Pantone Color of the Year

As my second cold of the season sets in, combined with my graceful spill on the ice in Nash, and the in general dreariness of it all I started looking for something to perk up my days. I'm not quite ready to give up fall and winter makeup, but I may have to sneak in Pantone's color of the year, Honesuckle, here and there.

What's this color of the year business? Well, Pantone is a company that provides, among other things, a standard for colors that printing, design, and other industries. In other words, if one company wants to print something in red, they can use the Pantone system to select and standardize their colors. They release color reports identifying color trends to coincide with Fashion weeks (SPRING 2011 HERE) And that, is where this post comes in. I personally love this color. Now, I am no fashionista so I won't even get into suggestions for clothes; although, I will state that I may become slightly obsessed with locating a dress in this exact color for my BFF's May wedding. Strapless. Just sayin. (If you see one, holla...)

But imagine this color on cheeks, lips, and nails...I know, RIGHT? So cute. I may have to sneak some on my toes this winter. No one will know but me, but sometimes it's the little things that can brighten your day! I found three items below that are along the right color lines: Nars blush in Desire ($28), OPI Polish in Ladies and Magenta-men ($9), and Korres lip butter in Quince ($10).

I personally will stay away from the color on my nails until spring, but I'm all about it on my lips and incorporating into outfits (cami under a sweater, scarf...again, not a fashion maven here, but it could be cute!) Hope you are all staying warm and cozy...and if you need a pick me up, maybe this is just the ticket for you!

Update: Not two seconds after I posted this I found this Allure blog in my reader on the same thing! See gals, I really AM up on the times! They have some better tips about selecting the right tone for you, along with some pictures. So continue your lesson in 2011's "hot color" HERE.

Photo credits: Pantone.com, Shaun Kearney for Cynthia Steffe / The PANTONE Fashion Color Report, Sephora.com, NARScosmetics.com,

Allure?! What the heck is this???

Oh. What. The. F. is this business? I'm sorry, I love Jennifer Anniston. I think she's gorgeous, and usually (usually) her hair and makeup at events and premiers is DEAD ON. But this Allure cover? Oh no.

Allure.com

Absolutely not. Ok first off the photoshopping is out of whack--she looks like a doll. Second, um, the teddy bear? Cause whoa creepy. Also a no. Her makeup is ok...just ok. The hair is a really weird color. Oh, everything about this is just all wrong. And that makes me sad. The article claims this is supposed to be a "fun 60s and 70s look" but it OBVIOUSLY missed that mark.

I am a devoted Allure subscriber, but this cover shoot is an epic fail. There is one nice pic in the set if you want to see more at Allure.com HERE.

Bring some shine into your life (or at least your hair)

So maybe it's winter, maybe it's me, but I've noticed my hair has been looking super dull lately. It's no secret that I color my hair, but I'm on hiatus until my stylist comes off maternity leave (maybe. I'm not sure I can make it that long, but I'm going to try). However, yesterday in Walgreens I came upon this product:

Photo from drugstore.com

I am not new to the world of glazes; I tried John Freida a few years ago. That brand worked pretty well as far as shine goes, but didn't smell very good, the texture was more of a gel than anything else, and after using my hair was somewhat "squeaky" if you know what I mean. I hadn't used anything in a long time, so I thought about trying this. It was $6.99 ($6.00 at drugstore.com) for 4 oz, but that's not too bad for Aveeno. I have tried Aveeno active naturals shampoo without much success, but I was willing to give it a shot.

I'm glad I did, because so far I really like it. You just apply it post shampoo & conditioner in the shower, let it set 2-3 min, and rinse. Easy! Shine example to the right taken with my camera phone.

I didn't use any products post shower and didn't apply any heat tools other than the hair dryer and a round brush to try and make it look better. Pretty good, huh? Another bonus is the light and flowery scent (hence the "active naturals" I suppose). Also, it's a cream, so it goes on your hair easily in the shower, just like a conditioner would. When I combed through my hair I had zero tangles, which my expensive conditioner can't even do, giving it BIG points in my book as well. The only concern is there didn't seem to be many available on the shelves; I don't know if this is a new product Aveeno is marketing, or one that isn't doing well. I guess I'll have to wait and see on that.

The goal is to help extend color, not totally replace having your hair colored, and at first glance it seems to do the trick. I will report back if it washes out tomorrow, but otherwise I give this product a 4 out of 5.

Winter skin BEGONE!

I stumbled upon this on the clearance rack at Rite Aid last weekend. It was ~$4 if I remember correctly. I hope that it being on clearance was not a signal that St. Ives wasn't going to make it anymore, cause this stuff is AWESOME.

St. Ives Intensive Healing Body Cream

I mean super awesome. Rad-awesome. I was scratching my legs in my SLEEP they were so itchy, and in ONE day (1!!) it took everything back to silky smooth. I had been using just a generic Suave lotion, which was ok, but I felt like I had to keep re-applying and even then I still had dry, itchy legs. St. Ives took care of that. Plus, it doesn't feel greasy or too thick like some "body creams" or "body butters" can feel. I've been using it daily since I got it, which is a big deal cause I am horrible about applying lotion diligently, especially in the winter when no one but T sees my legs.

I'm rating it higher than more expensive stuff I've tried from Sephora, Korres, and Pacifica. If I see this stuff again I plan to stock up just in case it really is going away (please St Ives...don't take it away).

Post to share

Interesting. I had heard about this dry shampoo and was going to try it when I ran out of "PSST", but now I think I'll pass....The girls at College Fashion HATED TRESemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo. Read about it HERE

Have any of you tried it and liked it?

Random of the day

Just popping in to show of the nail polish Santa put in my stocking. I can always count on the following things being in there: socks, a toothbrush, body wash, a nail file (sparkly red this year), and nail polish. This color is called "Grey Suede" by Revlon. I'm kinda digging it, even though it's just a neutral. It is EXACTLY my skin tone, thus goes with everything. (Sorry it's not the best photo quality, it's from my phone camera.)

Hope everyone has a great New Year!

Disappearing act

So this summer I managed to screw up the sunscreen somehow and developed some darker spots on my upper lip, kinda like a merged freckle, and a spot on my temple. It's one of those things where I don't think anyone noticed but me, but I obsessed over it. So I decided to try a few products claiming to lighten sun spots and correct skin tone. I started with a drug store brand.

Garnier Skin Renew Anti Sun Damage ($13.50 for 2.5 oz at drugstore.com)
3.5 stars (34 reviewers) on drugstore.com
This one came in the Allure beauty box I ordered and discussed HERE. I tried it for few weeks this summer, but unfortunately there were no noticeable changes at all. It was a decent moisturizer, but I have slightly oily skin so I didn't use it during the day. I wish this had worked, it's so much cheaper than my final test below.

Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector ($49.50 1 oz)
4 star rating on Clinique.com (400 reviewers) and 4 star rating on Sephora.com (750 reviewers)

Photo taken from Clinique.com

I bought this last month at Sephora in a gift set that came with some "Even Better Skin Tone Correcting moisturizer with SPF 20" (a bit thick for my everyday use, but not bad), and a travel size "All About Eyes" serum, which I lurve. The lady at Sephora said customers RAVED about this stuff, so I felt ok about purchasing.

I use a very small dollop at night, concentrating on the spots I need help on. No use wasting it on the rest of my face when it's so pricey. The box says it can take up to 12 weeks for this stuff to really give you results, but I am seeing some improvements after about a month. Now, part of this can also be attributed to me spending less time out in the sun, but there seems to be more improvement than my normal summer-to-winter lightening of skin. The spot on my temple is a bit stubborn, but the darkness on my upper lip (which was by far the most embarrassing) is definitely lighter.

VERY IMPORTANT CAVEAT: You MUST wear sunscreen when you are using this. If your makeup has at least SPF 15 or 20 (which most nowadays do) then in general you should be ok, but if you are going out for any extended period of time (for a long walk, a jog, etc) then you really, really need to wear stronger SPF. If you don't, then the dark spots will return. The packaging even says "Sunscreen necessary". So don't spend $49.50 on this and then forget the sunscreen, undoing all the improvements.

Winner, even though it's the most expensive is Clinique. I just didn't see results from Garnier. Are there any brands or lotions you have tried that worked? Share in the comments.