not bad, I had to buy two and mix them to get my perfect color, but, it really did last!). I noticed though that she also had the same cleanser I was then using (and while I remember the cold cream, I can't recall what cleanser it was). After tissuing off the cold cream. She then used the cleanser and washed it off at the sink. I commented that I used that cleanser as well, and it did take off makeup. She shook her head and said "not the kind we wear." I asked her what she meant and she said that the heavier makeup really didn't come off in one washing, and if you didn't remove the makeup, one wasn't cleansing one's skin, one was cleansing the makeup. Hmmm, I thought, maybe she is on to something. She had the most gorgeous complexion and I knew from previous conversations that we were the same age. I had fairly okay skin at the time, I did have regular small breakouts which were a pain. I used a lot of concealor and really didn't have skin that looked nice and even and all without makeup. Later that evening, I stopped at an all night drugstore and bought a jar of Pond's Cold Cream. And when I got home I did what she did. As I mentioned, I was then using toner and when I used it after removing my makeup and cleansing, I was amazed that the first ball of cotton soaked in toner came away clean! That never happened. Anyway, made the separate makeup removal part of my routine and within a couple weeks, I noticed an astounding difference in my complexion. I pretty much stopped having any kind of breakouts or blackheads and my overall skin just looked better. One thing that helped is the double massage I was getting - with the cold cream, and with the cleanser. Massage is one thing that really helps. But getting all the crud off my face is the main thing.

Now I use the Purity Made Simple Cleanser by Philosophy. I love this and it will take off makeup - but, if I have anything more than light tinted moisturizer on my face, I use it twice. Once for makeup, once to cleanse. A couple months back, I started using a different mascara, and realized that while the Purity Made Simple did take off my old mascara and most makeup, I was really having to work to get it to get off the new mascara. It isn't good to have to really rub and all. I do like this mascara (Hard Candy) and I have never cared for the liquid clear eye makeup removers. Even the ones that say non oily seem oily to me, or they just feel like they make my eyes blurry. So I bought a jar of good old Pond's Cold Cream, and I use it to remove eye makeup and then I use a bit to remove the rest of my makeup. On a normal day, I use tinted moisturizer, a dab or two of concealer, blush and maybe some loose powder. It all adds up. Then I cleanse with the Purity. My skin was already looking good, but, it started looking even better.