The Criminally Chic

Like most of you, I too am a beauty product junky! Coming from a career in pharmaceuticals, what I don’t like is that many beauty companies promise you the world from a product without any real facts to back up the claims. How many times have you seen a mascara ad with a model wearing false lashes?! Bogus. At one of the editor suites during New York Fashion Week, I stopped by the Cosmedicine booth and got a great presentation and introduction to some products on their line. I was already a fan of Medi-Matte Oil Control lotion, but I’m curious to try a few other products like Private Nurse and Healthy Cleanse. The line includes cleansers, moisturizers, eye treatments, serums, exfoliators, sun protection, acne treatments and more for various skin types and conditions

I’m going to give the products a fair try before I do a write up so I can give a more balanced perspective, but I love that the products are evaluated by researchers at independent facilities who, following medical testing standards used for pharmaceutical studies, conducted state-of-the-art, scientifically validated tests to measure the results of Cosmedicine products on evenness of skin tone, pore diameter, skin hydration, firmness, elasticity, skin surface texture and safety to verify the products perform as claimed.

Now for the great news for all of you! Since Cosmedicine feels the same way I do about backing up the claims beauty companies put on their products, they are sponsoring a video contest for parodies of misleading and hard to believe beauty advertisements. The “Protest Beauty BS” winner gets a $5,000 cash prize! The top ten finalists get a year’s supply of Cosmedicine products. All eligible entries get a free gift. Sounds like a great plan to me!

The contest began August 4^th and will end September 21^st. For more information on how to enter, just go to

http://www.cosmedicine.com/catalog/cosmedicine_video_contest.php

Sign up and create your video now because the sooner you submit it, the longer you have to get votes!

There is nothing more breathtaking than a beautiful smokey eye, but it can be so hard to recreate the look without the help of a profession make-up artist. My look tends to be more raccoon eye chic when I'm done playing in the mirror, but I'm curious to try again after watching this you tube clip. Check out make-up artist, Johnny Lavoy showing how to create a smokey eye with urban edge on model, Gelila Bekele.
My only complaint is that he isn't describing the colors and brushes he is using while he is creating the look so we will see how this goes. The first color he uses on the lids is a cream based Mac paint called grafito. Thanks to the wisdom of one of my friends who has mastered the smokey eye, I picked this shade up a long time ago. A little goes a long way, but I'm curious to see if Mac still carries it because they are notorious for discontinuing a shade once I decide I can't live without it!

What did you use to recreate the look?

Cheers,
The Haute Chick