Oatmeal, honey, and mayonnaise will always be fail-safe mainstays for maintaining skin health, but newly studied botanicals like embilica, ucuuba and cupuac have been found to give skin an extra boost of youth and clarity. Even commonly known plants like rice and bamboo contain antiseptic properties and super-sized loads of antioxidants, tannins, and phyto-nutrients that give them an anti-aging edge.
The naturally based products boast even more benefits. These products are not tested on animals and are free of parabens. For more information visit the website: www.beautao.com

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Now, this streamline concept has hit the beauty arena with the introduction of a brand new concept for cosmetic airbrushing. Temptu, the leaders in airbrush technology, have developed a consumer level airbrush system for the home. This easy to use, mess-free, AIR pod system delivers amazingly professional results. I tested this system over a four week period and found that the system was relatively easy to use ( I tried the system on a variety of photo shoots and situations,on myself, and with a series of models ) I even traveled with it to see how robust the compressor and gun would be in my luggage, high marks for the light weight components and strength of each! The makeup pods, were easy to change and while there were a few occasions where the airbrush gun wouldn’t release product, it only took a few sweeps with a tissue to clear the head of it, and then all was smooth sailing. As with other Temptu foundations, highlighters and colors, the Pod system product is great and gives a beautiful, clean finish.

I found that airbrushing myself was a lot less challenging than I thought it would be. In fact, the level of control for a small system like this was amazing. I know from speaking with the founders of the company that they really put a lot of energy and research into getting the system just right ( in fact I had heard it was in development well over 2 years ago!) I had airbrushed myself with my Pro airbrush and that process was a lot more involved , mostly in the clean up department. While this isn’t a system I would recommend for daily use , (unless you are an on-camera kind of girl,or guy) I would suggest it for occasions where you need to look your absolute best, like for special events, weddings and such, it is well worth the investment.

If you want to know more about Temptu’s AIR Pod system who have teamed up with Sephora nationwide, click here
Kelley Quan

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Available at www.lalicious.com

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First up: The foundation brush. It’s usually medium to wide in width and flat- tapered. I use one medium sized brush that I apply concealer, foundation or even loose powder with, as its shape makes getting into corners and smoothing areas lightening-quick and it covers a lot of ground ( I use this size as well for cream blush as it’s perfect for blending) and a smaller version for around the eyes, nose and any other smaller area. I sometimes use the smaller version as a eyeliner blending brush as its narrow taper helps to keep the liner close to the lash line but smudged soft.

Followed by: Powder brush. A dense yet soft dome-style works wonders for all powder types. It’s delicate enough to “glaze” the skin with a little powder or lay it on the really set any foundation. Good for larger areas of the face.

And then: Two bullet shaped short barrel brushes. Use one for powder (loose or pressed) on smaller areas of the face, and the other for eye color application. The bullet shape makes it easy to navigate the contours of the eye area, keeping the product where you want it.

The Domed Blush Brush: I love this shape as it allows blush to be applied in a multitude of ways. A must have for all powder blush.

The eyebrow brush: The tapered end of the brush is perfect for applying powder eyebrow color or blending pencil and the brow grooming brush helps to brush them into shape. A double win.

Finally: A lip brush. Medium in length, flat-tapered to a point. A must for this season’s deeper lip shades, and keeps your lip colors healthier…no fingers or lips on the tube make for a cleaner product!

For those beauty addicts who want to splurge?
Angled eyeliner brush. Is perfect for that cat eye look and the angled tip make precision application a snap.

For more info and to buy visit www.smashbox.com

Kelley Quan

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First impressions of F&P’s latest release of brightly colored, quirky-sweet, body care collection was it definitely seemed geared toward the younger ‘tween/teen set. My son’s girlfriend who’s 13, absolutely loved the dense, fruit-scented perfumes of Mango, Apple and Peach and to be honest, I thought they were perfect for a girl her age) The re-useable shopping sack that the eau de toilette comes with adds to the enviro-concious quality of the brand and the package graphics are appealing too. I wasn’t about to consider this a write-off for the over 15 crowd, as there seemed to be so many aspects I liked about this brand and so for the purposes of my test-drive, I chose the lightest of the three, Apple Illusion.

This group consists of six components: A Foaming Bath, Shower gel, Hand cream, Hand Soap, and Body butter and Eau de Toilette Spray. I found the shower gel and bath foam made fantastic lather which I happily to noted were phosphate-free and contained over 90% natural and plant derived ingredients, which makes your skin so soft and smooth, that its totally worth smelling like a fruit stand!

I enjoyed using the hand lotion— (anyone who knows me, knows that I am obsessed with hand lotions due to the fact that I am constantly using hand cleaner when working on my clients, which makes my hands parched as the desert!) which was rich without being heavy, absorbed quickly and left my the hands smooth with a velvety finish that I really liked. The Eau de toilette was a bit much for me so I did pass it along. However, the body-butter? Absolutely AMAZING! Leaves you all luscious and juicy fresh. Yummm.

Bonus points?
Ethically harvested authentic fruit extracts
Bio degradable
Sulfate and Paraben –free

The company has been in development of “Green product” way before it became cool to do so, Kuddos to them!

I would like to say that while I had initially designated this collection of body and home goodies to be for a Gen Z crowd, but I may have to renege on that as I have gotten rather fond of the heady aroma of pure sweet apple and feel a bit naked without it!

So embrace your inner child, teen or whatever. It’ll put a smile on your face, do a bit for our world and make you smell damn good along the way.

Available at www.fruits-passion.com

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Those of you who’ve followed me at ZOOZOOM magazine know I’m passionate about good skin care and that I’m willing to go to bat for you, in order to test, review

and give you my best assessment of skin care products on the market today. I don’t pull any punches when it come to critiquing beauty care and all the beauty Press Offices know that if it’s not in ZOOZOOM, chances are, I didn’t like it!

Recently, a good friend told me about an innovative new skin care product, an overnight mask called Skincerity. I had heard plenty about peel-type masks (the exfoliation promise’s, tighter pores, etc, etc, etc.) but this one definitely caught my attention. The premise of Skincerity is it’s a permeable mask that rolls on a bit like deodorant, dries in seconds (due to the cosmetic grade Acetone, NOT NAIL POLISH, people!) and is meant to be worn over night. It contains antioxidants, which are delivered into the dermis, holding it there as well as anything else you have on your skin. As it’s permeable, it allows oxygen to pass through to the skin (but not before being detoxed, itself by the acetone, killing off any bacteria that it may carry) and amplifying the power of the products you already use and that are within the mask itself. Sounds kind of strange and intriguing, right? Right. So upon getting my stash of the stuff, I was eager to begin my 2 -week trial run. The following is my assessment and overall analysis of my test drive.

Evening one:
One of the perks of this particular product is that you don’t have to change anything you are already doing to keep your skin healthy. I have several products that I cannot live without and was happy to see that I didn’t have to stop using them in order to benefit from this mask. The literature that comes with the product, states that it even enhances the efficiency of whatever products currently being used beneath the mask. After cleansing in my normal way, (Clark’s Botanicals facial wash, Orange flower water spritz and Clark’s Botanicals marine cream and as I was having a bit of a pre-menstral breakout, M2 HP skin refinish) I then applied Skincerity over everything as directed. It has a roller-ball applicator so I did find that I needed to tip my head slightly to keep the flow going, but this aside, application was really easy. The first impact was the scent. I could smell the acetone but it dissipated quickly that it didn’t bother me for long. The mask dries to a smooth, slightly shiny finish and is invisible. As I had also done my neck area, I did notice it took as few more minutes to really dry there, because when I moved my head from side to side, I could see the peel lifting slightly. A little patting down and it was back where it belonged, so no real concerns. I also used it on my hands, as the ads illustrated real improvement for ‘old-lady’ hands and sun-spots. I have two rather biggish ‘bullet-points’ (one of the right and another identical one of the left, right above my wrist) which I LOATHE. I decided to do a test. I applied Skincerity on the right dot, if it improved and faded, I was going to be one very happy lady.

AM Results: I took a look in the mirror and saw all around my hairline that the product had lifted away from my skin. It kind of looked like when you got a really bad sunburn and your skin starts peeling off. Not the best look if you’re sharing your night with a special someone and I did file that in my brain for future reference. I decided that I would shower it off and use the spongy towel-like shammy that comes with the product, but for me, I ended up preferring my tried and true facial flannel. It’s nubby enough to get all the mask off my face, neck and hands in one or two sweeps across the skin as opposed to the rubbing I had to do with the shammy.

After removing the mask, I was immediately struck by how soft my skin felt. There was a definite marked difference to how it usually looks in the morning— I also noticed that I didn’t have the usual overnight oily t zone, which was nice and that the texture seemed better. No color changes but I wasn’t expecting miracles after one night!

Evening two:
Same drill, as the previous evening. Was looking forward to seeing improvement in the AM.
Day two results: I am getting the hang of taking the mask off in a way as to not get it in my hair. I use my wet flannel to roll the mask off, starting at my hairline and working toward the center of my face. This ensures that I don’t get it caught in my hair (which was harder to get out , than in, BTW!)

The overall condition of my skin looks good to me but the proof was when I was asked at a photoshoot what I was using on my skin to make it look so luminous! Nice. My Bullet point still looks the same but the texture seems a bit smoother. No color change. BOOHOO.
Evening Three: Ditto for application but I added eye cream to the mix. It’s not recommended to use this close to the eye area, but I did go as far as the top of my cheeks (which are pretty high) and that seems fine. I am totally used to the application now. The roller ball sometimes has dried product on it when I open it, so I take that off before I roll on for the night. Now I’ve got my husband using Skincerity, too. I want to see if his skin improves from his excema and the roseacea on his cheeks.

Day three results: After removing the mask, I not only see finer textured skin, but I also notice that all my hormonal pimples are going. The skin is taught, flat and smooth. I don’t think it’s looked this clear in years as I have been battling crazy adult acne/spots for what seems like so long now and really hate the way my skin looks when it’s breaking out. It was refreshing to wake up with great looking skin and to see the additional texture improvement. Oh and my bullet point? It’s getting marginally lighter!!

Evening 4-14
The pattern is the same, I haven’t had to change anything at all. It’s easy and uncomplicated so I think lots of people will be inclined to continue using it, not only because of the outstanding results but the ease of application and removal.
Final Results:

My overall assessment is that this product really works. My skin has continues to get better with daily use and the pigmentation from previous sun damage and hormones changes are fading, not a quickly as I’d like but I think with ongoing use, it will continue to fade (including my dreaded ‘Bullet point’! So no more laser removal as this is a more cost effective alternative, for sure. The overall look of my skin has been vastly improved since I began this test drive. There is continued improvement on the texture, color and quality of my skin not only on my face but my neck and hand areas as well. I love how easy it was to assimilate into my routine and that other people are seeing and remarking on the results as well. My husbands skin look in great shape and while he did have a excema outbreak during the test, he used his prescription cream under the Skincerity and it cleared faster than using the medicine alone. Which brought to my mind the primary reason why this product was created in the first place.

Skincerity was created to treat skin cancer recovery care. Partially funded by the federal government ( I hear a cool 7 mill) the company had a desire to create a new product in the form of a barrier or mask to be applied at cancer sites in order to hold medicinal ointments and lotions in place. Not only would it help facilitate deep treatment of the effected area, it would also needed to be antiseptic in order to maintain the integrity of the medicinal products used beneath. Skincerity achieved both these aims and in addition to this, as an added value, it also improved skin texture and health in the treated areas…. I see a beauty perk coming!

Post script: While I was testing, I gave a bottle to a friend who has recently returned from a vacation. She had an extremely bad sunburn in the shape of a crescent moon ( I hate when I miss a spot when sunblock apping, ouch!) which had blistered and was an angry red color. My friend is extremely pale and scars easily. Her concern was that she’d have this scar for years to come and turned to me for help. I asked her to use Skincerity on the burn for the full two weeks. Within days, the blister had come off, the skin had smoothed and the angry redness had faded to a pale rose color. She is to this date, still using it on the area with continued improvements. Now, I consider this product part of my skin care maintenance plan and look forward to what a little birdie tells me, are more releases of amazing products from this awesome company.

To order and for more information visit www.nuceritynewyork.com

Kelley Quan

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