Beauty Blog » Beauty Tools

I have been searching for the perfect mascara since I was old enough to wear it.

I have found so many “nearly perfect if…” mascaras, tried about 3 dozen completely dreadful mascaras and have just plugged along with some good ones. My short list of “good” mascaras over the years has been Yves St. Laurent Faux Cils, Lancome Intencils, Maybelline Full N’ Soft and L’Oreal Voluminous. While good, they all have ingredients I choose to avoid.

Finding a paraben-free, phthalate-free and palm oil free mascara is HARD. Most “natural” mascaras, including L’Oreal Bare Naturale Mineral Mascara, still contain palm oil derivatives. If you’re an animal lover like I am, then you’ll want to skip palm oil in your products because the palm oil trade is singlehandedly responsible for probable extinction of the orangutan population within the next decade.

At a recent trip to Sephora , I came across Tarte Lash Hugger Eco-Friendly Mascara. It has everything I was looking for (or not looking for) on its ingredients list: no parabens, no phthalates, no mineral oil, no palm oil derivatives! With all of those requirements met on just the package, was it possible that this be a match made in cosmetics heaven?

I’ve been using Lash Hugger for about 3 weeks now. I am in love. I think it was love at first sight. It’s everything I have searched for in a mascara. It really adds volume to my lashes. I have naturally long lashes, but they are pretty light and fine. Lash Hugger lengthens without looking artificial. I do my makeup by 6am. I don’t take it off until 10 or 11pm. This lasts all day without flaking. It doesn’t smudge. My eyes are very sensitive and can water easily. I also have allergies. This normally causes my mascara to get into my eyes when that happens and then my eyes get red and burn. Zero, zip, nada redness. This truly is mascara perfection.

I should also mention that this eco-friendly mascara comes in a recycled aluminum tube as well.

If Tarte ever discontinues this $18 gem, I am going to be lost without it. It is a truly phenomenal product. I honestly thought I’d have to keep settling for decent mascaras. Now I have found “the one.”

Check out the Tarte Lash Hugger Eco-Friendly Mascara, click here. 

If you are still searching for your favorite mascara, click here!  

Sometimes inventions are so simple and obvious you wonder why: A. you didn’t think of it and B. what took people so long?

Maybe I am just supremely impatient (which by the way I am not denying) but have you ever waited for your curling iron to cool off after fixing your locks while you were on vacation or on a weekend warrior trip?

It happens to me all the time! Not so much curling iron as my flat iron! I fix my hair in a jiff, then I have to wait for the stinking thing to cool back off so I can pack it back up. There was this one time I thought to myself, “how hot could it be” and just chucked it in my luggage while packing back up in Vegas. BAD MOVE! I came home and the chord I used to wrap around the flat iron fused to a portion of the plate, plus some of the bristles of my favorite “blow out” brush fused to the heated mess as well.

First time, last time sort of experience. There was another time when I figured “oh I will just hold on to it until it cools off” and then stick it in my bag when it was cold. Well in the mad dash of leaving the hotel room I promptly reached for the hot end of the curling iron and screamed like a banshee. (Cue moronic drum roll please…)

Well if you have ever done any of the above or have your own tales of stupidity to share you can appreciate the simple genius of the Baggallini Curling Iron Covers!

The insulated heat and water resistant compartment holds the hot iron and protects the rest of your belongings at the same time. Comes in a variety of shades includin: red, pink red, black, orange, lime, turquoise, periwinkle, dark olive. etc.

Costs $14.95  

If you are interested in checking out or purchasing the Baggallini Hot Iron Cover, click here.

Want to shop for more discount Hair Care Products in general, click here.  

I think the photo above was suppose to highlight a rumored nose job on the part of Vince Vaughn  but more importantly, it features his raging NOSE HAIR!! - barf!

I had no idea that Vince Vaughn had a case of  “Wooly Mammoth” nose. Ugh! I actually thought he was sort of cute but umm no thanks. I can’t deal with nose and ear hair. Can you imagine if it is that bad now, how bad it will be as he gets older, zoinks.

Well the whole thing got me thinking about purchasing a nose and ear trimmer for my man. You think that’s rude? He doesn’t really have a hair problem but I figure best to train him now so it doesn’t become an issue down the line. I like this Nose & Ear Trimmer from Brookstone.

Nose & Ear Trimmer costs only $35.00

(Click on the image or the link above if you are interested)

The way I figure, it’s affordable and he shouldn’t be offended. And if he is, it makes us just about even for purchasing me a 24 hour fitness gym pass last year!!

Oh I also found this:

Ummm, WTF! I am rarely at a lost for words but are you kidding me with this? Why would you want a finger shaped nose and ear trimmer. Looks like something else to be honest.

What do you guys think? 

And I’m done.

Here was my typical morning hair styling ritual of for my long, straight & layered hair:

Step One: Wash hair

Step Two: Brush hair

Step Three:  Flip head over for a quick-as-possible blow dry with my blow dryer between my knees as I attempt to use my brush to super straighten my locks.

Step Three: Turn on 1 1/2” barrel curling iron to get any little kinks out that I missed while upside down,  give my ends a little flip inward and help add some body to my layers.

Ick.  Just writting it all out right now makes me realize how this is a pain.  As my hair growns longer (which I personally prefer), a almost always give myself whip lash from the weight of my hair when I flip my hair upside down every morning.  Sad, I know.

The Blo & Go helps me skip a few steps as I can blow dry my hair standing straight up & style my hair at the same time. It’s like an extra hand in the morning, which is valuable to us all.  It also super straightens my hair as you can position your blow dryer to face straight down.  If you want to add some body you can use a round brush with both hands.  This is wonderful because my arm always feels like it’s going to fall off when I try to hold my blow dryer at the same time. I never feel like the Blo & Go is going to fall down off my mirror and bash me in the head.  It stays secure & comes off easily as well.  My only “grievance” would be that it doesn’t stick to dry wall because I know this might be more convenient to some.  Other than that, I highly recommend the Blo & Go for fast & easy hair styling.

Image Source:  Getty Images

As I mentioned in my previous post about Dry Cracked Feet? I have NASTY FEET! I have addressed the issue of the dry cracked heels, Round TWO: curly hammer toes.

Truth is I have heard of this product for quite some time now. I actually do yoga and while I’m not at the level where I can wrap my leg around my neck, they do teach you in yoga to spread out your toes and root yourself. The first time I did it, it felt great. I had no idea that one should stretch and tone your toes. The feet are often overlooked care wise in the overall beauty upkeep department.

Well turns out my friend Evette bought a pair of the Yoga Toes. I asked her to bring it to work so I may investigate the specimen and grill her on her honest opinion. If they work? Were they worth it? and so forth…

First off, she loved hers. She had pink ones and they are made of this like..flexible yet semi-gelantinous material that sort of well reminds me of a boob? Like a much firmer silicon boob implant. Suffice to say, I liked the material.

So I decided to invest in a pair of my own. I chose the size medium even though I wear a size 9 and was wondering if I should buy a large. Makes sense since it is the width of the toes not the length of the foot. The premise is simple. By gently stretching out your toes, this helps stretch and circulate the blood through the toes.

Think about it, when does this happen to your feet? They are usually squished into some heels, sandwiched into some boots and even when you wear flip flops, the toes aren’t stretched apart. Have you ever gone clubbing and at the end of the night your feet are BARKING! Once you kick of your heels and all the blood pools into your feet they swell up? Well folks that’s when I usually massage my feet and wish I had yoga toes to stretch out my aching toes.

To be clear, here is a list of the perks:

* relax & refresh overworked feet
* stretch & strengthen foot muscles
* help improve & prevent foot problems
* soft, flexible & hypo-allergenic

$49.95 (one pair)
$39.95 (two pairs)
$33.00 (three pairs)

Worth it!

Want to check it out or buy Yoga Toes? Click here.

Well you can think of this post as the second part to another post written by Wendy Korn about Tweezerman Beauty Tools - The Perfect Tweezer.

Well for you gals that loved the variety of colors provided by Tweezerman they are currently selling Limited Editon animal print versions of the high quality tweezers.

You now have your choice of leopard, zebra, crocodile and giraffe! Grrr-eat stuff.

You still get the same quality and lifetime sharpening provided by Tweezerman.

Price - $25

To purchase the Limited Edition Animal Print Tweezers from Sephora, click here.

When I was 16, hair bands reigned supreme. As I recall, my own hair was gravity-defying, reaching sky scraper heights. I wore that crown seriously, sexy-wise, like an adolescent rocket queen. I wore Kohl-black eyeliner and Motley Crue t-shirts ripped and then tied surreptitiously to the side. Man, those were the days.

I had a little beauty secret then that I am going to tell you now.
Every day, before the Aqua Net, before I popped in the Poison album on my tape deck, I would wash my face, put on lotion and then carefully, with one nail, create a fold on each of my lids. Then, quite happily, blinking to make sure the skin stayed in place, I would draw on the legendary black eyeliner. Stellar. Smoking-hot. Brett Michaels, eat your heart out.

I almost forgot that beauty habit. It is a procedure that most Asian women perform permanently, with plastic surgery, or in medical terms: double Blepharoplasty.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain: most Asian eyes have a smooth, single fold, which I find quite beautiful. But in order to appear more “western” Asian women (and men, as of late) will have their surgeon create a line or fold in their eye-lid. This shapes the eye to appear larger and rounder, more pronounced. I am not going to offer criticism on either camp, as there are supporter and critics. But I will say this: Beauty is a personal expression that I feel everyone should express in their own way.

That being said, I want to bring up an option, since I ran across it quite recently and it reminded me of my high school days. Eye-tape. Whoa. I found it while browsing my favorite Asian skin-care site, Evecare.com. They sell a product called “Eye-Charm: Double-Eye Lid Tape.” There are 40 pairs of tape and it’s only $3.00.

They say:
“Eye Charm Double Eyelid Tape is a medical-grade tape designed to lift the eyelids and sagging skin around the eyes. The result is your eyes look bigger and clearer continuous use shapes your eyelids permanently without eyelid surgery*. With Eye Charm Double Eyelid Tape make-up application is easy and big beautiful eyes are here to stay.”

Here’s a Japanese how-to video:
http://www.koji-honpo.co.jp/makeup/movie/eye_talk_300.html

I haven’t tried the tape. It’s been years since I’ve drawn the fold in my eye. I am content with what I have, but hey, that’s not to say that I won’t experiment. Heck, maybe for old times’ sake.

Recently my cousin Charm asked me if I would be interested in going with her to what sounded like a tupperware party but instead of tupperware they were showing free trials of Eyelash Extensions! Well, naturally I said YES!

Hang on let me amend my former statement, no FREE trials per say, more like a demonstration and sales pitch women’s meeting. Nonetheless my curiosity was peaked and I was raptly attentive!

Here’s what I was able to gather:

It’s expensive! First time round of initial lashes is $300 bucks.

Told the lashes last for a month. ( I asked my friend who gets them done all the time how long they really last, she said about two plush weeks, if your super careful when washing your face and applying and removing make-up then 3 weeks. Regardless she is addicted and no longer gets her nails done but always gets her lashes touched up.)

They are light as a feather and feel completely natural, unlike wearing falsies.

Bottomline, the end result always looks fabulous and really does open the eye up and adds a lush natural beauty to the user. I mean are you surprised? For this price if it didn’t make you look fabulous, the trend would have been dead in the water.

Well on my blogger income there is no way I can afford the maintenance and up keep for these lashes but they look awesome and I would maybe consider saving my pennies and giving them a try for a super special occasion, like weddings or when I finally meet and seduce Brad Pitt!

I can’t remember off hand the name of the company my cousin’s friend works for but I did some googling and came up with these options:

Eyelash Extension - Lash Out Pros (picture above featured from their site)

Shavasana Eyelash Extensions - they offer training? Maybe you could learn how to do it on yourself and your friends…

Lavish Lashes - there offering a Special Promotion that will save you up to $380.00!

Here’s a video showing the process:

YouTube - Watch 

If any of you have tried Eyelash Extensions  and would like to comment please do! If you can save me $300 dollars I would love you forever. Or maybe it will be the best thing I ever try? …

The longest lasting beauty tool youʼll ever own is a tweezer, and a Tweezerman Slant is guaranteed to last a lifetime. A staple for every professional brow maven, a Tweezerman is perfectly aligned, guaranteed to grab even the hardest to pluck hair every time.

It is no easy task to find Tweezerman on sale or discounted, but itʼs a bargain in the long run when you consider how many times you’ve attempted to pluck a stray with your basic tweezers and the tips no longer meet (especially if youʼve accidentally dropped them on the floor). Tweezerman implements are guaranteed; the company will sharpen any of their tools that get dull through normal use for free, they replace damaged/dropped tools for half the purchase price and they repair bent tips for $5.00 per tool. 

Lowest Price: $16.99

To shop or purchase the Tweezerman Tweezers, click here.