In Cosmetic News
Rumor has it that Sephora.com bought the rights to out-of-business eve.com and boy, can you tell from visiting Sephora.com these days! The black background is replaced with white, the urban image is gone, replaced with crisp, clear product shots and easy to read text. Talk about a whole new shopping experience! Another added bonus: more thorough ingredient lists for products, so you never have to wonder if that $50 face cream will just be $50 worth of zits.

Enter to Win!
Our Heavy Duty giveaway is now over (see the winners' names here) and now we're on to the next great giveaway, sponsored by CosmeticMall.com. Just in time for the holidays, we are giving away 8 fantastic gift sets including sets from Color Lab Custom Cosmetics, Caswell-Massey, and Tweezerman. Enter to win here! Check back next week to see who the lucky winners are!

If you're interested in picking up one of these great sets as a gift for someone, visit CosmeticMall at CosmeticMall.com.

This week I am pleased to feature our hard-working Panelist Gigi and her review of Joey New York skin care.

Gigi is a 43-year-old business teacher (at both the high school and college levels) who lives in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. As a German, Slovak, and Irish "hybrid," she has extremely fair and combination skin (still quite prone to monthly breakouts!), true auburn hair, and hazel eyes. She attributes her "addiction" to color from her very early love of art and painting with watercolors, acrylics, and oils. Despite the plethora of skin care items she owns, she's now becoming serious about preventing signs of aging (she's been "hit-and-miss" until now). What interests her most is preserving her "young" skin and finding products which stay put!

I always thought that by the time I would need to worry about wrinkles starting to appear, at least pimples would be gone. Unfortunately, that isn't always true, so I purchased all of Joey's skin care cleansing and acne treatment products. It's no wonder that it was hard for me to obtain some of these items. Until now, I've treated cyclical acne with a variety of products, but I generally wound up with nasty, peeling skin. Almost all brands were too harsh for me, and my skin is not particularly sensitive. With Joey New York, the word that kept coming to my mind was "gentle," yet the line is quite effective.

Pure Pores Cleanser With Vitamin C ($22 for an 8-oz. bottle)
My least favorite--but still good--product is Joey's creamy cleanser. It is appropriate for any skin type and contains tiny exfoliating beads. This product contains fruit acids and oils which provide a pleasant, light citrus scent. My face felt clean and smooth after use, but I prefer a foaming cleanser.

Pure Pores One-Step Toner And Moisturizer ($22 for an 8-oz. bottle)
I followed my cleansing with this appealing product, Joey's combination toner/moisturizer. It did remove all traces of makeup and grime. My skin was once again pure and velvety, not taut, and there was no harsh "tingle" or unpleasant scent often associated with toners. With ingredients which include Aloe Vera juice and extracts of hops, rosemary, pine, and lemon, this toner/moisturizer revitalizes and leaves behind cleansed and hydrated skin.

Pure Pores Almond And Honey Scrub ($28.00 for a 4-oz. jar)
Now we reach my favorite, Joey's honey-almond facial scrub. Expensive, I know. Worth it? Definitely, especially in the large, economy size! Once again, I've found many brands' scrubs to be overly harsh, with tiny particles that imbed themselves in the corners of my eyes and crevices around my nose, and can be hard to remove. This is a totally different formulation, looking like it just came from Joey's kitchen. It deep-cleans but also incorporates glycerin and almond oil to offset any skin brutality. There are no tiny, annoying, leftover particles, and my skin was left soft and glowing. This is as good as it gets in a scrub.

Pure Pores Blackhead Remover And Pore Minimizer Gel ($20 for a 2-oz. bottle)
Joey's gel is a revolutionary, precedent-setting item. Trying this was a peculiar but great experience for me. (At this point, I was finally learning that Joey New York is full of surprises and never to underestimate their formulations.) I followed the directions and felt as if I had applied LePage's old-time school glue to my face. I kept it on for just a few minutes and then I rubbed gently to remove it. Off came dry skin, soil, and potential blackheads. My skin was much like a baby's - so silky that I couldn't quit touching it. I read an article in which Joey says this is her favorite product, the one of which she is most proud. I certainly understand that.

Pure Pores Roll-On Blemish Fix ($18 for a .33-oz. roll-on bottle)
This ingenious purse-size roller-bottle proved itself immediately. Before I tried it, I had noticed a lot of little under-the-skin blemishes on my forehead and chin. I simply rolled this clear antiseptic liquid over these areas. At first there was a stinging sensation for a moment (so it may not be for those with sensitive skin), but the next day there were no more pimples and no peeling skin. It performs beautifully.

Pure Pores Hide And Heal ($13 for a .05 tube)
You may not have a facial boil like George W. Bush, but who likes to have evidence of flaws? I am always self-conscious when I have skin problems, but Hide and Heal is flesh-toned and easily applied under makeup or on bare skin. It calmly rids your skin of problems, once again without the maddening peeling that often accompanies aging skin. The small tube is also great for purse or travel. And the color stays put for many hours, clearing the acne while disguising it.

Chin Breakout Relief ($25 for a 2-oz. bottle)
Surprised yet again! I had expected a milky white lotion, but this flesh-toned lightweight liquid glides over your skin, once again concealing and healing (reminding me of Clinique's Pore Minimizer Foundation). It contains salicylic acid and zinc oxide (thus the mild medicinal scent), but it works in the same kind-to-your skin, no-nonsense manner as the other products.

Pure Pores Masque And Blemish Treatment ($21 for a 2-oz. jar)
Joey's masque is serious business, a mixture of camphor, alcohol, and sulfur along with glycerin and beeswax. Applied as directed, I didn't have the "when-can-I-take-this-off?" feeling I've had with other masques, nor the "my-face-is-totally-red-because-I-simply-wanted-to-slough-off-dead-skin-cells" look. When I rinsed and patted dry my skin (no shrink-wrap feeling here!), my pores were less noticeable and my face refreshed; regular use prevents blemishes.

I love Joey New York cleansing and blemish-clearing products. After using them, I have a porcelain-finish complexion again. Joey tempers stronger ingredients with all-natural components to offset any harsh reactions. No wonder!

Please check back soon for part two: moisturizing with Joey New York!