KimmyLand

Archive for the ‘Beauty’ Category

Favorite Beauty Products of 2oo9.

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• Skin Care – Face
• Facial Exfoliator - Burt’s Bees Lemon Poppyseed*
• Facial Soap - Aveeno Moisturizing Bar*
• Facial Toner - Burt’s Bees Rosewater Toner*
• Lip Balm - Rosebud Salve in “original” and Bubble and Bee Lip Balm in “rootbeer”
• Moisturizer - Day (Olay Complete All Day Moisture, spf 15)  Night (Jason Natural 5,000 IU Vitamen E Beauty Oil*)
• Eye Makeup Remover - Desert Essence Jojoba Oil*
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• Skin Care – Body

• Body Wash – Bubble and Bee Shower Gel in “fresh orange”*
• Body Moisturizer – Desert Essence Jojoba Oil*
• Perfume - Coco Chanel
• Shaver/Hair Removal - Braun Epilator 3170
• Deodorant – Lemongrass and Rosemary Natural Deodorant*
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• Make-up
• Foundation - Everyday Minerals in “light/medium original glow”*
• Finishing Powder - Bare Escentuals Mineral Viel in “feather light”*
• Blush – Bare Escentuals in “hint”*

• Brows - Bare Escentuals Brow Powder in “dark blonde”* and Smashbox Brow Tech Wax
• Eye Primer - Bare Escentuals*
• Eyeliner - Gourmet Body Treats Liquid Eyeliner in “black”*
• Eyeshadow - Annabelle, M.A.C., Bare Escentuals*, and Everyday Minerals*
• Lipgloss - Clinque in “play-full plump”

• Lipstick - Rimmel in “airy fairy”
• Mascara - L’oreal Double Extend Waterproof Mascara in “black”

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• Make-up Brushes
• Foundation Brush - Everyday Minerals Flat Top Kabuki*
• Eyeshadow Brush - Ecotools Bamboo Eye Shading Brush*
• Blush Brush - Ecotools Bamboo Blush Brush*
• Brow Brush - Bare Escentuals Brow Brush
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• Hair Care
• Flat Iron - CHI – it’s pink!
• Heat Protectant – CHI Iron Guard
• Oil – Moroccan Oil
• Hair Spray – Aussie Opposites Attract non-aerosol
• Volumizer – BigSexyHair Blow Dry Volumizing Gel
• Shampoo - Jason Natural Sea Kelp*
• Conditioner – Jason NAtural Sea Kelp*
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• Nail Care
• Nail File – LA Cross Crystal Nail File
• Nail Polish – I rarely ever wear nail polish, when I do any polish in a nude colour
• Nail Strengthener – Sally Hansen Vitamen E Cuticle Oil, 4,000 IU
• * Denotes a natural product.

Bubble and What?

Bubble and Bee, that’s what!

First and foremost, I have to say that I absolutely love their products. After giving them a try I must admit I love all of the scents. Last year (prior to my natural/organic is better for you revelation) I would tell you I would never give up pretty (and chemical pretty I must add) smelling cosmetics because I love love love smelling pretty. Well, to be honest I haven’t given perfumes up (yet) but I have switched all of my lotions, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, balms, and butters to all organic or less toxic choices.

Let’s start with the Body Butta’s.
Raspberry Vanilla Body Butta
Now, I got the smaller version of the tub because I was not sure if I would like the scent or if it would jive with my sensitive skin. Now that I have it in my hot little hands, I love the smell. No it doesn’t have a sharp scent, like you would find in other brands that use the general term “fragrance”, but it has a light and fresh scent. So good you would eat it (don’t worry I won’t)! This small jar will be perfect to leave at Mike’s place for when I am in need of a moisturizing dessert for my skin. I will probably be using the “unscented body butta” on a daily basis at home. So let’s move onto that…

Unscented Body Butta
Ok so when I first saw “unscented” I thought well this will be good for my skin (I have excema – so super sensitive skin – the less fragrance the better) but really, really boring. I figured this is what I have to do for my skin and body, so I bought the big tub. Oh boy, was I in for a surprise. Just like the raspberry vanilla one, I opened up the jar and took a whiff, and to my suprise it smelled, spectacular! Not bold and fake smelling, but natural and nutty (probably the coconut – boy do I love coconut!). I’ve been using it the last few days and my skin sure seems to be thanking me for it.

So it smells great, and feels great too!! (This is for both body butta’s)
When I opened them, I instantly put my fingers in and rubbed some into my arm. They are right, it is not like traditional creams where you slather it on and your skin sucks up the moisture. This body butta goes on a bit grainy, which can feel a little weird at first, but once you get used to it (it took me all of a few seconds because once the scents hit me, I was in heavan!) it doesn’t seem too bad. This grainy feeling goes away after you rub it into your skin anyway. According to the directions, it is because of the coconut protein they use. Darn, have I mentioned I love coconut, so grain me up baby!

Coconut and Lime Lotion Stick
This one is a little hard to wrap your head around. According to Bubble and Bee, they have taken the water out of the equation to give you a rich and convenient way to moisturize. Being .63 oz. in all of its glory, it is perfect for your purse, backpack, or desk. I love how small and convenient it is! Due to my dry skin I used to be that girl that brought a huge container of hand cream in my purse. I needed to slather on cream every time I washed my hands. It would get quite annoying. With this lotion stick, you don’t have to re-apply after you wash your hands every time. And the scent it great! Light, fresh and natural (are you noticing a trend here?). I am curious to try the other lotion stick, so I think I will order that one next time.

Pit Putty
So I bought myself the Geranium and Lime Putty and bought Mike the Original Pit Putty.
Geranium and Lime Pit Putty
So this is day 2 of using it. I’ve used nautral deodorants before so I am aware of the 10 day detox period. I may have to update you all in a week or so.

*UPDATE* August 30, 2009
Ok so I think I have been using my pit putty for about 2 weeks now. Well it works, but I find I have to re-apply a few times a day, which I am totally fine with. I was a little suprised when I first opened it to find that it was all stuck in the lid (thankfully I read all of the instructions) but after molding it back into its place it looked like a regular pit stick. (p.s. it melted in my bag as we had a +27 day yesterday and I was not very impressed this morning when it crumbled all over my bedroom floor – so always be ware to keep ‘er up-right). Maybe I’m just ultra sweaty, or maybe I am still de-toxing, who knows!! I think I might try the Original Pit Putty though, I’ll let you know how that goes in a future post.

Please be sure to visit the Bubble and Bee site!

Yahoo!

Event: Calgary Stampede
No, not the search engine. Let me hear your best “Yahoo!”, you know… outloud. It is Stampede here in Cowtown. So everyone has got their cowboy hats and boots on. I should even go as far to say eveyone has their drinking faces on too. Stampede time is one big excuse to round up your friends (or office and clients) and seriously get your drink on. Even taking a walk down Stephen Ave at lunchtime seems like mission immpossible – the crowds are insane!

So yes, I have gone to the grounds already! Sunday, Eva Avila and Divine Brown played the Coke Stage. Eva was alright, but Divine blew me away. She was excellent live. She even did a tribute to M.J. and did her version of a slower Billie Jean song (which is fyi, my favorite M.J. song). Music aside, I enjoyed lots and lots of food. The only thing I was not too thrilled about was the Deepfried Cheesecake. People… you can get these everywhere! I’ve been to a few bars that have had this on their menu. DON’T waste your $7! Spend that money on minidonuts! Trust me. Also went and saw the mini donkeys and walked around the round-up-centre. Lot’s of stuff to see, not a lot worth buying. No suprise there!

I’ve always liked the Stampede. I mean it really puts Calgary on the map for ten whole days. My parents weren’t huge on taking us a kids, but really I am not bothered by that. In fact the amount of unatended children running around the grounds is alarming! First of all it is quite annoying to have to dodge people every few seconds now add in small children in the mix. Oh it can be irritating. Second of all, they don’t screen people entering the park people! There could be creeps all around ready to snatch your child. Actually, I am suprised missing children reports don’t sky rocket in our city during Stampede.

Make-up: Bare Escentuals
Ok, so a few months ago… I think sometime near Christmas I blogged about a make-up line that I had just bought. Well after using it these last few months, here is my review. I think it went on well and looked really natural. It is quite pricey, but I didn’t expect anything less as it was sold at Sephora. The packaging was great, super trendy and compact (plastic too, so completely recyclable – for you earth lovers like me). The mineral powder itself, after application, feels like a liquid foudation. Most of all, I really liked how easy it was to apply. Applying it with the Kabuki brush made make-up application effortless!

Ok so there was the good stuff mainly, now for the bad. Their products may make your skin look great, but the make-up is not very natural. For instance, from just looking at a few of the products on their shelves, some of their products contain paraben. After I saw this I did a little reserach online and found that the ingredients in their make-up line is not that safe for your skin. In other words, other make-up lines offer safer cosmetics).

So I am now trying Phycisians Formula Organic Wear. I was so psyched to try this line. Not only does it claim to be organic, but most of their containers are fully recyclable! For instance the powder compact is made out of cardboard. After trying it for a few weeks now, I am sort of dissapointed. The liquid foundation went on too oily for my face and I felt really oily throughout the day. So I tried using powder over the foundation and found that I felt my face was too “cakey”. So now I am just using my Bare Escentuals kabuki brush with the pressed powder. I have found success in this – the only issue is that I have really dry skin, so I have to use moisturizer before applying my powder. DON’T get their concealer. I was very dissapointed when my stick snapped in half.

So overall I don’t think i will be buying this line again. The only product so far that I liked was the pressed powder (I bought the mascara but have not opened it yet). And for a drugstore brand it was quite expensive. I have no problem with paying more for organic, but not if the product does not work for me.

So once again I am on the never ending search for a healthy and usuable cosmetic line. After some preliminary research, I think I will be trying Gourmet Body Treats next. The only downside is that it is only sold online. But it seems that is the way a lot of people are going – as opposed to a shop, I guess an internet store really cuts down on costs.

Another Dissapointment:
I really wanted to like this line, but Burt’s Bees has disspointed me. They use fragrance in some of there products which is not good for sensitive skin. I’ve tried their shampoo and conditioner and felt it left my hair wirey (if that makes sense). I won’t be buying their shampoo and conditioner again. I bought their almond hand cream and was disapointed after rubbing it into my hands. Off the bat it smelled like Twizzler sticks (artificial fragrance of course) but after a few minutes it smelled really bad on my skin. I won’t be buying that again – in fact I will be throwing it out… half full. Oh and I am trying their Herbal Deodorant now… and o.m.gosh I smell like a natural food market. It’s herbal alright! It seems to do the trick for keeping your body smell away, but the spray itself is not that feminine, and well I had to face the truth, I am a princess, I can’t be smelling like that! (See below – Bubble and Bee) I now have to use this (as I don’t have any alternative right now) until my other deodorant arrives. I was using Miessence before, which worked well! It was a great deodorant. It was just that it also did not smell feminine, and it also was a bit pricey as it had to be shipped from Australia. I won’t be ordering that one again.

The two items I did like by this line was their facial scrub and rosewater toner. These two products worked well for my skin. The face wash smells medicinal (which I am fine with because the smell doesn’t linger). The toner… I loved! It smells great (natural rose smell ) I will definately buy the toner again but probably nothing else!

Other Organic Fun: Bubble and Bee
Back to the deodorant issue… I have recently come accross a line called Bubble and Bee. Now I have not tried their products (it’s actually in the mail – they only have an online store like GBT) but from reading what people have to say about their experiences, I am quite thrilled to try it out. I even convinced Michael to try their deodorant. So who knows, maybe I have found the solution to my everending search for healthy and good smelling deodorant and lotion.

Excess Baggage

I did it!  I officially cleaned out my beauty arsenal.  That’s right, I pretty much threw money down the drain in aspirations of ridding myself of paraben and other harmful substances.  Now you are all probably wondering why I did this?  Well fairly recently my family has been on somewhat of a “live better” approach to life.  And this consisted of taking a better look at what we are putting on ourselves everyday.  It all started with playing “where’s waldo” with the ingredient “paraben” and absolutely every piece of soap, lotion and cosmetic known to my household and their ingredient lists.

After this, I took it upon myself to do a little of my own research and I found a really good web-site that consists of a database of all harmful substances in which beauty products may contain.  Please visit http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ if you are interested.  I know I spent quite a few hours on it this weekend just researching products.

So anyways, to be more specific, I threw out most of my eye-shadows, lip glosses and pretty-smelling lotions and in exchange started purchasing mineral make-up, natural and chemical free moisturizers, and aluminum free deodorants.  It didn’t take me long to realize being healthier is a bit more expensive than bargain hunting for pretty beauty products.  But in the end, I think it will be worth it.  I will let you all know in a few days, weeks, months just how I feel – and that my friends will be the basis of whether or not going natural has instant benefits.  I know results of my decision to use more natural and chemical-free products will not show for years, but I like to think that I will feel the benefits a whole lot sooner.

Let’s start with a beauty review (I know already?):

I used Bare Escentuals a while back, and totally fell in love with it – back then I only tried the foundation though.  This time around I decided to buy the whole starter kit (hence the whole spending a pretty penny for more natural products from the previous paragraphs).  You can find this line at your local Sephora, and let me tell you, it feels so natural on your face.  It’s not like liquid foundations where it feels like your wearing a mask.   And best of all – and honestly what sold me – their makeup (minus a few products) is essentially paraben free!  :D  I’ll let you know in a few weeks how this brand is working out for me.  For now, check out their website!  http://www.bareescentuals.com/  Most of the products can be found on sephora.com as well.  I find sephora to be ubber helpful (and this goes for any brand really) because almost every single product on there has customer reviews.  I find these reviews super helpful because the women using this stuff are like me (not a professional cosmetics associate), and if they are finding it hard to use or impossible to apply – chances are I will find the same result.

xo

K