Best Drugstore Beauty: Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush

Like cream blusher as much as I do? You ought to give Maybelline's Dream Mousse Blush ($7.49) a try. The air-soft formula of this blusher provides luminous, long-lasting cheek color. It glides on smoothly and blends easily for seamless color and a natural, radiant finish. It's available in six colors, two pinks and one of each of the following: mauve, plum, coral, and brown.

Maybelline recommends that you apply it with your fingertips by patting a small amount of blush onto the apples of your cheeks. Use feathery strokes to blend gently from your cheekbones to your temples. To build color intensity, you can simply apply more.

I have several of the colors, but my favorite is #10, Pink Voyage. It is very natural on my fair skin. I keep one in my desk at work for late-day touch-ups.

Dream Mousse Blush is available wherever Maybelline products are sold: drugstores, supermarkets, Target, and many more stores. There are often BOGO offers at the drugstores (Rite Aid has one on Maybelline Cosmetics now), so you can get two for the price of one by timing your purchase well.

Photo courtesy of Maybelline

Best Drugstore Beauty: Revlon's Colorstay 12-Hour Eye Shadow

Today, we start a regular series, Best Drugstore Beauty. It seems right for the times. Although Best Things in Beauty has featured drugstore makeup in the past, we will title the features that way going forward. Today, we offer the first official installment.

Looking for a superior, long-wear powder eye shadow at your local drugstore? Look no further than Revlon's Colorstay 12-Hour Eye Shadow quads! Priced at $6.99 at Drugstore.com, these quads are a bargain. This week, CVS has a BOBO offer on all Revlon cosmetics.

My favorite is Starlight, with fairly true color swatches shown immediately above. These are cool, eye-opening colors that can enhance your everyday look without the drama that can look bizarre in some offices (fashion industry excluded).

The formula is waterproof, and I can testify that it's long-lasting. Remember, though, that I always wear a shadow primer - not only to camouflage any redness in my eyelids, but also to give my shadows "sticking power." I recommend primer to everyone.

These Revlon shadows blend easily, making them a shadow mixer's dream. They also have a great soft texture - some would say creamy.

The Revlon Colorstay quads are available in 19 color families, although your local store may not carry all of them. The Nude Elements quad is warmer, but still subtle, and Neutral Kahkis and Priceless Metals are great fun for trying different looks. What a fabulous way to experiment without breaking the bank! You should find them wherever Revlon products are sold.

Photos courtesy of Drugstore.com

Dove Body Wash with Nutrium Moisture

I may be a fashionably late to this party, but I finally arrived! Dove has introduced a revolutionary body wash (seriously!) - one that combines all the features we love from its bar soaps into a creamy liquid.

There are three available formulas. Naturally, I like the formula for sensitive skin because it's fragrance-free, but you can also select Deep Moisture or Gentle Exfoliating.

Dove Body Wash with Nutrium Moisture uses 100% natural moisturizers, including stearic acid, soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, and glycerin, to clean skin without stripping its natural oils. Many of us, including my beautiful mother, have used Dove's Sensitive Skin bar soap for its fabulous moisturizing properties. Now, there's a nice alternative!

Why would you shun a soap bar? Because the "engineers" who design bathtub/shower combos put the soap holder right where the shower water dissolves a bar of soap in no time. BTiB hint: put your bar of soap somewhere else - it will last longer.

So, what sets this body wash apart from its competitors? Dove was able to make the lipids in their great bar soaps stable in a liquid, making their Nutrium Moisture gentler than many other body washes. The Nutrium Moisture Body Wash leaves behind lipids, beneficial oils, and humectants (which draw in moisture from the air) to fortify our skin's protective barrier. According to Dove, 88% of Nutrium Moisture users felt less dry than they felt after using a "traditional" liquid body wash. That's because most liquid cleansers wash away too much of our natural moisture, or they replace our natural oils with oils that don't absorb well. Dove found a way to add moisture that does absorb and replace our skin's own protective properties, and they did that for less than $9. Looking for luxury in a mass-market product? This is it!

Dove's Web site has more information about this new product. You can find it everywhere - at drugstores like CVS, supermarkets, Drugstore.com, which is having a BOGO offer now, and lots of other sources. Be on the lookout for coupons too. Why pay more than you have to? Time to try!

Photo courtesy of Dove.

L'Oreal Paris Lipsticks - High Fashion at Drugstore Prices

I wish L'Oreal wouldn't put so much perfume in their L'Oreal Paris lipsticks! They are available in an incredible range of colors, with fabulous moisturizing properties, and I can't wear them. All because of the fragrance. L'Oreal Paris, can you hear me? Lose the fragrance, gain customers.

For you gals who are not troubled by heavily perfumed lipsticks or the scent of these lipsticks, however, L'Oreal Paris offers beautiful lip colors in their Colour Riche Lipcolour (you can find these at your local drugstore, drugstore.com, or Ulta). Available in every shade of the lip color spectrum, and featuring the latest in lip looks for Fall, Colour Riche Lipcolor has been made richer, creamier, and even more moisturizing. L'Oreal Paris has added Omega 3, Vitamin E, and Argon Oil to condition and hydrate your lips. The latest Colour Riche Anti-Aging Serum formula contains an anti-aging serum in the middle, loaded with ProXalyne and collagen to fill in any lines and make the lips look a bit more plump.

The Colour Riche Star Secrets colors feature various beautiful celebrities and show you how to create their lipstick looks. It's fun to follow the looks, even when they become shopping challenges. For some reason, the Diane Keaton look was one that was almost impossible to find. Fortunately, most of them can be found on featured displays at your drugstore.

How I would love to wear Berry Exciting (#203) or Blushing Bouquet (#201), beautiful colors for me and perfect for the season! CVS has a BOGO offer now. At drugstore.com, these are $9.99 and if you buy one, you can get the second at a 50% discount. As always, there will be other local drugstores with a BOGO offer - if not now, soon.

"Drugstore lipsticks" are the perfect way to test out the new Fall colors without breaking the bank.

Photo courtesy of drugstore.com.

Revlon Illuminance Creme Shadow - An Old Favorite

Yesterday, I pulled out and wore an old favorite, Revlon's Illuminance Creme Shadow. I selected Not Just Nudes, shown here.

The Revlon cream eye shadows are available in 12 quads. They range from my neutral favorite, Not Just Nudes, to colorful and playful shades. They are available at a drugstore near you!

They blend beautifully. I use my fingers to apply them, but a cream eye shadow brush might work better. It's interesting that the container recommends the fingertip method.

The shadows are fairly sheer, allowing you to control the intensity by layering. I used two of the shades yesterday - the lightest one on my lid, and the darkest one for the outside lid and mid- to outside crease contouring. When I finished, I had a neutral look, but with some punch. I was pretty happy with myself! Not only that, the shadow was just as nice 10 hours later. It lasts and does not crease on me. Naturally, I wear a shadow primer.

What other colors do I like? Khaki Suede has two wearable green colors with two great taupe shades. Skinlights is a set of four light shades that are great alone or mixed with other shadows. Moonlit Jewels, hard to portray well on the Web, is gorgeous. It was quite the sensation when released. I had to search for it!

The prices are all over the place. If you look on Amazon, you will find two for what one might cost in the drugstore ($6.50). Drugstore.com has a BOGO offer at the moment. These shadows are an inexpensive way to achieve a great seasonal look or experiment with color without breaking the bank.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.

Ulta Deals

Just when you thought Ulta had shown us everything with freebies, take a look at this. A free 15-piece Ulta gift with any $17.50 purchase of Ulta cosmetics, minerals, or Formativ Skin Care. I think Ulta makes nice color products at an unbeatable price point.

The peachy colors look really nice for summer, and the purple bags are so au courant (choose warm for the purple). They also have Bare Minerals and BOGO specials, including Revlon (remember those magazine coupons this month if you hit an Ulta store in person). Worth checking out Ulta soon.

Remember, use code 22669 at checkout, and you will receive $3.50 off a $10 purchase.

Photo courtesy of Ulta.

Maybelline's Great New Color Sensational Lip Products

It's not often I get really excited about drugstore lip products, but I am loving Maybelline's new Color Sensational lipsticks and Color Sensational lip glosses - both available and nicely "coded" in the color families pinks, plums, reds, and naturals. They feel great on the lips because they added honey nectar to the formula, making them extremely emollient. The lip glosses are nice and shiny and not at all sticky.

There are of 20 lipsticks and 12 lip glosses, plus liners to boot. I have purchased four lipsticks, four glosses, and one liner, and I love them all.

When you are wearing the new gloss #055 (Raspberry Sorbet), and your high-end makeup artist loves it, you know you have a hit! These are available at all drugstores and Web sites carrying Maybelline. The prices are right, and, of course, there's usually a BOGO offer to be found somewhere. Since they are new, look for a special display.

Photos courtesy of Maybelline.

Revlon Limited Edition ColorStay Mineral Finishing Powder

I like to troll drugstores for Revlon's new products. I love this summer's ColorStay Mineral Finishing Powder. It's advertised as soft all-over enhancing color, and it works perfectly when used that way or strategically placed on your best features. It's priced at $13.99 - probably because it's huge - so make sure to use the $2 Revlon discount coupon you can find in the new August Allure. If you can find a Buy One Get One Free Offer at one of the drugstores (Rite Aid has one now), you can get two of the colors for the price of one.

I am loving Brighten, a marbled soft pink, and Sunkiss (both shown here), a luminous marbled brown that is much lighter on the skin that it appears in its packaging. The two colors I have are very sheer and slightly luminous (no glitter or overt shine). Sunkiss gives a summer glow that is lighter than an actual bronzer - very nice. Brighten does just that. I haven't tried the third shade, Suntan Matte. If you have, please leave a comment. I'd love to know your impression before I spring for that one.

Make sure to enter the Laura Geller Giveaway Contest on this blog by midnight July 21.

For online shoppers, these are available at drugstore.com.

Photos courtesy of drugstore.com.