Beauty's Product RAVE: Physician's Formula Plump Potion Mascara - My New Favorite.

I have a new be all, end all mascara. It saved me from a compulsion with Benefit's indigo-colored BadGal Blue Mascara. What started out as a fun summer fling and a slight nod to the eighties turned into an awkward fall faux pax. Really who wears indigo lashes in the fall? Well I did until I found Physician's Formula Plump Potion. See, I needed something dramatic with a classic color. I couldn't simply go from a head over heels love affair with Badgal Blue straight into lashes as usual.

What BadGal offered in pigment, Plump Potion offers in volume, length, and drama. Honestly, this little wand reaches lashes I never even knew I had. The adorable, crooked, (yes the wand is bent just before the brush for greater access to all lashes - SO AMAZING) wand arrived on the market just in time. It's described as, "An innovative, plumping, mascara potion featuring a high-performance cocktail of plumping, volumizing, lengthening and stimulating ingredients for an instant, dramatic effect." In other words, the first application left me wondering, "Who the hell is looking at me in the mirror?" and I was instantly inspired to create a beautiful winter smokey eye. It also features ActiPlump, an exclusive Advanced Lash Maximizing Technology for instant and very long-term effects. $8.95 Enjoy!

Beauty's Product: Neutrogena Volumizing Mascara with Almond and Olive Oil

Celebrity make-up artist, Elaine Offers, has been using the Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara on the set of “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and raving about it. "Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara is a must have in my makeup kit when on location...just used it on Isla Fisher during filming of "Confessions of a Shopaholic"...It volumizes beautifully, while conditioning lashes with olive and almond oil."

I haven't tried it yet but my overworked lashes would die for some olive and almond oil. I adore that makeup has come so far the we even smother our lashes in healthy oils. Yum.

Beauty's Product: Snaps for L'Oreal Bare Naturale Mascara

In the infamous linguistic tongue of Elle Woods, snaps for L'Oreal. Just last week I voiced my dissatisfaction with toxin-laced cosmetics and today L'Oreal's latest effort to detox makeup arrives in my mailbox. Their Bare Naturale Mascara is a pared-down, mineral-enhanced, eco-conscious beauty's dream.While this specific product is not listed in the Cosmetic Safety Database (it is brand new for August 2008,) all other items from the L'Oreal Bare Naturale line receive top safety ratings of one, two, or three. This is big news from a company as big as L'Oreal.


Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Mascara is L’Oréal’s first mineral-enriched mascara made with 86% natural-origin ingredients including aloe, Vitamin E and jojoba oil that nourish and condition lashes. Fragrance, paraben, and fiber free this nifty little wand of mascara is designed for sensitive eyes. Let's go ahead and put our money where our snaps are and support L'Oreal's commendable effort. At $9.95 per tortoise shell enveloped stick, it's worth it.

Product Rave: Benefit Bad Gal Blue Mascara

I didn't think blue mascara was an option, seeing as how 1989 is already over. And even though I read the Benefit catalogue faithfully every time it arrives, I somehow never saw this bad in a totally good way mascara. So the other day when I was in Sephora going all Veruka Salt on the benefit part of the playground, I surprised myself when I started salivating over one of the largest tubes of mascara I had ever seen.
Like Veruka in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory I have a penchant for big shiny things and, especially at Sephora, I want it all. So I splurged a little and picked up the baddest, bluest, mascara and I haven't used my carbon black stand by since. (I still love the Carbon Black, I'm just on break for some summer fun.)

Thank goodness pigment science has advanced since the last time I thought of blue mascara as an option. This is an incredibly rich indigo blue that leaves lashes soft all day long. It highlights blue and green eyes and lightens up the entire eye area. Also with normal application it is in no way 80s obvious that the mascara is blue. However if you want to play a little and increase the blue-violent tint you can easily use the goopy blob and the end of the stick to plop on pigment and then smooth it out with the brush. It is fun for summer and looks gorgeous on. Enjoy!

L'Oreal Carbon Black Voluminous Mascara

Until Friday whenever my girlfriends asked for my best tips about how to choose a mascara I would say, "Pick the cheapest one, it's the best way to save beauty money because they are all more alike than different." I take back every one of those misguided words. I picked up L'Oreal's Voluminous Carbon Black Mascara on Friday and my eyes have never, ever looked this good. Somehow the rich deep black that is as they say, "black-er than black" makes my eyes sparkle and my lashes stretch like a reaching ballerina awaiting her prince. I used to find that mascaras this black created a dark, ill-defined, raccoon like eye but this pigment is so well defined it has the opposite effect of opening and lightening the entire look. More good news, the best mascara I have ever tried is around $7.