Calpernia’s Best of Summer Beauty Products

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Categories: Diary • Product Reviews • Products

Ok, I’ve been meaning to write this for a while now, so here goes. I’ve been an entertainer for as long as I can remember, but even moreso I’ve been a professional in the entertainment business since at least 1994. I found that when “looking good” became a job requirement, it became something that I went all out on for work and then let slip in my off time. On stage, no one saw me unless I had spent an hour or two making myself look as good as possible. On camera, no one saw me unless a team of makeup and hair people had worked me over. On Thursday, when I had nothing going on, I rolled out of bed, showered and put on old baggy jeans and a thrift store t-shirt with some ironic logo on it.

I’ve been trying hard to change that lack of effort in real life over the last year or so. While it’s good to look nice for an audience, I need to also look nice in my day to day life, or I am never going to catch a man… I mean, establish a meaningful and fulfilling relationship with a loving boyfriend. As part of my efforts to ramp up my game in daily life, I’ve been taking the effort to establish a baseline by getting a good haircut and color, having my teeth whitened (I used a coupon from the paper!), taking vitamins and losing weight. On top of these baseline things, I’ve been searching for the perfect grooming products and I have found some really good stuff that really works, which I am going to share with you now. And yes, I have Amazon links to the specific things I use, but I’m not specifically trying to “sell” you these things. These are dead-honest reviews of things that have really amazed me at how well they’re working for me.

So click the MORE link below to read the reviews and see links to each product!

HAIR

For years, I dyed my naturally light chestnut hair a Bettie Page shade of pitch black. I liked the look, and it was easy to maintain myself, but as part of my new thing I decided to try red hair. It was a multi-step process of lightening and coloring, so it left my already non-amazing hair a little worse for wear. I had always used Pantene shampoo from the grocery store, with occasional samples from Hollywood event gift bags mixed in, but thanks to an extra-lucky acquisition, I decided to make a BIG move and try one of the most luxurious hair care lines in the world:

Kerastase is the top level line from L’Oreal in Paris. We’ve all seen L’Oreal’s drugstore and grocerystore line of hair care products, which never impressed me either way. Some girlfriends of mine were using Kerastase, and they had the mythical “great hair”, so I started to wonder if the already had great hair and were using Kerastase, or if they had great hair because they were using Kerastase! But Kerastase costs abou $30.00 per bottle at salons (and you need at least a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner to get going). To me, paying $60.00 for some shampoo and conditioner seemed crazy, but then I felt my brittle, dry, stiff hair and thought, “I’ll try it.”


Wow. I have to say, after a lifetime of skepticism over the endless lies of the cosmetics industry, these products actually cause a noticeable difference. After the first wash and condition, my hair felt strikingly softer than it had in ages, and it looked visibly healthier. After several washes and conditionings, my hair is the softest, healthiest and shiniest it has ever been. The ends no longer crackle when I squeeze them together, I have fewer flyaways and I can run my fingers through it without snagging and dragging.


Kerastase is ridiculously expensive for hair care, but it is a genuine “miracle product” in my opinion and short of abject poverty, I will probably sacrifice many other things to continue using it forever.

Skin Care & Makeup

I’ve owned and worn most kinds of makeup, from Covergirl to MAC to Armani to Creme de la Mer. Some important things about makeup: (1) The healthier your skin is, the less makeup you need and the better it looks on you. (2) Something that works on you this month may look bad on you next month, as your skin health and coloration react to the season and your life.

Porcelana Medicated Fade Cream: That being said, it’s summer right now. Less makeup is best for a summer day, so to start with I work on my skin’s health and clarity. I tend to get some pigmentation variances on my face from sun exposure, hormonal shifts and natural predisposition, so every night and most days I apply some Porcelana Medicated Fade Cream (active ingredient: Hydroquinone & moisturizers). When I wake up and wash my face after wearing this at night, my skin is noticeably more even toned and “pure” looking. Less subtle pigmentation variances, freckles blend in rather than standing out (it won’t remove freckles, by the way), dark circles around eyes are less. And as a side benefit, it seems to have some effect on the oiliness and breakouts I deal with… It moisturizes my skin, but seems to control the excess oil and kill breakouts overnight. I don’t know why or how, but it’s an effect I definitely notice. So, with brighter, even toned and breakout-free skin I’m already two steps ahead.


Dr. N.V. Perricone Alpha Lipolic Acid Face Finishing Moisturizer: My skin had been looking a little worse for wear recently, so I went down to the discount beauty supply warehouse (Sephora) after some research and looked up this daily moisturizer. Dr. Perricone is a well-known dermatologist, and this face cream was recommended to me by a makeup artist in the know. I’ve been using it every day, along with the under-eye creme and have noticed a visible improvement in the look and feel of my skin. It is definitely pricey, but as with Kerastase, a little goes a long way and I’m believing the person who recommended it to me when they say that their container of it lasted them six months. If you divide the cost over six months, it’s only a little more than buying a bottle of Oil of Olay every month, but your getting cosmeceutical-grade skincare.



Revlon Colorstay Liquid Makeup with SoftFlex: My usual thing is to wash my face, use a light moisturizer and then blend creme concealer out from trouble spots. But with summer here, I’m sweating… I mean glowing quite a bit. That’s fine for daytime jaunts to the Goodwill or coffee shop, but if I want to look nice for a brunch, date or meeting, what am I to do? I had pretty much dismissed drug store makeup, except for mascara (which I’ll get to in a minute), but in a pinch I recently bought some Revlon Colorstay Liquid Makeup with SoftFlex to use on my legs. It worked great, so I decided to try it on my face, pouring a little in one hand and dabbing it here and there with my finger before blending it out. It worked great! It went on, looked pretty natural, and once it had set it stayed on ALL DAY, even through sweating. I didn’t feel like I had on a chalky mask, either. I’ve since bought two more bottles, and I apply it with my MAC foundation brush for smoother coverage. I wore it all through the Frameline and OutFest film festivals, and you can see in the photos that I looked natural and smooth. I had found that MAC StudioFix looked good in person, but red carpet cameras went right through it and left me looking bad in photos. This Revlon ColorStay looks great in person and on film.


L’Oreal Panoramic Curl Extreme Curl & Separating Mascara is available in drug stores and does NOT cost $25.00 like this Amazon link keeps showing. It costs the same as other drug store mascaras, but this is my new favorite mascara. I use the curved brush version in black, and it goes on smoothly without clumping. It definitely gives me the longest, most feathery lashes I’ve had in years, nad if it stopped there I’d still love this mascara, but most interestingly the curling effect really seems to work with my (rather long) lashes. I don’t know how well it would work with very short lashes (it would take more constriction to bend a shorter lash), but for people with average to long lashes you should see some effect. I am not good with an eyelash curler… I tend to just get a harsh bend at the roots (I know you’re supposed to walk it up the lashes, but I can’t do it). But when the lash has more of an upward arc to it, you see more of it and it makes you more stunning. This mascara is the best I’ve ever used, because it makes the lashes darker and longer, but also constricts ever so slightly, causing the lash to bend up as it dries. Magic!