Season

Stocking Stuffer Suggestion #21, Durance en Provence Olive Butter With Lavender Essential Oil

Durance en Provence Olive Body Butter, The Raging Rouge Beauty Blog

I first wrote about Durance en Provence some time ago… when I had the opportunity to test the fantastic hand cream in the company’s "Around The Olive Tree" collection of bath and body products. For those of you who tried it and loved it, I must also recommend their Lavender-infused body butter. It is extremely rich and moisturizing… and a fantastic treat for skin with the winter-blues. What a wonderful and thoughtful stocking-stuffer for anybody that could use a little pampering (did I just use a pun? how embarrassing).

Durance en Provence Olive Butter with Lavender Essential Oil retails for $38 on the Durance website.

Hourglass Blush Duo In Brazilian

Contouring. Those of my readers crazy in love with cheek highlighter will find this word a welcome addition to their beauty vocabulary.

Perhaps I am dating myself, but my first blush wasn’t just a "blush". It was a palette of three different colored blushes, for highlighting and contouring the cheekbones. The girls in my 5th grade class would suck in their cheeks in a perfect goldfish imitation to pinpoint the area to apply blush to define the cheekbones.

In my 20s, I laughed when reminiscing about those silly schoolgirl makeup memories. But it seems perhaps we silly children were ahead of our time. I recently read that a fan of using highlights and lowlights to define the cheekbones includes none other than Ms. Cheekbone herself, Angelina Jolie. See? Everyone needs a little help from their friends.

It seems the talent at Hourglass Cosmetics realized that no woman can really get by on one blush alone. The blushes in this palette can be used stand-alone, but are perfectly coordinated to use together as well. Apply the apricot blush shade to the apples of the cheeks, then use an angled blush brush to apply the bronzer below the cheekbones to add contour to the face. These shimmering blushes are a welcome taste of summer during what is already proving to be a blustery winter.

Created by beauty expert Carisa Janes, Hourglass strives to bring opulence and style to beauty aficionados. From the amazing quality product right down to the packaging, Hourglass Cosmetics is first class all the way. This gorgeous faux leather padded case snaps shut with a magnetic closure, to keep the blush housed safely inside. The mirror inside is enormous, perfect for on-the-go makeup application. The blush itself is silky smooth, and wears forever. Does Hourglass succeed in delivering substance and style? Definitely.

Hourglass Blush Duo in Brazilian retails for $58 at Sephora. I’ve been using mine for only a couple of weeks, and already I am greedily eying the Burlesque colors as well…

Stocking Stuffer Suggestion #20, Anthony Logistics

Men aren’t quite as obvious about it as women, but they appreciate high-quality grooming products, too. It’s just not a treat they’d ordinarily buy themselves. Anthony Logistics For Men contains a full range of men’s personal care product- from shaving cream to anti-aging treatments. What a great idea for stuffing the stocking of that special guy in your life!

Anthony Logistics product can be found at Sephora.com, Upurea and Beauty.com.

Beautiful Skin Secret: Clinique Supermoisture Makeup

Winter hasn’t even started, my skin is already exhibiting symptoms of a crisis situation I’ve referred to as "winter-sickness" since I was a teenager. The winter complexion consists of pale, dry skin that looks as if it’s never seen the sun. Dried by harsh weather and forced-air heat, it can even take on a greenish hue. It’s not attractive.

Naturally, I was attracted to Clinique’s recently introduced Supermoisture Makeup, a product boasting that it behaves like a moisturizer. I’m a fan of tinted moisturizers, but also a fan of coverage… this seemed to be a wonderful combination of the two.

So I visited my local Clinique counter to select a shade, and the makeup artist working the counter steered me away from this product, due to my oily t-zone. I contemplated her advice, and chose to ignore her. I’m so glad I did. This fantastic moisturizing foundation truly does behave like a moisturizer. It’s amazingly blendable, the coverage is flawless and leaves a dewy finish. This beauty product has given the breath of life to my poor tired skin. I would rank it among the best foundations I have ever had the pleasure to try.

Clinique Supermoisture Makeup retails for $22.50, and can be purchased at Nordstrom, Sephora.comand Macys.com… among other fine retailers.

Stocking Stuffer Suggestion #19, Trish McEvoy Petite Double Decker Compact

Trish McEvoy’s planners are legendary for keeping every beauty necessity organized. This petite-compact is totally in-line with that philosophy. It contains glosses, concealers, a mineral powder foundation, a highlighter, blush and eyeshadow. Talk about all-inclusive beauty! As a bonus, this compact is petite enough to stuff a stocking.

Trish McEvoy’s Double-Decker Compact retails for $32 at Nordstrom, and is available in two different color combinations.