April 22, 2009

Well, LilSis, I have to say that I'm ambivalent about the Anti-Puff Eye Roller at this point.  I liked how the roller ball felt on my under eye area.  It was cool and felt kind of soothing.  The fluid or serum or whatever you call it didn't irritate my eyes in the least, which is a really good thing.  I don't have anything negative to say about it, and the price is excellent.

The Garnier web site says that the eye roller works based on this premise:

Caffeine decongests puffiness and diminishes dark circles
Pro-Vitamin B5 refreshes and hydrates the delicate eye area

Since we've seen that caffeine can be an effective ingredient in anti-cellulite products, in theory this product should work.  To be completely honest though, I just didn't really notice any reduction in puffiness.  We DID have a lot of Mexican food and pizza a couple of times plus Big T's yummy pita chips, so this may not have been a fair trial for this product.  If you continue to see results, LilSis, I may buy myself one to try under normal circumstances…when I'm not consuming massive quantities of salt!

On the Sister Scale, I'm giving this product 6 out of 10 points, but I'm reserving the right to revisit my review!  What other eye products do we have to talk about, LilSis?

~BigSis

April 20, 2009

After overindulging in Mexican food, pizza, or salty chips almost every day for the past ten days, BigSis and I found ourselves waking with what we call “salt bags”. And no, we don't just mean puffy eyes! These are called salt bags for a reason!  Seriously scary!

When I first saw Sarah Jessica Parker on the commercial for the Garnier Nutritioniste anti-puff eye roller, I actually laughed.  I'm thinking to myself, ”yeah right, here we go again with another product that claims to just roll away the puffy eyes.”  I was definitely skeptical. I read a few positive reviews online about this product, so we picked it up one day when we happened to be at Target.

It might not have been a fair time to test this product since both of our eyes were much puffier than normal.  I really liked how the product went on with the little metal ball; nice and smooth, and cool since we kept it in the fridge.  I also liked the way that the product dried so that you were able to put concealer right on top of it and didn't have to wipe it off like some products.

Overall, I do think that this product reduced the puffiness under my eyes.  (Some mornings, I actually used it twice.) I wouldn't say that it's a miracle product as they make it seem on the commercial, but I'm going to keep using it. For $13.00, it's a good buy and I think worth a try for anyone who has trouble with morning under eye puffiness!

What are your thoughts on the anti-puff eye roller, Big Sis?

~LilSis

April 13, 2009

Good morning, everyone!  We hope you had a most egg-cellent Easter, as we did!  It seems like it is officially spring now, since Easter is behind us, and kids are on spring break or just finished their break.

There's something about spring and vacation time that makes me want new makeup.  I don't know why, it just does.  Maybe it's that spring is like a fresh start or a new day.  At any rate, it can be really helpful for me to see a visual tutorial of new makeup, rather than just trying to wing it myself, which sometimes ends badly!

I found this cool video tutorial on MAC's sculpted eye on their web site.  There are 4 other tutorial videos you can view, all from MAC Makeup Artists.  There's one on a smoky eye, a perfect red lip, a sculpted lip, and classic eyeliner.  The tutorials are very easy to follow, and they provide a list of the products and tools that you need to recreate the look.

I also found a great tutorial on a spring eye from Miss Chevious. You might remember that we featured some of her videos on fun eye looks a while back.

Check out these videos and get some new spring ideas!

~BigSis

April 6, 2009

I LOVE this Sephora Stimulating Lavender Cuticle Oil!

Sephora Stimulating Lavender Cuticle Oil

I first heard about this cuticle oil over on The Beauty of Life. When BeautyChick101 said that she didn't like the smell of lavender, but that she couldn't get enough of it after using this cuticle oil, I knew that I had to try it. And after reading her review, I was fairly certain that this product would not disappoint. (I didn't know there was a person alive that didn't love lavender.)

This little pen size container sells for $12.00 and is perfect for keeping in your purse.  I've only been using it for a few days, but my cuticles are already looking better. My cuticles were dry, dry, dry!  I'm anal about pedicures, but I never get manicures so my cuticles are always in pretty bad shape. This cuticle oil smells so much better than others I've used in the past. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't run out of this too quickly.)

Lavender has been one of my favorite scents for as long as I can remember! This article has some interesting facts about the healing benefits of lavender.

Have you ever seen so many lavender plants? (Photo by Julie Ponder)

And while we're talking lavender, these are just a few of my favorite products that also contain the yummy scent.

• Relaxing Lavender Massage Oil from The Body Shop
• Lavender Relaxing Foot Cream from L'Occitane
• Calm to Your Senses Lavender/Vanilla Body Souffle from Origins
• Lavender Incense from L'Occitane. (And yes, I'm still made at you, L'Occitane for discontinuing the Lavender/Amber Incense.)

Oh, did I mention that I love lavender? If you're lucky, BigSis, I'll let ya try my cuticle oil when you're here!

Note added 5/27/2012: Could it be true that Sephora doesn't make this oil any longer? We can't find it on Sephora's web site. They have an original Cuticle Care Pen and a eucalyptus version of it, but the lavender is nowhere to be seen! If you find it, please let us know!

~LilSis

April 4, 2009

Due to some major technical difficulties yesterday, I am not writing today about what I had originally intended. I had numerous software problems which caused me to have to uninstall and reinstall several programs. I also had problems downloading my photos to my laptop (which still isn't resolved). But the icing on the cake was when I realized that I had lost a couple of hours worth of input on my post for today.

My first instinct was to find the nearest wall to kick. (Luckily I was still thinking straight enough to realize that I might break a toenail if I did that, so I decided against it.)

Once I walked away, I tried to calmly ask myself, so what are my choices here?

1. Go sit in a corner and cry.
2. Find someone to yell at.
3. Have a total mental meltdown.
4. Drive to the nearest MAC counter.
5. Post about something else today.
6. Call BigSis for sympathy.

I opted for #5! I don't think any of the first three options would have made me feel any better. And I had already gone to the MAC counter once this week so I decided that wouldn't be very responsible, either.

So, since I opted not to go buy a new MAC product, I thought I could at least share this interview with you that I ran across today on The Beauty of Life.  Since BigSis and I are both obsessed with MAC, I thought this would be an okay alternative to what I had originally intended on posting today. The interview is with Gregory Arlt, who has been a Senior Makeup Artist with MAC for over 15 years. He did Cher's makeup for this Living Proof Album Cover.

He has had a very interesting career. I hope you enjoy the interview. It's about all I can ‘muster' up for today. Oh, and I did also call BigSis for sympathy!

Have a great weekend!

~LilSis

March 31, 2009

Sorry to hear about the untimely death of all your houseplants, BigSis!! That's a real bummer! I hate it when something like that happens that is absolutely no one's fault but your own! You had some beautiful, unique plants! I know you're just sick about it! Are you going to try to replace them or wait a while to give yourself time to mourn?

Not that this compares at all with the death of all your beloved houseplants, but I've been mad at myself for the past two days because I thought I lost my new Hello Kitty Mac cosmetic bag. 🙁 (I know, boo hoo!)

I had become very attached to that bag and it contained five of my favorite MAC lipsticks, including the two new Hello Kitty lipsticks. I called the grocery store twice to have them check their lost and found because it's the only place I could remember where I might have taken the bag out of my purse to get my wallet out. Of course, they said no one had turned it in.

Today, I was just about ready to accept the fact that it was gone and move on. Then, this morning, SirHoney found my bag somewhere in his truck and he walked in with it in his hand and just said “You owe me big time”.   🙂

He's right.  I do! I'm sure he'll think of something he wants in return!

We really don't like to whine and complain too much here but I promise this will be my last rant for a while. I'm so aggravated at myself about this! Over the past several months, BigSis talked about the Borba anti-cellulite products and BigSis talked more about Borba results and I shared my results with the Borba Products; yet I let myself run out of the contour creme! DUH!

When the tube started sputtering, I should have ordered more instead of waiting until it was practically gone! I had no choice but to hack into the tube with some scissors so I can try to scrape out enough to last a couple of days.

I'm not wasting a drop of this stuff!

And yes, IMHO, this product is worth the trouble! I even paid extra S&H so I could receive it in two days. Whew! I feel better now. I'm over it!

Over the next several days, we'll get back to talking about more cheerful stuff; like Spring in Texas, Easter Bunny cakes, Easter menus, and BigSis' and SisMamas' upcoming trip to California.

Maybe I'll have time soon to talk about some new MAC and Urban Decay products that I couldn't resist buying!

~LilSis

March 22, 2009

There are not words to describe how much I love my Lollia Wish Shea Butter Handcreme that Bo gave me for Christmas! Thanks again, Bo!

I just love this handcreme! There is something about this Wish scent that I just can't describe. I want to say it's something similar to a sugar cookie scent, but it's much more than that.

The combination of the key ingredients in this handcreme are amazing:
A Burst of Italian Bergamot, notes of Cinnamon and Pepper, Rice Flower, Jasmine and Ylang Ylang, sheer Amber Woods and Vanilla Bean. Shea Butter and Macadamia and Brazil Nut Oils.

Lollia Wish Sugared Pastille Shea Butter Handcreme

I'm sure that the Amber in this handcreme has something to do with me loving it so much. I am a loyal L'Occitane customer and several of my most favorite scents from L'Occitane contain Amber. I'm still mad at them, though, for discontinuing the Lavender Amber Incense.

Here's a look at some of the other products in the Wish scent. Now, I want to try the Wish Petite Perfumed Luminary . The candle is a little pricey at $32.00 but they say that it burns for 80 hours.

Wish Petite Perfumed Luminary

After reading through the ingredients on the other scents, I think I'm going to have to try the Relax Shea Butter Handcreme.  I just noticed that this was on “Oprah's Favorite Things” list in 2004.

These are the key ingredients in the Relax scent:
Rich Lavender, White Orchid, Tahitian Vanilla, Bee Blossom Honey and Indian Amber. Shea Butter and Macadamia Nut Oil.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Relax Handcreme in the petite size for $8.00. The regular size is $24.00, but I think it will be well worth it if it is anything near as nice as the Wish scent.

~LilSis

March 18, 2009

Hello, everyone!  I hope you had a good St. Patrick's Day, but not so good that you're feeling a little green today due to the cocktail flu!

It seems like we were just gushing on and on about the MAC Hello Kitty Collection that purred into town and was gone before we could scoop the litterbox!  Well, MAC has come out with another new collection already. It's called Sugarsweet and it's precious!  Here is MAC's description of it:

This spring, M·A·C is all temptation… frostings, finishes, fillings. Each of them whipped, creamy, deliciously stylish, as inspired by the world's most popular sugar-sweet desserts. Never has a season looked so eat-me-up gorgeous!

Sounds tasty, doesn't it?  The colors are pretty much pink and green with an accent of beigey/pewter/gold.  These shades definitely say SPRING to me!  My favorite product from the collection is this cool layered Tricolour Lipglass in Just Dessert.

MAC Sugarsweet Lipglass

I've never seen anything like this, and even though I'm not a huge lipglass fan because of the stickiness, I'm so tempted to order this, especially with free shipping on any purchase unil March 22.  Just use promo code SUGARSWEET.

And before I go, let me leave you with a reminder that the Hello Kitty Sweepstakes is still going on til March 31.  You still have a chance to win some of the goodies that sold out before we could “scoop” them up!

~BigSis

March 10, 2009

Thanks for the scoop on your favorite mascara, LilSis! I love mascara, and don't leave the house without it. No mascara means skimpy lashes that don't show up, but the right mascara means long, thick lashes. It may be the most important part of my morning face, so I'm not willing to compromise on it.

A long time ago, I used Lancome Definicils regularly, but it's just too darn expensive for me ($24), especially when it seems to dry up fairly quickly. I've also used lots of the drugstore brands, and didn't like any of the Cover Girl, Maybelline, Max Factor or Almay mascaras. The cult favorite in the pink and green tube smears and flakes like crazy on me.  At some point, I heard that the same company owns both Lancome and Loreal, and that many of their products are very similar; they're just marketed differently under different company names to target a different consumer at a different price point.

I have two favorite mascaras now, both Loreal, and I use both of them every day. This may sound like overkill but let me splain; I'm not a high-maintenance girl but this method has worked for me for many years now. First I use two thin coats of Loreal Voluminous in black or carbon black.  It gives thickness and volume (hence the name) to the lashes. Next, I add a light coat of Loreal Lash Out. Lash Out is a thinner formula that won't give me the volume I want, but it lengthens (without fibers) and helps preserve the curl I've gotten from my Shu Eumura eyelash curler. Without the Lash Out, the Voluminous would let the curl straighten out during the day.  I like both of these mascaras with the straight brush rather than the curved brush.

Loreal Voluminous Mascara

I love both of these formulas. I have oily skin, and neither of these smears, smudges or flakes AT ALL. They make waterproof formulas of both of these, but I only use them if I'm going to be in the water since the regular formulas wear so well. They whisk away cleanly with my favorite makeup remover; Lancome BiFacil.  As I've said before, BiFacil is definitely a product worth the higher price point!

If I need to spend extra money for a quality product, I will, but there is no need with mascara, which is great since you replace it so frequently. The Loreal mascaras run around $6 to $8 depending on where you buy them, and there are frequently $1 or $2 coupons in the Sunday paper for them. Unless there's a new miracle mascara to hit the shelves, I'm pretty happy with my Loreal mascara duo!

~BigSis

March 9, 2009

Let's talk about mascara, shall we? Aside from moisturizer, it's probably the most important beauty product that I use.  Since I have blond eyelashes, I absolutely have to wear mascara.  I'm lucky enough to not have to curl my lashes, but without mascara, you can't even tell that I have eyelashes.

I've definitely tried many different brands of mascara, from the cheapest to the priciest. I've never really found that the more expensive brands performed any better for me. I've been pretty happy with the Cover Girl LashExact for quite a while now. It doesn't glob, it doesn't smear, and it stays on all day without smudging. Recently, though, I've noticed that it dries up faster and doesn't last very long at all. (And honestly, it's starting to piss me off.)

Before I go back to my ole' faithful Maybelline Great Lash, I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations? Do you have a mascara that you absolutely love and couldn't live without? If so, please leave me a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

BigSis, show me your latest favorite mascara!

~LilSis