July Glymm Box Photos

My July Glymm box has arrived! Let's take a look inside. 

This time the makeup bag is bright orange. I love it - it matches my toenail polish right now.

Here are the goodies inside.

Joico K-Pak Revitaluxe

Joico K-Pak Revitaluxe (150 mL/$25.00): This luxury hair treatment is clinically proven to instantly correct damage and protect against future damage. 

We tease, hairspray, curl, twirl, straighten and braid our tresses until they just can't handle it anymore! It's time to show them some love with a treatment that will leave your hair stronger, softer and more moisturized. It's designed with bio-advanced Keratin Peptide Complex, a patent-pending blend of revolutionary ingredients.

Mane Teeze Social Butterfly Hair Perfume.

Mane Teeze Social Butterfly Hair Perfume (50 mL/$34.00): Summer is a busy time for pretty socialites like you, so bring this hair perfume along with you when you need that little boost of luxury.

Freshen up and bring out the fun-lover in you with this charming, vanilla infused fragrance. The sweet subtlety of each spray teases your senses for up to 12 sensuous hours. This perfume has a higher concentrate than your average perfumes, so one to three sprays is more than enough to bring out the tempestuous diva within. 

Mereadesso Beautiful Body Balm.

Mereadesso Beautiful Body Balm (200 mL/$54.00): This non-greasy, all over body balm, hand moisturizer and foot cream is the ideal skin solution for all skin types. 

From the neckline down, lather yourself in this sumptuous balm. Using vitamins, minerals and 28 globally sourced botantical extracts it will extract your inner glow, improve your skin's texture and enhance elasticity. It absorbs quickly so that it won't transfer to your clothes and the refreshing scent will dissipate so as not to interfere with your signature scent. 

Cyberderm H20 Hydration and PM Anti-Age.

Cyberderm H2O Hydration (50 mL/$60.00): This moisturizer will show your skin a good time. With more benefits than you can count, you can be sure to see some drastic results.

H20 Hydration provides calming relief from the day's stress and great anti-aging benefits. This olive based moisturizer mimics the skin's own barrier, allowing its active ingredients to penetrate deeply. 

Cyberderm PM Anti-Age (50 mL/$115.00): Take a bold stance against physiological aggressors that age us with this powerful cream. 

Let's face it, sometimes our lifestyle choices, albeit fun - may not be the most conducive to younger looking skin. So put up a fight with this ingenious cream. It will increase the lifespan of your skins' collagen and elastin fibers and uses turmeric to brighten and bring out your radiance. 

MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Semi-Precious Rose Quartz Review and Photos

I picked up a Mineralize Skinfinish in Semi Precious Rose Quartz at the June Estee Lauder warehouse sale. It was originally released with last summer's MAC Semi Precious collection. 

It's a rosy pink base with an inner circle of silver, lime, white-pink and copper and designed to be worn as a highlighter. On lighter skintones, it's definitely workable as a blush on its own. 

The outer circle is a rosy pink but with a bit of yellow-gold which is a nearly universally flattering shade for most skintones. The inner circle is a cool looking combination of gold, white, silver, bronze, copper and green and it's glittery, not so much shimmery. Together the circles create a glowy pink-gold. It's great for a summertime glowy skin look. 

Here's how it looks on my skin.

See? PRETTY! I do find it is quite glittery and too glittery for day time, so what I do is use just the outer circle. Sometimes I use a cream blush or a matte colour blush underneath and top it with Semi Precious Rose Quartz for the shimmer oomph. In these photos however, it's just Semi Precious Rose Quartz so you can see how much colour it does have as well as the shimmer.

I love the texture of this MSF - it's silky and buttery and seems to just melt into my skin. 

I'm really happy with this purchase!

Grade: A

Beauty Squared Round-Up - July 29, 2012

These are some of the links that caught our attention this week.

Sephora and Pantone are teaming up again but this time with a foundation matching system called Colour IQ.

Dragonette frontwoman and girl crush, Martina Sorbara is interviewed by MTV about her favourite things (style-wise). 

More and more makeup is incorporating suncare elements. The NY Times looks at some of the newest innovations.

Photos of Lush's new makeup collection!

A look back at some Olympic hairdos. 

Tips on keeping your eyeshadow from creasing from MTV Canada's Lucky.

The stunning and charming Christina Hendricks (girl crush!) takes Harper's Bazaar's Laura Brown to some of her favourite vintage shops. 

Christine of Temptalia.com shares her recent experience dealing with copyright infringement.

If you've seen AMC's Walking Dead, you know that one of the biggest stars of the show are it's makeup artists. AMC interviews it's key makeup artist and hair stylist here.

Check out these stunning before and after photos of drag queens.

Imagine what Jennifer Aniston and other celebs would look like as regular people and then click through to see these amazing photos.

Andrej Pejić is one of the world's top models. He blurs the line between male and female beauty with incredible ease and challenges our idea of beauty.

Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex Review

New to Olay's anti-aging line is Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex, which according to Olay, is an anti-aging moisturizer designed to instantly relax the appearance of wrinkles, and "reduce the appearance of even deep eye lines in 14 days." This product is formulated with biopeptides, micro-fillers and a B3 complex to hydrate. This product retails for approximately $32.99 CA and can be found at drugstores.

Ingredients:

water, cyclopentasiloxane, glycerin, polyethylene, niacinamide*, propylene glycol, aluminum starch octenylsuccinate, dimethicone crosspolymer, panthenol**,dimethicone, polymethylsilsesquioxane, palmitoyl pentapeptide-4***, carnosine***, tocopheryl acetate^, camellia sinensis leaf extract^^, yeast extract, allantoin, disodium edta, acrylamide/sodium acryloyldimethyltaurate copolymer, c13-14 isoparaffin, peg-100 stearate, dmdm hydantoin, iodopropynyl butylcarbamate, laureth-4, laureth-7, ammonium polyacrylate, citric acid, fragrance, titanium dioxide. *vitamin b3, **provitamin b5, ***amino-peptide, ^vitamin e, ^^green tea

I have been using this product throughout the late winter and into the spring as a night moisturizer, on top of my other skin treatment (Differin 3X Gel). The texture of this moisturizer is true to Olay's "cashmere soft" description, it's smooth, silky and non-greasy. It has a pleasant, mild, slightly fruity scent.

In winter I found this product to be a good, but not excellent moisturizer. The climate I live in is in general very dry and in the winter, extremely dry - dry to the point where you feel like you need to smear Vaseline on your face before you leave the house to protect your skin from the cold. While I found this moisturizer perfect for my t-zone, it did leave my cheeks wanting for more. However, when the weather warmed up this product gave my skin sufficient moisture in all areas of my face.

Although I do not suffer from significant wrinkles yet, I did find that this product gave my skin a very smooth appearance and surface texture. This moisturizer feels and applies very much like a foundation primer. Indeed, the ingredients list dimethicone twice as an ingredient. Dimethicone is a silicon- based polymer (a synthetic oil) which is used for its lubricating and conditioning properties, and is used heavily in most foundation primers. It's this ingredient that, like it's inclusion in many primers, gives the skin a very smooth, almost "air brushed" finished. It is no surprise then that this product acts as an excellent base for foundation and concealers.

Because of my relative lack of noticeable wrinkles, I do not feel I can truly judge Olay's anti-wrinkle claims associated with this product. I will say that this moisturizer makes my skin feel well hydrated in the warmer months, smooth and more radiant. I would recommend this moisturizer to people with normal or combination skin who want an affordable anti-aging moisturizer. The only people I would not recommend this product to would be anyone who reacts and breakouts in response to silicone, or for someone with very dry skin.

Grade: B+

Vichy Laboratories Capital Soleil High Protection Body Oil SPF 30 Review

New this year in Vichy's Capital Soleil line is their high protection body oil. A body oil to "recruit the most reluctant to sun protection" with broad-spectrum UVA/UVB protection and photostable Parsol 1789 designed to soothe and condition the skin to prevent moisture loss. It gives the skin a satin finish while protecting it. 

It comes in a 177 mL spray bottle and the recommended retail price is $29.95.

Jill:


I was apprehensive to try this at first because in my experience all sunscreens end up greasy and tacky, so why would I want to start out with something made of oil in the first place? However, upon trying this I was pleasantly surprised, this product is light and non-tacky.


I have a medium skin tone which tans very easily but rarely burns. I tested this product on my body and neck during a few outdoor runs. Initially I thought wearing a body oil would be uncomfortable during exercise, but I found it's general texture no worse than that of a regular cream or lotion sunscreen even when things got sweaty. I also did not find this product rubbed off on my clothes, although I would exercise caution if wearing white or light coloured clothes.


I did find that the delivery method left something to be desired. Personally I don't like the idea of oil potentially spraying on my clothes or surrounding objects. Being a contact lens wearer, I also couldn't imagine spraying this on my neck or chest for fear I would get some on my lenses. I recommend spraying this in the palm of your hand and then rubbing it in.


One thing I do really love about this sunscreen is the sheen it leaves on your skin. While I don't think the product's orange tint actually imparts any extra colour, it certainly makes your skin look satiny and luscious, and that sheen will enhance any tan you do have. You could also take that sheen up a notch by mixing in some shimmery bronzer or pigment into the oil either directly in the bottle or in your hand right before you apply it.


Grade: A-

Catherine:


I have to admit that I've been carrying Capital Soleil High Protection Body Oil around with me because it's easy to pull out and apply. It's a light oil as opposed to a cream that really needs to be worked into the skin and can be very messy. Of course, any sunscreen needs to be rubbed into the skin so the spray bottle of Capital Soleil is for convenience more than application. 


It wasn't until after I'd been using Capital Soleil High Protection Body Oil that I realized it was basically a sunscreen for tanners. I've never been one to seek out the sun, so I've never used a tanning oil. So colour me surprised that I really enjoy the oil on my skin! It made me rethink the trust I had in it protecting my skin from the sun.  


The SPF is only 30 so if you burn easily, as I do, it's probably not enough for you (or you're reapplying constantly). Still, a little goes a long way and the oil component makes the skin look glowy and sexy. Unlike a cream sunscreen that can get white and streaky, this one is designed to make your skin look good AND protect it. 


Capital Soleil High Protection Body Oil has a light, silky consistency and a subtle smell that makes me think of warm skin and sunshine.


Grade: A

MAC Electric Cool Preview

Electrifying pigments fuse with high frost in 12 limited edition shades. From the moment your brush touches the lightweight formula, you’ll be wired into its sensational blending power. For a multi-dimensional pearly wash, try Superwatt—a shimmering taupe. Amp it up with Highly Charged’s vibrant purple, or shock with Fashion Circuit’s Kelly green. It’s luxe with a hue-rich colour charge…who wouldn’t want to be this Electric?

249 Large Shader Brush
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Blacklit
Black with multi-dimensional pearl
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Brilliantly Lit
Bright acid yellow green
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Coil
Copper bronze
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Dynamo
Mid-tone coral
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Electroplate
Cool gunmetal grey
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Fashion Circuit
Bright Kelly green
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Highly Charged
Rich purple with pink pearl
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Infra-Violet
Mid-tone pink violet with blue pearl
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Love Power
Soft shimmering rose
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Pure Flash!
Pale champagne
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Superwatt
Light shimmering taupe
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Switch to Blue
Rich cobalt
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

MAC Illustrated Preview

Three renowned illustrators transform classic M·A·C makeup bags into mini masterpieces. Julie Verhoeven’s bold colours and outright wit come alive, featuring an array of abstract faces swept with vibrant hues. François Berthoud’s intricate flowers convey pop art chic in fluoro-brights. Nikki Farquharson ’s design is a graphic, bold hand-drawn black-and-white pattern, hit with swirls of red and yellow. Available in two sizes—one scaled for just necessities, the other for total beauty.Limited Edition. M·A·C Store exclusive.

Petite Bag by François Berthoud
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Small Bag by François Berthoud
$42 CDN/$35 US

Petite Bag by Julie Verhoeven
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

Small Bag by Julie Verhoeven
$42 CDN/$35 US

Illustrated Small Bag by Nikki Farquharson
$42 CDN/$35 US

Petite Bag by Nikki Farguharson
$36.50 CDN/$30 US

MAC Haute & Naughty Too Black Lash Preview

Introducing M·A·C Haute & Naughty Too Black Lash, with an intense new pigment for a shade that’s blacker than black for the deepest, darkest, richest lashes ever. The velvety formula coats from root to tip, silky soft with conditioning ingredients that prevent dryness, spikes and hardening. Just insert the wand through the small opening for high definition or through the large opening for loads of volume. Your lashes, your look, your call.

$23.50 CDN/$20 US