Beauty Alert! Blog » Stacya Silverman

I Am Sad My New Lipstick Is Yucky

Stacya — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:09:47 +0000

I just need to get this out. I went into Saks Fifth Ave in New York to find my Bobbi Brown lipstick, and instead I was caught in the web of a very aggressive sales lady who was trying to sell me skin care. I realized the only way I was getting away from her was to buy something, so I offered to buy a lipstick from her. So I ended up buying a lipstick in a good color, but from a company (shall remain nameless) I was unfamiliar with. Now I have it, a $35.00 lipstick…and it dries out my lips and tastes terrible. Sad. I won’t even put a Beauty Alert! label on it, because it isn’t label worthy. Also, I have this feeling that Saks Fifth Avenue doesn’t even carry Bobbi Brown, but I after my encounter at the counter, I wanted to flee.

It’s Getting Hot In Here

Stacya — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:20:02 +0000

Now that we are heading into warmer weather, this is a good time to remember what heat and humidity does to our products.

Once, I had the bright idea to leave my sunscreen in my car, so I could reapply when needed. One warm day, I pumped out a little of the lotion with SPF, and it was lumpy and curdled. I didn’t even know a lotion could do that. It was a new, 6 ounce tube, and I felt very wasteful. Store your products in a cool, dry place.

If something smells or separates, toss it. Bacteria loves warmth, humidity, and liquid, so your products are a very good breeding ground for things to go very wrong.

Sole Survivor

Stacya — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:02:33 +0000

Finding a great beauty product at a farmer’s market seems unlikely. But last Sunday, I came across a local company called Brown Butterfly. I bought the foot cream they make, called “Sole Survivor”. It is light and creamy, like whipped cream, and it has tea tree, lavender and peppermint. It contains no chemical preservatives, so this is the kind of product you want to store in a cool, dry place this summer. Keep it out of your hot car, out of the humid bathroom.

I keep my potions and lotions in a beautiful red box, it is a great way to hide your make-up and creams away from light and makes an attractive storage place. This cream comes in a jar, so try not to double dip (touch your feet and then put your fingers back in the jar) and it is also the perfect example of what our Beauty Alert! labels are great for.

This cream would fall under the six month category when properly stored and no double dipping occurs. I love this foot cream! Warmer weather reminds us to take care of our feet. Make sure you get your mani/pedis in a salon that uses a good sterilizer, and never walk barefoot around a nail place, or in a hotel for that matter. Travel with flip flops. Use a cream like the Brown Butterfly foot cream with Tea Tree to keep yucky fungi away. Wash and dry your feet completely after your bath or shower, and do find a good place to get a pedicure! You don’t have to paint your toe nails, but pedicures are a great way for women (and men) to keep in touch with how your feet are doing.

Confessions of a Lipstick Hoarder

Stacya — Wed, 05 May 2010 15:06:00 +0000

My sister in law just left town, and on our last lunch she made a confession. She had this lipstick she bought…20 YEARS AGO!!!!! And she finally realized maybe it wasn’t so great anymore when she put it on and it changed color. The thing she loved about the lipstick was the color, a shade that had been discontinued. The only reason she tossed it is because she realized that the product must have gone bad to the point where the color had actually changed. I hear this story a lot, women who find a color that they believe is some magical lip transformer, never to be found again, so they save it for years, parsing out usage. At least she saw that after 20 years the composition of the product had changed. But, it had probably gone bad much sooner than that. 20 years ago was 1990, my first year in Seattle…that was a long, long time ago. Many times a lipstick or gloss that old will smell rancid. Rancid oil on your lips, that sounds so horrible. Ladies, I know you believe you stumbled across some magic lip color, and now that it is discontinued you have been cheated out of the best make-up ever. Do you know how many lipstick companies there are? Do you know how many shades of lip color are out there? Most people can use up a lipstick in two years. If you are hoarding a lip color for special occasions, stop that! Every day is a special occasion. Wear your favorite things, don’t save them. Throw out that old crusty lipstick from the 1990′s, I know you can match that color!

A New Jar

Stacya — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 15:07:00 +0000

I just opened my new jar of Bobbi Brown’s tinted moisturizer with SPF. I love products that come in a big, glass jar. I know that products with a pump keep bacteria out…but this time I promised myself “no double dipping” and I will use only a Q-Tip…and no fingers. That is the hard part, especially when there is a big rush to get out the door. Some people prefer make-up and skin care with pumps, some jars. I am a jar person. It feels like an upgrade from the pump somehow. People who hold on to foundation and skin care for more than six months should probably opt for pumps, it does help the bacteria situation. I will be done with this jar in 2-3 months, and I am sure towards the end I will have given up on my new Q-Tip only rule.

Dr. Diane Chiu, dermatologist

Stacya — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:45:48 +0000

The first time I heard about Beauty Alert! Labels, I thought: “What a simple but brilliant idea…I can’t believe no one’s thought of it earlier!” As a cosmetic and medical dermatologist, I value the importance of what my patients are applying to their face and body. Every day, I advise people about what products are best for their skin, however I never had an effective way to counsel them about getting rid of products that have expired. Numerous scientific studies have shown that cosmetics can grow a wide variety of pathogenic bacteria and fungi, especially once they are opened. “Organic” or “natural” products that contain fewer preservatives and thus seem “better for the skin” may actually become contaminated even more easily. Eye make-up in particular can be a potentially hazardous source of eye infections. We know that once a tube of mascara has been opened, 36% have microbial growth by 3 months*. Expired or contaminated products used on the skin may lead to skin irritation, rashes, or infections, especially if there are any breaks in the skin, such as with eczema or acne. Without expiration dates on the product packaging, it’s impossible to know when items should be thrown out. The people at Beauty Alert! have done their research and have taken the guesswork out about recommended product replacement times. Beauty Alert! Labels make it easy for me now to offer guidelines to my patients about disposing of potentially contaminated cosmetic products and ensuring their skin health.
Diane Chiu, M.D.
Dermatologist

Keeping Track of Your Golf Ball

Stacya — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:55:48 +0000

My client’s mother uses our Beauty Alert! waterproof and writable labels to keep track of her golf balls. Not only do they stay on the surface of the ball, the label can withstand all kinds of abuse. I have even put one through the dishwasher on my Pyrex dish. Anyway, good to know that even people who don’t wear make-up can benefit from our durable, beautiful labels!

Telling A Friend Their Make-up is Messed up

Stacya — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:45:34 +0000

I got an email the other day from a friend who needed advice on how to help her mother with her eyeliner. Her mom wears an eyeliner that ends up all under her eyes. This has been going on for a while now, but…how to bring it up in a way that promotes change, but doesn’t hurt feellings? Many of my clients have this challenge with friends who over-tweeze their brows. The eyebrows become so thin or evolve into a shape not found in nature, what to say? Or just as bad, brow powder or pencil that is too heavy or too dark. I think the best practice is gentle honesty, followed by a gift. I told my friend to give her mom Bobbie Brown’s waterproof liquid eyeliner in Caviar. Any sting from the honesty will be soothed with the kick ass gift.

Wow! We are Thrilled!

Stacya — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:29:58 +0000

Inventor Spot has named us the #2 invention for women and moms! We are thrilled. Alissa and I wish we could give a heart felt speech about how we feel about this project, how long we worked on it, and what we hope for it. We want to make it better and better, and hope to make our next round a charity item. Yay! Thank you Inventor Spot!!!

We are in the LA Times!

Stacya — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:11:23 +0000

We are in the LA Times! “Cosmetics, skin-care products don’t last forever”
One of the best articles I have read on old make-up and crusty loofas. Yuck. And yikes.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/14/image/la-ig-beauty14-20100212