I’m a product junkie and my bathroom cupboards reflect this. It’s a good thing though because I’m often asked what skin, hair and makeup brands are the best. Since there’s so many to choose from, it’s important to find what works best for your skin and hair type. The products listed below are my personal favorites. Some of the products I carry at my studio, others are not sold locally and would need to be purchased via internet or during your next visit to Nordstrom. Brands I have in stock are marked by an *. If you find these products for less or sold at another location, please let me know. We have a 15% price guarantee. One of the biggest skin care complaints I hear is about moisturizers. Many have a dry, tight feeling to their skin yet still break out. (There’s many reasons that could be causing this and I would be glad to help you narrow down the cause) Because of the differing conditions on the skin a lot of gals have a hard time deciding on a good moisturizer. Often people confuse skin needing water with skin needing oil. Even if you’re a huge water drinker, you still need a surface treatment that will help retain the proper hydration levels without adding oil, which may clog pores. If this is your complaint, here’s the “must have” for you. I swear by this! Chanel HYDRAMAX + ACTIVE Moisturizer and Moisture Boost Serum. These products contain hyaluronate or hyaluronic acid, which is a molecule that can hold 1,000+ times its weight in water. There’s also other non-oil ingredients that when combined together creates a wonderful feeling on dehydrated skin. There’s an entire line including a mask, scrub etc. with the same active ingredients. I’ve never had a hylauronic acid product work as well as these two. Spendy but worth every penny!

Click here for a review on the latest in skin care ingredients Dark circles seem to be an unbeatable obstacle. Even products that advertise treatment of dark circles don’t seem to really work. However, Neocutis Lumiere Bio Restorative Eye Cream is one for the books. As we age, the skin around our eyes continues to thin and blood vessels may be increasingly visible, which creates a “dark” circle look. This eye cream actually helps aging skin by providing human growth factors and cytokines for cells. Basically, it helps rebuild collagen lost around the eye area and thickens the skin which in turn reduces the dark circle look. (FYI) Estrogen is stored in fat, so severe dieters will look older, faster. Aside from hyaluronic acid production, estrogen also affects collagen and elastin levels. After age 30, you will lose 1 percent of collagen a year. Peptides and retinols will help rebuild the collagen but elastin is difficult to replace. Since your skin is thinnest around your eyes, you’ll notice fine lines there first. Try eye creams and face moisturizers peptide-fortified or check out the latest laser treatments at your dermatologist office. Puffiness and wrinkles along with dehydration can be zapped with DERMAdoctor Wrinkle Revenge Eye Balm*. I sell tons of this stuff and use it every day myself. This is also a favorite of Allure Magazine for it’s immediate results. A client favorite and truly worth a try! I never recommend a foaming or gel cleanser for any skin type. Cleansers that foam or gel have detergents that make them do so. These in turn can strip your skin of an important protective lipid barrier and cause dehydration among other problems. One of my all time favorite cleansers and another client favorite is DERMAdoctor Wrinkle Revenge 1, 2 or 3*. Each contain a certain percentage of PH balanced, buffered glycolic acid in a creamy, non-foaming cleanser. It gently exfoliates cellular build-up yet is soap free and has a ton of antioxidants. DERMAdoctor even makes a version for more acne prone skin called Ain’t Misbehavin’*. These cleansers are large tubes of product for only $25.00 and definitely the way to go for good skin care. However, if you are in a pinch for cash then I recommend Cetaphil. It too is a non-foaming cleanser and very inexpensive. In fact, you can purchase two large bottles with pumps at Costco for a very little cost. It’s a great option to replace bar soap in your shower, especially in dry winter months. Amazing Concealer* created by Amazing Cosmetics. Love it, love it, love it!! Another client favorite, this concealer will hide every imperfection you have. One tube typically lasts a year . A terrific little investment and a “must have” for every woman’s makeup arsenal. Bobbi Brown Corrector is meant to be put under your concealer to boost the coverage and help hide dark circles. It’s very creamy and hydrating and comes in 12 shades. I recommend visiting a Bobbi Brown counter to be matched for the correct shade. I personally do not recommend eyelash extensions. Five years ago I offered the service and soon realized that even when lashes were applied 100% perfectly, eventually they will damage the growth of your natural eyelashes. Even with more recent advertised lashes (such as mink), these too are damaging despite claims from the companies that make and promote them. Alternatives? Eyelash growth serums. They do work and very well in fact. Latisse is awesome, however you will pay at least $100.00 for a one month supply. My recommendation: LiLash*. I sell the product and wish I could own stock in the company. Many clients have raved about the results and many more have switched from Latisse to LiLash. This is due to the significant cost difference: LiLash will only cost you 140.00 for a six month supply, plus you get the exact same results. I recently compared my own eyelashes (using LiLash) next to a client with mink eyelashes. Same exact look! Girls, this is an awesome product. Don’t miss out. There are many professional brands that ring my bell, such as Bumble and Bumble. However, I’ve never really found a one single line that has everything I like from shampoos to styling products. I’m a mix and matcher. Until now that is. ENJOY hair care is my latest love. The Luxury shampoo and conditioner are awesome and they make you feel like you’re having a little pampering session in the shower. ENJOY’S Reconstructor and Hair Mask are unlike any other I’ve tried. Normally my hair feels weighed down after a mask but this mousse-like product makes my hair feel like silk. You can spray the Leave-in Conditioner in your hair and on your body before you towel dry from a shower or bath. It makes your skin and hair smell like cherries. Then there’s the Intensive Treatment Oil, which is a dry oil to put on the ends of your hair before styling. Great for controlling humidity and makes your hair feel 110% heathier. Among other things, it contains macadamia nut oil, which is one of the closest oils to our own natural sebum. Another plus, all Enjoy products are sulfate free so it won’t interfere with your hair color. All in all, this line is a client favorite. I sell travel packets which allow you to try many products without purchasing full size containers. Several of the top salons I worked at in Seattle all feature Essie* polish. Essie is a high end professional polish line that is featured on fashion runways in New York, Milan and London. Even Jennifer Aniston wore a shade of it to the Golden Globes this year! Essie’s top coat is a strange voodoo potion that I swear by. I don’t know why this top coat is so different from other brands but it doesn’t budge. Every time I have a manicure somewhere, I go home and coat my nails with it and my polish seems to last twice along. Also, their light color polishes do not streak when applied like other professional brands. Another “must have” for any gal. My latest favorite is Lash Injection by Too Faced Cosmetics. Lash Injection is great for volumizing and is water resistant with a thick black brush for application. It also offers an elastic polymer for a curling effect so you don’t need to break out your lash curler every day. Another top selling mascara is Texas Lash by Cargo Cosmetics. This mascara gives you that slightly clumpy, fat lash look in one coat. This is very volumizing and has an oversized brush for application. However, if you’re like me and have a problem with mascara bleeding under your eyes then look no further. Blinc* brand mascara is what you want. It’s not waterproof, so no weird clumping, however it is water resistant. You can splash your face and it won’t budge. If you gently rub your finger across your lashes it will come off in little rubber-like tubes. You have to experience it to understand fully and I have samples of this mascara if you’re interested in giving it a try… I love Damone Roberts of Beverly Hills* brow products as well as Anastasia Soare’s. They’re both great and you can’t go wrong with the shades of powders, pencils and highlighters. Their tweezers are truly professional and last a long time. I have Damone Roberts products in my studio, including his eyebrow kits. Great for keeping your eyebrows professionally maintained between waxes. Blinc Eyebrow Mousse* is another “must have” for gals trying to cover gray hair in their eyebrows. I’ve tried many brands of eyebrow “mascara” and they coat a little clumpy and obvious. Blinc has it down. This product goes on light and gives the right amount of color. It’s also made from the same ingredients in Blinc’s mascara so it’s water resistant and doesn’t move. It comes in a variety of shades so come into the studio to be properly matched. Since gray hairs are hard to color, this is a great alternative to eyebrow tinting. No more Groucho Marks! I like microdermabrasion treatments, however I don’t always have time for them. A great alternative to go with your treatments or to work in place of them is DERMAdoctor Physical Chemistry*. It’s a facial microdermabrasion plus multiacid chemical peel in one. You get the manual exfoliation with the smooth microdermabrasion beads plus pH balanced, buffered acids of glycolic, lactic, azelaic and beta hydroxy acids. This product rocks and it’s a client favorite. If you want the best scrub out there, this one’s for you! A good foundation is very important and often hard to find. The best on the market (in my opinion) is La Prairie Skin Caviar foundation. Celebrities like Beyonce swear by it. It also costs $180.00 per bottle. If you’re not in a position to shed that kind of cash, a great alternative is foundations by Chanel. By the end of the day you don’t feel like your face makeup has melted off and the color matching is flawless. Depending on the one you choose the cost will be about $55.00 and a bottle lasts a good six months. Teint Innocence Luminous Fluid for all skin types or Mat Lumiere to prevent shine. There are others to choose from in the Chanel line but these two are my favorite.