remixing fashion and luxury for reality

People tell me I’ve got that pregnancy glow but the truth is I think it’s my makeup. I’ve been using a new brand of mineral foundation by Julie Hewett. If you have never tried it, you’ve got to give it a chance. It’s a miracle what mineral foundation can do to the skin. No matter how thick or full the coverage, liquid and cream foundations can’t get you that flawless but natural look. I’ve been loyal for years to the Bare Essentials brand until about a month ago when Maria of the Product Store in Santana Row convinced me to try a new brand — Julie Hewett. Unlike Bare Essentials powder you don’t need to crush the powder with your brush before applying, it just goes on smooooth and feels kinda silky on the skin. I use the medium tone and it gives my skin a nice healthy glow. Apparently, there’s another brand the Product store will be stocking in a few weeks which contains an anti-aging mineral. I’ll be all over that!

So give it a try.. you won’t be disappointed. And don’t be surprised if people secretly wonder if you got knocked up recently!

Julie Hewett Ora Mineral Foundation Powder $34.00

Talk about insta-makeup!! This is the clorox bleach pen for eyeshadow. It took me several blinks to really believe this but yes they now have instant application for your eye makeup. Have no choice but to try this out one day to see if it really works. I have a feeling I’m going to look awfully scary.. how could it actually work??

There’s several kits to choose from… from more simple color combination to some serious Nat Geo designs. Rrrrrowr!

$25 at Sephora.com

When it comes to skin care and beauty products, I think it’s best to change it up now and then. I have a self-made theory (who knows, maybe it’s scientifically legit) that after using a beauty product, especially face cream, for long periods of time your skin starts to reject the ingredients or just doesn’t absorb into the skin as well. It makes sense right? Everything (and everyone) loses it’s magic touch after long enough…

Which brings me to the topic of the day — a new skin care line I had the opportunity to test-drive last month, called Marie Louse. My dear girlfriend Lillian is helping to bring this Japanese-based brand to the US. As you may know, women all over the world are flocking to Asian-brands in beauty and skin care. I was excited to try out a new line of skin care, not only because my existing regimen was starting to lose it’s effectiveness, but also because I love trying new stuff that I wouldn’t normally see at the mall or at the spa where I get my facials.

Overall, the Marie Louise line is very pure and clean… no frills, perhaps just good clean stuff that does the job well. Everything I used seemed practically odorless. While sometimes I like the fresh scents of other asian skin care lines it does concern me whether all the fancy scents and aromas might not be as healthy for the skin. I’d definitely use Marie Louise again… hopefully they start retailing this stuff somewhere I can grab it from, although ordering online might work too since they have a full e-commerce website.

Here’s a summary of the products I sampled.

Cleansing Clear Gel
This was some good stuff! It glides on smooth and worked away my makeup nicely. They have a foaming cleanser option which I didn’t opt for since my skin is oily and foaming face wash is too harsh on my skin type. Normally gel cleansers are too thin for my liking and I can never seem to get a good rub on my skin, but the Marie Louise Clear Gel felt satisfying and worked surprising well. This didn’t feel drying at all either, which a lot of cleansers do to my skin.

Creme a-VC
This was my next favorite product. Clean and pure! This cream felt soft on the skin and absorbed nicely. I hate it when creams leave that greasy I-just-oiled-myself-up shine to your face. The Creme a-VC did no such thing… leaving my skin moisturized and clean feeling.

Moistraiser a-VC
I’ve gotten good about using toner, hopefully you have too. This toner glides on smooth, and doesn’t leave that stickiness a lot of toners do. Again, it’s odorless which is great, very organic-ish. I wish more skincare lines were more natural like this.

Overall.. skin’s been behaving nicely… it feels soft and smooth to the touch. Marie Louise is definitely getting added to my rotation of beauty skin care.

Learn more at Marie Louise.

I wanted to let you all in on a new beauty regimen that I’ve been hoarding to myself.. I feel I should share it with somebody! Do you all prime your face before you start layering on your makeup? Well, if you don’t, take the advice that I was dished by one ultra fab gay makeup artist named Umberto at Napoleon Makeup in the San Francisco Center: "Not to prime is a crime." At first, I was a little taken aback by the price of the primer I think it was around $50 or $60 dollars. I’m guessing they dropped the price though bc it’s on $39 on their website.

So.. how was it?? Well, to tell you the truth it was more than I expected. I’ve used primer in the past and usually ditched out after a few weeks of pretending it did something to my skin. For the first time ever, I’ve used this primer to the absolute last drop. I’m out now and actually about to buy my next bottle! It glides onto your skin.. and really feels like an extra coating. My foundation goes on smoother and lasts longer through the day. Also, I used to break out once in a while on my cheeks from my blush but this hasn’t happened once since Napoleon came into my life! Umberto, wherever you are, bless you for opening my eyes to the world of real priming. You can count on me not being a repeat offender! Everyone else out there – give it a try!

Napoleonm Perdis Auto Pilot Pre Foundation Primer

I don’t normally blog about beauty here but anything luxe is game so I wanted to share with you the most amazing eye pencil / pencil eyeliner I’ve ever used…

iRobot and I were aimlessly lolling around the makeup counters of the new Bloomies in San Francisco a few months ago… iRobot was looking for some blush and so we hunted the aisles for something she wouldn’t turn her nose to. We ran into a fabulously gay makeup counter attendant. Gay men make the best salesmen to women, wouldn’t you agree? He introduced us to this new line we’d never heard of before — Scott Barnes. Scott Barnes is apparently a high profile makeup artist who created his own line of products.

I gave into the powers of gay persuasion and bought 1 Scott Barnes Eye Pencil in Chocolate and 2 bottles of Eye Ice, one in Glitterachi and the other in Burgundy. Let me tell you, I’ve worn liquid liner ever since I started wearing makeup due to the fact that I could never find a pencil that was thick enough but wouldn’t smudge. Scott Barnes’ Eye Pencil breaks every stereotype I had on pencil liners! First off, it goes on thick and velvety — so important if you ever want that dramatic line. Amazingly, I don’t end up with racoon eyes by the end of the night. It also has just enough firmness to it that it doesn’t break in the pencil sharpener. I’ve sharpened down an entire eye pencil in one sitting when the tip kept breaking off. I loved this eye pencil so much I went back and got it in Moondance (a smoky black). Both are equally luxelicious. At $18.00 they aren’t cheap but to me they’ve been worth every cent.

Eye Pencil in Chocolate — $18.00

The Eye Ice is great too but was not as earth shattering to me as the Eye Pencil.

iRobot ended up getting the Eye Pencil, along with the Chic Palette, a trio of pressed blush powder. Haven’t had a chance to get her reviews on this but hopefully her Scott Barnes experience has been as great as mine!

Chic Palette in Posh — $45.00

The pictures do not justice but the packaging is seriously slick.

I also found a pic of Scott online. I support you Scotty!