July 22, 2010

Got a minute?

If you’d like to feel like you’ve just had a luxurious spa manicure without spending the time or the money to go to a spa, then look no further. The answer is right inside this little jar.

Truebath and Body Works Blue Spa "Just a Minute"

When BigSis came to visit me last month, she brought me the nicest little gift and I finally took a minute to try this Truebath and Body Works Blue Spa Just a Minute 60-second Manicure Hand Scrub.

This sugar-based exfoliating scrub really does works like magic! You simply massage the scrub into wet hands for a full minute, paying special attention to nail beds and any rough areas, then rinse, and voila! You can say goodbye to dull, dry skin and dry cuticles forever! My hands haven’t felt this soft in a long time and my cuticles are noticeably in better shape. The scrub also has a very light orange-citrus scent which happens to be a real favorite of mine.

The 5 ounce jar retails for $12.00, which I think is a great bargain considering the jar will probably last for months. And, since BigSis just mentioned the big Beagle Rescue and the fact that there are still major companies performing animal testing on their products, I went to caringconsumer.com to verify that Bath and Body Works is on the list of companies that DO NOT test on animals.

So, for just a little bit of money, you can pamper your hands AND know that no animals had to suffer to bring you that product!  Score!

~LilSis

July 14, 2010

After just revealing how Gaga she is over her new Urban Decay Naked Palette, BigSis also spread the news that the palette was already sold out on the Urban Decay site.

If you were as disappointed as I was after hearing that these beautiful palettes were already sold out, then you’re going to love this news!

Urban Decay Naked Palette

We just received an email from Sephora announcing that the Urban Decay Naked Palette is now available online at Sephora even though the palette won’t be in the stores until July 29th.

And, don’t forget, the set comes with an adorable, travel size Urban Decay Primer Potion and a double ended 24/7 glide on eye pencil!

So…

If you want to get your hands on one of these gorgeous Urban Decay Naked Palette sets, you will probably want to get on the Sephora site ASAP!

~LilSis

July 9, 2010

Ever wake up with puffy eyes?

Unfortunately, for me, it’s more often than not.

Whether it’s from too much sodium, staying up too late, or a bad case of insomnia, most mornings I’m greeted in the mirror by tired, puffy eyes.

What’s a girl to do?

Believe me, I’ve tried a ton of products to try to solve this problem and I’ve had some okay results with most of the products I’ve used but I’ve never been completely satisfied with any of them until now.

BigSis first mentioned the Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller a few months ago after she had been using it for a couple of weeks. When I heard that she had found a product that really worked as it’s advertised, I knew that I had to try it. I had been using the Garnier Nutritioniste anti-puff eye roller and I did like it but I couldn’t say without a doubt that it worked as well as it should.

I’ve been using the Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller for over six weeks now and I must tell you that I love it!

Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller

Olay Regenerist Advanced Anti-Aging Eye Anti-Aging Roller, 0.2-Ounce

I keep my eye roller in the fridge and the first thing I do every single morning is take about 20-30 seconds to roll a little bit of the product under my eyes. (It’s quite refreshing when this is applied cold.) This product goes on more creamy than other anti-puffy products that I’ve used in the past but it soaks in quickly and you can actually see results within a very short period of time. I’d say that within 30 minutes, my eyes are noticeably less puffy!

We sisters take the “puffy eye” problem seriously and we don’t recommend a product unless we have tried and tested it and are 100% happy with the results. So, ladies, if you have this problem, do yourself a favor and try this Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Eye Roller. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

~LilSis

June 8, 2010

I love those pale pink colors that BigSis just shared with us from the new OPI Pink Collection. I have a hard time keeping polish on my fingernails, so if I wear anything at all, it’s always a clear or a very pale pink polish.

I may go bare or ultra sheer on my fingernails, but not on my toes!  I get bored really quickly with the same colors on my toes so I’m always trying something new; from blues, greens, yellows, bright oranges to very dark purples.

I also couldn’t find the Essie Resort Collection at my local Ulta and I was in a funk on Friday and really wanted something to cheer me up.  I popped into my neighborhood nail salon and asked her what she had that was new and blue.

OPI Ogre-The-Top Blue

I absolutely fell in love with the OPI Ogre-The-Top Blue shade from the minute I saw it and I knew that I wanted to try it.

I was even happier when I got home to discover that it matches my new swimsuit perfectly!

Funny… I couldn’t have even done that if I had tried.

I really liked the color with the pink strappy sandals that I wore to my Girl’s Night Out on Friday night.

But I love the color even more worn with my white Franco Sarto bejeweled sandals.

Is it just me or doesn’t a good pedicure just cheer you up a little bit?

~LilSis

May 21, 2010

Frederic Fekkai Beachcomber Leave In Conditioner

Woo Hoo! It’s Friday; my favorite day of the week and time for another Fabulous Friday. Today, I’ve got another fabulous product to share with you.

This Frederic Fekkai Beachcomber Leave In Conditioner is the best leave-in conditioner that I’ve ever used.

I first discovered the Fekkai Marine Summer Collection last summer while visiting BigSis in Texas. We actually had a day to lay by the pool so we popped into a nearby Ulta to buy something to protect our hair while out in the sun.

We both tried this product and loved it! If you happen to have curly hair, then you know what it’s like to lay by a pool on a hot, humid day and try to keep your hair from frizzing. I had almost forgotten how much I love this product until I used it again a couple of weeks ago while out by the pool in 100 degree weather out in the desert.

This product not only works great to protect your hair while in the sun, but I’ve started using it again, as it’s intended to be used, as a leave-in conditioner. It’s lightweight, has a wonderful scent and doesn’t leave your hair feeling greasy or droopy.

When I first bought this last year, we were told that it was a limited edition product and I’m not sure if Ulta still carries it, but I found it on Amazon for $21.95. If you’ve have trouble finding a great leave-in conditioner, you may want to give this a try!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a fabulous weekend!

~LilSis

May 10, 2010

If there’s one thing that I absolutely love, it’s going to a beautiful, tropical resort for a carefree, relaxing vacation. Maui, Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, and St. Thomas come to mind first.

Unfortunately, there’s a little too much going on in “the real world” these days so it’s highly unlikely that we’ll be vacationing at a tropical resort any time in the near future.  But even though we have no vacation plans in sight, these new colors from the Essie Resort Collection will definitely bring a ray of sunny paradise into the day!

Essie says this about the Resort Collection: “Beach bound jetsetters can now reach the pinnacle of resort-inspired style with this newest limited-edition collection by essie. The Resort Collection was created to mimic the sights and sounds of the world’s most exotic destinations. The four colors are must-have accessories for any tropical vacation and the only escape for your hands and feet that doesn’t require a passport.”

Lapis Of Luxury – a dreamy ocean blue

Splash Of Grenadine – a playful magenta pink

Playa Del Platinum – an elegant and sheer sandy gray

Turquoise & Caicos – a flirty and pretty tropical aqua

You can purchase this little four piece mini collection for $17.00 to try out each color, but since I know I’m going to love these, I’m going straight to the full size for $8.00 each. I’ve just gotta have Lapis of Luxury and Turquoise and Caicos.

I’m not one for wearing color on my fingernails, but I LOVE wearing different shades of blues, greens and purples on my toes in the summer.

Maybe if I’m sporting some Turquoise & Caicos on my toes, I can pretend, just for a second,  that I’m vacationing in Turks and Caicos!

~LilSis

May 7, 2010

I LOVE Fridays! Is there anyone out there that doesn’t love Friday? For most of us, Friday marks the end of a hard work week and the beginning of a relaxing weekend! Right?

BigSis and I were talking the other day and we decided that since we both love our Fridays, we’re going to try something new. We’re going to take this day to share with you something that we find to be fabulous. And if it’s something extraordinarily fabulous, we may have to call it Fantabulous Friday!

So, to kick it off today, here are a couple of things that I find to be quite fabulous!

Ever Hip Creme Sheen from MAC Give Me Liberty of London Collection

Not only is this limited-edition shade, Ever Hip, a perfectly fabulous color for me, but I find the glossy white case to be equally fabulous.

Fabulously decorated case!

The case is decorated with an exclusively created flower and bird pattern for the MAC Give Me Liberty of London Collection. I don’t know what I’ll do with the case when the lipstick is gone, but I won’t be recycling this one.

Urban Decay Summer of Love Shadow Palette

This Urban Decay Summer of Love Shadow Palette is nothing less than fabulous! This gorgeous palette was a surprise Mother’s Day gift from BigSis that I just received in the mail two days ago and I’m already madly in love with it!

Sexy, Shimmery, Silky-Soft Shadows!

I tried one of these shadows when we went out Wednesday night and I can tell you that this eyeshadow is going to give MAC some competition! This lovely palette came with a fabulous 24/7 Glide On Pencil and travel size Sin Eyeshadow Primer Potion. The mirror and the magnetic cover are also fabulous, so what more can I say?

FABULOUS!!

And lastly, today is an especially fabulous Friday for me because this is where I will be today.

We’ll be in the desert for a Father Son Golf Tournament and I will be by the pool in the fabulous ‘almost 100 degree’ weather catching up on some magazine reading while the guys are golfing. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend two days!

I hope you have a Fabulous Friday!

~LilSis

April 13, 2010

Do we have any avid Urban Decay Primer Potion fans out there? I bet we do. But if you’ve never tried this product and need a little help keeping your eyeshadow on all day, you’ll want to try it! You will absolutely notice a difference with this potion on underneath your eyeshadow. It will last all day with no creasing! Promise.

But, I still have one little complaint about this product. The shape of this container leaves a lot of the product inaccessible and therefore it goes in the garbage with the container when you can’t get any more out. Last year Urban Decay made an announcement about the new wand and how the angled shape of it would help get all the potion out of the container. I’ve been using the new wand for months now and not only do I not like the new wand but I don’t think it helps at all. It may be time for another hack.

In case you missed it, last year I published an Urban Decay Hacker Tutorial with some step by step photos and instructions to help you hack into your bottle. These are just a few of the photos to give you an idea as to how much product is wasted.

Take a sharp knife and saw off the top.

Look at all the product hiding in there!

It's a messy job but well worth the effort!

Look at all the potion that was saved!

That’s a lot of product that would have ended up in the garbage!

Maybe this is a silly question, but, why not just change the shape of the container?

~LilSis

April 10, 2010

Those were great reviews on the eye products, BigSis!  I’m going to have to try that anti-aging Olay eye roller. I’m sure lots of other women will want to try it too since you gave it such a rave review.

And, it just so happens that I’ve got another great new product to tell you about, so listen up ladies!

Sally Hansen Creme Hair Remover

Guys, please don’t get offended that I’m leaving you out on this one. I’m specifically speaking to the ladies about this because men have it easy when it comes to facial hair; you just shave your face every day. Easy, breezy, 1, 2, 3, and you’re done.

For some reason, it’s okay for us women to shave body parts all the way from our toes to our neck, but it’s not so cool for us to shave our faces. (I do have a friend that admits to shaving her face every day, but I’m not goin’ there.)

That being said, I guess I just admitted that I have unwanted facial hair. Yep. I said it. I hope you appreciate the fact that we’re pretty honest here. We like to tell it like it is. Not only do I have the unwanted lip and chin hair, but I also happen to have some facial hair down my jawline and onto my neck. Sounds attractive, doesn’t it? Luckily, mine is blonde and fuzzy, but it’s still unwanted.

It’s not something we love to discuss, but most of us women will admit to having our lips waxed and to plucking unwanted chin hairs, which by the way, multiply like “breeding rabbits” once you enter the “menopausal” stage of life! If you’re not there yet, aren’t you glad that you have something to look forward to?

So, why am I talking about this “taboo” subject?  The last time I had my face waxed was over six months ago and I broke out so bad afterward that I decided I wasn’t ever going to do it again.

Since that was so long ago, it was time for me to check out my options so I spent some time at CVS one day looking over all the different hair removal products. I ended up deciding on this Sally Hansen Creme Hair Removal Kit. I don’t know what persuaded me to buy this particular product, but I’d tried Nair products before and they never work very well for me so I wanted to try a different brand.

I did a test patch, as suggested, and waited 24 hours to assure that I didn’t have a reaction to the product before using it on a larger area. Once I knew that I was “good to go”, I put it on my “problem areas” and waited for it to work its magic. With Nair, I usually had to repeat the process two or three times to get results but not with this Sally Hansen Creme Hair Remover!

Presto! After only eight minutes, I wiped off the creme and the hair was gone! All of it! I think I even did a little happy dance right there in my bathroom! This was really easy, not stinky, and I had great results, so I’m hair free and happy!

I know it’s not a fun subject to discuss, but if you have a similar problem, you might want to try this product. How often does a product really work as well as it claims?

~LilSis

March 9, 2010

Last week I talked about the Origins Youthtopia eye cream that I bought recently to replace the “more expensive” brand that I’d been buying. As luck would have it, I ran out of my moisturizer at about the same time I ran out of the eye cream. So, while I was at the Origins counter searching for the eye cream, I took a peek at their choices in moisturizers.

After looking over several options, I decided to try the Have a Nice Day Super-Charged moisture lotion. This is Origins description of Have a Nice Day.

Your skin hasn’t a care in the world when stimulating Ginkgo Extract, firming Birch Extract and nourishing Soybean Oil fortify it with everything it needs to face the day in a positive way. Origins potent blend of UV protectors, including nature’s own Titanium Dioxide, defray the rays. Vitamin E stops environmental no-goodniks. Skin runs smoothly sun up to sun down. And one whiff of the gung-ho Grapefruit aroma gives you a sense of can-do optimism.

At first I wasn’t real crazy about the screw top lid on this container because I was used to having a pump, which just makes it a little quicker and easier to dispense, but now that I’ve gotten used to it, it’s not a big deal and I think that there’s probably going to be less waste. With a container like this, it’ll be a lot easier to get every last little drop out of the bottle, which is not the case with the bottles that have the pump. (I never could figure out how to hack into the Chanel bottle.)

There are a few things I love about this product. First, I love that it has an SPF 15 just like the other brand. Even though SPF is not a lot of sun protection, at least I know that when I put this on every morning, I’ve got some sun protection.  If I’m knowingly going to be out in the sun, I’ll put on a SPF 30 or 45 on top of this. I also love that when you apply this product, you get a whiff of the grapefruit aroma. I first fell in love with the grapefruit scent when I started using the Origins Gloom Away products. And, in my opinion, this product goes on just as smoothly and feels just as hydrating as the Chanel.

What I love most about Have a Nice Day is that it retails for $36.00 for a 1.7 oz. bottle versus the $86.00 that I was paying for the exact same size in the other brand. When you think about it, that’s $100 savings for every two bottles I buy. That’s huge!

Now if I could just find a more affordable “anti-cellulite” cream!

~LilSis