Cosmetics Galore

White teeth can really light up your smile. When you see someone who is otherwise really attractive smile and their teeth are brown or yellow, it completely alters their appearance. Healthy looking white teeth (but not those glaringly white teeth you see on some models and celebrities, that’s a bit much) make YOU look healthy.

They really show that you put a lot of care into your oral routine every day, and they just add that extra healthy, vibrant look to your overall facial attractiveness.  There are a TON of teeth whiteners out on the market right now.  Heck, even the Kardashians market one of them actively.

Many of them are overpriced to be honest. You can probably get the same results using common whitening toothpastes you use at home by using it more effectively as I’m about to share with you. My current favorite is Colgate Optic White. It’s reasonably priced at about $3.50 a 4 ounce tube, and a little does go a long way, especially with the tip I’m about to share with you which is very simple yet very effective at getting the most out of your whitening toothpaste.

I use a manual tooth brush. Manual toothbrushes, as opposed to the battery operated or electric toothbrushes, are superior in my opinion. You get a better handle on the amount of pressure you’re applying, and you have more control over where you are getting the best cleaning in the hard to reach corners and crevices of your mouth.

Put about the amount of a large pea on your toothbrush. Use a high quality whitening toothpaste such as the Colgate one I mentioned or Rembrandt.  A whitening toothpaste with baking soda is also very effective using this method.  What you are going to do is not add any water before you start brushing. So, you are going to “dry brush” your teeth with the toothpaste for a minute or two before adding any water to your tooth brush.

I know this may sound icky, but it’s really not that bad once you get used to it. You will notice a HUGE difference in how well the paste whitens your smile by using this method after about a week of doing it diligently in the morning and at night.

The reason it works better to whiten your teeth? My opinion is that it’s because the ingredients for whitening are much more concentrated when you do a dry brush. They are not watered down. Also, you are getting more of an abrasive scrubbing and polishing action without the water, which helps remove and lift stains off the teeth more effectively.

Out of all the hot makeup looks, I’d have to say that two of the women in Hollywood who get that whole “sex kitten” look just right (and hence the reason for their popularity with the opposite sex) are Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox.

Now granted, the two of them have striking facial structure similarities, but there is something else they both have that really frames their face well and sets them apart their eyes and their eybrows. They both have perfectly arched, delicately lined eyebrows that complement their features very well and take them to the next level of attractiveness.

The good news is that you can duplicate this look even if you have skimpy eyebrows or very light colored eyebrows, because there are some great eyebrow liners out there that help you achieve the perfect arch no matter what God has given you to work with.

Also, there are some excellent eyebrow and eyelash enhancers that act as a combo treatment for both of these important facial features to help these tiny hairs grow in faster, longer and darker when you need faster growth and more of it to create that luscious “filled in” look and to have as much of it be from your own natural hair fibers as possible to create a realistic look.

My favorite eyebrow liner that really creates a thin line that looks natural and blends well is the MAC brow liner. It’s easy to use because it’s a push up pencil rather than one that needs to be sharpened. There is no guess work, because the pencil is always the perfect size to creat the realistic look of tiny hairs that look just like your own.

There are also three colors that match well with any brow color. There’s even one that’s very light for blondes and redheads that is awesome. What you want to do with this liner is create tiny, hair like lines that go in the direction of your other eyebrow hairs.

This creates a naturally fuller look, and you can follow the existing arch your brows, which should ideally follow the arch or your brow bone. These tiny little hairs look just like your own eyebrows! An voila, you have sexy, arched and perfectly full eyebrows that aren’t too thick or too thin – just like Angelina and Megan!

I’ve been using natural hair color for a while now. I have read too many deeply disturbing things about all the harsh chemicals that are found in most commercial haircolors.  Ammonia, peroxide, parabens, resorcinol, and a variety of other cancer-causing toxic chemicals are just a few of the reasons to avoid many haircolors.

Not only that, I noticed that these typical hair dyes were really starting to burn my scalp, and started to affect the health of both my hair and my scalp. My head was often itchy and dry, and my hair seemed like a dry haystack after coloring my hair with these chemical-loaded colors that I was buying off the shelves.

My first foray into the natural hair color world was a disaster.  I tried a henna hair color and ended up with hair that looked almost grey.  I decided never again was I even going to attempt a henna hair color. It left my hair looking worse.  Not that henna is a bad thing – it is contained in some natural hair dyes today, but I tried using just straight powdered henna and it was awful.

I also tried a couple other brands of “natural hair color” only to find that they burned my scalp and dried my hair just as badly as the other stuff.  This was because they still had several harsh chemicals in them.

I finally found Tints of Nature hair colors online about a year and a half ago, and I’ve never looked back – it was one of my favorite hair care products of all time. I’ve actually tried several of their colors and landed on the medium brown as my favorite because it matches my natural color best and gives the best finish.

While the formula does have a pungent smell, it does not burn my head when I apply it. Nor does my hair look dry, dull and lifeless after I use it.  It actually looks healthy, bouncy and shiny, and it never did with the L’Oreals, the Revlons and the Garniers that dominate the store shelves.

I’ve never found Tints of Nature on store shelves, I’ve always purchased mine online at Amazon, where I’ve found the most competitive price for this product.

Make It Disappear with Cover Up!

So I woke up this morning to a burgeoning zit on my chin – which is where I always get my zits when I’m stressed out, no matter what herbal acne remedies I take that stress component seems to always trump just about anything I do.  I’m 37 years old now by the way, and I’ve struggled with acne since I was in my teens. Actually had it pretty bad in my teens too.

I was on a trove of medications when I was younger, including Retin-a, which only succeeded in making my skin a peely red mess and actually dried me out so bad I would start bleeding where it was applied after a few days.  I was also on a lot of antibiotics as well, which I’m now pretty bummed about since antibiotics are harmful to the body when taken in large quantities for a long time, and can potentially even increase the odds of breast cancer in women.

I finally found success in clearing my acne naturally when I found the Zenmed natural supplement. It seemed to calm my skin after a few weeks and improved my skin. When I first started taking it, I thought it wasn’t working, but after about 3-4 weeks I knew it was doing something because my skin was definitely clearer.

I now take the supplement and use their cleansing products whenever I’m experiencing a breakout period, which for me is when I’m under immense stress (as I am now).  But I digress.  I have a tax appointment with my husband and our tax guy this morning and am stressed because I’m hoping our payments are not as high as they were last year. Due to the economy, our side incomes have gone down and our day jobs have increased in pressure, but not in pay (as is happening pretty much everywhere now).

So after a few days of hemming, hawing and general worrying, I woke up with a big red zit on the bottom of my chin this morning. I had felt it brewing beneath the surface – you know the type, we’ve all experienced it before, so I knew it was coming so I knew I’d need some makeup tricks to get this one covered up.

Here’s the best way I’ve found to cover up a big red puffy zit.  I like to use ONLY a lighter shade of stick (solid) cover up. Never use a darker shade than your real skin tone -if anything go lighter, but try to match it as best you can to your natural skin tone.

Lightly dab the stick right on the blemish and a little around it as well, so that it is solid opaque and totally covering/masking the redness and bump.  Then, ever so delicately take your forefinger and dab it in to blend it. Never rub it, as this will dilute the cover up and the redness will start to show through again.  Before you do any of this be sure to thoroughly moisturize your skin so that you don’t have a lot of dry skin flakes or crustiness around the blemish, this will only crust over when the cover up is applied.

Then, just hope that the stress goes away and the good grace of nature takes its course and your skin gets clear again. That’s what I’m hoping for  – and good news from the tax man

I think that just about every woman I know has a little mini crush/admiration for Jennifer Aniston. I think it’s because not only does she have great, easy taste when it comes to fashion and manages to make a plain black dress look downright adorable yet sexy at the same time, but she seems like she’s the woman who you could have a conversation with. She’s “obtainable” that way, even though she is a huge mega star and has had her life repeatedly invaded by the paparazzi and her love life scrutinized, written about and speculated on for over a decade.

Let’s talk first about her fabulous hair. She has always had really beautiful hair, one of the most admired heads of celebrity hair there is. It always seems to lay right, and she wears it in the most gorgeous yet simple updos and side swept looks.  She can wear it wavy or pin straight and look really pretty doing it.

Her makeup is simple.  That’s why she looks somewhat like the girl next door – even though she’d be the girl next door that every guy wants to date.  She uses simple nudes, what looks like a small amount of natural foundation and shades of brown a lot and pink, which fits her naturally tan, fit look best.  She wouldn’t look good with caked on makeup, and she seems to know that and chooses the most elegant and simple, casual looks for her makeup, yet manages to look young, fresh and vibrant every time.

She has a look of “fun” about her. Like she’s the girl that every man and woman wants to be friends with. And that my friend, is probably more attractive than anything else – hair, makeup, clothes or any other physical attribute.  And she looks to have no cellulite in those photos of her in bikinis, which makes her the envy of most women.

I’m kind of liking her hair when she doens’t flat iron it.  It looks so pretty with the multiple layers of highlights that seem darn natural if they aren’t.  The waviness and texture really looks fantastic with her chocie of clothes and makeup too.

Australians apparently have been indulging in the use of something I had never heard of before reading about the authorities warning against it. It is an injection of hormones that increase melanin production so that you can tan faster (or actually it gives you pretty much an instant tan like a self tanner would).

In what seems like a dream trifecta, this injectable substance also claims to increase your libido AND make you skinnier by suppressing your appetite and leading to weight loss. So what’s the rub? Well, it really has never proven to be safe, and in fact has been banned in several countries so far, so that’s never a good sign that a product is reputable.

Even though it has been banned in several countries, some can still obtain it over the internet, which has prompted the Australian authorities to warn people from using it due to what they see are big dangers.

The injectable substance has been called the “Barbie drug” because it makes you tanner and supposedly thinner. It is actually a synthetic hormone and is still being used by women and men alike to get an instant tan and to help with fast weight loss. We all know the drill – if something seems too good to be true, it is.

Also, we’ve seen these “too good to be true” types of products end up causing serious harm to people, possibly even death, so it’s always best to put your skeptic hat on when reading about these things and try not to buy in to the hype.

The drug has been available by prescription, but is still freely available on the itnernet with no prescriptio, which worries authorities even more. The side effects reported thus far have been flushing, nausea, darkening of freckles, and erections that last waaaay too long, among others.

My husband has become addicted to a few of the Aveda products much to my dismay (they’re a bit pricey, but goshdarnit, they smell good and I like the way they make my hair look). He actually recently lost his just-purchased Aveda Damage Remedy Daily Hair Repair tube that cost him a pretty $24 and tax and had to re-buy it.

Talk about a double whammy to the wallet! But I definitely understand – once you really like a product and it really works well on your hair, well there’s no going back. When something makes his hair lay right, it’s game over. He’s got thicker, wavy brown hair that is a bit longer (he doesn’t get it buzzed but rather cut with regular sheers every time he goes to the stylist), so when it looks good it looks fabulous, and like others with longer hair, when it looks bad it looks downright sad.

The product, which I have snagged a couple times from him to use of course, is a pretty good one. It could be a little too heavy for some hair types, but my long brown hair tends to me more on the coarse and dry side, so my hair just soaks it right in. As with many other Aveda haircare products, a little bit goes a long way which is comforting when you’re paying more for a higher quality product.

It comes with that same old woodsy-earthy smell that most other Aveda products come with, and it’s claim to fame is that it is made with quinoa protein. Quinoa is a seed that is commonly eaten almost like brown rice is. It is a very unique grain/seed because it contains all of the essential amino acids, which makes it a great dietary choice for vegans and vegetarians who cannot eat animal or dairy sources of protein.

My husband uses a little dab of it after he washes his hair. He lets his hair air dry with it in, and he swears that it makes his hair more tame and less frizzy and crazy throughout the day, so I’d say that’s quite a ringing endorsement for this particular hair product - especially from a guy who barely runs a comb through his hair in the morning otherwise!

Hello everyone! This is the new format for Cosmetics Galore, a veteran cosmetics and beauty products review site that I’ve been running now for about seven years. It has certainly flown by, and the site has definitely grown a lot and taken some turns, both for better or for worse (apparently some search engines now shun review sites, but hey, we’ll roll with the punches and keep bringing these reviews to you, our readers!)

I just wanted to introduce the new format since I’ll be occasionally posting updates in a shorter format. They’ll be all about things like new beauty crazes, makeup tips, natural enhancement products and beauty supplements, slimming and cellulite reduction tips and all things beauty.

I want to really start focusing on natural beauty, because in the past two or so years I’ve really come to see that natural, preservative and chemical “non toxic” beauty products are really what we all should be using. I’ve started using many all natural beauty and personal care products and frankly, I’ll never go back to using toxic body care.

This is truly my passion now, and I want to share it with the readers. I’ve even dabbled in making my own all natural products, and will also share that with all of you too.

So welcome to our new format, and please, since you now have the ability to post comments – post, post, post! That’s what it’s all about – sharing. Please no spam and no rudeness – this is a community that will be modeled in the spirit of respect, passion and fun.

WELCOME!!!!