Hot or Not Beauty

Recently, the weather here in Chicago has been particularly frigid, and I admit, it’s gotten me down a bit. Days spent indoors have made me restless, and feeling pretty is more of a challenge on days like these. Winter can be rough on your looks - even a moment out in the elements can leave skin and hair feeling dry. So what’s the secret to staying beautiful as temperatures drop? Tons of moisture - and a few clever tricks.

- The most universal winter beauty pest is hat head; we’ve all had it at some point! One preventative measure is choosing a looser hat - Anne Hathaway’s knit beret (above) is a fine example. Already have hat head? Just run your hands through your hair with a bit of product. In a pinch, hand cream will work.

- Speaking of hair products, some products may be doing more harm than good. Avoid alcohol-based styling products - even if they promise to provide control, the reality is that they are drying and will make frizz and static worse.

- Shower smart: the water temperature only needs to be just warm enough for comfort. Don’t scald yourself - while it may be tempting to take a super-hot shower, it will dry out your skin and hair.

- Moisturize your hands right before you put on your gloves - it will contain the moisture, ensuring that more of it is used to keep your hands soft. This applies to feet, as well - socks will trap any moisture you apply before you put them on, making moisturizers more effective.

Hi! My name is Erin, and I am the new blogger for Hot or Not Beauty. This blog is about the products, trends, and celebrity looks that influence your style. “Where did she get that?” “How did she do that?” “Where can I find it?” I hope to answer these questions and more.

A bit about me: I am a 25-year-old woman who lives and works in Chicago. I first became a part of the 451 Press family nearly two years ago, as a writer for Jennifer Aniston Watch on the Celebrities channel. The blogging experience has been a fulfilling one for me, and I look forward to taking on the additional challenge of this blog, along with Her Daily News, another 451 Press blog. As I write, I look forward to your comments and feedback - tell me what’s hot and what’s not!

One of my friends from over at the Beauty Network is Sheri Green, the head of Ame cosmetics and I’ve decided today to tell everyone about her cosmetic company. While I don’t usually talk about products in quite these terms, I hope you’ll indulge me today’s post. I’m pretty passionate about supporting women in business doing their own thing and Sheri and her daughter have created a great company with Ame, not only producing high quality cosmetics, but also providing strong support to various charity initiatives.
Ame is a cosmetic company that produces products from natural ingredients, with a range of mineral powders in the most gorgeous colours - I especially love the second look pictured, although sadly I suspect this wouldn’t look half so good on me!
The range of colours is fabulous and the powders are silky and light. Best of all the company is focussed on giving women the tools they need to look their best and not discontinuing colors the minute you finally settle on one you like (something I’m sure we can all relate to!)
The range of Ame cosmetics is available online via stores like Amazon, Dekka at dcafam.com or you can visit the Ame website at www.amecosmetics.com - I hope you will take the time to check it out!

Are you ready for summer? Well if you’re anything like me, you’re well and truly ready to hit the beach after the long winter months, so you probably uttered a resounding yes! If you’re dying to get some sun and surf, then here are a few hint on thing you can do to be beautified and ready to make your own waves at the beach.

Have you had a pedicure? Starting from the feet up, this is one of the first things you should be considering. Getting your feet in tip-top shape is most important in summer, and best of all the natural exfoliating properties of the sand will help keep them looking great! Getting a pedicure is not only a fantastic idea if you’re off to the beach. It’s also worthwhile over the summer period when you are most likely to be wearing strappy shoes and sandals; nobody wants to look at someone’s icky uncared for feet. Hot? I think not! It’s relatively inexpensive, and in my opinion money well spent, to get a beautician to do the pedicure for you. If you are keen to try out a pedicure at home, or if you’re looking for a great set of products as a stop-gap between visits, then the products that I’ve been using for over 15 years now are the Body Shop’s Peppermint Foot Care products, (I think the newer Lemongrass ones are pretty cool too).

Fake it! By that I mean your tan. If you haven’t yet learnt of the dangers of the sun then I don’t know what rock you’ve been living under – but too much sun gives you cancer people! If that’s not enough it also causes freckling, blotchiness, sun spots and wrinkles! There are loads of great products out there to help you achieve a golden glow without basting yourself and roasting like a turkey. My favorites include the Nivea Summer Beauty Body Lotion, the Lancome Soleil Flash Bronzer range, and the Loreal Sublime Bronze Self Tanning range.
Tips: There are options for different natural skin tones, so be sure to pick up the right one for your skin.
Also, before you go anywhere near the fake tan or tanning moisturizer – exfoliate! One of my favorite options for this is the Garnier Body Tonic Sugar Scrub.

Hair – not the hair on your head, but I’ll get to that in a minute. I’m talking about the hair you want to get rid of, in particular from your legs, bikini line and underarms. There are many options for getting rid of hair, the most popular being waxing, shaving and depilatory formulations. Personally I’ve come to believe that waxing is something best left to the professionals, but being a beauty junkie that hasn’t stopped me from trying out a number of different new formulations promising beautician quality results at home; lurking in the back of my bathroom cupboard are several such waxing products that are unlikely to see the light of day again! Shaving is another option, but the results are fairly impermanent, and if you are heading off for a week or more at the beach, then you may find that you have to address regrowth while you’re away. The pro’s of shaving are that you can do it yourself in next to no time and it really as cheap as buying a good shaver – if you are going to try this option then get a women’s shaver – it really is worthwhile.
Other at home depilatory formulations – well the all natural NADS is my personal fave. I like that it is made from natural ingredients, and a big thumbs up for the enterprising founder of this company who developed this product in her own kitchen! The NADS Essentials Kit is a good option of you are looking for an all in one hair removal, moisturizing and post-hair removal pack. The Essentials Kit contains 5 products and is a good value for money starter kit. Following the natural theme, a good summer moisturizer that is perfect for counteracting the drying effects of the sun is the Quench West African Shea Body Whip; a natural product that will really restore the skins softness.

Looking after your locks! We all hear time and again how summer stresses such as the sun, swimming and so on are really damaging for our hair. You will need a little extra TLC to keep your hair shining and prevent drying over the summer, but there are some good products again that can help with this. A good leave in conditioner and regular deep conditioning is a must to help prevent to much drying of your hair. Other good options are to use a hair sunscreen, that will help further protect your locks from the damaging effects of the sun during the summer months. Charles Worthington has a UV protection shampoo, and Elseve has a range of products to care for your hair across summer as well.

So there you have it – a short guide to help you get ready to hit the beach looking and feeling fabulous. Enjoy!

I came across this ultra cute little ‘Blushing Daisies’ compact (pictured), while I was in the Body Shop the other day. It’s a shimmery blush that has the cutest design. I have dubbed it my makeup art, because I think it kind of reminds me of a Van Gogh, but then I’m a little nutty about my beauty products. So far I haven’t actually been able to bring myself to use it – being a total beauty nut I’ve just been toting it around showing it off and boasting about how cute my new purchase is!

Well after my cute discovery at Body Shop I decided to make it my mission to uncover any other dinky little designs, and found a cute little option available from Yves Saint Laurent. The Palette Pop Collector Powder is an aptly named face powder that comes in a very pop art inspired design. Formulated to give a radiant glow to the complexion, much like my Body Shop powder I suspect I’ll end up buying for looks more than functionality! If the pop art era wasn’t your thing, then the Yves Saint Laurent ‘Opium’ palette (pictured here) may be more your style. This is an adorable compact with an oriental art inspired case, containing four complimentary powder shades for the face and eyes incorporated into a floral design.

Finally I discovered the ultimate in very girly makeup buys at Christian Dior. The Dior Princess Ring is about the cutest thing ever, and is available in a lip and an eye version. This makeup as jewellery product is a silver ring inlaid with turquoise (it’s a little bit Tiffany’s!) or in candy floss pink. It has a crystal surrounded mirror on top and eight crystals on the four sides. Both the lip and eye ring contain 2 shades and are the ultimate in cutesy makeup ideas. I love it and I’m sure all you other princesses at heart are going to love it too!

Ever since the advent of Chanel’s Le Vernis ‘Rouge Noir’ polish – as sported by Uma Thurman in ‘Pulp Fiction’ – I’ve been a Chanel girl. (Actually being something of a beauty product addict I’m also an ‘any new product I can get my hands on’ girl!) The latest range of summer colors from Chanel are as gorgeous as ever, and the fantastic ‘Flamingo Pink’ and sultry ‘Antilope’ are the new seasons must have nail polishes.

‘Flamingo Pink’ is exactly the color you would imagine it to be – a bright bubblegum pink that harks back to the candy floss shades you loved as a child. My personal recommendation is to pair this with the luscious Rouge Hydrabase lipstick in the bright ‘Rose Flamingo’ pink. If you are more a lip gloss than a lipstick girl – then my next choice would be to try the Glossimer Lip Gloss in the new shade ‘Gazelle’. This is a hot pink that comes with a little extra sparkle and goes great with a sunkissed summer complexion.

Now I don’t want to recommend a lot of time out in the sun – let’s face it wrinkles and skin cancer are NOT hot! But these colors do lend themselves to a sun kissed look and this season there are a total of 5 different types of bronzing products available in the Chanel range. I like the limited edition Collection Essentielle, which offers an all in one palette for the eyes, cheeks and lips. There are also both liquid and powder bronzers that can give you a golden glow and set off your bright pink lipstick to perfection.

If eye makeup is more your thing then you will be loving Chanel this season! There’s a fantastic range of bright and colorful eye shadows, eyeliners and mascaras. If you are keen to try out the pink and khaki green eye shadows, then my suggestion would be to pair these with the ‘Antilope’ Le Vernis nail polish. This golden brown frosted polish is more subtle than the ‘Flamingo Pink’, and goes really nicely with the nude brown ‘Curious’ Rouge Allure lipstick.

What will I be wearing? Well being a huge fan of pink lipstick, my choice for this summer will be to give the liquid eye shadow in ‘Atoll’ a go. This golden brown color is more subtle than some of the other options for the eyes, and a much more attractive option if you are going to try out the bright lipsticks. I was also really taken with the vert bronze color eyeliner that I tried. Whilst I’ve long favored a dark brown eyeliner – I received a number of compliments about how green my eyes looked, so I’m keen to continue with this product that brought out the color in my blue-green eyes.

A word to the wise for those of you who love bright colors. This season is definitely going to be the one for you to let loose, but don’t overdo it. By that I mean don’t wear everything at once – a splash of color is great, but if you are wearing green or pink eye shadow, then go for subtle lip colors. Like wise, a muted eye shadow is best with a bright lipstick. That said – go out and have fun! This summer is all about bright colors, so find the one you like and make it hot!

With this year’s fall trendy being all smoky, alluring and mysterious, contour is back with a vengeance. Although it’s a technique that I prefer strictly for night-time when the lights are forgiving, however many people still wonder what products they should be wearing to create the illusion of more sculpted features. So here are a few guidelines:

Contouring creates false shades that help reshaping your face, so just because you have a darker shade of blush or a bronzer, it doesn’t mean that it’s suitable for contouring.

Here are the rules of thumb for contouring and then a few suggestions:

Whatever you purchase for contouring it has to be of a matte finish, whatever you purchase that has shimmer to it will defeat the purchase because it will attract the light and reflect it and it won’t look like a shadow at all. So blushes with shimmer, Mineralize Skinfinishes and the like are definitely a no-no, you might love them to pieces but it will defeat the purpose just by being there.

Bronzers are not a product to contour with in my opinion, reddish, orangish terracotta like pigments are not the color of any shadow on your face, so it will look too artificial and incredibly fake.

To me, the best type of product you can for contour is pressed powder in a darker shade than your own color, although some people use powder foundation I think that it gives too much coverage and if you want to be subtle, the pigment concentration can actually make your job harder.

You don’t need a contour brush and to layer the product on your face, you use the side of a blush brush pick up some powder, pat the excess away and softly smooth it on the areas that you want to contour. An advice be sure that the area that you’re going to contour has been dusted with loose powder so the pressed powder won’t smudge and end up making you look dirty.

To highlight you need a powder or highlighting product that is lighter than your skin tone and this one can have shimmer and sparkle, however if you have problems with enlarged pores, the shimmer can enhance them and end up making you look worse, so if you don’t want too much attention brought on to the areas you want to highlight, so in that case stick to a lighter shade of pressed powder and fear enlarged pores no more.

If you have a light to medium skin tone, feel free to try “Make Up For Ever“’s Compact Modeler, the darker shade has a wee bit of gray pigment that helps to further create the illusion of shadow on your face.

For an example of this Fall’s polished flawless look, take a look at my post regarding Yves Saint-Laurent’s Fall Collection

MAC’s Holiday Brush Sets are out and in my opinion they’re a good option if you want to have decent brushes or want to try them out but don’t have the money to invest.

Now, of course the brushes won’t be the same quality as the regular size brushes, but you’re paying $50 for 4/5 brushes of reasonable quality and in my book that’s a great deal. I got them last year because I wanted short hand brushes for personal use during my travels and I have to say that I haven’t regretted my purchase.

This year’s theme is “Heirlooms” and they come in medium sized gold or silver cloth clutch bags (I personally don’t like them at all and preferred last year’s collection) that house the brushes.

I think the Face Set is definitely one to look forward to, although the quality isn’t the same as the regular edition brushes (who are partially handcrafted and the brushes in these sets are not) you get the 168 an angled contour brush, the 187 (the love-it-or-hate-it duo-fiber brush), the 190 who is fairly decent as a foundation brush and the 194 which is a simple concealer brush and all for a rather appealing price of $50.

I would definitely prefer the 129 instead of the 168 because the 129 is versatile enough to be used both as powder and blush brush, but three great brushes out of four remains a great deal. Speaking of the 129, the Basic Brush set is a great gift for a mother or a friend who wants to get into makeup but has no tools whatsoever.

Running away from the smoky eye mania that has engulfed beauty addicts everywhere, Laura Mercier presents another option for this year’s holiday season.

Shimmering white eyeshadow, ice blue kohl eyeliner, shimmering pink glace and a body sparkling mineral powder that adds an iridescent shimmer to your body.

I’m not a fan of overly glitter on your eyes, cheeks, lips and everywhere possible will make you look like a freaking disco ball, however when it’s delicately accented it can act like a Fairy Godmother’s magic wand and turn you into the belle of the ball.

Of all the items, the one that I frowned upon was the ice blue kohl, unless you use it on your waterline to give a little pick-me-up and make you seem more rested and glamorous, shimmering nearly white eyeliner on your top lid is something that I dislike, it’s one of those makeup pet peeves for me. So, if you’re getting it only to line the inner part of your waterline, why are you getting another eyeliner that looks almost exactly like a white one and does the exact same thing.

This collection caters more to the fair-to-medium toned complexions and if overdone can make you look like the Witch from the Chronicles of Narnia, so like everything that has obvious shimmer to it go in moderation and build your way up.

The winner was the body mineral powder, which I’m considering to purchase because it’s something I’d like to put on a girls shoulder, decolletage and accenting other areas of the body because if it gives out a hint of pearlized glow it can completely give you a fairy-like mystique that looks cute for the holidays. And I must say the feather duster intrigues me as well.

Do I think this is the greatest holiday collection known to man? No. Do I find it’s refreshing and gets away from the smoky eye mania that’s on almost every other single collection, yes.

So make a trip to a Laura Mercier counter near you and try these out.

After being unimpressed by Stonewashed Nudes and the Metallics collections, a new palette is launched under the chocolate theme. I know what you’re thinking “Didn’t she release a chocolate palette last year?”, yes she did, but this year’s seems a lot more appealing.

The palette consists of 4 lip glosses and 4 eyeshadows and although I love the finishes and color selection (I’m a sucker for neutrals), I do think that the palette could be a lot more versatile than it is.

First, if you’re not into lip gloss, then half of the palette is completely useless for you. What possessed them to put 4 shades of the exact same type of lip product in this palette? Talk about putting all your eggs in one side of the palette. Definitely a way to make this palette a lot more versatile would be to put one lipstick on one pot and a pot rouge on another pan and keep the two lip glosses to enhance your lipstick or to top the pot rouge if you apply it on your lips.

Again this is one of those items that you buy if you don’t have anything like it in your makeup collection. A palette is one of those “to-have” items because it’s great to put in your bag and go on a business trip and not having to take 7 different eyeshadow pots because the palette has it all neatly put away.

This collection if for neutral fans, if you like ‘em great, if you don’t, go look for something else.

For the more attentive boyfriends this can be a great present for the coming holidays. I don’t think this is something to give to your mother as sometimes mature women frown at gloss. So, allow yourself to indulge on some chocolate.

If there’s something I love is an exfoliating scrub. So I’ll try them all out, sometimes the consequences are dire. One more step into desperately having perfect skin even if celebrities‘ skin is not that perfect most of the time.

There was a time when I really wanted to like the MAC Skincare line, I liked the minimalistic look and packaging, didn’t think the prices were outrageous and I really wanted to give it a go. My last purchase was the Microfine Refinisher, I really wanted to like it, it just seemed perfect for me and my regular MAC Make Up Artist raved so much about it that I decided I would try it after all.

Now again this was one of those things that I really wanted to work, don’t ask me why because some of the things that go through my mind don’t necessarily have to make any sense at all.

So I brought it home and although after usage it did leave my skin feeling quite smooth and soft, so I thought to myself that I had found new favorite product. However, the following day tragedy occurred, my forehead became a road map with hard bumps and extremely uneven and rough and also seemed to react a lot more to any kind of makeup product I applied on top.

I have yet to learn that I shouldn’t buy things for their popularity and ask for samples whenever I’m going to try something new, it would certainly make my cosmetics hunt a lot more enjoyable and less expendable. It’s just another one of those products that lies in my “You want it, you got it” bag.

Relive my frustration with agressive skincare here.

For the utmost dazzle, glitter has been (ab)used since God knows when, it’s extremely reflective particles allow for spectacular light effects, however wearing glitter around your eye area could prove hazardous to your eye health, so allow me to give you another option with endless possibilities.

Make Up For Ever fused glitter and their ever so addictive Star Powders to create Diamond Powder, a intense reflective and multi-purpose powder that brings your wildest dreams into fruition.

You can mix Diamond Powder with lip balm, lipstick, lip gloss, cream eyeshadow, foundation, body cream, eyeliner medium to create incredible effects on any part of your body.

If you want to funk it up this Halloween, give Diamond Powder a try. Available at Sephora.

The overall image of beautiful lashes is those glamorous thick voluminous lashes that evoke an overall image of glamor and seduction, celebrities like Gwen Stefani are never seen without it. That however doesn’t mean automatically that bigger is better all the time, there are those who already have a set of gorgeous lush lashes and don’t need to coat them in a volume creating product and only would like a slight hint of color and a bit of shine so that you’ll look far more groomed without any added drama.

I have light brown hair and although I have a generous amount of long lashes but they are quite light and therefore rather invisible so I decided to shop around for something that would just add color.

I was a consumer in the past of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Tout Beau Tinted Brow and Lash Groomer but it became clumpy quite quickly and I wasn’t happy with the overall shade selection.

While the results with Chanel seemed too artificial and Helena Rubinstein’s most subdued mascara proved to be beyond dramatic, I was happy to hang the gloves when I decided to browse the Clinique counter. That’s when I saw “Naturally Glossy” and decided to give it a go and I must say it immediately achieved Holy Grail status.

I consider this rather just a tinted lash groomer, it gives your lashes a nice curl, doesn’t clump and they remain perfectly natural and if by any chance a couple of lashes stick together give hit a whisk of a lash brush to separate them.

This mascara also gives a slightly glossy finish (available in Jet Brown or Jet Black) to your lashes making them look groomed and lustrous, remaining soft throughout the day without flaking or drying. This is a makeup item that will be remaining in my makeup bag for the next months.

For the completely opposite effect, check out my review on Helena Rubinstein’s Lash Queen Mascara.

Dior launches yet another perfume in the Poison family, this time with a gorgeous midnight blue bottle and a seductive twist on the century-old Cinderella tale, along with the gorgeous Eva Green.

Composed of rose, patchouli and amber give body to the bewitching black rose imagined by Dior’s Perfumer-Creator François Demachy.

Wong Kar-Wai directed the film and John Galliano creative the dress for our modern heroine, I leave you the gorgeous promotional video.

Most of the time I rave and rave but there are those times when a good rant becomes a sort of public service.
Sometimes there are those products that we really want to love, because it looks cool or you just want to think that it will deliver all those things they say it does.

Although I control my shopping impulses a lot better, sometimes I succumb to them and well sometimes it works, while sometimes it doesn’t.

My daily makeup look is just to look as natural as possible and I’m constantly on the look out for stuff that makes me look good BUT doesn’t make look made up or like a wax figure, we guys need texture in our skin more than women otherwise we look… weird.

Although my Holy Grail pressed powers is MAC’s Pressed Blot Powder, during the harsher winter months the powder just takes longer to set and it’s not that convenient to apply at work because even if it applied sheerly, I will have a sort of powdered nose for the next 30 minutes or so.

Check this older post out (if you haven’t) for my thoughts on pressed powders, if you still haven’t.

With all that in mind, I thought that it was time to give Smashbox’s Anti-Shine Compact a try. I mean, why shouldn’t I? The compact was small and super convenient with a small mirror that would allow me to touch up in 10 seconds in the bathroom and return with a matte complexion and no powdery residue. Plus it also said that it contained “tea tree oil to help combat breakouts, and vitamin E to help repair skin damage”, so I was like “YES! MARRY ME!”. So I dropped by the nearest Sephora and bought it.

That afternoon, the oily shine struck, but I was ready for it! So I softly patted the product on my forehead and nose careful not to swipe and ruin my makeup, after all this balm type product isn’t supposed to apply like a powder. And it was miraculous, my skin was matte and no one was the wiser.

The next morning, when I woke up my skin texture was odd, I seemed to develop some bumps and it looked irritated. Well, I have been under a lot of stress lately and didn’t give it much thought and decided to keep using my new found friend, until he stabbed me in the back.

To make a long story short, my forehead and nose broke out (precisely were I had been applying it) and it took me almost three weeks and lots of TLC and pampering to normalize the texture and make the blemishes disappear (I did end up making a new friend in the process) and the pretty cool Smashbox compact is on top of my pile of stupid purchases. Oddly enough for the following weeks I had to use a bit of more concealer while I was going for a natural flawless look, even I loved the irony on this one.

Do yourselves a favor, oily skin? Acne-prone? Sensitive? Just steer away from this compact and wear something else to blot away the oil because sometimes when it looks too good to be true, you should rethink it over and over again.