ColourPop Ultra Satin Lips.

Though I haven't talked about it much, I am really into ColourPop! Have you heard of this new-ish cosmetics brand? It is an online only, super affordable brand of high-quality makeup products. I reviewed a few of the products previously here. The brand offers a ton of products in a ton of colors — or should I say colours? I am dying for them to launch a full-on lipgloss; you know how much I love a great gloss! Until then, I have to settle for their latest launch ColourPop Ultra Satin Lips. As soon as Satin Lips launched last week, I placed my order.

Knowing how pigmented ColourPop lip products are, I wanted to try the more nude and natural looking lip shades. I ordered Magic Wand, Echo Park and Frick 'N Frack and tried them the second they came through the door.

Magic Wand is a dark nude lip color. Echo Park takes that nude shade and kicks it up just a notch and adds a little bit of peachy color to it. Frick 'N Frack is a very dark burnt rose shade.

Ultra Satin Lips look quite different on the lips than they do swatched. They dry down pretty matte and are much darker than I would have expected. These are not nearly as matte as ColourPop Ultra Matte Lips, but they are not as satin or have as much of a sheen as I thought they would. They feel creamy on the lips though. The brighter shades look to be more satin in the swatches on their site. The pigmentation is incredible as I expected. One swipe over the lips is all that is needed. Being that I prefer a lighter and glossier finish, I do top them off without a bit of pearl gloss like this from NARS or MAC.

These does not run at all and it fades naturally and evenly. I'm really impressed with how long Ultra Satin Lips lasted on me overall. I would say it lasted a good five to six hours before I noticed some fading which was very gradual. I still noticed color on my lips beyond that point.

There are 16 shades in the ColourPop Ultra Satin Lips lineup:

• Magic Wand - light nude
• Echo Park - light peach nude
• Dopey - dusty mauve
• Lyin' King - raspberry
• London Fog - cool blue-red
• The Rabbit - bright fuchsia
• Panda - deep pink violet
• Marshmallow - lavender grey
• Mess Around - grey beige
• Petit Four - deep charcoal grey
• TooLips - deep plum brown
• Frink 'N Frack - rose terracotta
• Tanzy - medium yellow-brown
• Cozy - orange-red
• Lost - brown-red
• Prim - dark black-red

I hope they come out with a real gloss soon!

Each Ultra Satin Lips sells for $6.00. Buy it at colourpop.com.

Recreate the Season's Hottest Hairstyles with TRESemmé.

SPONSORED

From New York Fashion Week and the red carpet at the recent award shows, we have been seeing a lot of hair trends. I have seen braids, buns and some pretty intricate styles make their way down the catwalk and red carpet alike. It’s easy to experience salon-gorgeous hair everyday and recreate the season's hottest hairstyles with the right products. See Abby from TwistMePretty.com use her favorite TRESemmé styling products to create these hot hairstyles (which are actually pretty simple) right at home. Her beautiful looks include an easy pull-through braid, halo braid half-up, and a twisted bun.

My daughter Caci has really long hair but has never been really good with fancy braids or updo's. I showed her these tutorials and she was able to follow along and recreate the looks with ease. Abby made it simple! With the help of her easy-to-follow tutorials and the right TRESemmé products, Caci was even able to recreate these looks. See Caci's attempt at the end of the post.

You know I am a big fan of TRESemmé and the right products are key to these looks.

Start with TRESemmé Moisture Rich Shampoo & Conditioner. These work in conjunction with each other to gently moisturize the hair and scalp with Vitamin E. This helps to restore softness and aims to produce touchably soft hair with a salon-quality shine that does not weigh hair down.

Depending on which style you are trying to recreate, you will want to pick up the following products below. Be sure to see the tutorials here to know exactly which products you will need.

TRES Two Extra-Firm Control Mousse - This mousse is light enough for easy application and strong enough to build fullness. I love this mousse and use it for everyday styling because it locks in style so well while adding in a ton of volume.

TRES Two Extra Hold Hair Spray - This hairspray allows you to achieve maximum hold with extra flyaway control. I love that this one is humidity-resistant so hair is never sticky.

TRESemmé Flawless Curls Extra Hold Mousse - If your hair is curly, this silky smooth mousse is made for you. This is formulated with keratin, gelatin and proteins so it will work to hold curls and lock in style without drying out the hair.

TRESemmé Climate Protection Finishing Spray - If you live in a warmer climate, this is the finishing hair spray you want to use. This contains a specialized Climate Control Complex that provides the hair protection against humidity, wind and static. I use this in the summer, but it is also great for certain styles or rainy days.

TRESemmé TRES Two Mega Firm Control Gel - When creating an intricate style that calls for firm hold, you want to use gel. This gel will give you firm hold without being sticky because it’s an alcohol-free formula.

TRESemmé TRES Two Freeze Hold Hair Spray - When you want to truly lock in your style all day, you want this Freeze Hold Hair Spray. This is a water-free formula that assures humidity-resistance for up to 24 hours while gripping polymers freeze in your style.

Buy TRESemmé styling products at Walmart.

Facebook Sweepstakes

I'm having a sweepstakes for some of these TRESemmé products plus a fun festival style prize pack that includes a $50 VISA gift card on my Facebook page for (2) winners. See everything up for grabs and enter the sweepstakes over on Facebook.

Enter the sweepstakes here.

This post was sponsored by Lunchbox. As always, all opinions are my own.

10 Ways to Brighten Skin for Spring.

I'm so excited that we are finally in the month of March! That means that spring is right around the corner - just 20 days away! Is your skin ready for the new season? It's time to uncover your skin and get rid of some of those layers and reveal brighter skin. It's easy to do with the right products. Here are ten products to get your skin ready — and brighter, just in time for spring.

1.  Kate Somerville ExfoliKate® Cleanser & Intensive Exfoliating Treatment
I've been a big fan of ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment for many years to polish and exfoliate the skin. I use it regularly. Now Kate has added ExfoliKate Cleanser to her line up and it comes packed in the duo exclusively at Sephora. The cleanser is a gentle foaming cleanser to gently aid in daily exfoliating while cleansing the skin.
Buy it for $50 at Sephora.

2. Kiehl's Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate
This concentrate contains pure Vitamin C which is a skin brightener. When applied topically, the formula helps skin recover from some of the more visible signs of skin aging. Vitamin C works to improve skins radiance and there is an added bonus of diminishing the appearance of lines and wrinkles. Start using now for brighter skin by spring.
Buy it for $60 at Kiehls, Nordstrom or Bloomingdales

3. Exuviance Daily Antioxidant Peel CA10
This one-step, leave-on daily peel helps to dissolve dead skin cells and reveal brighter, smoother skin. The working ingredient is 10% citric acid. It's so easy to use! After one month of use, my skin was noticeably brighter.
Buy it for $65 at Dermstore or beauty.com

4. Shiseido White Lucent
If you are looking for a total overhaul of your skincare routine and brightening is on your list of things that need addressing, look at the Shiseido White Lucent line of products. Each product in the line works with the other and addresses uneven skin tone and texture and targets dark spots. I've been using the following to brighten my skin for spring. 

• White Lucent Luminizing Infuser
• White Lucent Luminizing Surge Emulsion
• White Luminizing MicroTargeting Spot Corrector
• White Lucent MultiBright Night Cream

My skin has become really radiant when using and the dark spot corrector is lightening spots all over my face.

Buy it from fine department stores like Barney's New York, Macy's, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom and Sephora.

5. pixi Skintreats Glow Mud Cleanser
How fun that pixi Beauty now has skin care products. My first try with their new skin treats is this cleanser and this deep pore cleansing mud did a terrific job at not only cleaning out pores, but it left my skin looking overall more tones and radiant.
Buy it for $18 at pixibeauty.com or Target.

6. IT Cosmetics Confidence In A Cream
This brand new transforming moisturizing super cream not only immediately plumps and hydrates the skin, this cream makes skin instantly look radiant. I don't know what it is; pores are minimized as fine lines seem to plump up and fill in. This cream if formulated with a proprietary concentrate that adds the perfect balance of hyaluronic acid to plump up those lines while niacin and peptides brighten the skin.
Buy it for $48 at itcosmetics.com, QVC and Ulta.

7. Lancôme Absolue White Aura
This is the ultimate luxury cream for rejuvenating and brightening. Formulated with a combination of rare white rose extract and Pro-Xylane, this cream richly penetrates the skin and reveals a more luminous complexion. It feels so soft as it melts into the skin. It's a true treat.
Buy it for $250 at Lancome counters at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

8. Kiehl's Turmeric & Cranberry Energizing Radiance Masque
This 10 minute mask is like an instant facial that brightens the look of dull skin. By using this once a week, overall skin tone is greatly improved. It's super invigorating too! Instead of using this one at night, I love using this masque in the morning as a quick pick-me-up.
Buy it for $32 at Kiehl's, Saks Fifth Avenue or Neiman Marcus.

9. Exuviance OptiLight Tone Corrector
If you have spots or need allover brightening, this tone corrector is for you. Multiple correctors in this patented formula work to even skins tone. NeoGlucosamine gently exfoliates the skin to break up pigment clusters, while Retinol and Vitamin C reduce the spots and even out tone. You can use the creamy formula all over wherever needed or simply spot treat.
Buy it for $52 at Dermstore or Ulta.

10. Murad Rapid Age Spot and Pigment Lightening Serum
I love this serum that uses 2% Hydroquinone to help fade spots, freckles and overall brighten the tone of the skin. Used daily, at night, it rapidly does its job. I can attest at how fast and how well this serum works — probably better than any other age spot serum that I have used.
Buy it for $60 at Murad.com, Nordstrom or Sephora.