May 2013 Edition: 5 Favorites of the Season

Purchased

This beauty blogger has not fallen off the face of the earth. I promise. Due to moving twice in two months and an abundance of freelance marketing projects, I've fallen SO far behind with my posting. But I'm back now with a few mini reviews for late spring. These new and new-to-me items have rocked my world this month. Let's take a peek together...

1. Kiehl's Skin Rescuer: In one word...godsend. I found this skincare product nearly three weeks ago and oh how my sensitive face has thanked me for it. This serum/light moisturizer provides a "shield" around my face and helps promotes recovery from skin fatigue, de-hydration, blotchiness and redness. I've been wearing it under my moisturizer and my face has never looked or felt better.
2. Guerlain Terracotta Four Seasons Bronzer in 00 Nude: This is the most natural looking bronzer for us pasty pale faces. And the color stays all day! Better yet, the two pinker shades double as blush so you really get multiple products for the price of one. Score!
3. Shiseido Urban Environment Tinted UV Protection in Light: A tinted moisturizer that is both tinted and moisturizing with an SPF 43. I've honestly struggled to find a decent product in this category. I either find something tinted, but offering no moisture or vice versa. This product provides both all day long. Add a tad of concealer and you can easily ditch your daytime foundation...seriously.
4. Weleda Everon Lip Balm: Here is a luxurious, yet affordable, treat for dry lips. The balm is packed with jojoba oil, beeswax, rose flower wax, shea butter to soothe and protect your lips. It even wears well underneath my lip stick. The only downside is zero SPF.
5. Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Light: Finally a creamy under-eye concealer that "corrects" my dark circles and doesn't slip down my face. The skin under my eyes is always purple due to my allergies. But I struggle to find the right concealer color and hydrating formula. I need something on the pink/peach side of things, but most lighter toned concealers are in the ivory or vanilla range with yellow undertones. Yellow is great for correcting redness, but not so great for correcting purple hues. Tarte Maracuja Creaseless in Light is made for me. However, I think there are a bunch of us out there with the same issue as my local Sephora can't keep this shade in stock. Thankfully, I'm still working through the generous sample provided by a store associate. 

What about you? Any fabulous spring finds? Drop me a line and share your favorites.

My New Drugstore Hair Find: L'Oreal Advanced Haircare Total Repair 5 Damage-Erasing Balm

Purchased

When I stalk the beauty aisles of my favorite Target, I don't frequent the hair care section. Past experience has taught me that I usually have to pay more to get something amazing for my finicky curls. Well...I caved several weeks ago and I'm so glad I did.

L'Oreal Advanced Haircare Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm was strategically placed in one of the featured product areas. It's described as an intense reconstruction balm specially formulated for damaged, over processed, and chemically treated hair. I'll admit that I fell for its promise to repair up to one year of damage in one use. Seriously, can a product deliver on this type of a promise?

In my case, it definitely delivered on restoring the moisture and shine in my curls without weighing it down or making it greasy. Between changing climates within several months and transitioning from soft to hard water, my hair was a mess. After just one use of Damage-Erasing Balm, my hair — and scalp — looked and felt 10x better. In fact, the shine factor increased so much that it looked like I had applied a salon clear gloss shine treatment. Even my hair color seemed more brilliant.

I've continued to use the product every other shampoo for the past two weeks and I'm happy to report that it's still delivering on its promise.

Purchase info: L'Oreal Advanced Haircare Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm is available at drug stores and mass retailers. It retails for approximately $6.99 (8.5 oz tub).

How to Up the Moisture Ante for Parched Skin

Purchased

Although the calendar says it spring, my face feels like it is mid-winter. I'll blame it on a new climate, less moisture in the air, water changes and my heater. Yep...that about sums it up!

But seriously, my face is having a hard time adjusting after we've moved to Northern California in early February. In the past month, I've had to drop holy grail moisturizers from my routine and experiment with other options.

One of the first changes was to find a richer moisturizer for night-time use that worked well for my sensitive skin. Interestingly enough, I ended up with two new-to-me product finds that I've been alternating. Here's what I'm using...

 

MyChelle Dermaceuticals Deep Repair Cream Unscented

Technically, I purchased this product right before we moved. I had a store rewards credit at Pharmaca that I needed to use and this product looked promising. Little did I know that it would be a serious skin saver for me.

Deep Repair Cream is a dry-skin moisturizer full of  nourishing shea butter and other skin nutrients, such as black tea ferment, vitamin E and peptides. It is designed to restore moisture levels while improving skin’s texture and youthfulness. It's also gluten free and vegan, if those qualities are important to you.

While it is a rich formula, I find it sinks in pretty quickly since it's a bit on the runnier side. Sometimes night creams are so rich that I worry about product transfer to my pillow cases. Not the case here! It's perfect. In fact, I'd consider using Deep Repair Cream during the day if I wasn't already happy with my moisturizer/sunscreen combo.

It's available at select spas, online retailers, natural food stores, and online. The product retails for $28.39

Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream

For those times when I needed even more moisture, I've incorporated Rose Day Cream into my day and night routines. Rose Day Cream is about as rich as you're going to find!

Rose Day Cream is a luxurious daily moisturizer that incorporates soothing rose ingredients and avocado oil to nurture and renew sensitive, dry and weather-damaged skin. I had several friends recommend it to me, so I took the plunge and purchased when my skin was at its driest point.

The product is significantly thicker in consistency than Deep Repair Cream, but I don't find it to be greasy on my skin. And although it's marketed as a "day cream" I find no reason why I can't use it at night especially since it does not contain any sunscreen.

It works well as an all-over moisturizer or as a spot treatment for those dry, flakey patches. I get those on my chin and cheeks. I've even applied a dab mid-day to my dry facial areas and it did not interfere with my makeup or make me look oily. As the months get warmer, I'll probably end up using Rose Day Cream for this type of usage.

Yes...Rose Day Cream does smell like roses. But the scent does not linger or drive me nuts. It's quite natural and is a very soothing.

It's available at select spas, online retailers, natural food stores, and online. The product retails for $42.95.

In Pursuit of a New Foundation...

My skin is going through a crazy transition after moving to Northern California last month. Because of the added dryness and lower humidity in this region, I've revamped my skin care routine with more moisturizing products. Even so, my skin is still super parched and I'm finding that my favorite foundation, Chanel VITALUMIÈRE AQUA, is making problems worse. So...I've pulled the trigger on three different foundations to see if I could remedy the situation.

Why these three? I was trying to cast a wider net from my go-to foundation brands (Chanel, Trish, Laura Mercier), and these three products touted the following qualities I was looking for, including:

• Light to medium coverage
• Satin/non-matte finish, just not over-the-top dewy
• Intended for normal to dry complexions
• Long wearing
• Readily available at my local Nordstrom or Sephora
• Well reviewed by others with similar skin 

After test driving all three, here are my results...

 

YSL Touche Éclat Foundation SPF19

Overall, this foundation felt great on my skin, and I did not experience any breakouts. But it clearly did not impress me. First, the product did not provide light to medium coverage. Touche Éclat Foundation is definitely medium to full coverage. I don't need heavier coverage and I feel unnatural when I wear more foundation than I need. Second, the color match was simply off. The shade closest to my natural skin color was Beige Dore 10, which is a fair shade for yellow-based complexions. But it had so much yellow pigment that it literally stripped all color from my face and made me look paler than normal. Even with the addition of blush and bronzer, I looked sick!

 

NARS Sheer Glow Foundation

This foundation was definitely sheerer in consistency. But I took two steps backwards by experiencing even more dryness. I have a hard time understanding why Sheer Glow is designed for normal to dry skin types as it sucked all the moisture out of my skin. The positives...a solid color match! The interesting thing is that I was color matched to Mont Blanc, which has slight pink tones in it. Normally, I prefer beige or yellow undertones, but this shade flattered my complexion quite well. In addition, Sheer Glow wore pretty well all day.

Guerlain Lingerie de Peau Invisible Skin-Fusion Foundation

I will admit that this is my first experience with Guerlain, so my expectations were neither high or low. At the counter, the sales associate was trying to steer me towards one of their more moisturizing foundations, but it seemed super heavy duty and not for me. I held my ground and found my own color match (31 Ambre Pale), which was completely opposite of what was recommended (12 Rose Clair and 02 Beige Clair). Yes, I do know my own skin and I wanted to avoid making a big goof! The end result...a potential winner! Lingerie de Peau was light and airy and literally melted into my skin. The color was a nice balance of yellow and pink undertones. Best of all, it wore for 10+ hours without exposing patches of dryness.  I haven't test driven it as long as the other two, so I may need to update my results after another week or two. But for now, Lingerie de Peau is my pick!

What about you? What are your experiences with these three foundations? I'd love to hear your story! Drop me a line and share.

A Comfort Balm for Cold Sores: SuperLysine+ ColdStick

Sickness, moving stress, and zero sleep finally got the best of me. After finally getting settled in our new home, I battled two nasty cold sores. I'll maybe get two every decade, but this time I experienced both of them concurrently. And...it was not pretty!

After using a one-time over-the-counter cold sore treatment...twice, my lips were dry and cracking. Let's just say that I needed some serious lip comfort.

Since I was placing a Drugstore.com order, I added Quantum Health's SuperLysine+ ColdStick to my shopping cart. ColdStick is a moisturizing, petroleum-free lip balm that can be used everyday to protect your lips (thanks to SPF 21) from the sun, a common cold sore trigger. In addition, ColdStick also heals cracked or chapped lips, and it can be worn under lipstick.

I've read that lysine is commonly used for preventing and treating cold sores, so I thought this product might accelerate the healing process and bring much needed comfort. And, it did! After two days of use, my lips were nearly back to normal. The dry patches were gone and new skin was forming over the blistered areas.

What I liked most about ColdStick was its consistency. It was slightly waxy and didn't require frequent application. When I applied the balm at night, it was nearly all intact the next morning, which was a huge plus. Who wants to get up in the middle of the night to reapply lip balm? Not, me.

All in all, ColdStick is a slick little comforting lip balm that I'll continue to use even after my cold sores are gone.

Purchase info: Quantum Health SuperLysine+ ColdStick is available at select mass retailers and drugstores, including Drugstore.com. It retails for approximately $6.49 (on sale now for $5.99 at Drugstore.com).