Philosophy Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer.

Philosophy just introduced a multi-tasking tinted moisturizer that infuses advanced moisture and tinted coverage with its fabulous "hope" formula. This new moisturizer is appropriately called Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer.

This new tinted moisturizer is a savior for me. You see, I love using tinted moisturizers in the summer and often on the weekends, when I am taking a break from a full face of makeup. I have tried my share and realize that I need a bit more coverage than many of these tinted moisturizers have to offer. I also hate that many of them still depend on my own moisturizer as a base, which defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer solves both of these dilemmas for me. While it touts sheer coverage, I find it full enough for me, and actually think it is better than "sheer". Also, as it incorporates hope skin technology in the formula (with SPF UVA/UVB protection), I only need this tinted moisturizer as it is designed.

Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer is available in 8 shades, which I surprisingly found darker than what I would have though. I would normally choose light to medium, but it is actually a bit to dark for my fair skin, so light is the perfect shade for my NC20/30 skin. My suggestion is to go a shade lighter than what you would think.

The hearty sized 1.7 oz. tube sells for $38 and is available at philosophy.com, Sephora and sephora.com as well as QVC.

Holiday 2010: Holiday Dreams with Philosophy.

I think that my love for Philosophy continues to grow each year. No one puts out the Holiday sets like Philosophy. They get better and better each year.

Every woman on my gift list gets a little something from Philosophy. If it is not a full sized set, it may be a mini shower gel or lip shine tied onto a package.  Every year, my giftees are always thrilled.

As I said, Philosophy has a huge variety of products and sets just for the holiday's. They even have an entire section of their website dedicated to Holiday, so you need to check that out to see everything they have.  The following list of products are just the Holiday items I have purchased from Philosophy this year, to give - and, yes, indulge in myself.

Taking a Skin Care Break.

What? Who would take a skin care break? That would be me. Well, sort of.

Once in a while, my skin starts acting up. It becomes itchy and tight. I know it is part of my job to test out all of the products I highlight here on Beautiful Makeup Search, and I am bound to get irritations. I have not pinned down exactly what I have been using the last few days to make me be so dry and itchy, and really I could simply be using too many powerful products at the same time.

So, what is a girl to do? I am taking a skin care break. Not for long, I am just taking a few days off of trying new skin care products and only use what I know what works.  It is what I normally do when this happens.

I have two go to products that I use when I take a skin care break.

Philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser
This is my go to everyday cleanser that I use when I am not testing other cleansing products. It has never irritated my skin, nor left it dry or itchy at all. It removes every bit of dirt and oil from my skin while leaving it feeling smooth, soft and most importantly clean and calm.

Clinique Comfort on Call
This super thick cream was actually formulated by CLinique for reactive skin types. I have read that many people who undergo peels and other facial procedures use this to calm their skin. I use it many a nights, especially in the winter and drier months. It is also my go to cream for my intermittent skin care breaks.

I am hoping to resume normal testing of skin care on Tuesday, after taking a short three days off. This is usually the amount of time my skin requires to get back to "normal", or its normal state anyway.

Do you ever take a skin care break? What are your go to products that calm and soothe your skin?