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’ve known about Jurlique FOREVER, since some online Australian friends raved about the hand cream a good 10 years ago – but I’ve never tried it. Since then, the line has come to the US and I have finally had a chance to check it out!

I have been miserably sick for the last 11 days (only today really starting to feel like a human being again). Usually when I’m this sick (it was the flu), my skin goes haywire. Breakouts, dullness, bumps and roughness… it runs the whole gamut of Bad Skin. This time around, I think Jurlique’s Herbal Recovery Gel stopped the Bad Skin Blues from happening! I may have felt AWFUL but at least my skin doesn’t have to look like it! Win!

According to Jurlique, Herbal Recovery Gel is:

A potent botanical concentrate, infused with a rich blend of herbs and precious plant oils to restore, firm, hydrate and revitalize the skin. Helps to minimize the visible signs of aging with daily use.

It contains such lovelies as evening primrose oil, licorice extract (a potent skin soother), chamomile and calendula (also skin soothers), and daisy extract – which I recently learned works a treat on hyperpigmentation! All in all, I think this product saved my skin while I was sick.

I love the super-light gel texture and the herbal scent. Some people might find the scent a bit overpowering, but I like it. It soaks in fast, plays well with my moisturizer, and in general just seems to work great on my skin. The only drawback is the price: ouch! But I suspect I’ll be shelling out the bucks when my little bottle runs out, because it’s THAT GOOD. Two thumbs up!

When I saw Lush Dark Angels Cleanser in the last Lush Times, I was intrigued. Rhassoul clay? Charcoal? Hmmm… It sounded like a good treatment for smoothing and softening my oilier skin, and I was right! Lush Dark Angels, FOR THE WIN!

The cleanser/scrub is one of Lush’s products that are sold “deli-style,” by the pound. You can have a shop associate cut you some off the loaf it comes in, or just snag one of their plastic containers with a pre-weighed amount. I’m lazy, so this is what I did.

It contains Rhassoul mud and charcoal powder to absorb excess oil, sugar to scrub, and glycerine and avocado oil to moisturize. It also has sandalwood and rosewood essential oils, which are supposed to soothe the skin (and they also make it smell good!).

It is a bit messy, since you scoop/pinch up some out of the container to use (and I end up getting crumbs on the counter). You’ll want to mix it with a bit of water in your hand until it’s pasty enough to be spread on your face. Spread, rub, rinse! My skin is left with a bit of a glow and my sink is left with quite a bit of black residue… tradeoffs, tradeoffs.

Overall, I like this product a lot. The benefits outweight the little nuisances involved with using the product, and I like how my skin looks and feels after use. Two thumbs up!

Sometime earlier this year I picked up a mini-size of Bare Escentuals’ new Hydrating Mineral Veil, a Sephora Beauty Insider sample. I liked the sample, so I decided to spring for the full size product and the brush that comes with it. Also, Bare Escentuals recently had their Friends & Family sale, and since I work at a mall with a store, the lovely ladies there hooked me up with an invite. Yay! I bought the Sweet Obsessions set with the F&F discount.

The Hydrating Mineral Veil is pretty cool stuff. It’s a powder that actually contains water, as well as some flower extracts, that works to hydrate your skin without adding shine. It absorbs oil, and leaves behind a soft, flawless finish. I love it! It does seem to help keep my skin from feeling dry in the very cold, very dry weather we have been having. I also really like the very subtle shimmer the powder has. It brightens the complexion without any disco-ball effect. I bought the set with the brush, which seems to help with applying just the right amount.

The Sweet Obsessions set is an eyeshadow set featuring nine shades. It was the mint green that suckered me in, but really all the shades are really pretty and wearable. The box includes an insert with suggested combinations of colors, and so far I’ve tried the green with browns, and the purple/pinks. The finish is not quite matte, but not shimmery either. It’s a soft pearl finish, which looks really nice. These colors will be fun to wear year round, as they are not particularly “wintery” or anything, despite being a Holiday special.

What new products have you bought lately?

I love serums. They usually pack a lot of bang for your buck, and do good things for your skin. Avon Anew Reversalist Serum is no exception to this. I try out a lot of skincare items, and this one has definitely floated to the top of my “wow” pile!

The Reversalist line is based around Avon’s “Activinol Technology,” which in a nutshell seems to be a way of stimulating your skin to repair itself. As a result, skin should look and feel younger. It also has a pretty decent glycolic acid content, which is a potent skin exfoliator, and will definitely result in smoother skin. My skin is definitely less rough since I’ve been using it, and the fine lines around my mouth have definitely softened. It’s been over a month now, that I’ve been using the serum daily.

What has me really knocked out though, is the total lack of breakouts since I started using this every morning. I’ve been pretty bad about washing my face at night lately, relying heavily on makeup removing wipes instead. Usually, this is a recipe for breakout disaster after a few days. Since I’ve been using the serum, I’ve had nary a blemish. Whoa! I wonder if it’s the skin healing thing that inhibits blemishes? Blemishes are an injury to the skin, after all. Makes a girl wonder, anyway.

It’s a “dry” formula, which means it won’t leave your skin feeling sticky or greasy. Every moisturizer I’ve tried glides on smoothly on top, no problem there. One pump seems to be enough – it’s about a pea-sized amount.

Now for the fly in my ointment: I really hate the packaging. It’s a giant hunk of futuristic-looking plastic. First, it took me FOREVER to prime the pump, so to speak. I was seriously about ready to give it up as defective when it FINALLY started pumping out product. Anyone with arthritis in their hands would have given up much sooner – my younger hands were getting pretty painful with all that pumping. You can’t tell how much you have left, either. I do appreciate that it is very likely an airless pump (keeps ingredients fresh) but that’s the only thing I like. I really hate the packaging and I genuinely hope Avon will change it. The product is AWESOME and deserves better. Plus, all that plastic is so wasteful!

I don’t think the packaging defects are enough to stop me from recommending the product. It really rocks, and as long as your skin isn’t too sensitive (the glycolic could be problematic for really sensitive skins) you will probably love it if you want smoother, softer skin. One and a half thumbs up!

I’m such a liquid foundation junkie, it’s hard to sway me away with powder foundation. I used to be quite devoted to powder foundation, but then got into liquids when I found some formulas that I really loved. It’s the rare powder that really knocks my socks off, so I’m pretty pleased to share Pür Minerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Foundation with you!

The 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Foundation is the big award winning product in the Pür Minerals line, and I can see why. It’s a pressed powder foundation, which comes in a compact with a mirror and a sponge in a separate compartment under the powder. The recommended application method is to use the Chisel Makeup Brush to brush the powder on your skin.

I’m totally in love, for several reasons. It’s delightfully mess-free, unlike loose mineral foundations. You can vary your coverage from light to full, just by increasing the layers. It does take longer to brush it on than my usual squirt-and-slap method of applying tinted moisturizer, but then you also get a more even application instead. It’s a powder, but it doesn’t look too powdery on your skin, and the powder helps a lot with oil-control. The compact is small enough to carry with you for touch-ups. You can use a smaller brush to get a more intense application to use the powder as concealer, but so far I just stick with my Benefit Erase Paste.

If you are looking for a mineral foundation without the hassle of a loose powder, check out Pür Minerals 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Foundation. It definitely rocks!

Oily skin can be a real pain in the butt. Shiny noses, smeary makeup, and clogged pores are just some of the fun times we experience with oily skin. I’ve found some good products and routines that help keep my oily skin under control, and I wanted to share them with you.

1. I read in a magazine (I think it was Allure) that using a cleanser with 2% salicylic acid in the morning can cut down on the oilies during the day. One of the recommended products was Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Acne Stress Control Power-Cream Wash, so I promptly went out and bought it. It really does help!

2. Use a mattifier under your makeup. Products like Exuviance Matte Perfection and Philosophy’s The Present help to keep your shine-free during the day, and both products offer skincare benefits for your skin as well.

3. Skindinavia’s No More Shine Makeup Finish uses a high-tech solution to keep your makeup looking fresh all day long. It contains an oil control system that both absorbs excess oil and controls surface shine, as well as light dispersing particles that deflect shininess to deliver a matte look for up to 16 hours. It also works by cooling the surface of your makeup 20°F degrees to curtail oil from sliding through. I love this stuff!

4. Tuck a mattifying powder in your purse for touchups during the day, like Laura Geller Matte Maker. Just a quick swipe with a brush across your t-zone is enough to sop up any breakthrough oil.

5. If adding powder isn’t to your liking, try oil-blotting papers instead. These lift oil off your skin without disturbing your makeup. I like the ones from Boscia.

6. Don’t forget to moisturize! One common misconception is that oily skin types don’t need to moisturize, but this isn’t necessarily true.  Oily skin can still be dehydrated, and this can lead to overproduction of oil – actually making the problem worse.

7. Avoid exfoliating in the morning. Using physical exfoliators (like a scrub) stimulates your skin, leading to oil production. If you exfoliate at night, things will have calmed down by morning.