February 2008 -

Feb 29, 2008

Fafi and MAC, A Fun Combination!

February 29, 2008 By Carleenp 5 Comments

I wish I were in my teens or twenties again. Then I would dare to go all out with this wonderful new collection from French artist Fafi and M.A.C. Cosmetics. But being 40, I just don’t think I can get away with a look like the one below, no matter how much I adore it!

As it is, I am still getting a lot of enjoyment from this collection. It is chock full of fun shades and I have already discovered a favorite new lipstick shade in it. (see Girl Gloss review). Among the other pleasures is a great selection of new paint pots, which I absolutely love. As far as I am concerned, MAC can’t put out new shades of these fast enough. If you haven’t tried a paint pot yet, get yourself to a MAC counter or store and do so! They are bit hard to blend, but they wear oh so well!

The collection also includes some wonderful iridescent pressed powders, including a repackaging of the shade belightful in an adorable compact. This shade is absolutely incredible as a highlighter/illuminizer on a variety of skin tones, although darker skin tones might want to step up a shade to Verv-Acious.

Another wonderful surprise were the two new nail lacquers. I have been enjoying M.A.C.’s limited edition nail shades, and the ones in the Fafi collection have become instant spring favorites. Boom! is a great purple/plum shade with a good measure of pearl shimmer to it that I have been sporting for over a week now. Girls Will Be Girls is a opalescent candy pink.

The collection also features Fafi cases, T-shirts, and collectible dolls. For more see Macfafi.com

Shop for M.A.C. Cosmetics

Filed Under: Collections and Looks, Palettes and Collections Tagged With: Collections, Fafi, M.A.C.

Feb 27, 2008

Ten Years Thinner: Week One of the Diet and Exercise Plan by Christine Lydon, M.D.

February 27, 2008 By Carleenp 5 Comments

Last week I announced my start of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. Now that I have completed the first week, an update is in order!

First off, I will go straight to the numbers. After week one:

Weight lost: 5 pounds (color me impressed)

Inches off: Thigh: 1/2, Hips: 0, Stomach: 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest: 2 1/2. Sigh…. why are the boobs the first to go, and why do they go so quickly?!?!

My experience has been good so far. The first two weeks are quite restrictive–no dairy, legumes or grains, so I ate a lot of eggs and then ate some more eggs. I focused my dinners on grilled chicken or fish with extra veggies and I made chicken soup that provided several lunches. I also premeasured and bagged my daily cup of nuts for snacks, which I supplemented with quite a bit of grapefruit from my recent trip to Texas.

I was stuck eating out one day, but managed to find a great grilled veggie salad at California Pizza Kitchen and I added grilled shrimp. For dinner ,I got pan seared halibut and veggies. The halibut was done in olive oil, so it was fine, but I’m pretty sure that the veggies were not diet compliant–they tasted too buttery good!

Toward the end of week one I got sick, so I’m not sure what effect that had. I ate a bit less than usual and it was almost all soup, so that might account for the quick weight drop. I also missed two days of the workout because of the illness.

The workout is interesting. After a week, I am pretty comfortable with it and feel like it is good at building overall strength and providing some cardio. But I don’t feel like I am getting as winded as I would get from doing sprint intervals, and I also don’t feel like my inner thighs, glutes, or triceps are getting as much workout as I would like. I added an extra set of one of my favorite triceps free weight exercises to the end and I might add something for the inner thigh and gluteal muscals as well. The inner thigh is an area which I need to keep strengthened due to some past hip issues. My glutes? Well, lets just say I would like a skinnier butt!

I also did fine on the supplement regime, which is essentially three prescription fish oil pills (Lovaza), a calcium pill, a multi-vitamin, and a magnesium tablet. I was previously taking all but the magnesium anyway. The difference now is just that instead of forgetting and only taking my pills about once each week, I managed to hit all but two days. Hint: Put your pills in a daily strip container and leave it on the table by where you eat. I only missed with that when I ate out one day and stayed in bed sick all of another, so I didn’t see the pills on the table.

Overall, I can feel a change in my body composition after only a week. I definitely feel stronger and thinner. So I am rather excited and am looking forward to continuing.

For those interested, you can duplicate the great grilled veggie salad that I had:

Spray veggies of choice with olive oil and roast or grill: E.g. eggplant, mushrooms, zuchinni, sundried tomatoes, asparagus, green onion, peppers, corn (beginning in week three). Also grill some chicken breast or shrimp, lightly sprayed with olive oil. Serve warm over a bed of chopped mixed greens and drizzle with a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing. After week three I might add a few black beans or chick peas or green peas.

A good week one compliant side dish: Fry sliced plantain in olive oil and lightly salt. These taste a bit like sweet french fries! Can’t find plantain? Check your local Hispanic grocery or in a pinch, fry green bananas instead.

I will be back next Wednesday with another update!

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap
Week Six Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Diet and Fitness Tagged With: Book Reviews, Christine Lydon, Diet, Fitness, Ten Years Thinner

Feb 26, 2008

Frederic Fekkai Glossing Shampoo, Conditioner, and Styling Cream

February 26, 2008 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

I have heard many good things about Fekkai hair products, but I kept putting off trying them because of the cost. Well, I finally broke down and bought a kit containing several items. I had mixed results with the shampoo and conditioner, but I think part of that was because I purchased the wrong items for my hair type. The glossing cream, however, rocked!

Frederic Fekkai Glossing Shampoo Conditioner Cream

I decided to try out the glossing formula instead of one of the repair or moisture formula because I have been looking for ways to tame frizz and gain shine this winter. But I failed to note that these are really for generally normal hair, meaning that the conditioner isn’t super intense.

The Frederic Fekkai Glossing Shampoo worked out fine. The shampoo had OK moisture and OK lather. I didn’t love it to the extent that I loved my other recent try, Kenra, but I found it to be serviceable. The Frederic Fekkai Glossing Conditioner was also OK. I like conditioners that provide a lot of detangling power, and found that while Fekkai did an OK job generally, it wasn’t so great in the detangling department. The upshot was that I had to use quite a bit of it on my long hair. Considering the price, I likely would not choose this one again simply because I can get better results with less product elsewhere. But I think it would be great for shorter hair or hair that does not need a particularly intense moisturizer the way mine does.

At this point in testing, it would seem that things were getting pretty mediocre for me, but wait — I absolutely love the Frederic Fekkai Glossing Cream! This olive oil cream does a great job at adding shine when used in small amounts. I stress “small,” because if too much is used it will weigh your hair down and feel oily, but in small doses it, it imparts a terrific shine and leaves the hair incredibly soft. Price is also less of a factor for this one because of the small amount used.

On another note, my overall experience with the Fekkai products seemed much better once my hair was dry. While I found myself using quite a bit of conditioner in the shower, the results dry were quite stunning. My hair was indeed very shiny and extremely soft. So much so, that I was a bit sad that I needed to use so much conditioner to get there. I just can’t afford to buy that much. I will definitely keep purchasing the glossing cream though.

If you would like to test Fekkai products without buying a bunch of expensive full size products, take a look at the Frederic Fekkai Glossing Travel Faves (pictured).

Comparison shop for Fekkai hair care products