The Favorite Products of Beauty Experts: Edward Tricomi

1. Quality Shampoo & Conditioner, Kerastase Bain Satin and Lait Vital
Think of your shampoo and conditioner as the prep work before you style. Spending a little extra for quality is well worth the splurge.

2. Hairspray, Shu Uemura Sheer Lacquer Finishing Spray
My number one must-have. Your style will hold but it still moves and is touchable. Shu Uemura makes a great one, you can layer it depending on the amount of hold you need.

3. Dry Shampoo, L'Oreal Texture Expert Fresh Dust
Great for when you want to breathe life back into your style. Sexy wavy styles will stay volumous and blowouts will last longer. No need to worry about them falling flat.

4. Blow Dry Lotion, Shu Uemura Satin Design
You need to use frizz-fighting product while the hair is still wet. A blow dry lotion provides humidity resistance, frizz-control and protects hair from heat styling, which is so important.

5. Hair Glaze, Shu Uemura Full Shimmer
Takes out the dullness. Gives beautiful shine and depth. Depending on your hair texture you can use it daily or as a weekly treatment. If hair is super fine, don’t use it more than once a week.

6. Grooming Paste or Cream, Kerastase Pate Capital Force
The best ones have great hold but are never sticky. This one makes hair look thicker and fortifies the hair. Ideal for a man who uses product daily and is noticing thinner hair. Rinses out easily so there is no added hair loss when removing it.


It's not every day that I'm able to feature a legend in hair care! Edward Tricomi is legendary for his signature dry-hair precision cutting technique and his encyclopedic knowledge of hair over the centuries. He works with countless designers and models and is a just part of the team behind Warren-Tricomi, a go-to salon in New York City.

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Flirty and Playful for Prom

I loved Maggie Gyllenhaal's look at this year's Oscars! The bright pink lippie was a breathe of fresh air, and I think that this look is particularly well suited for prom this year. Can't you see this with a short neon dress? Perfect!

Updated 4/21/2010 Somehow, I got more information about this look (a little birdie emailed me actually), and I knew that I had to share it with everyone! It turns out that the look was created by Molly Stern, an amazing makeup artist that works with Cover Girl. Molly is one of my favorite makeup artists, I find her looks to be fresh and very playful, so that likely explains why I loved Maggie's look so much!

Here's what Molly had to say about Maggie's look, it's much more interesting than the list of colors I had before.

Maggie is the muse of spring. Her Dries Van Noten gown is a swirl of bright colors that fades into white. For her makeup I wanted to bring out the color of her eyes with some depth while keeping with the brightness of her overall style.

We started off the look by refreshing the skin with Jurlique Rose Water spray. Then I prepped the skin with Shu Uemura red:juvenus vitalizing concentrate and lightly moisturized with La Mer moisturizing lotion.

For a flawless complexion I primed Maggie's skin with COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless Serum Primer (out in July!!).

Then I lightly applied some Chantecaille future skin foundation in the color 'cream' only where she needed it. Then lastly I dusted La Mer powder foundation in 'Ivory' to set the skin for the big night.

For her amber peachy cheeks I used COVERGIRL & Olay Simply Ageless Sculpting Blush in Rich Cinnamon and dusted some NARS "dolce vita" blush on the apples.

For Maggie's eyes of layered copper smoke I based her eye with COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast in Bronze Fire. Next I deepened her lid with NARS soft touch shadow pencil "skorpios". Then I blended into the crease Shu Uemura pressed eye shadow "p brown 810" and lastly I lightly dusted Shu Uemura pressed eyeshadow in "n me brown 860" all over the lid for a golden finish. For the undereye, I resmudged the COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast under her lash line to bring out the blue of Maggie's eyes. Finally I defined her lashes by combining brown and black mascara. I painted the lashes with both colors using COVERGIRL LashBlast Length for perfectly flirty long lashes.

On Maggies lips I applied NARS "schiap" lip color –it was the perfect shade to finish off the look. Its bright hue matches Maggie's vibrant sense of style and confidence.

The finished product was perfection. She looked like herself. Authentic, cool and beautiful. Being a part of Oscar day with a nominee is such an honor. It's like an actress' wedding day with Hollywood. I love being here. I feel so blessed.

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shu uemura's Sky, A Great 15 Minute Look!

click to enlarge

Created by shu uemura's Principle Makeup Artist Jason Hoffman, this look is being shared just with us! I asked them for a colorful spring look with the same feeling as the great spring looks currently featured on their site, but with fewer steps for those of us with less time each day.

To create this look, they started with great skin, but they do recommend more of a matte look to compliment this look.

Eyes
Pressed Eye Shadow- Spring Breeze: Place on lid and blend up to the brow
Tri-Color Eye Pencil- Aqua Flow: Line the upper lid with grey and blend into Spring Breeze
Tri-Color Eye Pencil- Aqua Flow: line the lower lashline with the green and fade into the skin
Fiber Xtension Mascara- Black: Apply to top lashes, lightly on bottom lashes

Cheek
Glow On- Tranquil Pink

Lip
Rouge Unlimited- Serene Pink

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Shu Uemura White Recovery EX

For those of you with dry and sensitive skin, I know that the search for a facial scrub has been long and probably not very fruitful. Most scrubs are much too harsh in terms of the exfoliation, or the surfactants within the scrub are much too harsh for your skin. Either way, you end up dry and irritated, and likely not any better than you were before the scrub.

Well, I'm happy to report that your search can end, because the nice people over at Shu Uemura are coming to your rescue! Glance at the list of ingredients below, and compare them to the moisturizer post. This scrub offers exfoliation with a ton of moisture!

Ingredients:
Paraffinum Liquidum/Mineral Oil, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Sea Water, Glycerin, Beheneth-10, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Butylene Glycol, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Gentiana Lutea/Gentiana Lutea Root Extract, Prunus Cerasus/Bitter Cherry Extract, Water, Propylene Glycol, Polyethylene, CI 42090/Blue 1 Lake, Alcohol, Benzoic Acid, Methylparaben, Hexyl Cinnamal, Fragrance

Overall, this is a very gentle scrub, and for a scrub it really is very hydrating. It is very light blue (almost white) with some small blue specks in it. I seem to remember a very faint, but pleasant odor to it last week, but I'm so stuffed up right now I can't smell it at all (sorry about that!) When you rub it in you will feel the very small grains in it, but they are very small and uniform. You'll need to really rub it around for a bit more exfoliation. It does feel a bit greasy, I believe that is the sheer number of emollients and humectants in this scrub! While not as hydrating as Bioelements Cremetherapy (which is actually meant to hydrate, unlike this scrub), I did find that if I waited a few minutes before rinsing my skin was very hydrated!

Exfoliation and hydration in one step- Who knew it was possible?

Shu Uemura White Recovery EX

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Shu Uemura's Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O

Cleansing oil sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, but mostly like something that is really scary and would not work. But, really it does! Run back to my cleanser post and read about cleansers and how they work. Really, it won't take long.

So, remember that part about surfactants and their long tails that love dirt, oil, etc? Well, those ends are basically the same as oil. Like goes with like, so they are attracted to water and oil, but don't mix well with water.

When you are cleansing with oil you basically are emulsifying the oil and dirt on your face. Take a peak at the directions below, you'll note that Shu wants you to put it on your dry skin, this will really help the oil to penetrate into any makeup, dirt or oil on your face. You'll get better results with massaging the oil around your face a bit.

You then need to get it all off of your face. While that can be pretty easy with a regular cleanser due to the water-loving ionic end of the surfactant, you don't have the luxury with an oil cleanser. Once again, massaging the water into the cleansing oil a bit will be very helpful, and then lots of rinsing!

Step 1. Place 4-6 pumps of cleansing oil onto dry hands.
Step 2. Gently massage oil onto a dry face and neck with dry hands.
Step 3. Dampen hands, and emulsify oil by massaging a small amount of warm water on top of the oil.
Step 4. Rinse well with lukewarm water.
Step 5. Follow with a shu uemura toning water and moisturizer.

Overall, how did I like this cleanser? Shu says that this cleanser is both a cleanser and makeup remover, and that it can even remove waterproof makeup. It did remove pretty much everything on my face, though it wasn't too great with mascara (I had to use my normal eye makeup remover still). It does take a bit longer to rinse off than a "normal" cleanser, but I had no oily residue and even if I skipped my moisturizer my dry cheeks had no afterwash dryness. None! My oily t-zone? No worse than usual. As for my drier "winter" skin, it did help fight off some of the usual winter dryness, restoring to a level of moisture I usually have in the summer.

This formulation does contain green tea derivatives (giving the cleanser a nice green tea scent that I enjoyed), and it is likely that some of the antioxidants are left behind on the skin in an oil cleanser.

I think if you have dry skin, definitely check out this cleanser. If you have oily or combination skin, don't cross this product off of your list, as I had good luck with it and I have combination skin. Especially during the winter, changing over to an oil cleanser may help with your dryness! Overall this was a great, gentle cleanser.

Shu Uemura's Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O

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Shu Uemura’s Spring 2008 Rebirth Collection

Shu Uemura’s Spring 2008 collection looks particularly amazing, offering pretty pastels that will help anyone feel spring-like as well as a few brights for those of us that are more adventurous. I for one am very excited about this collection, and I’ll be reviewing it soon!

Pressed Eye Shadows

Shu’s Shadows are very well known for their blendability and pigmentation. This collection seems to have shades for everyone and have pearl and iridescent finishes to make them more interesting than a basic matte shadow.

Rouge Unlimited

Light pink/nude lips will be big this spring, and this trio promises that everyone will be able to wear at least one of the shades!
• Dewy Beige
• Pink Bloom
• Serene Pink

Glow On

These limited edition powder would work great as either a blush or as a bronzer for a soft sweep of color to brighten your look.
• Harmonious Orange
• Tranquil Pink

Tri-Color Eye Pencil

These pencils are definitely not your basic eye liner! The packaging reminds me quite a bit of colored pencils I played with when I was a kid. The liners are soft enough to either use as a liner or over the entire lid as a shadow base.
• Aqua Flow – calm tones
• Energy Flow – warm tones

Nail Enamels

Metallic polishes are still very popular and a light color will always be a classic choice! These polishes have iridescent and pearl finishes, which makes them more interesting than many basic crème polishes.
• Gold Zest
• Innocent Beige

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