Beauty Packing for Summer

Tags

Guerlain, Hampton, Hawaiian Tropic, L'oreal, Longchamp, Lumene, Maybelline, Memorial Day, Montauk, Rimmel, summer beauty, Week end Getaway

What to pack, what to pack! For this Memorial Day Week End I will be in Montauk for a quick getaway. Everything packed has to fit in one bag and has to be essential.
And when it comes to getaways I hate forgetting things.
So I go for multi purpose and the perfect sized products. Big enough to use generously but small enough not to weigh my carry on.
These are the products I will be relying on to keep me beautiful through the days of strolling the beach to cocktail hour.

- Almay Liquid Lip Balm in Nus-Triments
It is my new favorite lip product of the moment and gives a nice natural low maintenance shine and non color color.

- Rimmel Scandal Eyes in 006
Dark metallic teal to electrify my eyes in the evening but doubles as a liner to make inensify my gaze in the daylight.

- Guerlain Cils D’Enfer mascara
In black. Always. Long full and curvy. What else is there to say.
Doesn’t flake! Trust me, it’s important.

-Guerlain Sun Shimmer Highlighter in Sunny Pink.
Illuminator and blush in liquid form. Perfection.
Glow from within and post coital flush? Yes please!

-Lumene Pure Radiance lotion w/SPf 15
Light moisture and anti-oxidant
Let the sun shining without the UV damage.

- Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration w/SPF 30
Rich moisture to hydrate all day and eve with strong enough protection to sunbathe.

- H2O+ Sea Marine Body Scrub
Foaming scrub for cleansed but exfoliated skin.
Just the right amount of grit slough off grime and sand but gentle enough not to make skin too sensitive to the sun.

- Maybelline BB Cream
Lightly evens skin out and offers additional SPF

- L’Oreal Nail Polish in Not a Cloud in Sight.
This turquoise is not too pastelly and guaranteed to brighten your day when you look down at
your toes. Looks great with all white garb and denim. And flatters sun kissed skin.

All neatly packed in a Longchamp canvas bag that screams I will be on a beach somewhere in the south of France on the East Coast of America. Chic without the pretense.

And wether you are going away or having a staycay pack all of your fave summer goodies in you favorite handbag or small luggage.

Make everyday a Getaway.

Happy Memorial Day

Kiss!

Ms. Lynn Beauty

Beauty in Review: Yves Rocher Anti-Asphyxiant Flash Mask

Tags

anti-aging, face care, face mask, French skincare, skincare, yves rocher, Yves Rocher cure solutions

When a product carries a name as powerful, almost violent as asphyxion. No other choice but to take notice. I immediately ordered a tube of Yves Rocher Anti-Asphyxiant Flash Mask. In just 5 minutes this gel mask brightens, softens and smooths skin and features. The active ingredient is moringa seed peptides, which are great at Anti-oxidation and can even clarify polluted water for consumption. Very impressive! Touted for centuries as a miracle tree as it has countless health and therapeutic uses. Throughout the tropical world diseases are fought, like diabetes, asthma, ovarian cancer and 300 other health problems. And thanks to the Yves Rocher scientists and chemists our skin can benefit from this miracle ingredient. On the skin it is anti-oxidant, anti-pollution and anti-inflammatory. Perfect after a long night or a long week.
Apply this amazing smelling (nutty sweet and floral) orange gel all over face and neck and leave on for at least five minutes. The gel does not harden and rinses off to squeaky clean fresh skin.
This is one of my favorite products. Part of Yves Rocher’s Cure Solutions range which is designed for skin fighting everyday stressors like pollution and stress.
To check out the rest of the range at http://www.yvesrocher.com

Did I also mention this mask works in 5 minutes!?!

Au revoir! Xoxo

Ms. Lynn Beauty

Beauty in Review: Almay Color+Care Liquid Lip Balm

Tags

Almay, Almay cosmetics, beauty review, Lip balm, lip care, lip gloss, make up, summer beauty looks

I seldom buy Almay cosmetics. Simple reason, not colored skin girl friendly enough.
I used to love the Almay amazing lash mascara and now that it’s been discontinued for ages I only consider them for skin care. Their best product in years is the just released Liquid Balm in twelve must skin friendly shades. Creamy balm texture and pigmented enough to double as lipstick but not as high maintenance. Found at Duane Reade and other major drugstores for $6,49! It’s pretty impressive.

Smack it around!

Ms. Lynn Beauty

Yves Rocher: The Best Beauty Brand you Are Not Using

Tags

anti-Age, beauty, cosmetics fromFrance, French Beauty Company, French beauty products, moisturizer, skincare, yves rocher

Yves Rocher is for me much more than household beauty brand. I have an emotional attachment to the company for it’s genius products that have been part of my beauty training and routine for more than 15 years. If I could credit any beauty entity for making me the beauty savvy person that I am today, Yves Rocher would take the honor.
Celebrating fifty years of pioneering the vegetal beauty business and continually introducing accessible and hi performing products. Very few others do it better or even meet the bar.
My story with Yves goes way back. Popular in Quebec as much as it is in Europe, all of the women in my family were addicts. Little pots and perfume bottles littered the bathroom cabinets and vanity tables. I dipped my tiny fingers into as many as I could without giving myself away as we can be quite territorial about our beauty stock. Soon as I was earning, my own stash was starting pile up. I was ordering online and stocking up on sales found at the retail stores. There was no stopping me.
There is still no stopping me. As I said they believe in quality and accessibility for all women. After moving to NYC, I would buy as much as possible when I went home to visit but years went by and my visits became infrequent. A few months ago I placed an online order and fell in love allover again and this time it is even stronger. I have tried everything from dove soap bars to $500 creams and Yves Rocher is up there with the very best.
Their mail order service is so much fun, little promotion and product stamps to stick on and great free gifts.
They are engaged in biodiversity of vegetal sources bio farmed allover the world to give us the best that nature has to offer. In their own words “cosmetovigilence” to maintain the integrity of the skin.
Always introducing new products to their thirty million clients worldwide and some great classics that are as good now as they were the first time. Most impressive is that the family owned business has not lost touch with it’s core values and is doing it’s part in taking care of the environment and the farms they source their ingredients.
My list of loves is long. Be inspired and discover the Yves Rocher for your own loves and please share them with me.

Happy discovery!

Ms. Lynn Beauty

Skin Resurrection

Tags

Bamboo scrub, body care, body scrub, Exfoliation, lather, Macy's, origins, pharmaprix, Sephora, shoppers drug mart, skin care, soap&glory, Spring beauty

We are post Easter and Passover and the Spring Equinox which are great markers of fresh new starts spiritually and of season. The weather here in NYC is changing and I cannot wait to for the trees and flowers to bloom.
I also have a concept of myself that tends to materialize anywhere between Spring and the Summer Solstice. Somehow, this time of year is more concrete than new year resolutions. They are great concepts we have but they really start manifesting (or not) by the 4th of July. Have you hit the gym and gotten that body you wanted? Did you improve your diet? Did you quit procrastinating? Even our taxes need to be done as to leave the past completely behind us.
We should all be doing the things we want and improving where we feel we can do better. Our religious faiths and traditions serve to help the within. But what about the without?
The best and easiest way to make a fresh start to your body is a good body purifying scrub.
I’m a scrubber!
My favorite to give me a deep down scrub is Lather’s (www.lather.com) Bamboo and Lemongrass foaming body scrub. It deep cleans for a nice smooth finish without drying the skin.
It is pretty grainy so do not apply pressure.
Rinse thoroughly and finish with generous amounts of your favorite body moisturizer to nourish the new skin surface.
More great foaming scrubs are Soap&Glory’s Pulp Friction(www.sephora.com, and Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada) and Origins Modern Friction (Macy’s, http://www.origins.com)
This is the first step to resurrecting your body from the ashes of the cold winter but the rest is up to you.

Happy Spring!

Ms. Lynn Beauty xo

Beauty Eurostar to: Germany

Tags

alterra, dm-markt, Douglas Parfumerie, Garnier, Nivea, Rossmann's drogerie-markt, salt house totees meer, Schwarzkopf

When I find myself in a different country, my first stop before any monument or tourist attraction is a pharmacy or drugstore. Oh yes, discovering new products is my thing. And the most fascinating to me are foreign countries. You get an idea of their culture where self care is concerned.
When I first arrived in Germany my suspicions were confirmed, they are into herbal and homeopathic beauty solutions. They are no non sense about beauty and cosmetics.
This time was my second and I knew exactly what I wanted. I’d previously loved everything that I had bought and was decidedly back for more.
Firstly, was Rossmann drugstore’s Alterra body butter at 3€! The price is more than right and the quality is astounding for a generic brand. So I wiped the shelf clean. My newest favorite. I picked up other essentials like my Nivea shower oil, Garnier skincare since the collection there is more extensive. Some beauty tools like tweezers and nail polish remover. I also discovered Salthouse Dead Sea bath products. Also really inexpensive given the quality of both the shower gel and the body lotion. DM drugstore (= drogerie-markt) is also another great place to pick up the above and more. I also picked up Schwarzkopf Argan oil hair serum. Everything I bout were 6€ or under. Def reason to stock up! My next stop is always Douglas Parfumerie. It has many of the household name brands so I stay away and focus on more local brands. Art Deco cosmetics, Helena Rubenstein, Douglas’ Thalassotherapy body care and Anny nail products.

I am a Beauty Tourist no doubt about it.

Check out my beauty post card.

Hello from Germany from yours truly
Ms. Lynn Beauty

Duty Free Beauty

Tags

beauty shopping, Clarins, Dusseldorf, International Beauty, L'Oreal body care, Lancome, Shi Seido

There is at least one must when traveling across a border. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Canadian border, one should never leave a country without visiting duty-free. It is a tax free shopping dream. Limited edition, special size, special pricing are all my fave buzz words. It has been a tradition when I lived in Canada coming to the U.S. I willingly get on a greyhound bus and buy the driver a coffee to guarantee a duty free quickie. L’Oreal Body care that can’t be found in Europe, exclusive Lancome perfume for travelers.
Back in Dusseldorf airport where we I found the best deal this beauty deal finder expert has ever found: A 400 ml bottle of Clarins Baume Corps at 19€. No time for rationalizing and self restraint, I grabbed a few bottles. Worth it when months prior I spent $65 for the exact same product at a major department store. YSL mascara, Shi Seido creamy lipstick and other International brands.

Accruing stamps on my beauty passport!

Ms Lynn Beauty

InternationalBeauty Hunt:Dusseldorf II Douglas Parfumerie

Tags

Anny nail polish, beauty, Biotherm, Biotherm Skin Vivo, Douglas Parfumerie, Guerlain, Konigsallee, nail polish, skincare

On a sun shining Monday afternoon we went on a shopping excursion in Konigsallee, the Madison avenue of Dusseldorf. Prada, Chanel, and many other international fashion giants line the streets and the little allees are packed with restaurants and more shops. Within five minutes of ogling window displays particularly Eickhoff’s I find myself head on withDouglas Parfumerie. All of the best to be offered when it comes to beauty, YSL Beauty, Biotherm, Clarins and many others waiting to be discovered. I was determined to leave no stone unturned. I’m on the hunt for the unknown on my shores. Good rules for oversees shopping #1: Don’t buy American as the price is very high and we typically will have that brand or product. Why lug things back home that you already have and pay more? No point!
#2: The pricing of established brands remain more or less the same in most cases.
#3: Buy what you cannot find at home because that’s what makes shopping abroad exciting.
If I could I would take three day trips to Paris just to shop.
Here’s a bit of a secret, it turns me on. Little jars and bottles lined up like little warriors. I love searching for hard to find fragrances and Europe has a “panoply” so the task is not always obvious.
To the Lalique perfume counter. Better known for their crystal ware they make sensuous fragrances. I have been a fan of their fragrances for a few decades now. Never too chypre and always soft and feminine. Lalique’s Amethyst attracted my eye, housed in a rectangular dark purple bottle (fave color). Minimalist but chic. The scent’s first notes are of blackberries (again my fave fruit scent). It’s sweetness is a bit deceptive as it settles into a light musk. Very feminine in it’s fresh floral notes of rose, lily and ylang ylang.
Like warm skin it finishes on sensual and comforting bourbon vanilla and musk.
Find perfume for Fall. Check! Now let’s move on. The make-up selection is a bit underwhelming but I did scoop up the Anny nail polish that I spotted in the magazine. Also checked off my mental list. Doing great! On to skincare, big task ahead. I have an almost superhuman laser like ability to scan a beauty shelf with my eyes. I don’t mess around. Biotherm is a favorite but they long ago went online only in America. Since I am trying to preserve as much semblance of youth I pickup a small jar of Biotherm’s Skin Vivo Anti- Age cream gel. And I can’t forget about my limbs. Not concerned that I already bought various bottle of lotion that I have yet to pack but I am not satiated. Besides, I want to experiment beauty at every level Mass to Prestige. No stones left unturned is the tactic. My laser beams scan and selected Beauty System Thalassotherapy body care.
Beauty System is a brand exclusive at Douglas Parfumerie and offers great quality body care at a great price. I picked a few tubes of the body lotion which is amazingly silky and skin softening. Love! I’m now a fan. The shower cream and scrub. The cashiers were generous with the samples.
Guerlain relaxing mask and Vivienne Westwood perfume samples. Complete satisfaction.
Finally an apperitivo on the strip under heated lamps and a lime green throw so we can cozily sip our coffees while people watching. Tall and slender were the passersby and well dresses in tailored casual wear. We took in the architecture and the rich history of Dusseldorf and the progress it has undergone since World War II. Inspired and grateful. As I was settling into the hotel there was the sky again in it’s sublime royal blue at 9:30pm.

Beauty! I’m in the moment.

PS: Douglas Parfumerie are a presence in France and Poland as well.

Ms. Lynn Beauty

International Beauty Hunt: Dusseldorf (Rossmann’s Drogerie)

Tags

beauty, Dusseldorf, European beauty, European skincare, Garnier, Garnier 7 day intensive, Garnier body lotion, Garnier body repair, Nivea, Nivea shower oil, Rossmann's drogerie

My first task was to prepare and research the German beauty market. Better known for engineering and assiduous work ethic. How does it compare to the rest of Europe notably the indisputable beauty champion France! Like the rest of the continent they share the same basic brands: Nivea, Garnier and L’Oreal. Germany can be proud of international beauty staples like Dr. Hauschka, Anne Marie Borlind and Kneipp. A commonality between many of these brands is the emphasis on homeopathic and natural ingredients. I imagine German women to be into effective, no nonsense producs that work. This intrigues me. As soon as
I boarded the plane, I stack of German magazines Glamour, Madame,Jolie and anything that had a beautiful woman on the cover. All in German! I
was quite over confidant of my ability to pick up the language. I was
a tad disappointed but not too surprised to see mostly American and
French brands. I did set my heart on Blue Therapy a new serum and line
by Biotherm and a nail polish by Anny in crazy shot. It’s the nicest
take on turquoise and emerald. Next, pick up a few German words to
help me navigate. Instead of learning practical things like “Excuse
where are the rest rooms?”, I retained drogeriemrkt (drugstore),
Parfumerie (perfumery) and dankeschon (thank you)of course.
Dusseldorf was chic and rich in History. And like many other cities
functionality can be (should be) beautiful.

Norte Stabe was the first area explored. Narrow streets packed with cafes, breweries, restaurants and a bit of shopping. I was in Germany for work and jumped in the first cab I could find. It was a Saturday night and I was daydreaming of shopping before I even left America. Where to go on a Saturay evening and as I was misinformed that everything was closed. Always ask a cab driver, they know everything
particularly in a small city. He informed me that stores likely close
at 8pm and it was now 7:40pm. Dankeschon and I hopped out of the cab
and let my visual cues guide me. Beautiful chic people dressed in
their best khakis and pastels, nicely pressed and no flip flops.
Converse and Keds style footwear were de rigueur. I notice a corner
store with red shopping baskets and circulars. I rapidly walked over
and discovered Rossmann Drugstore in all if it’s glory I snuck in as I
suspected they were closing. Found the skincare aisles as I had my hear tset on buying as much Garnier skincare as I could pack in my suitcase. Garnier is my favorite mass-market skincare line. I discovered the full rage which includes body care on a trip to Paris and I never forgot how great they are. I wanted to peruse at my leisure so I reassured the two remaining sales women in my non existent German and she in her broken English that I know what I want and that I need five minutes to pick and choose. Danke! Glanced over the make up and we have about the same things. Theirs, lest variety and different packaging. Nothing tempted me so I grabbed countless bottles of Garnier body care. Each under 4€ for a 400ml bottle. I still can’t believe that we are paying close to ten bucks for like Jergens and Dove body wash. Love them both but price is not justified. Rossmann’s organic body butter at wait for it… 2,79€! A move to Germany crossed my mind. I brought over my goods and the cashier gave me a half smile of amusement and disbelief. She got me. I was a foreign beauty junkie who’s just getting her fix. I think she was amused by my childlike excitement. My total was measly 44€ and some change. I felt great! I

Rossmann’s Drogerie Market

was in and out like a tornado. I got what I wanted most and I am still on budget.

Before heading back to the hotel, I wanted to get some goodies of the edible kind so I can pig out on my hotel bed. I walked into a supermarket and loaded up on organic juice, chocolate, cheese, Nivea shower oil and deodorant. Yes, I’m also into deodorant. Nothing cost over 5€ not even the seamless briefs that I found online at cashier. I had a lovely mini bottle of Prosecco waiting for me and I could not wait to lay on my super comfy bed and watch German and French Television.

One thing I did notice is that the sun sets really, really late. At 9:30 pm and the sky is cobalt blue.
Strange but beautiful.

Next day, we raised the stakes in the beauty game.
To be continued…

Ms Lynn Beauty

International Beauty Hunt: Dusseldorf (Intro)

Tags

beauty shopping, Dusseldorf, Europe, Germany, Konigsallee, Rossmann drugstore, Travel

I have just returned from an unexpected a business trip to Germany and I always mix business with beauty pleasure. It’s pretty apparent that I have an addiction.
Dusseldorf is a little gem of a city: it’s so chic and hip.
From shopping on Konigsallee , to the late afternoon walks on the Reine River. It was a lovely trip and just what I needed to inspire me and refuel my energy.
I will chronicle my shopping expeditions.

Stay tuned for the beauty finds.

Ms. Lynn Beauty