Nine Ways to Shine On This Summer

Looking for some pixie dust in your life? Now that summer is upon us, top up that tan with a little nighttime shimmer. Check out these nine standout products in varying formulations, shimmer levels, scents, and price points. I've focused on neutral/colorless shimmers for this piece, but if you're on the hunt for a body bronzer, look no further than this post from last summer, with all the deets

7 Ways To Get Bronzed Legs...Without Self Tanner

Let's face it, even the most dedicated among us occasionally slack off in the faux tan department. And while our upper bodies tend to get some natural sun from daily activities, the legs are another story. If you're going for the overall pale look, fine -- but if the rest of you is even slightly sun-kissed, letting your legs return to their original fishbelly white in the summertime is a major

The Pampered Mama Primes and Conceals

So I will say, I have been MIA for a long time... lambast me now! I have been playing with a new beauty routine though that continues to amaze me for all the good comments I have gotten.My secret? Benefit FY...eye! It is an eye shadow base that is very pink on me and does wonders for my hugely dark under eye circles. I use it as a base for my shadows, but it also doubles excellently as a

Perfecting the "Clear Red" Lip

I remember first reading about the "clear red" lip in Kevyn Aucoin's Making Faces, the book that quickly became - and still remains - my beauty bible.Kevyn described the look as "super-sexy" and this is so true; a translucent red lip is fresh and sexy without being too serious. It's a fun, more playful take on the classic red lip.You can achieve the look with a gloss or a translucent stain;

Fix in a Box: Benefit Justine Case

I am such a sucker for these little kits from Benefit! I searched high and low for Realness of Concealness during the height of its popularity (though there was a frenzy over it then, though it is now readily available), and now I'm jonesing for this one too.Justine Case supplies everything you need "just in case" of a beauty emergency. It houses mini sizes of Benetint (the venerable rosy stain

Best of Sephora: Cheeks

Part 4 in our recap of the 2007 Best of Sephora winners! Unfortunately, this one's a real snoozer. Is anyone really surprised by the blush winner?Blush: NARS Blush in OrgasmCome on! This blush is more overexposed than Paris Hilton. It's a great color (I own and love it), but it isn't a miracle worker. There are other blushes out there, people! You don't have to keep parroting the words of every

Beauty on the Road: No Liquids Edition

Whew! Sorry I had to take a bit of a break from blogging these past few days; I was out of town on business and had a schedule that left little room for anything but work, traveling, sleeping, and eating. After spending a few hours on a plane this week, I got to thinking about what you can take on board with you, to skirt the new restrictions and still look gorgeous when you arrive at your final

The Algebra of Baggy Eyes

What do countless hours of work, blogging and, uh, entertainment do to your undereye area? Some simple beauty math:This may be cute look for a Shar Pei, but certainly not for your eyes.This morning, after a day and night of too much of the aforementioned items, I awoke to some uninvited puffiness that called for an immediate response. The undereye bags had arrived. We're not even talking cute

Nice Stems

While walking over to Saks over lunch earlier this week, I had a minor celebrity sighting: Wendie Malick, better known as the neurotic aging model Nina van Horn from Just Shoot Me.At 55, she looked amazing - very skinny, very tall, very Upper East Side chic.Beauty Addict was envious of her legs and hopes to have toned stems like that when she hits 55.It's skirt weather now and time to buff up

Pick Up Sticks

Four objects of desire for Spring:Benefit Color Plump. Fat little lip pencils that plump, moisturize, and shade! When it comes to plumping, somehow I feel better supporting Benefit than Randi Shinder. The Color Plumps come in 3 pinky neutral shades, perfect for spring.Smashbox Filter With Dermaxyl Complex. A clicky pen filled with the venerable Smashbox Photo Finish primer AND the new treatment

The Well Heeled Nominee

Here we have the foot of Kathleen York, Oscar nominee for Best Song ("In The Deep," from Crash). The shoes set my heart a-flutter. Custom made by Stuart Weitzman and adorned with jewels from Rita Hayworth's estate, they are valued at a whopping US $3 million.How glamorous!Although, I think I would be slightly fearful that I might scuff them, so if I were Kathleen, I would have been carried

Everything's Bronzer in Texas

It has been way too long since my last post!I have been out of town frequently, and am still in the process of moving into my new place. Everywhere I lived before was furnished, you see - parents' house, hotels, corporate apartment - so I had to start from scratch and buy a whole apartment full of furniture. The process has been fun but tiring. It has resulted in quite a bit of fatigue.However, I

Eyebrows for the Park Avenue Lady

High Brow by Benefit. Because you want elegant, arched brows, but without the risk of bad plastic surgery resulting in an expression of permanent surprise (see: Rivers, Joan and Lange, Jessica).High Brow is a pale matte pink pencil that goes underneath the arch of the brow. When blended, it gives brows a more defined, lifted look, accentuating the arch and the browbone. It opens up the eye area,

Something Special In The Air

The dry air. The insomnia. The copious free booze and coffee. The terrible, terrible mirrors in the bathrooms. Air travel can be quite unkind to one's looks.In an ideal world, we would all be able to invest in a long, rejuvenating nap after deboarding. But in reality, there are weddings, meetings, interviews, always waiting for us in that destination city. No rest for the weary.Having just

Instant Gratification

Last night I had a wedding to attend, and the dress I had picked out for the occasion would reveal my pale, pasty, unglamorous arms and legs. While I do love my porcelain skin, sometimes it's a little too...well...glow in the dark. Nicole Kidman has a beautiful look. Casper does not. So, I made a plan to spend the wee hours after Thanksgiving dinner slathering myself in the miraculous brown goo

Are Body So Fine and Hollywood Glo Identical Twins?

Is Benefit trying to put one over on us? A few days ago I wrote about Bathina Body So Fine, that gorgeous body balm in the pink tin (see Smooth Operator). Now, while looking for new goodies on sephora.com, I discover something "new" from Benefit called Hollywood Glo. This one purports itself to be a "luxurious combination of a moisturizing silky slip, just the right rose gold glimmer, and an

Be A Smooth Operator with Body So Fine

A while back I discovered Bathina Body So Fine by Benefit. Although I loved it, I somehow lost track of it in the masses of beauty products in my life.Last week I rediscovered it, and since then I've been applying it constantly. It's a shimmery pale pink body balm that comes in a cute little tin with a velour puff for spreading it on. It smells lightly of roses, makes your bod shimmer just a bit,