My Favorite Mexican Beauty Products Were At Rite Aid This Whole Time!
You might think moving from Mexico City to New York--the Big Apple, concrete jungle where dreams are made of (English isn’t my first language, but I know that’s terrible grammar, ALICIA)--would mean...
View ArticleHow To Smell Deliciously Poisonous While Beautifying Your Skin
There’s something sexy about poison when you’re not being killed by it. Romeo and Juliet! Snow White! Poison rings are a totally alluring accessory, don’t you think? And Bell Biv DeVoe even wrote a...
View ArticleBedtime Beauty: 7 Products To Put On If You’re Not Getting It On
One of the best things about being single is not having to share the bed with another person. I sleep in awkward, outstretched positions, and my two dogs sleep on the bed, so I don’t even know where...
View ArticleWe'd Turn Into Crocodiles If It Weren't For This Cold-Weather Moisturizing...
Happy spring? We'd put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence, but there's snow slush on the ground. Snow means cold; cold means dry skin. See, we love what most people hate about summer:...
View ArticleA Coachella Sandstorm Skin Recovery Regimen, Because My Face Is Falling Off
Coachella 2013 was fantastic! Until the sandstorms began. As the unwashed, exhausted masses began their migration an undignified mile out of the polo grounds, the wind got crazy and kicked up a...
View ArticleI Finally Got My Perioral Dermatitis Under Control... I Think
Perioral dermatitis is a bummer. I’ll let WebMD explain. I mean, trying to take $20 out of the ATM when you only have $19 in your account is a bummer (you could have gotten eight two-for-one happy hour...
View ArticleIf The Somme Institute Is A Cult, Consider Me Recruited
A couple of weeks ago, time stood still. I saw the UPS box, and I knew these must be full-size samples. Why would they send a box this size for just a travel kit? My heart was pounding, my palms...
View ArticleThe Mother Of All Hot Mamas: A Bebe Buell Interview & Makeup Tutorial
The divine Bebe Buell is one of my personal goddesses. I've read her book, Rebel Heart, about 15 times. Yes, Bebe is Liv Tyler's mama, but she's also an icon in her own right. She's a rocker currently...
View ArticleHow I Lightened Up The Stupid Marks My Acne Left Behind
Before I say anything else can we talk about how much I love you all to death? You all literally and absolutely made my week after being so nice about my return to over-sharing and enthusiasm for face...
View ArticleDon’t Try This At Home: Making 'Tinted Moisturizer' With Chocolate And Lotion
A few weeks ago, Caroline wrote a great article about the virtues of using cocoa powder as a bronzer for pale skin. It struck me as a perfect eco-friendly alternative to store-bought bronzers, and for...
View ArticleBeauty Tips From My Favorite Esthetician (My Mom)
Many of us learn about how to take care of ourselves by watching our mothers, consciously or not. When I was growing up, my mom was an esthetician, so I got to see the ins and outs of the beauty world...
View ArticleHow To Give Yourself A Facial When You're Too Broke To Go To The Spa
A couple of you lovelies commented on my mom beauty advice article that you would like to know how exactly to give yourselves at home facials. I’d love nothing more than to tell you exactly how to do...
View ArticleCystic Acne: My 3 Must-Follow Rules For Keeping It Under Control
When I was 14, I was super-pissed off at my skin: awful, inflamed cysts seemed to pop up every day, despite all the pills and topical creams I was using. One very sad and crazy evening, I took a sewing...
View ArticleI Am Officially The Budget Jennifer Lopez
Remember when I was all like, “Lol my skin is perfect”? Yah well that was a fun few weeks! And then, without getting too gory, it wasn’t so fun! I think what really kicked off my few months of...
View ArticleTwo New Peptide Products From The Brand We Can't Stop Talking About
I feel like I'm the only xoVainer who hasn't written about Mario Badescu products. Annie has (a kabillion times), Hannah has, Faz has, Beth has, Nicole has, Melanie has... OK, so it's safe to say that...
View ArticleBlotting Paper Is Boring: 3 Smart New Spins On Oil-Absorbing Sheets
Am I the only one who puts a pack of blotting papers in her bag and then immediately forgets about it? I could be looking at my reflection in a compact and thinking, "Ugh, shiny," and a mental block...
View ArticleMy Top Products Picks For Oily/Combination Skin
There's no denying Hannah's on-point, glorious skin. In the flesh, it is as luminous as in her photos. But since her skin type falls on the dryer side, I thought I'd also do a roundup for us...
View ArticleWhy I Finally Chose A High-End Moisturizer Over My Drugstore Staples
I have always been loyal to drugstore products. Never mind the fact that it may mostly be because they’re all I can afford; they work for me, plain and simple. Why would I ever want to spend extra...
View ArticleAll xoVain Wants For Christmas Is Pretty Much Every Beauty Product Ever
I’m going to keep this intro short because this is going to be a long one. Basically, the holidays are fast approaching, and I’m busy spending all my money on presents for my parents, my SEVEN...
View ArticleHow To Make Your Small Boobs Look So Very Awesome
I’ve officially declared 2014 my Year of Cleavage.For a while, I was kind of anti-cleavage and I’m not here to pretend it was for any reason other than the fact that I had no cleavage to speak of until...
View ArticleHow I Rescued My Skin, Nails And Hair From The Effects Of Stress
During the months leading up to my big move to New York last fall, I was very stressed out about money, my job, getting a new job and a breakup. It was a transition time. And the funny thing is that...
View Article7 Heavy-Duty Moisturizers That Live Up To Their Promises
Remember when I fell in love with the costly Dr. Jart+ moisturizer a few months ago? It was my first foray outside of the world of drugstore products, and more importantly, it was my first step towards...
View ArticleUnplanned Sleepover? Keep These Products In Your Bag For Stress-Free Couch...
I have a habit of falling asleep at other people's houses. Usually, it's because the subways in Toronto stop running around 1:30 AM, and the cabs are too expensive. If someone's got a free couch, and...
View ArticleHow I Keep My Ever-Changing Combination Skin Under Control
We all have a skin type, but it's not always so clear what that type is. We can be dry in the cheeks but oily on the nose, oily on our foreheads but dry everywhere else, and so on. Our skin can and...
View ArticleElizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Got Felt Up By Midas
When a product achieves cult status, it is generally for one of two reasons: a) it’s really old or b) it really works. I jumped on the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream boat late in the game. I mean, I...
View ArticleWinter Skin Care: 5 Time-Tested Face Creams
Face creams can be credited as the savior and culprit of most of facial ailments. When they’re good, they’re very good, and when they’re bad, they're UNFORGIVABLE. Let's focus on the positive, though,...
View ArticleSkinActives Lets You Dupe Your Favorite Skin Care Products
Like my momma always said, “If you want something done right, you better take care of it yourself.” But why do anything when you can let your momma--who always gets everything right--do it? My mother...
View ArticlePropolis: Why You Need to Get Some Bee Glue on Your Face
The first time I ever used propolis was during a trying time in my health. I was receiving treatment for a viral issue that was sucking my immune system dry. A naturopath friend recommended...
View ArticleI Tried January Jones' Epic Skincare Regimen. Am I Perfect Yet?
A while back, Mad Men star January Jones revealed something all of us wanted to know: her skincare routine. It came after she posted a photo of her face sans makeup, and it made me wonder if these...
View ArticleThe Body Shop's New 'Oils of Life' and 'Spa of the World' Lines are A+
Gather round, children. Today I'm dishing on two new lines that, in my opinion, qualify as luxury, but they come without the soaring, lofty price tags you may expect because they're from The Body...
View ArticleThe 5 Products That Have Made Belif My Favorite All-Natural Korean Beauty Brand
There are loads (seriously, LOADS) of Korean skincare brands out there, lots of which offer similar products, but each one often has a star product of its own. After all, in a particularly rabid beauty...
View Article4 Gel-Creams That Intensely Moisturize Without a Gross, Greasy Finish
I can safely say that using gel-creams during the day is giving me all the moisture I need, and I say that as someone who loves dousing her entire body in argan oil. I honestly don’t care about looking...
View Article14 Winter Solstice Gifts for the Pagan Princess in Your Life
Christmas is fun, but some of my witch friends and I always joke that we end up giving gifts before the Solstice to mark that instead. The irony of carrying out a materialistic tradition in the name of...
View ArticleTo Wear Makeup to the Gym or Not to Wear Makeup to the Gym... Plus COTW!
I had a different topic lined up for this week, but it would have required putting on makeup so that I could take a nice picture of myself. (I know that you, our lovely readers, wouldn't judge my...
View ArticleI Asked the Pros if Probiotics Could Really Make a Difference in My Skin
When it comes to caring for my skin, I’ll try just about anything to attempt to keep my skin looking youthful. I don't flinch at the thought of 24k gold products. Products with snail juice? You betcha....
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