Friday, August 7, 2009

New All Natural Lip Gloss Shades For Fall


And speaking of Lip Gloss…..

I’m really excited to introduce some great new shades for Fall!

It took me a long time to perfect our Lip Gloss formula. I wanted all natural ingredients (of course!), lots of shine and none of that thick, petroleum feel. I used some wonderfully skin penetrating oils with lots of nutrients, both cocoa and shea butter for richness and emolliency, and both beeswax and candelilla wax for shine and to lock in moisture.

I decided not to use any synthetic flavor oils to keep it all natural and only use cosmetic grade, lip-safe mica for color. This creates a pure product with a sheer, barely-there hint of color that makes them perfect for every skin tone and incredibly good for your lips!

The first (top, left) is a gorgeous, intense bronze with subtle hints of burgundy and amethyst, plenty of shimmer and lots of shine: Remarkably Raisin.

The second (right) is a striking deep pinky-orange shade with copper undertones and unbelievable shimmer and shine: Absolutely Apricot.

And the third (bottom, left) is a stunning peachy-pink shade with red and gold undertones, high shine and enormous shimmer: Beautifully Blush.

Each all-natural Bellissima LipSync Lip Gloss comes in a see-through tube with a convenient sponge-tipped wand applicator.

They're available for $7.50 each, including US Shipping. We also ship Worldwide!

Through the rest of the Summer (at our Etsy Shop only) we’re running a Buy 3, Get 1 Free special for $22.50 - and Free US Shipping!
View all 7 shades at either of our stores:
Have a suggestion for a new Bellissima Lip Gloss Shade for Winter?
We’d love to hear it!

Monday, August 3, 2009

5 Steps to Perfectly Beautiful Lips

I’m a huge Lip Gloss fan!
I’m a huge fan of lip products… period.

For lots of reasons:
~ lips are one of the first places age begins to show on most women
~ delicate lip tissue is vulnerable to damage from harsh elements
~ lips have no oil glands and can’t replenish moisture on their own
~ lips have little melanin and are susceptible to UVA/UVB sun damage
~ dry, cracked, chapped lips are incredibly painful
~ soft, moist, supple lips are sign of good health


And I can certainly sympathize with women who suffer from dry, chapped lips all the time.
I have to keep huge dehumidifiers running year ‘round in my mineral makeup ’lab’ and I spend a majority of my time there. They can really wreak havoc and draw unlimited amounts of moisture from the skin.

I like to advocate a 5-Step approach to keeping lips healthy and youthful-looking:

1. Proper Nutrition: Drinking lots of water daily, eating plenty of fresh fruit and green veggies and ensuring your diet is high in vitamins and nutrients is always the first step to healthy skin!

2. Sun Protection Daily: whether your facial moisturizer has it, your lip balm or gloss has it, your mineral makeup has it or you’re applying it separately (or all of the above!) - make sure you’ve got it on! Sun protection from UVA/UVB rays is highly important and cannot be stressed enough.

3. Use a Lip Exfoliator 3x a Week: even though the skin on the lips is much more fragile, gently exfoliating the dead suface skin cells helps to keep your lips smooth and healthy-looking and feeling!

A lip exfoliator should be extremely gentle - many natural exfoliants are wonderful (like pumice, nut shell powders and even fruit/berry seeds), but way to harsh for tender lip tissue! We use ground Camelina Meal in a thick, rich, all natural cream base for Bellissima Gentle Lip Exfoliator. It’s as kind as can be, offers wonderful nutritive properties, helps soothe and smooth the lips and moisturizes, too!

4. Apply Lip Butter/Balm Often: replacing the moisture in your lips is difficult, but a good lip balm/butter with lots of emollient oils and butters plus beeswax for sealing in moisture will work wonders!

Lip Balms are not all created equal! Balms with a high percentage of beeswax can pull and tear at delicate lip tissue during application, causing more harm than good. Bellissima Lip Butters use a smaller percentage of beeswax and high amounts of cocoa, mango and shea butter to deliver a creamier consistency that will smooth on easily, moisturize and help relieve dry, chapped lips. We also use unsweetened flavor oil to reduce the detrimental ‘lip-licking’ syndrome produced by sweetened lip balms.

5. Use Lip Gloss: a lip gloss full of healthy ingredients (and maybe even some natural sun protection) will help lock in moisture and protect the lips from harsh elements and future skin damage.

Lip Glosses don’t have to feel like Vaseline! You can have shiny, glossy lips without that thick petroleum jelly feeling. Bellissima uses all natural ingredients to produce a skin-healthy Lip Gloss that moisturizes, shines and conditions your lips. And we use cosmetic grade iron oxides and micas to produce our sheer, colorful tints!

I take lip care seriously.
And we’ve made healthy lips a priority at Bellissima. We want to make it simple and affordable for women to look fantastic and feel good about what they‘re putting on their skin. We’re constantly expanding our LipSync Lip Care line and hope to be able to offer something for everyone.

Be sure to take a peek and see if there's something for you!