I know I need to wear a daily SPF on my face and neck to avoid the damaging effects of the sun. Further more, I know that you need to be hyper-vigilant about using sunscreen while using retinoids, or after using facial skincare products with BHA or AHA’s. Even so, sometimes I still hesitate using a facial sunscreen.

Here is a list of some of the “excuses” I use to justify not using a facial sunscreen:

• the smell, many sunscreens have a chemical smell that really bothers me
• the feel, greasy and difficult to use with my existing makeup
• breakout factor, sensitivity to some sunscreen creams can cause breakouts
• the shine, even a little bit of moisture can add to my already summer oily-shiny skin
• sting my eyes,  don’t get a sunscreen close to your eyes or you’ll be teary all day long! (more…)

Hi friends!  Since it is Friday I wanted to take a break from the daily review post and share some of the most popular posts statistically at Mythbuster Beauty.   I also wanted to call attention to Mythbuster’s Link Love page!   Recently we have added some newly found favorite beauty sites (Aging Fabulous , The Makeup Divas  and We Heart This) and hope you will take some time to discover them for yourself.  Great beauty advice knows no boundaries. 

• Deep Conditioning: How to Feed your Hair
• Bare Escentuals VS. Drug Store brand Mineral Makeup
• Drug Store Mineral Makeup: Maybe Not So Good
• Wonderful Facial mask recipes: Kitchen Cupboard Beauty
• Unwanted Facial Hair: What’s a gal to do?
• Mythbuster Beauty Reviews Baby Quasar and Baby Blue
• Week 3 of Naturally Curly Hair: No Blow Frying
• Does your makeup make you look older?
• All About Retinoids: Considering Retin-A
• My personal favorite post:  Season Finale: The 3 Week Naturally Curly Challenge

And totally not relevant to beauty blogs, if you love Craig Ferguson, head on over to Nenette’s post at LifeCandy, I luuuuuuuuv Craig Ferguson — and so do you… and laugh yourself silly!

Have a wonderful weekend and big hugs all around.  Jen   

Here is a mention of DecoDiva’s experience with two cosmetic brands:  Purely Cosmetics and Vis-a-Vis.

The sweet Jen from MythBuster Beauty sent me some mineral makeup to check out. She sent me the Pearlescent Coral blush that I’m wearing from Purely Cosmetics.  I really like this color!  I feel like it adds warmth and depth to my cheeks without being overpowering.  I don’t think I own any coral blushes, either, so this is a really nice addition to my collection.

The lipstick I’m wearing is from Vis-a-vis Cosmetics and it’s a neutral pink color. I didn’t care for the exact shade, but it did feel very nice and moisturizing on my lips.

To read DecoDiva’s complete review visit her article at:   Green Eyed Jealousy Valentine’s Day FOTD.

One of the biggest reasons that I think people hesitate to order online is that they can’t try it first to see if they’ll like it or not.  With many mineral makeup ‘Indie companies,’ that’s not the case.

Meow Cosmetics sells all of their samples for $1.00 and they are quite generous with the product amount. This lets you try a vast array of colors and products without worrying that you’ll buy a product and you won’t like it. For the price of a $1.00 if you don’t like it, you won’t regret it. They also offer sales that range from 10% to 25% off, so if you wait for a sale you can even buy your samples for a less expensive price. Meow samples come in baggies.

Aromaleigh samples vary by collection, but usually range from $.85 to $2.20 depending on product. Aromaleigh is also very generous with their product samples. I was able to get almost a month’s worth of use out of one blush sample, which really impressed me. Aromaleigh has weekly sales, so you can wait for one of their weekly sales and get the samples or full size item 25% off. Aromaleigh samples come in baggies. (more…)

Bionic Beauty is giving away to 3 of her readers a set of mineral makeup from SKINN:

• 1 High Definition Cotton Foundation – 0.3oz (8g) ($28.00 value)
• 1 Orchid Gel Tint – 1.3oz (38ml) ($24.00 value)
• 1 Triple Cover Conceal Wheel – 0.13oz (5g) ($16.50)
• 1 Kabuki Buffing Brush w/ Custom Print ($12.50)

Be sure to enter this incredible giveaway before January 17th, 2009 at this post:  Bionic Giveaway: SKINN Mineral Makeup Sets!

From a sultry smoky blue eye to festive green and gold, DecoDiva will inspire you to create something amazing with your eye makeup this Holiday season.  The difficult part is deciding which one to attempt!   You can follow the links to see DecoDiva wearing these eye-makeup color combinations.

Here are some nice colors for that holiday purple look using Meow Cosmetics colors (full size $10.25, sample 1/8 teas. baggie, $1)

Cheers!- platinum with bright flash of red sparkle and metallic gold sheen
Sherry – pure plum with cerulean undertones
Shiraz – intense aubergine with grape overtones
Sparkling- sheer smoky cinder grey with a lavender undertone aglow with gold and silver sparkle and shine

The perfect colors to create a beautiful sapphire smoky blue eye:
Meow Cosmetics, Port – mysteriously smoky steel blue
Meow Cosmetics, Fancy Feline – ultra rich pure platinum with silver sparkle

(more…)

Last month we had a great giveaway sponsored by The Body Shop featuring their trio of new mineral products. Those of you who weren’t lucky enough to walk away with a lovely set are still sitting there wondering how it is, so I’m here to help.

First things first, let’s take a look at their SPF 25 Mineral foundation:

(more…)

Here are my suggestions on gifts for the holidays. It’s a mix of several different brands, but all things that I think a lot of people would like, and of course, things I like!   The prices range from $6.65 to $48, and all can be found online for purchase at UrbanDecay.com, Amazon.com, Aromaleigh.com (25% off coupon code FRIDAY25 until Friday Dec. 5th), Sephora.com, Ulta.com, and SallyBSkinYummies.com (10% off until the rest of ‘08 using the “mythsallyb” coupon code).

1.  Urban Decay 24/7 Travel Size Set of Eyeliners – $29
Available in two sets.
VIP
- Zero (zealous black)
- Lucky (brilliant deep copper)
- Covet (peacock green
- Electric (bright aquamarine)
- Lust (plush purple)

Velvet Rope
- Yeyo (metallic white)
- 1999 (plum with micro gold glitter)
- Zero (zealous black) the #1 best-selling black Eye Pencil
- Bourbon (brown with micro gold glitter)
- Stash (dark green/gold)

2.  Urban Decay Sustainable Shadow Box - $36
- YDK (bronzed mocha with golden microglitter)
- Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (golden beige with bronze, gold, & silver glitter)
- Flipside (electric teal with blue sheen)
- Flash (bright iridescent purple)
- Grifter (sheer lavender with lots of silver microglitter)
- Oil Slick (black with silver glitter)
- Uzi (metallic silver with big iridescent sparkles)
- Kiddie Pool (ocean blue with iridescent glitter)
- Twice Baked (brownie brown with gold glitter)
- Half Baked (subtle, lustrous bronze).

3.  Urban Decay Urban Essentials – $39
- .55 oz Overside bottle of Primer Potion
- Goddess Eyeshadow (midnight blue with lots of electric-blue microglitter)
- Midnight Cowboy Eyeshadow (subtle golden-beige with gold glitter).

4.  Urban Decay Best of Urban Set – $32
- Baked Heavy Metal Glitter Liner (bronze)
- Half Baked Eyeshadow (subtle, lustrous bronze)
- Bourbon 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil (brown with teeny gold glitter)
- Eyeshadow Primer Potion (ultra-sheer nude eye base)

5.  Too Faced Mini The Quickie Chronicles – The Life of the Party - $15
- blush in berry mauve shimmer
- black glitter eye shadow
- silver foil eye shadow
- berry sparkle lip gloss
- golden pink lip gloss

6.  Aromaleigh Must Have Holiday 2008 Gift Set – $34.75 (on sale for $26.25)
- butterscotch eye shadow (yellow gold with red iridescence)
- allspide eye shadow (tarnished copper brown with shimmer)
- wintergreen eye shadow (neutral green with smoky undertone and red shimmer)
- mulberry eye shadow (vivid warm holiday purple with rich highlight sparkles)
- amaretto lip creme (mid-toned caramel nude with glints of mauve)

7.  Aromaleigh Create Your Own Custom Gift Set – $37.35 (on sale for $28.00)
- choose a lipstick or lipgloss shade
- choose a blush or rouge shade
- choose 3 eye shadow shades

8.  Aromaleigh Little Gems Gift Set – $28.20 (on sale for $22.56)
Choose from 8 different sets which include 2 eye shadow shades, 1 blush and 1 lip color.

9.  Aromaleigh Make Eye Colors Pop Gift Set – $27.00 (on sale for $24.30)
Choose from Blue, Brown, Green and Hazel eye sets.
Each set includes 3 eye shadows and a liner. (more…)

Because DecoDiva loves to experiment with various colors and has a gift for creating beautiful dramatic eyes with her makeup, I asked her to share some ways to “dress up” your eyes for the holidays.  Choose your favorite shades and have some fun with your eye color this holiday season!

Nude Eyes
If you want a nude eye look, here are the shades I recommend.

Aromaleigh Nude Frost – Pale champagne pearl frost
MAC Bare Study – champagne with gold and white pearl
Urban Decay Sellout – pink champagne shimmer
Meow Witty Kitty – vanilla with a subtle metallic cinnamon-copper sheen and undertone
Aromaleigh Pink Negligee – pink with delicate taupe and violet undertones
Aromaleigh Angel Wing – a very pale white/pink with iridescent pink highlight
Aromaleigh Alchemy – an iridescent, very fine shimmer that has a copper glow
Aromaleigh Champagne Toast (above picture) – a nude pinkish fawn/champagne tone with bright aqua shimmer
L’Oreal Hip Pigment Restless ($7) – a french vanilla yellow with a pink reflect
Too Faced Totally Toasted Park Avenue Beige ($17)

Then I would use a gel liner, such as Aromaleigh’s Indelible gel eyeliner in Black Out, or MAC’s Fluidline in Blacktrack.  Finish with your favorite volumizing mascara.

Smoky Eyes
Smoky eyes are always great for the holidays, and there are several ways to pull off this look. I would pair up Black and Gold, Black and Copper, Black and Silver, Green and Gold, or Green and Silver for a festive holiday eye.

Use a gel liner, such as Aromaleigh’s Indelible gel eyeliner in Black Out, or MAC’s Fluidline in Blacktrack. Finish with your favorite volumizing mascara.

For extra shimmer, apply gold or silver eye shadow to your eye lash tips.You can use Too Faced’s Starry Eyed Liner in Gold Digger, Silver Lining or Ooh and Ahh. (more…)

So many great beauty reads, so little time!

Jelly Pong: Pong Nude And Improved – Raging Rouge explains how “this handy little pencil isn’t just a primer, but can act as a concealer too!”

Purely Cosmetics – Pure Bionic Goodness! – Bionic Beauty discovers a wonderful mineral makeup line. “The biggest difference when I applied the Pure Silk Mineral Foundation was the feel.”

Sally b’s Skin Yummies – Lemon Sage Sugar Scrub – DecoDiva cannot get over how wonderful her skin smells and feels after using Sally B’s Lemon Sage Sugar Scrub.

CARGO HOLIDAY NIGHTS! SATURDAY AT SEPHORA! – Kate might still be building her wardrobe, but one thing she has down pat, Kate knows a great makeup palette when she sees one!

90s Ladies Week: Clueless About Foundation? As If! – I laughed all the way through this post about the 90’s. Spoiled Pretty’s new favorite, Make Up For Ever’s HD Invisible Cover Foundation!

Sneek Peek: MAC Hello Kitty Part Deux… The Makeup Girl posts about newly announced release dates for MAC’s Hello Kitty Colour Collection and Hello Kitty Kouture! Meow!

New Posts from Mythbuster Beauty:

• Urban Decay’s Urban Essentials Giveaway (hurry, the deadline is 11.26!)
  
• DecoDiva: The Right Tools for Liquid, Gel, or Powder Eyeliners
• FGW: Timelapse Wands, skin smoothing in a stick?
• Sally B’s Skin Yummies: Such a Treat!
• Beauty Bubble: Using your skincare products in the right order.