The Body Shop – Satsuma

You might recall my recent drugstore-obsession confession. Well this post is only going to reaffirm my addiction. Because, let me tell you, I have fallen back in love with The Body Shop and thy name is Satsuma. Satsuma is a scent that comes in a variety of products including body wash, body lotion and/or butter, hand sanitizer, lip gloss, and body scrub. It’s decidedly citrusy, but there is a clearly tangy element. I’m not gonna lie: I’ve often considered eating it. (Okay, I’m totally lying.)

When I was in college, we’d sometimes go to Burlington, Vermont for some shopping. It was here that I first entered The Body Shop, and I remember buying something in the Satsuma scent. However, this was college, and either I left it in the communal bathroom or ended up selling it for beer, because my love-affair with indulgent lotion was short-lived.

So when I stumbled upon The Body Shop again during a recent shopping trip with my mother, I dashed inside and emerged with both Satsuma body wash and the body butter. The body wash isn’t something I’d describe as moisturizing, exactly, but it’s not really drying either. The body butter, however, is very luscious. Now, I’m not really a fan of heavy, greasy body lotions, but this one somehow gets a pass. There is a greasy element after I first apply, but it seems to dissipate rather quickly, and simply wiping my hands on my husband’s towel is enough to remove the slimy feeling. Then again, I’m sure the body lotion (as opposed to the butter) is much thinner and likely less greasy. (I found it to be a tad too thin.)

Of course, love is fickle, and I’m certain this smell is not for everyone. As I said, it’s quite tangy for an orange scent, and not many people enjoy wearing something that smells like candy. Hell, I usually don’t msyelf! But if you’re intrigued, you can find Satsuma at your local The Body Shop or online. Body butter goes for about $16 and the body wash is roughly $8.

Low Maintenance Kisser

In case you haven’t noticed this about me yet, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I like to be low maintenance in my beauty regimen. I can’t even be bothered to wash my face before bed every night – I certainly don’t put on complex makeup every day. Rare is the day you will see me in eyeliner. I rarely remember to put on lipstick, so I certainly don’t go to the trouble of lip liner and all that.

But I found a great product that is a great lip therapy treatment with a hint of color, which is perfect me to use throughout the day.

It’s by Fresh, and it’s their Sugar Rose Lip Treatment. I am in love with this stuff. First, it feels like a really nice lip balm. It’s not sticky like a lip gloss or thick like a lipstick. Your hair won’t stick to it if the wind blows, and it won’t feather on you after an hour of wear. And it provides a lovely hint of color without any muss or fuss. Also, I know it’s a weird thing to say about a lip product, but it smells fantastic! It smells like lemon sugar.

It has SPF 15 in it, which is important. If you have ever had sunburned lips, you know how painful and annoying that is. And the other thing I love about it? It’s free of parabens and phthalates.

I just saw for the first time on the website that it also comes in a darker plum color and a colorless version if you prefer one of those. I might have to buy both of those.

My one complaint about this is that it’s a bit pricey. At $22.50 for a tube, it kind of makes you flinch. But it’s worth it. I keep one tube in my purse and one with the rest of my makeup in the bathroom. I use it every day. It gives me a finished look without any hassle, and it makes my lips feel great!

I get mine from Sephora but you can also buy it straight from the Fresh website.

Oh, O-Gloss!

It was a rare impulse purchase for me. I was at the online checkout at Sephora and there was a box on the page featuring Smashbox O-Gloss lip gloss for the bargain price of $10 (it’s normally $22). I love to wear a simple lip gloss that just kisses my mouth with color on weekend days, so I thought why not? Into my cart it went.

The minute the box was dropped at my doorstep I swooped down, picked it up and brought my prizes inside. The O-Gloss was the first thing I grabbed because I was dying to try it. You see, O-Gloss is intuitive lip gloss. It knows exactly the right color for you (in spite of the fact that it’s never met you). I wanted to see what color was right for me. I swiped the at-first clear gloss on and suddenly it turned pink. Way-too-bright-for-my-taste pink.

Crap.

Sephora allows you to return slightly used products, but honestly, the reason I buy online is that I don’t have time to trot to the mall often. And I usually get “lost” in Sephora whenever I go anyway, so my wallet stood to lose more than the $10 I paid for the gloss. Plus, even though the color didn’t rock my socks, I loved the feel of the stuff.

Call it busy-ness, laziness or some combination of the two, but I decided I was going to make this stuff work. I wiped it off and tried apply a much smaller amount.

Ah ha.

There’s the trick (at least for me): Use it sparingly. It’s highly emollient and feels amazing on. Applied with a light hand, the color is just what I wanted from a gloss. It’s become my go-to on the weekend.

So, would I recommend O-Gloss? I would certainly recommend you try it. It’s good stuff. Would I buy it again at the full price of $22? Probably not. It will last me a long time, but there are other glosses that make me just as happy for a lot less cash.

Smashbox O-Gloss is available at Sephora, Drugstore.com/Beauty.com , Amazon.com  and other retailers that sell Smashbox products.

Friday Flop: Fusion Beauty’s LipFusion Infatuation Lip Fattener… or I spent $31.03 on WHAT?

Hi, I’m Liza.  I blog at Cira’s Lyrics and can also be found on twitter.  When Britt put out the call for people to review and write at Buy-Her I was very excited to be a part of it as I’ve been an admirer of her blogs for a few years.

Today I thought we’d talk about Fusion Beauty’s LipFusion Infatuation Lip Fattener.

I have been on a quest since I was about 14 or 15 years old to get perfectly plumped lips (without a collagen injection because, well, a needle to my lips frankly scares the crap out of me).   Lets go back to where it started.  It was the early 1990′s.   I spent the summer babysitting kids who spent the summer playing outdoors at a friends house.  What’s on during the day?  Soaps I discovered.  Days of Our Lives.  Lisa Rinna played Billie Reed and I wanted lips.like.that.

….yeah.

Little did I know then you probably couldn’t get her lips, uh, naturally shall we say.  And truth be told maybe I don’t want them that big, but I would love them to be fuller and plumper.  Over the years I have spent time and money looking for the perfect plumper.  I have tried more than I can count, and even siphoned some from my sister when she wasn’t looking.  (Sorry Ali!)  Each one worked a little, just not enough for what I wanted.

I had read about Fusion Beauty’s LipFusion Infatuation Lip Plumper “the most revolutionary breakthrough in lip plumping technology” according to their website and thought my quest was finally over.   Heck, even Kim Kardashian is endorsing it so it Must be true, Right?    I went to Ulta and pondered over the colors.  Ultimately I like my lip plumper clear so I can put whatever I want on top or just leave it alone.  Since it doesn’t appear they make one clear I settled on one of the palest colors I could find and purchased ‘Angelic’ for $29 ($31.03 after tax).  This was more money than I would usually spend on a lip plumper but I was taking a chance.

The product is also advertised to be the “first liquid lip color with extraordinary Amplifat technology to increase and maintain body fat just where you need it most”.  This really is for me!  Lord knows I am still carrying what I can no longer call a post baby bump 3 years later from having 3 kids in the span of 18 months.  Body fat, I had that.  Results were supposed to occur within 10 minutes.

Let me say I desperately wanted this product to work.  Clean dry lips, check.  Started to apply.  The first thing that turned me off is the applicator looks like a tiny little paintbrush and the color spreads unevenly.  I felt like I was painting it on.  A minute or two later I barely felt a slight tingle on my lips.  Not bad I thought.  I’m not opposed to the tingle most lip plumpers give you but some people don’t like it.  Then I waited.

And waited…and waited.  Nothing.  No plump.at.all.  I spent a few days using this product and each time, still nothing.  Is it kissable at least?  Not according to my husband, he didn’t like the taste.  I was very disappointed with LipFusion Infatuation Lip Fattener.  Really it just seemed like a sticky not so easily applied gloss and nothing more.  This is not only the most money I’ve ever spent on a plumper but the first one that gave me no results at all.  Are you obsessed with plumper lips like I am?  Which products have worked great for you?

Bare Escentuals Buxom Lips – my most expensive lip gloss

I can’t believe I paid $18 this weekend to replace a tube of lip gloss that I lost.

But really – it’s that good.

So good, in fact, that I willingly endured another trip to my local ULTA so that I could plop down $18.  For lip gloss.

Bare Escentuals Buxom Lips is currently tied with Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer for my all time favorite lip gloss.  And while Burt’s Bees is awesome and only about $4.99 at a drugstore – I still couldn’t resist the urge to get my hands on another tube of Buxom Lips.

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Friday Flops: Lip Plumper. Ouch

The idea of a lip plumper is intriguing to me.

According to commercials and reviews, a cosmetic lip plumper is a product you apply like lip gloss and it makes your lips appear fuller.

Like collagen, but without the needles or doctor appointments.

Now, I am blessed to have fairly full lips.  My face might be round and I might be severely lacking in the cheekbone department – but I’ve got good lips.  The only thing my lips need is regular moisturizing and a little bit more color.  Lucky me.

Of course, that didn’t stopping me from playing with a few lip plumpers the last time I was in Sephora.

I poked around and located the most expensive product – because that’s usually an indication of a product that should work.  At least, that’s what cosmetic companies tell us.  That’s how I discovered Lip Injection Extreme by Too Faced.

The name should have been a warning.

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The Best Lip Gloss is a Lip Balm

With summer quickly approaching, it’s time to think about lip gloss.

You knew that, right?

OK – quick lesson.  Lip balm or lip gloss is perfect for summer makeup looks because it’s light and mainly sheer with just a hint of shine.  Full color lipstick is usually too heavy of a look for summer.

Lesson over.

If you’re like me – and most women – the bottom of your purse and cosmetic bags are littered with lip glosses you’ve tried and half used tubes of lip balm.  And that’s OK.

A girl can never have too much lip gloss, after all.  And because it won’t last all day, most women like to keep a tube of lip gloss close by at all times.

The problem with most lip glosses is that the stuff that makes it shiny can also make your lips sticky and dry.  In fact, that’s why a lot of women go the lip balm (a fancy word for chapstick) route – because their lips need the moisturizing and they can’t stand the dry feeling of lip glosses and lipsticks.

I have found the perfect solution in the form of the world’s greatest (and my new favorite) lip balm.

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