Fabulous Over Forty – Where Beauty Is Ageless

Reader Gigi was chosen as the winner of Erno Laszlo Total Skin Revitalizer.  Thanks for all who entered!

Fab Over 40 has a fabulous giveway, compliments of Erno Laszlo

If you’ve been a reader of this blog for some time, you know that I am a fan of Erno Laszlo products.  It’s one of those classic skin care lines that have been around for many years and they really don’t disappoint in whatever I use.

Add the Total Skin Revitalizer to the continued list of wonderful products.   I’ve been using this for nearly a few months now and love how soft it makes my skin feel.  I also love the versatility of it.   It’s a hydrating serum that is for all skin types, but you may wonder what I mean by that since a dry skinned person is definitely not the same as oily.

Well, whether oily or dry you still need moisture, but not quite so much as when you are oily.   For example, when I started using this the weather was cooler and drier and so my skin was much drier than it is now.   I would apply this after I cleanse my face and before adding another layer of moisturizer.   Now that summer weather has kicked in fully and it’s warmer and more humid, my skin has definitely turned oilier.   Now I can just use this without putting that extra layer of moisturizer on top of it during the day.  At night I’m still using the extra layer of moisturizer.   It leaves my face smooth and hydrated without getting oily.   It helps to keep the skin plumped so wrinkles and fine lines are not so pronounced.

The weight of it is what I’d say as medium weight – not runny, but about the weight of a light lotion.   It’s lightly fragranced, but on me the scent disappears quickly and it dries very quickly so there is no feeling of your skin being coated.  It retails for $75.

If are from the US (sorry readers from other countries) and would like an opportunity to win this, just enter your name in the comments by Friday, June 11 at 5:00 p.m. CST.  One lucky winner will be chosen by random.org.    I also have this giveaway listed at Free!Grechen – be sure to check out that site for great giveaways!

Exfoliating your skin is important for several reasons.   Just don’t over-do it.  You should not be exfoliating your skin more than 2 or 3 times a week.   I personally only exfoliate twice a week.

One exfoliator that I really like and use once a week is this Erno Laszlo C-Peel.   It’s a 2 step process that is very easy to use.    First, take the exfoliating product Phase 1 Peel which is in the jar, and rub it on your face in a circular motion for about 3 minutes.   It’s a very bright yellow color and works to remove all the dead skin cells, but still leaves your skin moisturized. It’s not drying or harsh like some exfoliators are.   Then when you’ve worked that around your face take 2-3 drops of the Phase 2 Activator and put that over your face on top of the exfoliator that is already on your face.   I should inform you that the activator does have a smell to it, but after the first few seconds you don’t smell it any longer.

You will feel a slight warming sensation.   It’s never irritated my skin or felt like it was burning, just a short moment of warmth.   Then rinse off and you have incredibly soft skin! 

The C-Peel product really is twofold.   Not just for exfoliation, which is good for encouraging collagen production and making your skin super soft, but it also helps with skin discolorations and Vitamin C is important in building up those skin prevention defenses against sun damage and other environmental damages.     I really like this C-Peel not only because of how incredibly soft my skin feels after using it, but the fact that it’s helping with discoloration and future damage is very important to me. 

When this is gone, I’ll definitely be restocking my C-Peel.

One area on the face that many people do not think of as showing age is the lips.   Our lips thin as we age, they show fine lines, especially if you smoke, and they lose that general fullness we had in our youth.   Keeping your lips moist is important, but there are several lip products I like from general moisturizers to treatments that help keep the lips smooth and youthful looking.

1.  Korres Lip Butters - typically I’m not one for pots of any lip product, but I’m willing to put that ick factor aside and use these Lip Butters.   They make your lips feel so yummy and soft, come in a few select shades and a clear.  They are made with natural products like shea butter and rice wax for holding in the moisture to keep your lips super soft.  $10

2.  Erno Laszlo TranspHuse Lip pHixative - The rollerball application lets the product glide smoothly over your lips.   This anti-aging lip plumper helps to keep the lines at bay and the fullness in.  Now granted, you won’t get Angelina Jolie lips from this but it helps to keep the lips you have looking great.  This is not a moisturizer, but a treatment.   Apply a moisturizer after this has settled in, and your moisturizer goes on over smoothly.  $50

3.  Jane Iredale LipDrink SPF15 -  When I was on vacation recently, I tried to find a lip moisturizer that had SPF that was higher than a 4.   I ran across this LipDrink with SPF 15 and keep a tube around all the time.   It’s super moisturizing, and contains macadamia nut oil, green tea extract along with  vitamins E & C.  $11.

4.  Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment - Available also in a Rose tint, and both have SPF 15.   Super creamy and moisturizing, I haven’t met a person who has used one of these that doesn’t absolutely love them!  Made with sweet and tart blackcurrent oils, grapeseed polyphenols and Vitamins A, C & E.  The non rose tint one is actually very lemony flavored.  $22.50

5.  Lisa Hoffman Beauty Spa Facial Lip Moisturizer - When a blogger recently threw the question out to other bloggers “what’s your favorite lip product?” this LHB Lip Moisturizer was the #1 answer by beauty bloggers as their favorite.   It’s creamy texture cushions the lips with softness and moisture.  It contains Vitamins A, C & E, olive, sweet almond and avocado oils making the lips super soft.  $34.50

Is a bar of soap the best way to wash your face?   I’ve always heard to never use a bar of soap on your face.  They’re supposedly drying, make your skin easily irritated, strip your skin of the good nutrients.   So to be honest, I was actually hesitant to give this Erno Laszlo Blue Firmarine Treatment Bar a try.  But I did anyway.

And I was pleasantly surprised!  

This bar has the texture of a glycerin bar, creates a lot of lather and it cleans my face exceptionally well.  After washing with this and rinsing I mistakenly took my WHITE towel and dried my face.   As soon as I had done that, I thought – oh no!  There goes my white towel with makeup on it.   But no!   My white towel didn’t have a speck of left over makeup on it, it was actually spotless.   Then I waited several minutes before applying the remainder of my nighttime ritual skin care, I wanted to see if my skin felt dry.   No again.   My skin felt clean, but not dried out, just smooth.   I have been using this treatment bar for several weeks and my skin still doesn’t feel dried out like I had originally expected.   At $39 the bar is not inexpensive, but it lasts FOREVER!   Like I said, I have been using this for several weeks and it doesn’t look like I’ve used any of the bar.

Here’s what the company says about the treatment bar:

It’s unique delivery system releases ingredients gradually over time to ensure activity long after cleansing strengthening skin’s barrier and allowing visibly firmer, smoother skin.  Spirulina Maxima and Algae Extract to firm skin by helping cell renewal and improving skin texture.  Vitamins C & E to provide long lasting anti-oxidant protection.  Glycerin Sorbitol and Palm Kernel to help hydration and retain moisture by binding water to the skin.

Erno Laszlo has a new product coming out November 1st – as I choke saying November 1st (where has the year gone!).    Now I’ve tried several Erno Laszlo products in the past and liked them, but this one has to be my favorite of the brand so far.

The package is entirely different from the regular line – it’s a water blue toned jar that is designed, I suppose, to remind you of the marine based ingredients in the product and the lid is also a shiny silver.  Far different than their typical black and white packaging.  And as you’ll see below – the moisturizer itself has a blue tint to it.

This new moisturizer is targeted at the 30+ age group, and is for slightly dry to slightly oily skin.   I would agree with that as it’s not too heavy of a cream but a nice creamy texture that glides on and soaks in quickly, so it is a beautiful weight and texture to apply makeup over.

I felt like this new cream had a slight cooling effect on my face, which I can’t tell if it’s the instant firming effect that the company claims or not.   I know I like the feeling though, as some firming creams feel tight and drying – this however does not.  It feels like a fresh, almost dare I say, tingly feeling that made my skin feel cooling, possibly firm and at 5:30 a.m. when I apply it – at the risk of sounding corny my skin felt “awake”. 

I love the fact that it has SPF 30, a nice amount for coverage – and yes, in the winter you still need SPF!   But sometimes when a product has that high of an SPF your skin feels coated and you have to wait a long time for it to absorb before you can apply makeup.  Not the case with this one. 

The key bio-marine ingredient is Spirulina Maxima, which the company has all this science and technology behind it to say it feeds new collagen growth and enhances firmness and bounce and many other scientific claims.   I can’t tell you if  those claims are true or not as I’m not a scientist on the research team!   But I do know that getting collagen to grow and be revitalized is an important factor in keeping your skin youthful looking.  

Would I recommend this new Laszlo Blue Firmarine SPF 30?   For me, absolutely.   It comes with a steep price tag of $195 jar, which was given to me to test and report on.   But I am a firm believer that good skincare is better than, and cheaper than fillers and injections. 

Available at Erno Laszlo online and Erno Laszlo counters at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks and Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Holt Renfrew.

Could it possibly be that summer is FINALLY here?  Even though it’s not officially summer till next week, we’ve had an unusally cool late spring here – last week I even turned the furnace on for a day!   But now that it’s nice out, all I pay attention to is my pasty white skin and especially my pasty white face.

Oh, I am OK with embracing my glaring white skin – at times.   Unfortunately I was not blessed with my father’s very dark skin.  Sometimes I just need some color, desperately.

So I want to share with you throughout the remaining month of June some great bronzers that are worth taking a look at.

This Erno Laszlo Multi-pHase Bronzer is a great multi-shade dimentional bronzer.   It is not too golden, not too pink and not too deep bronze that someone as fair skinned as me couldn’t use it.   There are 5 shades varying from a creamy golden to a deep bronze shade so it’s able to work with many skin tones.   No muddiness on pale skin, and I used it on my sister who has been tanning – (tsk, tsk, tsk) and it gave her a nice warm glow.

Then top your cheeks with this Multi-pHase Blusher, a multi-shade-dimentional blush.   Not too pink not too mauve, not too peach.   Again the 5 varying shades of color lets your blush brush pick up all the shades and offers a nice flush to your cheeks without them screaming a specific color.

Each of the bronzer and the blusher are $38.