For the longest time, African-American women (and all women who wanted the completely bone straight look) struggled with a myriad of relaxer products on the market that never did the job quite right. Either it over-processed the hair, making it fall out in the process, or under-processed the hair leaving clumps of straight and curly hair all over the place.

Another issue was working with the harmful chemicals in delicate hair. I won’t get into the process, but relaxers can be a dangerous thing for hair. To get the right look, you’d have to go your local salon, and even then, they could screw it up. You could get it bone straight using the Japanese technique, but that could get very expensive.

Forget about applying it yourself at home.

Someone at Phyto must have been listening to our problems. Really listening. I have PERSONALLY tried the Phyto Phytospecific Phytorelaxer Index 1 - Delicate/Thin Hair and it works.

It really really works.

It uses a natural egg and soy complex to gently straighten your hair. It doesn’t have any lye and it doesn’t irritate the scalp.

Directions on the package must be followed TO THE LETTER. You will love the results. Send me an e-mail and tell me what you think.

Item below is for delicate hair:

Phyto Phytospecific Phytorelaxer Index 1 - Delicate/Thin Hair

Item below is for normal, thick hair:

Phyto Phytospecific Phytorelaxer Index 2 - Normal, Thick, Coarse Hair Phytospecific

They are both available for $ 60 at Sephora.com

As a resident oily-skinned blogger, I recently tried Benefit Dr. Feelgood, which promised to “de-shine.” It seemed to be kind of like those makeup primers we’re reading so much about, so I thought I’d give it a go.

More like a no-go. The package said to apply on bare skin or over makeup (bare skin for work? haha) I was applying it over makeup… If I was applying it at all. It was hard to tell since the product is invisible and the provided application pad is very strange and sticky-feeling. I was, like, rubbing at my face to try and get this stuff on. Since I already had makeup on, this led to rubbing my make-up off.

It left my makeup crumbly, and my skin feeling dry, weird and overly sensitive. To be fair, I use a prescription benzoile peroxide gel over my moisturizer (Cetaphil) and under my foundation (that day, Neutrogena) so this could have reacted weirdly.

Then, when I went for my mid-day oil check I saw no difference whatsoever! I still had to blot the heck out of my t-zone.

While this product could keep it’s promise to fill fine lines (thankfully I don’t have those yet) I definitely wouldn’t look to it for shine control or to even out your complexion, as the description promises. And I definitely wouldn’t reccomend using it over your foundation no matter what.

Since I feel so bad knocking Benefit, one of my favorites, I will recommend f.y. eye, their eye shadow base.

This has revolutionized the way I wear eyeshadow. Again with the oil, my eyeshadow used to end up as a line in the crease of my eye lid by noon, but no longer! Eyeshadow not only doesn’t gravitate to my crease, but it stays put all day. I recommend using foundation on your eyelid, then f.y. eye, then powder, then eye shadow.

Suggestions for de-shining products that actually work are welcome!

-Andrea

Make-up should always be applied sparingling (not liberally). The only people that should use make-up close to heavily are those in front of a camera. Make-up (like anything else you put on your face) should not be harmful to your skin. The problem is that a majority of products out there indeed do more to hurt than help.

It’s the combination of dyes, oils and in some cases alcohol that can really do a number on you in the long run. So here are a couple of tips when wearing make-up:

1. Make sure the make-up has some sort of skin-aiding ingredient. If you are going to wear it, it might as well help your appearance and rejuevnate your skin. An example is LORAC cosmestic’s line of make-up. (No I am not shilling, I’ve actually tried it) below is their LORAC Croc Palette one of several exclusive items at Sephora.com

2. Wear make-up that matches your skin tone. Unless you are going for a certain “look”, make-up that matches your skin tone is always flattering. It should blend into your skin and not expose blemishes. One of the best ways to blend is to use the commonly accessible blending wedge for foundations, or blending brush.

3. USE SPARINGLY. The thinking here is along the lines of perfume. If you use it sparingly, the attention you get will be appreciative rather than offensive. Ever step on a vacant elevator that smells like the 1st floor of Macy’s? The prior occupant didn’t know when to quit when it came to the use of perfume. The same is true for make-up. If you cake it on, you risk looking like a clown. Keep it to a minimum and your skin will thank you for it.

-Eva

This is one of the best concealers on the market. It serves several purposes:

1. It acts as a foundation
2. It enhances your moisturizer
3. Most Importantly it fights the blemishes that we dislike.

Here’s how it works:
You take a VERY small amount with a concealer brush (if you don’t have one you can use your fingertip), gently work it into the skin (make sure you have moistturized first), if you have oily skin, skip the moisturizer part and simply use the skin enhancer.

You will absolutely love this product. If you don’t send me an e-mail: eva@papierdoll.net

I present you with Philosophy’s Save Me. Tested on my skin last night (i’m ok with being a guinea pig for PD), I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world behind my computer screen.

You apply to you skin before you go to bed (make sure you rinse your skin, etc) apply to the parts of your skin that get the driest, wake up in the morning and….voila! Moisturized skin. If your skin gets dry during the day, I will be posting something else to help with that later in the day.

-Eva