August 2011 Archives

Strawberry! Rosebud! Minted Rose! If you’re looking for a set that contains all three of these delicious flavors, then look no further than the Rosebud Perfume Co. Three Lavish Layers of Lip Balm collection.

All three of the cult favorite balms come packaged in an adorable vintage-inspired vanity tin that, once the balms have been used up, can be converted into a storage tin! (We recommend putting something like cotton balls or Q-tips in it and displaying it on your vanity or bathroom windowsill.)

In any case, these balms are among our very favorites for their highly nourishing and moisturizing properties. Shea butter helps heal everything from eczema and rashes to burns and chapped skin. Vitamins A and E moisturize. They even contain natural UV protection! But our favorite part is the Aromol Trade Secret Blend, a complex of seven different essential oils from the Perfume House of Paris France that promote healing and lend antibacterial benefits.

While these balms are mainly used on the lips, you can really use them anywhere that’s a little rough and dry, from cracked elbows to peeling cuticles!

Oh, yeah, we almost forgot … they smell fantastic, too.

Rosebud Perfume Co. Three Lavish Layers of Lip Balm retails for $16 at sephora.com.

I have struggled for years to find an eyebrow pencil that delivered softly drawn lines and just enough color. The Urban Decay Urbanbrow Precision-Tip Brow Tint makes my search and the sad state of my eyebrows a thing of the past. With a brush-like tip, this baby sweeps right over your arch, leaving featherlike, perfect strokes behind. My eyebrows look defined and natural and I’m smitten. 

The hot new nail polish shade around town—or maybe we should say the coolest? It’s most definitely Essie Lapis of Luxury.

As one might expect from the name, it’s a gorgeous shade of lapis blue. The color is rich and dark with even just one coat, though two bring it to a whole new level of amazing. The polish itself glides on with absolutely no trouble and is super, super glossy.

We’re currently rocking it on our toes and haven’t stopped getting compliments for days!

Essie Lapis of Luxury retails for $8 at ulta.com.

The hours we spend sleeping are some of the most important for our skin. It’s the time for our body to repair damage done during our waking hours, and those hours can really make our skin look and feel its best. We’ve compiled a few tips and tricks for you to put to good use while you sleep.

Use a sleep mist.
If you’re one of those people who just finds it extremely difficult to fall asleep when your head hits the pillow, try a sleep mist. Studies have shown that if you get between 7-9 hours of sleep a night, your skin looks dramatically better … so why not help the process along? We love Molton Brown Relaxing Yuan Zhi Mist ($38 at moltonbrown.com), which seriously creates lights out within 15 minutes, tops.

Use a good lip balm.
Prevent chapped, cracked, dry and an otherwise unsightly pout by slicking on a good lip balm before bed. Look for one with Vitamin E, which really works to moisturize the skin, and for one that stays put for over 4 hours. That way, your lips won’t feel too dry when you wake up in the morning.

Drink a glass of water before bed.
The best way to hydrate your skin? Good old-fashioned H20, of course! A glass of water before bed can really start to bring the moisture out from within, giving you a gorgeously glowy appearance.

Wear night cream.
While you should wear moisturizer during the day, too, look for a heavier one to wear while you’re in dreamland. A good night cream erases the damage of the day, making skin firmer and more resilient, and thus easier to face the challenges of daytime hours!

For a girl who changes her haircolor more often than most of us change purses, you’d think we’d seen it all from Rihanna. Over the years we’ve seen this Barbados beauty sport blond, black, orange, red and even two-tone shades of haircolor that have made us long for her daring sense of style. Then this past week she popped up with a shade of golden brown hair that is so simple and tame (by her standards) that we’re a little bit stunned — yet still impressed!