5 Bling Reviews, Anna Sui Wish, Beauty, Beauty Product Reviews, Fragrance Reviews, Friday Fragrance Find, Weekly Bling

Friday Fragrance Find: Anna Sui Secret Wish

October 24, 2014 / No Comments

I have an arsenal of fragrances — light ones for everyday, sex-in-a-bottle scents for date night, and everything in between. Ever so often a fragrance comes my way that I really can’t box into one category. That’s exactly where Anna Sui Secret Wish falls. It’s soft enough to wear daily and sexy enough to wear for a night out. At any rate, Anna Sui Secret Wish is our Friday Fragrance Find of the week.

Here are the deets about Anna Sui Secret Wish:

Fashion designer Anna Sui’s Secret Wish expresses magical optimism—wishing will make it so. All things are possible.

This fragrance, like a magical fairy, flits lightly from leaf to leaf, dances merrily in mid-air, and has the power to make wishes come true. The scent is like twilight dew, an illusion wrapped in emotion. A fantasy of the heart that leads you on a merry chase.

Secret Wish embodies the enchanting essence of a fairytale. The instant the scent is released, a lush, ripe world opens up, filled with a bouquet of juicy fruits: sparkling lemon, summery melon, and velvety tagete. A burst of pineapple adds flirtatious charm with black currant adding a mysterious facet. Finishing with a touch of musk, warm white cedarwood, and sensual amber, the scent is both alluring and infinitely feminine.

Notes:
Lemon, Tagete, Melon, Black Currant, Pineapple, White Cedarwood, Amber, Skin Musk.
Style:
Alluring. Feminine. Enchanting.

Why Anna Sui Secret Wish is such a find:

Anna Sui Secret Wish is a fragrance is one that you don’t have to wait for a dry down to fall in love with it. From frist spray, first whiff — Secret wish is lovely. While fruity, the scent isn’t obnoxiously sweet. It’s mature and ladylike, one that you will probably wear for years to come. The dry down is of course my favorite part of this scent. With White Cedarwood, Amber and Skin Musk — it was destined to be a hit with me. I love the warmth of the final notes on Anna Sui Secret Wish. And, it’s a perfect fragrance for a gift to yourself or for a friend.

Bling Factor:

Pro: Soft, warm, not overly sweet, long-lasting

Con: None

Price: $60 1.7 oz

Buy Again: Yes

Packaging: 5 Blings — pretty colored juice and bottle

Overall: 5 Blings

Hero Ingredient: White Cedarwood, Amber and Skin Musk

Natural/Organic/Vegan: No

Cruelty Free: N/A

Shop:

I'd love to hear your thoughts!Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Editor’s Picks: Winter Skin Care Tips & Best Moisturizers for Cold Weather

Cold winter weather can wreak havoc on our skin. Not only does heat from indoor sources zap the moisture from our skin, but so does outdoors cold air and wind. Unfortunately, indoor heat and the winter cold can leave skin dry, dull, irritated and itchy. If you suffer from eczema or psoriasis it may be exacerbated by winter weather. Try these tips for keeping your skin’s moisture level up to par all winter: Use a body wash instead of bar soap. Limit your time in the shower, using warm, not hot water, then pat dry skin. Drink more water. Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. Moisturizer works by keeping the moisture in the skin and preventing moisture loss. Also consider using a hyaluronic serum to boost the benefits of your moisturizer. Additionally, be sure not to skimp when applying your moisturizer. And, the richer your moisturizer, the better. We rounded up some of our favorite moisturizers for winter skin care that have our seal of approval. First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair® Cream Intense Hydration $30 (Ideal for eczema and extremely dry skin) An all-over moisturizer that provides instant relief and long-term hydration for dry, distressed skin and eczema. First Aid Beauty’s Ultra Repair Cream’s whipped texture is instantly absorbed with no greasy after-feel. Safe for sensitive skin, the cream can be used by all members of the family, even children and babies. Suitable for all skin types, especially dry, flakey skin, this hydrating moisturizer leaves your skin feeling smooth, hydrated, and comfortable after just a single use. Formulated with colloidal oatmeal, shea butter, ceramide 3, and the First Aid Beauty Antioxidant Booster, it provides immediate relief and visible improvement for parched skin, and it is clinically proven to increase hydration by 169 percent immediately upon application. OzNaturals Super Youth Retinol Moisturizer $19.95 (Read our review here) A powerful cocktail of antioxidants combine with Vitamin A to diminish the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and premature aging. This results-oriented formulation fights free radical damage as well as restores and renews firmness, elasticity. Vitamin A boasts a long list of anti-aging skin benefits to restore your skin to a more beautiful, youthful look. Try our natural retinol cream and experience the results for yourself! Murad Hydro-Dynamic® Ultimate Moisture $75 (read our review here) Hydro-Dynamic® Ultimate Moisture is clinically proven to lock optimal moisture levels in the skin while delivering instant comfort. This super-hydrating antiaging formula is moisture rich, yet light and non-greasy. Collagen support complex helps restore youthful resilience and plumpness to dry skin while avocado, sunflower, and olive fruit oils enhance skin’s ability to retain maximum levels of hydration. Retinyl palmitate and shea butter improve texture and tone while restoring natural smoothness and softness. This gentle formula is safe for sensitive skin and is ideal for use with any Murad regimen as a step three moisturizer. It comforts and restores youthful hydration to dry skin as part of Dr. Murad’s Inclusive Health® System of care. Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare C+ Collagen Deep Cream $72 A rich, fast-absorbing cream that energizes and deeply hydrates dry, uneven, tired-looking skin without leaving it greasy for a visibly firmer, brighter, dewy complexion. C+ Collagen Deep Cream features 3-O vitamin C technology that quickly absorbs into skin to correct the appearance of dark spots and wrinkles while helping prevent the formation of future damage. An advanced form of vitamin C is combined with a proprietary energy complex to recharge skin’s battery while targeting damaged skin for accelerated improvement of a dry, tired, uneven complexion. An intense concentration of nourishing oils extracted from camellia japonica seed, sunflower seed, and rice bran provides rich moisture to replenish skin’s barrier and reduce trans-epidermal water loss. When nature’s most powerful vitamins and nutrients are boosted with modern science, the result is deeply nourished, supple skin with a dewy glow. Caudalie Vinosource Intense Moisture Rescue Cream $39 (read our review here) This ultra-nourishing cream is here to save dry, cracked, uncomfortable skin. Grape seed oil and olive squalane nourish and soothe irritation, while shea butter and borage oil repair and replenish cracked, damaged skin. Often times people with dry skin have a thin hydrolipidic layer, and this formula works to strengthen it. By rebuilding the hydrolipidic layer, it fights the dryness that results from harsh weather conditions. The formula also contains grape seed polyphenols to protect against free radical damage (pollution, stress, and sun exposure). This product is vegan, non-toxic, cruelty-free, noncomedogenic, hypoallergenic, safe for sensitive skin and pregnancy, and free of all fillers, gluten, GMOs, and synthetic chemicals. SHOP:
...
Make it Work Monday: Top 5 Cold Weather Makeup Tips

The winter chill takes its toll on more than our heating bill. Our skin and hair needs a dose of TLC during these frigid temperatures with a boost in hydration. One of the best ways to have healthy skin is to use beauty products that are creamy and have hydrating properties. Avoid over-powdering and dark colors so that you can look fresh and radiant. Here are 5 steps to healthy, moisturized radiant skin and makeup! 1. Use a rich moisturizer with healing properties Try: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream $28 A thick, rich, emollient product that hydrates deep down with exceptional penetration. 2. Even complexion with a multi-tasking cream Try: IMAN Skin Tone Correcting BB Cream $20 Tinted moisturizer by Iman that visibly brightens complexion & minimizes appearance of imperfections, reducing signs of discoloration and promotes long-term skin tone evening. 3. Add healthy color to cheeks Try: Vapour Organic Beauty in Courtesan $34 Aura is made with 70% Certified Organic ingredients and 30% mineral pigments & vitamins is and moisturizing & calming. 4. Use a creamy eyeshadow Try: Mary Kay Cream Eye Color in Iced Cocoa $13 This soft, creamy, long-wearing formula glides on easily, lasts for 10 hours and can be applied in multiple layers to deliver more noticeable color while retaining a lightweight feel. 5. Colorful moisturized lips Try: Clinique Color Surge Butter Shine Lipstick Drenches lips in moist, lush color that glides on buttery-soft, feels luxuriously smooth. Shop! Make it Work Monday: Top 5 Cold Weather Makeup Tips Lipstick Face Blush
...
Jones Magazine: the [skin]ny — Top 5 Exfoliators

The [skin]ny with Tracey Brown: Winter Skincare: The Top 5 Exfoliators From Jonesmag.com If your skin is looking a little dull and lackluster due to the Winter cold, it is probably in need of a little polishing. The best way to get your skin glowing is with a good exfoliation. As we age, the natural exfoliation process called desquamation, in which the upper layer of skin cells shed with regularity slows down. So to keep a youthful glow, we need to accelerate the process with a top-notch exfoliant. The benefits of regular exfoliation include: · Improved texture and tone · Better penetration of treatments and moisturizers · Unclogs pores · Diminishes fine lines Available in mechanical (scrubs) and chemical (alpha hydroxyl acids, retinol), exfoliants are a necessary component of your weekly skin care regimen. Our picks for the best scrubs to “rub you the right way”:
...
Bad Beauty Habits: We Resolve to Break Them…At Least Try

Sexy crooner Maxwell sang about "Bad Habits," and we all have them. As the beauty veteran at Blinging Beauty, I know I need to practice what I preach. But I don't. Not all the time at least. Unfortunately for me, I have this "all or nothing" issue—either I'm going like gangbusters, or I'm totally DONE! So I'm all over doing the right thing with my hair/skin/body, or I'm just a flat out #loser. I'm trying to learn moderation in all things, and at the ripe old age of 54, to stay on top of my beauty habits. So, I forced asked my Bling Team members to share one bad beauty habit—or maybe that should be non-beauty habit— that they are going to try to squelch this year. Since I am at the helm of this ship, I figure it's only fair that I'm the first to divulge my bad habits. While I only asked them to talk about one, I'm going to spill the beans—I'm sharing my top 10 non-beauty habits. Drum roll please…. 10. Sleeping in makeup. 9. Not sleeping enough. 8. Going to bed with my hair wet (looks really bad when I wake up). 7. Using that tacky razor thing on my eyebrows between visits — I'm already doing better with this one, but I'm starting to resemble Brooke Shields. 6. Not drinking enough water. 5. Picking and tweezing my whiskers (I'm 54, it's a reality). 4. Frowning—it's a family thing, but I noticed I'm getting a permanent furrow in the middle of my otherwise line-less forehead. Booooooo! 3. Applying mascara and driving. This is more of a safety issue… even though I can do it without looking in the rearview mirror. 2. Drinking coffee all day. It's dehydrating, I know, but I really love it. And the biggest, nastiest, grossest habit I have… 1. Picking my cuticles. It's really bad. Every time I get my manicure, Tanya (my regular manicurist) says to me, "Tracey, you stress me out. Why you bite your cuticles?" Well, that answer is simple, I stress myself out. That's why. So with that being said, I'm cutting out stress from my life. Cut the stress, gain beauty, get ungnarly cuticles. Now, to heal my cuticles, I have a couple products that I am using that are wonderful. 1. Clarins Hand and Nail Treatment Cream $30 Professional, emollient-rich treatment — with soothing Sesame Oil and fortifying Japanese Mulberry — forms an invisible protective "glove" that shields hands from the elements, minimizing signs of aging. Softens and comforts dry, chapped, irritated skin. Helps strengthen nails and condition cuticles for youthful-looking hands, naturally. 2. Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream $6 Give your cuticles some TLC. Specially formulated, this buttery cream taps Sweet Almond Oil and Cocoa Seed Butter to moisturize and soften your cuticles while Vitamin E and Sunflower Oil nourish brittle nails. Feel pampered and polished from tips to toes. • Moisturizes and softens cuticles with Sweet Almond Oil and Cocoa Seed Butter • Nourishes brittle nails with Vitamin E and Sunflower Oil • Fresh Lemon scent Break that ugly cuticle picking habit! Hand Treatments by Burt's Bees
...
Editor’s Picks: Leap Year Winter Skin Care Essentials

It’s Leap Year. That means you have an extra day this year to do something special for you. Since we are in the throes of winter, with the harsh cold wreaking havoc with out skin, it may be time to check out some skin care products that bump up the level of beauty quotient of your skin. Remember how you used to write a word and associate another word with each letter of that word? Well we are doing just that for LEAP year. 1. L—Lather Choose gentle cleanser that not only get’s your skin clean, but is calming and chock full of good-for-you ingredients. Try: First Aid Beauty Face Cleanser $18 What it is: A face cleanser with a whipped texture that transforms into a rich cream when blended with water. What it does: This Face Cleanser gently cleanses the skin—removing surface oils, make up, dirt and grime—and its whipped texture transforms into a rich cream when blended with water. It’s infused with a powerful botanical antioxidant blend that works hard to scavenger free radicals. It calms redness and is PH-balanced to maintain the natural acidity of the skin. Daily use will result in fewer flare ups and reduced skin reactivity. 2. E—Exfoliate Improve texture, brighten and clarity your skin in one fell swoop with a gentle yet effective exfoliant. Try: Jurlique Fruit Enzyme Exfoliator $45 What it is: A fruit-based facial treatment that leaves skin visibly smoother and revitalized. What it is formulated to do: This ideal natural alternative to synthetic chemical peels harnesses enzymatic action to gently exfoliate skin and boost cell renewal for a refreshed, clear, glowing effect. Indigenous Australian extracts help to brighten and invigorate dull complexions, and improve skin texture and firmness. A dose of antioxidants and humectants soften fine lines and wrinkles while contributing to an overall healthier look and feeling. This formula is dermatologist tested. 3. A—Anti-aging It’s never too early to start fending off the ravages of time. Adding a treatment into your daily skin care regimen will slow the clock or turns the hands counter-clockwise. Try: Philosophy Miracle Worker™ Miraculous Anti-Aging Concentrate $62 What it is: An advanced antiaging serum designed to target the appearance of deep wrinkles and loss of elasticity. What it is formulated to do: This versatile, gel-textured, oil-free, age-defying essential features breakthrough peptide technology that bolsters the skin’s self-restorative capacity, supporting natural collagen to increase firmness and elasticity, and minimize lines and wrinkles. The water-based gel formulation helps bind hydration to the skin, maintaining a natural moisture barrier, while multiple antioxidants protect against free-radical attack. – Encourages improved elasticity and firmness. – Helps improve the appearance of deep wrinkles. – Helps protect against environmental attack. 4. P—Pamper Take one day a week to pamper your skin with a mask that adds hydration and nutrients. Try: AmorePacific Moisture Bound Vitalizing Masque $60 What it is: An overnight mask with a liquid-gel texture for improving internal hydration and antioxidant levels. What it is formulated to do: Restore tired, dehydrated skin overnight with this lightweight mask. AmorePacific’s 5-Hydra Complex dramatically improves internal hydration and antioxidant levels. Cellular turnover and youthful metabolism are promoted while moisture loss is prevented, all from the inside out. Get your leap year goodies here: Editor’s Picks: Leap Year Winter Skin Care Essentials Face Anti-Aging by philosophy Face Moisturizers by Amore Pacific
...