The Beauty Bunny

Some people are just too perfect. Infuriatingly, Leighton Meester not only has all of the beauty and style of Gossip Girl’s socialite queen of the Upper East Side Blair Waldorf, but she seems genuinely nice, too! Leighton shared some of her favorite beauty products with Lucky Magazine in August:

• Anna Sui Flight of Fancy Eau De Toilette: “I’m sort of obsessed with perfume. This is light, fresh, and something I could wear every day.”
• LipFusion Lip Plump Color Shine in Sweet and Sexy: “I can’t even count how many shades of lip gloss I own. I’ll start my day with something light, and by the end, I’ve piled on five different colors and have full-on red lips.”
• Paula Dorf Eye Primer: “I put this on before my eyeshadow, and it keeps everything from getting clumped in the creases.”

Source: Lucky Magazine, August 2008
Photo courtesy of InStyle Magazine

Like most people, I’d like to have whiter teeth, and I’m willing to go to some extreme lengths to get them. I tried out Rembrandt’s 2-Hour Whitening Kit this weekend to brighten my smile at home. The kit includes 8 ampoules of whitening gel for 4 applications to upper and lower teeth. Here’s how it’s done:

• Spread the whitening gel onto the molds, preferably closest to where the front of your teeth will be.
• Put the molds on your teeth andwait 20 minutes.
• After twenty minutes, run to the sink and rinse your mouth out. Rinse the molds of any leftover whitening gunk.
• Wait ten minutes while your poor gums calm down. Go stare in the mirror every 30 seconds to see if your teeth look whiter yet.
• Repeat 4 times for a total of two hours.

Continue reading Review: Rembrandt 2-Hour Whitening Kit

Kim Kardashian’s makeup isn’t the only enviable thing about her - her hair’s pretty fabulous too. Check out this gallery of 20 of the celebrity’s most dashing hair styles (gonnnnng!):

TotalBeauty.com content:

Kim Kardashian Hairstyle Photos

The “Dancing With The Stars” contestant shows how to rock long hairstyles and sexy updos

We can’t get enough of her on “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and now we get to see even more of Kim Kardashian on the upcoming season of “Dancing With The Stars.” Why do we like her so much? It could be her antics or her crazy family but really, it’s the hair. Whether it’s long — or really long — she always looks glamorous. Check out the many hairstyles of Kim Kardashian and maybe you’ll want to inject a little Hollywood glitz into your look. See Kim

Kate Growney spent eight years as a beauty editor for Elle Magazine before launching Saffron James Parfums, her own line of eco-friendly fragrances which contributes one dollar from each purchase to environmental and cultural preservation in Hawaii. 

Kate’s favorite beauty tips and tricks:

• Wear undereye concealer to look good in pictures, even if you don’t have dark circles. When the flash hits the makeup, it creates a bounce of light that makes your eyes look brighter.
• Her must-have skin treatment: Intense Pulsed Light with Levulan once per year. “Your face will look terrible for five days. But then all the sunspots fall off, and your skin texture is great.”
• When she doesn’t have time to get her nails done, Kate buffs them and runs a white nail pencil under the tips. “It’s like an au naturel French manicure.”
• Kate’s cheap DIY way to whiten her teeth: rinse with a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes once per week. (Don’t worry, it’s nontoxic and already in most whitening products; that doesn’t make it taste any better, though.)
• Makeup artist Paula Dorf taught Kate to use black pencil to line the inside of upper lashes, then dot the lower lash line with it and blend. “Once you’ve tried it, you won’t be able to leave the house without it.”
• Kate advises that synthetic ingredients in fragrances hold truer to their notes and smell the same on everyone, while natural ones change on different skins.

Continue reading Tips and Tricks from ELLE Beauty Editor Kate Growney

Check out the latest trends for this season straight from Fashion Week. Some of the goodies: dark lips, inky cat eyes, wild yellow eyeshadow, and a new take on the classic French twist hairstyle.

TotalBeauty.com content:

Fall 2008 Makeup, Nail and Hairstyle Trends

How to use products from brands like MAC and Bumble and bumble to replicate the hottest runway looks, from dark lips to sleek updos

This fall, the biggest trend in clothing is texture, from the smoothness of varnish to the multidimensional surface of tweed. Look for the same trends to appear in makeup and hair on celebrities and in magazine ads, giving you plenty of fun new options to try. Pick your favorites here and start experimenting. Best trends

Ladies, I have found the impossible: a product for my eyebrows that I completely adore. Not one that I like. Not one that simply works well. No, this is a product I am wholly, deeply in love with.

Anastasia Beverly Hills is the reigning queen of eyebrow grooming - what an odd title! - but they’ve surpassed even themselves with their new Brow Pen. What is it? Simply, it’s a small marker-like pen with a flexible tip that fills in your eyebrows with soft, even, natural looking color in mere seconds. 

This pen is available in only one color and describes this color as a “Universal Shade”. Normally, I consider this one step from product suicide. However, the tawny-brown looking tip delivered a flawlessly blended, natural color to my sparse, pale blonde brows with the greatest of ease. It lasts exactly the way makeup should, too; surviving my busy work day, the brow pen’s pigment doesn’t budge until it’s splashed with water - but then it’s toast.

Since getting the Brow Pen, I literally have not gone one day without using it. I can’t look at my eyebrows anymore without longing for the perfect definition and evenness this product delivers. Anastasia Beverly Hills, I am in love. With your pen.

The verdict: 10 out of 10! 

Anastasia Brow Pen - Long Wearing Brow Tint sells at Sephora for $21.