Every time I go on vacay to some place busy and popular, I always hope to spot a celebrity (*be aware, my definition of celebrity is *very* loose). Very rarely has this ever happened. But, sometimes it *does* (*How you doin', Harold?). Usually its a case of hearing other people's brushes with fame.

On this part of our Pretend French Vacay the closest we are going to come to a celeb is in a makeup artist's kit. In my Christmas Paris pack was a bottle of MUA's fav, Bioderma Sensibo (*previously Cr`ealine) - a cleansing water that takes almost all makeup, including waterproof, except for the hardcore not going anywhere makeup that you would use an oil based cleanser on anyway. (*Yep, I talked about a different cleansing water yesterday when I talked about the Nuxe Cleansing Water with 3 Roses. Are you seeing a pattern here? I want the most effective cleansing method with the least amount of effort - some may call that lazy, I call it maximizing my...yeah, I'm lazy.)

When I say you will find this in most MUA's kits, I'm not playing - this has truly reached cult status. It is famously used by MUA's during Fashion Weeks, where the models are going from show to show, changing makeup each time & in trying not to tear up the models faces by the scrubbing off of the makeup, they use this gentle, but effective, cleanser to calm and clean the face. This particular line of Sensibio is Bioderma's "Sensitive Skin" line - which is specifically for the dry, red, itchy skin that needs some extra gentle TLC. They also have lines for Oily/Combination skin, Irritated/Damaged skin and even a line for baby skin, among others.

So, while we may not see any celebs on our Pretend Vacay, we can at least feel like a celeb by using what is used on them with this - without having to deal with the paparazzi. Ha! Have you guys tried this, or any other cleansing waters? If so, lemme know what you think about them. I'd like to know if I'm the only one that is lazy, yet somewhat effective, in their cleansing at the end of the day.
(*I just remembered I had made a video to show you guys how the Sensibio works. See? I really like it.)

(*Don't forget to go back to Pt. 1 and enter to win a tube of Talika Lipocils Expert for yourself. And, did you read Pt. 2 of our Pretend French Vacay?)

When you are traveling, one thing you notice are the people. Now, I've never been to Paris, or anywhere in France for that matter, so I can't speak from experience, but, there seems to be a thought (*at least here in America, I think) that French people smell bad. I'm not saying yay or nay on this, however, if most French folks wear Nuxe Tonific Deodorant then, yes, ohlordhavemercy, YES, they stink.

I say this based on my own experience. I was given some Nuxe Tonific Deodorant as part of a Christmas packet of lovely French treats. (*I had specifically requested this, btw, as I was *stillam* looking for a non-itchy/non-annoying deo). Anyway, I decided to try it out soon after - middle of winter, mind you. All was good in the AM's. No stickiness, no irritation - nothing bad going on. Then, BAM - after lunch - holdmebabyjesus - I stunk. And not in the "hmm, i think i caught the merest hint of an odor" but in a "oh lord, if *I* can smell this, surely everyone around in a 30yd radius can, too" kind of way. This is NOT what I expected from a "24hr Protection" product.

I gave it the benefit of the doubt & tried it a couple of more days, but, it continued to act like a light switch was flipped and just stop working on me, so, clearly my body chemistry wasn't ideal for this. At least now I know, right? But, that's not to say that all Nuxe products aren't that effective. They have *such* a broad range of skin caring products that one product misstep did not turn me off. In fact, I quite like their Micellar Cleansing Water with 3 Roses as a gentle way to clean my face - soothing, without any burning or itching.

One of Nuxe's other bestsellers is their Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil. It's a blend of 6 Precious Plant Oils (Borage, St Johnswort, Sweet Almond, Camellia, Hazelnut, Macadamia) that is able to be used on the face, body AND hair - a real multi-tasking product, which is beneficial as it runs around $45USD for 100ml/3.3oz.

Like any place you visit, you will find people you like to be around and some you try to avoid (*cough*reading maps out loud across the room*cough*), such is the case with the Nuxe brand. Have you ever had chance to try this brand? If you have, I'm curious what you tried and what you liked/didn't like, so, be sure and let me know.

*Don't forget to enter to win a tube of Talika Lipocils Expert that I talked about in part 1 of our pretend vacay.

With all of the dramarama around here, I am in desperate need of a "Calgon, take me away" vacay, but, there doesn't seem to be one on the immediate horizon. To make matters worse, I feel like I am being bombarded by things relating to Paris, France. Like, my lovely friend, Melissa from Epic Makeup just took a trip there and my delightful French friend, Marie-Laure from Fournier Communications has been quite..erm..."vocal" on twitter while cheering her country's team on in the FIFA World Cup. I've also been reading a delicious book called "The Sweet Life In Paris" by David Lebovitz".

So, since it doesn't look like I'm going to be dusting off my passport any time soon, I can at least have a pretend trip, and bring you guys along, by chatting about some French products that I have so we can at least feel like we've been to the City of Lights. Plus, I'll even give you guys a souvenir at the end, too. Sound good?

Just like with any trip we take, we start out with something familiar before we explore and in this case, we'll start off with a brand that I have talked about on here before, Talika. I can't help it - I just think it's really good. And because I have been impressed with them in the past, I didn't hesitate when I was given the chance to try their new lash enhancer, Talika Liposils Expert.

I think by now most of you have heard of the possible side-effects of Latisse, the (*what seems like) most widely known lash enhancer out there. Well, some of us want similar results, but without the possible harmful side-effects and without needing a prescription. Enter Talika Liposils Expert, a formula made from "a blend of natural actives to regrow sparse lashes, grow and thicken existing ones, magnify natural color and curl your lashes." There are even clinical tests (*pdf) that show the changes possible:

• growth: average length increase of 36%.
• color intensifying effect: average color intensification of 50% (up to 100% improvement on blond and light brown lashes)
• average increase in lash curve by 50%

In my case, I used the double applicator pretty much every day, twice a day the entire month of April (*I held this review to coincide closer to the actual release date). I didn't have any stinging or burning or discoloration. The applicator is double in that it has a spoolie part to apply directly to the lashes and a sponge tip to apply to the lash line itself. Now, the sponge end was kinda stained dark by the end of the month because I *may* not have removed my mascara good enough each day, but none of that transferred to my skin. Now, I have pretty decent lashes anyway, so the real thing that I noticed was the curling effect. It was truly noticeable by the end of the month, to the point that if i was just messing around, I didn't have to use my lash curler & still have a wide eyed effect.

I told you there would be souvenir's, right? Well, I would like to give 10 of you (*in the US only) the chance to get your own tube to try and see what results you can get for your own eyelashes. Just enter your name and email addy in the box below one time between now and Thursday, July 8th at MidnightCST & I will announce the winners on Friday, July 9th. And like any vacation, after you try this out, come back and show me your pics of how they look. Everyone likes vacay slideshows, don't they? ;)

*Have a look and see what else we've done on our Pretend French Vacay:
• Pt. 2: The people that you meet
• Pt. 3: A brush with greatness
• Pt. 4: The History of Beauty - Le Rouge Baiser - "Red Kiss"
• Pt. 5: The History of Beauty: Chanel No. 5
• Pt. 6: A Book to Bring You Home

Hey all you NYC lovelies! For one week, beginning Tuesday, June 8th, in celebration of Revolution In Cut, Ric Pipino & his team of expert stylists from Pipino Downtown and Spa Chakra will be on hand to offer blowouts, light styling & color consultations at Henri Bendel's.
Ric himself will be making special appearances at the event on Tuesday, June 8th and Thursday, June 10th from 11am to 7pm. For more info, check the Henri Bendel website or give them a call at 1-800-hbendel.