Sunscreen vs Sunblock: How often? What's reef-safe? It expires?!

I went to high school in an era of tan-chic. I got a lot of general grief about living in a beach town and being very pale but I'll always be happy with the decision. When I was a preschooler, my mother's father had to have his entire ear removed because he developed a cancerous spot on it after a lifetime of sun exposure without protection. A few years later, when I was still in elementary school, my father had to have a growth removed from his arm. By the time I was a teenager, at a time that everyone was running for bottles of Sun-In and laying out with tips from popular teen and fashion magazines to get the perfect bronze, I was looking for wide-brimmed hats and lightweight long-sleeve clothes.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States with more than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people diagnosed annually. Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon.

Let me assure you, sun protection has come a long way even in the last few years. There are more non-greasy, decent-smelling options than I used to dream of being available. We're coming up on most stores yearly sales on sun protection products and Sephora's annual Sun Protection kit. However, there's a million terms floating around and how do you know what's best for you? What's the difference between sunblock and sunscreen? What does SPF signify? How often should you be reapplying these? Reef-safe? "All-natural?" Wait, sunscreen and sunblock expire?!

This post has the possibility of getting lengthy, so grab an iced tea and settle in for a little sun-talk after the jump.

Nail of the Week: Zoya Kotori

This week's nail-of-the-week was determined by this week's forecast - Seattle's specific kind of light-sky, smoky-gray, light rain all week long. Some of my favorite weather! 

Zoya Kotori, 2 coats with 1 coat of Zoya's Armor

Kotori is, at two coats, semi-sheer blue glitter over a smoky gray base. At three coats it becomes mostly glitter, enough so that even with a single layer of top coat it feels slightly textured. This makes it really versatile because it can be transitional-season smoky or mid-summer blue glitter. Just the thing for a late February manicure.

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in L201 "Ellis Red"

Let me start off by saying I'm very picky about lipstick. I want it to either not smell at all or have a gentle or soft enough smell that I don't mind - soft mint sometimes works, vanilla is a safer bet. I want it to last most of the day, I don't like constantly fussing with my face when I'm out. I want the ingredients to be something I wouldn't mind terribly appearing in colored frosting for my kid's birthday cake. I want vibrant, versatile colors with nice pigmentation and easy application. I ask a lot from a lipstick. I want it to do all of that and generally be $20 or under - it's a tall order.

Ellis Faas had my attention because their Skin Veil foundation, while too dark for me, feels amazing on and lasts pretty well all day. I figured I'd try one of their lip products to see if they're worth the $35 price point - a Givenchy lipstick price point. The short of it? They're not.

Sleek packaging is great but you also need the color to be a reasonable approximation of the description (for this one, "blood red" - my blood isn't orange but maybe I'm doing it wrong.) It should also be able to last decently without transferring to everything in sight - this transferred to my hand, my phone, my face when my hair blew in the wind, my kid while we were shopping today, and every drinking vessel I came in contact with for the first few hours. As you might imagine, this meant that the lip... liquid? It's not really a stain if it doesn't last and it's not a lipstick. It's not a gloss, either. I have no idea what to call this stuff ... didn't last. It was a patchy mess an hour in and I sheered it out with my finger so that I didn't have to mss with reapplication and an hour later, that was a patchy mess again.

Here's a swatch on my arm:

Ellis Faas Milky Lips in L201 Ellis Red

On the left, as it applies.
On the right, what it looks like when you even out the application with the brush.

It's not what I'd call blood red once it's actually applied but it doesn't look terrible here, although the application is uneven by nature - you can't smooth this stuff out. Then I put it on and all of the orange tones came out to play:

Ellis Red on my face

Not what I wanted or expected from something described as "blood red." Worse, within ten minutes of taking this photo, I noticed feathering on the edges - even though I used a clear lip liner.

If you're looking for something that's more gloss than stain but it somewhere in between, this might be the thing for you. It had no discernable odor, which is great and rare in something gloss-adjacent. Beware the color descriptions - seek out swatches if at all possible.

This product is not vegan - it contains carmine. Have you noticed that the ingredients on higher-end products tend to not be as healthy or non-hydrogenated as some mid-range lines? The ingredients for this product:

Hydrogenated Polydecene, Isododecane, Hydrogenated Styrene/Isoprene Copolymer, Dicalcium Phosphate, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Polyethylene, Propylene Carbonate, Octyldodecanol, Candelilla Cera, Prunus Domestica Seed Extract, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Silica, Tribehenin, Tocopherol, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Sorbitan Isostearate, Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-T-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide. +/- May Contain: Mica, CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 77491/77492/77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 75470 (Carmine), Red 7, CI 15850 (Red 6/Red 7 Lake), CI 73360 (Red 30 Lake), CI 45410 (Red 28 Lake), CI 45380 (Red 22 Lake), CI 42090 (Blue 1 Lake), CI 19140 (Yellow 5 Lake), CI 15985 (Yellow 6 Lake)

Worse than all of that - at the end of the day, my lips feel like I've been standing in a wind storm. It's going to take some serious repair to make them feel soft and happy again and that's just with one wear!

For me, for the price, this just isn't worth it, sorry to say.

(I purchased this product for my own use. I think I've mentioned before that no one send me free stuff for blogging - all products so far are my own and nothing else. :) ) 

Ellis Faas website product listing - also available from Nordstrom and Sephora online. 

Rumored Sales

So, I don't have confirmation for either of these but I thought I'd mention that I've heard that Sephora's Chic Week this year will be March 31st to April 11th (two weeks, I know. I'm thinking VIB access on the first week, general Beauty Insider access the second week.) I've also heard rumor that Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty will start March 16th - I haven't heard anything about what exactly will be on sale.

There are a few upcoming collections I'm excited about.

First up, the one I have the least color information on, MAC's Maleficent collection, due to hit counters on May 15th.

I'm really hoping to see some vampy red lipsticks and maybe some contouring products. I'd also like to see some specialty packaging - MAC's been doing pretty well with that lately. I haven't seen any kind of color story for this yet but I'm kind of hoping for something close, but not the same as, 2013's Punk Couture collection.

Second, I'm excited to give Urban Decay's Naked Flushed a try again. I have some swatches up from the original palette but it's too dark and too orange for me but I liked the formula and the packaging. There's no release date for these but I'm really hoping that Native works out for me.

Of course, Urban Decay's Electric looks interesting but I'm a little leery of pressed pigments in general. I'm reserving judgment until I can see them in person but I was certainly more excited about them when I thought they were going to be eyeshadows. I've also seen a few possible photos of the palette on forums and I'm not impressed with the potential packaging - who really needs another bulky palette to try and store?

If you're on a budget or a no-buy, hopefully some upcoming sales and releases will help you hold strong - there's great stuff in the future!

Palette Parade

Eyeshadow palettes. They seem to be taking over the world. I remember when quads were a big deal because you got "so much" product in one package. Now it seems like everybody has six, eight, and twelve shades locked away in magnetic, zippered, and clasp enclosures. I've found it to be a rare person that has just one palette.

However, it seem we all have that one palette we use more than the others and turn to on our laziest days because we know we can use it in our sleep. Then there are those palettes that you bought because the shadows were buttery, the pigmentation was great, and you were sure you'd love the colors - and they are collecting dust in the bottom of a drawer or traincase. Maybe you're just not sure how to use the shadows, maybe you bought the palette hoping to branch out a little, or maybe you just auto-pilot in the morning because the coffee hasn't quite hit yet when you put on your makeup.

Sephora forum user bombshell30 decided to do something about that.

There are no hard rules but the basic guidelines are:

• Put your palettes in an order - you choose how to do this, one person used a number generator, I alternated bright palettes with neutral palettes
• Use your palette five days in a row (most of us have been doing Monday to Friday for simplicity) - two days a week are "free" days. It was also decided that holidays, birthdays, and special events could be exempt or "free" days.
• If you decide to get rid of a palette (return it to the store, trade it away, or toss it,) you can either take a free week for the rest of the week or move on to the next palette
• You can use singles with your palette but no other palettes (remember, we're trying to use each palette, so this rule is to prevent you from using your go-to and just accenting with a shade from the parade palette.) 
• Continue until you've used all of the palettes in your collection

After the jump: my palettes for parading, some rules modifications, and my progress so far. 

Undertones?

Ask for beauty advice just about anywhere and someone will ask you, "what are your undertones?" If you shrug and say you don't know? They're going to look at you like you forgot your birthday. Like you misplaced the card we're all secretly handed at puberty that tells you how to suavely get dates and what the difference between white and black tie is that had your undertones marked down on it.

What, you didn't get one of those? Me either. 

So, then comes the parade of advice on how to pick your undertones:
The color of your veins (check your arms, folks:) blue means cool, green means warm (red means see a doctor)
Jewelry: like silver you may be cool, like gold you may be warm
Clothing: look good in blue? Cool, they say! Pink or orange? Warm it is!
White-test: Put on a pure white shirt (or hold up paper under your face) - yellow and sick-looking? Warm! Just fine? Cool!

Now, the next two "tests" lead to mis-matched undertones all the time, because they assume that dark=warm and pale=pink and everyone in between is cool. I know some un-cool people in that middle range and I'm not just talking social skills. These tests have lead to a lot of people telling me I must be warm because blah blah blah: Tan easily? Have certain hair or eye colors? Then they stick you in a category.

What happens when you're a blue-green veined pale person with no pink who likes silver, looks good in blue, looks terrible in a white t-shirt, burns easily, has a naturally dishwater shade of hair, and gray eyes? Oh, you're neutral. Huh, no one seems to mention that during these infuriating tests. I've had counter representatives refuse to match me to a non-pink shade of foundation because "all pale people are pink!" No, no we aren't.

Then you'll get advice on what kind of colors you "should" be wearing.

Funny thing, I look best in red, purple, and blue.

In green, yellow, and orange I look like I need a vacation or a doctor.

Here's the thing - you can wear any color you want to. The place that undertones are going to make the biggest difference is in foundation. There's an additional wrinkle here, many companies will say a foundation is "for" someone with cool undertones when what they mean is that it "corrects" cool undertones. That's not cool at all. Knowing that you're cool undertoned, though, means that you can usually skip foundations that all have yellow undertones or if you're warm you know that you can skip the ones that all have a reference to pink in the name. You'll know what that online foundation-finder means when it says "cool-undertones; medium shade."

Another place it's going to make a difference is picking a great shade of red lipstick - blue-reds (those touted as "universal" - you'll learn I dislike anything being proclaimed as "universal," you're undoubtedly making someone feel like a mutant for not fitting the shade) are going to look best on cool undertoned folks, orange-reds and corals are going to look best on warm undertoned folks, and us lucky neutral-toned folks are going to have a hit-and-miss toss up of which works best. (I think this is where the "universal" comes in, as many neutral-toned people do better with cool-toned color cosmetics or at least like them better.)

In short, no you didn't miss that day at school and half of the people who think they've got it figured out have no idea, either. It doesn't make a huge difference but it might make finding a foundation easier if you can figure it out and it'll be one more thing you can stick in the introductory sentence to your request for assistance that lets you skip to the answers that you want. :)

Not a Polish Blogger, Clearly

Clearly, I'm not a polish blogger. You'll see in a second that my polish application skills are mediocre, at best, and my hands are not really what you'd call dainty or photogenic. (I have big hands, okay?)

However! I see a question asked so frequently and feel a duty to answer it to the world and internet:

What's the longest lasting polish you've used?

For me the answer, hands down, is Zoya. I use the full color-lock system: Remove+, Anchor, Polish, Armor, and Hurry Up. I even have a bottle of Renew in my cabinet. (Is anyone interested in "what's in my collection" photos?) 

For example: Here's a manicure I did last week, late Wednesday (the 12th) night while I watched the Amell brothers sulk up the CW: 

Zoya's Dakota - two coats and a single layer of top coat

Yes, I'm holding the polish bottle. My hands were not made for those dainty poses.

Here's that same manicure, no fussing, no fixing, no daily top-coating (do people have time for that?) to protect the polish after a week (photo taken in the wee hours of the 20th) chasing my sick preschooler, doing dishes with the steaming hot water from my sink (no gloves - I've never seen a latex-free dish glove,) washing my hands and face a lot, typing, and generally not being dainty. 

Hey you can actually see my nail growth.

Here's another view: 

The best part of this? The only thing I need to keep these weekly manicures looking this way is a cuticle pusher (but I don't use oil or anything - the Remove+ actually is pretty nice to my cuticles. I lotion my hands after I wash them when they're dry,) nail clippers, and a four-sided buffing block. No fussing with cuticle removers or softeners, no nail hardening routine (and mine were paper-thin and prone to splitting before I started using Zoya polishes,) no fancy routine. Just remove, shape, polish, and go. The quick-dry drops make it so that I can get back to typing and touching stuff within about fifteen minutes (I'm clumsy, so I give myself some extra time) and I can go to bed without sheet marks in about an hour. 

The usual suspects. 

Don't worry, I refill that Remove+ from a giant salon-sized bottle I keep under a cabinet.

Here's the bonus round: these are vegan. They're five-free (that means no: toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, DBP (phthalates) and camphor.) They don't smell horrendous and the remover doesn't make me want to pick my brain out with a fork (fumes, man, fumes.) That remover? I'm pretty sure it could take paint off of a car and leave it buffed afterwards - it removes glitter polish in one go but leaves my hands soft and nails refreshed. They usually have a gift-with-purchase or coupon - follow their blog, Zoya Blog, and you'll always know what's coming. You can pick the polishes up at some salons, Ulta stores (but not online,) and Zoya's own website (my preference.)

Have I used other polishes? Boy, have I. I've tried tricks, tips, gone to salons, bought Butter London, Julep, OPI, China Glaze, NARS, Chanel, Seche Vite, Essie, Sally Hansen, RGB, OCC, Deborah Lippman, and I even recently tried Sephora's Formula X. Nothing lasts like Zoya; long live Zoya!

Sugarpill Bulletproof is not a Blackout

So, the day before yesterday I raved about Sugarpill's matte, pigmented shadows. Today, I am here to show you that Bulletproof can't really hold a candle to Urban Decay's Blackout. (No really, it would be pointless, in a good way.)

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I kept hearing that Bulletproof was the black shadow to end all black shadows. I'm a fan of dark shades and use a lot of black shadow - as liner, as a setting powder for liquid liner, as a smoking-out shade for lighter colors, as a blending color to deepen bright shades, and so on. Given the great experience I had with Burning Heart and Sweetheart, I took this rumor at face-value and bought a single of Bulletproof when I picked up Cold Chemistry and Heartbreaker. I've got to say, I'm disappointed.

First up, the packaging is cute and sleek, which is nice. It seems durable and the shadow in the package gave me hope - you can't even see the black design on the clear lid because the shadow is dark behind it.

So, like any over-zealous package-opener, I swatched it on the back of my hand. Whomp-whomp. I knew immediately that Urban Decay's Blackout would be darker - so I grabbed it and threw it on the back of my hand next to Bulletproof. See:

Okay, maybe it just needs some primer or something to hold it on a little better - I mean, after all, those red and pink shades from Sugarpill have a little bit of a fallout issue, right? So I dragged out all of my black shadows still currently in service and put down a layer of Urban Decay's Primer Potion (if you remember my foundation swatches, you know my skin is lighter than it appears here. I love Primer Potion but don't let anyone tell you its colorless.)  Here are the results of that:

1. Sephora Collection Black Lace (matte, single, 2013)

2. Sugarpill Bulletproof (matte, single, 2014)

3. Kat Von D Lucifer (matte, Sinner palette, 2011)

4. Urban Decay Blackout (matte, Naked 2 palette, 2013)
5. Urban Decay Crave (matte, Naked Basics palette, 2013)

As you can see, some colors that claim to be matte come out more satin (Crave) or have shimmer in them (Lucifer.) Bulletproof definitely out ranks three of the five shades but Urban Decay is the clear winner here on pigmentation and even application.

I'm sure I'll have a use for it, so I'm not upset that I spent the money but I officially refute any "it's the blackest" claims out there. When I brought this up on a makeup chat forum I participate on, someone suggested that Makeup Geek's Corrupt was blacker than Blackout. A challenger has appeared. (Clearly, to be continued.) 

Sugarpill Burning Heart and Sweetheart

Pre-post alert! Sugarpill is having a sale, today (Monday Feb 17) only on most of their website. I picked mine up from Beautylish but 20% off is a pretty great deal, especially given that these are already well-priced! 

Hello folks! Sorry for the disappearance, my computer crashed and then when I replaced it I lost the font I had been using on my photos, which I had picked up on a specific kind of license and ... okay, boring. Moving on!

While I was away, I picked up these wonderfully pigmented Sugarpill palettes. They're so wonderful, in fact, that I have the remaining two Sugarpill palettes on the way. I didn't swatch because there are lots and lots of swatches of these available but what you don't see much of are looks that someone actually wore outside of their makeup application area. So that's what I have for you today after some product photos.

Sugarpill Sweethart (left) and Burning Heart (right)

After the jump, more product photos, two Burning Heart looks, one Sweetheart look, and my Valentine's flowers. 

Free Urban Decay Revolution Deluxe Sample and Sale

Just a heads up, this offer just landed in my email - Beauty.com is offering a deluxe sample of Urban Decay's revolution lipstick in Anarchy with any $10 purchase:

Of course, Urban Decay's Friends and Fanatics 20% off sale is currently running:

Choose wisely! (Who are we kidding? I'm sure you can find something to order from both.)

Foundation Final Round! A Winner Emerges!

Sorry for the delay in posting, I've been having some computer troubles.

I figured that this foundation was going to be a long shot. You might remember in the swatches and the Jane Iredale BB cream in BB1 looked yellow compared to the others. It looked like it wasn't going to be a match at all. Turns out, I was so, so wrong.

First up, the packaging on the BB cream isn't anything astounding - it's more convenient for throwing in my bag to head to the gym, though.

Jane Iredale Glow Time Full Coverage BB Cream

Here's the day one face test for shade BB1, indoors in natural light:

Look at that - it matches my neck, chest, and hairline! It doesn't look dry, it doesn't look overly shiny which is what "glow" usually equates to. The coverage is definitely full. It has a titanium-dioxide sunblock (25 SPF UVA/B full spectrum) built in and my skin feels amazing when I wash my face at the end of the day. I've been using this for two weeks now and my skin has never looked better, which wasn't something I figured a foundation would do. There is a very light sweet herbal scent which makes sense given the number of extracts in it: white tea, green tea, aloe leaf, grapefruit, bitter orange, apple, sunflower seed oil, radish root, honeysuckle. I only smell it when applying and I have a very acute sense of smell.

For a more matte finish, you can layer the Pressed Mineral foundation over the top. My shade match is Ivory (neutral undertones) but they have a variety of undertones available in a fair-to-light pressed powder. The refillable compact is amazing - the hinge is sturdy and will stay where you place it which is so rare anymore in a mirrored compact. Just large enough to hold the powder puff that comes with the powder refill. All of the packaging is recyclable, as well.

Here's my second-day photo, taken a week or so after the first photo with the powder over the top. Sorry for the lack of visibility of other skin for color-matching, it's been cold here! Clearly, I'm outside.

I think I could go on forever, so I will just wrap up with, uh, more photos (after the jump.) I may have gotten over-excited about this being such a good match and throughout the day on day one (first picture) as I ran errands with my little guy, I took pictures in different kinds of lighting situations - see more after the jump, this even looks good in florescent lighting.