beautygeeks

Frankly, I wish Shop Crawl started with F.

A shop crawl is like a pub crawl without the slurring, slopping or stench of stale beer and too many bummed cigarettes. A Bizarro pub crawl, if you will.

Brought to you by ChickAdvisor.com, a shop crawl is a delightfully civilized affair. It starts with a cocktail or two, yes, then wends it happy, girly way in and out of a series of trendy boutiques that smartly offer exclusive discounts and other buy-now incentives to participants. More than $500 worth of prizes, beauty-booty swag bags and an after-party… just watch out for the spending hangover the morning after.

The next Chick Advisor Shop Crawl Toronto takes place on May 29th on Queen St. W, and includes boutiques such as Girl Friday, Moda and Pho Pa.  At $20 for members and $25 for non-members, a limited number of tickets is available in advance only.

My itsy fragile lashes have a new superhero: Clinique Lash Power Mascara Long Wearing Formula ($18).

First, the wee brush gets every last one of my seven teensy lashes (three on one eye, four on the other — sometimes they switch without telling) and makes them look feathery and twice as full sans clumping.

Second, the stuff does not smear into the crease of my oil-slick lids. And those oil-slicks have dissolved many mascara formulas, including waterproof. (Some days it’s like having built-in eye makeup remover. Ugh.)

Third, even at the end of the day there’s no trace of raccoon smudges under the outer corners of my eyes - it’s a part-Asian face-construction thing. No surprise that Lash Power has been a powerhouse seller in Asia for some time.

Fourth, Lash Power triumphs over rain, tears, humidity, pouring sweat and waterfalls. Yes, waterfalls. Niagara Falls. At close range. Maid-of-the-Mist range. Oh the lengths I go to test product, and so bravely without Christopher Reeve’s Supe to save me.

Fifth, all I need is very warm water (39 degrees) to wipe Lash Power gently away. My M.A.C makeup remover wipes (45 sheets, $19) get the job done in a jiffy, too.

*Sigh* I’m in love.

Good Lord. I mighta known I’d get a few inquiries as to why the heck I’d want to go to Niagara freakin’ Falls, what with all them tourists and gettin’-hitched or honeymoonin’ types.

Well, I wasn’t there gettin’ hitched or honeymoonin’. Did see a bridal party getting all photographed though. And I repeat, it was sooo pretty there, what with the blossoming trees and tulip beds. See my picture? Pretty tulip! (Fine, so I’m a dork. Note the headline was Beauty Dork? *grin*)

I went with a friend who had a friend visiting from the States (hi Jenn!). And c’mon. If you have an opportunity to gloat to Americans that something Canadian is BIGGER than theirs, would you not grab it with glee?

Uh… grab the opportunity, I mean.

Having super-sensitive skin is a tough thing. From what I hear from friends in the know, at times it feels like you have to be vewy, vewy quiet lest you somehow trigger a sudden epidermal eruption or angry reaction. How frustrating.

La Roche-Posay is one of the few skincare lines that works for people with truly sensitive and reactive skin. Most of the products contain pure spring water from a region in France with the same name. The region is also home to a La Roche-Posay spa that specializes in treating severe skin conditions that defy traditional treatment. Each year thousands of patients visit for medically supervised baths and showers with only that pure spring water, which has soothing, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The treatments provide such significant relief that they are covered by the French healthcare system. And when that water goes into La Roche-Posay skincare, it remains pure throughout the rigorously sterile manufacturing process so the effects are uncompromised.

New in the La Roche-Posay product lineup is Hydreane, a moisturizer that combines the thermal spring water with hydrolipids, which easily penetrate skin and deliver moisture at a deep level to hydrate and reduce sensitivity over time. Hydreane is paraben free and comes in a light formula for normal/combination skin, as well as a rich formula for dry/very dry skin. 40 mL, $25.50 at pharmacies and drug stores.

So who’s a dumbass?

Here I am, enjoying a beautiful Spring day at Niagara Falls last weekend. Now’s a gorgeous time to visit the area, by the way. The landscape is gloriously in bloom, bright with new green leaves, fuchsia and powder-pink blossoms and dewy tulips in every colour. The falls are pretty cool, too, of course… see that rushing blue-green water in the background? Stunning.

But I digress.

I’m a dumbass. I’m concientious about avoiding sun damage and accelerated aging, so I was all shields-up with my non-greasy La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF 45 cream sunblock. Yay for me and my sensitive skin! Somehow, though, I’d forgotten my SPF lip balm at home. Not so yay.

Maybe it was the thunder of the (Canadian) falls in my ears, or the unnecessary what-if-I-hurl? apprehension I had pre-Maid of the Mist (omigod so fun! seriously!), but you’d think I’d remember basic lipgloss simply won’t do. Or that maybe I could substitute a little of that handy sunblock? (Yes. It was in my bag the whole time.)

But no. Instead I’m on the way home hours later wondering why the edges of my lips are burning some. What a dork.

So now I’m sitting here confessing my SPF lip sins and wearing La Roche-Posay Antherpos XL SPF 50 lip cream. Indoors.

Dork, dork, dork.

Don’t you be a dork. Or a dumbass.

La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL SPF 45 High Protection UVA-UVB Cream, 100 mL, $25; La Roche-Posay Antherpos XL SPF 50 High-Protection UVA-UVB Lip Cream, 15 mL, $14.50

I have the best boss ever. She understands the power of paying it forward. Especially when there’s a sale. At Lustre.

Don’t know Lustre? Think small, chic fashion gallery. A carefully edited selection of uncommonly-stylish pieces features standout spring-bright bags in soft shiny leather, sweet flats to put Spring in your step, and fiercely fabulous statement heels from Seychelles, Chie Mahara and Gwen Stefani’s LAMB. Prices range from happily affordable to omigod-so-worth it.

And did I mention a sale? A wee selection of boots is end-of-season priced at 40% off. Good eye, boss, and thanks. I’ll work harder on those deadlines. Promise.

Lustre, 439 Danforth Ave., 647.435.8195, infolustre@rogers.com.

Yo, beauty geeks! Here’s a chance to tell the country about the beauty products you love best. Glow Magazine is interested in what you swear by to keep your skin gloriously glowy (natch), your hair impossibly glossy and your highschool tormentors gnashing their teeth at your unfairly youthful features.

Show love for your beauty must-haves ASAP by voting in the magazine’s annual Reader’s Choice Best in Beauty survey. You stand to win a swag-bag of the most popular products (value, $400).

Of course part of being an editor is meeting deadlines. Yours is Friday May 16th, 11:59 pm.

And if anyone makes a crack about me and deadlines, I’ll hunt you down and put water in your Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant.

I’m wary of this green trend in beauty. Not that it isn’t a good idea — reducing the amount of chemicals we put on our skin or into the ground is smart. But how much of it is truly green (natural or organic)? Is it as effective as what we’re used to? How much is just marketing?

Live Clean haircare address those concerns head on. The shampoos and conditioners are, respectively, 99 and 96 percent plant based, formulated without sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS, a chemical cleanser), phosphates, diethanolamine (DEA, which boosts lather and texture) or parabens. Ingredients include ECOCERT-certified organic botanical extracts such as rosemary, chamomile, lavender, eucalyptus and white tea.

The appealing bottles are pure plastic, the most recyclable form of the stuff, and even the shipping cartons are eco-friendly, made of recycled material. Plus the company uses local suppliers and manufacturers to minimize the environmental impact of shipping and transportation.

As to performance, the Live Clean Fresh Water Moisturizing shampoo and conditioner works as well for my thick, wavy, dry-ish hair as any other good moisturizing duo I’ve tried. My hair feels satisfyingly clean and soft, and I feel better about what’s going down the drain.

At $6.99 per 350 mL bottle, Live Clean fits my wallet as well as my cautious going-green philosophy. Live Green is available at most mass retailers across the country.

Some of you lovely folks are new to blogworld, and I thank you for peeking in. Heart!

You might also like to check out Lipstick, Powder’n'Paint, a beauty blog by my wonderfully encouraging friend, Ellen Mirza. She’s been at this much longer than I and has lots more stuff you might like to read.

And pssst… sometimes she has contests! Tell your friends!

I’ve decided Fridays should be for posts about things that start with F. Fun. Frivolous. Freaky. Fitness. Fashion. Fierce… well, you get the idea. Today it’s about LookFab. Or free! if you wanna get persnickety.

If you live in downtown Toronto or are planning on trekking in over the weekend, stop in at 144 Bloor St. W and take a little a tour of the LookFab space. You’ll meet four different beauty stations, each of which addresses specific beauty areas such as hair, face, cosmetics or body. Young, perky, pretty things will tell you all about shower gel, moisturizer, foundation and more; take no notice that they’re in fact a bit young for some of the skincare products. What does it matter when you’ll exit with a freebie-bag of stuff like Venus Divine shower gel, the new Venus Embrace razor (which rocks), and a Cover Girl Lash Blast mascara (the big orange one Drew Barrymore’s all about; it also rocks) to try out at home? In fact it’s a chance to see how it feels to be a beauty editor for a few minutes.

Get the feeling by 5:30 pm on Sunday, though — that’s the last day for the Toronto location. Calgary is the next stop, from May 22nd to June 5th.

And isn’t persnickety a fantastic word? Even if it doesn’t start with F?