Nail of the Day: OPI's What's With the Cattitude?

Even though we're super close to summer, I felt in the mood for a springy nail color today, so I chose one that's been in my collection for a while, but that I haven't pulled out in a very long time: OPI's What's With the Cattitude, which was part of the Shrek collection back in 2010!

Although I love the end result, I can't help but admit that the application was incredibly streaky and transparent. It took three coats to get an opaque look and even then it was a bit streaky on a few nails. Not totally sure if that's because the polish is 4 years old or because it's just not the best formulation!

Either way, I'm already enjoying the pretty robin's egg blue!

Review: Gabriel Cosmetics Moisturizing Liquid Foundation

When it comes to switching over to natural and organic makeup, some products -- blush, powder,

bronzer, eye shadow, even eye liner -- are super easy to find. I've always said that just because I want to use natural products doesn't mean that I want to compromise on quality, and in those areas, your choices, shades and formulas are plentiful. Unfortunately, when you start looking at things like foundation, concealer and mascara, suddenly your choices feel more limited. There are lots of BAD products out there -- mascaras that don't do anything or dry out after a week,; concealers that give no coverage or are either too liquidy or too sticky; and foundations? Well that's the mack-daddy of bad. I'm talking no coverage, poor color selection, formulas I don't care for (i.e. loose powder or cream compact) and can we say expensive?

I had heard of Gabriel Cosmetics, but after a few bad experiences with buying natural foundations online, I was a little skeptical at buying yet another product from a Web site where I couldn't see the colors or test the formula beforehand. Then I found out my local Whole Foods carried a selection of their products, and even better, had a 100% refund policy if I wasn't satisfied, even if I had tried the product a few times. Now, even though they had some testers out, the woman wasn't all that excited about helping me after pointing me in the right direction, so I still had to do some experimenting in terms of looking at the colors. And between my rush to finish grocery shopping and the poor lighting in the store, I did a quick formulation check on the back of my hand, grabbed the lightest two shades (pale ivory and soft beige) and hit the checkout.

At this point it's been a good 6 months since I made those purchases and I've just about used up the product, so let's talk pros and cons:

Pros:

• This may be the best formulation of natural foundation that I've tried. A lot of companies say their products are buildable, and sadly that often turns out to be a lie, especially if you are truly looking for a full coverage foundation. Yet this product absolutely is. You can so easily use a small amount and get very sheer coverage that just evens out your complexion. But pile on a bit more product and you totally and completely achieve a full coverage look.
• Even better than the fact that you can choose how much coverage you want is the consistency and finish. This stuff is like silk. Whether you are piling on a little or a lot, the foundation dries to a satin, only slightly dewy finish. Your face looks fresh and healthy, and not oily, although I still choose to powder after because I prefer a matte finish. If you have dry or normal skin and have trouble with foundations feeling tight on your face, this would be perfect for you.
• The foundation comes with natural sunscreen ingredients so you don't have to worry about using a separate sunscreen or be concerned about harmful ingredients that have snuck in.
• While definitely not cheap, at $28 for 1oz the product is totally comparable to other mid-end foundations, yet a heck of a lot less than something like the $45 you'll shell out for Chanel or NARS.

Cons:

• It wouldn't be a fair review if I didn't point out the two cons to this foundation. The first is that the packaging is glass and doesn't come with a pump. In fact not only does it not come with a pump, but despite searching, I didn't even see any options to BUY a pump (something that a company like NARS does offer). This means that I wound up using clean q-tips each day to scoop out the right amount of product, as tipping it over onto my hand inevitably had me pouring out way too much and thus wasting it. 
• The color range is a bit limited, and I wound up having to mix the two shades that I purchased to get a good match (Pale Ivory was way too pale, even for my very fair skin, and the pink undertones in Soft Beige were way too pink for my more neutral skin). The line has 11 shades, which is a bit light in comparison to the 20 shades of NARS Sheer Matte or the 15 shades of Tarte's Amazonian Clay Foundation. For my next purchase, I'm tempted to try the Neutral Beige color, which says it's for light/medium skin with neutral undertones, but since I really am very fair, I'm a bit nervous that the undertones will be right but the color will be too dark. In fact the company actually carries another brand of natural makeup called ZuZu, which seems to have more options for people with light skin like me, so I may try that as well.

Overall, I am pleased with my purchase and feel like I could definitely recommend the foundation to others looking for a product that performs well and doesn't make you worried about the ingredients! 

Have you tried the Gabriel Cosmetics foundation or any of their other products? If so, let me know what you think in the comments below!

My Experience at the Benefit Brow Bar

For a long stretch of my adolescence, I religiously got my eyebrows waxed by the same amazing aesthetician in my home town. I trusted her, she took her time and the results were amazing -- and affordable. But as I got older, started earning my own money and...ahem...needed to start sticking to a budget, eyebrow waxes were one of the little things that I decided I could live without.

I invested in the creme-de-la-creme of tweezers (i.e. Tweezerman) and with their lifetime free sharpening guarantee, figured I was set. Amazingly, the tool stayed sharp enough to effectively tweeze my brows for no less than 2 1/2 years. But then overnight the blades became so dull that they wouldn't grip a single hair, and I realized it was a sign that professional sharpening was overdue. So, I sent off my tweezers and read that they'd be returned to me within 4-6 weeks....wait, 4-6 weeks? That's fine and all, but seeing as these were my only pair of tweezers and that I would start to resemble a Neanderthal after not plucking a single hair for 6 weeks, I realized a return to waxing would be in order.

Since I was getting my hair done at ULTA, I decided to make an appointment at the Benefit Brow Bar to see what the fuss was all about. Sure I stared longingly over at the Benefit counter each time I came into ULTA, but I never really understood what would make this any better or different than any other wax.

My experience began right on time and I perched myself into the chair, which was a little different than the laying-on-a-table wax that I'm used to. Dianna -- the aesthetician -- so kindly took the before picture of my brows shown below (Hi Dianna, if you're reading this!) and then began penciling in a shape. This was differentiator number one, because previously I've just had the aesthetician dive in with the wax and start stripping away the hair. But Dianna took her time, carefully adding color and removing it as necessary until arriving at a shape she liked. It made it feel like a more personal, custom experience, as she took into account the rest of my features and the shape that would work best for me. I professed to not loving my straight across brows and wanting more of an arch, so Dianna promised she'd make that happen.

From there we moved into the waxing and tweezing, which seemed to hurt less than usual, although I'm not sure why, the two of us chatting all the while about beauty products, making friends in a new city and the benefits of tweezing vs. waxing. When my brows were in good shape, Dianna proceeded with differentiator number two and something I've NEVER had done during an eyebrow wax -- she pulled out some concealer and worked to lightly cover up all of the spots that otherwise would have been bright red and made me look like an alien for several hours. This small touch was so delightful! 

She then proceeded to ask if she could touch up my foundation a bit (I guess I was looking a little chalky) and after talking casually about a few Benefit products that might work for me, I was on my way. No high-pressure sales pitch for Benefit products, no attempt at forcing me into making another appointment -- let's call this differentiator number three (as this is something you're usually subjected to at salons and spas, and it 'aint pleasant!). The whole appointment took 30 minutes and I never once felt as though she was rushing, even though there was clearly an impatient woman waiting to have her appointment begin after mine.

Since I had been growing my brows out for several weeks in anticipation of this appointment, I think I forgot for a minute just how much well-groomed brows can change your face. When I looked in the mirror with my freshly waxed eyebrows, my eyes looked larger and my whole demeanor seemed to shift. Somehow I felt just a little bit more confident!

So have I been converted back to a waxer with this experience? We'll see. Although the appointment was not outrageously expensive at $20, I would likely need a wax every 2-3 weeks to maintain my pristine look, and that can get expensive quickly. But I will say it was most certainly a pleasant experience and something I'd recommend to others AND consider doing as a treat for myself every once in a while.

Have you ever tried the Benefit Brow Bar at your local ULTA? Share your story in the comments section below!