March 08, 2016

Top 10 Color Correcting Makeup Products.

March 08, 2016/ Teri Cosenzi

Everywhere I turn, I see a new color correcting makeup product pop up. Whether it's a new pitch, being sent to me or on the store shelf, it seems like it is the latest trend. This new trend is actually not so new. Color correcting is a longtime secret of makeup artists to color correct or balance uneven skin. It's really a smart thing to color correct your skin before putting on makeup so skin is flawless.

There are certain colors that you should use to color correct certain problems.

Yellow - Use yellow to correct dullness
Green - Use green to correct redness
Peach/Apricot - Use Peach/Apricot to correct dark circles and spots
Lavender/Blue - Use lavender/blue to correct sallow skin
Pink - Use pink to brighten dull skin

Top color-correcting makeup products to neutralize complexion concerns. If you need to hide dark circles, cancel out redness or warm up dullness in your skin, you need a color-corrector!

Here are the top 10 color correcting makeup products. With the right product and a little know-how, you will be on your way to neutralizing your complexion concerns: disguise dark circles, resolve redness and dismiss dullness.

1. Urban Decay Naked Skin Color Correction Fluid - Correct imperfections and play up your best features with this innovative, lightweight formula that instantly color-corrects and blurs flaws. Available in five shades to color correct your issue. Buy it for $28 at Sephora or urbandecay.com.

2. MAKE UP FOR EVER Step 1 Skin Equalizer Primers – Perfect for color correcting, these lightweight primers leave your skin looking fresh for hours while they smooth the look of the skin prepping it for makeup. Available in six color correcting shades to target all of your concerns. Buy it for $37 at Sephora.

3. BECCA Backlight Targeted Colour Corrector - These highly pigmented colour correctors contain light reflecting pearls to blur away imperfections as they correct flaws. The formula adheres to the skin so well! It comes in four colours. Buy it for $30 at Sephora and beccacosmetics.com.

4. Smashbox Color Correcting Stick - This creamy stick evens out and transforms the complexion with precision. It is super easy to use. If you are hesitant to start using color-correcting products, this is the one to start with. It is available in four shades. Buy it at Sephora and smashbox.com.

5. SEPHORA + PANTONE UNIVERSE Correct + Conceal Palettes – These exclusive palettes feature a range of expertly-selected shades and full-coverage formulas that address common concerns. Choose from Light/Medium or Medium/Dark. Buy it for $49 exclusively at Sephora.

6. Givenchy Prisme Libre - This color-correcting loose powder takes four shades of color-correcting powders and marries them in one compact to offer skin radiance and luminosity in the perfect customized shade. It is extremely fine and mattifying. Choose from five colors. Buy it for $54 at Sephora, Neiman Marcus or Barney's New York.

7. Marc Jacobs Beauty Cover Stick Color Corrector – Marc’s ingenious portable, twist-up stick comes in three creamy, marbleized hues that can be used all over or to spot treat concerns. Buy it for $42 at Sephora.

8. Lancôme Miracle CC Cushion Color Correcting Primer - This is a unique color-correcting primer that provides buildable weightless coverage that feels like nothing on the skin. Use it all over on for spot corrections. Available in four color-correcting shades. Buy it for $39.50 exclusively at Sephora.

9. Yves Saint Laurent TOUCHE ÈCLAT Neutralizers – The award-winning complexion highlighter is now available as a must-have, color correcting highlighter to instantly cancel and neutralize color imperfections. The one-click brush allows you to the problem with ease! Buy it for $38 at Sephora.

10. STILA Correct & Perfect Palette - This palette is an all-one-palette because it features seven different color-correcting shades that will help to neutralize all skintone imperfections. They are creamy and buildable. Buy it for $45 at Sephora or stilacosmetics.com.

March 01, 2016

10 Ways to Brighten Skin for Spring.

March 01, 2016/ Teri Cosenzi

I'm so excited that we are finally in the month of March! That means that spring is right around the corner - just 20 days away! Is your skin ready for the new season? It's time to uncover your skin and get rid of some of those layers and reveal brighter skin. It's easy to do with the right products. Here are ten products to get your skin ready — and brighter, just in time for spring.

1. Kate Somerville ExfoliKate® Cleanser & Intensive Exfoliating Treatment
I've been a big fan of ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment for many years to polish and exfoliate the skin. I use it regularly. Now Kate has added ExfoliKate Cleanser to her line up and it comes packed in the duo exclusively at Sephora. The cleanser is a gentle foaming cleanser to gently aid in daily exfoliating while cleansing the skin.
Buy it for $50 at Sephora.

2. Kiehl's Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate
This concentrate contains pure Vitamin C which is a skin brightener. When applied topically, the formula helps skin recover from some of the more visible signs of skin aging. Vitamin C works to improve skins radiance and there is an added bonus of diminishing the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Start using now for brighter skin by spring.
Buy it for $60 at Kiehls, Nordstrom or Bloomingdales

3. Exuviance Daily Antioxidant Peel CA10
This one-step, leave-on daily peel helps to dissolve dead skin cells and reveal brighter, smoother skin. The working ingredient is 10% citric acid. It's so easy to use! After one month of use, my skin was noticeably brighter.
Buy it for $65 at Dermstore or beauty.com

4. Shiseido White Lucent
If you are looking for a total overhaul of your skincare routine and brightening is on your list of things that need addressing, look at the Shiseido White Lucent line of products. Each product in the line works with the other and addresses uneven skin tone and texture and targets dark spots. I've been using the following to brighten my skin for spring.

White Lucent Luminizing Infuser
White Lucent Luminizing Surge Emulsion
White Luminizing MicroTargeting Spot Corrector
White Lucent MultiBright Night Cream

My skin has become really radiant when using and the dark spot corrector is lightening spots all over my face.

Buy it from fine department stores like Barney's New York, Macy's, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom and Sephora.

5. pixi Skintreats Glow Mud Cleanser
How fun that pixi Beauty now has skin care products. My first try with their new skin treats is this cleanser and this deep pore cleansing mud did a terrific job at not only cleaning out pores, but it left my skin looking overall more tones and radiant.
Buy it for $18 at pixibeauty.com or Target.

6. IT Cosmetics Confidence In A Cream
This brand new transforming moisturizing super cream not only immediately plumps and hydrates the skin, this cream makes skin instantly look radiant. I don't know what it is; pores are minimized as fine lines seem to plump up and fill in. This cream if formulated with a proprietary concentrate that adds the perfect balance of hyaluronic acid to plump up those lines while niacin and peptides brighten the skin.
Buy it for $48 at itcosmetics.com, QVC and Ulta.

7. Lancôme Absolue White Aura
This is the ultimate luxury cream for rejuvenating and brightening. Formulated with a combination of rare white rose extract and Pro-Xylane, this cream richly penetrates the skin and reveals a more luminous complexion. It feels so soft as it melts into the skin. It's a true treat.
Buy it for $250 at Lancome counters at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

8. Kiehl's Turmeric & Cranberry Energizing Radiance Masque
This 10 minute mask is like an instant facial that brightens the look of dull skin. By using this once a week, overall skin tone is greatly improved. It's super invigorating too! Instead of using this one at night, I love using this masque in the morning as a quick pick-me-up.
Buy it for $32 at Kiehl's, Saks Fifth Avenue or Neiman Marcus.

9. Exuviance OptiLight Tone Corrector
If you have spots or need allover brightening, this tone corrector is for you. Multiple correctors in this patented formula work to even skins tone. NeoGlucosamine gently exfoliates the skin to break up pigment clusters, while Retinol and Vitamin C reduce the spots and even out tone. You can use the creamy formula all over wherever needed or simply spot treat.
Buy it for $52 at Dermstore or Ulta.

10. Murad Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum
I love this serum that uses 2% Hydroquinone to help fade spots, freckles and overall brighten the tone of the skin. Used daily, at night, it rapidly does its job. I can attest at how fast and how well this serum works — probably better than any other age spot serum that I have used.
Buy it for $60 at Murad.com, Nordstrom or Sephora.

February 23, 2016

Top 10 Makeup Hacks.

February 23, 2016/ Teri Cosenzi

While I may have shared a lot of makeup and beauty tips over the years, I don't think I have ever shared my top beauty tips or hacks that I most often use. As it's a top ten day, I'm going to share the top makeup tips and tricks that I have learned and used over the years (some a very long time) that are real time, and in some cases, money savers.

Top 10 Makeup Hacks to Save You Time and Money

My top ten makeup hacks:

1. Mix concealer with eye cream to help concealer from settling into fine lines. It helps to further brighten up the eye area too.

2. Warm up your pencil eyeliner with a lighter. I’ve been doing this since high school! It turns the eyeliner into a gel-like formula and helps it apply and smudge easier too.

3. Make your own BB Cream! Mix an equal amount of your favorite moisturizer (with SPF of course) with your favorite liquid illuminator — about the size of a nickel of each will work. Then add about a pea-size amount of your favorite concealer to that. I swear by this in the summer months.

4. Use concealer in the center of your lips to make them appear fuller. Simply dot a bit of concealer in the center of your lips then blend it in with the warmth of your fingertip. Top with a pearl or nude lip gloss for a perfect plump pout.

5. Make your own custom tinted lip balm by mixing Vaseline (yes, good ole’ Petroleum Jelly) with your favorite loose pigments.

6. Add a few drops of saline solution to mascara that is dry or clumpy to thin it out. Don’t mistake this for extending the life of your mascara — you still need to throw it away after three months — but this helps with drier or more clumpy formulas.

7. Forgot all those fancy contour tutorials! Simply apply bronzer in the shape of a number three (or a backwards three) on your forehead, cheekbones and jawline for an easy contoured look.

8. For a quick, smoky eye look, after you apply your shadow, use your ring finger to apply a dark shadow right at the upper and lower lash line. Smudge the lower lash line again with your finger. I almost always apply my shadow to my lower lash line with my finger and smudge; it’s so routine that it took me a few minutes to realize it was probably unconventional and a makeup hack.

9. Use a nude colored eyeliner on the inner rims of the eyes (otherwise known as your waterline) to open up the eyes and make eyes look larger.

10. Get an instant eye lift! Add a dab of liquid highlighter above the arch of your eyebrows and blend over the outer part of your brow - simple!