Goldie{HipMama}B and The 3 BB Creams: A Quest for the One Thats JUST RIGHT

BB Creams (beauty balms) are ALL THE RAGE. I first heard about them last year (or the year before?) with all the talk of the high-price Korean imports that touted being "The. Best. Make-Up. Ever." Creams that do it all - heal, conceal, cover and correct your skin all in one bottle. But I gotta tell you - I'm a hard sell. I'm picky on texture, color and coverage. I've been wearing Dior Skin Foundation for years, and hard as I try, I can't find anything else that I like.

But still the lure of the perfect make-up/skin care combo had me trying and testing... Here's the story of my quest. 

Dr. Jart Premium Beauty Balm: This One's Too Oily 

This is the one that you read about in Allure and celebrities tell you is the only thing they will put on their faces. I was excited when it came in my Birchbox a few months ago, as for some reason I always thought of it as a high-end product. Whatever, it didn't matter. It sat on my face in a slick mess. My chin looked shiny and I felt the universal color did nothing for me. The second time I tried it I actually washed my face and reapplied make-up half way through the day because I hated it so.

Too Faced Air Buffed BB Cream: This One's Too Cakey

With this one I totally fell for the marketing promises. According to the packaging it was supposed to even my skin tone and BANISH imperfections. The soft brush was supposed to give you an air brushed look and it was supposed to be a fuller coverage than other BB Creams offered. What it was was thick and cakey. The brush didn't do much but slow down the application process, and I found myself still using my fingers to blend... and blend, and blend and blend... I tried to pretend I liked it, then I got a look at myself in the rear view mirror and packed that baby up and returned it the next day. 

Naked Skin Beauty Balm: This One Is JUST RIGHT

I had given up. I wasn't even looking at BB Creams anymore. The $75 Sephora gift card that had been burning a hole in my wallet since Christmas was going to a new NARS bronzer, the Viktor&Rolf Flowerbomb perfume rollerball and a new brush head for my Clarisonic Mia. As I was checking out I was offered a sample of the Naked Skin BB Cream, so I took it. What they hey, it was a free sample. And? It was love at first application. 

From the Sephora website:

Blur flaws in seconds and get serious antiaging benefits in just eight weeks. This lightweight, velvety, oil-free miracle works instantly and over the long term. Naked Skin Beauty Balm is invisible on your skin (zero rub-off): the universal shade glides on and dries down to a translucent, flawless finish that works on most skintones. While many beauty balms are tinted to provide coverage, Naked Skin diffuses light with high-tech pigments to give you amazing, natural, naked-looking skin that keeps getting better every week. Unlike a lot of beauty balms, Naked Skin delivers measurable antiaging benefits—and the claims to prove it.

This? ALL TRUE. I can wear it to work-out and it doesn't come off when I wipe my brow. It give my skin a blurry, Alexis Carrington filtered glow. The color is perfect and it feels like I have nothing on. And if I see anti-aging benefits in 8 weeks ALL THE BETTER. 

Have you tried BB Creams yet? Which one do you like? 

Sephora: Wow Me. Please. I beg you.

I feel like over the past few weeks I've expired. I was feeling good, feeling like I looked decent, then something went seriously wrong. It was like I had an expiration date; I woke up one morning 10 lbs heavier, 10x wrinklier and with 10 inch roots. I've been going back and taking stock on what was different and wanting to blame something other than my newly renewed love for all things bacon, but instead decided that I just needed new face make-up. Any excuse for a trip to Sephora.

I love Sephora. For awhile I tossed around the idea of a "SephoraWhora" blog dedicated to all things make-up and products, but nixed the idea for fear that the only thing I would have left to talk about on this blog would be my kids. In my head, Sephora is this wonderful garden of eden, where one can always have full lips, rosy cheeks and perfect skin. And they also have a pretty amazing return policy.

Unbeknownst to me and my overflowing make-up drawer until recently, you can return that lipstick that you bought that you wore twice before realizing it make you look like more like a $2 hooker than a Victoria Secret model. Which was great because I had purchased a rather pricey foundation just a few weeks ago. After seeing a few pictures which made me look like I had my own personal oil spill spreading across my forehead, I realized this particular product just wasn't the one for me. At the counter, the sales person happily exchanged it for me and pointed me in the direction of someone who could help me chose one with a little bit more of the matte finish I needed.

But could they really help me?

Recently I've come to the realization that Sephora isn't doing enough to train their sales consultants properly. They have this wonderful magical store filled with color, sparkles and the hope of ageless, timeless beauty. And they have me, 30-something-year-old mom trying to stop their child from drawing on the walls with lipstick samples, the glimmer in my eye of lost youth and the desperate NEED to try and feel cool and hip. One would think they'd look at me and see a walking commission check. That the ability to up-sell me rests completely in the uttering of phrases such as "hottest at the moment" or "can't keep this in stock."

This particular salesperson showed me the matte finish make-up I was inquiring about, tested the color on my cheek and was about to just send me on my way when I posed the question: "What's the hottest thing I need to have right now?" To which, I get in response a look look of confusion as the sales clerk desperately looked around the store while asking "Well, what do you need?"

NEED?! I don't NEED anything from this place! Sephora is about want and possibility. NEED is the Target cosmetics section for plastic hair bands and eye make-up remover. When I walk into a store and I ask them to tell me what to buy that will trick me into thinking that I look 10 years younger, they should sit me down, hand me a mimosa and put on a freaking Broadway-esque performance of products.

Had this situation only happened once, I would blame on the sales person having an off-day. But this happens almost every time, in any store I go to. Which is why tomorrow I have to go back and again return the foundation that this time ended up being about two-shades too light for my skin tone. 

Sigh.