Sephora

Well, it's a fairly nice warm day today, not as humid as the past few. I did a little bit of shopping today, mainly to find a birthday present for a friend. Thinking of shopping reminded me, I hadn't yet posted an entry on Sephora.

Oh, SEPHORA! I love that place. [Honestly, I could live there. No joke. hehe.] It's like all your favorite department store beauty product counters plus fragrance counters all rolled into one. Okay so they don't REALLY have every brand, but they do carry most of the most popular/in demand brands, pretty much what is in most department stores, and even hard to find brands. (For instance, if you saw it in a women's magazine and want to try it, look for it at Sephora and you will often find they are carrying it.) It is a one stop shop and I find myself spending hours there just to pick up one item. I always end up browsing all the other things even when I've made well intentioned plans to just pick up what I'm out of and leave. I also love that they aren't everywhere. There isn't one in my city but it is in a local city and isnt very far from my home, maybe 1-3 miles at most. I really DETEST when corporations saturate the market-like Starbucks and McDonalds. UGH. One on every street corner is extremely excessive.

You can find a wide array of fragrances that you would have to stop at several different counters to peruse if you were in a traditional department store-with each counter's sales rep trying to get you to purchase from their brand before you walk away. At Sephora, they are not vested in a particular brand, so you can peruse to your heart's content. As for cosmetics, I purchase brands like Fresh, Philosophy, Bare Minerals, Boscia, Shiseido, and Urban Decay there. Some of the brands at Sephora are not department store brands and are brands that often operate stand alone stores, so that is another plus that you don't need to go to their own store if it's only one item you need and not several from their collections. I've found the sales women are very helpful and I've used their help on more than one occasion to narrow down my choices between several brands I was on the hedge about. I've asked them to apply Bare Minerals on me before I purchased it the first time, I've asked them to recommend a non-heavy eye treatment and gone home with a Boscia one I love, and I was turned onto Fresh's lip gloss when I asked them to pull non-sticky lip glosses for me to try on.

Check out the store for yourself if you're in the vicinity! (They are also online at : Sephora.com.)

Tata for now!


sincerely yours,


rOsE

Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Creme

Good afternoon, hope you're doing well. :) As previously promised, this post is going to be about one of my favorite foot creams, Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Creme with vitamin E. I purchased one of Burt's Bees introductory trial sized sets and this is one of the products that stood out to me, so I currently own a nearly empty trial-size and a (25% used up) full-size tube. This foot cream made from coconut oil is very rich and has a wonderful coconut/minty smell. Be careful when using it not to touch any surfaces because, although it is called a cream, it is really more of an oil. This oil is solid at room temperature but will melt when it contacts skin. Don't worry though, it absorbs into skin very well, so it won't leave a greasy heavy film- but it is a good idea to use cotton spandex blend moisture socks. However, I'm pretty sure it will leave that film on your hard and soft surfaces. I've used other foot creams also but I prefer this one because of its natural content. I also think it seems to absorb and moisturize rather quickly!

I really love the products by Sally Hansen but when I used their 18 Hour Cracked Heel Creme, I was a little disappointed. (I've given it a fair chance, my tube is nearly gone and I purchased it before I'd ever tried the B.Bs.) When my heels are severely cracked, I've on separate occasions applied both creams and found the Burt's Bees formulation to actually appear to start sealing and healing the cracks within the hour but I don't feel that I can really observe visible results with the Sally Hansen cream. Don't get me wrong though, I actually love Sally Hansen products and will extol the virtues of their nail polish and nail care products on a future post! (Their product does smell and feel great though. It moisturizes fine and feels nice, but didn't satisfy me with its specific use as a cracked heel cream.)

Well that's all for this post! Also, I have a quick poll I would love for you to answer to the right. Tata for now!

sincerely yours,

rOsE

Lip Balms: Natural Beeswax, Passion Fruit Nectar, Raspberry Softlips

Hello again! Welcome back to my blog. Today, I would like to discuss a few of my favorite lip balms. There are certainly a lot of lip balms on the market. My criteria include organic content, beneficial additives, scent, feel, and petrolatum content. My top three favorites in no particular order are Natural Beeswax Lip Balm by Burt's Bees, Passion Fruit Nectar Lip Balm by Alba Botanica, and Raspberry Softlips Lip Balm by The Mentholatum Co.

Two of the three are made with a high "natural" content while the Softlips contains white petrolatum. I like that the Alba Botanica and Burt's Bees versions do not contain petrolatum. The Softlips version does, however it also has an spf 20 rating plus added green tea extracts. Green tea is high in antioxidants and the raspberry scent is also pleasant. The Passion Fruit definitely has my favorite scent-an intoxicating tropical fruit scent-and is made with 100% Vegetarian ingredients. The Beeswax version has a touch of peppermint so it is minty in smell and tingly cool when applied. I love how, except for the Beeswax, they feel non-sticky and sheer, unwaxy. The Beeswax is a tad waxy of course but unsticky (because it also includes plant based emollient oils) and I love that it has 95.29% natural ingredients. I don't prefer Chapstick brand because it is very waxy and made with petrolatum. Some say petrolatum is carcinogenic but the information is not conclusive. (So stick to the non petrolatum if this bothers you.) I hate sticky lip products and all three feel great on when applied! So try them and banish those dry lips in favor of supple softness! (Also try Terratints tinted lip balm! Also made by Alba Botanica)

sincerely yours,

rOsE