WINTER CLEANSING & FOUNDATION ROUTINE

Now that the weather is getting a little colder and the wind is starting to blow, it is time to change your cleansing and foundation routine to protect your skin. While I typically use mild products because of a sensitive, fair complexion, I go even milder with my cleanser and start using a moisturizer every day. I usually use Clinique Liquid Facial Soap in Mild. But I've just switched over to Eucerin Sensitive Skin Gentle Hydrating Cleanser. At night, I cleanse then use my Clinique Clarifying Lotion 2 and go to bed. In the morning I cleanse, use the Clarifying Lotion then use a little Clinique Moisture Surge before I apply my foundation. I let it sink in a little first.

As far as foundation goes, everyone knows I love my discontinued Loreal Quickstick and will go to the ends of the earth to find it online. But for Winter, I'm switching to a combo of Lorac Oil Free Neutralizer and Clinique Almost Makeup Teint Naturel in Parfait. The Neutralizer is VERY light and is not ideal to wear alone unless you are extremely, and I mean extremely pale. It is meant to cancel out any redness on your face and even out your skin. When you combine it with another liquid foundation it comes out really well. This combo gives a pretty flawless and luminescent look. With the Quickstick, I use a foundation brush to blend, but I've found with this liquid combination that a sponge works a lot better.

Super Shopping Secret #5

Today's Super Shopping Secret is http://www.shopittome.com/. This website is awesome! I've been using it for a couple of years now. They shop all the online sales for you and send them to you via e-mail. Each day, I receive an e-mail from them. When I open it up, they have shopped every store and designer I love and sent me all the items on sale in my size that I might like. If you see something you like you click on it and it will take you to the website to purchase it. For example, my customized e-mails include items from Ralph Lauren, Nordstrom, Macy's, Bloomingdales, Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Victoria's Secret, J. Crew, Kate Spade, Bluefly, Overstock, and more. You simply go to the site and click "Get Started" on the home page. They will ask you what kind of items you are interested in such as women's clothing & accessories, men's, children's, etc. You check off everything that interests you. Then they will take you to a page that lists so many designers your head will spin. You choose the ones you like and check them all off. The next page will ask for your sizes. You may pick more than one size like a 10 & a 12, etc. They ask for your shoe size, lingerie sizes, etc. Then they will ask you how often you want them to send you sale information. I encourage you to give it a try. It's really a lot of fun and there are some great deals out there!

p.s. It is Clinique Bonus Time at Dillards. With a purchase of $21.50 they are offering a makeup bag with a keychain lipgloss, full size lipstick, blush stick, mascara, Even Better Skin Tone Corrector, and a travel size Mild Liquid Facial Soap.

What to Take in your Carry-On for a Long Flight

Since I have a trip coming up soon and needed to pack, I thought I would write about what I take with me on the plane. Now these are my recommendations for a long flight. When nighttime comes, I have been known to wash my face and brush my teeth on the plane. I put moisturizer on to keep my skin from drying out. In the morning I wash my face and brush my teeth again, reapply my makeup and get off the plane feeling tired but fresh-faced.

If I am going to be on the plane overnight, this is what I take:

1. My favorite Vera Wang travel bag I bought at Kohls. It is a large nylon bag that holds a lot of stuff. It is easy to wipe clean and has strong shoulder straps.

2. I carry my travel wallet which contains my license, passport, cash, insurance cards and credit cards.

3. Small moleskin notebook. It is very light and gives me a place to jot down ideas and make lists. I am an avid list maker!!!

4. I have to have a pen & a highlighter.

5. Reading material. On this trip I will be taking one classic paperback, a small devotional book, a fashion magazine and a sudoku puzzle book. My husband is packing the travel guide.

6. Sunglasses

7. Bandaids. You never know!

8. Toothbrush in a case.

9. Hair band and/or clips.

10. A small fold-up travel hair brush.

11. Travel size Kleenex packet.

12. Borba or Airborne that you can dissolve in water.

13. Small tin of Altoids.

14. Throat lozenges.

15. Sleeping mask

16. Cotton Rounds

17. Q-tips

18. Make-up bag with all my non-liquid makeup.

19. An extra pair of undies! (Just in case your luggage gets lost. It happens!)

20. Quart size bag of liquid products

This is what my quart size bag contains:

1. Eye drops because the dry air on the plane really dries out your eyes too.

2. Clinique Moisture Surge moisturizer. I've recommended this on my blog before. It is a cool gel moisturizer. Feels great. No smell. And I'm not a big moisturizer fan, but the dry air on the plane really makes it necessary.

3. Lip gloss or balm to keep your lips from drying out.

4. Allergy nasal spray or saline spray because your sinuses will get dried out too.

5. Tide To Go stick - just in case.

6. Travel size toothpaste so you can brush your teeth.

7. A small travel size spray bottle filled with water. This is one of my favorite things. I spritz my face - with or without makeup on, just to moisten it and feel refreshed. It really helps keep it from drying out. I even convinced my mother-in-law to let me spritz her on our last flight!

8. My Smashbox Primer for when I reapply makeup.

9. Travel size hand sanitizer. You could buy the little bottles or the little paper packets.

10. Travel size eye makeup remover. I keep the little sample bottles I get with the Clinique giveaways and just keep refilling them.

11. Travel size toner - ditto above.

12. Travel size cleanser. On clinique.com you can order a box of 3 travel size cleansing gels. I pack these or free sample bottles they give away with purchase.

13. Concealer

Happy Travels Everyone!!!

315 Lipsticks

Yes, I have 315 lipsticks. First of all, let me say that I am not posting this to brag. I am actually very ashamed of myself and am hoping that exposing my weirdness will somehow make me feel accountable to change.

Over the Labor Day weekend, I decided to tackle some organizing projects around the house. At the top of the list was organizing and cleaning out my lipstick collection. This collection has obviously grown to ginormous proportions. How did this happen? I have given it a lot of thought and this is what I came up with:

1. I blame my Mother. You know how your Mom always told you to clean your plate? Well she brainwashed me into not being wasteful and apparently it took really well because I have lipstick that I've had since High School! Sure they may smell funny and include colors like foil pink ala 80s Valley Girl, but they are perfectly full tubes of lipstick and it would be a shame to throw them in the trash!

2. It's my Dad's fault. My Dad is a well-known pack rat; therefore, I am genetically predisposed to hoard things.

3. Avon is Evil! The majority of my lipstick is from Avon - a whopping 93 tubes! If you hand me an Avon book I'm going to order something. Lipstick for $2.99? Give me one in every color! It's way too easy to order things you don't have to pay for at the moment.

4. Free Samples are from the Devil! Okay, I have 14 Clinique Lip Colors and I've never actually purchased a Clinique Lipcolor. Going back to number one, my Mother wouldn't like it if I carelessly tossed out a perfectly good lipstick I got for free!

Okay, so I got rid of 22 lipsticks over the weekend and am down to 293, but that is obviously not near enough. So here is my proclamation. I hereby promise that if I purchase another lipstick, I will get rid of 5 lipsticks. I will continue this process until I get down to 100 lipsticks. I will not falter or deviate from this plan. You are my witnesses. So help me God! Seriously, God help me!

Mascara & Tweezers

I've been a long time devotee to Maybelline Great Lash Mascara. I have somewhat thick lashes and I think their brush works really well for me. I love the "blackest black" but I also use "brownish black" on occasion. I've noticed that every year InStyle magazine lists them as the best budget mascara, if not the best mascara period. There is a reason it's been around a long time.

I've tried some of the new mascaras that have the rubber brushes and they don't work for me at all.

Lately I am loving Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara. The formula is thin enough to get into your lashes really well to coat them, and I like the brush too. It reminds me of the Maybelline brush. I got a couple of samples with purchases I made last year and I've decided it's time to purchase the full size. It costs $14 and I noticed it was rated 4 out of 5 stars on Clinique's website.

I never thought tweezers were that important until I lost my Tweezerman tweezers for about 5 days last week. I searched everywhere in my bathroom 2 or 3 times and even had my husband emptying out drawers to help me find them! We have special rules about him borrowing my tweezers. He knows there is a particular place that they belong and he must put them back where he found them. I have had so many tweezers that didn't grip well, or just broke hair off when you grabbed it. My Tweezerman tweezers are the best I've ever had. I had been reading about them in magazines for years. They always made InStyle's "best of" list. I just couldn't imagine spending $20 for a pair of tweezers! So I got the petite size and spent only $12. I mean, why do you need full size tweezers? They accomplish the exact same thing and I think the petite size are much more manageable and easy to use.

Foundation

Since we covered basic skin care, I thought we could move on to the next step - foundation. This is my current routine and products that I use.

After I've washed and dried my face, made sure all eye makeup is removed, and applied toner, I apply a primer. I'm new to the world of primer. Since my skin is so sensitive and I have allergies, I try not to layer too many things on my face and keep it simple. But I have to say that primer really does make a difference and so far it has not once caused an allergy problem. I've been using Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer. I just put one full squirt of it on my finger then smear it on the different areas of my face and blend with my fingers. It gives your face a silky feeling. Smashbox also makes a "Light" version which I have also tried and will probably purchase when my regular bottle runs out. I've noticed when I use primer my face looks smoother and more poreless. Plus it has vitamins and antioxidants in it and doesn't have any smell at all.

After the primer, I apply my foundation. I alternate between a dry stick foundation and a liquid foundation depending on if I want a dewy look or a matte look. I have been using Loreal Ideal Balance Quickstick in Pale for years. Unfortunately, Loreal has discontinued the Quickstick, so I had to order it through Amazon.com last time. I just draw stripes all over my face and then blend them with a foundation brush. I love, love, love this foundation stick and I don't know what in the world I will do to replace it! Loreal's website referred me to the new Infallible Powder which I will most likely try and report back to you on.

As far as liquid foundation is concerned, lately I have been blending Lorac Oil Free Neutralizer with Clinique's Almost Makeup Teint Naturel Parfait. I put one small squirt of each on my hand then blend them together with a foundation brush and swipe all over my face and blend. The Neutralizer is meant to even out your skin and cancel out any red in it. You can wear it alone, but be aware that it is extremely light! You don't want to look like you are wearing a mask. Ulta now sells Lorac if you want to check it out.

If I have any blemishes that show through, I use my finger to very lightly dot on some Mary Kay Signature Concealer in Ivory. A little goes a long way. I've been using this concealer for years also. If I feel like applying powder, I use a powder brush to apply Make Up Forever's HD High Definition Powder. It is completely white in the jar, but completely sheer when you apply it. It really diffuses everything very well.

I have had very good experiences with these products as far as them not aggravating my allergies. There is a website called http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ where you can go to check out all kinds of makeup, skin care products, hair care products and more. They rank each product's safety/irritant levels on a scale of 0 to 10. If you don't see a product you're looking for, you can submit it as a suggestion for testing. Smashbox's Light Primer scored a "3" and my Loreal Quickstick scored a "2" so you can see why I'm so sad that it's been discontinued.

Skin Care

So today I thought I would start with the foundation of everything - skin care. As mentioned before, I have very fair, extremely sensitive skin, and allergies. I also have a tendency to break out a lot. I have oily skin that often appears to be flaky. These are the items I use daily with the exception of the moisturizer which I only use when needed.


I wash my face every night with Clinique Liquid Facial Soap Mild. You can rub this all over your face and eyes - it is very mild and non-irritating but removes makeup very well. Whatever eye makeup is left, I use Clinique Rinse-off Eye Makeup Solvent to remove it. This never irritates my eyes, and I like it because it is not greasy at all. I then use Clinique Clarifying Lotion 2 as a toner.


My Mom has dry skin and I have oily skin but we both have the problem with flaky skin. The flakes would even be in our eyebrows so when you ran your finger over them they felt gritty. We both went to different dermatologists and were prescribed various creams and given numerous samples and nothing got rid of the flakes. We were at our wits end. It goes against conventional wisdom to put a toner on your face if your skin looks flaky, but I'm telling you it will get rid of the flakes! I told my Mom to try it and she couldn't believe that it worked. She uses a Mary Kay toner and still gets good results.


I only use moisturizer occasionally in the winter or if I'm visiting a cold/windy climate or I'm on an airplane for a long period of time. When I do, I prefer Clinique Moisture Surge. It is a gel so you don't get that greasy feeling at all. My Mom loves it too. Again, I'm oily and she's dry - it works for both of us.


I wanted to mention that a good, and less expensive alternative to the Clinique Cleanser, is Eucerin's Sensitive Skin Gentle Hydrating Cleanser. It is Fragrance-Free, very mild, and you can buy it at Walgreens. I usually keep it in the shower and wash my face with it in the mornings then use the Clinique Clarifying Lotion when I get out.


I realize there is nothing groundbreaking here. Everyone knows about Clinique and Eucerin. Probably the thing I'm most excited to tell you about is the Premium Exfoliating Cotton Rounds I buy from Walgreens. You may not be able to tell in the photo above, but one side of the cotton round is soft and the other side has little bumps. They are 100% pure cotton, but the bumpy side is great to use when applying the toner/clarifying lotion. It helps remove the dead skin. Of course the softer side is great for removing your eye make-up. I have to warn you that Walgreens doesn't always have these in stock. The last 2 stores I went to were out, but I lucked out and found them today. I really love these things and now that I've been using them I hate to use anything else.


I hope you have good luck with these items if you give them a try. Let me know how it works out for you.