Eye Plus and Glorious Gold – April Product Features 2011

I have a friend, Mike Taylor, who inspires me with his generosity and imagination. He is a humanitarian, philanthropist, and he just started a company and completely new concept called Responsible Referrals – check it out!

It is in this spirit of service that I bring you, my valued clients, these specials, called Rewards. I hope you take advantage of these Monthly Specials, because not only are they each specially chosen by me for you, but they earn you free spa services!

This month’s focus is on the eyes and how to care for the delicate tissue around them.

Eye Plus Lotion is a powerful blend of technologically advanced ingredients. This lightweight lotion helps prevent the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and other signs of aging around the delicate eye area. Eye Plus has a multi-tasking formula that helps moisturize, condition, re-plump, and relieve puffiness.

Key ingredients: Anise Oil (Fennel) – which soothes, moisturizes, and conditions – and Vitamin E to  moisturize and add antioxidant protection

Glorious Gold is simply one of the best products offered by Tu’eL Skin Care.  It offers a wide range of solutions to various skin conditions. This lightweight gel is perfect for mature skin that needs to look smoother, more luminous, and more refreshed. It is specially formulated to soften the appearance of fine lines, while firming skin, and is a perfect day and nighttime treatment. Glorious Gold visibly reduces dark spots, age spots, and hyper-pigmentation due to sun damage, past acne, and scarring. It also minimizes darkness around the eyes, helping to restore a brighter radiance. The antioxidants in the formula fight free radicals to reduce the signs of aging and protect against future wrinkling. Glorious Gold can be used on all skin types and conditions.

Key ingredients: Arbutin, Bearberry, Licorice, and Blackberry (to lighten discolored skin), Wild Thyme and Lupin Extract (for firming and toning), Ginkgo Biloba Extract (to increase circulation, fight free radicals, and improve oil production), and Hyaluronic Acid (underwear ingredient!) for superior hydration

If you’re new to Star Brows, you may not know about The Product Feature or Rewards yet. To put it simply, 10% of all your product purchases, all the time, go toward free Service Enhancements, like Raindrop Therapy, Lash Tint, Chemical Peels, or Star Massage.

When a product is the Monthly Feature, however, you’ll get 20% back in Rewards! This month’s feature, Eye Plus Lotion, is $43. That means $9 toward a service Enhancement. Glorious Gold Eye and Lip Gel, which is $80, give you $16 in Rewards!

See you at the new spa!

Clear-it and Peeling Cream – February Product Features 2011

The Star Brows Blog  Has Moved Please Visit this Link for the Post on the New Site. 

Valentine’s Day and Brazilian Waxing inspired February’s Monthly Product Features: Peeling Cream and Clear-It.

If you’ve never tried Brazilian, or Bikini Waxing, now is a great time. The Product Features this month are the after-care for these services to help avoid those pesky bumps and ingrown hairs.

I use the same Berins French Depilatory Wax for sensitive body parts that I use for brows. If you’ve had a bad experience using strip wax, you’ll be amazed at the difference. Check out the YouTube testimonial a client did for body waxing at Star Brows.

The special this month, Peeling Cream by Tu’el, is a great exfoliant for the face, as well.  It contains Lactic Acid (an alpha hydroxy acid or AHA), so it doesn’t just clear surface debris but goes gently and deeply into the cell wall to exfoliate.

It also contains Tea Tree and Lemon Grass Oils to disinfect naturally, as well as Chamomile Extract to calm and sooth.

Clear-it by Tu’el is a non-drying blemish control cream that helps keep hair follicles healthy after shaving or waxing. The active ingredient is Colloidal Sulphur. It also contains Allantoin for calming and soothing and Lemon Oil for disinfecting.

If you’re new to Star Brows, you may not know about The Product Feature or Rewards yet. To put it simply, 10% of all your product purchases, all the time, go toward free Service Enhancements, like Raindrop Therapy, Lash Tint, Chemical Peels, or Star Massage.

When a product is the Monthly Feature, however, you’ll get 20% back in Rewards! This month’s feature, Peeling Cream, is $34. That means $7 toward a service Enhancement. Clear-It, which is $39, gives you $8 in Rewards.

See you at the spa!

My 4 Favorite Bodycare Products for Dry Winter Skin

The Star Brows Blog  Has Moved Please Visit this Link for the Post on the New Site. 

This time of year, it gets dark so early and has been so cold lately – even in California! I just want to snuggle up in my PJs and one of the afghans mom made me and read a book as soon as I get home from work.

But before “I in my cap settle down for a long winter’s nap,” I need to get my bedtime beauty rituals done.

You know the drill. My dad used to call it “wash, brush, and comb”! I wish it were that fast and easy, but I do love being a woman…in the beauty business. Still, as I’ve said before, “Faut souffrir pour être belle”:  One must suffer to be beautiful.

Here are my 4 bootylicious bodycare favorites;

1. De-Tox Bath Gel by Tu’el is a refreshing, stimulating eucalyptus-scented gel for bath and shower that tones, cleanses, and exfoliates skin tissue. It’s invigorating, fresh, and very “spa feeling”.

2. Hydrating  Body Tonic by Tu’el is a toning liquid that helps retain your body’s natural moisture and improves skin elasticity. It’s essential to capture and retain your own body’s natural moisture after a dehydrating hot shower or bath.

3. Hempz Body Lotion by Supre is enriched with 100% Pure Organic Hemp Seed Oil and blended with natural extracts to provide dramatic skin hydration and nourishment and help improve the health and condition of skin. Use this over Hydrating Body Tonic. Men and women like the smell too – choose from Pomegranate or Original.

4. Smooth by OPI is a deep-penetrating, alpha hydroxy acid treatment for the feet that softens calluses while you sleep.

Good bye dry winter skin!

See you at the spa!

New Years Eve Makeup 2011!

Unfortunately my “pre-bash massage” was just cancelled – dang 😦 – so I’m writing an NYE makeup post instead!

Happy New Year’s party preparations to all of you! I’m getting ready for The Golden Era event at my father’s winery. I want to look my best, and I want you to look your best too – even if you’re not planning to go out for NYE! Here are eight steps to a flawless look:

1. Exfoliate – Perfect makeup requires well-tended skin. A week to a couple of days before the big night start doing masks, peels, and scrubs. The Cleansing Oil is also an excellent way to polish, exfoliate, and brighten your skin: Do a 20-minute massage with it instead of the normal quick cleanse. (Did you know the Cleansing Oil takes off makeup really well? Buh-bye makeup dissolver.)

Of course, hopefully you have consulted a skincare professional about what products are best for your skin. If you trust your exfoliant not to cause a breakout or irritate your skin, using one even the night before will help your skin look radiant.

My picks: Gyco-A Gel, Crystal C Serum and Peeling Cream. Just so happens two of these are January’s Product Feature with Double Rewards!

2. Moisturize – Those of you who read my blog regularly know that when you discipline the skin, you also need to use plenty of TLC. Moisturize the entire face, neck, and décolleté, as well as the eye area. Even oily and acne-prone skin types need moisturizer. Your makeup will look so much better if your skin is well hydrated.

My picks: Hy-Drate, Vitamin Cream, Chamomile, Eye Plus Cream, Lipo-Gen.

3. Prime – Every great artist knows that preparing the canvas is key. Getting the skin ready for the application of cosmetics makes the finished product look so much better. Absorb Oil Control is perfect for oily and acne-prone skin: It is an oil controller and hydrator in one. Mineral Primer will fill in the fine lines and imperfections and make your foundation last. Use Concealer around the eye area.

4. Apply Foundation – Mineral Makeup is my favorite for your base. Use a small brush for extra coverage in the areas that need it. Use a darker color to contour, like the hollows of your cheeks or the sides of your nose. Contour the eyes with shades of brown, especially if you have droopy lids. (Remember: dark recedes, light brings forward.) Highlighter under the brow bone accentuates the arch. I carry BDB Duo Concealer: it’s a pencil with concealer on one end and highlighter on the other – another “twofer”!

5. Add Color – Glitter (small particles, used sparingly) is a hot look for NYE. Aging skin doesn’t do well with glitter though. I personally like the Youngblood Mineral Makeup in the color Sunglow for sparkle and pop. Blush should be applied to the apple of the cheek only if you have a very thin and long face, so you can create width. If your face is round, apply blush on the cheek starting at the edge of the iris and swooping up to the temples and into the hairline.

Shadow color can be added next. Remember: if you are playing up the eyes, go easy on the lips, and vice versa.

6. Lashes – Right now I am playing with and loving LashSense One Step by SeneGence. It is a lash growth and conditioning product and mascara. And of course I must have my beloved

Blackout Mineral Mascara by Youngblood. I always use two mascaras. I find I get the best lashes that way. Lash Primer is also excellent for extra volume and conditioning. For those of us who need to curl our lashes, I like the MAC curler best.

7. Lips – Bright and bold is on trend for both NYE and spring 2011. You know I am partial to LipSense long-lasting lipcolor!  I’ll be wearing Plum as a base, then Brick, and the top coat will be Neutral. Because this lipcolor is applied in 3 coats, I played on my hand to find a color that matched my shoes. (Check them out: They are comfy with leather uppers – Ross!) You can create any color you want when you have the basic Lipsense colors.

As an alternative, I like recommending a lip pencil and plumping colored gloss – both by Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics.

8. Eyebrows – Getting the right shape requires professional help – at least to get you started, at best for maintenance. You’re not stuck with the eyebrows you have: You can create the perfect brows at home.  How? If you have thinning brows, start using Brow Boost right away. All the Billion Dollar Brows products rock! Cosmetics for creating the perfect eyebrows – like pencils, powders, and brow-setting gel – will transform blah brows to bomb brows!

See you at the spa!

Hempz Body Lotion – December Product Feature 2010

I came up with the Product Feature for this month because it makes a great gift – and you get spa service dollars for yourself! Men and women alike love this lotion. Among beauty professionals, it is the biggest selling body lotion on the market to date.

Introducing Hempz Body Lotion: this herbal body moisturizer is enriched with 100% Pure Organic Hemp Seed Oil and blended with natural extracts to provide dramatic skin hydration and nourishment to help improve the health and condition of skin.

Hemp seed oil is one of nature’s richest sources of essential fatty acids and key amino acids, containing natural proteins, vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals vital for healthy skin conditioning.

I’ve carried Hempz Original Lotion for many years; you are guaranteed to love it. 17 oz. pump $23

At Christmas I also carry the stocking-stuffer size, it’s darling and oh so purse-sized.;) 2.5 oz. $4.50

If you’re new to Star Brows, you may not know about The Product Feature or Rewards yet. To put it simply, 10% of all of your product purchases go toward free

Service Enhancements , like Raindrop Therapy, Deep Muscle Work, Chemical Peels, or Star Massage.

When the product is the Monthly Feature, you’ll get a whopping 20% back in Rewards! This month’s feature, Hempz Body Lotion, is $23 – that means $5 toward a free service Enhancement. Hurry though, supplies are limited.

See you at the spa!

Glorious Gold Eye and Lip Gel

Tu’el’s Glorious Gold™ Eye & Lip Gel by Eva’s Esthetics

This is a light fragrance-free gel that diminishes dark circles, improves circulation, moisturizes, and reduces wrinkles around the eyes and lips. The Bearberry, Licorice and Blackberry are natural lighteners, so you can also spot-treat your age or sun spots.

Glorious Gold is formulated for aging skin, I suggest Eye Plus if you are under 30. 😉 Which ever product you choose, you NEED to use something special for the delicate skin around the eyes.

I suggest Hy-Drate first (maybe instead of “underwear” we should call this a “foundational garment”) lol, apply this as close to the eye as you feel comfortable, then Glorious Gold or Eye Plus Lotion.

What’s in it?

Purified Water, Glycerin, Arbutin, Wild Thyme Extract, Lupin Extract, Bearberry Extract, Blackberry Extract, Licorice Extract, Ginko Biloba Extract, Chamomile Extract, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Hyaluronic Acid, Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E), Polysorbate 20, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Propylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate. 1oz. $80

See you at the spa!

October Product Feature 2010

I am so excited to bring you this month’s special Product Feature. (It’s a 2-fer!)  Tu’el’s Cleansing Oils and Herbalizers and the new Travel Pack, which includes the Tu’el cleansing system for A.M. and P.M.,  Hy-Drate,  (both in 1 oz. bottles), a sample of Peeling Cream and a sample of the appropriate evening moisturizer for your skin-type.

These products are a delight to use  because they bring “spa” home to you. I don’t choose to carry products at Star Brows on performance alone. I want to use skincare that inspires me, works, is as close to “natural” as possible, is a good value and is enjoyable to use.

Taking care of your skin is sometimes perceived as drudgery, but personal care can be renewing. It’s simply a matter of perspective. If you are in the former camp, are you open to thinking about skincare in a new way?

Last month we launched Star Brow’s Rewards and I couldn’t keep September’s feature, Youngblood’s Pressed Mineral Compacts, on the shelves! I ended up happily doing  rain checks!

I’m so glad you’re all enjoying the new Rewards perks.  I appreciate all of you!

The beautiful model in this picture is a friend and client,  Amanda De Bello. She brings the customer testimonial for this month’s feature:

“Linda was kind enough to answer many of my questions by simply “trying out” Tu’el products on my face, which ended in a purchase I do not regret.  The Cleansing Oil is such a relief to my skin (it even gently removes makeup!) & I can feel my face literally getting softer each day I use it.  The Herbalizer is like nothing I’ve ever tried before; my skin seems to “drink it up” and the herbs smell so good! I have been known to spend money on high quality, big name products, and honestly just wasn’t getting the results I was happy with. What I realized is that previously I was willing to spend whatever it took to “fix” what damage was done to my skin–and now I am on a preventive path to consistent care and nurturing my skin daily with the entire Tu’el cleansing system. Thank you Star Brows!”

The Product Feature(s) of the month give you Double Rewards. The Cleansing Oil and Herbalizer are each in 4 oz sizes and are $50 for the set. The Travel Pack (seen right)  is $48. That’s $5 in Star Brows Rewards regularly, but ($10 this month).  And who doesn’t love FREE spa services?

And as dear old dad says, “I didn’t just save $10, I MADE $10!”

As many of you know, I won an award for a new treatment called Star Massage which utilizes the Tu’el Hydrophilic Cleansing Oil System.  This link will take you to the YouTube I produced–as well as to Tu’el’s founder Lori Nestori’s YouTube–on the Oil and Herbalizer cleansing system.

See you at the spa!

Glyco-A Gel

Tu’el brings another wonderful product. This time it’s a 10% Glycolic Acid in a 3.5 PH gel base. It is a very balanced alpha hydroxy acid or AHA.

This alpha hydroxy acid gel will gently increase surface exfoliation, help smooth skin surface and aide in product absorption.

Used by themselves, AHAs are drying, so it is essential to use a deeply penetrating humectant product like

Hy-Drate (rich in hyaluronic acid) in conjunction with this product.

Glycolic acid is also used to improve the skin’s appearance and texture. It may reduce wrinkles, acne scarring, hyperpigmentation and improve many other skin conditions, including actinic keratosis, hyperkeratosis, and seborrheic keratosis.

Once applied, glycolic acid reacts with the upper layer of the skin, weakening the binding properties of the lipids that hold the dead skin cells together. This allows the skin to be exfoliated, exposing live skin cells.

What’s in it?

Aqua (Purified Water), Glycolic Acid, Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Extract, Panthenol, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Sodium Hydroxide, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate. 2 oz. $31

See you at the spa!

Going to the Beach? Tips to Save Your Skin.

It’s a fact: The Ocean is one big sun reflector. You’re more at risk for sunburns and sun damage on the shore than anywhere else.

Here are my expert tips to keep your skin safe this summer:

• Discontinue use of AHA’s: Using exfoliants regularly (such as Glycolic Acid) have been shown to increase sun sensitivity by 45 percent. It’s best to discontinue use of AHA’s seven days prior to the beach.
• Sunscreen: It’s not the SPF number that is as important, it is how often and generously you apply.  When it comes to SPF, I prefer SPF 30 reapplied as often as every hour.

My pick: Tu’el Oil Free Protection SPF 30. It’s an oil-free, lightweight full spectrum sun block for oily or impure skin or for those in hot and/or humid climates. 3 oz. $22

It contains a key moisturizing ingredient, Sodium Hyaluronate as well as nourishing Cucumber Extract, Calendula Extract, Chamomile Extract, Green Tea

• Be aware of oily skinned areas: The areas of your face where you have larger pores will always produce more oils.  These natural oils can breakdown sunscreens more quickly, so pay attention and reapply more often.  For example, the nose area acts as a natural reflectant.  Pay attention to your nose, or any area, that is getting shiny…
• Apply sunscreen in forgotten areas: hairline, ears, tops of feet, toes, eyelids.
• Don’t think you are safe in the shade: You still get sun under an umbrella, especially by the ocean. Because the water reflects light you still need to apply and re-apply sunscreen.
• Wear a hat and sunglasses: If the goal is to help protect your skin from premature aging, a hat and sunglasses can be the extra coverage you need for your face.
• Got acne? Go for a swim: The salt in the ocean water helps destroy bacteria, which can clear up your breakouts.
• Rinse off the saltwater: The same water that is destroying bacteria is also very dehydrated (great for blemishes, not for dry skin). Make sure to rinse off before leaving beach.
• Wear mineral makeup: For extra protection, Youngblood mineral powders has an SPF protecting factor and will give you a finished look without being too heavy for the beach.

What if you applied sunscreen but still got sunburn? The most common problems are:

• Too little sunscreen applied
• Not applied every hour for intense exposure
• Not the right formulation

Sunscreens wear off, sweat off and wash off.  Applying 20 minutes before exposure, liberally and often makes all the difference.  If you want to look young, avoid the sun. A little sun means a little damage; a lot of sun means a lot of damage.

Click here if you want to learn more about sun protection.

Summer means fun at the beach – relax and enjoy but be safe with your skin!

See you at the spa!

Oil Free Essential Protection SPF 30

Tu’el Oil Free Essential Protection SPF 30

An oil-free, lightweight full spectrum sun block especially for oily or impure skin or for those in hot and/or humid climates. 3 oz. $22

SPF 30 can be worn all day, but is especially important when outside for prolonged periods, or near water.

Some of the ingredients include:

Chamomile Extract: Soothing, calming and  assists in healing.

Green Tea Extract: Powerful antioxidant, free radical scavenger and anti irritant.

Aloe Extract: Soothes and protects.

Sodium Hyaluronate: It is the cosmetic grade of Hyaluronic Acid. Extremely humectant, binds up to 1000 times it’s weight in water, supports collagen and elastin in the dermis where wrinkles form.

People are often confused about sunscreen Sun Protection Factor formulations. Here is what is in this one:

• Octyl Methoxycinnamate – UVB protection, waterproof, reduces the appearance of scars and is an organic compound.

• Benzophenone 3 – It is an organic compound, broad spectrum protection photosynthesizing short wave UVA  and absorbs rays in the upper UVB, lower UVB range, where primary sundamage – i.e. burning, skin cancer and aging occur.

• Octyl Salicylate – Adds emollient properties, is an organic compound and absorbs UVB.

• Titanium Dioxide – Utra Violet physical block found naturally.

• Avobenzone – Active, “broad spectrum” (this is an important key phrase, watch for it on labels) protection. It’s an organic sunscreen agent that has the ability to absorb ultraviolet light over a wide range of wavelengths.

See you at the spa!