Stila One Step Correct

So here's a new product from Stila that's so visually pleasing to the eye you might just be tempted to pick one up for the "coolness" factor.  But this little bottle of goodness has lots to offer beyond its candy colored swirling helixes suspended in clear gel.



Stila One Step Correct is a primer, color corrector, brightener and anti-aging skincare serum that does it all with the help of Stila's Youth Revival Bio-Available Mineral Complex.

•Magician: Instantly makes imperfections disappear

•Multitasker: Reduces fine lines, wrinkles, pores and pigmentation

•Miracle Worker: Hydrates, controls oil and improves skin texture

 

The weightless, creamy formula blends imperceptibly into skin and won't clog pores or settle into fine lines. There's no funny looking tint as with some colored enhancers as this product blends colorlessly to compliment your skin tone leaving a smooth, even, flawless complexion.  The formula incorporates fabulous botanical ingredients like panax ginseng root extract, ginkgo biloba leaf extract, camelia leaf extract, arclay minerals, retinyl palmitate (vitamin A/retinol), anthemis nobilis flower extract and kaolin clay.

The revolutionary new One Step Correct contains 3 color-correcting brighteners:

•Green tone instantly neutralizes redness and conceals blemishes

•Lavender tone counteracts sallow undertones for a vibrant, energized look

•Peach tone brightens, illuminates and helps diminish the appearance of sun spots

 
Stila One Step Correct Skin Tone Correcting Brigthening Serum retails for $36 a 1 oz pump bottle and is available at Ulta.

REVIEW: Miracle Skin Transformer w/ SPF 20

A product that will hydrate, enhance, protect. That's what Miracle Skin Transformer with SPF 20 promises.  Do they deliver?  Let's check it out.

Miracle Skin Transformer is the brainchild of beauty industry pro Sarah McNamara. She has tapped into more than 15 years of experience in the corporate cosmetic and fragrance industry to bring the world the first product offered by MST Beauty New York. Over the course of her career, she has held senior-level beauty positions at Elizabeth Arden, L'Oreal, Unilever, Valentino and Fendi.  As the working mother of two young boys and an ambitious modern business woman, McNamara knows that busy, fashion-focused individuals need products that deliver instant results, without being complicated or artificial-looking or feeling.

MST Complex is a proprietary combination of natural active antioxidants, plant extracts and vitamins that hydrates, protects and enhances your skin.  This is a one-step application that instantly transforms your skin, leaving you with a smooth, radiant, airbrushed finish. Miracle Skin Transformer claims it's the first-ever, naturally derived silicone formulation with powerful protection and hydration benefits.  The formula includes an antioxidant rich hydrating base, weightless, luminous, buildable coverage and a powerful SPF 20 broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection.

• Dermatologically tested
• Free of petrochemicals, synthetic fragrances, parabens, dyes, wax, mineral oils, and talcs
• 100% natural active ingredients
• Not tested on animals

Miracle Skin Transformer is specifically designed to improve skin's texture and pore size, evenly smooth out and help minimize the appearance of fine lines and reduce pigmentation imperfections, all with SPF 20 UVA/UVB protection.  The light, oil-free, anti-shine formulation is said to have an instant matifying effect on skin, offering buildable coverage that is ideal for daytime and nighttime high-definition looks.

MST hydrates, enhances and protexts skin with a unique combination of natural active antioxidants and vitamins. 

• Saw Palmetto Extract, derived from Saw Palmetto berries, is an all-natural, lipophilic (fat-dissolving), active ingredient that provides hydrating benefits. Rich in phytosterols, it moisturizes and soothes the skin.
• Passion Fruit is a natural ingredient derived from India. Rich in Omega 6 (fatty acids), it penetrates deeply into skin to deliver incredible nourishment, hydration and moisturization.  
• CO Enzyme Q10 helps increase elasticity and firms the skin while increasing cell renewal.  
• Vitamin K helps diminish vascular conditions such as dark circles, redness from rosacea and broken capillaries (including spider veins).  
• Vitamin A (retinyl palminate) is a skin renewal booster that energizes skin cells, kills off dead cells and produces fresh new ones, improves wrinkles associated with aging, may help promote the production of skin-building compounds, and exfoliates and renews skin. 
• Naturally Derived Silicones and Mica allow light to deflect off your skin, yielding a luminous radiance.  
• Naturally Derived Silicones give a velvety cushion to the skin, fill in fine lines and smoothe out and refine pore texture, leaving skin firmer, brighter and even-toned. Additionally, they protect skin from environmental pollution, cover pores' visibility, even out skin and provide a velvety feel.
• Mica, a mineral pigment in the form of pearls, gives skin uniformity and improves its texture and performance, resulting in a flawless finish.
• Color Minerals (iron oxides minerals) give the product a fine tinted coverage (available in four shades) that adapts to virtually all skin tones.

• Ecophysalis, a natural plant extract found in the Brazilian rainforest, acts as an environmental shield to immediately reduce the redness and inflammation associated with stress, pollution and climate extremes. EcoCert Certified (that's huge by the way!!) and excellent for environmentally sensitized skin, Ecophysalis helps prevent rosacea and repair broken capillaries, protects from photo-aging, decreases melanin synethesis (pigmentation from sun damage), delivers anti-inflammatory and soothing benefits and helps increase skin tone luminosity and provide uniformity.
• Anti-oxidant Vitamin E, encapsulated for slow release using state-of-the-art technology, is vital in protecting skin from ultra-violet light, pollution and free radicals.
• SPF 20/UVA/UVB provides broad spectrum protection in a lightweight, oil-free formulation that has been tested using FDA guidelines and regulations.

  

BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS

(Click photos to enlarge for better detailed viewing)

MY REVIEW:

Ok, first let me say I was extremely skeptical that this product was going to be a one-product/multi-purpose wonder.  I agreed to review the product envisioning that it may, perhaps, act as a nice primer for my medium-full coverage foundation I generally need to wear.  If it also happened to provide some hydration so that I wouldn't have to use a moisturizer or if it included the SPF so I could skip the sunscreen step, those would be extra benefits. I've used these kinds of tinted moisturizer, SPF-included, go 'head skip the primer type products before and they've never given me the finished flawless complexion I've wanted. 

So I am wow'ed! Miracle Skin Transformer not only gives me the priming, the SPF and the hydration, it gives me coverage.  I really need to re-state that, though, as I'm not sure it covers so much as, true-to-its-name, transforms my skin to even, flawless perfection. Yes, it is a miracle! I'm in my early forties, ladies and gents, and using a product, one product, that not only gives me the skincare benefit, but also covers my redness, reduces visibility of pores and fine lines, and produces a smooth, luminous, even-toned complexion is unheard of. MST has a creamy whipped texture and blends so easily. I'm squeeling with joy over this product!  I've literally cut down my morning routine, just in face product application, by probably abount 10 minutes.  That's ten extra golden minutes of sleep, coffee grabbing and kissing my babies goodbye in the morning. I not only enjoy that; I appreciate that!

Shade of TAN: before (left) after (right)

Shade of MEDIUM: before (left) after (right)

When I received the samples and saw the color of the product, how dark the tint was, I immediately thought there was no way it would work on my fair NW20 skin.  It does!  It blends so thoroughly and flawlessly that I can even make the Tan shade work on my skin - some feat.  All I need is a little concealer for the inner corners of my undereye dark circles and the Miracle Skin Transformer (no foundation, no setting powder even), and I'm set to go. This is a product that also gets better as it absorbs and blends into skin, so the benefits you see after initially applying the product get even better after 15 minutes or so go by.  It's truly amazing!

The only drawback I can find with Miracle Skin Transformer is that it is so hydrating and luminous that I do like to apply a matte lotion prior to applying the MST.  This is personal preference.  I just felt my skin was a little too dewey, if that can be construed as a complaint, for my own personal liking. I've been using REN Hydra Calm Day Cream, but you could also use Cosmedicine Medi-Matte, Clarins Hydra Matte or another of your choosing if desired.

COMPARISON PRODUCTS

Some products Miracle Skin Transformer remind me of include:

Philosophy Supernatural Poreless Flawless w/ SPF 15

MST is better in that it gives a finish that is much more natural in finish than the orange-y tint of poreless flawless; it is also smoother in application, blends better into skin and provides better luminosity.

Colorescience Wild to Mild Skin Bronzer/Line Tamer Combo

Again, I like MST better because of how natural this finish is, how well it evens my skin's tone, the blendability of the formula, and the luminosity it gives my skin.

Here's a video review if you'd like to see and hear more about Miracle Skin Transformer. The video was created by YouTube user AMommaoftwo.

MST Beauty New York is offering free sample tubes (5 ml) to those who would like to try it.  For more information on ordering your sample, visit Miracle Skin Transformer online.

Miracle Skin Transformer with SPF 20 is set to launch the first of week of August 2010 and will retail for $48 a full-size tube. I will definitely be ordering the full-size tube as this product has impressed me beyond belief. Enjoy xo

Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion: A Not-to-Be-Forgotten Gem

No surprise, Urban Decay's Eye Primer Potion is a beauty addict's must have.  However, with all the rollover of new products in and out the spotlight, it's sometimes hard to keep focused on the products that won our hearts years ago.  Such is the case with this little gem.

There is just nothing else out on the market like this.  I'll be quick as I know for many of you I'll just be preaching to the choir, but here is a product that simply has no real competition.  The first time I tried it, it came as a travel size in an eyeshadow kit I received around the holidays.  I knew it had garnered rave reviews, but really how good can an eye primer be for goodness' sake?  It seems like an unnecessary step to feel obligated to incorporate into one's makeup routine in the rush of early morning activity (especially when "one" is not a morning person to begin with - everybody say, "Woooo-yah" - ok, maybe don't say it; it sounds ridiculous). 

Truth be told, the two second step of applying a thin touch of Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion to eyelids before shadow is SO worth the effort.  Not only does it, like facial primers, create a smooth canvas and foundation for your other eye products, it keeps your shadow put ALL DAY!  It still amazes me even years later.  Take yesterday for instance.  I put it on around 6:30 in the morning, and came home at five minutes to ten at night with my shadow looking exactly as it had when I first applied it - same pigmentation, same concentration, no smearing, no fading, no creasing.  How many products can you count on to that degree?  Not many, I dare say.

Here's why it works:
It packs a punch with just a dab of its silicone-enriched, smooth-as-silk formula lightly applied on each eyelid before applying shadow. It dries down instantly and invisibly to create lids that are serious shadow magnets—a little goes a majorly long way. Just apply a thin coat, let it dry, and apply eyeshadow as you normally would. Then enjoy your vivid, crease-proof shadow that won't budge till you take it off. Seriously!

Oh, and by the way, Urban Decay Eyeshadows as well as their creamy 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils are gorgeous.  My favorites? Too many to tell (a story for another day).

Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion retails for $18, now comes in several shades/tints, and is available at Sephora, Urban Decay and Beauty.com.

REVIEW: Per-fekt Eye Perfection Gel

Selected as a Cosmetic & Personal Care (CPC) Packaging 2009 Editor's Choice Award Winner, Per-fekt's Eye Perfection Gel is winning women over too with its unique applicator tip and multi-function formula.

Each year, CPC Packaging reviews hundreds of product launches from the previous year and this year Per-fékt Eye Perfection Gel was named for the best outstanding package. The product features an exclusive palladium tip applicator that instantly cools skin and reduces puffiness upon application. This revolutionary, multi-functional skin-perfector, eye treatment and moisturizer-in-one is formulated especially for the delicate eye area and helps smooth away the appearance of puffy, tired-looking eyes, under eye shadows, fine lines and wrinkles, while also hydrating the skin. Peptides help stimulate the synthesis of collagen; ceramides and hyaluronic microspheres hydrate and firm the skin; cucumber extract helps relieve puffiness; and alpha lipoic acid with vitamins A & E fight aging.

Per-fekt Eye Perfection Gel is a multi-tasking, modern gel-mousse that glides on effortlessly to instantly leave the eye area with a smooth, airbrushed finish - perfect alone or a fantastic primer for eyeshadow. This multi-tasking formula contains a light-reflecting tint that brightens tired-looking eyes, and it's free of oil, talc, wax, fragrance, and parabens.

So here's my experience: The silver (palladium) tip is excellent at providing a cooling sensation to tired, puffy morning eyes. In combination with the cucumber extract, it definitely provides a soothing experience for the delicate undereye area - no question. Additionally, I'm actually quite impressed, though not surprised, with the texture and finish this creamy-powdery-gel-mousse product provides. If you've tried Per-fekt Skin Perfection Gel (their version of a facial primer), the eye gel is very much like it in feel and finish. Per-fekt recommends applying two layers of the gel allowing about 30 seconds drying time between applications for best lifting, lightening and smoothing results. Very similar to a primer, the lines around my eyes are less noticeable and my undereye area is definitely left with a "softened" appearance. Would I use this alone without concealer? No. I mean, maybe on a Saturday or Sunday running errands, but for work days or nights out I definitely need the extra coverage concealer provides. I have one of the tinted shades ("Bright," the lightest of the three shades as I am very fair), but it blends so well into skin I don't notice much in way of coverage. The gel leaves the area feeling soft and makeup/concealer application is easier when used as a primer. I also appreciate the skincare factor the gel gives, though I'm not advocating for ridding your drawers and bags of night time eye treatments and/or moisturizers.

So nice is the feel and appearance this product gives that I've used it as a primer/line fill/pore reducer for my forehead and the area on either side of my nose as well. Though the price of this little gem does not lend itself for all-over coverage (it's a tiny tube, only .3 oz of product), it could easily be used as a facial primer with great results.

Per-fekt Eye Perfection Gel is available in four varieties - Awake (colorless), Bright (sheer, light neutral), Refreshed (sheer, medium beige) and Vibrant (warm tan for olive or darker skins); and retails for $45. Per-fekt brand beauty products are available at Per-fekt Beauty online, Sephora (in-store and online), Henri Bendel, Takashimaya, HSN and Fred Segal.

REVIEW: Korres Advanced Natural Silicone-Free Face Primer

Korres skincare products ... my first experience with this naturally based brand was scoping the shelves at TJ Maxx and enjoying the scents of their shower gels. Woodsy, citrusy, nutty, Korres offered a scent collection in products no one else was doing at the time. And they were producing them with all natural ingredients. And they were powerfully attractive yet gently effective. In fact, Korres was completely ahead of their time.

Skip ten plus years to today and Korres is still producing powerfully attractive, aesthetically pleasing, gently effective, naturally based skincare with active ingredients, and, yes, they're still ahead of their time. This is an all new Korres! One that the shelves of TJ Maxx and the likes only wish they could manage to get their hands on. So let me re-introduce you to a brand you may already know a little something about, but will want to know more.

Let's start with their completely silicone-free, 99% natural, ECOCERT approved, anti-oxidant rich facial primer. Now, most of us know primers' biggest value to be smoothed skin, where our lines, wrinkles and pores are "filled in" to create an almost flawless canvas for makeup application. And we also know that it's the ingredient of silicone that mainly gives that kind of result.

Korres found another option. Their use of the ingredient edelweiss extract is what soothes and provides a perfect primer formulation in place of silicone. Other active ingredients include vitamin E, which protects the skin from internal and external aging and jojoba oil, which moisturizes and carries the vitamin E.

Korres' Face Primer is rich in skin-soothing botanicals, this 99 percent natural formula refines skin texture without silicone, minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and reduces the appearance of pore size. Lightly moisturizing, it leaves skin primed and ready for makeup application. My daughter, age 15, saw it sitting up on the bathroom counter the other morning, applied a bit (she never wears foundation, powders, etc. because she hates the way they feel on her skin), then paraded herself into my bedroom saying, "I like this stuff, mom. Look how soft my skin looks, and I can't even feel it. Hmmmm". Guess this means I need to make sure my tube doesn't disappear as that has been known to happen when she finds something she likes.

As for my experience, I must admit I was quite surprised that a silicone-free primer could smoothe and prepare my face so well. The primer is kind of a white, gel-like cream texture, freshly scented of lemon, and provides a fresh, lightly hydrated matte finish. My foundation and concealer spreads very easily and evenly after use, and the primer leaves a softness to skin that may allow you to not wear makeup at all unless skin imperfections ar ruddiness leave you feeling you need a little something extra. I don't find it fills lines quite as well as the silicone based primers, but it does do a nice job and I like the fact that it's 99% natural.

Here's a little funny for you. In researching the primer, I found it on Sephora.com and took to reading some of the reviews. Overwhelmingly, reviewers gave this primer five out of five stars, some fours and only a couple or so less. The main "con" some sited of those giving less than a high rating was that it was expensive. That's the funny, my angels. The tube contains over one full ounce of primer and sells for $28. Have you priced other primers? Here's a little comparison of the top faves of beauty lovers:

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer 1 oz $52

Smashbox PhotoFinish 1 oz $36

Make Up For Ever (MUFE) UV Primer 1 oz $30

Urban Decay Primer Potion 1 oz $30

Too Faced Primed & Poreless 1 oz $30

Korres Face Primer 1 oz $28

Tarte Clean Slate 1 oz $27

NARS Makeup Primer 1 oz $19

Sooooo, I'm not really feeling the cost argument. This is a grand primer, loaded with good for you ingredients, no silicones, parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, mineral oils, petrochemicals, phthalates, or GMOs. ECOCERT Certified a pea-sized amount is enough for a full facial application. I can't wait to try more Korres products. Look for more reviews soon.

Korres Face Primer retails for $28 a 1 oz tube and is available at Korres online and Sephora. Shop Korres now and save 20% off storewide with promo code: FALL. Offer ends 10.7.09