Dull Dry Skin? There's An INSTANT Cure For That...for real though!

As members of the microwave generation we are naturally impatient.  We want our solution NOW.  There’s no time to wait.  We will try almost anything and pay any amount for the promise of instant results.  Unfortunately, most products that make the promise of an instant miracle fall far short of our expectations.  But, I have found something that actually works.

Cue personal testimonial. 

Let me start out by saying that this is my personal opinion.  This is not a paid endorsement.  I have received no incentives, financial nor otherwise, for sharing my opinion.  I have no relationship with this company, its’ owners nor any of its employees.

With that said let’s get to the good stuff.  THIS WORKS! 

Winter is evil to our skin.  The cold chafing winds, dry air of our heating systems and to add fuel to the fire I take a daily prescription that has possible dehydration as a side effect and I travel, a lot.  Flying is also very dehydrating.

My skin is very dry, especially my face, which tends to peel on the forehead and on my nose.  At the suggestion of my doctor, I have been drinking 96 ounces of water each day and that doesn’t seem to help.  If you have ever tried to apply foundation to a face that is peeling you know that it’s not even worth the effort.  In fact the makeup makes your skin look even worse.  Snake face anyone?

But, now I have found the answer to my winter skin prayers. AAaaah…..

Prior to my appointment I have doubts.  I am a highly skeptical person so, my expectations were very low. I walked into the spa full of angst.  The entire process took about 45 minutes to an hour.

It started with a continuous mist of warm steam on my face for 10 minutes.  This was to help open my pores.  Then the aesthetician massaged a cleansing cream into my skin.  The steps that followed all involved the use of a hand wand that not only applied moisturizing serums but also exfoliated the skin by using a pretty strong suction as she moved the wand over my skin.

It was very relaxing although it did feel a little like she was vacuuming my face.

In the end I emerged with smooth glowing skin.  My skin looked so good that I refused to cover it with makeup for several days after.  I was so impressed that I spent a small fortune on the maintenance products in hopes that I could look this way forever.

It has been two weeks and I still have smooth, glowing, bronzy, Beyonce in the good light, skin. 

Where did I go? Blue Divine Spa in Atlanta, GA.  Ask for Kalen.  She was great.

Cost:

Hydrafacial - $175 (Pricey but, worth every penny)

Skin Brightener - $50 (This was an upsell during my treatment but, what the heck I wanted to try it all)

Maintenance Products – Approximately $300 (I wanted to try them all – stay tuned for the reviews)

MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick Product Review

I consider myself a lipstick "collector".  I probably have, no less than, 75 different lipsticks and lip glosses in my bag of tricks.  One would think that I would never need to buy another lipstick as long as I live but, they would be wrong.  A few months ago MAC Introduced the Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick line.  It claimed to offer "robustly saturated" shades and 8 hours of long wear with not feathering or bleeding.  I was skeptical of liquid lipsticks because my experience with them had always resulted in really dry lips that wrinkled and puckered giving me that old lady lip look that I hate so much or the product cracked and peeled making my lips look & feel like sandpaper.  My daughter, Brooke, convinced me to try these by saying that she thought I would love the colors plus it would be a good product to review for my blog.  At the time I didn't have a blog.  It was only something I was dreaming of doing but, that was also her way of giving me a slight push to move forward and live my dream.

So, off we went to the MAC store.  After trying on a few shades my lips were pretty dry and I expressed my looming concern.  Brooke suggested that I try the MAC "Prep+Prime" lip conditioner to prepare and moisturize my lips prior to the liquid lipstick application.  We literally tried on every shade in the line and I finally settled on four.  I purchased "Oh Lady" a rich deep purplish pink, "Recollection" they had to talk me into this one because it is definitely purple, "Tailored to Tease" a magenta or fuchsia pink, and "To Matte With Love" a bright pink with a little bit of a red undertone, which I purchased solely because of the name.

You are probably wondering where this obsession with lipstick began.  My mother loved red lipstick.  I would watch her in awe as she got dressed for church.  She always had the perfect hat and the perfect high heels. Right before we would walk out the door she would apply the perfect shade of red lipstick.  It had slightly blue undertones, not to pink and not too orange.  It made her face light up.  Her smile looked wider and brighter, her teeth looked whiter and I wanted to kiss her just to see if a little would transfer to my lips.  She would slowly apply the lipstick to both lips, rubbing her pinky finger around the edge to remove any lipstick  that may have gone outside the line.  Then she would meticulously fold a tissue into quarters and place it between her lips 'pop pop' to blot the lipstick.  It was matte.

This was the beginning of my quest to achieve that look, that perfectly glamorous matte lip and the reason for my obsession with lipstick.  So, I left the MAC store with high hopes.  At home, I applied an ample amount of "Prep+Prime" to m lips.  It was moisturizing without feeling greasy.  It actually had a silky silicone feel and created a smooth surface for applying the liquid lipstick without affecting the integrity of the product.  One thing I learned about liquid lipsticks is that you have to use a lot of product.  You must apply the product from corner to corner on both lips making sure to completely cover the entire surface with color  because unlike regular lipstick you cannot rub your lips together to evenly distribute the product.  In fact, doing so will result in uneven coverage and even remove product in some areas. 

It is also important to pay close attention to the inner lip because once the product has dried you don't want to have that empty space between your lips when you smile.  Oh, and do not press your lips together before the product is completely dry. I was pleasantly surprised that the "Prep+Prime" did help to prevent the dry lips and as you can see from the photo above, the color is amazing.  I am wearing "Oh Lady" and I paired it with MAC "Cyberworld" lip liner. After much trial and error I think I came up with the perfect routine to prevent my lips from drying out when using any liquid lipstick.  I will share that in a later post. 

You are probably wondering if the MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick lived up to it's claim of 8 hours of long wearing color with no feathering or bleeding.  Here's your answer.

Probably.  I can't truly say if the color lasts for 8 full hours because the longest I have worn it was 5 hours.  I can honestly say that it lasted for 5 hours and it does not transfer, bleed or feather even after eating dinner and drinking wine.  I also did a little test of my own just to see how water resistant it was.  First I applied all four shades of the product to my hand and let them dry.  No primer.  Then I rubbed my finger over the colors.  No transfer.  Then I ran water over my had for about 30 seconds, patted it dry and rubbed by fingers over the colors again.  Still, no transfer.  Finally, I vigorously washed my hands with soap and water, patted them dry and once again, rubbed my finger over the colors.  Still no transfer but, you can see from the video below that this time some of the color did come off when I washed my hands.

All in all I would say that this product does live up to it's claim.  I would give it an A+ rating.