Our latest news on skincare, hair, clean beauty & sustainable style.
Beauty comes in many forms. Here are a few of our favorites...
Love the warm, blissful feeling of the paraffin wax dip before your mani-pedi? Get it at home with an at home Paraffin Spa
Just plug it in and let it warm up until the wax is melted, and then dip your hands (or feet) in 5-10 times to get a nice thick coat of wax, and then sit back and relax – it feels amazing and makes your hands soooo smooth.
Try this one from Artemis
We love new beauty products, we love older beauty products, we just love beauty products. So we’re going to be starting a new series called Quick Reviews, which will cover products that have been around for awhile and many of you may be familiar with, but we still want to rave about. So let’s get started…
I haven’t worn eyeliner for awhile now, but when I saw a L’Oreal HIP Eyeliner Pencil in Green, I thought I’d give it a try. Love it – I’ve been unsuccessfully trying to find the right shade of green liner for years now, but this is exactly right for my olive-hazel eyes. Goes on easily – no tugging, and looks pretty natural, even though it’s an intense pigment. It stays on all day, and to my surprise and delight, came off with water at the end of the day when I took off my Fiberwig Mascara.
Find it at drugstore.com for $8.00.
It’s no secret that we are Liz Earle fans around here, and today we’re going to share with you what we think is the best product of the line that we’ve tried thus far: Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare Superskin Moisturizer.
Look in your closet: how many moisturizers do you have? Now how many of those actually moisturize your skin when your skin is dry? That’s the simple beauty of Superskin Moisturizer – it brings dry (even really dry, rosacea-y skin) back to life.
It has an impressive roster of ingredients: Borage Oil (great source of GLA and an amazing lipid), Â Glycerin (to keep water in), Pomegranate Extract (antioxidants!), Rosehip Oil (a good source of lipids), Shea Butter (I love slathering my whole body with the stuff), and a premium Vitamin E (a great anti-aging antioxidant). Any of those ingredients are a great addition to a product, but together, they make for one special concoction.
In seeing how well it worked as a night cream, I field tested it under two skin-unfriendly circumstances:
Scenario #1: Walking outside on a bitter day with wind that could knock you over.
I wasn’t exactly happy about having to walk about half a mile on an insanely cold, dry day, especially considering the insanely cold, forceful wind that accompanied the temperature. We’re not just talking a tiny breeze here – this was the kind of cold wind that just cuts through you regardless of how many layers you are wearing. When I got home that night my skin was dry, my lips were cracked, and my rosacea was starting to flare. I took off my makeup and generously applied Superskin Moisturizer (including around my eyes), and went to bed. The next day when I woke up I ran my fingers over my face to assess the damage of the day before: my skin felt moist and dewy, my lips weren’t dry, and when I checked in the mirror, no rosacea to be seen. For good measure I put a layer under my sunscreen the next day, but I was thrilled to not have to deal with a rosacea outbreak or cracked lips.
Scenario #2: Vacation in an area with lousy water
I was up visiting friends in an area on the Hudson – gorgeous area, but the water will peel your skin right off. I don’t know what it is, but my skin is raw anytime I wash my face up there. I usually end up bringing a bottle of Poland Spring to wash my face with, but I still end up getting water on my face in the shower, no matter how hard I try not to. So after washing my face with the Poland Spring (and Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish, come to think of it), I applied Superskin Moisturizer before I got in the shower. The lipids acted as a great barrier, and I got through my visit with my skin no worse for wear.
Liz Earle Superskin Moisturizer is now part of my daily lip routine – I massage some in before I put on lip color, and it looks like I used a plumper. Lips become smooth, lineless, incredibly full, and look practically airbrushed. Be sure to add some around your lip line, and your lips will look even fuller.
I try a lot of skincare products, but when it comes to a moisturizer that is truly effective, I love Liz Earle Superskin Moisturizer. Try it for yourself – you can find it at Liz Earle’s Website.
We are adding a new feature to Style Chicks the Preview Review. There are a lot of products that we try and will be reviewing at some point in the near future, but get excited about when we first try them. It’s a way for us to give our first impressions of a product, and for you to know some of the reviews and recommendations that are coming.
So to get us started, let’s talk about Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare’s Instant Boost Skin Tonic. The Skin Tonic is a toner that actually soothes your skin, via a great natural combo of aloe vera, calendula, chamomile, cucumber extract, and Vitamin E.
It smells great and shrinks pores beautifully, and impressively took down puffiness. What is particularly impressive about taking down inflammation is that I’ve got an annoying cold, and the redness and puffiness that comes along with that. All day people (who don’t know I’m sick) have been saying how good I look and that I look really awake, which is a nice change from yesterday’s “wow you look like you are feeling miserable!” Thank you Liz Earle!
Now if only she could come up with a cure for the common cold that worked as well. 🙂
I’d generally prefer that a trained spa person tend to my cuticles, but it’s definitely something I can do myself. Try these at-home tips (no pun intended) to get great looking cuticle beds without the manicure cost.
Heat up some water (warm, but not hot) and pour it into a nail soak. You might want to try Gena Manicure Cups
Once you have your warm water, add some oil to moisturize and soften your cuticles. Regular olive oil works great, or you can get creative. Jojoba oil is great, apricot oil is a classic, and Sweet Almond Oil
Of course we’ve all heard we should moisturize our hands every time we wash them (I’m a delinquent on that front). But after your nail soak is especially important to moisturize. It’s kind of like when you get out of the bath or shower – you may have used a moisturizing body wash, but your hands still need a slather of moisture after, or else your cuticles may end up drier than before.
So after your delightfully relaxing nail soak, keep your cuticles soft and pliable with a moisturizer. A good cream moisturizer is best – everybody has their favorite.
If you want the best looking cuticles ever, dab on and rub into your cuticles and nail beds some Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare Superskin Moisturizer. I first tried this when I was on vacation a few weeks ago and forgot my hand moisturizer – my nails went from pretty gross looking to radiantly healthy in no time flat.
You shouldn’t hack at your cuticle bed, but nipping off a hangnail is OK. But make sure you have the right tool for the job – using the nail clipper that you use to trim your nails isn’t the most sanitary. Invest in a good Cuticle Nipper – the one from Sephora
is excellent – even a butterfingers like me can use it easily.
For everyday cuticle and hand maintenance, use Bliss Glamour Gloves overnight or while watching TV. The gloves have a gel lining that contains olive oil, grapeseed oil (also a good oil for your nail soak – forgot about that one!), and Vitamin E. Just slip them on and let them do the work. 20 minutes will give you a nice moisturizing treatment, overnight will give you an almost miracle. And a winter bonus – they keep you nice and warm, so you can turn down the thermostat down a couple of degrees overnight and still be nice and warm. See? Two money saving tips with one product!
Stay tuned next week for more at-home manicure how-tos!