Latest Beauty Products
Staying up to date with the beauty industry whether it’s makeup, skincare or haircare can be a chore. Lucky for our readers, we have a staff of guest bloggers dedicated to discovering the latest trends and styles taking shape in the beauty industry.
3 Makeup Trends for Summer 2011
13 years ago
We need not forget that looking fabulous is about much more than wearing the latest trends in fashion, there are also strong trends each year in makeup. I’ve scoured the web for some of the best makeup looks to bring our Style Bust readers the Top 3 Makeup Trends for Summer 2011. By following these three makeup trends you’ll present yourself as the trendy, fashionable lady you are!
#1: Strong Eyebrows
Strong eyebrows have been a big look for the runway this year. When your eyebrows are shaped and groomed correctly, they can give your face a whole new look – not to mention draw attention to your eyes. If you have been a little over zealous with the tweezers, try an eyebrow shadow to fill in the gaps or try using eyebrow stencils as an easy way of shaping your brows.
#2: Dewy Skin
Summer is the prefect time to pull off the dewy skin look. Choose makeups that create a glow or shimmer when applied to your skin. Pick a foundation that offers good coverage and with a non-matte finish. If you have far skin you should try silvery tones. For olive skin choose peach or gold tones.
#3: Bright Lips
During the day many women choose a natural look for their lips. You shouldn’t be afraid to add lip color for some added impact. Popular shades include red, pink, fuchsia and orange this season. Use a liquid lipstick sealer to help keep your color all day long.
If you’re in the market for learning to do makeup like the pros, sign up for make up courses. Find more beauty trends on Style Bust, and read Ellie Mendez’s posts to get an expert opinion on beauty products.
ghd Stylers
13 years ago
One of the things I always believe in is that you get what you pay for in everything from cosmetics, clothing, shoes, hair products and stylers. Recently ghd gold series stylers came to my attention and now that I know more about them I’m aching to use one.
Ghd (acronym for “good hair day”) has been around for a decade with styling tools that made waves in the hair industry. Fast forward to today and you will find the gold series styler which is a more advanced take on the classic ghd styler. The professional gold styler uses ghd’s latest heat technology. With a rounded barrel to create gorgeous curls, waves or flicks, as well as perfect straight styles for all hair types.
As I mentioned before, I haven’t tried the styler personally so I checked several sites to browse through their reviews and with hundreds of reviews these stylers consistently receive 4 to 5 stars; in spite of the fact that they’re not on the cheap side since each one costs over $200.
You can purchase ghd stylers at Sephora or selected salons, but if you want an extra kick, check out their limited collection Iconic Eras of Style, exclusively on their website.
Boho Chic
Sleeping Beauty woke up in the Boho seventies when parties were wild but the hair was relaxed.
Glamour
Sleeping Beauty woke up in the fifties, when locks were as glamorous as the frocks.
New Wave
Sleeping Beauty woke up in the eighties, when the new wave was big but the hair was bigger.
Each collection contains:
- ghd Gold Professional styler
- Protective Plate guard
- Heat resistant Iconic Era inspired styler bag
- Two ghd sectioning clips
- get-the-look book
Bohemian+Glam = Sexy!~
13 years ago
We hear Bohemian-chic thrown around a lot but what is Bohemian Glamour?
Think Solange Knowles,
Solange
Think Nicole Richie,
Nicole Richie
“When anything meets Glam I’m all about it, and so should you!!”
If 30’s are the new 20’s then Boho Hippies are the new Gypsies…If you love earthy mystical hues you’re one of the pack. You’re a gypsy with flair…
When I paint with lots of pinks, blues, golds, & bronze I think of this makeup style. It just oooooooooozes lots of colour yet brings a care-free spirit & attitude.
LORAC offers a little black palette that will help you achieve this look.
lorac cosmetics
These mineralized shadows are baked AND just like Lays Potato Chips leave you wanting more…this little patent book flips up and holds metallic goodness along with a mini eye primer to keep those shadows on lock! Caution: “without applying that eye primer even the best of best can cake, vanish or worst crease – Oiy!!”
The Bohemian look is all about layering fabrics & prints, some more picks you can layer on are brands like:
guerlain four-color ombre eclat pallette
nyx cosmetics – the runway collection
Remember there are no rules to makeup, just paint on the goddess goodness…
Fine Featherheads
13 years ago
A new trend that’s catching steam is adding feather extensions to your hair. In several local festivals I’ve seen booths offering feather bundles, but most of the time they’re offering the thick, straight feather you would most likely use for crafting. Which can look dramatic since those are normally thicker, but the ones I’m in love with are Fine Featherheads.
This is one of those things that spreads like wildfire, a co-worker got them and within weeks, me, her sister and her best friend got them as well and we all love them. I used to dye my hair black and now I’m waiting to outgrow the dye and be able to add other colors to my hair. Using the feathers has been great, it gives me the hint of color I’ve been craving.
What makes these different from normal feathers is that they can be brushed, blow-dried, straightened or curled to match your hairstyle. The site Photo Gallery has great pics of real women, kids, dogs and one guy with their extensions
There are different types of Featherheads and the price will vary depending on which extension you choose.
Original Featherheads – Seven feathers pre-bundled together and bonded at the tip.
Wispers – Individual feathers for a small statement, which can be combined in a bundle of 3 or more.
Accents – These have the look of a traditional feather for a bigger impact.
Because I was unsure if I would like them I went for a subtle look I could easily hide for work meetings, but next time I’m going for the Original Featherheads. When you make your appointment, check with the hair stylist first to see which colors or types she or he has to offer. The website offers a list of Local Providers. The following is a clip where I show you my friend’s, and my own extensions.
Update to this post. I just saw on Sephora’s site the Sultra Feathers, which are do-it-yourself clip-ons. Great concept, saves you a trip to the hair saloon and you can take them off whenever you want.
And one more update to this post. Now that feather extensions have become so popular it has come to the blogosphere attention the possible mistreatment of animals, mainly roosters, for their feathers. Fine Featherheads posted this information on their blog “Where do Fine Featherheads’ feathers come from.”
Lalicious: All-Natural Bath and Body Line
13 years ago
Recently on our Style Bust Fashionistas brought to our attention an all-natural bath and body line called Lalicious.
Lalicious is a line of high-end bath and body products which contains scrubs, body butters, oils and soaps in eight different scents like Sugar Kiss, Brown Sugar & Vanilla, Island Guava and others.
This line is available mostly online and in selected beauty spas. I was fortunate to find a local salon that carries that line and sampled the Sugar Scrub Souffle and the Body Butter since they had sold out of the rest of the products.
I tried the Tahitian Flower Body Butter and it was sensational, it feels very creamy but non-greasy. The scent was very light on my skin, nothing that would overwhelm and after a couple of hours I noticed the scent was gone, but the smooth feeling on my skin lasted a lot longer.
I also tried the Coconut Cream Sugar Souffle Scrub and from now on this is the only scrub I will use. The ingredients are all natural (cane sugar, coconut and other oils, honey); the first thing I noticed was that the scrub was dry and not full of oil. This
makes opening and closing the jar very easy since it doesn’t get slippery. I love it.
Once you put it on, the sugar souffle transforms itself into a soft moisturizing scrub which leaves you feeling soft without the oily feeling with a very nice scent. I adore this product and want more!
Lalicious also offers soaps and body oils which I didn’t have a chance to try yet, but will probably purchase the travel set so I can have the complete line and be able to take them with me when I travel and when I need to shower at the gym.
A special Thanks to Bollare for giving us this great tip and please keep them coming!
Heavy Duty Concealers
13 years ago
One cosmetic I can’t do without is a heavy-duty concealer. You see, once upon a time I got a very bad sunburn in my face and the aftermath resulted in a huge sunspot right below my right eye on the cheekbone area. To add insult to injury the dark circles under my eyes tend to join with the sunspot giving me an appearance I just don’t like.
And here comes the concealer to the rescue. Before I started experimenting with concealers I used to cover my sunspot on pictures with a dab of Photoshop. Lately I haven’t had to resort to that trick, even though I know my sunspot is down there somewhere, then again I have been trying on better concealers.
To show my commitment to get the best concealers, I went into Sephora without a trace of makeup so the clerks could see what they were dealing with and offer their expert advice. And if it wasn’t for them, I would never have checked some of these brands. The following are some of the brands I liked and the one that’s won my loyalty.
Almay
Smart Shade Anti-Aging Concealer
The great thing about this concealer is that it’s muti-purpose. Light weight, matches your skin tone, fights the signs of aging and it has SPF 20. This product is great for minor corrections, works well with any foundation. For major cover-up you would need to pile it on, which defeats the purpose of trying to look flawless.
Stila
Perfecting Concealer
Now talk about heavy duty! This concealer is capable of covering a dark mole, it leaves a semi-matte finish and it did a great job covering my imperfections. The only thing about this concealer was that I found it to be too thick. Other than that I loved it.
Make Up For Ever
HD Concealer
This product was created for those of us who try to get in front of the camera as much as possible in order to keep adding more pics to our Facebook profiles. They can explain it better than me:
The MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Complexion products use innovative formulas to create a new generation of make up which is both invisible on HD cameras and to the naked eye. The HD Concealer covers imperfections and creates a “soft focus” effect around the eye area for a natural, radiant look.
The HD Concealer can be applied with a built-in silicone brush. On this product I will need to do more testing and comparisons since I didn’t notice a big difference between this and the next concealer I’m about to talk about.
Cargo
OneBase Concealer + Foundation In One
The reason this concealer won me over is the fact that its light-weight, covers my imperfections and can also be used as foundation. For those times I run out to the store for a quick errand and don’t want to put on full make-up I just use OneBase with its handy applicator and I’m off the door knowing my dark circles and sunspot are safely hidden.
Regardless of which concealer you use, remember to pat it on. Don’t rub it in, especially in your delicate eye area. Of course, the best way is to apply it is by using a concealer brush. One thing I’ve noticed is that with the brush I need to use less product than when I use my fingers.
Nail Polish Strips
13 years ago
Recently you might have noticed in your favorite drug-store, grocery store or beauty supply shop a display containing a new product from Sally Hansen called Salon Effects.
Skeptical at first I had to try them and now I can’t stop showing off my nails. I was lucky enough to find Lace one of their most popular designs. Even though it was my first time using the product and I did it slowly, I was able to put them on in about 10 minutes. All you need is a clean nail and no drying time since I didn’t need to apply a base or top coat.
I deliberately mistreated my nails to see just how much the strips could stand. I cleaned and scrubbed without gloves (huge no-no for me) but my nails still looked great. Another thing I liked about the design is that every nail looks slightly different, which makes it look more professional.
Another advantage is that the strip protects your nail against breaking. I noticed all my nails grew the same length with the strips. Taking them off was not as easy as taking off nail polish, I did need to use more cotton and remover than I normally do, but I was able to take it all off.
Sephora by OPI also launched their own strips that complements their Glee collection with designs such as Navy & White Polka Dots, Music Notes and Gold Stars.
In the long run the nail polish strips could get pricey since each box will contain enough strips for only one application and for the same or lower price you can get nail polish that will last longer. But overall this is a great way to get your nails done quickly at a fraction of the time and cost of a nail salon.
Of course, if you much prefer going to a salon and having a professional pamper you with a mani/pedi and gorgeous nails, then check for salons that offer the Minx line of fashion strips, which is all the rage among the stars now. Minx is not sold to the public, only licensed professionals can buy them and they require heat so they can be applied. The cool thing about Minx is the variety and details of their designs. According to my manicurist Minx lasts up to two weeks; I might give them a try next time I go my favorite nail salon.
Finally, this is my very first attempt at a Vlog, and in it I’m showing off my nails decorated with Sally Hansen’s Lace design. It was hard not to show them off, especially since everywhere I went women commented on my nails and I was more than happy to tell them all about it as I looked at my nails with pride.
Copacabana – a spring essential!!
13 years ago
Rio’s most popular neighborhood but my favorite highlighter for all skintones which is no easy feat. Think about it, what shade can possibly work on gold, pink, peach undertones – answer: NARS illuminator in “Copacabana”, this released early spring.
NARS Copacabana Illuminator
Like the others you can rock it alone or blend with your moisturizers or liquid foundations. Wear it on the face & body because its meant for two purposes (“don’t we just love the convertible products that can be used for multi-use”).
Let’s talk packaging for a second, the old Copacabana was housed in a black tube called the Multiple (stick), it was revolutionary because you could use it on eyes, lips, cheeks – perfect for the novice or pro because it was mistake proof. You had good control by winding it up to your use – 
the new version comes in a see-thru tube requiring more control, sure you can dispense at your discretion but don’t over squeeze – you’ll WASTE. 
All the press say this product “lights the skin” from within, its true! This baby glides on, melts away and produces the most ahhhmazzzzzing glow; there’s a difference between disco shimmer and a healthy glow – NARS gets’ it. The texture of this is sheer so you can build it to your individual wants/needs. I like two layers because radiant skin is my signature, I’m no matte girl.
Makeup shades, formulas are forever changing but beauties, I’m here to say — this needs to stay forever put!!