Drumroll Please...

Exciting news in the beauty world of late! Clairol is now selling their cult-favorite Nice'N Easy Colorseal Conditioning Gloss separately. This conditioner works wonders for hair by sealing in color and adding a ton of shine. You don't have to color your hair with Nice'N Easy, nor do you have to color your hair at all, to be utterly consumed with this product (this comes as great news for those of us who would buy the Nice'N Easy coloring kits just to get our perfectly manicured hands on the conditioner). It's like lip gloss for your locks!

Meet the Magical Pen

Charles Revson revolutionized the world of beauty with one secret weapon: advertising. His "Cherries in the Snow" and "Fire and Ice" campaigns catapulted the company into enormous success with the help of his muse, Dorian Leigh. With my vintage ads of Fire and Ice, Moondrops and Fatal Apple, (what would the world do without Ebay?!) I'll always have a soft spot for the glamour and classic aesthetic Revlon was founded on.

While perusing through the drugstore aisles of mascara, nail polish and hair color the other day, I came across Revlon's new Makeup Eraser Pen for lips and eyes. The portable pen has a soft antibacterial tip that is packed with botanicals, such as vitamin e and aloe, and powerful makeup removing ingredients that instantly erase mistakes, smudges and smears. This is also a must-have for us gals that always sport a bright red/berry lip color! I've now got one in my makeup bag and am going to get a second today for my at-home makeup box. Now if only there was a magical wand that could erase the calories from hot-fudge brownie sundaes, life would be perfect!

The Beautiful People II: Ojon's Conditioner and Restorative Treatment

As promised, here's a followup review on Ojon's Ultra Hydrating Conditioner and Restorative Hair Treatment. Being thoroughly impressed with the shampoo, I had to get my hands on the daily conditioner and mask. I must say, I'm just as pleased with both of these products. The Ultra Hydrating Conditioner is a rich, buttery formula that contains 100% pure Ojon oil to moisturize and soften dry, chemically-treated hair. The yummy smelling conditioner also makes for a great detangler and will not weigh hair down. Ojon's Restorative Hair Treatment is an oil-based mask that is used before shampooing. The treatment is almost like a balm that requires you to rub it between your palms (which then turns the product into an oil) before applying. Leave on for about twenty minutes or longer and shampoo out. The instructions also encourage using the balm/oil as a cuticle moisturizer and leave-in conditioner.

I Didn't Know You Had Freckles On Your Nose!

One of the first indicators that I was not born with flawless skin was an incident that happened on the little-yellow-school-bus many years ago. One of my best friends and I were sitting on our afternoon ride home from school when she blurted, "I didn't know you had so many freckles on your nose!" You see, I didn't have any freckles...I was cursed with blackheads. Nothing suited me more than to crawl under my seat, leaving my plagued skin and I alone in a dark, isolated cave. Thanks to progressive technology and advanced research, any skin problem has its solution. Have some hyperpigmentation? Laser treatments, peels and dermatologist- performed microdermabrasion can fix that in no time. Frown lines won't go away? Botox injections can fill in those wrinkles asap. Always remember this and never fret about your skin...there's always something out in the vast universe that can fix it!

After getting over some embarrassment, I mustered up the courage to get off the bus, walk home and figure out what the next step was to clear my complexion. All throughout high school, I turned to Biore's Deep Cleansing Pore Strips to remove blackheads and clean out my pores. For four years, these strips did the job and never again did someone ask if I had freckles (I still feel so embarrassed recalling the situation!). However, once I moved to Manhattan and started college, I found that deep-cleansing masks worked more efficiently and weren't as abrasive as the skin-ripping pore strips. I haven't found a better one than Kiehl's Rare-Earth Facial Cleansing Masque. This morning I used a Biore pore strip (after having not used any for about three years) on my nose and used two of their face strips on my chin and forehead. I followed each instruction step-by-step and allowed the strips to dry for about ten minutes. When the time came to remove them, I started pulling the strips and experienced quite a bit of pain. My face was beet-red and looked super-irritated. I can't imagine this as being healthy or good to do to my skin! Perhaps the most unfortunate part was excitedly looking at the strips and seeing nothing on them knowing full well that blackheads could have been pulled. Perhaps Biore changed their original formula for the strips? I don't remember them being so ineffective. What are your experiences with these pore strips?

Dove and Eucerin: Solutions for Sensitive Skin

How I long to be one of those women with a bathroom filled with scented cakes of soap. I would have bars galore of lemon verbena, lychee, grapefruit and, to be daring, cinnamon bun-scented soap! But, alas, I am not. For some strange reason, my facial skin can tolerate all the peels, scrubs and liquid nitrogen treatments(as performed by my dermatologist) imaginable, but when I rub a dollop of coriander scented lotion on my body, all hell breaks loose. After hearing endless praise over Fresh's Hesperides Soap, I decided to try it, knowing full well what the consequences would be. This nonsensical action would be equivalent to someone who was lactose intolerant eating a large bowl of yogurt, finishing it off tall glass of chocolate milk. Let's just say that the soap waged a war on my body. Welts and irritation flared up on both my arms, putting me into state of panicked frenzy. I had to immediately toss the culprit and go back to my lifetime go-to body cleanser, Dove beauty bars. My skin wasn't only irritated, it was super dry and flaking. Eucerin Calming Creme nursed my body back to health. It's super rich formula intensely hydrated the dry patches and soothed my skin by taking out the redness and stopping the itch. The calming cream contains natural oatmeal, dimethicone (which seals in moisture by creating a glove-like barrier) and, just what my skin needs, no fragrance. Perhaps one special perk from lacking an arsenal of scented bath products is that it keeps those friends, also known as bathroom snoopers, from spending twenty minutes in my bathroom!

Kiehl's Eye Alert Is In This Week's Favorite New Product Alert

So much to discuss in the beauty world of late! Sorry it has taken a while for a new post, but we've been battling a nasty case of the flu and have been bound to bed, feeling very unglamorous and wishing we could practice with the new tips we learned from Gina Brooke, head makeup artist for Madonna during her "Confessions" tour. But before we get into the juicy details of that experience, we have to name Kiehl's Eye Alert as the winner of this week's Favorite New Product Alert! This delightfully lightweight eye cream is packed with cucumber extracts, vitamin E and caffeine to combat dark circles and puffiness. It also works like a dream underneath concealer. Apply a tiny amount of the product to your ring finger and pat ever-so-gently along the orbital bone (do not apply too close to the eye area since it may cause irritation). We can't wait to use it on our upcoming 11 hour flight to Hawaii!
*Tip: Try putting your eye cream in the refrigerator for a cooling and refreshing way to reduce puffiness.

An Evening with Gina Brooke

There are times when golden opportunities come about and you would be a complete and total fool not to take advantage of them. A few nights ago, my friend Sheila and I attended a "Master class" held at the Shu Uemura boutique in Soho. The highlight of the evening would be a lecture and demonstration orchestrated by Gina Brooke. Ms. Brooke is a titan in the world of beauty. Her list of clients include Madonna, Katie Holmes, Reese Witherspoon and Eva Longoria. She's also doing a stint as the Artistic Director of Shu Uemura, where she revamped the eyelash curler and is developing a slew of new products.

Sheila and I arrived at the pristine boutique nice and early, making sure we had the kind of seats that would allow us to see every brush stroke and highlighter application. Amy Winehouse was blaring throughout the colorful palettes of shadows and false fantasy lashes, champagne was flowing, fashionistas were air-kissing one another and an array of Shu workers were scurrying about, making sure each brush and palette was in place for Gina. Then she arrived. Wearing a simple, flowing brown halter dress with new Gucci espadrilles she took the stage. The first thing I noted about Gina was her flawless, radiant olive skin. You could hear women in the audience whisper to one another, "Wow, she's really pretty!"

Parallel to Shu Uemura's philosophy, Gina began her seminar stressing the importance of good skin care habits. "You can have the best makeup on the market, but if your skin isn't taken care of properly, you're makeup isn't going to look good," Gina emphasized. The first step was cleansing the model's skin with the company's cult favorite Cleansing Oil. Gina then sprayed the skin down with the Depsea Water Facial Mist and applied a light facial moisturizer, "The skin is most susceptible to moisture when it is wet."

After prepping the skin, the makeup application began. Gina did not use foundation on the model. In fact, if Gina uses foundation at all on her clients she'll always mix two or three shades to perfectly match the skin. The company's Pro Concealer was applied with a foundation brush only to the areas where the skin is prone to redness (think the areas around the nose, forehead and chin). Brooke mixed the concealer and highlighter with moisturizer before applying to the face. Mixing and blending these will allow the makeup to go on smoother and will look so much more natural. Mixing concealer with eye cream is crucial to avoid the makeup from filling in fine lines and wrinkles.

If you have oily skin, invest in some blotting paper. Gina's model had an oilier complexion and she kept blotting the t-zone rather than adding powder on the oily areas. Blotting the skin as opposed to powdering is genius because you're actually getting rid of the oils that can cause breakouts, rather than clogging your pores with heavy powders. Feel free to lightly powder your face to "set" your makeup after you've finished applying makeup, but never use a lot of powder.

Using highlighter properly can be the difference between a mediocre makeup job and an outstanding one. At the event, I purchased Shu Uemura's Base Control Complexion Enhancer in Gold. Remember, mix a little bit of highlighter with moisturizer on your hand with a brush before applying. While Gina was applying the complexion enhancer, she said that "highlighter must highlight high points." Think brow bones, bridge of the nose, cheekbones, shoulders and collarbones. Don't underestimate the power of a good highlighter!

Perhaps the biggest difference-maker in Gina's demonstration was the false eyelashes she used on the model. Instead of using an unnatural, dated strip of lashes, Brooke chose individual ones to apply. She used about four of them on each eye. A few on the end, some in the middle and voila! The moment the lashes were applied, you could hear the "ooh's and whoah's" in the audience. Before the seminar, I loved wearing false eyelashes to achieve a dramatic evening look, but Gina demonstrated to us that they can look so natural. Once the individual lashes were applied to the model, it just looked like she was born with incredible lashes! If you have access to a Shu Uemura, make an appointment at their Tokyo Lash Bar. A professional will help you choose a pair of lashes, whether it be a full strip or individual ones, and instruct you on how to apply them. Gina kept telling us to never apply mascara on them; they'll last longer and be a lot more sanitary if they're the last thing you apply on your eyes.

After Gina's hour-long lecture, Sheila and I spent a few hours with a Shu Uemura makeup artist named Tamaria. While the Shu Uemura artists were making over women, Gina went around to each person, critiquing the makeup application performed by the artists and advised each woman on the looks that would be best for them. When Gina came over to Sheila and I, it was pretty surreal. I mean, this is the same woman that works on Madonna's iconic face! She praised our pale skin, which was great being that we're both fanatical about taking proper care of our complexions (during our twenty-minute walk to the Shu store, we kept crossing over to the shaded sidewalks, avoiding the sunny streets at all costs). Brooke reminded me that I have a cool complexion and would benefit most from products with blue undertones. Blue-red lipsticks, pink blush and any color eyeshadow were things she advised me to wear. She even lined my lips with the Drawing Lip Pencil in Red 192 and applied the prettiest, brightest shade of red, Rouge Unlimited RD 134.

After Gina and Tamaria finished my look, some serious shopping was involved and Sheila and I left the store with two colossal shiny, black Shu Uemura bags. We were back on the grimy, cobblestone sidewalks of Soho. She had to go back to Queens to walk her Fox Terrier, Dax, and I had some laundry to attend to. The glamor of the evening was gone and real life had caved in. I hailed a cab and perused through all my new goodies, seeing future images of myself at that party wearing this purple eyeshadow...at that theatre show donning those false eyelashes.