Gawd, I hate to admit this out loud, like you don’t even know.  I turn 40 here in, uh, a week and a half or so.  *sob*  And I’m thinking about Botox (thanks Lianne – you look amazing, gf – and *you know who* that I won’t mention .     It seems like everyone I know is talking Botox these days.  *sigh*
So my friend Nancy, at Beauty411, has done a wonderful 101 guide to all of the injectables available at your dermatologist/plastic surgeon’s office.   See?  She’s thinking about it too. 
I’ve been watching all of these things, new and old, …read more

Vichy Laboratories, which is currently a division of L’Oreal, has been around since 1931 and have had a strong foothold in Europe.  Up until recently I hadn’t been very familiar with their line, not for any particular reason other than I just hadn’t made it around to check them out.  But I have now a little, and I do like very much what I’ve seen.  All of their products contain Vichy Thermal Spa Water (with the one exception of their Nutrilogie Lip product), a mineral filled spring water from Vichy, France,water which has been recognized by the French Academy …read more

Ok, I admit it.  Sometimes I get sucked in by great sales pitches on HSN (and QVC, and my alma mater JTV).  Such a thing happened a few days before I left for SXSW.  I was having a sleepless night and watching M. Asam present on HSN.  They have a line of anti-aging face care that really, compared to what I spend on my skin care normally, is quite a reasonable price.  I was doing well resisting until they pulled out the Perfect Teint.  I wish I had a clip of the video, because MAN was it convincing.  What …read more

I have been trying a new skin care line created by Dr. Gary Goldfaden, Cosmesis – and although I haven’t given it nearly enough time to give an opinion on some of the other items in the line, I will say that I used the Cleansing Scrub (made for acne-prone skin) for the first time last night and, boy, did I love it!! The Cosmesis products are formulated with Red Tea extracts which, as you may have read here before, was something I was very interested in trying.
I love a scrub that SCRUBS, and this one sure does. …read more

Avalon Organics has a line of CoQ10 products – the most useful of which I imagine is the Wrinkle Defense Serum ($22 from drugstore.com), at least that is the one I would try first (I love serums for some reason – they just sound more effective). There is also a firming cream, a cleanser, a toner and a night cream.

Nivea also has a CoQ10 based line, Visage, which includes the eyecream (under $10 at drugstore.com), and the rest of your regular skin care regime as well.  I have always liked Nivea products a lot, and I imagine this …read more

CoQ10 is a coenzyme, naturally occuring in your body that is available as a supplement and as an ingredient in many skin care products. It is also an antioxidant, which we all know about now, right? Coenzyme Q10 is normally produced readily in the body, but depletes very predictably as we age, and possibly depletes with exposure to the sun as well. CoQ10 is found in beef, spinach, sardines, albacore tuna, and peanuts, but is rendered inactive with high cooking heat. Studies have shown that CoQ 10 indeed can be used topically with benefit. …read more