Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer

Burt's Bees lip shimmer in Raisin is the poor (wo)man's Clinique Black Honey. It looks great on everyone!
It has a minty scent and tingles when you apply it. Since it is a Burt's Bees product, there is an expectation that this lip balm would have moisturizing properties. Wrong! This lip balm will dry out your lips considerably.
I love this product, but it bums me out that a lip balm does the opposite of what it is supposed to do.
A big (tearful) thumbs down.

Halloween Makeup

Here's some Halloween makeup that won't break the bank. You can also reuse these shades year round.

• NYC's nail color 232B Lincoln Center is a quick dry formula that makes for good vampire nails on October 31st, and Chanel Vamp nails for the winter months.
• Urban Decay's Heavy Metal glitter eye gel is a clear gel infused with silver sparkles. Doesn't irritate the eyes, which is nice. Use alone, combined with shadow, or on the shoulders. Get it cheap on Ebay.
• Wet n Wild is one of the cheapest cosmetic companies on the planet, and with good reason. Their makeup sucks for the most part. This lipstick 919B is a Chanel Vamp knockoff- it is waxy, drying and needs to be mixed with a lip balm  for best results. You can use this the rest of the year round to darken lipsticks.
• Wet n Wild cream eyeshadows are actually really good. Envy is a neon green that can be used more heavily on Halloween, and then as a mint color the rest of the year round. Great buy for the money.

Beauty Tip From La Liz - Cosmetic Sponges

Cosmetic sponges are your friend. A slap on the wrist if you are applying foundation or concealer with your fingers. First of all - your fingers are oily. It is terribly bad to touch your face with anything oily. Cosmetic sponges are gentle and work great. Dampen the sponge before using to blend concealer and see the difference.

Concealer wars - L'Oreal Vs. Revlon

So has everyone seen the embarrassing photo of Uma Thurman on the internet? She has blotches of face powder on her nose and cheeks. Or the close up of Kim Kardashian with pound cake  face from a layer of orange tinged foundation? Yeecch! Whatever happened to real skin?
In the age of advanced dermatology, coating your face with foundation is good only for actors, newscasters and the members of Cirque Du Soleil. Everybody else - proceed with caution.
Before I get started with the reviews - I want to let everyone know that I have cystic acne, so I use Rx skin medications. I only use concealer when I have breakouts or redness - and I never, ever, ever use foundation.

• Revlon's Age Defying concealer is another anti-aging product being promoted by the freakishly young looking supermodel Elle McPherson. This light concealer spreads easily but provides very little correction to the skin. I'm extremely pale and even the lightest shade was too dark, and has that unattractive orange tinge. Unfortunately with the mid level cosmetic companies, foundation shades are usually too generic. Thumbs down for this product.
• L'Oreal's Visible Lift concealer describes itself as "line-minimizing" and "tone enhancing", which means a whole lot of nothing when it comes to spot treating blemishes and under eye circles. This product is, however, very good. More blue in the base pigment gives it less of an orange tinge, and it has some heaviness to it- I let it cook for a while on my skin and it set very well. Visible Lift also has SPF20, although we are all wearing sunglasses in the sun, right? Good stuff for the price.

St. Ives Cellulite Shield moisturizer

I'm very disappointed that St. Ives would make a claim that this cream is "clinically proven to significantly reduce the appearance of cellulite in 2 weeks."
It doesn't. It's a great cream, with an invigorating citrus scent, but it does nothing for cellulite.
The reason why it does nothing for cellulite is that there is no cream in existence that can make cellulite go away. I bought this for fun, and I love using it. But firmer? Less dimpled? Uh.. NO.

Dove Ultimate Smooth deodorant

Dove as a brand has bolted lights years ahead of their previous incarnation as a dowdy woman's soap company. This deodorant is one of their newest offerings, and contains "Pro Epil", which supposedly makes underarm hair finer and less noticeable with ongoing use.
I usually never believe any of the spectacular claims offered by OTC products, but WOW! This actually works.
Scent is still too old fashioned, though. Use sparingly.

L'Occitane, Nair, Maybelline, Smile's products

• First up in the beauty throne today is L'Occitane's Supple Skin Oil which claims to firm and soften. It is made primarily from almond oil. I'm always a little skeeved out by anything oil-based, but this oil is light, soaks in quickly, and smells mild. It does do a great job as an after shower body lotion, or a hand cream substitute after doing the dishes. Does it firm? Not that I can see. But we all know that no cream has magical properties, right? I like this stuff.

• I'm a big proponent of using certain products for other purposes. Nair sensitive formula bikini cream is one of those such products. First of all, this is a tiny bottle. I don't know what woman could use this for more than one time (not even) on the bikini area. Also, I found this product, like other depilatories to be very strong. It has a strong odor and causes redness. I use this on my upper lip girlstache and it works fairly well.

• Next up is Maybelline's Colorstay lip gloss, which is one of those lip colors with the dual color and gloss packaging. I'm a sucker pale pink lipstick, but I was so disappointed in this product. The color is dull, and the gloss is just some goopy liquid that comes off the minute you put your lips to something. Not recommended.

• I always try to throw in a folk remedy here and there to remind us that not everything has to come from a laboratory with a million chemicals to work. Smile's PRID drawing salve is one of those products. It smells horrible, and has the consistency of almond butter, but this stuff works on zits and will even work on cysts caused by acne. The directions on the back say that this stuff works on boils, also, but I don't think people have had that condition since the Middle Ages. If you get whopper zits or cysts, try this stuff.

Aveeno Nourish + Moisturize shampoo

Aveeno branches out into shampoos and this one is - average. Not good, not great, just ok. It smells like Garnier Fructis - with a fruity scent that seems to be in many mid level shampoo products.
This is a good shampoo for day to day use, but for women who have oily, extremely dry or bleached hair, this won't work.

Cheap Heels!

Check out these heels! All 3 pairs, shipping included, for under $50.00! Now that's a deal. I bought these at a website called Urban Original.

Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo

Here in the beauty throne is another shampoo that claims to strengthen hair that is fragile, hence making it grow longer.
The shampoo is being marketed to women with long hair, and I had a coupon so I tried it out. Well well! Not too bad. A mild shampoo that smells perhaps too fruity - but my hair has had a growth spurt so perhaps there is an ingredient in this product that has some kick.
This is a decent shampoo for every day washes, so I give it the thumbs up!

Head and Shoulders Classic Clean shampoo & conditioner

 I remember my grandmother used to sleep with her hair soaked in oil and a hair cap on her head. Yeech!

I inherited the chronic dry/itchy/flaky scalp, so I always use dandruff shampoo mixed with other shampoos. For this review I used a sample of Head & Shoulders Classic Clean and Classic Clean Conditioner.
Wow - this stuff works! No itching, no flaking, but I felt like I washed my hair with turpentine. The conditioner has a mild scent but is practically useless. I will need to use a much milder shampoo in my next hair wash.

Use the shampoo when you get itchy, but forget the conditioner. Also - what's the point? Dandruff shampoo is a one trick pony. Head & Shoulders conditioner is a waste of time.

You might notice the miniature chair where I photograph my beauty review products. Let's call it the BEAUTY THRONE!

Softsoap Body Wash

I'm not very fond of Softsoap's body washes, but this one is the worst. Sweet Honeysuckle & Orange Peel body wash sounded really good, until I used it and felt like I was washing with laundry detergent. There is something really "chemicalized" about their body washes. Even though this product advertises itself as a "moisturizing body wash with moisture beads", this product left my skin extremely dry. The scent of this body wash is so noxious that it would be strong to use even on your hands. I won't be buying this product again.

Garnier HerbaShine Semi Permanent Color

I generally stay away from semi permanent hair color as it usually is too weak to tackle my 90% gray hair. So I was pleasantly surprised by this new product from Garnier. It doesn't sting, burn, or stink up the entire house. I left it on for 20 minutes instead of the product directions, instead of 10. The color of the product is almost identical to the box, and the formula is very thick - nothing dripped on the floor or the carpet. There are a couple of things I didn't like about this product - first, this is another OTC color that has the big muppet hand plastic gloves instead of the close fitting salon style gloves. Also, the pigment in this color is extremely saturated, so cover your hairline. I used #400 Dark Natural Brown, and it stained my forehead as bad as permanent color. This product is supposed to last 28 shampoos.

Welcome to High Heels and Sparkles

Welcome to High Heels and Sparkles. This is a beauty blog dedicated to hair, shoes, nails, and makeup. And not necessarily in that order. I'll give you the scoop on old and new, tall tales and wishful thinking, folk remedies and cutting edge science. So feel free to add comments, chime in, and remember, in the words of the legendary Mae West:
I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.
Again, welcome to High Heels and Sparkles!
-LH