The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty & Fashion Blog . thelipstickpage

Notes from the Editors of The Lipstick Page Forums: A Dedication to the Art of Beauty and Fashion.

Meet the Staff: The Sketchbook

· Blog Home
· Profile
· MySpace
· Contact Us
· FAQ/TOS

On This Page
· Beauty Notes: A Drop of Rain in the Desert
· Beauty Notes: Going Green
· Sisley
· Rambles (5.31.07)

Comments
· June 1, 2007 7:21 PM by

Colleen Shirazi
· June 1, 2007 9:35 PM by

cmm
· June 1, 2007 11:35 PM by

TheLipstickPageForums.com

Archives
· Beauty Blog (2003-2004)
· Fashion Blog (archive)
· New Releases Blog (archive)
· Beauty Articles (archive)
· April 2005
· May 2005
· June 2005
· July 2005
· August 2005
· September 2005
· October 2005
· November 2005
· December 2005
· January 2006
· February 2006
· March 2006
· April 2006
· May 2006
· June 2006
· July 2006
· August 2006
· September 2006
· October 2006
· November 2006
· December 2006
· January 2007
· February 2007
· March 2007
· April 2007
· May 2007
· June 2007
· July 2007
· August 2007
· September 2007
· October 2007
· November 2007
· December 2007
· January 2008
· February 2008
· March 2008
· April 2008
· May 2008
· June 2008
· July 2008

Blog

Recent blog posts:

Links
Barneys
refinery29
The Sartorialist
Jargol
Perfume Shrine
Ambre Gris
Polyvore
The Fashioniste
The Powder Group
LA-Story.com
Dain's Literary Attempts
Colleen's Beading Blog
Colleen's Adult Acne Blog

The Beauty Blog Network

Add to Technorati Favorites

Health Blogs - Blog Top Sites

Eponym Blog Directory.
TBF Project:Blog

Health Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

Search For Blogs, Submit Blogs, The Ultimate Blog Directory

Find Blogs in the Blog Directory

The Lipstick Page Forums Beauty & Fashion Blog

Posted by Dain, Monday, January 21, 2008 5:29 AM (Eastern)

Among all the cheats in the luxury industry, nothing raises my ire quite like the expensive face cream. Acne and anti-aging products are the money-spinners in the skincare industry, because everybody really wants perfect skin. I can empathize with this, skincare is certainly more important than the eyeshadow that comes after it: pigments are just warpaint, skin is your face. But the way the skincare industry would have it, a woman should live in persistent fear of being less than perfection. When you are young, we must make ferocious battle with acne, doomed to social seppuku should we fail. Even as acne and adolescence abate (for many of us, but not all) in our mid-20s, these insecurities are fueled directly into concerns anti-aging. Now that we've graduated from pizza face, do we really want to descend into hagdom? Ehh... utterly ridiculous. There's not very much that will seriously alter genetics and if people like Stephen Hawking think that time travel is impossible, then there is no way that a paste of chemicals from the tar pits of the Estée Lauder kingdom would fare any better. Most anti-aging creams work, because aging skin is generally dehydrated and dull, and a good moisturizer gives the appearance of plump, flexible, and radiant skin.

"Aging gracefully" may be a pernicious phrase, but one of these women is doing so, the other is not. Here's a hint: it's the one that can look at you in the face.

Now, it may turn out that your skin likes Crème de la Mer best of all. Nevermind that EL has reformulated it, it is still your wallet and your skin. But I think there is a reason why Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser and Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer are consistent bestsellers, at any price level: skincare is at its best when it is basic but good. In short, whatever you may believe, your skin is more likely to take a more sensible view.

This is all a very long introduction. I just wanted to list some of the good moisturizers I have found in my testings. They are all simple and gentle hydrators that absorb well, with minimal fragrance. I've ordered them from lightest to heaviest, so you may judge for yourself which is best suited to your skin type.

I would especially recommend Complex 15 to someone with oily skin who is worried about irritating acne, or very combination skin that needs hydration on the one hand, and a product that won't aggravate oil on the other. It is also excellent for young, normal skin that tends toward shine. Complex 15 hydrates well, but it is very lightweight. It has the emollient squalane, which may clog some pores but the probability is slim. No fragrance, mineral oil, parabens.

Better Botanicals Dandelion Moisturizer is an old favorite of mine, with lightweight, non-occlusive sunflower oil and plenty of botanically infused waters and essential oils. It has a beautiful silky texture and the smell of a lovely floral sandalwood. My skin has become drier since then, so I have moved onto more emollient pastures, but it is excellent for normal, combination, and slightly dry skin.

Malin + Goetz Vitamin E Face Moisturizer has the richness of the aforementioned Kiehl's with a much more absorptive, light-on-the-skin texture (it is oil free), though the high level of humectants (glycerin, sodium PCA, hyaluronic acid) give it a slightly sticky feel at first (it sinks in very quickly, however). It is very nourishing on skin that is dehydrated and has lost its suppleness, with chamomile and allantoin to soothe, so I would recommend it for more mature skin from slightly oily to dry.

For normal to dry skin, I highly recommend the buttery smooth Jurlique Calendula Cream, a similar texture to Fresh Rice Face Cream, but without so much expense and better absorption. It is a beautiful product with the reparative properties of high concentrations of calendula extract, to absolve many a sin that the skin can commit, from acne scars to sensitivities. If only I weren't allergic!

My favorite moisturizer is Embryolisse Lait-Crème Concentrée, very soothing with the best velvety texture for highest moisture yield, but it is not readily available except online. So I am testing La Roche-Posay Toleriane Riche instead, which comes in two lighter formulations as well. The "riche" has lots of squalane, shea butter, and mineral-rich thermal water. It is not as elegant, one must take some care not to apply too much, but promising thus far. It has a slightly unpleasant chemical smell that very quickly dissipates.

This is a very expensive option, but when your skin is very dry indeed, so dry you're afraid to wash it every day, Sisley Crème Reparatrice cuts through dryness like nothing else I have yet tested, with plenty of shea butter. It is very expensive, but a small sample did help me out when nothing else worked, but I seem to have dodged my used desert-dry skin this winter thanks to Jurlique Herbal Recovery Gel—I think continued use over time has really normalized my skin.

thelipstickpageforums.com

Labels: beauty notes, better botanicals, complex 15, embryolisse, jurlique, la roche posay, malin + goetz, sisley, skin

0 comment(s)

Post a comment (NO SPAM)

Permalink . del.icio.us . Stumble

Posted by Dain, Wednesday, October 03, 2007 6:36 PM (Eastern)

Images from Jurlique's farm.

I seem possessed by a cantakerous streak these days, though I'm not sure why. I seem inclined to hate everything. Maybe I'm PMS-ing? Doesn't feel like it. Maybe I've been blogging overmuch? Noooo... Or, perhaps it's just hard to switch from very deep to very frivolous writing at will? Perhaps. Whatever the case may be, I will try to be better behaved.

For a little bit of spotless virtue in your life, why not consider going green? It's a small thing everyone can do, and it is better for your hair and skin.

Over the years, I have noticed that I have gravitated towards natural skincare, though not, it seems, on purpose. In my search for the perfect routine, it was often the case that I'd choose natural products because they seemed superior. For the most part, they don't claim to be instant miracle cures, which I find insulting. You drop $300 on the latest anti-aging it cream or whatever, and it stops working a week later. And you still look old. And if the active ingredients are abrasive, you can worsen your skin or build up immunities in acne bacteria. For the most part, natural skincare tends to work proactively (not treat retroactively) with your skin. Its progress is often slow, but with better longterm effects.

That is not to say that all botanicals are trustworthy. Bath and Body Works and The Body Shop, for example, mostly uses petrochemicals like any other brand on the market, with a few "extracts" thrown in for good measure. Charlatans aside, I do have a few warnings about botanicals. Their effect is hard to measure, and hard to predict, unlike something like, say, benzoyl peroxide. And you are more likely to have an allergic reaction. Natural does not necessarily mean "safe". Sometimes the formulas are less elegant, because the widespread use of oils in natural skincare can feel filmy or greasy, and can actually be occlusive, but that's the price you pay if you want to avoid silicones, sulfates, and petrochemicals. But there exist lightweight, astringent oils like sunflower/safflower, hazelnut, jojoba, and grapeseed that are somewhat less problematic for oily or acne-prone skin, and it must be noted that some natural ingredients are exceptionally good for the skin, like aloe vera or shea butter, but take some time to absorb. Another difficulty you might encounter is the short shelf life of some of these products (I found that my Dr. Hauschka Rose Day Cream went bad in a year), which can be attributed to natural ingredients and low levels of preservatives. Again, if you are concerned about parabens, it is a small price to pay. Not every brand is 100% natural, and fewer still are organic, but I don't necessarily feel this is a bad thing. Saffron Rouge is a particularly good site for all sorts of natural skincare.

But other than these negatives, I find natural products to be, on the whole, more conscientious. Not just about the environment, though some companies like Dr. Hauschka and Jurlique go so far to grow their own ingredients on their own organic farms. They also tend to follow fair labor laws, though this is not a given. This sense of social conscientiousness, I often find, is present in the products themselves—they are often very conscientiously made. Every product I have tried from Jurlique, for example, has been excellent. Primavera is very promising thus far, but I've only tried one of the products. Dr. Hauschka I've had a little more trouble with, peanut oil tends to clog my pores. Decléor was my first foray into "botanicals", but it is more a "spa" line now that I know better; I find the moisturizers occlusive, but the Baumes and Aromaessences are worth trying at least once because they are originals. Caudalíe is very hit or miss, but they have wonderful scents. Sisley is a grand rip-off. Stella McCartney CARE, while I like the packaging (I prefer utilitarian, hygenic packaging when it comes to skincare, rather than the glamorous), is ok, at least for the price. Likewise for Fresh, though it is not all-natural. Better Botanicals is a really good brand, as is Body Time. Burt's Bees has a few stellar products, and a lot of ones one would rather forget about.

I am sure I am missing some, but they escape my mind. I have yet to try many brands.

The other nice thing about natural skincare is that some products are fairly easy to replicate. Love the gentle exfoliating effect of Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream but find it too expensive? Buy your own almond meal and grapeseed oil (plus whatever else you'd like to add) and grind it up. Like Decléor Aromaessences? Mix some high-quality oils together with essential oils, suited to your skin type.

I know less about natural haircare. I like Nature's Gate and Aubrey Organics and PHYTO. I wonder if the Herbal Hair Conditioner will work as a CO wash? Ever since I switched to this method, I can't even imagine using shampoo any more. I've been using Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Conditioner on the ends, and it's really good but too thick for cleansing, it doesn't spread well. A great part of the appeal for me about cleansing with conditioner is that I only need one product, and using two conditioners seems a bit pointless. The Nature's Gate has a light, watery texture, but it has some crazy humectant properties, because the result is quite rich. Plus, it comes in a a huge gallon size, and I love the scent.

Labels: better botanicals, body time, caudalie, decleor, dr. hauschka, fresh, jurlique, sisley, stella mccartney

0 comment(s)

Post a comment (NO SPAM)

Permalink . del.icio.us . Stumble

Posted by Dain, Monday, June 18, 2007 8:53 PM (Eastern)

Thus far, I've had the opportunity to test three of their products.

The first was Creme Reparatrice, which I imagine must be a bestseller, because it is a very good cream for dry skin. Shea butter, the star ingredient, must be given justice, as shea butter is really goooood for dry, sensitive skin. It is not, in pure form, very cosmetically elegant. It's tacky, and requires warming up, but it is very, very kind to skin—hence why it is probably the best thing to give to your baby's skin, far kinder than mineral oil. To burned, spoilt skin, it is amazingly healing. Applied on the body, it gives nothing better than a natural glow, like you've gotten a real—and I mean a real, and not a fake—tan. But someone like me, who require a certain pleasant "feel" to the product, a fallacy though it may be, would find this stuff difficult to continue using. After all, style is just as important as substance when it comes to cosmetics. When I apply pure shea butter, from L'Occitane (bless L'Occitane for it; bath and body products are often very hit or miss, but when L'Occitane gets things right, they get it very right), it gets all over my hands. It is, of course, very good for my hands. But it is sticky stuff, and makes your hands unfit to do anything. It takes forever to soak in. A good hour or so. Once it's there, it is the best thing you could have done for your skin, equivalent to a mask (wherever you put it). But until then, you are sticky. The same goes for skin on the body, though less troublesomely. It is always great on lips, cushiony and healing and blissfully emollient. Pure shea butter is the best lip balm, period. It is not, however, quickly penetrating enough to suffice as 'the best" cuticle cream (though of course it may serve this office too). It is effective and highly restorative, nontoxic, noncomedogenic, with the barest scent and taste, but incredibly expensive. Thus, Creme Reparatrice, which has taken the best virtues of shea butter and made it cosmetic, with a nice texture and feel, and (in my opinion) too much baby powder perfume (if it smelled like neroli or something, it would be so nice, though lavender would be more appropriate—I wish someone would make Decleor-esque balms centered around shea butter, far superior to beeswax, but perhaps not so preservative), is excellent. Terribly overpriced, but excellent. It is a joy to wear, when I have chapped, winter dry skin. It's not as bad as some others', but it is irritating and sometimes painful. Creme Reparatrice, in spite of its price, I may consider buying, once I have renewable income. It fetches a pretty price, too: $152. But this may do just as well.

Botanical Intensive Day Cream: I wanted so badly to try the Night version (pictured above); flying under the radar of Sisleya, it sounded like the company's miracle cream. My opinion of this one is, save your money and get Nuxe. For a high-priced face cream, Nuxe is not only more effective and better priced ($42, if I recall correctly), it does clog your pores if you're not careful. A little goes a long way, and if you apply too much, it'll clog. Not worth the (very) high price tag.

Phyto-Blanc Lightening Hydrating Emulsion was a sample the SA threw in. I was never specifically interested. It is a nice lightweight feeling lotion. The smell is lovely, like sweet grass. It doesn't do much, and I think this is not for oily skin per se, but rather dry skin that turns oily in the summer, because I feel that there are many emollients in there that might be hazardous to acne prone skin. I think if I wanted to try a nice, summerweight lotion, it would be the Hydra-Flash, but even so, I don't think Sisley is the place to look for oilier skin types.

Labels: sisley

0 comment(s)

Post a comment (NO SPAM)

Permalink . del.icio.us . Stumble

Posted by Dain, Thursday, May 31, 2007 8:46 PM (Eastern)

It's been a while. I was gone during "Dead Week", a Yale tradition in which seniors go to Myrtle Beach for a week after finals, except that my friends and I are not really the sort to go White-Trash Heaven (as it was later described to me), so we went elsewhere: first, camping in the Adirondacks, and second, Montreal! And then it was "Senior Week", i.e. continuous drunkenness at so-called events. And then, graduation itself, which was simultaneously tedious and exciting, but mostly tedious. So, I've been busy.

Not much to speak of on the beauty front, but I had the opportunity to go to Holt's while in Montreal, and discovered a few things.

Camping is not my thing.
We had the misfortune, after brilliant weather in New Haven, to encounter rainy and chilly weather in the Adirondacks. I refused to sleep in a tent, and slept in Tiffany's Jeep instead. I mean, honestly... do I seem like a camper to you? The only great beauty moment, was taking a shower after two days of wallowing in damp dirt: MOR lemongrass soap, the magic of toothpaste, and Nuxe Creme Fraiche.

But we crossed the border...
And Montreal is a very urban landscape. It's got a bit of a depressing air, a city that thinks constantly of winter, but the people are warm and open, maybe because they spend so much time indoors with each other. It's incredibly ethnic, bars and boutiques and restaurants everywhere, all from myriad origins: Lebanese, Szechuan, Alsatien, Ethiopian, Greek, Peruvian, Belgian, you name it. And it's weird, stepping out of British North America; it's still America (in the broad sense), but it's also kind of French. Great city. We all had a fantastic time. I brought: BVLGARI BLV Notte pour Femme, a crystalline musk-iris-ginger-chocolate (in order of declining strengths) cold cold cold scent that I thought would be perfect for Montreal.

But onto the beauty stuff. I went into Holt's, the Canadian equivalent to Neiman Marcus. Here were the bright moments:
1. Hermes Un Jardin Sur La Nil would make the perfect everyday summer splash, and is going straight onto my wishlist. It's citrusy and green, but with ever-so-slightly unexpected notes: green mango (milky and crisp, more sour than sweet), grapefruit, and lotus. There's something slightly bitter and unripe about the scent that I like, though I don't think "Egypt" at all. It's preppy, not exotic.
2. NARS Spring 2007: Both Habenera and Sugarland are gorgeous. I'm not sure I would personally get much use out of Sugarland, but Habenera, in the vein of many NARS duos, I simply want, want, want.
3. Sisley and Stella McCartney CARE samples. I've only tried the Botanical Intensive Day Cream (wanted to try the night version, but they were out) thus far, and it is certainly intense: aromatic herbal scent, a sticky texture that's hard to spread but sinks in quickly, bright, radiant skin (very quick results). But hardly justifies the $300 price tag, I think. I'm excited to try the Stella McCartney skincare, though.
4. Giorgio Armani Armanisilk Lipstick #46, a bright raspberry-red in the fabulous Armanisilk formula, may just be my perfect red lipstick. A blood red is a standard necessity, but there's something about the raspberry red that is really unusual but classic at the same time.

And dark moments:
1. Forgot to bring blush. Can't live without blush!
2. Lost NARS Gothika Lip Gloss, my absolute favorite lipcolor. Isn't that a bummer?

Labels: beauty notes, giorgio armani, hermes, nars, perfume, sisley, skin, stella mccartney

3 comment(s)

June 1, 2007 7:21 PM, Colleen Shirazi said...

Congratulations!!!!!

June 1, 2007 9:35 PM, cmm said...

WOW! You graduated from college??
Holy smokes is that cool!!!!

I've been to Myrtle Beach and I think it was during Senior Week too. Not sure who what school's senior week it was done there, all I remember is that it was just crawling with drunk kids in various stages of undress.:\

Not my thing.

On the other hand, I do love to camp! LOL! I just tote along all my lippies and pretties and have a grand ole time. And get laughed at alot by the other campers. :)

June 1, 2007 11:35 PM, TheLipstickPageForums.com said...

Hey Carol,

I have invited you to the LPF Beauty and Fashion Blogs. As I was doing so, I realized they no longer have a place to add a message to the person you're inviting. So, ah, that's why there is no message on either invite.

By this you can write on the blogs and you don't have to wait to have your comments published. Just saying. :)

P.S. It's me Colleen.

Post a comment (NO SPAM)

Permalink . del.icio.us . Stumble

subscribe in a reader