All Hail Joan Jett!

Hey booba-doos!

Hope everything's going great, and since tomorrow's Friday, that you're all looking forward to the weekend!

With all the much-deserved anticipation for the new movie "The Runaways", coming out in March, I just recently caught some pictures of Joan Jett out at Sundance, where she's making appearances with Dakota Fanning and Joan's own Mini-Me, Kristen Stewart, the stars of the film (Fanning and Stewart will be playing Cherie Currie and Joan, respectively). Anyway, I saw all these recent pictures of Joan, and holy crap, y'all! She looks amazing! She's 51 yrs. old, and whether or not she's had plastic surgery remains to be seen. But if she did, her surgeon must be a genius, because she's never looked better. This isn't one of the Sundance pictures (because they're all huge, and I don't know how to shrink them!), but here she is from a year or so back.

Amazing, right? And you know, I hate to say this, because it's so sexist and annoying, and when people say it to me, it makes me want to flick them on the nose - but she's so pretty when she smiles! I mean, who knew? I've only ever seen her sneering and scowling since 1982, so I had no idea her face just lights up when she looks happy.

Anyway, out of curiosity about the movie, I was Googling stuff about the Runaways, and it turns out that Joan is a friend of the animals! Yes, the Divine Ms. Jett is a veggie, and is full-on Cruelty Free! Here's the link to a short little interview Peta2 did with her where she talks about being a veggie and living a CF life in general:

http://www.peta2.com/OUTTHERE/o-joanjett.asp

I don't know about you, but frankly, I loved the part where she talks about taking in her four stray and shelter cats, and then having to rescue random lost birds *from* her cats! Hee!

So there you go - one of the legendary bad-asses of the 80s, living a kind and consciously CF life, and looking amazing while doing so! Maybe she hasn't had her face done after all - maybe it's from CF living, or maybe she's just a happy that she kept her cats from being bird killers!

Have a great weekend, luvvies!

Love,

Lisa (and Edison - who sympathizes with Joan's cats...)

XO

Brand Spotlight: Laura Mercier

Baybeeees!

How are you? Groovy? Cool? Awesome? All of the above? Fabulous! Me too!

So with my complete, total disappointment last Friday over Bare Escentuals allowing themselves to be purchased by the horrid, animal-testing Shiseido, I wrapped up my blog by saying that I'd be heading over to the Estee Lauder counter that evening to find a new CF makeup to call my very own.

Well - no offense to Estee Lauder, because they're CF, they own many CF brands, and they just all-around rock my socks, but I didn't quite get that far. My first and only pit stop wound up being at the Laura Mercier counter (http://www.lauramercier.com/store/home.jsp), and I never got any further! They're a wonderful, sophisticated and classy CF brand, and I wound up picking up a few items that I'm truly just loving. Here's what I brought home with me:

1. I never thought, after six years with Bare Escentuals, that you could turn me back onto liquid foundation. Well, I was wrong! LM's Oil Free Foundation is just magical! It gives this great natural looking finish, but still covers flaws and lasts all day. I could never wear many liquid foundations before, because they just slid off my face by lunchtime. This stuff hangs on, but is still easy to get off at night. The shades are a pretty good match - there's about ten of them, and it was really easy for me to get the perfect shade really fast.
2. Secret Concealer - Only three shades to pick from, but wow! Those three shades still manage to have quite a range. Even the lightest shade, #1, looked really kind of dark in the little pot for "Old Paper Face" me! But it wasn't - once you get it on, it really blends in with your skin tone, and covers everything bad! Bonus - you can use it on your lids as a primer, and it just hangs on to your eyeshadow! You may wonder how much mileage you're going to get out of this little pot, but one thing I found out is that the tiniest, most ridiculously little bit goes the longest way.
3. However, my problem with all concealers, be they cream or mineral, is that once I get them on under my eyes, I need to set them with powder. Setting them with powder, however, makes them crack and crease, and I look even older and more tired. Weeelll, not anymore! LM makes this positively unbelievable stuff called Secret Brightening Powder. OMG, you guys - I have truly found a product I can't do without! You can use it anywhere, I suppose, but where this little gem truly works its mojo is setting your concealer, and leaving it with a satiny, crease-free, won't crack finish. In the six days I've been using this, I've not had to touch up my under-eye concealer at all, and I always need to touch up. And it stays smooth, and unwrinkled! This stuff, with the Secret Concealer, has been amazing!
4. Last but certainly not least, to top off the gorgeousness, is LM's Mineral Finishing Powder. You know I love me some mineral makeup. This stuff is so lovely and translucent and airy! It's really, really fine and sheer, they must just mill it to death to get it that air spun. And you know - minerals! Good for your skin!

The brand's not cheap, but it's not outrageously expensive, either - it's in the ballpark of Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, around there, price-wise. But it's WORTH IT! I mean, for example, take the Secret Brightening Powder. At $22 for a little tub, it may seem pricey. But if you're only using the tiniest bit of that on a little brush to set your concealer, that's gonna last you forever. Heeey, you won't have to shell out again for it till you have some serious lines to conceal! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk! (I keep getting funnier with each blog. This I know.)

This is a wonderful CF brand, and though there's plenty out there to love, you should definitely steer yourselves towards their nearest counter or Sephora!

Much love, buttons!

Lisa
XO

This is a total and complete BUMMER!

Oh, babyheads - this sucks!

Have you heard the news? It truly blows - apparently our beloved Bare Escentuals has been purchased by one of the worst animal testers in the biz, Shiseido. Here's the whole gloomy story if you want to see for yourself:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_shiseido_bare_escentuals

So where does this leave one of the best CF brands out there? My guess is that BE will probably go the route that other non-animal tested brands go when they're acquired by a parent company that tests - namely, BE will probably continue to not test, I'm sure, and will probably be listed just like Kiehl's is with L'Oreal; namely, "a cruelty-free subsidiary of a parent company that tests."

What does that mean for you? Well, as I mentioned in my 4/27/09 blog, I think it all depends on your personal comfort level. I'm sure BE isn't going to suddenly start testing on "Les Bunny Rabbits" just because this dipshit of a company bought them out. So no, I'm sure the makeup itself will continue to be CF. But it's a personal comfort level of whether or not you want to give your money to a brand supported by a parent company that tests.

I'm also kind of disappointed in BE CEO Leslie Blodgett - boy, does that lady not seem like a good match for a brand like Shiseido! Maybe it's just me, but if I were in her position, and I had one of the best natural brands that started off right out of the gate as a CF brand, why the hell would I sell myself out to a company who, in this day and age, refuses to give up this barbaric practice? Are the big bucks that important to her? I'm sure the BE brand was doing just fine on it's own. All you had to do was check out the BE sections at any given Sephora - you couldn't get near the testers for all the women crowded around them. Check out any BE show on QVC - the stuff would sell out before you even knew what happened. Independent BE stores are popping up all over the place. Why give in to a cash cow (pun intended) who doesn't give a crap about how many animals they harm?

Okay, sorry, I know I'm getting all ranty. I loved this brand to bits for six years. So as for my own comfort level, I'm not cool with this. I'm heading straight for the Estee Lauder counter after work tonight!

Have a good weekend, sweeties!

Lisa

YES!!! Yes yes yes YES!!!

Honey bunnies!

Happy 2010, you beauties! How was your holiday? Did Santa bring you lots of CF goodies?

I have the most fantabulous news! News that I, frankly, have been waiting years to hear!

So, you know that one of my arch-enemies, cosmetic brand-wise, was NARS. For years, I'd heard that they tested on animals, they weren't on PETA's "Does Not Test" list, and there was zilch on their website. And yet, secretly... I loved them, but I couldn't use them. It was the love that dare not speak its name, my dirty little secret, and "Dolce Vita" lipgloss was my forbidden love. I could look, but I couldn't touch.

Well, I don't know at what point they got their act together and decided to finally let the public know about their animal testing policy, but I just did another re-check on their website, and found THIS:

"NARS and Animal Testing: NARS Cosmetics does not and never has conducted any animal testing of any kind. Thank you."

Not to be outdone, Edison says:

"Pffft, please. Like she even found this information herself. I'm the one that found it on the internet, not her!"

So that's the awesome scoop for the day! They either were unfairly branded - I forget by who - as animal testers, or something. I mean, it was all over Makeup Alley that they tested, so I dunno what to think, but there's the good news, right from their very own site! WHOOT!

Have a great time dancing through the aisles of Sephora, babies!

Love,

Lisa and Edison

XO