Josie Maran Summer Lovin' Argan Lip & Cheek Color Stick Set

Oh, how I love stick blushes.  Tarte's Natual Cheek Stains got me started, but Josie Maran's Lip & Cheek Color Sticks reinforced it.  Offer them in a set with multiple colors and there is no way I'm going to be able to resist.

Summer Lovin' gives you four of the little sticks - the 3 colors Poppy, Rosey, and Summer Lovin', plus a clear one for general moisturizing purposes.  

Poppy

Poppy is my favorite, a vivid coral pink.  These apply sheer but can be built up in intensity.  Poppy has more of a cream finish with no visible shimmer.  These apply smoothly with a balm like texture.  I've got oily skin but do not find these to feel oily or to add much sheen.  I do however tend to use a powder to set these to help with longevity.  Sometimes it's a powder blush on top, sometimes a translucent powder.

Rosey

Rosey is a muted dusty rose with a slight shimmer and is the one color from the set available in the regular collection.  I found all three shades to be quite wearable with my fair but warm skin tone (I'm a Spring in the Color Me Beautiful vernacular, if that helps).   All of the swatches were taken in full sun.  While I tend to use these mainly as cheek tints, they can also be used on your lips.  I don't really care for them as lip tints, however, as the taste and texture just don't work for me.  But, they are multitaskers with good for you argan oil, shea butter, manfo butter, apricot kernel oil, oh heck, I'll list all the ingredients at the bottom.

Summer Lovin'

Summer's Lovin' is a light coppery bronze with gold fleck and has the most visible shimmer.  This actually applies very light on my skin so I have to really build it up for it to show.  It does make a nice highlighter due to the gold shimmer, which you can see better by clicking the swatch to view larger.  All three apply much more sheer than you would think given the color intensity in the tube.  However, details on the Sephora site say "apply to lips and cheeks for a natural HINT (caps mine) of color", so no false advertising going on there.  All of the swatches have been blended on the skin to show the finished look.

Packaging is nice, with both an outer top and a small inner cap to keep the sticks fresh.  I saw a review on Sephora that commented on the size of these, specifically how small they are.  They are about the size of the travel sized Tarte Cheek tints.  However, they last quite a while.  I've yet to completely use up any of my cheek tints.  Okay, I do have a lot, which could be a factor.

The Summer Lovin' set retails for $32 and is available at Sephora.  Poppy and Summer Lovin' are exclusive to this set.

Ingredients:  Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil**, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil*, Beeswax**, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter**, Copernica Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax**, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax**, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)**, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter**, Persea Gratissima (Avacado) Butter**, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Acetate)**, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil**, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil**, Leptospermum Petersonii**, (Lemon Tea Tree) Oil**, Menthol**, Tocopherol**, Ethylhexylglycerin**, Caprylyl Glycol (and) Phenoxyethanol (and) Hexylene Glycol** May Also Contain: Mica (CI 77019)**, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891)**, Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)**, Carmine (CI 75470)**, Blue # 1 Lake (CI 42090), Red 6 (CI 15850), Red 7 (CI 15850), Red 22 Lake (CI 45380), Red 27 (CI 45410), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Red 30 (CI 73360), Red 33 Lake (CI 17200), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow 6 Lake (CI 15985), Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate**, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate** (*Organic **Natural)
*Certified Organic Ingredient
**Natural Ingredient

Orofluido Beauty Elixir

I may be in love.  With a hair oil - Orofluido Beauty Elixir - to be exact.  I've got straight, somewhat thick, fine hair.  In the deep South with the almost constant humidity, that can translate to limp, frizzed, cannot retain a curl hair.  Orofluido helps with the limp and frizzed part.  This picture was taken on a humid, still damp outside day.  My hair is smooth, swingy, soft, and generally just felt great.  You know how a "good hair day" feels?  Well, this was it.  Two days in a row even, which is how long I've been using Orofluido since I got it in my February Birchbox shipment. 

I use 3 drops, rub into still damp hair, and comb through.  Orofluido contains argan oil, which is rich in fatty acids but lightweight, helping to condition and soften hair.  Linseed oil helps with shine by smoothing the hair cuticle.  Cyperus oil, high in fatty acids and tocopherol, provides natural protection from free radicals while imparting softness and volume to the hair.  Orofluido is even supposed to cut down on drying time, and come to think of it, my hair was almost dry before I went to blow dry it.  Scented with vanilla and amber, the fragrance is soft and pleasant but not obtrusive.  I read many reviews of this on the web, and I have yet to find a negative one.  There are probably some out there, but the reviews I read were glowing.  

Orofluido (3.4 oz) retails for $29.99 on the Birchbox site but I've seen it for less on Amazon and as high as $39.99 on some other online retailers.  I will be purchasing a full size of this before I run out of my sample, it is that good!  

Update:  I purchased the full size Orofluido Beauty Elixir from Birchbox and am still in love!  I had enough Birchbox points built up that the Orofluido cost me $9.99, a twenty dollar savings from the regular price of $29.99.  Doing happy dance.

Argan Oil: Worth Climbing a Tree For?

You know how you start seeing products that feature ingredients you have never heard of that claim amazing benefits?  Argan oil was one such for me.  It is a featured ingredient in Josie Maran's skincare and makeup line, which is where I first noticed it a few years back.  Then, I would see people commenting online about how they used argan oil for their hair or cuticles.  Now it's showing up in drugstore hair care and other products, so argan oil has achieved mainstream status.  It was only after I saw a documentary on Morocco that showed women harvesting argan oil that I started believing the hype, however.

Argan oil is havested from the fruit of the endangered argan tree, which is found only in a small portion of Morocco.  In the early 1990's, a Moroccan chemistry professor who was intrigued by the local traditional health and nutritional claims about argan oil decided to conduct some research.  What she found is that argan oil's high linoleic acid (precursor of vitamin E) and unsaturated fatty acid content make it a rich source of antioxidants and can indeed help lower cholesterol, reduce wrinkles, acne and scarring, and speed the healing of abrasions.

Goats climbing tree to get argan fruit.

Fast forward a few years and a local cooperative is founded that employs women to crack open the argan fruit and extract the 1-3 nuts inside, which then go through a mechanized process to extract the oil.  A vast improvement over the traditional method, which involved picking undigested pits out of the excrement of goats that like to climb the trees to eat the fruit.  But no way around it, harvesting argan oil is difficult.  Producing 2 pints of the oil require at  least eight argan trees, which explains why the trees have been under the protection of UNESCO since 1999, helping to ensure reforestation for sustained growth.

I use Josie Maran argan oil as a supplement with my regular moisturizer.  A few added drops gives me enough of a boost to counteract that tight, dry feeling my skin gets during the winter.  I also use Moroccan Oil shampoo and conditioner and Marrakesh Oil hair elixir, which all contain argan oil.  To be honest, what sold me on the Marrakesh Oil was the smell, but it does a great job of detangling and smoothing hair, so I'm happy.  Have you used any products containing argan oil?  What did you think?