June 2008

Eve Lom Facial Cleanser! Xstatic Xplores the Xotic!



Xstatic817 here with my first xotically xcellent review. I wasn't sure what to pick for my first review...would it be exotic enough for Meg's readers? And what exactly does exotic mean anyhow? I consulted the Mr.'s Merriam and Webster and found that exotic can mean "introduced from another country," "strikingly, excitingly, or mysteriously different or unusual," or "of or relating to striptease." Much as I really wanted to go for a product that fit the latter description, I resigned myself to choosing a product that fit the two former ones. That, and for some reason, the "x" key on my keyboard has ceased to work properly so I felt it best to leave out any "xxx" material. And so I present to you my HG of skincare products, Eve Lom Facial Cleanser.

What makes it eotic? Or eXotic? (Stupid keyboard I may or may not have spilled yogurt on last week.) Well, first off, I don't know how to pronounce "Lom." Does it rhyme with "Tom" or "foam"? In my world, unsure pronunciation = exotic. Getting back to the dictionary's definition, it is from another country - Czechoslovakia, by way of England. Ms. Lom is a Czech-born facialist/esthetician, who originally worked in Hollywood before crossing the pond to London. Because everything cult-ish-ly fab has to be British, or European at the very least. Apparently, in London, Eve studied anatomy, nutrition, and massage and then studied acupuncture in China. Somewhere in there, this amazing skincare line was born, based on her philosophy (which I whole-heartedly agree with) that "deep, thorough cleansing" and "less is more" are key when it comes to effective skincare.

Everything about this cleanser is strikingly, excitingly, mysteriously different and unusual. Let's start with the ingredients. The Eve Lom website states that it contains "a blend of four aromatherapy oils," which after some minor sleuthing (and clicking on the "Ingredients" link) I have discovered to be chamomile, clove, eucalyptus, and hops oils. It also contains mineral oil and cocoa butter, which my brain tells me should be clogging my oily, blackhead-plagued skin, but it doesn't. It actually helps prevent clogs. Mysterious indeed. Then there's the process of how you actually use it. The consistency of the cleanser is somewhere between syrup and wet sand, depending on the weather (it gets gooier as it gets hotter out, but this doesn't affect its cleansing properties). You massage this goo onto dry skin. Then there is an optional 7-step massage you can do if your skin is a bit "congested." I did this process twice a week when I first got the cleanser. My husband thought I was insane. He likened it to performing a magic spell on my face. Well, call me Harry Potter, because my skin is not congested anymore. Next, you take the special muslin cloth - and only this special muslin cloth - and run it under hot water, then wring it out, place it on your face, and hold it there for five seconds. Then you do this again. And again. Three times. I'm not kidding. This is supposed to "soften the skin" and "activate the essential oils," as per the detailed instruction sheet the cleanser comes with. Next, you proceed to wash off the cleanser with the cloth as you would any face wash. The final step is to run the cloth under cold water, then hold this to your face for 5 seconds. And then the ritual is complete.

And it is a ritual. That's the only downside to this cleanser. You're not going to be able to wash your face in less than 15 seconds with this stuff. It's a bit of a commitment. Personally, I find the extra five minutes it takes to wash my face in the evening (you only use the cleanser at night) somewhat relaxing. The cleanser has a pleasant herbal smell, which I find to be very spa-like. But best of all - it works. My skin has never looked better. I don't need to wear as much makeup to make my skin look decent anymore. Heck, some days I even go out of the house without foundation on! For me, this is just about equivalent to saying that sometimes I go out without pants on. Oops, veering into "xxx" territory now.

Sadly, perfection doesn't come cheap. The cleanser costs $85 for 100 ml, and $150 for 200 ml. I bought the big tub; it's been six months and I'm only about halfway through it. I'm very big on cost-effectiveness like this. I'm OK with paying top dollar for a product that both works and lasts. Eve Lom is only available in the US (as far as I know) at spacenk.com. However, if you want to personally experience the current weakness of the American dollar, it is also available for purchase in Euros on Ms. Lom's website, evelom.com. I recommend the Starter Collection from space.nk which contains mini sizes of the cleanser, muslin cloth, rescue mask, and moisturizer for $45.

Exotic enough for ya? What do you think? Am I crazy for paying this much for what is, essentially, soap? Or maybe for performing this "rite of the cloth" nightly?

Hello! Vexy here, your Friday fragrance fiend, bringing you the best in sexy scents and scintillating smells. I want to say thank you again to Meg and the rest of the bunch for giving me this opportunity to share my love of cosmetics with the world. I'm so excited to be part of the Meg's Makeup family and to bring you the best in fragrance!

I admit, dear ladies, there have been quite a few times in the past few weeks where I have felt decidedly unladylike. I had a nice little slip and fall on a wet floor at a store- nothing more sexy then laying on the floor, clutching your knee, right? Long story short, I managed to dislocate my knee; which means not only have I been hobbling around on crutches (which means wearing a bra aslittle as possible at home to help with chafing), but I've been relegated to wearing sweatpants under this ugly-as-sin immobilizer that looks like something out of a bad Walgreens First-Aid nightmare. It's this big blue and white foam monstrosity with white velcro straps and it goes all the way from my calf to my upper thigh. To make matters worse, it's hot as heck to wear so the sweatiness doesn't help me feel any prettier!

What does this have to do with fragrance? Well, for me, one of the most basic- and effective- ways of feeling beautiful is smelling beautiful. That's why, when I got my bottle of Tova, I was excited beyond belief! I've seen it sold on QVC for years (by Ernest Borgnine's wife!) and it always struck me as a kind of "sophisticated lady" scent. You know, one that the lounge singers wore in smoky 40's nightclubs, leaning over a grand piano. The first thing that struck me was the packaging. It was perfectly simple and elegant, with just a white and gold box; and the bottle was just as simple: a frosted glass rectangle with smooth corners and a sleek black and gold cap. I was excited to try something that looked so elegant, especially since that seems to be something I've been lacking lately!

The description of the scent on the QVC website says: "A tapestry of rare bergamot citrus laced with a rich, romantic blend of absolute jasmine and lavender, combined with a lush undertone of sandalwood and a hint of seductive musk." The top notes of this perfume are definitely citrusy, so much so that I was almost disappointed- I was expecting sophisticated and smooth, not citrusy and peppy (not that there's anything wrong with citrus!). But the top notes fade quickly to leave behind the most lovely, sweet floral scent. It's not over-the-top and the sandalwood and musk base notes give it a bit more depth than your typical floral perfume. I quickly felt so pretty that I actually hobbled out to my piano to start playing some elegant music to go with it! This scent is a definite for a romantic night out, calling to mind candlelit dinners and low-lit bars. Just be careful about going overboard- as with any scent, it can be very overwhelming if you use too much!

What about all of you superb, sophisticated scent-ers? Have any of you experienced the smooth, simple elegance of Tova's Signature Scent?

Tova Signature Scent Buy It Here

The time has come for all of you - young and old and even older than old to sit back at this time in your life and prepare yourself for my first Jeanasina review. I'm an official every other Wednesday Body Beautiful reviewer! Thrilling is one of the words I utter every time I read Meg’s note officially giving me power of attorney in the make-up world to represent on her site!

Hunker on up to your computer screen, slather on your favorite lip plumper and prepare to be uplifted! I have puckered up in the past and lip printed my own computer screen with at least 55 different shades of pink! And you know what? It totally messed up my screen! I can't see anything anymore! I’m telling you first hand - not even pouring Hilex Bleach right on the screen got that high tech lip gloss off! My computer is fried so I’m at the library now!

I’ll relate my recent experience with Neutrogena healthy skin rejuvenator! I am constantly on patrol monitoring my face and neck and especially my skin in the mirror. I can see every single flaw in my 600 amplification make-up mirror which is some REALLY scary stuff! My boyfriend the Harley man says I should stop looking in the magnification mirror but you know...it’s totally compelling to see if anything more diabolical has happened to your face since the day before when you last looked!

The Neutrogena healthy skin rejuvenator ad on TV and the ad mentioned ‘reducing the darkness of ugly embarrassing age spots’ - they probably just said age spots but I knew they meant ugly & embarrassing!

You are supposed to scrub with this on each section of your face for 1 or 2 minutes. I did it while watching TV to make the time go faster. The little scrubby pad is filled with some pleasant ingredient that will get even soapier if you run it under water several times throughout the procedure!

I did it exactly as the directions indicated, I was astonished at how soft my face was! I mean it was the softest I think it has ever felt in years! I diligently used it 3 times the first week as the directions state and each time I thought “WOW - this stuff really makes your skin radiant!

Then came week #2, I scrubbed a couple of days that second week concentrating on my temples because I have some large age spots there. Right around that time I noticed that on my temples there were about 50 small pimple type bumps which had cropped up and didn’t appear to be leaving any time soon. So now I had age spots and pink bumps!

I completely stopped using it which I hated to do because I loved how it made my skin glow. My esthetician told me that because I am an ’older’ woman my skin is much thinner now and that the bumps were reactions to OVER stimulating and scrubbing my elderly face!

I saw DR and he told me the bumps might never go away. So would I use this again...probably...I was thinking of trying it on my chest because that’s a virtual smorgasbord of skin damage - maybe if I’m gentle and do it only once a week it will be ok.

Any other ladies tried Neutrogena Healthy Skin Rejuvenator? How'd it work for you?

Yikes! For some reason LA gals this didn't email blast out! So sorry my computer let me down!~Meg

Meg here, so I always complain about my hair. It's dry and brittle and oily at the scalp. On top of it, my hair has several different hair colors blended in the back since my patience is pretty low and I just grab a box at the drugstore to fix it. You know when you do that it makes you afraid to go to a real professional. Like when you haven't been to the dentist in a long time.

I was afraid Marco would "tssk tssk", me for doing it myself.

I was a little nervous walking into the zen Marco Peluso studio. Was Marco going to chew me out for turning to the box for so long? Why was my hair just so blah? Was he going to cut it all off ala Mia Farrow pixie?

"Hmm, well, it's no so bad. I mean, I understand that you can't come in all the time and we can fix this up. I would tell your readers that they can do it themselves but every once in a while they should see a professional to just even it all out and fix the hard to reach places."

How cool is Marco to say that? That literally was the first time I wasn't scolded by a hairdresser for not coming in.

That's one of the many awesome things about Marco, he's realistic. He also doesn't give you any sell or song or dance. He's an artist and I told him to just look at my tresses and I trusted his creative decisions.

Marco turned my mousey-tri colored mess (I'm working on the picture of the results-hope it will be up by this afternoon-scanner issues) into a hair commercial. He used paint brushes and foils and painted deep caramel low lights, buttery warm highlights and an over-all tone that didn't wash me out but projected a golden glow around my face. With the grey issue, being an all-over brunette is just not feasable anymore. With my pale skin being a blond makes me look ill. When Marco finished blowing my hair out and swirled my chair around, I had Giselle's multi-hued locks (if he could give me Giselle's ab's I'd kill for him).

Marco's™ Color Anti-Frizz Leave-In Conditioner with Collagen Color Guard, was reviewed on Megs makeup before Read Comments Here! and everyone went wild for it. Marco has one word Collagen! Collagen! Collagen! I need it in my skin, I use to inject it in my lips and now, I find out~Your hair has it, it's anti-aging, but guess what we lose everywhere as we age? Yup, Collagen. Here I am picking Marco's Collagen obsessed brain!

Collagen, It is really the plumper for youth, skin and hair? Why do we need it and why does the sun deplete it?

As we age, our body loses its ability to produce and repair collagen, which is the structural scaffold of skin and hair. Daily factors such as environmental pollutants, heat styling and color processing further compromise the collagen protein structure of hair causing the hair to become brittle and dull -- in essence making the hair shaft resemble a road full of potholes.

Your products are the only ones concentrating on Collagen and its anti-aging benefits. What led you to this Holy Grail?

I spent many years of my career working in the lab with the chemists at major haircolor manufacturers, creating color products and haircare to prevent color fadage. I went back to a well-respected chemist who is a longtime family friend, and asked him to create a product system on my behalf specifically to prevent premature color fade, as well as boost condition, haircolor longevity, vitality and tone. It was really a beautiful thing that happened: several formulas with which we worked contained collagen, or at least a form of collagen. I therefore asked if it would be possible to include a form of collagen in each and every product to prevent premature color fade, and he said yes! That’s how it started.

Last but not least..Lets get to know you!

The #1 tip I wish I could give to every women about her tresses?

Condition, condition, condition. Even women who care deeply about their hair, whether it’s for work, or career purposes, or just to look and/or feel good, often overlook it. Many women forget or are unable to spend time deep conditioning their hair. If they could just find a little time every other day or at least once a week, they would improve their hair health. I will be launching an easy-to-use product in the near future that will aid in the much-needed deep conditioning and reconstructing of hair.

Why my products take care of you like nobody's business?

Collagen literally fills in the holes in the hair, much like tar fills in potholes on a road. That’s what hair looks like. The hair shaft, when exposed to sun, wind, heat from styling, and especially color processing, has holes in different areas. These ‘holes’ can cause the hair can look dull, dry, lifeless, and can cause the color to fade. The collagen in my products literally fills in these gaps, and closes the outer layer of the hair. The collagen actually works to seal in the color and create shine and luster.

I LOVE all of my products but if I could just suggest one it would be?

Marco™ Color Anti-Frizz Leave-In Conditioner with Collagen Color Guard™. This signature product is an ultra luxurious, light and airy leave-in conditioner expressly formulated to replenish the hair’s own natural reserves. It’s a must have for all hair types, for any woman with any length of hair, whether it’s fine or thick or coarse or wavy, it all depends on how much your hair needs. My Anti-Frizz Leave-In Conditioner can literally change the hair in one application. Celebrities such as Carol Alt and Stacy Keibler cannot live without it, along with most of my female clients. In fact, I have to send Carol gallons of it on a regular basis. Use it on towel-dried, freshly shampooed hair, just a few pumps, for best results, either before a blow dry, or simply to let the hair dry on its own. Everyone just loves it!!!

My theme song?

Any 80s music whatsoever. Duran Duran, Howard Jones, The Cure, Madonna, or any cheesy 80s TV show theme song, like Dynasty or Falcon Crest.

LA Ladies do yourself a favor and let Marco clean you up for Summer! Ladies with hair~Get some Collagen!

Learn All About MARCO PELUSI HERE!!