A financial analyst at Citi coined the phrase Hourglass Theory a few years ago, to point to a state he/she expected America was heading in: The haves the and have-nots, with a shrinking middle class. If one looks at the beauty market, this is true.

During the recession, people went to salons and spas less, and traded down some department store and prestige cosmetics products for mass market beauty. It was around that time that CVS, Rite Aide and Walgreens, which also owns Duane Reade and part of Boots, started adding space and staff to their cosmetics sections. This has continued so while Sephora, Birchbox, and Ulta push toward those who will spend at least $50, their free shipping threshold, many woman still shop for their haircare and beauty at drugstores and beauty supply stores such as Sally Beauty. Here we offer a review of ELF cosmetics — which products to jump for and which to think twice on.

Elf Jumbo Lip Gloss & Eyeshadow Sticks

Pictured above are swatches of some ELF chubbies I bought online. The lip gloss sticks are creamy and buttery and are perfect for everyday. The extend wear, fill in with a similar color lip pencil. The eyeshadow sticks go on easily but are less creamy, but not matte. These are buildable and totally can be smudged yet they won’t serve as base, better atop a base.

From Top to Bottom:

-Sangria Starters (lip) – This is a great everyday shade. It’s more than a nude but not a pink. Good for work.

-Movie Star (lip) – Also creamy, this is definitely wearable across occasions but it’s a clear berry shade. Good day-to-night shade if you add a shiny gloss on top for evening.

-French Lace (eye) – Disappointing. There’s a difference between glitter and shimmer. Glitter = Mean Girls circa middle school and prom dresses that cross the line. Shimmer = a night out with the girls at a lounge.

-Bali Bound (eye) – great green color and buildable – can be applied with a lighter hand for a more muted sheer green.

ELF’s HD Blushes are serious bang for your buck. These are highly pigmented, beyond comprehension until you touch and blend. I purchased two at $3 each: the rose color, Superstar, and the deep wine hue, Showstopper.

The rose is a great color as is the purple/wine shade, but the latter is quite deep and hard to pull off. I suspect while any woman can use the pink-peach color, only women with olive complexions and blue-undertone deeper skin tones could rock the Showstopper. These are definitely worth trying and at $3 they could’ve packaged these in smaller bottles and still sold a ton of product because it’s unlikely one could use the whole bottle before it gets dry unless used daily.

Image courtesy of EyesLipsFace.com

Let’s begin the wrap up with lip stains. I can’t get enough. I’ve tried three brands and they all have the same finish. ELF ($2), NYC ($5) and Josie Moran ($19) all offer lip stains that come in the former of a marker. Despite the difference in brands, colors and prices, all have a very mild matte finish. These are best used as the base for the day – I make it the first thing I put on. Start with the stain, then apply a thick opaque balm or lip stick, then touch up with a gloss throughout the day. Check out these three shades — everyone can rock any of these and clearly all budgets can fit in a $2 stain.

ELF – Pink Petal – a barely there neutral pink, girly and subtle.

NYC – Never Ending Nude – exactly as the name implies.

Josie Moran – Mambo – if ever there was a raisin shade that’s almost neutral, this is it.

Image courtesy of EyesLipsFace.com

Lastly, a few notes on other products. The Mineral Mist is apparently no longer made because it’s not online. It was a $3 spritz for that time of day when you start getting drowsy at your desk or your skin starts to feel dry or cakey. Paraben- and preservative-free, it is a blend of witch hazel, collagen, aloe and various flower extract waters. Keep your eyes open if it reappears.

Also a note on their amazing blush/contour duo. The Contouring Blush & Bronzing product comes in powder and cream form, and each retail for $3. When I heard there was a cream version I was stoked. But in reality it’s tough to make the cream version work. The best thing about a blush or contour is that with the right brush you can build so it’s effective and natural. It’s very hard to do this with the cream version because it is quite pigmented so feel free to try both at this price point, but practice before you wear the cream out in public.

Happy shopping ladies.

Green juice is all the rage and has been for many years. You’ve probably seen my post on my favorite package green juice brand from Oregon, which is available at Whole Foods, but here’s a way to segue from fruit smoothies to pure low-sugar green juice.

I was playing around with a recipe and had some left over Light Coconut Milk. I threw it in the blender with some other food lying around and here’s how I arrived at this recipe, which is dairy-free and takes care of at least two fruit servings and one-two vegetable servings.

Glass: Ikea, Coaster: West Elm

In the blender goes:

Cow’s Milk alternative. Choose one of the following: Coconut, organic Soy, hemp, almond, or rice.

Veggies. Half a cucumber and two stalks of celery.

Frozen Fruit. I had some peach to use up but feel free to go with whatever fruit works for your taste preference. A handful is good.

Apple. One apple of any kind, sliced.

Almost Rotten Fruit. Honestly how many times have you tossed fruit or vegetables because you won’t eat it unless you prepare a fruit or regular salad immediately upon buying? Usually this is a banana for me. My frozen bags of compost are usually a blend of coffee grinds, lettuce I didn’t eat, and rotten bananas (remove the stickers).

Optional. If you want to add some kind of supplement, feel free to sprinkle. I usually sprinkle a touch of Psyllium Husk to get a bit more fiber in for the day.  If you opt for the some, go easy – otherwise you’ll be doubled over with stomach pains and then spend the night in the wash closet.

Toss it in there and grind. The consistency might be a bit slushy so you should blend again if you have multiple servings and it’s been sitting for a bit.

Customers apparently can change the way big business operates. A handful of agricultural giants have inked a partnership to sustainably source coconut oil. BASF, Cargill and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) have joined forces, alongside the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), who helped finance the initiative, which could impact 2,500 coconut growers in the Philippines.

According to an announcement, the program to build a sustainable coconut supply chain is focused largely on growers in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. The program will result in higher productivity and oil quality while simultaneously bringing Sustainable Agricultural Network (SAN) standards into the mix as a basis for Rainforest Alliance Certification™ for coconut production.

Training has already begun and the program will also reportedly bring healthcare access to more growers by enabling those working with Small Coconut Farmer Organizations (SCFOs) and other cooperatives to help farmers obtain health insurance for a lower enrollment fee, which could mean new healthcare benefits for approximately 12,500 to 15,000 Filipinos.

It’s all food and beauty here for the weekly roundup. First up, the food.

Starbucks is adding Hazelnut Macchiato to its list of standard espresso drinks. Meanwhile after last year’s few acquisitions, the West Coast coffee giant is prepping to extend its loyalty card program to Teavana. The rollout would allow cardholders to earn rewards at either Starbucks or Teavana.

Starbucks is also incentivizing customers to buy across various channels. A new program launching in May will see customers get “rewards stars” for buying coffee in the grocery store. Customers can then use the “stars” for food and drinks in the retail locations. The program will likely expand this fall to include other Starbucks products sold in grocery stores.

Meanwhile, Burger King is taking on McDonald’s in the war over fast food coffee and espresso drinks. BK added a full lineup of coffee drinks, including flavored lattes and flavored iced coffee. The limited time only promotion to get people to  try the drinks, which are made with Seattle’s Best Coffee (owned by Starbucks), includes a small drip for $0.25 and $1 for a latte.

In other fast food news, while Wendy’s hasn’t hopped on the coffee wagon yet, they just added two whole grain flatbread chicken sandwiches.

BEAUTY SCOOP

I hear that Sephora will soon  add to its rewards program to keep its big spenders happy. That, alongside the addition of some DIY devices, implies they are pushing for an even bigger average sale price. But isn’t every retailer? The point is while Ulta might sell a hairdryer that’s not exactly the Sephora way. After all, it’s a Louis Vuitton brand. Sephora started carrying an at-home laser hair removal product from Tria Beauty. It looks like they make the Skin Perfecting Blue Light for acne and the Tria Hair Removal Laser 4X for DIY hair removal. Web sales are available for the hair removal product and in-store sales will come later this spring.

If you’re like me, you wouldn’t know anything about the publicly traded company Valeant Pharmaceuticals but if I told you among their product offerings are Renova and Retin-A-Micro, you’d stop in your tracks. Valeant now will soon own a chunk of Obagi Medical Products, thanks to a deal to buy outstanding stock in the topical skincare company.

Finally, British pop star Adele is allegedly being courted by major beauty brands. U.K. tabloid The Sun reported that Dior, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal might all be interested in signing her for an ad deal that could fetch her at least GBP10 million.

While the beauty and grooming market might seem saturated it’s my opinion there’s still room in the market for kids and men. Now, straight out of the U.K. comes a new line for men. Aptly dubbed ManCave, the line is vegan-friendly, free of parabens, aluminum and sulfates, and will launch in the U.S. later this year.

The line is comprised of five products that contain multiple essential oils. Products include face wash, a matte moisturizer, shampoo, body wash and deodorant. The face wash includes willow bark, green tea and spinach while the matte moisturizer boasts borage oil, caffeine and shea butter.

For body care, the shampoo is moisturizing and the shower gel is likely to have an addictive, viril scent thanks to the combination of cedarwood, tea tree and black pepper oil. Finally, the aluminum-free deodorant employs naturally-derived Silver Citrate.

In the works are the U.S. e-commerce store and four new products set to launch later this year.

ManCave is currently available online in the U.K.

It’s all beauty and fashion news in this link. To start, Beyonce is starring in a new H&M campaign and luxury fashion site Net-a-Porter has launched beauty. Online impulse buy anyone?

Meanwhile, it’s not shocking that the Kardashians‘ foray into skincare will be through a self-tanning line. The collection will launch exclusively at Ulta, WWD reports. The five products are priced between $13-20 and are paraben- and sulfate-free.

Like many retailers, J.Crew‘s expansion plans include focusing less on catalogs and more on digital, to drill down and further segment the market, according to WWD. The company also plans to continue to expand its footprint by opening more namesake and Madewell stores.

A new line of topical products called Kush is in the works. The products will likely include hemp seed oil and allegedly will help with inflammation. Click here for more info.

Image courtesy of Clinique.com

Olay started the CC cream trend this year after nearly every brand launched a BB cream, most of whcih turned out to be a tinted moisturizer. Now CC is catching on; a Malaysian news site claims both Clinique, an Estee Lauder brand, and Chanel, are coming out with CC creams. It looks like Chanel launched theirs in Asia, plans for a July Europe launch, and the jury is out on the U.S. launch  Click here for the complete story.

Finally, this news almost makes me want to visit Kohl’s, thanks to the latest news on their DesigNation partnership. This year’s DesigNation lineup includes the Derek Lam line out now (mostly dresses) and Catherine Malandrino, whose collection will launch online and in stores this Fall. Inspired by art and architecture in Paris, Malandrino told Kohl’s: “My Kohl’s DesigNation collection showcases that experience with a perfect blend of romantic, elegant and Parisian style at an affordable price.” The line will include dresses, skirts, pants, shirts, sweaters and outerwear, with prices ranging from $36 to $130.

Hotel giant Marriott is teaming up with Swedish budget furniture goliath IKEA for its impending entry to the budget hotel market. In the works for almost two years, MOXY HOTELS is a collaboration between Marriott and Inter IKEA Group subsidiary Inter Hospitality Holding. The first hotel will launch next year in Milan, with features such as hotel-wide WiFi, snacks and drinks in the lobby, and optional mobile check-in.

Nordic Hospitality will be the first franchisee to manage the brand, which Marriott International President and CEO Arne Sorenson described as “ the essence of the next generation traveler, not only Gen X and Y but people with a younger sensibility, for whom contemporary style is paramount.”

Marriott plans to add 150 franchised MOXY HOTELS in Europe during the next 10 years, with an eye on Western Europe and Scandinavia. The drive is to get a chunk of the economy chic market share in Europe. Amy McPherson, president and managing director of Marriott International in Europe, noted, “We see a huge opportunity to expand our market share in Europe with MOXY HOTELS.  The economy tier in Europe represents nearly half of total room supply, yet only 20% of these hotels are branded.”

To that effect, Inter Hospitality MD Peter Andrews added that the firm’s goal is to buy sites on which it can develop in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, noting that during the next five years they want to “secure at least 50 sites for development.”

Each MOXY HOTEL, which will ideally win LEED standard GOLD certification, will have 150 to 300 rooms. Rooms will include amenities such as large flat screen televisions and USB ports located within wall sockets.

Click here for more information about MOXY HOTELS.

There’s no end in sight when it comes to the relationship between celebrities and beauty brands. In some cases, celebs go out on their own with a corporate deal and their own collection, such as Drew Barrymore‘s Flower or Josie Moran‘s self-titled argan-based skin and beauty line. But in many cases, it involves a fragrance deal with a big beauty house or a spokesperson/ad deal for a new beauty. It’s a win-win relationship because it gives companies instant press and actors and actresses get an additional revenue stream, which helps as age-discrimination seems rampant in Hollywood. Here’s the latest industry news from this sector.

• According to Beauty Packaging, Spanish luxury goods brand Loewe has inked a deal with Linda Evangelista to be the face of their new fragrance.
• Curly hair product company Mizani has tapped Noisettes singer Shingai Shoniwa to be its first celebrity brand ambassador. Owned by L’oreal, Mizani started in 1991 and is sold at salons.

• Celebrity model and Mompreneur Heidi Klum has a new fragrance called Surprise. The mass-market scent features notes including Mandarin extracts, spicy pink pepper, rose petals and magnolia, with a hint of milk of sandalwood. The 1 ounce bottle retails at drugstores for $28.00.
• Beyonce too has another perfume out, dubbed Beyoncé Midnight Heat. The core of the scent is purple orchid, alongside fruity notes such as dragonfruit, starfruit and armenian plum, and floral notes such as purple peony and black. Likely balancing out the scent are hints of amber, patchouli and sandalwood. This sounds like quite a strong scent and to add to that, it seems to only come in one size, which is rather large, 3.4 ounces, which retails for $59.
• Finally Ivanka Trump recently launched a fragrance, at Macy’s, according to WWD. The publication noted that her fashion business will soon expand to include winter accessories and clothing for kids.

Acting, directing and modeling doesn’t last forever, hence the explosion of celebrity retail brands in the last decade or so. The latest to step on the scene is Drew Barrymore, who recently teamed up with Walmart and Maesa, a beauty manufacturing company, to launch FLOWER, a cosmetics line sold at Walmart. The portfolio boasts a big selection of products, probably too many SKUs, clocking in at ~180 items for face, eyes, lips and nails from $5-14 each.

According to a release, FLOWER has developed products and designed packaging on par with prestige brands. The brand is made in the U.S and was not tested on animals.

I’ve watched many YouTube videos on the line and here are the impressions I got from watching at least three review videos:

1. The packaging is nice, feels rich, but it’s way too bulky
2. The face products seem to be the best part of this line, from the stick foundation to the BB cream, which vloggers say actually has real coverage and is more like the original BB creams from abroad.
3. The eye shadow cream pots seem popular, much like Maybelline Eye Tattoos. Many vloggers suggest using these types of eye color as a base for your eye shadow, possibly in lieu of a primer.
4. The lip chubbies have little to no color, don’t stain and only last about an hour.
5. The lipsticks seem to have potential, as do the bronzer/blush duos, but the lipstick colors are tough to gauge because of the packaging.

Click here for more information on FLOWER 

It’s one neverending winter that calls for caffeine, beauty and sulking. Or at least that’s been my M.O. but now I’ve decided to go Tom Cruise style and make exercise and sleep a priority and nix the vending machine visits. For now, though, check out the latest in energy drinks, an online mega beauty sale and more.

Red Bull has launched Limited Edition line that is available only in clubs in major cities now. There are three flavors: Red is sweet/tart cranberry, Blue is blueberry, and Silver is lime. I was never a huge fan but many used them pre-subway during nights out in NYC. It’s interesting to see them launch in clubs given the government’s concern about alcohol and energy drinks.

Delicious Living has posted a slide show revealing its picks for top 30 or so supplements. Of course, consult your doctor before taking any. Click here for more info.

Too Faced is having a major online sale, up to 70% off. That means eye shadows for $5 each, lipsticks for $8 and even a few palettes. Click here to browse.

Want to get your money’s worth with online dating? Here’s a service I’d pay for. Writer turned entrepreneuer Emma Siemasko will grade your profile for free and the offers for-fee services to take photos and rewrite profiles. The men’s version, Frog2Prince, launched first but summer 2013 the company will launch a service for women called Duck2Swan.

Haircare company TIGI (Bed Head®,  Catwalk®, S-factor, Rockaholic, Copyrightcolor) recently announced a partnership with the nonprofit Children With Hair Loss (CWHL), which offers annual customized hair replacements and styling services for free to children with medically-related hair loss. TIGI and CWHL will showcase their new partnership during America¹s Beauty Show  in Chicago on March 9-11, 2013, an annual professional hair care and styling convention.