Your Daily Bionic Beauty Touchup

Freebies Found: Face lotions, philosophy shower gel, and more

Posted: 24 Nov 2009 01:20 PM PST

The Bionic Beauty blog locates makeup, cosmetics, hair and skin care free samples for you!

I love the holiday season! Freebies just seem to pour out during this time each year. So without further delay, here is the latest roundup of free beauty samples!

Head on over to Philosophy’s Facebook page to grab a free sample of their Gingerbread Man Foaming Shower Gel and Body Wash.

For that lovely time of the month… Walmart is offering a sample pack of Tampax Pearls and Always Infinity pads. Perfect for stashing in your car for uh… emergencies.

Veria is handing out a “relaxing gift pack” two free samples of the Chandra facial moisturizer, plus a DIY bath salt recipe, and some coupons. I haven’t tried this brand before, therefore I can’t speak for how it works, but its fun to experiment!

Get a free sample of Lancome’s new Absolue Precious Cells face cream (with SPF 15) – stop by your local Nordstrom’s and then scoot over the Lancome counter!

“Share Your Concept” skin and body care has freebies of their upcoming “Skin Wonders” beauty products. There’s is not much information about this line yet… but hopefully it will launch soon. And Bionic Beauties will be able to try them right-off-the-bat!

SELF magazine is looking for 800 beauty junkies to assist in testing various skin, hair, beauty and makeup products for their “Best of” awards. Fill out a short application and if you are chosen, they’ll ship you all sorts of goodies to review!

From the archives:

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5 Tips and Tricks for the Matte Nail Trend

Posted: 24 Nov 2009 04:24 AM PST

In my article comparing a variety of matte polish top coats, I promised you some tips on embracing this trend. After months of wearing matte nail polish myself, I came up with these tips to help your manicure and polish last and to get the best results possible.

Matte nail polish topcoat to create nail art

China Glaze's Recycle polish with Rescue Beauty Lounge's Matte topcoat for the designs.

Try to use as little hand lotion or cream as possible. If you do apply lotion, gently wipe it off your matte nails with a soft cloth or old T shirt. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a glossy finish.
Really take your time applying your colored nail polish. Focus on getting it smooth and even. Matte top coats and polishes show every little ridge, bubble and mistake.

Use a quality base coat like CND’s Stickey ($19 at Sally Beauty Supply) and Dermelect Launchpad Anti-Aging base coat (at $18 at SkinStore.com). Both of these are my go-to base coats for any nail polish. Some people recommend not using a base coat with matte colors, but I tried that- and I just ended up with peeling color immediately. These two base coats help adhere your polish color and really increased the life of my manicure!
Experiment with colors! Grays, taupes, navy, red, lime greens all look super cool when mattified. But think outside the box too- Glitter polish with a matte top coat is very unique! It’s almost like frosted stained glass. In the photo below I left my pointer finger glossy, all the rest have one coat of essie’s Matte About You.

Essie Matte About You topcoat over glitter nail polish

Glitter polish topped with essie's Matte About You produces a softened effect.

Combine gloss and matte finishes. You can do a monochromatic French manicure by applying a matte top coat on your entire nail and a glossy top coat across the tips, or reverse it! Stripes and dots also look fresh and subtle.

If you’ve tried the matte nail trend, what was your experience? Do you have any tips to share?

Lifestyle World

Tuesday, 24 November 2009