BellaSugar

BellaSugar's Top Five Hand Cream Picks

BellaSugar — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:00:35 -0700

I'm a hand cream junkie, so it is with great pleasure and conviction that I present my top five favorites to you. Over the past year, I've tested many a cream in search of my favorite, and I have two. The first is June Jacobs Green Tea and Cucumber Hand Cream ($46) because of its quick rate of absorbency, non-greasy feeling and soothing scent.

The second is L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream ($25) because of its rich, thick texture and unparalleled soothing results. If there's one thing I've learned from my experiences, it's that the key to a good hand cream is shea butter, and the higher the content, the better. Below are three runners-up that I use regularly to soothe dry, chapped hands. What's your all-time favorite hand cream?

Kiehl's Unusually Rich - But Not Greasy At All - Hand Cream with SPF 10 ($15.50) takes the cake when it comes to consistency since it's not too thick and not too runny. It's also not greasy whatsoever and it's a great sports cream since it contains SPF 10.
Liz Earle Hand Repair ($28.50) smells like heaven and works wonders on dry cuticles. A little goes a long way, and there's also a travel tube available for $8.
Yu-Be Cream ($15) is a high quality Japanese yellow-tinted hand cream that moisturizes on a healing level. I highly recommend this fast-absorbing lotion - if you can handle the strong camphor scent.

Product Review: Yu-Be Cream

BellaSugar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:00:21 -0700

When I first heard about Yu-Be, I was dying to know what the hype was about. When I heard it had been used in expeditions of Mount Everest, I was sold. If a cream can prevent chapping at 30,000 feet, I needed to see what it would do for my hands down here at sea level.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Yu-Be is packaged in a retro-looking tube with Japanese writing on the outside. It made me feel as though I had my hands on the very same product that Yoshikiyo Nowatari concocted in his lab back in 1957. I am a tough critic when it comes to hand creams; I expect nothing less than mega-moisture without an ounce of greasiness. Luckily, Yu-Be can be described as just that. A dab of the yellow, salve-like cream was absorbed instantaneously into my hands, leaving them super soft without a trace of slipperiness.

The only drawback to this wonderful stuff is the overwhelming medicinal smell of camphor. But it makes me feel like it is actually healing my hands, and it dissipates within a minute or two of application. One thing's for sure: I'm keeping this little tube of Yu-Be.

See reader reviews of this product and add your own here!

Backstage Beauty: Mara Hoffman

BellaSugar — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:07:26 -0700

Last night, Fab and I were transported to the Tropics-if only mentally-at the Mara Hoffman show. While Fab chatted with the designer herself, I trotted backstage to chat with the hair and makeup teams. (Yep, that's the actual backstage area!)

While watching the models get done up, I chatted with hair stylist Sandra Yu. Her goal, she said, was to make the hair simultaneously sexy, raunchy, clean and beachy. I think she nailed it-the models' hair had lots of movement and looked natural. To get their locks shiny, Yu used Rusk weightless glossy hairspray and Rusk shine spray.

Andrea Helgadottir from MAC shared her inspiration for the makeup: glowy, very colorful, sexy, and just plain beautiful. She used corals, pinks and greens on eyes, a little gold shimmer on cheeks, all balanced by pink lips. The colors are part of MAC's forthcoming summer 2008 collection, so stay tuned. To browse a gallery, just click around below!

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Backstage Beauty: Alexandre Herchcovitch

BellaSugar — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:23:12 -0800

Fab is all delighted about the tote bag she picked up at Alexandre Herchcovitch. Me? I was just happy to see some keee-ray-zee color. Lead makeup artist Philippe Chansel steered faces away from subtlety, instead opting for a bold splash of color on eyes. Rusk Artistic Director Sandra Yu pulled models' hair back, then added a pop of color with silk sashes underneath the bun.

"The designer's inspiration was Bauhaus style and Pop Art, and the makeup's a little more Pop Art," Chansel told me backstage. "What I mean by Pop Art is graphic color, but also wanting to keep it feminine and not too cartoony. So the eye is where all of the attention is. To me, it means that we don't need to be afraid to wear color in the fall. Fall doesn't always mean navy blue, black, and brown eye shadow."

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To find out which products were used on the face, read more.

Chansel's team used MAC Micronized Airbrush foundation, but used it manually; since that product is available only to professionals, you might want to try Studio Mist instead. Lips were a soft nude pink, N3, from MAC's recent N collection. (It also happened to be the lipstick I wore this morning. Kismet!

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Beauty Mark It Results: Crazy-Spendy Luxury Beauty

BellaSugar — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:00:32 -0800

Most of us will get more mileage out of this list of under-$10 stocking stuffers than the results of this week's Beauty Mark It challenge. But still, it's fun to find out what you'd want to have if money weren't an issue. To be honest, I was amazed by some of the things readers found. Gildthatlily found this $5,000 bottle of Yu fragrance, which looks almost too sculptural to use. Check out the widget with everybody's picks here, and let me know: Do you find that it's fun to daydream about luxe items like this, or does it turn you off that some people spend that much money?

Backstage Beauty: Charlotte Ronson

BellaSugar — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:20:12 -0700

Last night at the Charlotte Ronson Spring 2008 Fashion Show, the beauty look was contemporary and sophisticated yet girlie-just like the designer's clothing.

Makeup was done by the famed and fancy British artist Charlie Green who used only Flirt! Cosmetics. Hair was styled by Sandra Yu, who also designed the hair for Mara Hoffman.

What do you think of this look?

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