I worship in the church of Sephora where a girl can be a whore (of the product-whore variety, that is) without risk of damnation. It’s a Mecca for junkies like me. When I walk through the doors I feel a little bit lighter and a little bit higher. It’s a feeling I’d bottle if I could.
I vividly remember my virgin trip to Sephora. I was literally drunk with happiness thanks to some “signature” cocktails at the Rainforest Café in the Burlington Mall. It’s a given that shopping while drunk is dangerous, but in a store like this, it’s downright lethal. A basket of make-up, moisturizers, perfume, hair products, make-up brushes and about $400 later, I left Sephora and I’ve never been the same since.
I can trace the whore/junkie behavior back to when I first discovered make-up. My mom would pass on those “gift with purchase” freebies to my sister and me and I’d relish in them. My mom took me to the Clinque counter in junior high to help me find a skin regime and I was amazed at all the make-up counters department stores had to offer.
Visits to Rock Bottom (a pharmacy that, you guessed it, sold stuff for *rock bottom* prices) followed. And when I had to get a job to learn a little something about responsibility and earning my own money (thank you, mom), I chose a part-time career at CVS and I’m not ashamed to admit I loved it. Products + a job that required organizing shelves + getting to play with a real live cash register = a happy me.
These days Sephora is the lure, but I will also satisfy my cravings at everything from Duane Reade to drugstore.com to Bliss to CVS (I can never seem to get out of there without spending $25). I’ve curbed my department store make-up counter habit, after many years of living at Trish McEvoy. (Still love her but needed to broaden my horizons a bit.) And so it will come as no surprise that my cabinets are bursting with products. In the grand tradition of if at first you don’t succeed….I try and try and try again. Any product is fair game and while there are some misses (law of averages, right?) there are definitely some hits.
So on this Monday, which is kind of like my normal Sunday (love holidays), when I typically perform some of weekly beauty rituals, I give you some of my current hits.
My fan favorites.
My obsessions. (Love an excuse for an 80s song link).
1. A bundle of Bliss:
As if the clever names weren’t reason enough to try these products, they smell great, work great and are reasonably priced. I’m very careful about what I’ll use on my face thanks to my sensitive skin, so when Bliss worked for me, I never looked back.
I’m not a fan of facials. I don’t like having other people mess with my face. But the Bliss masks make me feel like I’m getting all the perks of the in-spa without the anxiety that goes with it.
First up is the Steep Clean Mask – Every Sunday night, like clockwork, I slather this on. A blue and yellow gel get blended together and smoothed on. The mask smells like heaven, doesn’t get all hard and crackly like some other brands and my face feels amazing in 15 minutes flat.
Triple Oxygen Energizing Mask – this orange scented mask comes out as a gel and turns into a foam on your face. There’s a hard-to-describe bubbling feeling as the mask works its magic. In just five minute my face is brighter and has a great glow. On special occasions I’ll follow it with the Energizing Eye Mask.
Youth As We Know It – I admit I tried this line when it came out based on the name alone. I was getting a little, ahem, older and I’ll happily admit I am trying to fight the reality of aging. I tried the whole product line but narrowed down my loves to the eye cream (so rich, absorbs well, no irritating fragrance) and face moisturizers. The SPF version is a new purchase, just in time for summer. Brilliant!
I go back and forth on the need for toners – are they necessary or just a ploy to get people to spend more money? I used to use Sea Breeze, which smelled like alcohol and kind of burned and dried my face out. This was back when I was shopping at Rock Bottom and technically I think this was considered an astringent (which just sounds painful). But I had faith in Bliss (and I’m pretty sure there was some sort of 20% off promotion) so I took the leap and got the Detoxifying Facial Toner. I typically use it at night – post wash or mask and pre-moisturizer and I’m pleased. This one stays in the rotation.
I’m also devoted to the Cleansing Milk, Pore-Perfecting Face Polish and Fabulous Foaming Face Wash (in my shower where they are in daily circulation) and to the Body Butter. I’m partial to Vanilla Bergamot in the fall/winter and the Blood Orange for spring/summer. And then some days I just have to go Naked, so it doesn’t compete with my perfume. Baggage Handler ensures I look like I got a good night's sleep. Problem Salved is great for everything from taming my eyebrows to softening my cuticles to soothing my skin post-tweezing. And No Zit Sherlock gets it done.
 |
| Photo Courtesy of http://thanksgiving.phillipmartin.info /thanksgiving_turkey1.htm |
And I must give a shout out to that little bottle of Olay Regenerist that snuck into the picture. I tried the Bliss Thinny Chin Chin, which is supposed to help prevent that whole I’m-getting-old-and-therefore-getting-a-turkey-neck, but it was pricey and I didn’t really feel like it was doing anything. But I’m still vain and don’t want the turkey neck, so when I read the amazing reviews on Olay, I decided to give this product a go. Love it. It’s a fragrance free, smooth gel, and it does the trick. They have a whole line of products, but this is as far as I’ve ventured.
2. These nails were made for polishing…
I’ve been obsessed with painting my nails for as long as I can remember. I even painted some of my dolls and Barbie’s nails. Constantly changing my nail color, I’ve always had a rainbow colors at my disposal. And just like I don’t have the patience for facials, I really don’t have the patience for manicures.
I got acrylics for a wedding way back when and stuck with them for about a year. My manicurist was a little reminiscent of Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” except instead of being a singing sea witch, she was a chain-smoking, schmatta-wearing gypsy, who doled out advice on my life and my relationship (it often felt like I was paying for therapy and not a manicure). But then she had a heart attack and quit the biz.
And I quit the acrylics. So these days I’d rather save my money for the full body massage and do my own nails. And if I do say so myself, I’ve gotten really good at it after a couple decades of practice.
For years I was a lot of a nail polish snob and only used OPI. I frequented beauty supply stores, and stocked up on colors, until OPI became available in chain drugstores. Its accessibility has become the death of me.
I want to note that I’ve been partial to dark nail polish since before Vamp hit the market in the mid-nineties and I didn’t jump on that bandwagon. I did however go off the OPI path for this amazing chocolate brown Essie polish. I wish I knew the name, but it was one of those colors my manicurist used to pull from her purse when I came in, so it was like I was getting some insider color. Loved it, but in hindsight I should have demanded to know the name. Grrrrr!
But I’ve sworn by the dark polish for ages. Light colors just don’t work for me. The lightest I’ve gone recently is OPI’s You Don’t Know Jacques, which is a great greige, but I have to be in the mood for this one. And I absolutely don’t believe in certain colors for certain seasons. My nail colors have certainly earned me some snide comments. Sticks and stones. So long as I don't break a nail!
One of my all time favorite colors (another case of the discontinued) is OPI’s Massachusetts Mulberry. It was a sort of red/brown shimmer and I’ve never found a color to hold a candle to it and replace it. When Sephora started their OPI line I was over the moon with new options. (I’m With Brad became the color I wore into the ground starting in the summer of 2008.)
These days I’m broadening my horizons and am having a love affair with the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure. It’s the base coat, polish and top coat all in one. Genius! And as a girl who does her nails at least twice a week, this is a huge time saver. Plus I cannot stand chips so the all-in-one formula makes touch ups at work that much easier. I go back and forth from Haute Chocolate to Navy Baby on my fingernails.
For the toes I’ll hit every color of the rainbow. I was wearing some Navy Baby on my toes, but I'm a fan of matchy-matchy, so swiping it off and changing it to Sephora by OPI Ms. Can't Be Wrong. Shimmery, hot pinky/purple will keep me happy for weeks to come. And I suspect will look amazing on the beach on Portugal!
3. Head to Toe. Or Hands to Feet, actually…
And when the hands and nails are done there’s only one thing left to do – moisturize. As you can guess I’ve given the Bliss hand and foot creams a go and they’re definitely keepers. But then I read about the brand, Cake, in Real Simple magazine. They had me at “spearmint and peppermint” for the foot cream so I promptly hopped on Sephora and bought the set:
Love them both. My feet are happy and tingly and my hands are smooth. The hand cream has a slight scent that isn’t at all overpowering – I can’t quite put my finger on it. The ingredients say shea butter, mango, milk and marshmallow extract. Sounds weird, but I swear it’s ahhh-may-zing. So worth it.
And with that I’m off to unwind. I have some mellow music to listen to and a face mask to indulge in.
No comments:
Post a Comment