.:: CybeleSays ::.

I love a good massage and the place I visit regularly near downtown LA, the Olympic Spa & Retreat, is a full service spa for women. Before your massage, you can use the simple soak room, which includes showers, whirlpools, saunas, and one I really find interesting, is the scorching hot “mugwort” tea pool. On the wall next to it are the benefits, which include those for the skin and how the concoction detoxifies the body (don’t really believe but that’s another story). Overall, this most recent visit in the pool got me thinking about tub teas in general and the benefits of the plants used in them. Not only are baths an easy way to benefit aromatically but it seems that steeping in ingredients like bergamot, eucalyptus, ginger, honey, yogurt, oats, tofu, and rosemary seems to be the best way for your skin to reap the benefits of some of these ingredients vs a cream, lotion or oil.

Take these Organic Tub Tea Blends ($28/5 sachets @ agoodnightkiss.com) from A GOOD NIGHT KISS. Each of the six blends contains ingredients like organic white tea, granulated honey, bergamot oil and more. And I have really found these sachets great to use in these hot summer months. The directions say to place the bag/s in fairly hot water in the tub but I’ve been letting the bath stand for a little while longer so it cools down to luke warm. Very soothing.

I had a couple of readers write in about skin irritating ingredients in mineral makeup, foundation specifically. So many different lines are popping up these days that it’s starting to get confusing. So here’s what I thought we’d do – over the next two months, we’ll examine mineral lines on the rise, the kinds of ingredients they use and what that means for you. We’ve featured most of them on these pages before but let’s really get to the bottom of each.

And let’s really try and put the myth to bed that mineral makeup is actually good for your skin. Remember how everyone is throwing the word “natural” around these days? Well these companies are too and some of the ingredients can be just as irritating and un-natural as their non-mineral-based competition. This info from the Cosmetic Cop is worth the read. Don’t mistake this thinking we are not fans, as we are especially when it comes to the glimmer shadows from BE. *sigh*

Ok, onward. First up, the EVERYDAY MiNERALS line and their line which includes Foundations, Finishing Powders, Pressed Powders. Created by an ultra-busy Mom, the Founder was one of the first estheticians in California making headway into the area of all-natural and organic in the area of beauty.

Ingredient breakdown of powders:

Mica – transparent mineral mined from the earth that provides light reflection (think of those liquid foundations that contain ingredients to lessen the look of wrinkles to the naked eye)

Titanium Dioxide and Zinc Oxide - sunscreens

Iron Oxide – a natural color without dyes or animal ingredients

(some of the shades contain) Ultramarine Blue – ingredient used in blue and purple shades (the cool shades)

What we like about this line:

* Besides having a vast array of foundation shades, they really go the extra mile in getting it exactly right with warm vs cool complexions.

* Doesn’t contain some of the well-known skin irritating ingredients.

* The packaging has some thought behind it. What I mean by that is I’m really not enticed by some of the Mom and Pop mineral makeup brands out there. Sorry but I need good-looking packaging too. So shoot me.

* The prices are very reasonable and most of them come in these three sizes: $2.50/sample, $6/mini, $12/big

* 100% money-back guarantee.

What we feel can be improved upon:

* The website is not the easiest to navigate.

* Sizes do not give you exact measurement of product. Did I miss this on the site?

So do you currently wear mineral makeup? Why do you like it? Check out this line @ everydayminerals.com

Have you ever applied a product, stepped back and declared, “This is exactly what I’ve been looking for!” It doesn’t happen often but it did for me with BOURJOiS’ new Shimmering Shine Liquid Eye Shadow ($16 @ ulta.com). This shadow has single-handedly got me really excited about beauty right now. Remember Suki shadow we featured last week? Same level of excitement! Wow, two weeks in a row!

Here’s the skinny: The formula is 55% water so that combined with the ultra-pearlized pigments leave you with a shimmering metallic finish that is sooo beautiful! And it also dries quickly to a water-resistant finish, from what I experienced. Color picks: Gris Platine (silvery grey with a blue accent) and Brun Magnetique (ultra iridescent brown).

0

And here’s even more good news, we have 20 to giveaway to you! Click here for more details.

We’ve all heard of and used hand sanitizers in the gel and foam form. How about a hand sanitizer lotion?? PUREWORKS Antibacterial Lotion ($22/8oz, $12/4oz) is a first of its kind in a few different ways. Besides being in the form of a creamy lotion, it’s also FDA compliant as a First-aid antiseptic. I don’t recall hearing any other company in this category touting that fact.
Did you know that a lot of the popular brands are made up of mostly are mainly Ethyl Alcohol? Ones that contain alcohol supposedly work better than non-alcohol ones but Pureworks’ alcohol-free products claim to work just as good. Just short of doing a skin swab, how would one test this fact? Since I don’t own a chemistry lab, I used this one when I need to moisturize my hands anyways so I take their word for it. Their site has some interesting facts to back up their claims so read more @ handefend.com

Kissing fact: It is estimated that the average person spends 20,160 minutes or 2 weeks kissing in their lifetime. So you better make sure they are ready at all times as you never know when it’s going to happen! My lips have been all over, or rather, two that have been all over my lips are AUSTRALIAN SCENT’s Lips and Nails ($8/.2oz tine @ australianscent.com) and LINDI SKIN’s Lip Balm ($10 @ lindiskin.com). How did they know that after I’m done rubbing my lips with the balm, I massage the excess into my cuticles? Both balms make this suggestion, as they too know it’s just as nourishing for the lips as it is for nails. 

0

OMG, TONE!! Remember Tone? That bar of yellow soap? It was around when Tab was big and like New Kids On the Block, they’re making a comeback. Ok, I’m showing my age now. Those of us who remember Tone probably recall some nice memories and let’s make some new ones with the new scents. How about Almond Milk or Coconut Milk sound? Get ‘em in the two forms below and get washing! Available @ drugstores nationwide.

0

Body Bar $2.19/2-pack, $4.49/6-pack

Nourishing Liquid Hand Soap $2.29/8.85oz

00

The Makeup Divasreviews Mac Solar Bits in Black Ore and Scatterrays.

The Daily Cookie is celebrating her first reader newsletter with a GIVEAWAY! Sign up and enter for your chance to win a Kat Von D True Romance Beethoven palette for you and a friend.

A Touch of Blusher tells you where to indulge in beauty retail therapy in London.

Beauty Anonymous reviews Dior Bronze Matte Sunshine SPF 20 Bronzing Powder.

Elke shares how you can get creative with your makeup. Have the makeup? Now what? Read for her fun solution.

15 Minute Beauty Fanatic gets the low down from Makeup Artist Molly Stern on her favorite brushes and makeup items!

The Muse rocks out with the new Bare Minerals Rocker Eye Kit and shares product photos, a review, and FOTD using this great new kit from BE!

Beauty Banter asks the makeup pros all you'll ever need to know about STAINS - how to apply, when to wear, and which ones are the best in this month's A Girl's Guide to Stains!!!

The Beauty of Life is giving away products from Bliss and Farfalla, worth over $80!

Beauty Junkie in SF finally has clear, beautiful, break-out free skin with the help of Jan Marini Skin Research.

Click here to read more

(cover story) VERA WANG is launching her third fragrance, Look, in November through Coty.

Bloomingdales is putting nine SPACE NK beauty stores inside their beauty departments. The partnership will debut in November.

Chocolate giant Nestlé Co. is introducing GLOWELLE to the marketing in September. It's a dietary supplement billed as a beauty juice formulated with antioxidants, vitamins and botanical and fruit extracts.

Source: WWD

We wrote about the SOMME INSTITUTE some time ago and for the life of me, I can’t recall which product it was. I know it for sure was not their Transport ($58/3oz @ sommeinstitute.com) because I probably won’t forget this one now that I’ve experienced it. I sometime feel like scrubs with the granules are too rough for the skin on my face so I know I will be reaching for this one on occasion as an alternative. Each pad in the Transport container is steeped in a combo of alpha and beta hydroxy acids to chemically exfoliate the skin and like all their products, this one contains their Molecular Dispersion Technology 5 or MDT5 ingredient. They claim this blend of vitamins A, C, E, D, B3 and B5, has been proven to produce visual changes in skin texture, tone, and clarity. Because of this unique biochemical complex, it’s able to penetrate the skin deeply without oxidizing or losing potency. And they have some impressive validation from dermas and researchers at prestigious Universities to back up their claims. Hmmmm, so there are the facts. I don’t know how long you are supposed to use this to see the results but typically it’s about 6 weeks. So while I’m just getting to that mark, I am digging the way it exfoliates my skin, which is good enough for me.

(drum roll please!) We have our winners and the good news is that we chose eight instead of seven! There were more entries than we've ever had for a contest so thanks for reading. We really do wish we could have chosen all of you. Believe me, I (Editor) never win anything.
And it was strange that we had no Canadian winners this time as we have a lot readers up North. Hopefully they will represent in the next contest!

The eight winners are: Tangie C/Sacramento, CA; Kaley K/Miami, FL; Ansley B/Dalton, GA; Lisa L/Derwood, MD; Teresa H/Omer, IL; Kristina M/Ft. Myers, FL; Erin S/Birmingham, AL; Brenda O/Weymouth, MA

Congrats to all and we'll be rolling out another contest early next week so be sure to check back.

All my blush,

~Cybele