How many times do you have to say no to a tempting treat?  Once a week, twice a week, oh come on!  If you are like me it’s a constant saying no-to-treats battle.  I generally need a few treats daily to keep me smiling and content!

The remarkably beauty and eco-savvy Sally B created a line to treat our skin and it doesn’t add any calories, carbs, or guilt.  Just pure skin pleasure.

The Mythbuster Beauty Team got to sample several items from the Sally B Skin Yummies line.  Everything I tried, I loved.  Sally B’s skincare line is packed with high quality, skin nourishing ingredients.  No need to read through a mile-long ingredient list from Sally B. 

Body-Eco Lotion in Lavender ($32):  A fabulous lotion for the body, hands and feet this lotion offers just the right amount of moisture, absorbs well into the skin and has a fabulous sweet lavender scent.  Key Ingredients: Organic Tamanu Oil, Kukui Oil, Organic Green Tea, Organic Shea Butter, Organic Aloe.

Sally B’s Organic Sugar Scrub ($16 - 4oz, $30 - 8oz.):  “Most scrubs on the market are simple concoctions—either oil and sugar or oil and salt, and messy! And they must be stirred.  Salt can also be irritating to the skin and will certainly sting if you have any scratches.  Sally B’s Sugar Scrub is full of Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter and there is no need for stirring!”   So if this doesn’t convince you to try it, check out DecoDiva’s review:  Sally b’s Skin Yummies - Lemon Sage Sugar Scrub.  I’ve also heard that the Chamomile Neroli scrub is amazing.

B Glossy Organic Lip Gloss ($10) - I sampled this gloss in “Every Blond’s Pink,” a protecting lip gloss, with just a hint of pink tint that gives my lips subtle color and shine.  Sally B adds a bit of peppermint, which is perfect not overpowering, and this gloss can be used alone or layered with your favorite lip color.  Mo sampled “Copper Penny,” and DecoDiva loved her gloss in “Ruby’s Red.” (more…)

Is there anything prettier for fall than a shiny copper lipstick accompanied by a deep plum eye shadow? Together they are simply beautiful autumn hues.

Because of my very cool pink skin undertones, I generally wouldn’t wear a copper shade lip color because it would look orangey. So I was somewhat surprised and very pleased when I used the “Pretty Penny” lipstick from LooseLipsNY. It has a bit of burgundy combined with the copper, and really looked great. The formula is very smooth and moisturizing lipstick. To add some shine and dimension to this color, LooseLipsNY Lumi-Shine lip gloss in FATE goes very well on top of the Pretty Penny lipstick, a coppery sheer shine with pink sparkles.

LooseLips Indelible Creme Eye Shadow in Plumkin looks very dark in the container, but goes on smoothly and adds a deep brownish plum shade with a bit of pink sparkle. This is a waterproof and long wearing creme-to-powder eye shadow that is a drop dead gorgeous! I love it.

LooseLipsNY is generously giving away this Copper and Plum Trio to one lucky Mythbuster Beauty reader! The Copper and Plum Trio consists of: a LooseLipsNY Lipstick in Pretty Penny ($12), a LooseLipsNY Lumi-Shine Lip Gloss in FATE ($15), and a LooseLips Indelible Creme Eye Shadow in Plumkin ($16). Combined these items would retail for $43. (more…)

While discussing the dark blood burgundy lip look in a recent post, “Dark Lips:  Va-va-Voom or Vampiress?” almost all agreed.  They love the color, but feel that not all can wear a dark matte liptick successfully.  I would classify myself as an example of one that “cannot.” 

I love the idea of the dark lip shade; love the deep beautiful Bing cherry color.  This weekend I was able to visit a local beauty boutique in Park City called the Splendor Beauty Emporium, and perused the counters for a shade that could satisfy my desire for the dark lip look.  I opted for the NARS lip gloss in Rose Birman, a sheer cranberry (worn in this picture by Amanda).  I almost went for the next darker shade, Rose Gitane, which is classified as a sheer sangria. 

My friend Bionic Beauty has fallen in love with NARS Lipstick shade in Captiva, which offers a sheer tint of currant, and would be perfect for those who are looking for a more sheer dark lip option.   If you are fan of Clinque, the immensely popular “Almost Lipstick” in Black Honey is a deeper sheer color that I would recommend trying.

Now, that I have found a happy medium on the dark lip look I would like to find a gorgeous gray eye shadow palette.   I have been looking at Stila’s Backstage Beauty Eye Shadow Palette- The Red Carpet Look.  The three pan grey palette along with a Smokey Quartz Kajal eyeliner looks ideal.   

What beautiful fall trends are captivating your interest?

Want an instant pop of brilliant red color on those lips, but a little leery of wearing a full colored red lipstick shade?  I highly recommend trying a sheer red lip gloss.  My favorite fun look for summer has been to wear Becca’s Glossy Lip Tint in Cherrybomb.   It adds a bright, pure shade of red to my lips and lots of long lasting shine, and I don’t feel like this gloss is overpowering and screams to everyone, “Hey look, I am wearing my Mom’s red lipstick!”

For you who can boldly wear the bright red lipstick, I envy you!  But for those like myself who are feeling timid about wearing red lipstick, but are still craving the ”little red corvette” color to your lip palette, Becca’s sheer bright red Cherrybomb lip gloss is a great alternative.  I usually think of a red lipstick as a winter shade, but picture this, how nice a red lip compliments a tan (or sunless tan) complexion?  

I gave Becca’s Glossy Lip Tint a “9 out of 10″ stars on the Total Beauty site.  I gave this product a “9″ simply because of its price.  $23 is a little steep for even a fabulous lip gloss.

Stila has a deep red lip and cheek stain called “Cherry Crush” which I have heard wonderful things about.  You can also try Stila’s limited edition “Rock the vote Red” lipstick.  Wearing red lipstick to the polls seems like a very patriotic thing to do.  

Check out my friend Kate’s picks for fabulous fall red lip color at her post, “That time of year again:  Saturdays at Sephora,” at Megsmakeup.com.

Which ever way you choose; have fun with some red!

Summer days are here, and the kids are home 24/7 from school.  Who has time for a complicated morning makeup routine?   Most days, I generally have 5 minutes to get my makeup on before a disaster strikes.  Like my two year old discovering a permanent marker, or deciding to change her own messy diaper (those are actual examples of events that have happened at my home in the last week).   

This is my bare minimum lickity-split makeup plan: 

Clinique’s Superbalm Moisturizing Gloss has become my new favorite go to lipbalm.   A slightly thick gel gloss, melts on and leaves my lips super moisturized and shiny, without the annoying stickiness of some lip glosses.  The Raspberry tint is perfect for me,  just a touch of sheer color with lots of shine.  You could easily layer this on top of your favorite lipstick. 

I carry my Superbalm around with me in my purse, and use it throughout the day.  Clinique’s Superbalm comes in several beautiful shades like Raspberry, Lilac,  Mango, Grapefruit, and Rootbeer, and retails for $13.50.

My big purchase at Sephora a few weeks back was the Nars Lip Gloss and Nail Polish Set in Orgasm (Sephora LE exclusive for $30). Some of the names of Nars cosmetic shades make me blush (for example: orgasm, multiple orgasm, and Pussy Galore). YIKES, I am glad my kids aren’t reading this blog, but they sure are gorgeous! I have tried the infamous Nars Blush in Orgasm and I although love the color shade, the shimmer is a bit to much for my personal liking.  However, I found their nail polish in Orgasm to nicely compliment my skin tone with its peachy pink golden shimmery shade.

The O gloss is a hardly noticeable golden hue and a bit sticky on my lips.  This gloss has no flavor and has a non-descript lip gloss scent.  I am going to say that this is not my favorite lip gloss, and overall would recommend the Nars Gloss and Nail Polish Set with reservations.

Raging Rouge just wrote a fabulous post today about some beautiful nail polish shades for summer toes. Be sure to read her recommendations at her site: Summer Must Haves: Pretty Pedicure Polish.

What are some of your favorite summer shades?

Loose Lips NY is giving back big time!

• Hint of Mint Lip Gloss (Full Size) and my personal favorite!
• Glitter Gloss 
• Lumishine Lip Gloss
• Vo-lip-tuous Lip Serum

You know how prestige lines love their collections and limited edition products. Well I found one that requires your immediate attention because they’re going fast and they are hot, hot, HOT!

[Jen side comment:  Check out the guy's abs, and that lip mark on them!  Nice touch MAC!]

MAC has created a collection of sheer perfection with their Naughty Nauticals. They even have a gorgeous red lipstick in Port Red, but I had just bought yet another red lip color in my quest for the perfect red, so I had to pass. Check out the colors online, but be sure to go in store if you can because they are SO much better in person!

Yep, I picked up a couple things already. Can you guess which products I just had to have?

Another must have are the Dazzleglass Lip glosses.  Also limited, of course, they are beyond beautiful. Lipglass with super fine shimmering particles added.  Not the slightest bit grainy.  Just super shiny, super shimmery lip lovin.  I picked Ms Fizz, it reminds me of a lip gloss Urban Decay used to have that I adored, though picking just one was incredibly hard.  These are the perfect summer colors, but that means they are disappearing fast.  So dash to your nearest MAC counter and ch-ch-check it out!

I love Urban Decay.

I mean, I LOOOOOVE Urban Decay. Hands down favorite brand. Almost a little obsessed. They’re even my friend on MySpace. Told ya, I love ‘em.

Years and years and 3 kids ago, I worked for Urban Decay as a freelance employee at my local Nordstrom. Oh the joy. I learned a ton about the products and their versatility, and UD eye shadow still remains my “go to” product all these years later. Back then, UD was just beginning to branch out from their standard product line of shadow, lipstick, lip glosses, and nail polish. My how far they’ve come! Now you can find such an amazing array of products on their website that I couldn’t even begin to list it all. If you want it, they’ve got it! A lot of your old favorites are still there in updated packaging, so don’t freak out if you don’t see your usual liquid liner tube, it’s in a new inkwell styled bottle. I’m pretty happy about how the eye shadow pots have ended up. If anyone remembers the first pots they came out with then you remember how hard those lids could be to pry off sometimes! Over the years Urban Decay has really perfected their already fantastic products and I get the pleasure of waxing poetic about a few of them…

I shared my love for the new loose pigments ($20) in a previous post, which you should totally re-read, because it’s brilliant. Jen and I have also both shared how much we like the 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils ($16), and I really put them to the test yesterday when I left the house with only a line of Lust and some mascara, no primer, no shadow, nothing to help absorb excess oil on my lid. That baby stayed perfectly put until I broke out the makeup remover. I’ve already told anyone who will listen how much I adore the shadows. So let’s move on to the stuff I haven’t talked about before, shall we?

Hi, my name is Mo. I have oily skin.

Enter De-Slick Mattifying powder. This purple compact sure is pretty, but can it perform? Even on the fairest skin many translucent powders end up looking cakey and heavy if applied repeatedly throughout the day. Amazingly, this isn’t the case with De-Slick. Maybe it’s the lightweight rice powder, maybe it’s the light lavender shade, but whatever it is sure works. I use this everyday to set my makeup, and I usually only have to apply again once through the day to keep my face shine free. What I like best is that it doesn’t make me look overly matte and powdery. It’s so light that I look fresh but don’t have to worry about makeup sliding off my face. This would obviously perform well on all skin colors. I will not hesitate to pay the $28 for a new one as soon as I need a refill.

Unlike most brands, Urban Decay has only two types of Mascara. No more confusion about which combination you should choose. Big Fatty Mascara ($19) is a hearty thickening formula that comes in a variety of colors. Colored mascara is huge this spring, but Urban Decay has been doing colored mascara for years. It used to be the only place I could find it with any certainty. If you aren’t ready to jump right into Electric Blue, try Black Cherry. It’s a subtle addition of color when used only on the lower lashes and you can ease into something crazier from there. Big Fatty gave even my wimpy lashes a nice full look and there was NO flaking. Besides, they use the word “oomph” in their description, and we all know how I feel about OOMPH!

Before I go I want to take a second and tell you about UD’s Good Karma brushes. Purists will tell you that natural hair brushes are the only way to go, but those purists have clearly never experienced the silky soft feeling of an Urban Decay brush made with the synthetic, Taklon. I have never, NEVER, found another brush as soft, thick, or wonderful as these. Not only are they soft and cruelty free, with a little love they can last an extraordinary amount of time. My powder brush is probably 6 years old and still in perfect shape. A well made brush has a lot to do with your cosmetics application, and these are definitely well made. Someday I hope to save up enough money to buy the Big Buddha Brush set. At $100 for 6 brushes it’s well priced for good quality brushes, but with a husband in college I like spending my money on things like, hmm, milk. And electricity. Some girls dream about Prince Charming, I dream about Good Karma.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of Cargo’s blu_ray collection a while back.  If you remember, this was one of the collections from the Sephora catalog I was really excited about. Cosmetic lines have really stepped up recently to create products that work in all types of light and under increased scrutiny with today’s filming techniques. These are great for television, film, and things like bridal and event photos since they are made to be versatile and have good staying power.

The blu_ray collection features buzzwords like “photochromatic pigments, optical blurring, and hyaluronic spheres,” all terms to describe the perfecting but natural effect these products have.  I personally got to try out the mascara, lip gloss quad, and blush/highlighter.

The blush is a great pink color with golden/peachy undertones.  I can’t pull off peach all that well and was a little skeptical, but with first use Cargo proved themselves to be masters of their craft. On my fair skin a soft hand went a long way, with just one swipe of color giving me a happy rosy glow. Natural is truly the word of the day here, because it was so smooth and perfect I almost forgot I hadn’t been outside all week. I think this color is great for all skin tones. I also loved that the color has good staying power, leaving me with a cheery face even in the middle of a sudden spring snowstorm. With its healthy color and subtle shimmer it has become one of my favorite cheek products.

The lip gloss claims to be plumping, but I have to confess that my lips are pretty full naturally and the effects of plumping products are pretty much lost on me. Not something I’m going to complain about for sure!  These glosses have a noticeable menthol scent and an invigorating tingle. The colors are quite sheer and every single one looked great on, even the peach and nude that left me a little ambivalent at first sight. If you prefer color these are probably not an item you’d want to use on their own, but lip liner on your whole lip with one of these glosses over it would be simply smashing.  Even when my lips were flaky and dry the gloss was smooth and even without looking heavy. It required several touch-ups throughout a busy day, which can leave your fingertips messy since there is no brush provided and the colors are softer in the pan than they first appear, goopy might be the best descriptor. Another dose of subtle shimmer leaves lips looking lush and healthy. Overall a much more pleasing natural effect than just coating your lips with some Chapstick, with not much more effort.

The brush of the mascara made me take pause at first. A small flattened comb, it is unlike anything I’ve seen in cosmetics before. We’re used to mascara products having many bristles all over for coverage and Cargo decided to buck that trend.  This isn’t change for the sake of change though. The flat edge of the comb is used to apply color to your lash, and the teeth of the comb are then used to spread the color and coat each lash.  I really liked how well it added definition to the bottom of my lashes, making them look fuller.  While I tend to steer clear of mascaras that claim to define each lash because of how skimpy and sparse my own lashes are (makes up for the lips I guess), I was very pleased with how my lashes looked.  No clumping here, as I didn’t look at myself and instantly think “mascara” I just saw alert, defined eyes.  The only problem I had with this was a small amount of flaking and smudging when it was applied to the bottom lashes.  Not everyone uses mascara on their lower lashes, in fact, many experts will tell you it isn’t ever recommended, but I find that my eyes look fuller and happier with a little something on the bottom for balance. I was very pleased with this mascara and hope to see more applicators like this in use in the future.

Jen has to interrupt to add her reviews for the blu_ray™ High Definition Mattifier and blu_ray™ Pressed Powder that are also included in this five piece collection:   

When I received this 5 piece set, I parted with some to Mo, but selfishly held onto these two!  I am always looking for a product that can mattify my t-zone, but won’t feel or look caked on.  The Definition Mattifier de-shines and blends in beautifully.  It can be also used as a primer, to diminish the look of fine lines and pores, and made my skin feel like velvet.   A wonderful primer product for those with oily or combination skin.  It reminded me quite a bit of Dr. Brandt’s “Pores No More,” and is slightly tinted so it might not work well on people who have very light skintones.

The blu_ray™ Pressed Powder is one of the most fantastic pressed powders I have tried.  Those micronized light diffusers do wonders!  They camouflage imperfections and set my foundation so nicely.  Cargo’s powder formula is very light and velvety textured, and makes my skin look flawless.  I have some guilty feelings keeping these two products from the blu_ray collection for myself, but I am really very happy with them!

Cosmetics have come a long way from the days of pancake makeup and grease paint.  They are starting to offer better coverage with a lighter feel and more natural look.  At only $59 for 5 products (extremely inexpensive and worth every penny), Cargo’s blu_ray collection is one of those leading the charge into a high definition future!