Now Your Makeup Bag Can Go Green, Too

These days, everyone's coming out with new, inventive ways to 'go green' and offer environmentally-friendly products. A lot of people seem to be taking steps to try to leave a prettier carbon footprint on the planet, and I'm doing it, too. I use only all-natural household cleaners and dish detergents, as well as laundry detergents. I take shorter showers and use less toilet paper, and have even gone so far as to opt for recycled toilet paper (which my husband protests vehemently). Now I'm finding all these great makeup and skincare products that are natural and organic and come in eco-friendly packaging, which is outstanding. Now, Origins has been around for a while, proudly serving the world with all-natural products that are earth and animal friendly, but here are some great newer products that I've come across and had the great pleasure of trying (and LOVING!).

Carol's Daughter isn't exactly new, but it is a more recently popular brand that was started in a woman's own home kitchen in New York. Their Tui Herbal Shampoo for normal hair ($12.50) has chamomile, marigolds, guava, mango, and passion fruit and smells like a trip to Jamaica. It's sulfate-free, which means it gently cleanses your hair without stripping it of its essential natural oils.

Model Josie Maran has also launched her own line of cosmetics, skincare, and haircare products that are completely natural. I love her Bear Naked Makeup-Removing Wipes ($12/30) for multiple reasons: A) They're all-natural, with a blend of aloe vera, chamomile, cucumber, and vitamin E, B) you can stash them in your nightstand for those nights you head to bed without taking your makeup off, and C) a portion of every package sold will go to the Natural Resources Defense Council's Polar Bear SOS Initiative, helping fund protection for the endangered animals. Pretty awesome if you ask me. Plus, they're legit - they really do take off eye makeup, even water-resistant mascara. That's a sweet deal.

I've mentioned the Greek brand Korres before, and another of their products is a favorite of mine: Ginger & Vitamins Foundation SPF 10 ($28). It comes in a handy little squeezy tube made from recycled plastic, and provides a sheer to moderate coverage. It's packed with tons of vitamins to help slow down signs of aging and fresh ginger to tone the skin. It's my go-to foundation product for summer when I like something a little bit lighter with less coverage.

Nude Skincare is another brand that I've fallen for, head over heels. Their Deep Cleansing Mask ($52) is a mousse-textured mask that really gets into your pores and purges them of yucky impurities that make the skin break out and appear dull and lifeless. I use it once weekly and love how fresh and glowing my skin looks for days afterwards. It's all-natural, not animal tested, and its packaging is 100% recyclable. Plus, the box it comes in is plant-sourced and biodegradable. A+ for Nude Skincare!

Another favorite of mine from Nude Skincare is their Nude Lips Lip Balm ($14). It's an emollient balm that moisturizes and is super shiny, and smells like yummy Tahitian vanilla. With the cold, snowy weather we've had where I live lately, my lips seem to have had all their moisture sucked right out and Nude Lips helps replenish that, and makes any lipstick look pretty and gleaming.

As far as eyeshadows go, I'll be honest, finding natural ones that blend in easily hasn't been particularly easy. I adore Tarte's Flower Child Natural Eyeshadow Palette ($44). It features ten great shades, from creams and browns to blues and greens, plus a double-ended brush for easily application. Also, it has a double-ended eyeliner (also natural!) and a sample of their Natural Eye Primer. Excellent! The colors blend together easily, and actually have really outstanding color payoff.

Nvey Eco's Organic Lipstick ($28) features five pretty, easy-to-wear shades that have safflower, beeswax, vitamin E, and organic castor oil to soothe and moisturize lips while providing long-lasting color. I particularly like #355, which is a matte violet rose shade.

Last but not least, I'm loving Nuts Cream Perfume's Mimosa Bouquet ($12). It's packaged in sustainable, travel-friendly wood containers that you can just toss in your purse for an on-the-go pick-me-up. It's filler free, which means it doesn't have loads of alcohol like a liquid perfume does. Instead, the fragrance is housed in beeswax and sweet almond oil that actually help the fragrance stay on your skin longer. I like Mimosa Bouquet because it has notes of orange blossom, mimosa, gardenia, carnation, rose, vanilla Madagascar, and musk. Yum!

This is just a handful of the natural and/or organic products I've tried and loved. I really like how Sephora has a section on their website devoted specifically to these kinds of products, too, with great customer reviews on them. Any natural or organic favorites you have? Let me know!

Spring Color Collections!

Holy cow, I'm finally back! January proved to be a completely insane month for me to say the very, very least and I just didn't have any opportunities to make any new posts, but I'm back and ready to go. I'm so excited about all the great new Spring 2010 makeup looks, so that's going to be my focus for this post.

First off, Lancome's Spring collection, O My Rose!, is amazing. When I saw the pictures before it launched, I was a little skeptical as to whether or not it would end up being pretty. But once I saw it in person and got to play with the colors, I fell in LOVE. Coral and teal are always a good match-up, and while I'm still not crazy about the advertisement picture for the collection, I'm a big fan of O My Rose!.

The Ink Artliner in Teal Delight ($23.50 for the eyeliner, $20 for the brush) is unreal. It's a gel in a pot that's applied with a tiny brush that creates the most precise line, and you can smudge it out a little bit to soften it, too.

I'm also loving Michael Kors' new Very Hollywood Spring color collection exclusively with Estee Lauder. I've often always associated Estee Lauder with elderly women with pearls and accidentally-blue hair (I'm sorry! I can't help it!). This new collection of fresh, versatile, stylish colors is younger and very sophisticated.

One part of the collection has pretty pinks and rosy shades, while the other features soft neutrals, corals, and golds. Not every store is selling the special edition collection, but it can be found online at www.esteelauder.com .

This is the 'Bel-Air Beige' collection

This is the 'Rodeo Pinks' collection

MAKEUP FOREVER's Spring 2010 collection, Gold Icone, is an amazingly different take on Spring colors. There's often pinks, greens, and corals in Spring collections. Gold Icone is metallic gold and black, with neutral lips.

The standout product in the Gold Icone collection would definitely have to be the Metal Powder (price unknown), a loose powder eyeshadow that comes in four varying shades of gold, from light to darker. The Spring collection's products aren't available for purchase just yet in most places, but keep an eye out for it because it will be very soon.

I'm also liking Yves Saint Laurent's collection because it's soft with little pops of color that are very French chic. I love the Ombres 5 Lumieres eyeshadows in Parisian Sky ($56) - it has a collection of five matte and semi-sheen shades like a pale blue, a dusty gray-blue, a lavender, and a light and dark slightly plum duo. It's seen on the model for the advertisements, and I love how natural most of her face is with the little hint of blue on her eyes.

Those are really just four of the great new collections I've checked out. Laura Mercier, Guerlain, Givenchy, and Clinique all also have some great collections just waiting to be launched in the next couple of weeks. Givenchy will be launching a collection of sixteen single eyeshadow that have a really neat concept: in each compact of eyeshadow will be one color, but it will be in four blocks, each a different texture from matte to semi-pearly to very pearly to a shimmer. Neat! Those will be out soon, so keep an eye out for them.

I promise I won't put off another post so long! Expect something new in the next few days!

Blush - Which Colors Look Best on Which Skintone

People with very fair skin tend to already have a lot of pink undertones, so they'll want to shy away from too-pink blush. I like a slightly rosy-coral shade like Lancome's Blush Subtil in Shimmer Mandarin Sky ($29.50) because it has a nice balance between the colors that isn't too overpowering, and the touch of shimmer highlights the cheekbones.

Another blush that looks beautiful on fair skin (or really any and all skin tones, actually) is the world-renowned Nars Blush in Orgasm ($25), a sheer, faintly shimmery peachy-pink that flatters just about everyone. It now comes in Super Orgasm, too, which has a higher concentration of gold glitter that's great for nighttime.

A great cream blush option in a tone like Shimmer Mandarin Sky and Orgasm is Philosophy's The Supernatural Lit From Within Healthy Cream Blush in Feel Warm All Over ($22.50) - that's a mouthful, I know. But, it's a pretty sheer peachy-pink with a slight touch of shimmer.

Kate Winslet looks gorgeous no matter what, but I love her soft blush here.

Gwyneth Paltrow wears pretty peachy-pink blush

If you have medium-toned skin, a warm pink with brown undertones is usually a good choice. I really love Lancome's Blush Subtil in Mauve Coquette ($29.50), which has a good balance between pink and brown that flatters just about everyone.

Laura Mercier's Second Skin Cheek Color in Rose Bloom ($24) is another pretty option that is a warm, tawny rose shade. An added bonus - this stuff stays on all day. I tend to find myself touching up later in the day but this blush stays on better than most powder blushes I've used.

Clinique has a great cream blush, also. Their Blushwear Cream Stick in Rosy Blush ($18.50) is an awesome on-the-go twist-up stick that provides a sheer, natural flush that lasts and lasts. All you have to do is stripe your cheek where you want your blush and blend it out with your fingers - simple. And very pretty!

Natalie Portman's glow is natural and fresh, not too done up

Megan Mullally looks beautiful with a soft rosy glow

For very yellow skin tones (most often women of Asian and Middle Eastern nationalities), coral and bronze colors look most flattering. These keep the skin tone warm and glowing without clashing like a pink blush would. Makeup Forever's Powder Blush in Tangerine ($19) is a vibrant, matte orange blush that I would only particularly recommend for very deep yellow-based skintones because it is quite bold, but it looks beautiful on. For lighter yellow-toned skin, I like Cargo's Beachblush in Coral Beach ($13). It has four stripes of color that you can apply individually or blend together to make a fresh, glowing, bronzy look.

Another great choice is Josie Maran's Blush in Blossom ($20) which is a warm coral shade. Another great thing about Josie Maran products is that they are all fragrance-free and don't have any harmful chemicals that can be found in many other cosmetics, plus the packaging is made from biodegradable corn plastic. A great look that's also eco-friendly? I think that's

pretty awesome.

A pretty cream option is Nars The Multiple in Portofino ($37), which is a shimmering coral. It's called 'The Multiple' for a really awesome reason - it can be used as a cheek color, eye color, or lip color. Killing three birds with one stone never sounded so good. Plus, it's cream-to-powder finish stays on until you're ready to wash it off.

Freida Pinto's pale peach blush highlights her delicate bone structure perfectly

What's beautiful about Lucy Liu other than her warm bronzy glow? The fact that she doesn't cover up her freckles like they're a flaw - she flaunts them! Gorgeous!

Deeper skin tones tend to look good with dark reddish or deep pink shades of blush, like Stila's Convertible Color in Fuchsia ($25), which is another cream that can be used as a lipstick.

Makeup Forever's Powder Blush in Dark Raspberry ($19) is another pretty choice for dark skin.

Naomi Campbell looks gorgeous with a pop of berry blush

Everything about Jennifer Hudson's makeup here looks amazing

I hope this post helps take some of the mystery out of what color will look best with your skintone. I'll keep up the theme of blush and make my next one about great brushes for blush and some tips on how to apply cream blushes, too.

Blush - Taking the Guesswork Out of Where to Put It

Every single day (there truly isn't a day that goes by) I see women with their blush applied horrendously. They've either got on entirely too much, so much it looks like stripes on their cheeks, or so little that they look tired and blah. Here are a few examples of how NOT to wear your blush!

Christina Aguilera - LOVE the red lips, HATE that blush! What could possibly be considered flattering about that? If it were about ten shades lighter, she'd look amazing.

Hayden Panettiere - she's so pretty with such a lovely complexion, but those dark cheeks distort her face!

I'm not going to point out everything wrong with Lil Kim's look here (trust me, it's more than just the blush, but that should be obvious), but that blush - really??

I get a lot of ladies asking me where exactly on their face are they supposed to even put their blush. I see women with it on right on the apples of their cheeks 98% of the time, with can work for some face shapes, but not all.

If you have a round shaped face, you want to apply your blush diagonally from the outer corner of your mouth up towards the top of the ear. This will visibly thin the face, making it look a little longer instead of so round. Below are some pictures of good blush application for a round face.

If you have a square-shaped face, you'll want to soften the jawline by starting your blush on the cheekbones at about the center of the eye, and blend back up toward the temples. If you add a little brush of your blush across the forehead and down the chin, very, very softly, it will also round out the jawline a little.

For a rectangular face, you want to put the blush on similar to the square-shaped face, except instead of starting at the center of the eyes, you'll want to start at the outer edge of the eyes and blend back to the temples. This will give the illusion of a slightly wider face.

If you have an oval-shaped face, you're kind of lucky because just about any way you put on your blush (or wear your hair) is going to look pretty good. I'm oval-shaped, and I like to apply my blush similar to the round-shaped face should (from the corner of the mouth, diagonally up towards the top of the ear) but I do something a little different - I apply it just underneath the cheekbone instead of actually on the cheekbones. This gives the illusion of slightly sunken-in cheeks, instantly taking five pounds off my face.

I swear I'm not naked in this picture - I have on a strapless bridesmaid dress.

For a long face, the idea is to try to widen it. Applying the blush on the apples of the cheeks, straight back in a horizontal line to the ear will widen the face perfectly.

And finally, we come to the heart-shaped (if you have a widow's peak) or upside-down triangle-shaped face. Women with this shape seem to have the most difficult time applying their blush. For this shape, you'll want to apply your blush just like the round shape - start at the apples on the cheekbones and apply diagonally back toward the tops of the ears. Then, you'll want to sweep the blush softly up the temples and even slightly over the eyebrows. This sounds nuts, but try it out - it will help balance the wideness of your forehead against your narrow jawline and pointy chin.

If you're really not sure what exactly your face shape is, push your hair back with a headband so you can see the entire outline of your face. Grab a tube of lipstick you don't wear very often, and stand directly in front of the mirror and draw the outline you see reflected. Take a step back - that should give you a better idea as to what face shape you are and help figure out how you need to apply your blush.

I'll make my next post on what colors I recommend for each skin tone, and which ones I really love, so be sure to check back in the next few days for that one!

Nude Lipsticks

As I've stated before, my loyalties have been with red lipstick for the better part of the last ten years. I'll occasionally toss in some hot pink, too, but red is where my heart is. But seeing as I'm going to try to go more natural with my makeup in 2010, I'm going to have to cut down wearing my red lipstick to maybe three days a week. That sounds reasonable, right? For the other four days, I'm going to wear natural, nude lips, I promise! I did this yesterday, and I got so many compliments on the lipstick I was wearing (I'll tell you later on!). A lady actually bought the lipstick I was wearing because she liked it so well. So maybe that nude lip that I've always liked on other people and hated on myself looks a lot better than I realized. I've researched some nude lipsticks and lip glosses and tried out a lot of them recently in my quest to go more natural, so here are some of my top picks.

First up is Lancome's Color Design Lipstick in Natural Beauty ($22). This is the lipstick that I was wearing yesterday when the lady decided she liked it so well, she wanted a tube for herself. It's a creamy nude that has great staying power. I apologize that I can't find a picture of it, but just so you know, it's perfectly nude without being too pink or too orange, and it's got the perfect amount of color payoff. With Natural Beauty, I wear Lancome's Le Lipstique Lipliner in Bronzelle ($23.50) and for a little sparkle and shine, Lancome's La Laque Fever in Gold Glimmer ($26.50). Bronzelle is a nude liner that's just a touch deeper than Natural Beauty, so it's perfect for giving just a little bit of definition to the lip line. Gold Glimmer is a clear long-wearing lipgloss that has tons of pretty gold sparkles in it.

Another nude lipstick I found that I really like is Clinique's High Impact Lipstick in Nude Beach ($14). It gives a full-color payoff that's creamy and lasts all day. It's got a touch more brown than Natural Beauty, making it a good choice for deeper skintones.

I'm already a fan of Nars Lipstick ($24), but I've found that Belle du Jour is my new favorite shade. It's a sheer beigey nude that looks good on just about everyone.

Look closely - the model below is wearing Nars Belle du Jour.

Lorac's Breakthrough Performance Lipstick in Nude Scene ($22) is a perfect, shiny nude that looks amazing on Debra Messing.

My last pick is Too Faced's Lip of Luxury Lipstick in Totally Nude. It's another creamy nude that looks good on everyone, and it's super shiny all by itself. An added plus: the case is so pretty, with a giant rhinestone on top.

Is there a nude lipstick you love? Let me know - I want to try it out!