Great Smelling Hair

I have this vision in my mind of "the cool girl in school."  I must have watched too many 80's movies as a kid--16 Candles, the Breakfast Club, Lucas, Pretty in Pink come to mind--because I have an image of her in my mind as someone like Phoebe Cates (absolute perfection). This girl was on TV--Blair Warner from The Facts of Life--and in books--Jessica Wakefield from Sweet Valley High (much sexier than her sister Elizabeth, who wouldn't fall into this category).  The girl I'm thinking of wore pink Tretorns, Love's Baby Soft, and had hair like the Breck girl (perhaps today she would wear Miss Marisa by Ebba).  She was the 80's fantasy girl, a little bit preppy, a little bit sexy, a little bit girl-next-door.  She was probably your babysitter growing up, if you're my age!  She was that girl we all looked up to, that girl we wanted to be; your older brother's girlfriend, the cheerleader dating the hottest Senior boy you admired from afar at football games as a Freshman in high school.

An image of her came to me as I was trying to describe the scent of the Sunsilk Straight to Perfection collection of products.  The fragrance is indescribable--you really have to smell it to understand--it just smells like great smelling hair.  It's what you imagine the captain of the football team smelled when Jessica Wakefield put her head of glossy, bouncy, feathered, natural blonde hair on his shoulder at the movie theater (no doubt during "Return of the Jedi" or "ET"), or when she was riding next to him in the front seat of his Camaro and listening to Jefferson Starship.   

I'm normally hooked on haircare from Kerastase, Carita, and Jonathan, and drugstore products usually disappoint.  The Sunsilk products are fine (not earth shatteringly good--they'll just leave your hair shiny, healthy, and clean, like Pantene or Garnier--though I don't get a buildup with Sunsilk like I do with Pantene) and each line of products smells differently (you want the ones in the purple bottle!).  You might want to try using just the conditioner or styling cream with higher quality, less harsh shampoos; it won't matter because the products are so highly fragranced that even just working one of them into your haircare routine will leave you smelling like our beautiful late 70's/early 80's teen queen.  I can't live without this stuff!

Sugar is hot, and so are you!

I'm kind of over self-tanners.  I've been a slave to them since I gave up sun-baking about 8 years ago, and although I love the glow they give me, I can't stand the smell and the residue they leave on my clothes and bed sheets.  This year, I decided to try experimenting with body bronzers; the technology has gotten so good that many of them (like Lorac's and DuWop's) truly are transfer resistant.  I've been walking around work for days playing with these lotions--for the record, I've also tried Sephora's (too light for me and I don't like the scent) and Smashbox's (ditto for them).  

So today I decided to venture into the world of powder bronzers for the body.  Why not? I wasn't getting the amount of shimmer I wanted from the lotions (they're all designed to give more color than shimmer, and I was looking for some serious Jennifer Aniston glow).  The other thing I like about powders is practical: they're easier to clean off my clothes, and they don't get all over my hands when applying.

I was excited when I came across Sugar's new Platinum Body Shimmer; the package's description, "sheer, shimmering bronze pressed powder adorned with flecks of silver and gold" had me enthralled.  When I read that it also tasted like sugar, I was hooked--with all that skin I plan on showing this summer, you never know! ;).  When I finally got a chance to try it out, it did not disappoint.  Indeed, it does taste sugar, and leaves my skin with a veil of color and shimmer that's not dense enough to ever be streaky or blotchy.  I experimented tonight and, although it's great on dry skin, it looks positively gorgeous over body oil (I was feeling dry, so I used this amazing one from Huiles & Baumes I bought at Space NK).   With this kind of a glow, I'm not missing the tan at all!

Olsen Twin Eyes

I can't be the only person who was wondering how Ashley & Mary-Kate achieve that perfect smokey undereye effect. I love how it enhances their eyes, makes them look huge, and still manages to look intentional--not like their makeup ran, or like they have crazy dark circles. Though this is an MK & Ashley signature, I've also seen this look on Cameron Diaz, Katie Holmes, and in the Becca ads for summer. So when I had the opportunity to catch up with Becca National Artist Lynn Furge, I jumped at the chance to ask her how to make this look happen.

According to Lynn, it's all in the brush. You've got to have a good, clean brush to smudge--and the smudging is how you're going to get that clean, graduated effect with color concentrated at the lashline and evenly blended down to an imperceptible finish. The brush Lynn used on me was the Becca Eye Definer #30; at home, I've been using the Sephora Professionel All Over Shadow Brush Large #21 on myself, and I'm thrilled with the effect.

So I've been practicing, and here's the look I've come up with. I'm in love with it!

-Apply Laura Mercier Eye Basics in Linen to lid and lower lashline (to create a long wearing, creaseless base for shadows)

-Brush ID Bare Escentuals shadow in Faux Fox thickly onto upper and lower lashlines. Don't be too precise! This look should be quick and easy.

-Dab a tiny bit of MAC shadow in Embark just into the roots of the lashes.

-Smudge some powdery black liner just into the roots of the lashes--I use the black end of Becca's Ibiza pencil.

-Now take your clean smudger brush and, starting at the inner corner of the eye, press it down until the bristles smush out and down. This pushes the shadow down your undereye area in an even, graduated smudge. Now drag the brush out towards your ear. Repeat on the top lashline. This is the key step!

-Line the inner rims of your eyes with Kevyn Aucoin Eye Pencil Primatif in Basic Black. This is the creamiest, blackest pencil in the world, and I literally would die without it. It lasts all day and looks fierce.

-I like to throw a little more Faux Fox over my lid to smoke up the rest of the eye. This morning, I also dusted a little bit of Becca Jewel Dust in Nixie onto the middle of my lids.

-Finish with some Smashbox Bionic Mascara. I got a sample of this recently and I'm liking it a lot for its deep black color and thickening skills. I'm not getting a ton of length out of it, but the thick lashes are best with this look. My trick for making this work is to hold the brush in front of my eyeball and close both top and bottom lashes onto the brush at once. Then I wiggle the brush from left to right and messily smudge mascara onto my lashes. It's ok with this eye look if you get some mascara onto your skin--it's a little bit messy, a little bit morning after, and a little bit rock'n'roll!

Happy smudging!

RuPaul's Trick for Dark Circles

There are so many reasons to love fearless diva RuPaul.  Among other things, she's got makeup skills like no other!  At The Makeup Show, Becca National Artist Lynn Furge shared with me RuPaul's special trick for making those dark circles a thing of the past (this is an especially great trick for all divas with skin tones on the deeper end of the spectrum).  All you need is some Becca cream blush in Byzantine--a gorgeous, deep peachy-gold color (think Nars Multiple in Orgasm, only deeper, denser, and less glittery).  Apply a swipe of Byzantine over the dark circles; its orangey color will correct their blue-purple tones, and its shimmer will diffuse light.  Top with a great concealer (Becca's is available in a whopping 34 (!) shades; Alicia Keys can't live without it), and you're out the door.