Dear Readers:

This past week and the next few weeks are very busy for me and I haven’t had much time to write. I haven’t tested out any new products lately and I hope to be able to write about some fun new beauty goodies soon. Work has been keeping me busy with prom season plus a plethora of things in my personal life have kept me on my toes. Last week I was left to care for my mom while my grandparents were away on vacation. She’s in a wheelchair and needs a lot of attention. This week I am taking care of my youngest cousin while his parents are away. The week after will be the start of a new opera. Busy, busy, busy.

I need a vacation and a pedicure. Right now I’d settle for the pedicure. As for the vacation, there’s no chance of getting away any time soon but I am planning on trying out a self tanner to make it look like I’ve been on holiday. We’ll see how it goes, as all of my previous self tanner experiences have been traumatic.

Pacifica Brazilian Mango Grapefruit Solid Perfume

Yum, yum! Pacifica’s Brazilian Mango Grapefruit fragrance smells like summer. It features notes of tropical fruits including mango, peach, pineapple and grapefruit. I really smell the mango and don’t get any of the other notes. I love that the packaging is portable and petite. The fragrance didn’t last very long at all on my skin, only about an hour. This would be great layered with Pacifica’s other scented body products or as a refresher to any of the perfumes. At only $9, it’s a fun little indulgence.

Confession

I don’t like self checkout and would rather stand in line for 15 minutes then have to wait on myself. It takes me about 15 minutes to ring myself through, anyway.

Bliss Best of Skintentions Moisturizer

I’ve been using Bliss Best of Skintentions SPF 15 moisturizer as my day hydrator for the past few weeks and I’ve been loving it. It’s not heavy, has antioxidants, and features subtle pretty skin illuminators. I also love the Japanese SPF PA++ rating. Bliss Best of Skintentions SPF 15 moisturizer has all of these, plus minerals and omega 3 fatty acids. Finally, a skin care product that gives me everything I want and more! While it is a fantastic formula, the scent is not my favorite. It’s a fresh floral that seems to disappear when I apply my makeup over it. When I go bare faced, the scent lingers for an hour or so. If you are not particularly sensitive to fragrance you probably won’t even notice.

Bliss is carried at Sephora, The W Hotel, select Nordstrom, Macy’s, Saks, and other department stores and boutiques. Check out the Bliss website to find a retailer near you.

UD Pocket Rocket Lip Gloss in Julio= Creepy

In the past few years, Urban Decay has been undergoing a lip product makeover of sorts. They have discontinued a lot of lip glosses and brought back  lipsticks. They’ve also upgraded their lip liners to the same formula as the popular 24/7 waterproof eyeliner pencils. In an effort to develop new lip gloss and grab attention, they’ve released “Pocket Rocket Lip Glosses” that feature a hologram of a clothed man on each side of the cap. When you move it slightly, his clothes disappear and he’s suddenly down to nothing but his underwear.

The shade “Julio,”  a sheer white color, kind of freaks me out because he’s carrying a baby. And the baby also ends up in just its diaper, too. I’m not opposed to half naked men on the packaging, I just feel that the Julio gloss is a bit distasteful.

As for the actual lip gloss, the colors are very pretty. The scent is supposed to be creme brulee, instead it smells chemical-y and plastic to my nose. I tried the texture on my hand and it seemed to be thick even though the glosses are sheer. I won’t be spending my hard earned money on any of these glosses but they might be a great gag gift for boy-crazy friends, if they don’t care how their glosses smell.

New Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer

Lets talk eye shadow primers! Designed to help your eyeshadow wear longer without creasing, they contain ingredients that absorb oil. They also help eyeshadow glide on smoother. I love them, I need them, and I remember very well what life was like without them. My eyeshadow would crease a few hours after application and my eyes would be a smudgy, oily, creasey mess. I’d have to check my eye makeup in the mirror several times a day and I ended up just giving up and wearing waterproof eyeliner and a neutral eyeshadow. Then I discovered primers!

My first primer was Loreal DeCrease. It worked OK but I needed something stronger. I upgraded to Urban Decay Primer Potion (aka UDPP) when it came out and loved it. I dabbled with Bare Escentuals primer and realized the packaging wasn’t for me. Then when Too Faced released their Shadow Insurance primer, I started using it exclusively because the packaging was much more user friendly.

Smashbox has recently released their new lid primer to beauty insiders only (at Sephora). It hydrates, it’s anti-aging, it sounded fabulous to me! I like Smashbox, anti-aging products, and primers so I gave it a try.  By the third hour of wear my eye makeup had worn off and my lids were oily. I gave it another try with the same result. I wanted it to work so much that I tried it a third time. Lets just say the third time is not a charm. Perhaps this primer is better suited for someone with drier or optimal skin.

*Update! I tried using less, I tried using more, I tried rubbing it in, patting it on, and it still creased. Then I dabbed a little just on my brow bone to highlight and it looked so pretty! I like to use this as my “highlight” if I’m in a hurry because it’s so blend-able and smooth. I still use my Too Faced primer on my lid and crease to lock the rest of my shadow down for the day.

Kiss Me Farewell

I am usually unphased when products are discontinued. When it comes to beauty products, something better will come along. Right now I am saddened by the loss of Benefit’s The Gloss in Kiss Me, my most favorite lip gloss in the world. Most people were scared of the seemingly purple-pink hue but not I, for I knew its secret. It was not at all purple but a lovely sheer, shiny, smooth, beautiful pinky-mauve. No shimmer, just shine. And it smelled of lychee…Divine!

Whenever I look at a photo of myself circa 2001-05 and I think, “Wow, my lips look amazing,” I was wearing this gloss. For many years it was one of the only glosses I wore exclusively. Sure, sometimes the tube would leak, but I always carried mine in a plastic bag. I was willing to live with a slightly leaky tube then go without my dear Kiss Me gloss. As time passed, I experimented with Urban Decay glosses (too sticky!), Stila “It” gloss (now discontinued), Loreal Color Juice (meh), and various others. I always ended up going back to Benefit’s Kiss Me gloss.

Farewell, Kiss Me gloss. You were with me during the good times, the bad times, and all of the times between. You will not be so easily replaced.

*EDIT* Aug. 8, 2009: benefit released new glosses with a color called “kiss you,” a replacement for kiss me. The texture is a little different and instead of being super sheer, it now has a tiny bit of shimmer, but it’s worth a try if you really need to find a replacement.

The Body Shop Cranberry “Hugs”

I love The Body Shop, especially the seasonal cranberry items. The cranberry scent is calming, light and not too sweet or tart. Yum! Last year they had cranberry heatable feet hugs and cranberry heatable body hugs, both are cozy, soft material that contain little pouches you heat in the microwave. They retain heat and you can bask in the warmth they give off. I wanted both of the hugs over the holidays but was too lazy to order them. Well, laziness pays off because I was randomly browsing TBS site and found them on sale for $13 each! They were previously $26 each.

My favorite of the two is the feet hugs. They feel divine after a long day of standing and walking. I also have feet that turn cold easily so I foresee these being my favorite thing next winter. I like the body hug and I wish it was a bit longer. I’ve only used it once and it didn’t seem to retain heat very long, although I know with such products it takes a few uses for them to hold heat longer. It will probably be my BFF when I’m crampy or sore.

All in all, at the sale price, I’d say these are both worth it. They are still available on TBS website, and are currently listed under the “specials” tab in “last chance” so they may be gone soon.

I also got a free coconut shower cream. I chose coconut because I adore their coconut body butter (my fave scent, next to mango). When you spend $25 or more (before tax and shipping) you can choose a free shower gel online or at participating stores. This offer is valid until April 19th.

It’s Like Spying! Plus: Man Dies at the Age of 494

I showed my Nana google maps today and she was so amazed. We typed in her address and she saw the front view of her house and also the aerial view. She asked, “Can we look up other people, too?” So we looked up some of her friends houses. Then she got worried and said, “Is this allowed? It’s like spying!” Haha. My little Nana is so cute.

The clipping, above, is from the obituary section of my local paper. It was printed on April Fool’s day, and could have been a prank, albeit a morbid prank. Hopefully the D.O.B. was just a typo, although in the days following the obit., it wasn’t printed again and no retraction was made to advise of an error.

Winner!

The winner of Melissa’s decor drawing is Shellie, 23, of San Diego, CA. Congrats, Shellie! Her photo and analysis will be posted as soon as Melissa provides me with the details!