The Holidays are here once again! Do you have your gift list and your wish list ready? Cause I have a great gift set from Stila that is so affordable and will make some little “beauty junkie” very happy.

Stila’s Let it Shine! Holiday Set is perfect for anyone looking to give their face a pretty pick-me-up. A $94 value for only $30 and so worth it.

The Blanc palette includes three beautiful eye shadows; a golden beige, a golden copper  a golden espresso, and a terra cotta cheek color. Also included is a Lip Glaze in Plum. A lot of bang for your buck and a great gift for anyone who loves beauty. You can check out more of the gift sets from Stila and great deals at their flagship site, Stilacosmetics.

Happy shopping:)

xx,

b

image credit: Stila Cosmetics

Share This

Oh my gosh! How pretty are these colors?! The Shimmer Bricks from Bobbi Brown have become a big favorite for the “super, sexy, shimmer,” they give your skin and the combination of gorgeous colors in each palette.

The Copper Diamond Limited Edition New from Bobbi Brown is outstanding and the colors look beautiful on. Working with Bobbi all those years before starting my own line of beauty products I was lucky enough to see a legend and beauty pro do her thing. One of those things was to use her fingers when applying shimmer shadows. Sometimes a big no-no here in Hollywood, but I have to tell you the colors looked amazing and it is something I do regularly when I am shooting.

Case in point, go ahead and use your fingers with this shimmer brick if you like. Use them to apply color to your eyes and if you feel so inclined to your cheeks as a highlighter.

Check out the packaging for the Copper Diamond Shimmer Brick. So cute, you may want to keep it even after the color inside is finished.

image credit: Bobbi Brown

Share This

I get so many women emailing me about their eyebrows. How to do? What kind of shadows? Where should I pluck? Do you recommend using an eyebrow stencil? And if so which one? All important questions when trying to achieve the perfect brows.

Since my days back when I worked with Bobbi I have always been obsessed with eyebrows. I remember the first time I saw her beauty book and was drawn to the perfectly shaped brows on the cover.

So it’s no surprise I almost never leave the house without doing my brows. Kind of the way some women don’t leave without putting on lip gloss or mascara. For me it’s the eyebrows. When the eyebrow stencil came along and not to be confused with the eyeliner stencils that I created, I was thrilled. They were easy to use and in seconds you could create perfect brows.

Since then Anastasia and Valerie Beverly Hills have created their own stencils and kits while becoming quite the eyebrow guru’s to the stars. My personal preference though are the Anastasia stencils which I have been using for years. I love them and find them extremely easy to use. Why spend the time filling in your brows with a pencil or brush when you can use a stencil and do it in seconds!

Classic Stencils $20 at sephora

For anyone who prefers to use their own shadows, then this is all you need. Anastasia also has a Brow Express Kit which is a great deal because it comes with everything to create gorgeous brows.

Brow Express Kit, $38 at Sephora

If you happen to live in or near the Los Angeles area and feel like treating yourself to an eyebrow shaping with Anastasia and her team of brow experts. They are located in Beverly Hills at:
438 N Bedford Dr
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 273-3155

Happy Saturday everyone!

xx,

b

image credits: Sephora

Share This

If you had to pick the absolute hardest, most challenging goal possible in biomedical science, I think it might be to alter the genes of adult humans so as to safely extend healthy life. Yet this is pretty much the course of the mainstream aging research community - and so I believe they are setting themselves up for maximal expense and minimal progress:

It is their belief that this is the only practical way ahead: a laborious slog towards complete understanding of aging and metabolism, followed by an even more complex navigation through re-engineering that metabolism to age more slowly. The sheer scale and difficulty of that task is why many scientists feel that meaningful engineered longevity - more healthy years through science - is a long way away indeed.

Here's a paper restating that point:

Studies performed on various experimental model systems indicate that genetic interventions can increase longevity, even if in a highly protected laboratory condition. Generally, such interventions required partial or complete switching off of the gene and inhibiting the activity of its gene products, which normally have other well-defined roles in metabolic processes. Overexpression of some genes, such as stress response and antioxidant genes, in some model systems also extends their longevity.

Such genetic interventions may not be easily applicable to humans without knowing their effects on human growth, development, maturation, reproduction and other characteristics. Studies on the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms and multiple polymorphisms (haplotype) in genes with human longevity have identified several genes whose frequencies increase or decrease with age.

Whether genetic redesigning can be achieved in the wake of numerous and complex epigenetic factors that effectively determine the life course and the life span of an individual still appears to be a 'mission impossible'.

Not impossible, just far, far harder than the alternative - which is to avoid changing human genes and metabolism, rather aiming to repair the damage of aging in the biochemistry we have today, thus reversing the effects of aging. That goal allows us to skip over a great many things we don't understand about human biochemistry and avoid many challenging endeavors - and it will produce more valuable and effective therapies into the bargain.

Why take the hard path to extend longevity a little by slowing aging when there is an easier and more direct path towards reversing aging? The debate over the approach to aging research in the next few decades is vitally important to progress in engineered longevity: the presently dominant strategy is an inefficient path forward, and it will eventually produce therapies that do little to help those of us who have grown old waiting for them. That has to change.

From In Search of Enlightenment:

The inborn aging process is now the major risk factor for disease and death after around age 28 in the developed countries

...

Aging is not immutable. The lifespan of organisms such as worms, flies, and mice can be extended by restricting food intake.

...

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the world's 6.5+ population will die from age-related causes, aging research is underfunded.

...

Even a modest deceleration in human aging could be this century’s most important medical intervention. Furthermore, there is a sound scientific basis for believing this could be achieved. We are closer to this goal than we are to eliminating cancer or heart disease. Furthermore, age retardation could yield health dividends far greater than those that would be achieved by the elimination of any specific disease of aging.

Despite the fact that progress is very visible in advocacy for longevity science, members of the healthy life extension community can't go far wrong in continuing to hit on the basic concepts - like those expressed above.

• Aging isn't written in stone: it can be addressed by future medical science
• Living longer means living in good health for longer, not being older for longer
• Longevity science is plausible and underway, but very underfunded
• We could live much longer in good health, but we have to work to make that goal a reality

It is still the case that comparatively few people think this way, or realize the potential of the next few decades for engineered human longevity. Much more public support, fundraising, and applied medical research will be required to realize this potential - which all starts with a large number of people saying "I want to see this come to pass."