Beauty Treatments

I want to make this a post about our ever continuing loan/house drama with trying to close escrow on our home, but I will not. Instead I am going to focus on something totally superficial and a guilty pleasure. I need to think and talk about something trivial and fun. So here I go!

A few weeks ago I heard from my gal pal Lesley at Neimans that Neiman Marcus was having black Friday door busters! Yes, you heard me right, even super posh and ultra snobby Neimans resorted to Black Friday down and dirty door busters! Get this, spend $100 and get a $50 gift card! And, if you spent $200 in cosmetics, you got 10% off your entire order, plus the $50 gift card. If you love beauty products from department stores, you know that this is a darn good deal. So I planned to pack up the family and head on out to Fashion Island for a little Christmas fun and carousel riding, but wouldn't you know it, I came down with the stomach flu and barely drug myself to the Attic 17 black Friday sale before I gave in and decided to stay in bed the rest of the day. Good thing I know Lesley's cell phone number!

I called and put in an annual order for the three beauty products I have used for several years and have done wonders for my skin. I was disappointed to find out that my favorite eye cream is no longer sold in the states, Awake. You can't even find it online, and be live me, I've tried. At $110 a jar, it seemed like a crazy indulgence, but for me this once a year investment was so worth it. You see, I was born with crows feet. I kid you not. You can look at my high school graduation picture and I have them. My mom and sister were blessed with that oily, yet super smooth Spaniard skin without a wrinkle in sight, whereas I on the other had, have the dry rough skin of the Irish. I imagine what it would look like if I was living in Ireland in the 1700's picking potatoes, and it ain't pretty. The crows feet are something I am self-conscious about and have spent a pretty penny trying to sluff and smooth away naturally.

So it turns out that Shu Uemura is the parent company of Awake and so the cosmetic gal recommended this product:
Ladies, this eye cream is dynamite! It's thick and rich and makes your eyes feel like they've just taken a milk bath. And at $85, a much better pill to swallow than $110.

At this point I would like to note that eye and face cream are just about the only two indulgences I allow myself. Yes, many of you may say that $85 is a sin to spend on eye cream. And I don't necessarily disagree, but let me defend myself. I rarely get manicures/pedicures anymore. I get my hair cut 3 times a year and I don't tint or highlight it. I don't get massages or facials. I use Neutrogena face wash and daily moisturizer. I rarely go to Starbucks and never buy magazines. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. And I make the eye and face cream last an entire year, which equals 23 cents a day! When you look at it that way how could you fault me right?

I also stocked up on my night cream, made by Natura Bisse.

Years ago I went to the Neimans cosmetic counter and showed the girl the dry patches on my face that appeared only when I wore foundation. She said because of my dry skin I needed to peel off the top layer that was dead with a high concentrate glycolic acid cream. Somehow it didn't seem right to put the words acid and dry skin together in the same sentence, but she assured me that it would work, and of course it did! I put it on at night a few times a week and it keeps my skin smooth and hydrated. And because it's 15% glycolic, the highest you can get without a prescription, it burns and tingles a little when I put it on which shows me it's working. At $75 a jar, it's still steep, but overall a great deal considering it lasts me a year.

I warned you this was going to be a superficial post!

What are some of your beauty secrets and/or guilty pleasures you allow yourself?