April 2009

Gigi Here! Hold your breath—skin care reviews of popular brands are coming.  Under our system of law, every item is entitled to a fair trial by a jury of its users.  Okay, the first one is  . . . wait—sorry, I’m keeping it secret for the time being, but I like it and hope you will as well.
 
When it comes to mascara, I am particular.  No, I am very demanding, brutally and harshly critical.  As I type this, I recall kate2004rock’s story of wearing a blue vinyl skirt many years ago and being insulted about her hair on the school bus.  Kate, we’ve all been there.  My story is similar.  I was a majorette beginning in junior high school and took a long time to prepare myself for a popular parade.  The boy on whom I had a crush would probably be there.  Would he notice me?  Would he say anything?  I vividly recall marching down the street, with my hair behaving for one of the few times in life.  I looked good.  Better yet, I didn’t hit myself in the head with the baton for once!  He was there.  He screamed, “Hey, spider eyes—over here!”
 
I learned two lessons from that, one encouraging and one humiliating:  He noticed me and I was reassured, in his own childish way, that he was smitten, as was I.  And I realized that spending half an hour layering mascara did not make me attractive but, rather, freakish.  Since that day, I strive to find a product which will enhance my sparse lashes in the most natural way.

Hello out there in Meg's land!  Sweetassgal here laughing hysterically over a recent dinner with my best girlfriend Adele and her absolutely adorable 2 year old daughter Kyra.  Let me just start off by saying that Adele is the kind of girl who tells it like it is.  30 years of friendship and she's always been straightforward and honest...sometimes to the point of endearingly bitchy and that's why we love her.  Being a brassy kinda gal she's not one for baby words for body parts like hoo hoo's or wee wee's.  Adele is teaching her daughter the anatomical names for her body parts...and in Spanish to boot.  So its completely comical when that tiny little toddler points to your chest and says "chi chi's".  It downright hysterical when she pulls her shirt away from her chest with both forefingers and thumbs and says "NO chi chi's!!!".  I thought I'd wee wee in my big girl pants!
 
Adele and I had a blast going through my latest shipment from Meg and she zero'd right in on my pack of Biotropics Ramuan Spa Malaysian Coffee Scrub...and a duplicate jar of an upcoming product to review.  Friends share!  She was excited to see what I thought of it so into my shower went the packet the next morning and the testing began.  First off the I'm not crazy about the packaging.  I'm not sure if the paper pack was a sample and therefore temporary or if this is really how its sold.  But taking a paper packet into a steamy shower doesn't make much sense to me (though the environmental side of me appreciates it).  Also...there is not way to get into the packet other than to simply cut or rip open a corner.  And once its opened there is no resealing so it's just going to sit open in your bathroom.  To use you pour a little into your hand and mix with enough water to make a paste.  As soon as I poured the thick powder into my palm I was immediately hit by the heady scent of COFFEE mixed with Oryza sativa, cinnamon, screwpine leaf extract and cassia tora leaf extract.  Its a GREAT scent for waking you up and getting you going.  I absolutely loved the smell of it...and I knew I would.  So I cupped my hand under the shower and dribbled the water onto the powder.  I wasn't sure how much to use and so I rubbed my hands together to mix it.  I hadn't used enough water the first time and it was just kind of goopey.  I just needed a few more drops of water but now both of my hands were covered in it and I couldn't put my hands directly under the shower stream because it would rinse it off.  I put my shoulder against the water and let a little dribble down to the paste.  This was not an easy process and I think a premixed tub of scrub that I could just dip into would be a preferred method. 

My Gorgeous Friend's Secret to Incredible Makeup!
 
Goddess Granny here! This is a "special edition" post because some info came my way that was simply WAY too good not to share with my peeps here at "Meg's!"
 
You know how sometimes you just hear something that makes you go "HUH???" but deep down in your heart,you are secretly hoping it's the truth because it will save you a ton of money, put you into that coverted inner-circle loop of cool-info, or give you access to something so special or unique that you will become the envy of your family and friends?
 
We all have the "gorgeous friend": you know the one that wakes up looking so damn good that you want to slap her over coffee? The one who seemingly never gets a pimple,cellulite,or split-ends? THAT one...the one who also can usually afford because of the nauture of her gorgeousness, the very best in products and services that the world has to offer?
I spent sometime with my "that friend" recently and while I was nibbling at my tiny bites of sushi and she was wolfing down her honkin' plate of pasta with breadsticks (because the b**** never gains an ounce no matter what!) I marveled at the way her luminous skin really DID seem to be without a single crease and how her perfectly-applied (after consultation with THE best makeup artists,no doubt!) makeup was still just that after 3 hours of shopping and lunch: perfect and without any wear and tear,no oil slicks,no creases,and no nothing but perfection.
 
She started giggling and leaned towards me with her perfect lips and blindingly-white teeth and whispered: "Monistat" and then started laughing like a mating hyena!!!
 
I didn't think I heard her correctly and asked again what she was using on her skin as I figured it was some $350.00 an ounce foundation or a $480.00 daycream or something.
Monistat.The beautiful b**** is smearing a hybrid cream by a noted va jay-jay company on her face just to mock me.

Meg here! I don't know where Vexy is off to! Sometimes it is hard trying to figure out who is writing what when but I had Shiseido send some of their newly revamped Zen off to Vexy and one for a give-away. I had to open the give-away to write this review but know that we have 1 more on the way and YOU CAN WIN IT!! Please just let me know your best fragrance story and the bottle is yours!

Shiseido launched its third incarnation of its Zen fragrance (prior versions were launched in 1964 and 2000). The new fragrance was developed by perfumer Michel Almairac, and is described as a “fresh, floral woody scent” with notes of grapefruit, bergamot, peach, pineapple, blue rose, freesia, gardenia, red apple, violet, lily of the valley, hyacinth, rose, lotus flower, patchouli, cedar, musk, white musk, amber, incense and marine plant.

The “blue rose” springs from the marriage of a rose and violet, according to Almairac, who explained, “It has a very particular odor — a lemony note.”

The bottle, by Taisuke Kikuchi, was inspired by a Japanese tearoom. It looks amazing in my Mae West inspired bedroom. All glass and square, picture Art Deco meets todays minimalist modern.

It's nothing like the previous formula so if you're a big fan of that that then beware. It's a completely new scent that I am a fan of. Because I wasn't sure if men would like it (Megken is brutal on his scent tastes) I did the unthinkable. I woke up Megken at midnight, out of a sound sleep because I needed his review on this. I had to make sure I wasn't the only one that thought wearing this was super sexy.

I took out the gorgeous bottle, he said "Oh, yeah, that is really nice looking."  PACKAGING-A

Meg: Ken, wake-up, sorry but smell this. Do you like it? Does it smell good (I put my wrist under his nose) I need to know for the review. It's OK, if you hate it. Just tell me so I can go write it.