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A few beauty product reviews…

Spring is almost here…and spring leads to summer, and it all means much more time outside! It’s certainly not too soon to start looking for some great fun-in-the-sun vacation deals.

Anyhoo, if you are planning to spend any time at all in the sun, you need some sort of sun protection. I don’t mind using sunscreen lotion on my arms and legs, but I HATE using it on my face, it always feels so greasy and makes me break out. I have come so far with the Proactiv solution products to put anything on my face that will undo it all. But more on my experience with Proactiv in a bit…

Nearly a year ago, I started using Bare Escentuals mineral makeup. I can’t say enough good things about this stuff, it is by far the BEST makeup that I have ever used. But right now, I want to talk about the sun protection that some of these products offer.

The foundations are SPF 15, which is important, this protects your skin from harmful UV and other rays that can cause sunburn and even skin cancer. But for some people, like me, this is not enough. That’s why I love Multi-Tasking Summer Bisque. There are several shades of Bisque, but please keep in mind that only the Summer Bisque is SPF 20, the others have no SPF at all.

Using these two products, the foundation and the Summer Bisque, together, has turned out to be the best sun protection my face has ever had. What I do is apply the Summer Bisque all over my face with the Full Coverage Kabuki Brush. This is the first layer of sun protection. Then I apply the foundation with the same brush. The Bisque also serves as a concealer, and can also be applied to trouble spots with the Maximum Coverage Concealer Brush. This could be done either before or after the full coverage, I prefer before.

Then, I follow up with Mineral Veil and then Soft Focus Glee. Actually, I put my eyes on after the Mineral Veil, and then apply Glee at the end, using the Soft Focus Face Brush.

I know it looks wicked expensive to buy all of this stuff, especially the brushes I suggest…but there ARE cheaper ways to do this. If you are new to BE, start by getting the Introductory Kit, the offer that is on the TV infomercials. It has all you need to get started, including several expensive brushes. Only $60…if bought separately, this would cost you a LOT more! And you get a great instructional DVD, which you’ll watch over and over while you’re still learning to use the products. You do have to sign up for an auto-delivery thing, but it’s easy to change or even cancel if it’s not for you. I like the auto-delivery, though. And I think you can buy the same kit at Sephora without having to sign up for auto-delivery.

The next purchase you make should be the Beyond the Basics kit. This includes the Multi-Tasking Bisque (two of them, regular and Summer), the Soft Focus Glee, and other products. Two brushes, as well. Once again, way cheaper than buying this stuff separately. The only brush I bought separately was the Full Coverage Kabuki, but even that comes as part of some other kit.

Anyhoo, my routine with Summer Bisque followed by foundation WORKS for me as not only a great foundation, but great sun protection. I have worn this to many baseball games last summer, and nary a sunburn did I get on my face. That is saying something, because I burn very easily. But how great is it, that I’ve FINALLY found sun protection for my face that is not heavy and greasy. When you first try BE, it might seem hard to believe that it will provide enough coverage, and protect your face from the sun…but trust me..it really does!

As for Proactiv…it really does work for me.  You don’t have to use it twice a day if your skin is sensitive, I use it just once a day, and it’s working.  I was easily able to change my shipping frequency to reflect this…very easy if you set up your account online.  You can add and remove products as you go along, as well.

Whatever you do, DON’T buy Proactiv from the mall kiosks if you can avoid it.  WAY overpriced.  If you like the product and use it regularly, join the Clear Skin Club (auto-delivery), and you can order additional products whenever you want to, at big savings.  In fact, the kiosks jack up the prices higher than the online prices for non-Club members.

Anyhoo…Proactive and BE do work very well together, at least for me.  My skin has never looked better!

Show us your muscle…

One of the things I like to do is go to classic car shows and museums, and drool over all of the cool cars. Can’t afford to own any of them, but if I were rich, maybe I’d be like Jay Leno and have a huge collection of cool cars and motorcycles. It must be tough for Jay to decide which one to drive today!

Americans are very passionate about their wheels. I’m seeing all sorts of car clubs, websites, and blogs, such as this Mustang blog that I was just looking at.  If you are a fan of the Ford Mustang or othr cool *muscle* cars, you really should take a look at this blog.  They have all sorts of cool contests and events…there’s a Silver Mustang Cruise coming up in May.  It will be held at Stone Mountain Park, in Stone Mountain, Georgia.  I’m sure that Mustang enthusiasts from all over will be gathering there for this brand-new event.  For further details, check out the Mustang blog I linked to here.  That event will surely be a sight to see…even though I don’t have a Mustang myself, it would be awesome to go just to take pictures!

Linked to from the blog is a listing of Mustang clubs, all over the country, and a calendar of events held by said clubs.  They also have a forum board.  So, if you’ve been looking to hook up with other ‘Stang owners, American Muscle is the place for you!  They also sell all sorts of accessories and parts for your pride and joy.

Enjoy!

Will we save any money?

As you may know, we live in Massachusetts, where car insurance rates were heavily regulated by the state.  But as of April 1, that’s about to change…there will now be lower rates and more competition allowed between insurance companies.  This is especially great news for good drivers like us, who are sick to death of being forced to subsidize insurance for the many bad drivers in this state.   It will also mean that many companies who pulled out of MA when the regulation started will consider coming back, offering us even more choices.

I’ve been poking around a bit, and it looks like we will save a few hundred bucks a year under the new system.  We won’t know for sure until we actually speak to the insurance companies and see what they can offer us.

I doubt we’ll stay with our current company, I don’t like them much.  Also, I’m sure that if we do nothing and let them automatically renew our policy, as we’ve done in the past, they’ll charge us the exact same high rates.  They’ve already been yelled at by the state for not setting their new rates low enough.  I bet they will try to rip people off, if they think that the customer won’t notice.

But we WILL notice, that’s for sure.  They will either give us a lower rate than the competition, or we go elsewhere!

Branding yourself…made easy…and fun!

It would be wicked cool to have a business card for my vast blog empire. There are several ways to accomplish this…you can pay a professional to design a custom logo for you, and then have cards, stationery, etc. printed up. Nice, but pricey. Or you can purchase business card software and try to design your own. Cheap, but not so nice.

There is an alternative that gives you the best of both worlds…a custom logo design AND affordability. Meet LogoYes.com. Try out their FREE logo and business card maker for yourself, and you will see how easy and versatile this is.  There is a HUGE selection of logo images; whatever business you are in, you are sure to find something that fits you.  Since I call my blog empire and all that comes out of it “Ailurophile Productions”, of course, I had to use a cat here.

Also, you can select a style that is right for you.  High-Tech, Bold, or Flair.  I like Flair, so I went with that.   There is also a large selection of cool fonts that you can use for your logo, as well.

Once you choose an image and a font, you can then choose a color or colors, and resize and re-arrange things, until the logo is just as you want it.  You can then purchase this logo to use on business cards, stationery, websites, etc.

The business cards can also be easily created on the LogoYes.com website.  Just choose a template and color, type in the info you want on your card, and poof…you’re done.  Not happy with what you see?  Go back and try another template!  Depending on how much info you want to put on your card, some templates work better than others.  I wanted to put the URLs for all of my blogs on my card, and they didn’t fit on some of the templates.  But they fit fine on this one.  You can play with this thing for as long as you like, until you have it exactly the way you want!

So, if you are on a budget, yet still want a professional looking logo and matching business cards in order to brand your company, look no further than LogoYes.com.  I think that once you give this a test-drive, you’ll be so happy with the quality of the finished product, that you’ll want to order from them!

Powder Milk Biscuits…

“…Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the biscuit on the front, or in the brown bag with the dark stains that indicate freshness” ~ Garrison Keillor, “A Prairie Home Companion”
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No, it’s not a real product, it’s a fake commercial on “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show. We listen to it every Saturday night, it’s on right now as I type this. We’re hoping to get to see a live performance of it sometime this summer.

But I was teasing Mike, telling him that I’m making a chicken pot pie tonight. Instead of a flaky pastry crust, I said, I’d be making up a topping of Powder Milk Biscuits.

Actually, I’m making buttermilk biscuits for the pot pie topping. The pot pie recipe is one from Jacques Pepin, from the final series he did with the late, great Julia Child…“Julia & Jacques - Cooking At Home”. It’s made with leftovers from a recipe for poached chicken and veggies, which we had last night. We have enough leftovers from this meal to make both the pot pie and the soup that are in the book and on the TV show episode.  There is absolutely NO waste!

Our local PBS affiliate no longer shows reruns of this great show, but that’s okay…I have both the book and the entire series on DVD.
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I had a nice day watching the PBS cooking shows that are currently running. One of the best shows is “America’s Test Kitchen”. It’s from the editors of “Cook’s Illustrated” magazine. I like it because it’s a show that you can actually learn from.

One thing they do is product testing of kitchen equipment. Since neither the show nor the magazine accept paid advertising, they can be objective about what they like and don’t like. I have often taken their advice on what to buy, and I’ve not bee steered wrong yet.

Good kitchen stuff can be pricey. But if you shop around carefully, you can find what you want at a bargain price. One site I like is Buy.com…they have a lot of kitchen stuff there. Chances are, once you check their prices, you’ll find that you’ll find the best buy there on whatever you happen to be looking for. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of shipping…at Buy.com, many items qualify for their FREE shipping deal. Go and check ‘em out!