The Buzz - 8/27/13 - Sephora+Pantone Color IQ

Have ya'll heard of this?

Sephora has a foundation finder that you can use both in-store and online.

Yeah, so what?

Ok, they have this totally nifty little device that scans your skin, and finds its absolute color... no lighting distortion! 

Then, the computer compares your scan to 110 colors to find the shade that is perfect for you!  After that, it recommends all the foundations that come in your color!  Can you believe it?  No more wrong colors!  No more face swatches!  No more having your foundation look perfect in one light, and hideous in another!

Once you know your color, you can easily shop online.

Otherwise, what if you don't have access to a Sephora?  Well, they made a list of all the foundations that they carry, and you can enter your brand and shade to find another product with the same coloring!  So, it's not-so-awesome for you if you have never ventured away from drugstore brands, but amazingly convenient if you already wear a brand Sephora carries.

Now, there is a way to get around not having used any brand other than drugstore... start Googling!  You can google search for your brand and color, and include the term "dupe".  With a little bit of sleuthing, you should be able to find an upscale version of your current foundation.

So have any of you tried this?  I am planning to try it out very soon; hopefully this weekend.  I can hardly wait to see if it works!

Giveaway! Wet N Wild Silk Finish Lipstick in Breeze

Good afternoon, everyone!

I know that lipstick stashes have been blooming with bright colors this Summer!  But, Autumn is just around the corner, so now what?

I have been reverse-transitioning some of my Autumn colors with Wet n Wild's Silk Finish Lipstick in Breeze.

It is a beautiful, shimmery nude.  It has tones of pink and copper, with enough peach to pull it firmly into neutral territory.  I have been using it to top off my deep plum, raisin, berry and red lipsticks.  It quickly tones down a shade and adds enough shimmer to still say "Summer", but also helps with uniting a makeup look worn from a chilly morning through a hot and humid afternoon.


So what is the point?  The point is, I picked up an extra tube to give away to one lucky reader!

The winner's tube is new and unopened, with the factory seal in place.

Rules, rules, rules:
-Enter using the Rafflecopter entry form at the bottom of this post.  Just "Like" our Facebook page!
-Fake Facebook names (made to enter contests) are not allowed, and will be removed.
-This giveaway is open worldwide.
-If you have won within the past year, please let others have a chance to win!
-If you are under 18, please have your parent's permission to enter.
-The winner will have 1 calendar week to respond to my attempts to contact them.  If I have not received a reply within that week, I will choose another winner through Rafflecopter.

So, that's it!  Good Luck!!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

UPDATE!  We have a winner, Bianca, and she has claimed her prize!  Congrats, Bianca, and thank you to everyone who entered! 

Review! Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara

I recently picked up a tube of Jordana Best Lash Extreme Volumizing Mascara from my local Walgreens for about $3.  I have heard rumblings about it for a few months, and as I am coming to the end of my deluxe trial sizes of my higher-end mascaras, I thought I'd pick some up.

Jordana does not come in any fancy packaging.

It is just the tube in plastic shrink wrap.

The wand is a small spoolie; my favorite!

The first few applications are very globby.  The formula is very creamy, and it likes to stick to itself.  You can comb it out with the spoolie, but you'll have to be patient.

After a week, the formula has become much easier to work with.  It still globs up a little, but it takes far less work to comb it out.

I found that it stayed in place all day without smudging or running, IF my undereye makeup was set with powder.  If I left my concealer creamy, it tended to lift a bit from my lower lashes and smudge.  Keep in mind that my lower lashes are pretty long.  It washes of pretty easily with water, and a bit of almond oil quickly removed everything else. 

Overall, for $3, you really aren't going to go wrong here.  It works just as well as those higher-end mascaras I have been testing, with the exception of it being a bit globby (not clumpy, the globs are not hard, just goopy).  I really like how it adds volume without getting spidery.  You can keep on adding layers, but my lashes are so long that more than one good coat makes me look overdone during the day.

Have you tried Jordana Mascara?  What do you think? 

... Honestly, what are you eating?

We loosely discussed body fat earlier.  

One hallmark of a healthier body is a percentage of body fat that, for women, falls between 18 and 25.  Your mileage may vary depending on your structure, your genetics and your doctor's recommendations. 

Let us say that you do have excess adipose tissue and that you would like to decrease your body fat percentage.

I have found that the best place to start is to find a physical activity that you love- odds are that your brain will begin the shift to wanting to eat to fuels the body cleaner and meaner of its own accord.

The next best place to start is in the kitchen.

In all of the diet fads and sound nutritional advice alike, there is one common element always addressed:  The Calorie.

We remember from high school of that a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a gram of water 1 degree Celsius.  Pretty handy information in the lab, but what does it translate to when you are about to eat the Snickers Bar?  It means that you need a rudimentary understanding of what is going on there.

A Calorie in the nutritional sense is actually 1,000 calories. It is most correctly described as a kilogram Calorie, or kCal for short.  That "240 Calorie" Snickers is actually 240,000 calories- or, less terrifyingly, 240 kCals.  Call it a kCal to be accurate or call it a "Calorie" to be colloquial, but know that above all else, it is a unit of measure that we use to describe our food in terms of energy.  The energy I write of is that mojo that keeps you going, the fuel in your tank.  You need this energy to live, you need more to thrive.  From watching the Golden Girls marathon to running a marathon, your body from brain to toe has Caloric requirements.

In general, the Recommended Dietary Allowance is 2,000 or 2,500 daily, as seen on most food labels.  The Institute of Medicine recommends that women with an weight of 126 lbs. and a height of 5 feet and 3 inches and over the age of 18 need 2,400 kCal daily.   Relative scales for height and weight are available on-line.  I recommend using the Mayo Clinic's free on-line calculator to get a better estimate of what you need as an individual and then build up your nutritional strategy for Calories from there. 

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598

Once you know how many calories you should be taking in based on your biometrics and basic activities, what do you need to do?  You need to sort out how many you are taking in on a daily basis. Really.  Pay attention to your habits- there is no other way to begin changing them. 

Even though I only do it as the occasional check-in; I will be the last person to argue that counting your calories is a pointless exercise.  The more you learn about nourishing your body, and the more you honestly nourish your body-  that the less you may come to count calories.  For now, it all starts with awareness.

Log those Calories down!  It has been found in multiple studies that the simple act of monitoring your caloric intake alone is an easy method to losing excess fat.  Use your computer, use an app, write in in calligraphy on parchment- pay attention and write it down.  It is an eye opening experience as to how much you are actually taking in to your body.  It also creates a bit of irony called the Mindfulness Paradox in that while you are logging your food just to get an idea of what you are normally eating, you will make better choices almost immediately.

The action plan here is simple:  For the next two weeks, write it down.  Calories only:

1. 1. Write them down
      1. Try MyFitnessPal- it is one of the most comprehensive apps for food and exercise logging, allows you to shift your goals, and is free
   2. Be Honest.  Otherwise, why bother?  It's not Show-and-Tell, it's illumination
   3. Read the Label- Serving size and calories only. 
   4. Get and use a kitchen scale and measuring cups for servings- Pasta serving sizes are almost always a shocker.

After the two weeks, compare your recommended daily Caloric requirement and your actual Caloric consumption.  Know what is going on. 

Now that we know enough about basic calorie counting to be dangerous- we will chill out and mull it over while sipping a smoothie.

Food for Thought:

Once you understand how many calories you are taking in normally, even given the Mindfulness Paradox, you can begin to look at where the excess or even the deficit may be.  You can begin examining your food choices in terms of Caloric density and then nutrient density.  A small handful of Lay's Potato chips versus two handfuls of red pepper slices with hummus- Calorie-wise they are about the same, nutrient wise they are world's apart. 

While you are comparing your Caloric recommendation and Caloric intake, and takign a walk to clear your head, ask yourself what small changes you can begin to make today.

Beauty from the Inside Out

Eat less.  Move more.  

Got it.

It's calories in versus calories out.  A calorie is a calorie is a calorie.  And 3,500 of them amount to a pound of fat.

I hear you, i think.

You should do cardio five times a week for about 30 minutes at moderate intensity...

We know this.  We know this because we grew up female in the United States.  We know those wonderful numbers and the basic math that makes it all work out on paper.  We have been force-fed these numbers from a young age and we can regurgitate them with the ease of a bulimic Heather in 1987.

We have been given so much information... but so little guidance about what it all means, what it can do for us, and how to work it into our lives.  We have  been given this information and misinformation for the wrong reason.  That reason being that we are trying to fix everything from the outside in. 

Flip that thought around and let's take a look at healing ourselves from the inside out.

Some of you reading this likely have the thought in your head to get skinny.  We will begin there as long as you allow me to change that thought to get healthier.  

Although it cannot be denied that lower amount of body fat (between 20-25% in females) is associated with good health, body fat alone is not an indicator of general healthiness.  Excess subcutaneous body fat (that fat that is easily seen) can be linked to a number of conditions... as can a deficit of subcutaneous body fat.  There is also the more recently popularized definition of the "skinny fat" person (rather, the metabolically obese normal weight person- MONWP)- wherein a person may appear thin, but they have excess visceral fat (that fat which is around the organs)- which is just as, if not more, unhealthy.  

How someone goes about maintaining a healthy-for-them body fat percentage is highly individual.  Some do it with exercise alone.  Some by diet alone.   Some are blessed genetically (and cursed by the rest of us).  Most do it by a combination that breaks down into 10% exercise, 80% diet, 10% genetics.

Where am I going with this?

Where I am going is forward from fads that leave you sick, tired, with sallow skin and brittle hair and hating life.   I want to share a basic understanding of what it takes to have a simple, healthy lifestyle.   One that is a series of simple steps that will not only move your body to a healthier size, but will have the added benefits of de-stressing parts of your life, clearing your mind (and your skin), and leave you feeling more energetic and ready to take on the crowds at a Sephora sale.

No quick fixes.

And no excuses.

Beauty stems from health.  Health stems from honesty.

Let us get honest....

Review - Mosha Katani Cosmetics - Kohl Eyeliner Pigment Collection

I'm a total fangirl of Mosha Katani Cosmetics.  I have all of her kohls, and TWO tubes of sealer. 

Mosha's kohls completely transformed how I apply my makeup.  Even going back a year, I can see the transformation from a hard rimmed eye to a soft smoky eye; and the difference it makes is astounding.  Staying in eye-pencil-land really landed me in the biggest mistake women make with their makeup, which is (in my opinion) hard-rimmed eyes.

Using kohls around the eye forces you build your color.  Being forced to build your color shows you all the different looks you can get from "layer one" to "layer ok-I'm-done-now".  Seeing all those different stages encourages you to play around with the look.

Additionally, one of the big mistakes I see with eyeliner is ladies stop the color before they reach the tips of their lower lashes.  If you smudge your lower lid color to where the tips of your lower lashes end, it makes your eyes look much bigger.  Being able to control that color because it is an eyeliner pigment rather than an eyeliner pencil means that you can gently dip your toes into this new territory by gently shading the area while you get used to the idea.  As you become more confident in this new technique, you can darken the shading with ease.

The first color I bought was black.  This black is the color of charcoal; real charcoal, not those charcoal briquettes.  Sooty, rich, grab-on color awaited me in that little package; and I have been hooked ever since.

In recent months, Mosha has added some new colors to her line.  I thought it would be a good time to show you all of them!  Here we go!

Black Sea - True, charcoal black.  This is the black that is rock-star glam.  One layer is easy to wear for daytime, and you can layer to your heart's content for a smoking-hot night time look.  When you get it wet, it goes jet black.

Dream G-Ni - A cool, ashy grey.  This grey darkens when wet, and then lightens again when dry.  It gives a unique look when used to both line the waterline and darken the lash base.  I also love this as a crease color, as it blends smoothly and doesn't go chalky.

Kleopatra - She is the chameleon.  A navy blue in the pot, Kleo goes catty as an inky blue-black in swatches.  On the eye, she leans back towards navy.  This is not a bright blue, and is not obviously navy.  I love this color because the blue makes my eyes look whiter without looking like I have on blue eyeliner.

Persian Queen -This rich, warm brown turns a dark brown when wet.  I like to use this on my waterline when wearing nude eyeshadows.  It darkens the line without moving towards black or grey.  This gets heavy usage with all of my nude palettes.  It also works well as an eyeshadow.

Pharaohs - Pharaohs is a cross between Black Sea and Dream G-Ni.  It is a dark ash, like pencil lead without any shimmer.  If you are scared of black, go with Pharaohs.  It is nearly impossible to apply too much and end up with eye makeup that careened into the dramatic.  Otherwise, this shade is wonderful for smoking out the inner part of the eye, and then finishing the outer part of the eye with Black Sea for a lovely mulio-dimensional smoky eye.

Princess - Ahhhh, the workhorse.  Princess is wonderful for use on the waterline to brighten up your eyes.  If you usually skip eyeshadow, you can still use Princess to help get rid of the red tones on the waterline.  It'll make your eyes look brighter, whiter, and bigger.  Princess also works as a highlighter at the tear duct and at the brow bone.  I've even used it to set my under-eye concealer as a brightening powder.  Princess does not darken when wet. 

 To apply, you can use an angled brush, or a smudger brush.  Just apply a little bit at a time and go slowly while you are learning.  Back away from your mirror often to check the affect.  What looks sheer up close often looks a lot darker as you back away.

I find that the kohl stays in place for most of the day.  It does tend to start fading from the waterline after a few hours, but everywhere else remains as initially applied.  On me, the waterline fades uniformly, so I don't worry about touch-ups.  If you prefer to touch up your makeup, the containers are small and transportable.

The only exception to the above paragraph concerns Princess.  Princess is like a concealer for the waterline, so when it fades, I do like to touch it up.  I can go about 3 hours without a touch-up; and when I do touch it up, it hasn't faded enough to allow redness through, so it is preventative maintenance.

Have you tried Mosha Katani's Kohls?  What do you think of them?

Introducing our new Fitness Guru!

Hello there!  I told ya'll on Wednesday that we would be introducing our new fitness expert, so meet Tracy!


Born and raised in the Southern Wilds, I came by my love of exercise naturally. That is, I had nothing but brothers and boy cousins- all of them bigger and stronger than me.

I left home for college in the Midwest, and the Freshman 15 were kept at bay with Intramural sports. Then came the desk job and the Freshman 15 (okay... 30) caught up with me. Seems you should not eat like an athlete if you are not training like one.

Rather than opting into a size 18, I opted for some fresh air and returned to my roots and got back to the gym, then the dance studio, then the dojo...

Flash forward a decade and here we are- teaching boxing and kick boxing, competing in Brazilian Jiu-Jutsu and as a Premier Highland Dancer, and shaking my groove thang with the occasional Belly Dance class.

I learned that it is not enough to move your body, it is also important to fuel it with the best possible foods. And the simpler you keep it, the better. You have to start somewhere. Start here-

Tracy H.

B.A. Webster University
Certified Personal Trainer- WITS, ACE, NASM
200 Hour RYT (Aug. 2014)
Member British Association of Teachers of Dancing ( Sept. 2013)
Likes fighting with boys. A lot.