Lux Baby Product: Mustela Bebe

France and all things French seems to be a recurring theme for me this week. It’s been three years since I’ve been to France, which is my longest stretch since I first started visiting. It’s killing me – I need a French fix.

Then I received an email telling me that ULTA, hailed as the ultimate beauty destination, is now making available a number of awesome brands in it’s brand spankin’ new Mom and Baby section.  I scanned the email – Philosophy, California Baby, Belli…

Mustela.

Mustela. Mustela. Mustela!!!!!

I did a double take and rubbed my eyes to make sure I had read it correctly.  Mustela.  Right there.  ULTA is now selling Mustela and Mustela Bebe products.

Maybe this means nothing to you.  But let me tell you, if you have a baby – run, don’t walk, over to your wallet, grab your credit card, and order yourself some Mustela products.  I fell in love with them in Europe – especially the baby wipes (which are AMAZING) – and when I got home I wished I had thought to buy a whole bunch more than I did to bring home with me.

I scoured the internet. I wanted nothing but Mustela Bebe wipes to touch my little one’s tushie.  Alas, it was not to be.

But 3 years later ULTA has come through for us.  You can buy them online now. They’re a bit spendy, but it is so worth it.

Trust me.

And for the record, I have absolutely no relationship with this company at all.  I just love these products and wish someone had found them for me when Audrey Grace was still little enough to need them.

So go, order, be thankful.

And thank you ULTA for my France fix.

I needed it.

CoolSculpting: After My Consultation

In my last post I introduced you to CoolSculpting by ZELTIQ – the non-invasive way to reduce fat in problem areas.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to go for a consultation to see just what this procedure was all about.

I arrived at the Dr. Kinsley’s office (which felt more like a spa, to be honest) and was given a robe and ushered into a comfortable room with a full length mirror.  Before I knew it, I was laughing and talking about my daughter and my life while standing in my bra and panties in front of the mirror, discussing parts of my body that I was not too…ahem…fond of.  I’m relatively modest, but Dr. Kinsley’s staff put me at ease immediately.

They more fully explained the process to me – about how the machine freezes the area to 12 degrees below zero, literally reducing and eliminating the fat cells in that area.  Cool fact about fat cells?  Once they are gone, they don’t come back!  The size of your already-existing fat cells can increase, but the ones you are targeting are gone and gone for a lifetime.   Of course, I had already done a fair amount of research – like reading this Marie Claire article about it, and watching a video of the procedure being done on Dr. Oz.

Where can I sign up?

I am somewhat shy, so I’ll refrain from telling you ALL of the places that I qualify for CoolSculpting, but let’s just say that it’s enough to make me feel like I will look like a new woman.  I’ve scheduled my appointment to try it out for next week, so I’ll definitely update you to let you know how it goes.  All of the women in Dr. Kinsley’s office have tried CoolSculpting and rave about it – including Dr. Kinsley herself – so I feel much more at ease going into it.  Basically I’ll be sitting for an hour for each problem “area” and hanging out, reading my kindle or watching a movie while the machine works it’s magic.  It must be pretty popular, because it was difficult to find a time in the near future when I could get an appointment – the office manager told me they have a steady stream of clients who are eager to try CoolSculpting.

So now I’m excited.  I am constantly aware of my weight and my body, but I struggle to get the look that I really want because of those pesky areas that I can’t stand.  Now I feel like when I get married sometime this year or next, I will have the sexy physique that I’ve always dreamed of but really thought was unattainable.  You can bet I won’t be wedding dress shopping until AFTER my treatment!

Don’t forget that you can win your very own CoolSculpting treatment for you and a friend on the CoolSculpting Facebook page!

Go check out the contest and enter to win.  As a bonus, if you enter, come back here and let me know in the comments, and I’ll enter you to win a brand new Flip Cam HD – so you have an extra chance of winning!

Disclosure:  This post was sponsored by CoolSculpting by ZELTIQ, but all opinions are my own.  For more information, check out my disclosure policy.

Video Review: Maybelline 2011 Product Line Up

Makeup.

I love it. LOVE.  My hobbies are reading, swimming, shopping, and makeup.  Seriously.

I mean, not that you’re surprised.

Maybelline approached the Walmart Moms and offered us the opportunity to review their new product line-up for 2011 and I was all “duh”.  Because, you know, makeup is my hobby.

I started with the new Maybelline Fit Me! product line, which includes 18 different foundations, 6 different concealers, 12 different shades of blush, and 3 shades of bronzer.  This lightweight formula is meant to allow your face to breathe which hopefully means fewer blemishes and breakouts, plus skin that is much, much healthier.  All of the different available shades allow you to completely customize your complexion to find the best shades that “fit you”.

I liked the Fit Me! line, and if you watch the video below, you can see me apply the line in real-time – and you can see how smoothly it evens out my complexion.  The Fit Me! line is very affordable and I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Now, I’m a bit of a mascara freak, so it takes a lot to impress me.  I’m a big fan of anything that makes my lashes big, bold, and sorta out of control.  My all-time favorite is Dior Show Mascara, but it costs a whopping $28 a tube, and as a very famous makeup artist once told me “you should never have to pay that much for mascara”.  So, for the past year I’ve been on a mascara “diet” – hopping around trying to find the perfect one and I really, really think that I’ve found it in Maybelline’s One by One by Volum’ Express Mascara.  This mascara coats and separates every single one of my lashes with no clumping.  One coat is enough to make me feel like hot stuff, but two coats is enough to make me feel va-va-voom!

The last product that I tried from Maybelline is their SuperStay 24 Lipcolor – a 2-step color that lasts for 24 hours.  Let’s be honest – I was super skeptical.  According to Maybelline, this unique formula has 5 years of research and 10 US patents backing it up – and it won’t crumble, cake, fade, feather or transfer.  24 hours?  That’s a long time.  The first time I wore the color, I remember walking into the bathroom after eating lunch with friends and being shocked that my lipcolor looked like new.  Like I had JUST applied it.  That afternoon I brought my daughter home a few cupcakes from her favorite bakery, and we devoured them together – while my lipcolor stayed put.  So far we had made it though 8 hours and it looked great.  I started to notice a little fading around the interior of my lips, but nothing worth complaining about.  My fiance’ loves it too – he used to go in for a kiss to tell me how pretty I looked and then quickly pull back to avoid messing up my lip gloss.  Now he smiles and says “24 hour stuff?” and kisses me anyway.  That’s a keeper in my book!

Check out the video to see more of my experience with these three great products – and leave any thoughts that you have in the comments section!

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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Walmart as a part of my role in the Walmart Moms.All opinions are, and always have been, my own.

Things We Love: Carmex Healing Lotion & Cream

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Carmex. All opinions are 100% mine.

I just returned from a conference in Las Vegas and boy are my arms tired on Friday, completely exhausted but feeling pleased at all that I learned and ready to spring into action.  However, as I boarded the plane at an absurdly early hour on Friday morning, I had more pressing matters on my mind.  My hands, legs, and arms felt like they were on fire. You see, as a Louisiana girl, I’m used to copious amounts of humidity and moisture in the air, and while I typically moisturize on a daily (or if I’m being lazy – every other day) basis, I failed to pack lotion in my suitcase for my 4 days spent in the dry desert air of Las Vegas.

My skin felt tight and was aching.  I should have made it a point to run across the street to Walgreens to grab some lotion while I was there, but being the lazy person that I am, I kept putting it off.  In that moment I was more than paying for it.  Washing my hands constantly on the trip home didn’t help in the least, but being a germaphobe left me with no other option.

Fast forward 9 hours and I’m standing in front of my mailbox, collecting 4 days worth of mail – including a package from Social Spark.  Inside of the package I discover full-sized bottles of Carmex Healing Lotion and Carmex Healing Cream.  I promptly dropped my mail on the ground (all bills anyway, bleh) and flipped open the top of the Carmex Healing Cream and slathered it all over my hands.  (I think my neighbor was a little concerned for my sanity at that moment, but I digress.)

I have never breathed a bigger sigh of relief.  My hands instantly felt better and I could see a visible difference in my skin.  My skin immediately absorbed almost of the lotion, and felt smooth to the touch, not sticky or greasy.  The smell was a nice, soft scent, reminiscent of the Carmex brand that we’ve all come to know and love.  After my shower, I used the Healing Lotion on my legs and arms and they too immediately felt smooth and soft.  I used the healing cream again on my hands, and even on my ankles and feet.  I’m on my second day using the products, and I’m seeing a steady improvement in the quality of my skin.

Overall, I give the new lotions by Carmex an A.  I wish the cream was a bit thicker, but I suspect that if it was most of it would just sit on top of my skin and not be absorbed, so I can roll with it this way.  You can find each of these products at Walgreens (see – I should have run across the street!) for $5.99 each and Drugstore.com.

Have you tried Carmex products before?  What do you think of these new lotions – would you try them?

Bonus:  I have a set of these products to give away to one of my readers!  If you are interested, please leave a comment below!  The contest will end on November 22, 2010 at 11:59 pm CST.  US entries only.

Feel Like A Natural Woman

Hello.  My name is Erika and I’m addicted to buying and trying beauty products.

Hiiii, Errrikkkkaaaaa.

It’s true.  I don’t care if it is from Macy’s or Walgreen’s – I’ve tried almost every beauty product I can get my hands on.  When I discovered that I was pregnant with Little AG I suddenly realized that I had been largely slacking in one beauty product area – organic and natural makeup and skincare.  Being pregnant suddenly made me extremely aware of every single product I applied to my body, including things like sunscreen, makeup, toothpaste, and body lotion.  I spent hours using the internet to research every possible danger associated with every single product that I currently used – and it was then that my family forbade me from continuing to google information about beauty products on the internet.

They were all — um, crazy chick…step away from the laptop.  And I was all — must.do.more.googling!  After a brief intervention, they won.  It was a bit obsessive, I suppose.

So, in the absence of Google I turned to my two younger sisters, who had been using natural beauty products for quite a while, to help me figure out ways to incorporate organic and natural beauty and skincare products into my routine.  They pointed me in the direction of some fantastic products for both myself and for my then-still-a-peanut-sized daughter.  If you’ve ever found yourself wondering about these products but not really sure where to start – check out some of the awesome products I’ve suggested for you below, compiled with the help of my sister Dawn.  Most of these products aren’t completely organic, but they are all formulated without parabens and  without sodium lauryl/laureth sulfates.  Both of these have the ability to pass through the skin and to build up in the tissues of your body.  Yech.

1. Can You C Me? A makeup remover for both your visage and peepers, it combines organic carrot juice, minerals, and Dead Sea Mud and leaves my face feeling smooth and refreshed (isn’t it funny that mud makes my face feel refreshed?).  As a bonus – one of the ingredients is Aloe Vera so that it won’t irritate those pretty peepers, and will actually soothe tired eyes.

2.    Burt’s Bees Lemon and Vitamin E Bath and Body Oil – For an intensive moisturizing treatment, add some of this to a bath or apply it directly onto your skin.  After the birth of Little AG I used Vitamin E oil religiously after exfoliating, and it rid my tummy body of all of those pesky pregnancy stretchmarks.

3.  Pacifica “Mexican Cocoa” Solid Perfume – My sister Dawn let me try this stuff at the beach a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that it’s true – good things absolutely come in small packages!  This delicious smelling perfume is created with organic wax and all-natural oils.  I would have never thought smelling like cocoa would be sexy, but I’ve gotta tell ya, dabbing a bit of this solid perfume behind my ears did not make me feel like a walking chocolate cake.  Bonus:  since it’s tiny, you can slip it in your evening bag or clutch and freshen up throughout the evening!

4.  Alba Sport Sunscreen SPF 30+ – Wearing sunscreen everyday is one of the most important things that you can do to combat aging – so next time you are in the market for more, try out this awesome broad-spectrum sunscreen.  This sunscreen is infused with all sorts of delish ingredients, including lavender, green tea, and aloe vera.

5.  Burt’s Bees Radiance Day Creme – Along with sunscreen, moisturizer is a product that should be used daily to fight off signs of aging, so why not give this one, with 134 different nutrients to nourish and protect your skin, a try?  Use it daily to help diminish the apperance of fine lines and keep your skin glowing.

Tea Tree Skin Care from The Body Shop {Giveaway CLOSED}

I have been shopping at The Body Shop for over 10 years now — my nose won’t let my body pass one of those awesome stores by without going in!  I discovered the Body Shop back when I was in high school when I began using their tea tree products that help prevent and control breakouts and blemishes. I used the line for years, so I was really excited to hear that they had revamped their their Tea Tree line – reformulating some existing products and adding new ones to create an entire skin care regime.

All of the products are now paraben & phthalate free – which is great news for anyone trying to be a bit more “green”.  (And a smart move, in my humble opinion!)  The line now includes products to prevent blemishes and breakouts, treat existing blemishes, and control oil and shine.  The products are formulated to not be too harsh or to overdry your skin, while still being effective.

Win It! To celebrate the relaunch of their new line, The Body Shop is offering 2 Chic Shopper Chick readers a prize package that includes all of the products that you see above ($115 value).  To enter to win, click on over to The Body Shop’s website and then come back here and tell me which one of their born-again Tea Tree products you would most love to try.  Leave a comment here, and stumble, subscribe, tweet (button at the top!) or blog about this contest with a link back here for additional entries. This contest ends August 20st, 2009 (ooh, on my birthday!). US entries only, must be 18 or older to enter, no purchase necessary to win.

Your Best Face Forward! {Giveaway CLOSED}

When I was 16 years old, everyone thought I was so much older than I actually was.  People made comments about it all the time (“Oh my GOODNESS you’re ONLY 16?!  Wow, are your parents in trouble!”), and occasionally men in their late 20′s would ask me on dates or worse, make inappropriate comments to me or in my direction.  My mom, being the good mom that she is, would shoot them dirty looks, quickly usher me away, and tell them in a growling voice, “she’s only 16!”.  Naturally, I didn’t mind looking older than I was at 16, because it worked to my advantage! (And, since my mom is BOUND to read this, we’ll leave that at that. Ahem.)

Somewhere around hitting 21 years old, everything changed, and suddenly people started thinking I was much younger than I actually was.  I remember being asked for ID while buying a lottery ticket (WHAT?  Somebody’s gotta win, right?!), which simultaneously surprised and irritated me since I had been able to buy lottery tickets for 3 years at that point.  It got progressively worse, at 22 years old people would ask me if I had considered where I was going for college yet – though in actuality I was a college senior and newly married.   At 24 years old and 8 months pregnant, I had several different instances where people looked at my belly in shock and horror and flat out asked “How OLD are you?!”  (My response?  “You first!!  How old are YOU?” with a sweet smile that told them to BUTT OUT.)

So, it seems the gods of aging or anti-aging have smiled upon me for most of my young adult life.  I’m not silly enough to think this will go on forever though, nuh uh.  I’m doing my part to take care of my skin and body so that I can prepare for the years ahead of me with a fanatical beauty routine that focuses heavily on skincare.  There is a new product on the market called Tripeptinon – a small capsule of liquid that combines 17 amino acids to address your skin’s surface issues as well as underlying issues such as supporting and connective tissue in your face.  Applied as the very last facial skincare step at night during a 6 week regimen, Tripeptinon is being celebrated as THE best way to have youthful skin – kinda like a face lift in a capsule. Here’s the thing though, you don’t have to be *ahem* OLDER to use this stuff.  No matter your age, your skin is constantly exposed to elements that are working against it, sun, wind, toxins in your environment, etc.  That means that no matter your age, you’re at the perfect age to take care of your skin.

Win it! I have a 6 week supply of Tripeptinon to give away to one lucky CSC reader!  To enter leave a comment for me on this post, and I’d luff you forever if you could say something with a bit more effort than “I wanna win.” or “enter me”.  Oh, and I have final say over what comments qualify as effort.  After your initial comment, every other (pertinent) comment left on this site on other posts from now through March 15th will count as an extra entry each.  You don’t need to come back to this post and tell me you commented on another post, I can stalk track you via your email/IP address.   As usual, extra entries are also available for stumbling Chic Shopper Chick (leave your stumble name), subscribing to my site, following me on Twitter, and blogging about this giveaway with a link back here.  That’s it, so good luck!

US entries only, winner will be chosen via random.org at the end of the contest. Winners are posted here, please leave a valid email address or blog address if you’d like to be contacted should you win. Winner has 72 hours to claim their prize. This contest ends at 11:59 pm CST on March 16th, 2009.