NON-makeup for Men

Sometimes I wonder, do guys ever want to enhance or perfect the look of their face & skin? Are they ever jealous watching their women primp & polish & make everything look just a little bit better? (Yes, these are the kind of thoughts that cross my mind). But I'm not talking about the occasional dab of cover-up over a honking zit (dont worry guys, I'm pretty sure you've all done it before)... what I'm talking about are the imperfections like redness, uneven skin tone, enlarged pores, undereye circles... all that stuff that combines to make your face look not so hot, but maybe you dont even notice? Theses concerns are the cause of my complaints of having "bad skin" even when it's perfectly clear without a blemish in sight. BB Creams have been all the rage for a little while now & in my opinion, the jury's still out on exactly how revolutionary they are. The millions that I've tried so far are good... but I'm not writing home about them. Most of them to me just feel like makeup, not a face perfecting wonder cream. Until I realized that Per-fekt has a translucent version of its skin perfection gel! https://perfektbeauty.com/skin-perfection-gel# And the name is SO accurate - it is absolutely skin perfecting. Guys, I know it kind of looks like makeup & maybe Sephora scares the hell out of you, but this stuff is worth it. Enlarged pores, redness/uneven skin tone, fine lines, excess shine etc. are all dramatically diminished with just a thin layer of this gel. And you still look naked faced. I know you think you dont need it, & maybe you're blessed with a killer face and perfect skin (damn you!) but for those of us who are actually human, this gel is genius. So buy it for your girlfriend & then steal it if that's what it takes... just use it. I guarantee you'll put it on your face once & if you arent amazed by how great your skin looks, I promise your lady will notice. And she'll be jealous. And then you'll have to share your secret (or tell a little white lie...).

Fool-proof Palette

Whoever invented the first make-up palette is my hero. What better than a whole bunch of shades of shadow or gloss all together in one handy-dandy compact? No more carrying around 5 different lip glosses or having to rummage through your makeup bag to find the two different shadow compacts you want to use amonst all the clutter. But who hasn't bought a palette, taken it home, & realized that you have no idea what colors go together, how to wear them or why you bought something so overwhelmingly confusing. Okay, maybe that's a tad dramatic, but I've definitely had my excitement over a palette purchase smashed to smithereens when I realized the options were just too many and my makeup application skills were just too lacking to make sense of it all.

CARGO Cosmetics must have heard my cry of confusion because I have just discovered their Essential Palettes for eyes. http://www.cargocosmetics.com/ Each stripe of shadow is expertly labeled with a clear imprint of the words: Browbone, Lid, Crease, Outer corner. GENIUS. Why has someone not done this before? It's absolutley goof-proof. Unless you can't read, or don't know which part of your eye is which, you simply cannot make a mistake. By the time you've used enough of the shadows to erase the imprinted words, I guarantee that you've memorized which is which - makeup muscle memory anyone? The only hitch is that this brand is tough to find - www.beauty.com or the brand's website http://www.cargocosmetics.com/products/eyes/essential-palette is definitely your best bet!

Zit Happens

There is something day-ruining about waking up with a zit (at least for me). But seriously, I think we can all agree that when you wake up & see a giant mountain of clogged pore on your face, it's like having your coffee with a side of huge bummer. For the ladies, we'll spend a good portion of our morning trying to cover it with heavy duty cover-up over powder over cover-up until we've made the facial flaw exponentially more noticeable now that it's caked over with makeup. Not to mention the fact that once you remove all that makeup, your blemish is guranteed to be worse than when you started! For the guys, most likely the reaction to a zit (if it's even noticed) is to move on with the morning without a thought. Or to pop it. I highly recommend refraining from any picking or popping if you can (not that I take my own advice 100% of the time...). One time my boyfriend asked me why I hadn't told him that he had a zit... to which I replied that the zit in question was so high up on the side of his forehead that I frankly can't see up there very often with our serious height difference!

Whether you're a guy or a girl, whether you obsessively try to cover up your zit or honestly could care less that you have one, Mario Badescu Drying Lotion http://www.mariobadescu.com/drying-lotion should be living in your cosmetics collection for moments like this. This will be the best less-than-$20 you ever spend. I stumbled across this stuff ages ago in the bouts of a high school breakout. Once my skin cleared itself up with age, I totally forgot about this miracle worker. Recently, I once again had a need for some serious zit-zapping help & was walking around near my office & stumbled across the Mario Badescu Spa. The amazing-ness of the Drying Lotion all came rushing back to me & I burst into the spa ecstatic to once again own this insanely effective item. I think the spa workers were a bit unnerved at my unbridled enthusiasm for the Drying Lotion but I couldnt help myself. I rushed home, took off my makeup & carefully dabbed on the pink "sediment" as they call it. After a few hours, I washed it off and my zit was literally almost gone. No joke. I used it again before bed & when I woke up in the morning - clear skin perfection. If only I had remembered my old friend Mario Badescu in my college years... I could've saved myself lots of cover-up applying time!

For Safe Styling, Use Protection

There are a lot of things I do that I know aren't good for me, but I do them anyways. Most of these vices are pretty standard - not getting enough beauty rest, imbibing past the point of tipsy, fried food, the occasional nip of a cig... (these last two I blame on the second vice listed). But there is one thing that I can cross off of my bad-things-I-do list... damaging my hair with the blast of the blowdryer & clamp of the flatiron. Oscar Blandi Dry Styling Heat Protect Spray does exactly what the name says & it's fantastic http://www.oscarblandi.com/product_detail.php?pid=54. I've used more than a few products that claim to protect my tresses from the extreme measures I put them through all too frequently, but this is the first that I can actually feel working.

The great thing about this spray is that you can (& should!) use it on both damp & dry hair. Other heat protect products are only to be used on wet hair before blow drying or on dry hair before styling with a hot tool... but that always annoyed me because why am I only protecting my hair for one part of the one-two damage punch? I sprayed the Oscar Blandi Dry Styling Heat Protect Spray on my damp hair right out of the shower & then blew it dry (high power, high heat, high damage potential). Instead of being a giant frizz-fro when I was done, my hair was soft & smooth - and I was hooked. I actually barely had to touch it up with my flatiron! But of course, in the name of research, I had to test out its capabilities on dried hair too. I was nervous to spray it on my hair because in the past other products added moisture to my dried hair & caused that horrible sizzle-of-damage with the touch of the flat iron... but the Oscar Blandi Dry Styling Heat Protect Spray was totally different - in a good way. It went on completely dry, left no residue & instead of looking  fried & flattened when I was done, my hair actually looked healthy, smooth & soft! No frizzies, flyaways or all that other jazz my poor damaged hair usually has after I torture it with heat styling.

For any lady who ever uses a blowdryer, flat iron, curling iron, hot rollers or any other tool that scares any man in your life who has ever watched you do your hair - this product is an absolute MUST. And an added bonus - it protects up to 450 degrees! You don't think your hot tool gets that hot? You're wrong. It does. And your poor hair is begging for you to run out & buy Oscar Blandi Dry Styling Heat Protect Spray.

Looks gimmicky, but trust me!

I have to admit, I was wrong. I saw Hawaiian Moon Aloe http://hawaiianmoonaloe.blogspot.com/ at a beauty industry tradeshow & my first thought was how much I don't trust products that claim to address a whole laundry list of skin concerns. It actually annoys me when I see those infomercial type products that say they work wonders on everything from acne to eczema. I mean, that's just a flat out lie. And why should I waste my hard earned $$ on buying something that's just going to disappoint? Some might call this being cynical, but I call it being a discerning consumer. So back to the Hawaiian Moon Aloe. Yes, the name is kind of strange. I can't even find a real website. The product itself looks like it belongs on an infomercial. And don't even get me started on absurdly long list of skin ailments it promises to improve. Okay, so now that I'm done completely knocking this product, let me reiterate that I was totally wrong in all of my assumptions.

Hawaiian Moon Aloe is amazing. I was a bit concerned that I'd made a horrible financial investment (minor exaggeration) when I spent $60 on a 9 oz. jar of the stuff. But the smallest amount spreads SO far - I have used it every day since I bought it a few weeks ago & it still looks completely full! It dries almost instantly & leaves my skin feeling ridiculously smooth & soft. I use it head to toe & felt so great about my face today that I went to work naked-faced! (Ok, I was running REALLY late so the state of my skin wasn't really a factor in the sans make-up decision, BUT my skin did looks great). Let alone how incredible this stuff feels to use, it actually delivers on the improvements it claims... at least the few that I've experienced... some on their list I literally have never heard of in my life! (Edema, Candida, Folliculitis, Impetigo???)

I burnt my forehead & nose pretty badly & should have been punished with some seriously gross peeling, but I slathered Hawaiian Moon Aloe on religiously & the nasty burn oh-so-quickly turned into a nice tan. A few days later I got attacked by some killer mosquitoes after a day in the park & had about 8 big bites all over my leg. So I decided to test out the claims to help insect bites & itching... and even as a devout "After Bite" user, I have to admit, the Hawaiian Moon Aloe tempered the incessant itching and the bites actually went away much faster than usual. Other things I've seen marked improvement in with this cream: Eczema, sun spots, spider veins, blisters, cuts, chapped lips, a random allergic reaction rash (Is that TMI??)... So check it out. You can buy it only on http://www.aloecream.biz/ or 888-ALOE-CRM (888-256-3276). Like I said, seems like an infomercial fail, but I'm drinking the Kool-Aid on this one.

Lash Love

I have never been loyal to a mascara. There are plenty of women out there who sweeeeeear that they've used the same mascara since High School or College or some other makeup milestone. In my opinion, there are way too many mascara fish in the sea out there for me to settle down with just one. Yes, I am a mascara commitment-phobe. They all promise different things - length, volume, curl... and a million combinations of marketing jargon to get you to think that their mascara is somehow wildly different than the other hundred mascaras on the shelf. Not to toot my own horn, but I do have nice lashes (Thanks, Mom). That said, I'm a tad obsessive about mascara since I feel like it's the one makeup item that stands a chance at playing up a nice asset of mine.

Every volumizing mascara I've ever used has made my eyes look like tarantulas are attacking them (thick, clumpy, gross) & every waterproof mascara that I've ever used has made my lashes flaky & dry (also gross). So I tend to look for mascaras whose packaging makes wild claims about lengthening & defining the lashes. Low and behold, I may have found a mascara that I could start a long-term relationship with. I've already made the commitment re-purchase a few times. Benefit Cosmetics (one of my Sephora go-to brands) They're Real! Mascara is my mascara nirvana http://www.sephora.com/they-re-real-mascara-P289307. It makes some pretty aggressive claims (consumer perception survey, of course):
- 94% saw dramatic length and volume*
-90% saw base-to-tip curl*
-94% saw visible lift*
-100% saw long-wearing results*
Working in the beauty industry, I'm usually pretty skeptical of claims like this. BUT in my repeated experience, the finish is glossy & long-wearing, my lashes are lengthened, curled, defined/separated AND the incredible brush gets mascara on all kinds of little hidden baby lashes I didnt even know I had! The brush is really the star of this mascara - it's unlike any other mascara brush I've ever used before. The bristles are staggered so they grab close to the root to really pull the lashes out for length & definition. The brush has a rounded top with tiny precision bristles that get to those tiny little lashes other brushes miss to give you a more wide-eyed look. Beyond the amazingness of the brush (yes, I know, I'm a beauty product nerd), the formula itself is everything you want in a mascara - it doesnt flake, clump, dry out, smudge blahblahblah. I've even gotten my face wet & it didnt end up in nasty black streaks down my cheeks (not that I'm recommending going for a swim & expecting it to maintain its integrity...). So go to Sephora, shell out $22 & then oooh and aaahh at the snazzy brush & how awesome your eyes look.

Upgrade Your Shave

I love reading men's magazines - GQ, Details, Men's Health, Maxim...I find them way more interesting than women's magazines because they have more content in them than the same article over and over about "10 sex moves that will make him go crazy!" or "8 ways to know if he's THE ONE". Booooooring. In contrast, guy's magazines have articles with incredibly useful info like "How to fold up a fajita like a pro" or "How to make your bed in under 30 seconds." I came across an interesting poll the other day in one of these magazines that said men would rather share their toothbrush with their lady than their razor. This shocked me. Sharing a toothbrush is just plain gross but sharing a razor seems pretty harmless? But you gotta trust a poll in a magazine right?

So while we've learned that apparently sharing a razor is a big no-no, sharing the product you're slathering on yourself to shave with, is a definite YES. ZIRH Shave Gel is the ultimate shaving product http://www.zirh.com/.  It's a million times better than that awful Skintimate foam chicks use, or the even worse Gillette crap-in-a-can so many guys use. Sure, ZIRH's Shave Gel is a little pricier than the aforementioned poor excuses for shaving products, but in this case you get what you pay for (250ml size jar is $22.50, 100ml size tube is $15).

The ZIRH Shave Gel goes on clear so you can see where you're shaving. While this makes no difference for girls who shave 90% of their bod, for guys who shave their heads or like to maintain some sort of facial hair look, this is revolutionary. Chock-full of awesome ingredients, every surface you shave feels incredibly smooth & soft afterwards, with a lingering clean, aloe scent. Razorburn & bumps have ceased to be a concern for me since I've started using ZIRH. So the main point here is that while ladies should keep their well-manicured paws off of their man's razor, both ladies & gents should go right ahead & buy a jar of ZIRH Shave Gel & proceed to happily share in the joys of an upgraded shaving experience.