Review: emerginC aromatic cream tea cleanser

Have you tried an emerginC product yet? I was happy to test their aromatic cream tea cleanser. emerginC is formulated with natural plant based preservatives in place of parabens. All ingredients are sourced as naturally as possible and emerginC does NOT test on animals or use animal ingredients.  All outer boxes are printed on Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Forest Initiative certified paperboard with non toxic vegetable based inks.

The first thing I noticed..this cleanser does not smell like medicine. It has the lightest,  most darling fragrance. (I want a whole line of body lotions & sprays with this fragrance!) It goes on creamy, and it gently removes dirt , makeup and oil. Good for all skin types, you can use it morning and night.
I found that it calmed the redness, left my skin smooth. The three teas:  green, white and red are added as antioxidants and for calming of the skin. Hibiscus is added which helps with microcirculation and has soothing qualities, too.
Love it, love my skin after I use it.
You can find emerginC products at leading spas or at emerginC.com

The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver

I feel very lucky to be able to read & review books while they are still a proof, before they are published. I enjoy the "sneak peak" ! It is a joy to review & recommend good books, love it when I can recommend a great book. The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver is a great book.
It is the story of three generations of the wealthy Porter family who summer on Ashaunt Point in Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts. Actually, I think Ashaunt itself  is the main character. It is the story of how a place can shape peoples lives. How a small spot on earth can become the very breath of it's inhabitants.
This book is so well written, the words ebb & flow like the tide on Ashaunt. Each character is so well defined, you can feel them.

If I may quote from the inside cover of the proof (which I never do):

"An unforgettable portrait of one family's journey through the second half of the twentieth century, The End of the Point artfully probes the hairline fractures hidden beneath the surface of our lives and traces the fragile and enduring bonds that connect us. With subtlety and grace, Graver illuminates the powerful legacy of family and place, exploring what we are born into, what we pass down, preserve, cast off, or willingly set free".

Due out first week of March 2013, this is a book that I would stand outside in line to buy on a cold, windy March day...

Good Harbor by Anita Diamant

Anita Diamant wrote one of my favorite books, The Red Tent. It would be a few years before I came across another of her books called The Last Days of Dogtown. The story was a fictional account of the last few people who lived in a section of Gloucester, MA called Dogtown. Since I had lived in Gloucester for a few years, I grabbed the book off a shelf and once again was reminded that Diamant is a great writer. So, when I came across Good Harbor on a thrift store shelf, I paid the dollar and took it home. ( Inside the book was the original sales slip from a local bookstore for much more than the one dollar I had just paid) Good Harbor is a beach in Gloucester that I had been to, so I had a connection right away. This is the story of two women who met by chance and became friends. One had always lived in Gloucester (Kathleen, the school librarian)..the other a woman(Joyce, a writer) who bought a small home there as a summer place.
Kathleen is diagnosed with breast cancer and her doctor advised her to start walking the beach for exercise, so Kathleen and Joyce began their friendship by walking & talking on Good Harbor Beach.
Although they shared most of their lives there were certain things that neither spoke about. Kathleen had lost a son years ago in an accident that she blamed herself for.... Joyce and her husband had drifted so far apart that this summer Joyce began a crazy affair with an Irish guy she met on the beach. How they supported each other through this one summer is what made them friends for life.

This book is a great story of a new friendship that made two women into old friends. Another very good read from Anita Diamant.

Pur Minerals Give Away !!

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Price: $39 / Available via www.purminerals.com while supplies last

Jan Marini Bioglycolic Face Cleanser

Jan Marini Skin Research, Inc is a leader and innovator in skin care. Over the years the company has established a portfolio of proprietary formulas like topical TGF beta-1, antioxident sunscreen and topical resveratrol which are all technological firsts in the skincare industry.
Let's face it girls, as we age  we are spending more and more time and money trying to correct the sun damage from our childhoods. We have spent alot of money on products that end up in the trash because they didn't work or irritated our skin.
When I was offered this Jan Marini cleanser to try, I was happy to give it a go. I am always on the look out for new products and a free sample...couldn't resist.
The directions said to gently massage enough product into the face so that it was covered. (Surprisingly, it did not take much to cover my face, so I like it so far :) Next a warm, wet wrung out face cloth to remove residue and then 10-15 splashes of warm water to totally cleanse the skin. Blot dry.
Immediately, my skin felt good, exfoliated without that raw "just scrubbed" feeling. It was smooth & soft, didn't feel dry or taunt as it would after a soapy wash. I moisturized right after cleansing and my moisturizer soaked right in. I had no dry patches at all, my make up went on ever so smoothly and looked great. After one try.....I am hooked.
I decided to use the rest of the samples in the morning before my shower as I found it much easier to give it a good rinsing off with the shower spray. I love the way my makeup goes on after and my skin is soft, not rough & dry as it usually is in the winter.
I can totally recommend Jan Marini Bioglycolic Skin Cleanser as part of an effective skin care  regimen, it has become part of mine!!
Available at www.janmarini.com

Empress of Fashion by Amanda MacKenzie Stuart

A life of Diana Vreeland.... Because I have always loved fashion and interior design I had heard some tales of Vreeland, editor of Vogue from 1962-1971.  The Devil Wears Prada was about Anna Wintour as Vogue editor, but I had heard that Wintour was a carbon copy of Vreeland before her.
What was interesting was that this woman who ruled the fashion world for years, first as editor of Vogue and then as the head of the Met's Costume Institute, was an ugly duckling. Her mother was quite beautiful and a socialite ( as was her younger sister)  and quite openly treated her daughter as an outcast. When Diana was fourteen, she decided to make something of herself, to live the life of her dreams. She detailed all in a journal she kept. She began purposefully building a beautiful life. Vreeland told people she grew up in Europe, which was not true. Records show she grew up in New York, but this was just one of the many fantasies that I believe kept her going. She ended up marrying a very handsome man, moving to London and living on a shoe string, but involving herself with the rich & famous. She became a model/mannequin for clothing designers in Paris including CoCo Chanel. When her husband Reed was transferred back to America, she joined the staff at Harper's Bazaar, told friends it was on a lark but in truth, they needed the money.
Note: Although she had two sons, she was very rarely around to mother them. I found this very sad, a repeat of her own childhood.
This book is very detailed and is not a quick read. I did enjoy hearing this life story of a very strong willed woman. Someone who set a goal, a lofty goal, and moved heaven & earth to get there.