Archive for June, 2010

If you follow TDO or any one of our Twitters, you’ll know that we are huge fans of beauty and style guru Jenn Falik.  There’s often a ton of chatter amongst TDO editors about Jenn, and what we love about her (everything!) We were super excited when she launched her own show on MSN, Beauty BFF, since as far as we were concerned-the more Jenn the better!  A few weeks ago we had the chance to chat with Jenn to learn more about her show and to get some fashion & beauty BFF advice for ourselves (and get a peek into her fabulous closet)!

TDO: How do you come up with segment ideas for Beauty BFF? Can viewers submit questions?

JF: Segment ideas are inspired by the things that I personally am curious about- I look at every segment I do no matter what it is for as an excuse to do research and master something new. For example- we have a segment on hair extensions because I am dying to get them and want to know what my options are. I also can’t blow my own hair out for the life of me, so I went to Oscar Blandi to learn his technique. I also wanted to do segments that give a peek inside the industry- especially sharing stories behind products I love. Maybe I’m a beauty nerd, but I always find the stories behind brands and what goes in to product development and even packaging decisions to be completely fascinating! Additionally, viewers are invited to submit questions to beautybff@microsoft.com and hopefully I can answer them in a future episode. (more…)

Back in the day, I was all about Hard Candy.  I loved their nail polish and their glitter eyeliners and their bright lipglosses.  It was a sad day when Sephora stopped carrying the brand and we all had to say goodbye.  And then, just recently, they came back!  But in an interesting twist, the brand was completely revamped and is sold exclusively at Wal-Mart now.  I was super excited about their return, but I hadn’t really gotten a chance to use many of the products, so when I got the opportunity to try a few of their new releases for spring and summer, I jumped at the chance.

My favorite product that I tried is the new Hot Smudge.  It’s a cream eyeliner/smudge shadow and comes with two colors in each package.  It’s so much fun and totally comparable to Urban Decay’s Ink For Eyes at about a fourth of the price.  (Who doesn’t love a good bargain these days?)  I tried Misfit, which pairs an olive green with a grey – both basics and both totally wearable.  What I really like about it is the formula.  It’s super creamy and blendable, so you can use it either as an eyeliner and create a really thin line or you can use it more as a shadow and create a soft, smoky eye.  It’s durable too – once you put it on and allow it to set (I usually wait about a minute or so) it stays put all day.  I actually like the brush that comes in the package too, which usually doesn’t happen.  But it’s perfect for this formula – it has a liner brush on one end and a smudger on the other, so even though if I’m home I usually use my other brushes (just because I’ve gotten used to them), if I throw this in my bag, I don’t have to worry about bringing any other brushes with me.  It comes in six shades and as cheap as these are, you know I’m going to own all of them.  (I’ve been stalking the only Wal-Mart in driving distance waiting for them to come out and it’s a forty minute drive from me, so that should tell you how serious I am about it).

I also tried out the new Meteor-eyes baked shadows and Hard Candy also nailed it with these.  They were always known more for their funky shades than neutrals and these definitely fit the bill.  The shadows are baked on a terra-cotta disc to give them even more pigmentation and you can choose to use them either wet or dry.  (I find that wet makes them stay on longer, but your mileage may vary.  Wet also seems to give me less fallout, which is nice).  They remind me a lot of the glittery shadows from MAC’s Style Black collection last year, which was super popular and gone from counters almost before I could blink.  Meteor-eyes are available in more shades than the MAC shadows were (from what I can remember) – there are seven shades of them and they range from Asteroid (a bright blue) to Lunar Eclipse (a glitzy gold).  Just the the Hot Smudges, I kind of think I need to own all of these.  Granted, they’re not the kind of shades you’d probably wear to work, but for the price, how can I not want them all for the nights I’m out with my friends and want my eyes to stand out?  I think we all know the answer to that.

You can find Hard Candy at your local Wal-Mart store and online at www.walmart.com.

One of the great things about the internet is the freedom it gives creative people to express themselves.  From music to YouTube makeup tutorials to fashion videos, I could spend all day just playing around and looking for new, fun things to watch or listen to.  My most recent online discovery is a half hour television pilot called Josh Jennings for Congress.  I’d been hearing about it for awhile since I have a friend who worked on it, and now that it’s finally been posted, you can all watch it, too.  It’s about a slacker twenty-something guy who finds himself running for Congress against a local politician who isn’t exactly a shining example of democracy at work.  The characters are funny and the idea is a fresh twist on the traditional sitcom premise.  (And Ashley Johnson, who played the youngest daughter Chrissy Seaver on “Growing Pains”, is in it!)

Right now, when you visit www.joshjenningsforcongress.com, you can watch the trailer and the pilot for the show.  Their goal is to get some buzz on the show so they can secure the funding to shoot more episodes and Josh can continue his political adventures.  Let’s get the word out there and help them out!

**Editor’s Note – Please note that starting this June that The Daily Obsession will no longer be posting on weekends. We hope that you continue to support us during the weekdays!

During the summer, I tend to wear a lot more lip glosses than lipsticks, so every year about this time, I start my search for the next great gloss to get me through the next few months. For 2010, it’s Too Faced’s new Glamour Glosses.  They have everything I could want in a lip color and more.  They’re hydrating (they have Vitamin E, Jojoba Oil and Avocado Oil in them, among other things), which is super important because the last thing I want is a cute color that dries my lips out.  They’re also not very sticky at all, which is my other pet peeve in a gloss.  I have long hair and with some glosses, it’s constantly sticking to my lips, but not with these.  (I also just hate the way sticky glosses feel on my lips – yuck!) The glosses all have Lip Injection Comfort Plump in them, which basically means that it has some of their famous Lip Injection formula, but at what I guess must be a lower concentration because it doesn’t sting very much at all.  (I happen to be one of those people who actually doesn’t mind strong lip plumpers, but if you aren’t, don’t worry, these shouldn’t bother you at all).  The formula is also fairly thick, which means that it doesn’t wear off in the first 20 minutes.  (Another pet peeve of mine.  I really have a lot of them when it comes to lip gloss!)

The glosses are available in 12 different shades, ranging from First Time, a nude shade, to Erotic, a fairly dark cranberry shade.  And as a bonus, they smell like mint, which is my all-time favorite lip product flavor.  It’s like Too Faced designed these with me in mind!  Don’t you love when that happens?

I don’t know a woman who doesn’t love the power of Spanx, and just in time for summer, they’ve launched their swimwear line.  This honestly makes swimsuit season at least 5x more bearable.

Their collection of Slimming Suits offers a variety of styles from sexy one-pieces to fun separates. I recently tried their Convertible One Piece, which features ruching under the bustline to further slim the waist and enhance curves. There are also “soft-tie straps” that can be worn two ways: around the neck like a halter or tied at the chest to make it strapless. The slimming element is provided in the form of a breathable mesh compression liner, which “flattens the tummy, smoothes the back and slims the waistline.”

When I first slipped into mine, I was a little fearful that it would be too big (I was advised to size up since they could be snug) but it fit perfectly! Moreover, I actually felt slim in my suit, as well as comfortable and sexy.  It definitely won’t tug off easily in the surf and really minimizes your tummy area.  Right now, you can snag one at Spanx.com for 25% off – so shop now and be ready for the upcoming visits to the beach, looking fabulous all summer long…

I’ve said many, many times on this site that I don’t like floral scents, so I was just as surprised as anyone when I picked up a bottle of STELLANUDE at Sephora, gave it a spritz, and fell instantly in love.  (Especially because I bought the original Stella years ago and ended up giving it away because it just didn’t suit me).  But STELLANUDE is totally me.  It does have floral notes in it, but I think the fact that it also has other contrasting notes is what makes it so different.

Here’s a list of all the notes it contains:  Moroccan Rose, Grapefruit, White Peony, Pink Pepper, Precious Vanilla, Grey Amber, and Musk.  I usually like scents with grapefruit, vanilla, or musk, so maybe those are the difference makers in this scent.  I’m not sure, but I do know that I haven’t stopped wearing it since I got it.  It’s really light and delicate – almost a mix between a floral and the fresh scents that I usually wear and it’s not overpowering, which is one my main problems with some florals.  It makes me feel very girly when I wear it too – like I want to put on a dress and my favorite heels and go out to a nice dinner.  Interestingly enough, the scent is also available in a Linen Scented Mist to spray on your sheets, which sounds delightful.  I must pursue owning it immediately…