I haven’t posted much lately because I’m sick again. How much does this suck? Lots. See my previous post on looking your best when you are ill.

In the meantime, I’m excited about some Bourjois products that I’ve tried.

The Pastel Teint powder is a lot like Benefit’s Georgia, but the pan is bigger and I like the texture better. The comb mascara is going to be coming out in new colors in May, and the blue is awesome. It’s the best comb mascara I’ve tried – it could become a favorite.

Keep an eye out in May – some awesome new lip products will be launched, including a lip plumper, and a water-based lip gloss that is totally fabulous.

This is cool. Shiseido is now available online at Sephora. Shiseido has some products I’m pretty fond of – foundation and blush, specifically.

First, the Dual Balancing Foundation SPF 17 is nice for an oily or combination skin type. It’s got nice coverage, decent oil control, and the spf is a good bonus. The color selection is lousy for women of color, but works well for most lighter skin tones.

I LOVE the stick blush (err, the “Accentuating Color Stick” – who names this stuff??). I have Rosy Flush, which is the one pictured on the Sephora website. It seems like it would be much too dark, but I swipe my finger across the top and dab it on my cheeks and it’s awesome. It’s good on the lips too. It wears amazingly well. No fading throughout the day at all, with this product.

I also like the powder blush quite a bit. The shades are pretty, especially the Glistening Brown. It’s like a bronzer, but with this awesome bluish sparkle. It’s way better than it sounds.

I was recently introduced to Flirt! Cosmetics, thanks to a PR campaign. I did receive samples to try out, and I’m really liking the product I was sent.

The product is Squeeze Me Super Shiny Lipgloss in four shades: Mighty Aphrodite (a hot pink), Cherries Jubilee (cherry red), Radical Raspberry (light raspberry-mauve), and Nectar Fizz (sorta gold/nude).

Nectar Fizz has a vanilla-y scent and goes on pretty sheer. It’s the most nude of the bunch, and would be perfect for a no-or-little-makeup day. Mighty Aphrodite has crazy pigment (it’s bright!!) and a fruity scent. It’s too Barbie Hot Pink for me. Cherries Jubilee is more sheer, also with a fruity scent, and is really pretty on the lips. It would be perfect with a smoky eye look. Radical Raspberry is another sheer color/fruity scent, and is my favorite of the four. I could see myself wearing this all the time, with a variety of eyeshadow colors. It’s close to my natural lip color, a your-lips-but-better shade on me.

I also cruised the Flirt! website, and there are some features I’d like to mention. I like the Experiment With Color section for the guides to creating different looks. I also like the search feature that lets you browse by color – although it didn’t work for all colors (notably blue and green).

In general, I’m very interested to drive to the nearest Kohl’s and check out the rest of the line in person. I like what I see.

I’ve tried four Cosmedicine products now, with mixed reviews. Here are my thoughts!

The moisturizers are not for me. I used the Primary Care and it stung my face when I put it on. I’m not sure why, but it was uncomfortable. It didn’t seem to irritate my skin, but I’m leery of a moisturizer that stings/burns that much when I put it on. I’ve also used the Medi-Matte, which stayed sticky on my face all day and wasn’t mattifying at all. I like the SPF 20 in these products, but neither of them is lighting my fire enough to keep using them.

On to the good… I really do like the cleanser and the scrub. Healthy Cleanse, at $35 a bottle, seems pricey. However, the stuff lasts forever!! I swear, it took me three months to use up the bottle. Apply two pumps to dry skin, massage, and even my heavy eye makeup and foundation comes off cleanly. The only thing it doesn’t clean off completely is if I waterproof my eye makeup with Benefit She-Laq – there is a little residue. As far as cleansers go, I dig it.

Medi-morphosis is the line’s exfoliator. It also seems pricey at $42, but again, it lasts forever. I use slightly more than a pea-sized amount for my whole face. It’s a “self-adjusting” exfoliator, which means that the crystals break down before you can over-exfoliate your face. I didn’t know this much until I started massage specific areas of my face at a time. To use the product, I smear it over my whole face, and then rub small areas until I can feel the crystals dissolve – forehead, right cheek, left cheek, etc. I LOVE how my face feels afterwards – it’s so smooth and glowing. This is probably the best exfoliating scrub I’ve used.

I have some Mega-Dose Serum waiting in the wings (I’m trying to use up some other serums I have kicking around) so I’ll report on that in a couple months.

Oh man. I am seriously digging Kinerase Clear Skin Treatment Serum. I’ve only been using it for a few days, but it is having a remarkable effect on my skin. It’s already looking smoother, and all the breakouts I had have completely healed with no red marks left behind.

It contains kinetin, salicylic acid, oleanic acid (which reduces sebum production), hyssop extract, and a few other things that are supposed to help with acneic skin. It has a definite odor to it (from the hyssop, the Kinerase rep says), but it goes away quickly.

I wish it wasn’t so expensive, but I think it’s totally worth it.

Bath & Body Works has some new products out in their Temptations line. Check ‘em out here. I LOVE these three-in-one products even more than the ones from Philosophy, although it’s a slim margin. The Bath & Body Works products seem slightly more moisturizing than the Philosophy ones.

I’m really dying to try the Iced Tea Twist, the Banana Smoothie, and the Alluring Apple. I really like the Apple and Banana scents from Philosophy, so I’m glad to see them available in my preferred BBW formula…

I’d heard so many good things about this mascara, that I really wanted to try it. But the Blinc Kiss Me Mascara was not a star product for me.

Good points: it didn’t smudge at all. There was no flaking, or budging of any kind. My eyes sometimes water from allergies, and there was no problem there. The black was very black, and quite luscious. The mascara has a glossiness other mascaras lack.

Bad points: the very liquid nature of the product meant I had trouble keeping my lashes from sticking to each other during application. I didn’t notice any special length or volume – it was pretty meh as far as that goes. And removal was a pain in the behind! I tried the “a little water and pressure and they slide right off!” method and that just didn’t work. It took a lot of pressure and effort to get it off. No thank you.

So… yes, for a wedding, I’d recommend this. I bet it stays put through everything. For everyday wear, not so much.

I’m on a serious beach kick right now, wishing I could be on a warm sandy beach somewhere. Anywhere.

I wandered into The Body Shop yesterday, to check out their new perfume oils. I ended up purchasing Sultry Samba and Beach Bliss. They are both fairly light scents, not too heavy. Sultry Samba is more of a vanilla-y warm scent, and the Beach Bliss is very fresh and clean – almost a laundry-type scent, but not quite. I am really enjoying them both. Because my birthday is tomorrow, I also got my $10 gift from the Love Your Body club and selected a home fragrance oil too. It’s Spa Wisdom Dreams and it reminds me of summer at the beach. You can find more exact fragrance descriptions, including specific notes, on the Body Shop website.

Along with these, I’m seriously jonesing for Michael Kors Island Hawaii, the newest fragrance from Michael Kors. It’s all about the neroli for me (that’s orange blossom) – I love it. The problem is, DH doesn’t love it, and I hesitate to add another fragrance to my collection that he doesn’t like… so… this one may stay on the shelf and I’ll just spritz myself at work.