I love a good pressed powder foundation. A few years ago, that was all that I used – I was devoted to a Garden Botanika product, which has since been discontinued. Then I discovered some really good liquid foundations and tinted moisturizers, and that’s all I’ve used since. At least, until now. My pleasant experience with Pur Mineral’s product has led me on a quest to check out other pressed powders again. Physicians Formula Healthy Wear SPF 50 Powder Foundation is the first one I chose.

I picked one of these up at the drugstore in a buy-one-get-one-free deal: the foundation with the bronzer. I didn’t really need another bronzer, but I figured what the hey, it’s free! Guess what! I love it!

The powder foundation comes in a cute bright orange and pink compact, with a mirror and sponge included. You can apply it with the sponge or use a kabuki brush – the sponge gives a heavier application. The powder has a nice feel on the skin, doesn’t accentuate pores or fine lines like some powders do, and has a long wear to it. Because it’s a high SPF with zinc and titanium oxide, I do feel like it applies with a bit of a whitish cast at first, but this seems to go away after a few minutes. I’m using Translucent Light, the lightest shade. I’m not super-pale, but makeup in general tends to oxidize darker on me and using a lighter shade helps to correct that.

I really like this product! It blends perfectly on my skin. The color range is lacking shades for darker skintones, but anyone fair to medium should find a good fit. I really like that it is SPF 50. Wearing sunscreen consistently is the number one thing you can do to prevent the signs of aging in your skin – and I wanna stay looking young! If I can get sunscreen protection from a product I wear everyday anyway, bonus!!

A few words on the bronzer: the one I have is the second lightest shade, and I like it. Bronzer is tricky for me: not enough and it doesn’t show, too much and I look orange. I feel like this is a good formula and I like that the powder isn’t too soft. If it’s too soft,  it’s easy to pick up too much product on the brush. This one is nice and hard, so I’m less likely to over-do it on the first try (I hate that!). With my handy Eco-Tools bronzer brush (love this!) I can sweep this bronzer on in a big C shape (forehead, temples, cheeks) and it looks natural! This one doesn’t turn orange on me! Yay! So I definitely recommend the bronzer too.

Overall, I give both products two thumbs up. The foundation makes it very easy to wear high SPF broad-spectrum protection without any of the issues I often have with liquid sunscreens (greasiness, etc).

I finally had a chance to review another self tanner! I’ve been wanting to review Clarins Delicious Self-Tanning Cream since it came out, and finally took the plunge and bought a jar.

The cream is supposed to be lightly scented (and no objectionable “tanner” smell), have a light caramel color to aid with application, and be streak-free. It is also supposed to be a good moisturizer. I gave it a sniff ages ago at a Clarins counter and was favorably impressed with the scent (or lack thereof) but at $42 a jar it’s a bit on the splurgey side.

It’s summer however, and I’m feeling a bit on the splurgey side when it comes to combatting my very white legs. I don’t go tanning or lay out in the sun, so my chances of getting any color (at least on my legs) is pretty minimal. I do have some color on my arms because I’m not super-diligent with the sunscreen on my body (I know! Bad Claire!) so my arms get some color from driving about in the car. But the legs? White all the way, because if I’m running around outside where they’d get some sun, I do put on the ’screen.

The Clarins product has definite pros and cons, in my opinion. First, it’s a big jar, so you’re going to be dipping your fingers in and scooping out product. It’s thick, but not thick enough that it’s not going to glop all over if you aren’t careful. Clarins helpfully includes a spatula, which I promptly lost. My fault, not theirs. But if you use some care, getting the product out of the jar and onto your skin isn’t that hard. It’s not a dealbreaker, but I prefer a tube. Clearly though, you can see it’s a jar, so it’s not like I couldn’t have guessed I wasn’t going to love it.

I had to do two applications to get a decent tan color. This could have been a problem with me, though, since I was a bit on the sparing side in the first application. I need to learn to use a heavier hand with the product, which will eliminate the need for two applications.

It takes FOREVER to dry, it seemed like. The Bella Bronze dries a LOT faster. I was not prepared for the 20-30 minute wait before my skin felt reasonably un-tacky to the touch. I got around it by doing my makeup and hair in my underpants while my legs dried, which is okay I guess in the summer, but definitely not going to be so great in the colder wintertime. The room with my makeup desk gets CHILLY. Timing FAIL! I think this will be a strictly warm weather product for that reason.

This is a nitpick, but it’s hard to screw the jar lid on properly. It wants to cross-thread. Again, not a deal-breaker, but annoying nonetheless.

On the plus side, the caramel color does indeed help you tell where you’ve spread it, although it’s pretty sheer. It’s better than nothing, though. It applies quite smoothly, and was easy to feel like I was getting a fairly even application. I applied a teensy amount of regular body lotion first on my knees and ankles, and didn’t have a problem with funny dark spots in those areas. The exception was a bit of an dark swipe on the top of one foot – the result of me not remembering the advice to do your feet last. The ankles and knees looked good!

The smell is definitely not objectionable at all. It is vaguely sweet, and overall definitely more pleasant than not. It doesn’t smell like anything in particular, despite the associations by color and name with chocolate. The color was a natural tan color on my skin, not overly orangey. Just a golden-y color, nice! The color takes about four days or so to fade, and faded pretty evenly – no funny splotchy patches.

It does strike me as a decent body moisturizer. Certainly I had no issues with my skin feeling dry for the rest of the day after applying

Overall, I think Bella Bronze edges out Clarins by a small margin. However, I do like the even application, the helpfulness of the caramel color, and the fact that I got a deeper color with just two applications. With enough practice, I could probably figure out about how much to use to get that color in a single application. So far, 2-3 minimum is needed with Bella Bronze, which I suspect is just a lighter formula in general. I give Clarins a solid one thumb up! (In case you’re wondering, one thumb up means I recommend it with a few reservations. Two thumbs would be a rec. with no reservations.

Last summer I had a hard time finding a lip balm with a mineral sunscreen. This summer, it’s a different story! Hooray! Here’s a rundown of what I’ve tried.

I did buy the Badger Balm SPF 15, and while I usually love all things Badger, I didn’t really love this lip balm. Mostly, I found the taste to be really odd, and it has a stronger whitening effect (from the zinc oxide) than others. It’s also a bit on the dry side, not quite as moisturizing as I’d like. However, it’ll get the job done and SPF 15 is good protection. It’s also a very good budget price.

Tarte’s 24.7 lip sheers remain my favorite tinted lip balm with sunscreen – the color range is the best! They are also super-creamy and pretty long-lasting. Two thumbs up! At $14 each, not a cheap thrill, but worth it in my opinion. They are also an SPF 15.

For a more budget-friendly option in a tinted lip balm with sunscreen (SPF 8), check out Alba Botanica Terra Tints. The colors are quite bright, but the formula is smooth and these are definitely budget-friendly. Bloom is my favorite color.

Burt’s Bees has an SPF 8 lip balm that I’m liking a lot.  It tastes better than Badger, although the protection is less. I think anyone looking for a basic mineral-based sunscreen will find this one perfectly acceptable, widely available (since I see Burt’s Bees products all over the place now), and very budget-friendly. I give it one thumb up (not two, only because I wish it was SPF 15).

Last of all, hands down my favorite lip balm of the summer: Beyond Coastal SPF 15 Active Daily Lip Balm. This lip balm is super smooth, yummy tasting, spf 15 in a big tube at a budget price. What’s not to love?? I got it at my local New Seasons Market, and my tube is a larger .25 oz than the one at the link.

Don’t leave home without sunscreen for your lips this summer! Keep them soft and proetct them at the same time with one of these sunscreen lip balms.

After my previous post talking about skin cancer, it seemed relevant to follow up with a post on sunscreen. I have been test-driving Coppertone’s new product NutraShield SPF 70+ With Dual Defense and Nutrashield Faces SPF 70+ With Dual Defense.

I’ll be the first person to say that while I get it that sunscreen is important to maintaining beautiful skin and good health, I really dislike the stuff. My biggest peeves are texture and smell. I usually dislike the textures of physical sunscreens, and I usually dislike the smell of chemical sunscreens. What is a girl to do? Since the smell problem can be easily solved with the light application of a body mist, it’s easy enough to find one that I’ll use.

Enter Coppertone’s new NutraShield line. There are three products, two body sunscreens and one face sunscreen, which are enriched with antioxidants to help promote natural skin repair by neutralizing harmful free radicals created by UV exposure. The results of independent studies presented by the makers of Coppertone at a recent American Academy of Dermatology meeting show that exposure to sunlight can cause some antioxidants to become skin-damaging pro-oxidants. Coppertone NutraShield contains specially-selected antioxidants that continue to function even in the presence of UV light. Based upon the results of an ex vivo study, the formula is proven to reduce free radical formation by 74 percent in skin exposed to UV light. Pretty cool, huh?

I haven’t been using NutraShield Faces for a whole two weeks, but in the few days I’ve put it on I haven’t had any breakouts or irritations. It is quite non-greasy, so it’s easy to slather on a bunch (remember you want to use a teaspoon for your face and neck) and rub it in. I use the sunscreen in place of my regular moisturizer and it’s been mostly hydrating enough, especially if I hydrate well at night. Coppertone says in a clinical study conducted by an independent laboratory, results revealed that with daily use on the face, NutraShield helped reduce visible signs of skin aging and improved skin elasticity, texture and clarity in as little as two weeks in women who showed signs of mild to moderate photo damage (premature skin aging). So it’s got some good corrective anti-aging going on for it too. I give it two thumbs up. I really don’t get exposed to enough sun during my workdays to warrent high protection, so I will probably continue to use one of my various SPF 15 products for my face – but I’ll definitely crack out this puppy for days off and vacations. It was pretty decent under makeup, especially the lighter makeup I prefer in the summer.

NutraShield for the body gets a good score from me too. You have to rub rub rub it in, but once you do it isn’t all greasy or gross feeling. My skin feels soft and happy, although I will also continue to use a separate body moisturizer after showering or at night – I have really dry skin. It wasn’t quite moisturizing enough on it’s own to combat the dry skin. The only thing I don’t like is the smell – which is par for the course for sunscreen. My solution is simply to carry a travel-size body mist in my purse to help diffuse the sunscreen scent that develops after about an hour. Or else I just tell myself to get over it. It’s really not THAT bad. Like with my face, I’m not particularly exposed to enough sun on work days to justify such high protection SPF for my body, so I’ll use the SPF 70+ formula on my “sun days” and use the SPF 30 on work days.

Overall, I think Coppertone has developed a good product line with these NutraShield sunscreens. They are definitely worth checking out!

I realize skin cancer isn’t just a concern for women, but since summer is coming I wanted to write a post about it because May is Skin Cancer Awareness month.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. More than one million skin cancers are diagnosed annually. Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. About 90 percent of non-melanoma skin cancers are associated with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, and contrary to popular belief, 80 percent of a person’s lifetime sun exposure is not acquired before age 18. Only about 23 percent of lifetime exposure occurs by age 18. (Source: Skin Cancer Facts)

There’s more. Seventy one percent of tanning salon patrons are girls and women aged 16-29. Frequent tanners using new high-pressure sunlamps may receive as much as 12 times the annual UVA dose compared to the dose they receive from sun exposure. People who use tanning beds are 2.5 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma and 1.5 times more likely to develop basal cell carcinoma. (Source: Skin Cancer Facts) Furthermore, based on 7 worldwide studies, people who first use a tanning bed before age 35 increase their risk for melanoma by 75 percent. Are you seeing a trend here? I am.

So what’s the solution? It’s very simple. UV radiation can cause skin cancer. Decrease your exposure to UV radiation and you decrease your risk of developing skin cancer. The Skin Cancer Foundation offers these tips:

• Seek the shade, especially between 10 A.M. and 4 P.M.
• Do not burn.
• Avoid tanning and UV tanning booths.
• Use a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher every day.
• Apply 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of sunscreen to your entire body 30 minutes before going outside. Reapply every two hours.
• Cover up with clothing, including a broad-brimmed hat and UV-blocking sunglasses.
• Keep newborns out of the sun. Sunscreens should be used on babies over the age of six months.
• Examine your skin head-to-toe every month.
• See your physician every year for a professional skin exam.

There is no such thing as a healthy tan. If you have to have bronzed skin, try a self-tanner instead. The Skin Cancer Foundation also has some good information on sunscreens, and facts about the different kinds of skin cancer. I recommend you check it out!

I recently gave  a test drive to two moisturizers with sunscreen, and I’m quite pleased with both. Here is the scoop!

Collective Wellbeing makes a Day Moisturizer with SPF, that contains a titanium dioxide/zinc oxide based SPF 15. This lovely lotion contains a slew of plant oils like jojoba, borage, sunflower, and apricot kernel, as well as plant extracts like chamomile, comfrey, and licorice. It’s a lightweight lotion that spreads easily on the skin, and it left my face feeling soft but not greasy. If you are very oily, you may not like it due to the high concentration of plant oils. My combination skin likes it just fine, and I don’t feel greasy during the day with it on. The plant extracts are all known for soothing the skin, so I’m guessing even sensitive skin types could use this with no trouble. I give it two thumbs up.

The other new moisturizer I’ve tried recently is L’Occitane’s Almond Apple Velvet Face Fluid SPF40. This is a new lotion that is essentially a lighter version of the Almond Apple Velvet Concentrate with added mineral sunscreen. When I first investigated the Velvet Concentrate I did think it was odd that L’Occitane was offering a line of products to address the first signs of aging, and yet had no sunscreen in the product line. As we should all know by now, wearing sunscreen is the number one first step in preventing the signs of aging. So I’m really pleased to see a sunscreen offered, and with a high protection level to boot. The Velvet Face Fluid SPF 40 is quite thin and runny in texture – so be aware of this when you pump it out. The non-SPF version does not have this issue. It spreads nicely on my face, and sinks in very quickly. The high silicone content means makeup goes on beautifully over it. For all these reasons, I will definitely keep this product in the lineup for summertime. Dry skins may not find it moisturizing enough, but normal-combination skin types should be fine with the hydration. My biggest complaint is I don’t like how my fingers feel after applying and have to go wash my hands. Otherwise, two thumbs up.

The biggest drawback to  titanium dioxide/zinc oxide based sunscreens is the issue of the whitish cast left behind. Folks with lighter skin tones probably won’t notice – I didn’t. Darker skintones may want to try a sample first, if one is available.

My name is Claire and I am a self-tanning newbie. When I was a kid, my Mexican heritage meant all the running around outdoors I did year round meant I was always very tanned. As a high-school student I still spent enough time outdoors to be reasonably tan most of the time. As an adult though, my time outside is more limited, and I’ve discovered the anti-aging virtues of sunscreen. The result? Really White Legs. It ain’t pretty.

Okay, I guess I’m not a TOTAL newbie because I did try that Jergen’s Natural Glow stuff a few years ago, but gave it up when I wasn’t seeing much color after a few days. Also, I didn’t like the smell.  Fast foward a few years, and now I’m dipping a toe (and leg) into the self-tanning arena. I’m tired of having such white legs!

My first foray is with Bella Bronze, the self-tanner included in this quarter’s Beautyfix kit. It has a very nice ingredient list, including such goodies as shea butter, goat’s milk, and other botanical extracts. First, I made sure to exfoliate in the shower prior to applying the product. My exfoliator of choice right now is Body Deli’s Almond Joy Body Scrub, because of the superior formula and delectable scent.

Next, I applied the lotion pretty sparingly on my legs from the tops of my feet to the mid-thigh. Being the total n00b that I am, I am guessing I was TOO sparing with the product, because after 2-3 hours there wasn’t much difference in color. I was afraid of turning out orange, but clearly this is a very forgiving product. On day 2, I used a more generous amount of lotion, and actually got a LITTLE color after 2 hours. Enough to be noticeable, but still subtle. On day 3 I applied the same amount as day 2, and the result is a really nice light golden shade. There is no orange, and no streaks. Success!

I skipped using the self-tanner today, opting instead for regular lotion. While it is not promoted as a gradual self-tanner (like the Jergens and other “daily” tanners), it seems to behave a lot like one, which is fine with me. My major concern as a newbie is going overboard and ending up with an unnaturally dark color, so I like this more gradual building of color.

The lotion is very silky and smells pretty good – rather citrusy. It’s $26 a tube, a bit pricey, but I really like the formula so it might be worth it to me to re-purchase. Two thumbs up!