August 2008

Image by KirrilyRobert

Hair expert and owner of Antonio Prieto Salon (127 West 20th Street NewYork), Antonio Prieto shares with us his natural home remedies for all your hair woes. The best part is, you probably already have all this in your grocery bag!

I wish I found this out earlier - the other day I got bored of my damaged hair (thanks to backcombing all the time!) that I went to the kitchen, opened a bottle of olive oil and dumped it on my head! If only I had known…sigh.

Here are Antonio’s tips:

Oily hair:

Boil two tablespoons of mint in 1 1/5 glass of water for 20 minutes. Strain the mixture and mix it with your regular shampoo. Using the mint mixture on alternative days absorbs the excess oil in your hair.

Dry and damaged hair:

Apply a paste of egg yolk and water. Leave it in for 10-15 minutes and rinse off with cold water.

Frizzy hair:

To tame uncontrollable frizz, try rubbing coconut oil into your hands and apply sparingly into your hair.

Build-up in your hair:

Massage a small amount of olive oil into your roots of dry hair before shampooing. Olive oil is also great for helping coarse hair. Apply from the mid-lengths to the ends of your hair for great control and moisture!

Dull and boring hair:

Rinse your hair with lemon juice to bring life and shine back into your hair.

However, it is not recommended for color-treated hair, so use a cold water rinse after shampooing to contract the hair cuticles for a great shine!

A tip for all:

A healthy diet consisting of vegetables, fruits, buts, grains and plenty of water is the best way to achieve healthy hair! Remember you are replenishing from inside out! Also, you can read my post on Shampoo Myths and Facts on how to futhur take care of your hair.

Has anyone tried any natural remedies, or have your own to share? I’d love to hear about any crazy remedies you all might have! :-)

Bring out your inner Goth this November!

Black lipstick has been all over the fall runways and magazine editorials, making it the new must-have trend for fall. (YSL has also released their version of a black lipgloss, YSL Gloss Pur Black.)

However, apart from Halloween, it’s pretty hard to pull off in real life.

Lancôme has taken a chance and will release a limited 500 sets of Color Fever Gloss in Piha Black, a sheer black colored lip gloss. They will also release Color Fever Lipstick in Piha Red, inspired by the redness of a Christian Louboutin shoe.

This lip set is created by Aaron de May, Lancôme’s new artistic director for makeup.

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Seems like Lancôme Ôscillation mascara was not a first of its kind!

Estée Lauder’s TurboLash All Effects Motion Mascara is yet another battery operated mascara which vibrates gently through lashes.

An innovation in design and engineering, the mascara is said to create “maximum volume, length, curl and separation” – all at once!

TO USE:

1. Twist mascara cap at middle to open. The motor will automatically turn on.
2. Use care in applying mascara. Slowly pull brush up through lashes, starting at root.
3. Repeat for even more drama.
4. To close, twist cap tightly until motor shuts off. (Important: Always turn off motor to preserve battery life. When the battery runs down, it’s time to get a new mascara.)

I honestly can imagine this whole vibrating-brush fad actually working, but we shall see!

“See a shoe and Pick it up and all day long you’ll have Good Luck.”

So said Andy Warhol half a century ago, when he first got noticed as a shoe illustrator ensconced on Lexington Avenue.

I am in love with that quote!

Now for the artist’s 80th birthday, Bond No. 9 returns to Warhol’s origins and celebrates the mutual sensuality of shoes and eau de parfum.

To celebrate Andy Warhol’s 80th birthday, Bond No. 9 has created it’s third Warhol inspired fragrance, Lexington Avenue. (I also reviewed the second one, Andy Warhol Union Square). And let me tell you this bottle is FANTASTIC! I think it’s my favorite Bond No. 9 bottle so far.

The Story

But why the shoe connection?

Back in 1955, Warhol published a little book, A La Recherché du Shoe Perdu, (my broken French tells me that means, The Search of the Lost Shoe?) filled with his illustrations of shoes. He did this to make ends meet, whilst being camped out in his furniture-less apartment in 242 Lexington Avenue.

Along came I. Miller, the legendary shoe establishment, which chose Warhol to update its image with illustrations for ads that would appear on a regular basis in the New York Times and the Herald Tribune.

The Notes

Not only is the message (and that bottle!) very special, but so are the notes – the very top note is Blue Cypress, which is rare to have a wood as a top note.

Other tops notes include Fennel, cardamom (curry spice) and Roasted Almonds. Middle notes include Pink peony, crème brulee, pimento berry, with patchouli and sandalwood as base notes.

My Thoughts!

I wore this fragrance out and I could stop sniffing my wrist. There is something so different about this scent. It smells fashionable, and the scent is quite spicy. It is described as a “seductive and intoxicating autumn-winter scent” and I could not agree more (those writers always best describe the fragrance better!). I can definitely imagine this in the Winter months and this is an extremely sexy scent.

To be honest I don’t think I’ve ever tried out a “spicy” scent, but I like it a lot! A big difference from all the floral fruity scents around, and I am torn… this or Union Square?!!?!

I am loving this Andy Warhol collection and hope there are more to come!

I just had to write about this collection because look at that picture! I don’t even know what raspberry butter cream frosting is, but it is the bases behind Jaqua’s Beauty delicious new releases, Raspberry Buttercream Frosting Collection, and it looks absolutely delicious!

A luxurious marriage of juicy raspberry and sweet cream, formulated to nourish and indulge from head to toe. The Raspberry Buttercream Frosting Collection is a light, fruity scent bursting with the sweetness of ripe raspberry and Jaqua’s signature frosting fragrance.

The collection includes:

• Lip Gloss Ring – This tasty accessory gives you a kiss of color and a sweet taste of raspberry buttercream frosting flavor anytime, anywhere.
• Lip Whip – Satisfy your sweet tooth without a single calorie. This delicious, nourishing lip gloss is formulated with vitamins A, E, and C to keep lips soft and kissable.
• Hand Crème – This luxurious hand crème is packed with the ripe, rich essence of raspberry. Treat your hands to the nourishing indulgence of meadowfoam seed oil, fruit extracts and vitamins A and E—luscious hydrators designed to keep hands soft and pampered all day long.
• Sinfully Rich Body Butter – This indulgent, nourishing formula blends serious skincare with a rich raspberry fragrance. Formulated with cocoa butter and natural extracts, the whipped body butter lavishes skin.
• Shower Crème – This rich and creamy shower wash is filled with good-for-your-skin ingredients like fruit and aloe extracts, macadamia and evening primrose oils, and vitamins B5, A and E. Indulge your skin in fresh raspberry scent and turn your shower into paradise.

Don’t know about you, but I am lusting over the body butter! :)

I previously wrote about Jessica Simpson’s new fragrance, and I finally tried it out.

And I like it! But don’t tell anyone.

Like it’s description, it really is a “sensual fragrance that is feminine, versatile and memorable.” It is extremely feminine, and like its name, the scent does smell very “fancy.”

It is a fruity floral, though I would say it’s more fruity as it’s very sweet and candy-like. At the same time, I can definitely smell a warmth that is caramel, so it isn’t your typical overly sickeningly sweet scent. It smells young, but mature at the same time. Does that make sense?! (For reference to another celebrity scent, it is thankfully not as sweet smelling as Britney Spears’ Fantasy. My goodness that thing can give you a cavity!)

Like I said; I like Fancy, but I personally don’t like to wear florals or fruity scents, so I wouldn’t buy this.

Those that do love floral/fruity/sweet scents, I would highly recommend this! It’s definitely one of the better celebrity fragrances out, for sure!

Has anyone tried this out? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear!

Women’s Health magazine held their 2nd Annual Beauty Awards recently, and I got a list of the winners, chosen by 48 experts (dermatologists, makeup artists, etc).

The winners were chosen on a problem-solution bases, where readers wrote in their biggest beauty problems, and the experts chose the categories and winners accordingly:

BEST IN FACIAL SKIN CARE

• UNDER–EYE CIRCLE TREATMENT: Topix Replenix Intensive Eye Lightening Serum
• DAILY SUNSCREEN: LaRoche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF 50+ (This has won SO many awards and is recommended by tons of dermatologists, I’m gonna buy this next!)
• CLEANSER: Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser
• BEST NEW PRODUCT: RevaléSkin Night Cream (Agree! I wrote a review on their Day and Night Cream here.)
  
• ACNE TREATMENT: Rodan & Fields Proactiv Solution 3-Step System
• SENSITIVE-SKIN MOISTURIZER: Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer SPF 15
• PUFFY-EYE TREATMENT: Patricia Wexler M.D. Dermatology Fastcription Instant De-Puff Eye Gel
• BLACKHEAD TREATMENT: Neutrogena Rapid Clear Pads
• OILY-SKIN MOISTURIZER: SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Gel
• WRINKLE PREVENTER: RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Night Cream

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