More Summer Favorites from the Beauty Closet
These mini oil roller balls, based on the rare flowers of Hawaii, are absolutely adorable and mesmerizing. I don’t often use a roller ball, but a spray (note: a roller ball can be just as powerful in scent, so roll lightly!). The ease of the ball is really nice (especially around little C. because I don’t have to worry about spraying him), and I love it fits in my purse since I’m usually on the go quite often. There are five scents in the form of a 9 ml bottle, but I’ve been trying the “le’a” scent and it’s perfect for my taste. The description written of it is too good for me to replicate, so here it is – judge for yourself, but trust me, it’s good! (p.s. You can pick these up for $38 at Anthropologie, another fav of mine…)
“1. Beauty, glory, splendor. 2. Beautiful flower. 3. Good thing. 4. A fragrance created in honor of Hawaii’s last Crown Princess Ka’iulani. 4. An olfactory homage to the Pīkake flower. 5. A stunning, rich scent with notes of Pīkake, Pink Plumeria, Mimosa, Lily and Ylang Ylang.”
I’ve been a fan of these little pocket hand sanitizers forever. And now that they come in so many fun different scents, I’m even more crazed! (there’s even a Cinnamon Glazed Donut now, hello.) They’re 5 for $5, so it’s way affordable to keep germs at bay these days. I like to hand these out to visitors when they come to my house – a nice gesture and it keep everyone healthy (mucho important with a 19-month-old around!).
I’ve long been a fan of Philip B hair and body products, and now? I’ve got my dear ol’ dad hooked. I gave him a couple of shampoos to try out from The Man-Pleasing Favorites Gift Set ($65) and he went nuts over it asking me immediately where he could buy more. My dad likes to keep up his hair like I do – so funny. The first is a Peppermint & Avocado Volumizing & Clarifying Shampoo, and the other is the Nordic Wood Hair & Body Shampoo. The first one mentioned includes 16 pure plant extracts; 11 essential/carrier oils and 2.3-percent peppermint oil, which really gets that tingly feeling going for great circulation and relaxation of the scalp (gosh, I wish I had some right now! I personally love clarifying shampoos…they make my hair so shiny, so I can see why my dad loves it, too.). The Nordic Wood shampoo includes six-percent pure botanical extracts – think Norwegian Spruce, Balsam Fir, etc. It’s even a paraban- and phthalate-free formula! Great for moisturizing, toning and conditioning to get that really healthy-looking hair.
Omigosh! If ever there was a new lip color I became obsessed with, THIS is the one. I’ve always loved Bobbi Brown’s soft-to-the-touch and incredibly moisturizing lipsticks, and now this new hue takes the cake. I was recently sent a sample of the new Soft Nude ($23), featured in the Tortoise Shell Collection. Amazing! Upon reading the name, you probably think, “oh another nude that won’t show on my lips.” Nope. This one is the perfect shade of nude for us redheads – it’s a light nude brown – and it almost mimics the color of my lips, yet brightens them, if that makes sense? So it looks completely natural, like you’re one of those girls who just “rolled out of bed,” right? And it still has that same creamy, moisturizing feel to it. Oh, I just die over this.
I’m all about making good use of what little make-up time I have these days (“look, watch mama put on her eye shadow!” is not so appealing to my 19-month-old son…), so a primer/eye shadow combo is perfect. What’s even better is this eye shadow is actually amazing. I haven’t tried all of the Prime Time colors I was sent, but so far I do know I’m in l-o-v-e with Bronzed Twig (as I predicted I would be…by the way, they’re $18 a tube, but so worth it). It adds lots of color to my lid (some eye shadows really leave me asking for more color), is waterproof (I swim a lot in the summer) and so far hasn’t creased or faded (thank you, primer). I haven’t layered them (not that brave yet), but they have that perfect just-barely-shimmer that makes me feel pretty when wearing them. (p.s. They’re great for oily lids, which mine tend to be.)
[Photos Courtesy Saffron James; Bath & Body Works; Philip B; Bobbi Brown; Bare Escentuals]