Everyone and their mother lusts after iconic, high-end cosmetics. But just like snagging a one-of-a-kind vintage bag or a custom, hand-beaded frock, one of our favorite things in life (and at Total Beauty) is to discover awesome and unique handmade beauty products -- best kept secrets, if you will -- that will have all your friends asking, "Where on earth did you find this stuff? It's amazing."
I'm not ashamed to admit it: I love self-tanner. I work all summer to get the perfect glow, then fall comes around and my bronze tan suddenly makes me feel like George Hamilton. Unfortunately, you can't just snap your fingers and go back to the Snow White winter look when fall still calls for a little bare skin in skirts, short sleeves and, well, your face. Quit cold turkey and bad things happen. Skin starts to flake, color fades unevenly, and you're left with patchy spots that make you look like you have a skin disease. I had a feeling there had to be some sort of protocol for transitioning from a summer tan back to my natural color. To find out the process for weaning myself off of self-tanner, I spoke with Sophie Evans, a skin-finishing expert for St. Tropez.
Our Beauty Editor Dawn was smack dab in the middle of all the behind-the-scenes hustle and bustle, and amidst all the hairspray-fueled chaos, she noticed a handful of items everywhere she looked -- the essential products for hairstylists and makeup artists. Sure, the tables were overflowing with palettes, brushes, pins, and notes in every color, shape, and size imaginable, and yet, the majority of makeup artists and hairstylists had the same go-to's in their beauty arsenal.
Some beauty trends slap you in the face (think: nail art and alphabet creams). Others sneak up on you. A product here, a product there, next thing you know even Walmart is stocking the stuff.
Twerking, Beyonce's weave (or lack thereof), and Cara Delevingne's eyebrows are trending right now. You know what else is spreading through the digital world like a cute cat video? Face yoga.
School days mean it's time for a routine, especially when it comes to your skin. But what if the routine you swear by is actually ruining your skin? Wait until you see these sneaky ways your skin care habits are causing wrinkles, zits, and more
With the way things are going, in a few years you might find us expounding on ZZ creams and all the wonderful benefits of zinc and zeolite. But for now we're obsessed with another letter in the alphabet: The letter C, as in CC cream.
No matter what the labels may claim, not all makeup is made for year-round use. Just like you swap out your Hunter boots for sandals and J Brand jeans for maxi skirts, so must your beauty bag get a seasonal overhaul come summer.
Three hundred and thirty-six. That's the number of hours the average woman spends kissing in her lifetime. And sure, while Megan Fox blows the average for us norms, when we stumbled across this freaky fact, intrepid researchers here at the office thought: Hey, we like to kiss. Heck, we'd like to kiss a lot more. Who can help us with that?
There's something about getting a spa treatment that's transcendent. The entire ritual -- from the exhilarating moment you enter the sanctuary to the melancholy phase of checking out -- is indulgent and exhilarating. Especially when you're at a top-notch destination like the ones featured in this story. These award-winning spas are some of the best in the United States -- and for good reason. They're not only breathtaking to behold, but offer signature spa treatments steeped in either ancient methodologies, new wave thinkings or a combo of both -- all guaranteed to cure what ails you, and feel (mostly) heavenly in the process.
Even if you're fanatical about skin care, chances are there's a body part (or two) you're neglecting. After all, if you're obsessing over every tiny wrinkle that appears on your forehead, you probably don't have much time to dedicate to your dry knees.
We're giving away a full set of Pacifica Color and Skincare's new Natural Mineral Color Collection! The kit (like so many of Pacifica's products) is 100 percent vegan and free of parabens, petroleum, SLS, sulfates, phthalates, talc, carmine, and FD&C colors. Hit the Pacifica collection picture on our Facebook page and ask US a question. That's right ... ask us anything about makeup, skincare, hair care, beauty, health, you name it. Tell us what you're curious about!
It's 100 degrees with 95 percent humidity in New York City this week, and the rest of the country isn't fairing much better. As a New Yorker, I have the added pleasure of navigating the city by subway, an underground hellhole that's easily 400 degrees hotter than the ground temperature. Which means that, lately, I look like a Salvador Dali painting when I emerge from a station -- BB cream running down my face, sweat splotches down my back.
You know the State Farm commercial where the woman says "You can't say anything on the Internet that isn't true"? We laugh, because obviously there's an infinite amount of baloney circulating online. We take everything we read on the interwebs with a boulder of salt.
Short of staying hermetically sealed in an air conditioned home or office, there is simply no way to avoid the perils of hot weather and the havoc it wreaks on our skin, hair and makeup. Sweat. Frizz. Sunburns. Did we mention sweat? Summer beauty -- oxymoron? Discuss.
Sorry lazy gals, there's no way around it: the dewy skin effect is difficult to fake. You can't just dust on shimmer powder and hope for the best. Because what's really beautiful about dewy skin is that it is a natural glow that looks like it's coming from within your complexion, not on top.
Maintaining healthy skin is important. In addition to taking extreme measures to keep skin looking clear and blemish-free, we have even more pressing, unavoidable things to worry about -- like wrinkles, fine lines, crow's feet, and a sagging neckline.