Negative Nancy Says Winter Means Blahs, Dryness and Frigid Weather

I've talked about winter blues and how to stay warm. Now, it's time to talk about dryness. Dryness is a terror that deserves it's own post. It isn't a footnote in the long list of what is terrible in life about winter.

Instead of focusing on alligator skin and scarecrow hair, let's talk about suggested fixes.

Dry Skin

Aveeno! I love Aveeno. It's genius. It's cheap. It's widely available. All year round I use Aveeno Moisturizing Bars for Dry Skin. This bar is so gentle that it soothes my itchy, irritated skin. (Itchy and irritated are common words to describe me.)

In winter, I buy some kind of Aveeno lotion. It doesn't matter which; they've all been wonderful. This year I bought Aveeno Active Naturals Positively Nourishing Body Lotion, Energizing Pomegranate + Grapefruit. I'm a sucker for bath and body products that are grapefruit scented. (Sometimes, this ends badly, and I end up smelling like dish soap or worse bug spray.) This lotion smells great and once it absorbs is subtle. It does take awhile to sink in - especially on my hands and feet.

My coworker Sue introduced me to Nivea Creme. I buy it in the travel sized tins. The packaging is cute and small. It's easy to carry in the palm of my hand or throw in my purse. I find that I use it most often on the bus! I'm sitting there and BOOM my weirdo cuticles pull a run in my stockings like that is their main function. Solution: mourn the tights, silently swear, moisturize the cuticle.

Dry Eyes

Go to the drugstore. Buy five or sixty bottles of eye drops WITHOUT vasoconstrictors. Put them in your desk at work, every purse you own, in your bathroom, on your mantle. Hang them from your Christmas tree. Make earrings from them! 

Dry Hair

Sometimes lather, rinse, repeat isn't quite good enough. Here are the three things I use on my dry, coarse hair during winter - along with instructions on how to best utilize them.

Biolage by Matrix Hydrating Shampoo and Conditioner
wash hair well, massage liberal amount of conditioner into scalp and through hair focusing on roots, sit in tub until unbearably pruney, rinse in a half-assed way

Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream
apply utterly ridiculous amount to dry, dirty (like 3rd day dirty) hair, play video games for four hours OR watch four blood-soaked episodes of Vampire Diaries, take a normal shower

CHI Keratin Mist 
realize your hair is disgustingly dry but you have no time to do anything listed above, hold your ends altogether making your straw hair into a sort of broom, spray that shit until you drown that broom like you're a magician's assistant

Dry Lips

Lately I've been loving Maybelline Baby Lips Moisturizing Lip Balm SPF 20 Sunscreen. I bought it in cherry. It really doesn't have a color to it (which I like). It tastes good (enough). It isn't sticky.

For those with cash to burn, I do like Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15. It tastes good, has a little color (and is sticky in a good way?)

It's better to realize what you don't want than what you do want in makeup (and all things), because then it's easy to say no. What I DON'T want in a chapstick-but-not-chapstick: Glitter, stickiness, strong odor, strong taste, odor or taste that isn't based on something edible (read: floral), no SPF.

Product Review: Kose Seikisho Mask White

Fun story: Four out of five of the full days we were in San Francisco were foggy. Although I didn't mind the ambience and it was an experience one should have - my skin did not weather well. Personificationally, my pores had a town hall meeting. Everyone was in attendance. And, together they decided to close their doors and bar them against bacteria fighting agents using sebum as their deadbolt. I.E. I broke out. And, not in the Shawshank with a rock hammer way.

My reaction to my newly cratered mug was to try everything I could think of to pull the crap (sebum, dirt, oil) from my stupid face. I used 15 pore strips in two days. I made a mask out of baking soda. I made a mask out of eggs. I made a mask out of honey. Then, I went to the internet for help.

I love you, internet.

I found this video (those with migraines: watch on mute):

And, I found this website: http://shaun-owyeong.blogspot.com/2009/03/kose-seikisho-mask-white.html

I also checked out the reviews on Makeup Alley. 

What I was looking for was a Biore pore strip for my entire face that would (hopefully) rip all my skin off (Hannibal Lector style). I thought I had found what I needed when all negative reviews complained about the pain of taking the mask off. (Side note: my face has no feeling in it from years of torture.)

I bought the Kose Seikisho Mask White on Beauty.com and received my shipment three days later. 

After all that fluff, here is the review!

The Kose Seikisho Mask White is jet black and can be applied easily with clean hands. The texture is much like glue or tar. It actually takes some effort and soap to wash the mask from your fingertips after application.

The drying time is about 20 to 30 minutes. This would vary by how thick of a layer you apply to your face. I like a thicker, opaque application. 

Removal is easy. You start at the edges and pull off toward the middle (much like a Biore strip).

You can examine the pulled off mask to find small hairs, a few sebum clogs and dead skin. 

The Kose Mask is not like a Biore strip at all in that it will not pull plugs from your pores. However, it is an excellent exfoliant. 

My skin looks clearer and brighter after three uses over a period of two weeks. 

The fresh skin exposed after removing the mask makes makeup application smoother with less flake. Combined with my clindamycin lotion (I use this in place of moisturizer), it has left my skin clearer with a more even skin tone (lightened dark spots). 

I give it a strong B+ for use for acne and a solid A for skin brightening and exfoliating. 

Pros and Cons of Birchbox: A Personal Opinion

I just cancelled my Birchbox subscription in favor of a different month-to-month GLOSSYBOX [sic].

You can see from that statement where this is going. Sorry for the spoiler.

I do want to say that this is totally my opinion of the service and what for me is a con might be a pro for you.

I received Birchbox every month from March to September.

Pros:
SHIPPING CONSISTENCY: It shipped on time (around the 10th of the month). I received email confirmations for when it was shipped.
PACKAGING: It was in a box. So, goody for them. (I know this is a reach, but two things is not a list.)
RECEIVED FOUR THINGS I LIKED: I received two deluxe sample nail polishes from Color Club and Hollywood Fashion Tape (which I bought more of from Amazon) - and they threw in a pair of neon colored earbuds (note: not makeup).

Cons:
ONE TIME USE SAMPLES:  Some of the samples I received were in tear open packages or were in super small, one time use packages. I hate that! How can you really find out if you like something after a single use? I can't even tell if I'm allergic to something in one use.
PERFUME PERFUME PERFUME: Every Birchbox I received had at least one perfume sample in it. What the heck? Are people really into perfume that much? It doesn't even make sense to include a (let's say) $2.00 sample of perfume and expect a $60 pay off with a purchase of that perfume... in every box. Plus, when I contacted Birchbox and let them know I can't wear perfume, they just let me know that they can't do anything about allergies.
COST DOES NOT EQUAL PRODUCT: $2.00 samples of perfume aside, each box probably did include $10 of merchandise (retail price). But, the samples I received in the tear open packages could have easily been obtained at Macy's or Sephora - for free.
THROW AWAY ITEMS: Sometimes...  my Birchbox contained throw away items (like notecards and granola bars). I don't really understand that. I didn't sign up for a granola bar of the month club.

Here is a list of the items I received each month as well as the categories I'd put the samples in:


Perfume BVLGARI Mon Jasmin Noir
Tear-Open WEI™ to Go Sleep Over Kit: Real Clean and Ideal Skin
ACTUAL SAMPLE Vasanti BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator
ACTUAL SAMPLE Birchbox and Color Club® Custom Collection
Not Makeup twistband™ Lace up for Fall
Not Makeup The Brush Guard Variety


Not Makeup Schick Hydro Silk Razor
Tiny Tiny Sample Juice Beauty Oil-free Moisturizer
ACTUAL SAMPLE Eye Rock Designer Liner
ACTUAL SAMPLE C.O. BIGELOW Mentha Lip Shine
Perfume Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy La Fleur
 
Tiny Tiny Sample Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint
ACTUAL SAMPLE boscia Green Tea Blotting Linens
ACTUAL SAMPLE Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner
Perfume Oscar de la Renta live in love
Not Makeup LÄRABAR® über
Not Makeup Birchbox Exclusive Earbuds
 
Perfume Wonderstruck Taylor Swift 3.4 oz
ACTUAL SAMPLE stila one step bronze
Tear-Open Comodynes Self-Tanning Intensive
ACTUAL SAMPLE theBalm® cosmetics Stainiac
Not Makeup LUNA Bar
 
Perfume Arquiste L'Etrog
Tiny Tiny Sample Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse Beauty Balm SPF 25+
ACTUAL SAMPLE Color Club® Foil Collection
ACTUAL SAMPLE beautyblender® blendercleanser
Not Makeup twistband™ Skinny Headband
Not Makeup Birchbox Notecards

There you have it! And, that's why I cancelled. We'll see how GLOSSYBOX works out.

Makeup Summer 2012

Summer 2012 is all about red lips, colorful eyes and  bronze everything else. To read about these trends, I would like to send you to the Makeup Geek.

Here I want to discuss what I'm loving this summer. 

FACE:

Let's start with a basic: sunblock. I hate sunblock. It smells terrible, feels terrible and sweats off in less than an hour. Unfortunately, I'm of European descent and flush to a bright red after very little time in the sun. 

For the past few months, I've been dusting on a layer of Bare Escentuals - SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen. I layer it on over makeup if I'm going downtown for the day. I wear it alone when I'm on my day off. It works beautifully as long as I stay dry. Today, I went to the lake and am very very burnt after two hours of fun in the sun. 

I don't add color to my face during the summer time, because I am flushed most days over 70 degrees. Instead, I add color and shimmer with eyeshadow and lipstick. 

EYES: 

For eyes, I like to have different options for the level of maintenance I'm willing to put in that day. 

This year, I've been all about Urban Decay eye shadows. The vintage formula is awesome and the new formula is somehow even better. It's creamier and has better staying powder. It seems to blend better, too.

Pictured Top: X. Bottom left 

to right:  Kush and Last Call

On the kind of day where I'm a little tired and would rather watch Jane by Design on Hulu than fix myself up, I cover my entire lid in Urban Decay eyeshadow X. The color is iridescent and has a nice shimmer. It seems to change from gold to a pale pink. The photo on the left does not do it justice. 

The days where I'm in less of a hurry and haven't worn my usual bright colored outfits, I wear Urban Decay eyeshadow in Last Call and Kush. Sometimes I wear all three shadows together. Sometimes I wear one alone. Sometimes two at a time. The trio blends well together and are well pigmented. Usually if I wear Kush or Last Call "alone," I'll blend using ABC Gum. 

 

LIPS:

During the winter, I use NARS Manhunt to brighten my my pale pale face. In summer, I'm flushed (as stated above). I've been slathering on Fresh - Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15 in Sugar Plum. I keep this in my purse to avoid dry, chapped (and sunburned) lips. It adds enough color to boost my natural lip tone without overwhelming my face when wearing bright eyeshadow. 

Confession: I do not have the complexion for a lot of bronzer. Against my skin a lot of bronzer products make me look dirty. (I'm a strong believer in not wearing shimmer on your skin. You don't put glitter on a zit. Matte bronzer is great to layer over blush in winter, but worn alone looks bad on fair skin.) 

To hop on the bronze everywhere for everyone trend, I've purchased NARS (lipstick brand of choice) Hot Voodoo Semi Matte Lipstick. Even the name "Hot Voodoo" is fun! You can't tell from the picture here, but it's a pretty, metallic bronze. The semi matte formula is just sheer enough to see my natural lip color under the tint. It makes a great neutral lip tone and goes with all my eyeshadows (even those not listed in this blog post). I'm in lust.

That's a wrap. I might buy something new sometime this summer, but I feel like I am done. Summer 2012 is the season of shimmer (at least for me!).