Eyes

I’m the full-time Mom of two charming sons (one is three years, the other three months).  As you could imagine, I’m perpetually tired, and constantly search for any product to help me disguise that fact.

Benefit Cosmetics to the rescue!  The adorable little black compact at left contains “lemon aid”, their eyelid correcting cream.  The yellow tone of the cream cancels any redness on the lids, and instantly imparts the appearance of a long, refreshing night of sleep.  Lemon Aid and caffeine… what a winning combination!

Wearing lemon aid under shadow not only keeps it in place longer, but makes the color appear more vibrant!  Bonus off-label use:  lemon aid cancels redness anywhere!  Use it to help disguise a hideous red zit!

Don’t wear shadow daily?  No worries!  This product can be used under makeup, or alone!

Retail price for this eye-opener is $20.

Click HERE to buy lemon-aid at Benefit Cosmetics.

Over a year ago, I raved about Pout Plump Lash mascara. I immediately loved the enormous fluffy applicator brush as much as the pitch black mascara it applied. Only months after my review, Pout announced they would cease operations by January 2008. Since then, I’ve been hunting for a mascara that offered the incredible applicator brush I raved about in 2007.

Finally, this Fall, tarte has launched Lash Hugger Mascara. Voila! The void has been filled. Not only is the wand incredibly fluffy, but this naturally-formulated mascara strives to be environmentally friendly!  The mascara tube itself is an ultra-sleek post-consumer recycled aluminum.

Lash Hugger mascara is paraben, phthalate, sulfate mineral-oil, propylene glycol, fragrance and synthetic dye free.  It also contains skinvigorating ingredients to keep your lashes healthy and conditioned while imparting the most incredible volume and pitch-black color.

Click the link below to be taken to this product at Sephora, where a close-up of the incredible applicator wand is featured for your viewing pleasure!

Retail price is $18.

Click HERE to buy Tarte Lash Hugger Natural Mascara at Sephora

When I was 10, the pinnacle of style was my best friend’s teen-aged sister.  One of her favorite pastimes was improving the appearance of models in fashion magazine by drawing a perfect, blue line in pen on the inner rim of their eyes.  My friend and I marveled at how her sister "improved" their makeup with this little touch.

Fast-forward to my middle-school years.  My female classmates and I all agreed… the only way to apply liner was on the inner rim of the eye.  Our Orwellian group-think mentality probably kept Maybelline profits at an all-time high.  We all wore a blue shade of Maybelline eyeliner that had the added bonus of coming with two pencils per pack.

Fast-forward one more time to the modern-day "smoky eye".  Wondering why your home version isn’t as piercing as the look models are sporting?  Perhaps you’re missing this critical step: tarte emphasEYES.

To dismiss tarte’s "emphasEYES" as yet another eyeliner in a sea of choices would be a mistake.  Originally launched in only black, this eye pencil was designed specifically for lining the inner rims of the eyes.  With this Fall’s introduction of smoky eyes in a broader spectrum of color, tarte has added chocolate (a rich brown), plum (a deep purple) and green (an emerald shade) to the collection.

Don’t limit the use of this pencil to only the inner rims of your eye!  This pinpoint precision retractable eye pencil is as small as the business end of a protractor, making it a snap for drawing a barely-there line in the lashes.

I can’t possibly recommend one color.  I’ve tried–and LOVE–them all!

Retails for $18.  Can be found on the tarte website, Beauty.com and at Sephora.com.

"Tube" mascaras rule!  If you haven’t sampled a forumla utilizing this technology yet, do try BECCA’s "Ultimate Mascara" to see why everyone is raving about it!  This product is now available in Bronze for the Fall of 2008!  Review will soon follow.

To name your product "The Ultimate" of anything, you would have to be really confident you have a winner.  The chemists at BECCA Cosmetics have indeed developed The Ultimate Mascara.  Apply BECCA’s mascara with one swipe, and it appears to tint the lashes and add subtle length.  Beautiful for day-wear.  Need more drama?  The more times you swipe this wand over the lashes, the longer and more voluminous they will get.  Yet somehow– miraculously — you seemingly can’t over apply this mascara. 

Utilizing micro-tubing technology, this clump-free mascara is also long-lasting.  Once applied, it will not run or smudge… making it perfect for when the weather finally starts to heat up. 

The Ultimate Mascara retails for $19 at BECCA’s Online Shop and Neiman Marcus.