Fresh Sugar Passion Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15

Fresh Sugar Passion Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 ($22.50) will look fabulous on all complexions, thanks to a well-balanced, warm-cool (neutral) pigment that compliments the natural shade of a woman's lip, no matter her skin tone. Sugar, a natural humectant, ensures long-lasting moisture, while hydrating meadowfoam and black currant seed oils condition the lips. The formula is also enriched with antioxidant-rich vitamins to defend against wrinkle-causing free radicals and provides year-round protection from damaging UV rays. This versatile treatment allows for buildable coverage to customize a sheer or rich hue and is the perfect partner to the best-selling clear Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15. The UVA and UVB protection is offered with avobenzone and octinoxate.



Red is the color of passion. No other lip color gives off such a powerful, feminine energy. Inspired by imagery from my favorite book growing up in the Ukraine, "Scarlet Sails" by Russian writer Alexander Grin, I pictured a silk scarlet fabric, light as a parachute, barely there but rich with color. - Alina Roytberg, Fresh Co-Founder



I'm sure you know that Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment comes in other shades - all of which I own and love. The most recent before Sugar Passion was Sugar Honey, a flattering nude. Sugar Plum and Sugar Rosé are both fabulous. I knew Sugar Passion was coming, and I ordered it the second I knew it was available at Sephora (thanks to Product Girl). It arrived, and I am thrilled.



All of Fresh's Tinted Lip Treatments give a natural, sheer tint to the lips. While I can't wear red lipstick unless it's super-sheer, I can wear Sugar Passion easily. I know I'll need to purchase another one because I like to keep these Fresh goodies at all my personal docking stations. There's a clear one next to me at my computer.



I've attached a few swatch photos for you to see the actual shade, which is more rose than red on my arm. Of course, add the color of your lips, and the shade will be darker.



My photos were taken on a tropical morning, with the sun disappearing frequently behind the hurricane-driven clouds that will get denser as the day progresses. We are expecting thunderstorms as Irene moves toward the East Coast. That gave me multiple light intensities for photographing the swatches - all in a five-minute period.



The swatch at the top was taken with a Japanese maple backdrop with a bright overcast. The swatch at right was taken in front of a cleome when the sun was shining fairly brightly.



I think the color is gorgeous. What do you think? Will you be shopping for Sugar Passion? It's available now at Sephora, where I purchased my first one, and should arrive at your Neiman Marcus counter soon.



Photo at top courtesy of Sephora; other photos by Best Things in Beauty

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Fresh Kiss & Tell - New York This Weekend - Neiman Marcus Party Last Night

Fresh is having a Kiss & Tell Promotion. With a contest online that you can enter at Facebook, you could win $2,500 in Fresh products - just by sharing your sweetest kiss ever (in 100 words or less - tougher than Twitter). Make sure to enter by July 8.

This weekend in New York City, a Kiss & Tell Pop-Up Truck may be in your neighborhood. Inside the Kiss & Tell Trucks, you will receive a free Sugar Lip Treatment of your choice - and have a chance to experience a Sugar Lip Experience, a beauty ritual that nourishes, protects, and perfects your lips. You can see the schedule for the truck's stops at this link. With four locations, anyone in New York should be able to make it. Jawn Marques will be there this weekend, so you will have a chance to meet him. I guarantee you will be enchanted. More below.

You can also send a Kiss & Tell e-card to one of your friends. Tell a friend why you love the Sugar Lip Treatment Collection, and the lucky recipient will receive a free Sugar Lip Treatment with any $50 purchase on fresh.com. How cool is that? Check out this link to send a card.

I'll bet many of you know Fresh primarily for the iconic Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15 ($22.50). Often featured at Sephora, this lip conditioner, along with the rest of the Sugar Collection, put Fresh on the beauty world's map in 1997. Fresh founders Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg were inspired to use sugar as a natural ingredient in their formulas by childhood memories of their grandmothers using it as a natural antiseptic to heal cuts. As they say, the rest is history. Fresh's Sugar Collection remains a pillar of the brand today. To know Sugar is to love it, but a failure to explore the rest of Fresh is an oversight you need to correct!

Last night, a select group of shoppers and friends had an opportunity to get up close and personal with Fresh at a master class and party at Neiman Marcus Tysons Galleria. With plenty of wine and food, we feasted while Jawn Marques gave us an overview of Fresh, the company's philosophy, and skin care. He touched on fragrance and color, but Jawn stressed skin care. After all, your skin has to look good for your makeup to look good!

The Fresh candle-lit table was set elegantly for our group of beauty lovers - all of whom sampled as Jawn started with Crème Ancienne, Fresh's couture anti-aging formula, handmade in a monastery, and ended with fragrances, covering all the options (serums, moisturizers, eye creams, masks, you name it) to keep our skin looking fresh and healthy. Toward the end of our party, Alyson O'Brien and others helped our partygoers spruce up for the evening. I love visiting with the Fresh team and appreciate the special effort they made (in rush-hour traffic) to pop down to Virginia to spend the evening with us.

Afterwards, we got Jawn and Alyson set up on Twitter, so make sure to follow them today! They are @Jawn_Fresh and @Alyson_Fresh. I took this photo upstairs after the party - the lighting in the Café wasn't great for photos. Let's show them some love on Twitter!

That's the morning report! I'll have a makeup feature for you in a bit.

Photos courtesy of Fresh; Jawn and Alyson's photo by Best Things in Beauty

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Fresh Sugar Açaí Age-Delay Body Cream and Special DC-Area Fresh Event

Recently, I've tried two "delicious" body creams. Fresh Sugar Açaí Age-Delay Body Cream ($65) is one of them. I look for opportunities to apply it.

Sugar Açaí Age-Delay Body Cream is enriched with açaí oil, which is extremely hydrating, provides fabulous antioxidant protection, and helps to maintain elasticity in the skin. It also includes skin-softening sugar and citrus fruit acids (natural alpha hydroxy acids) that gently remove dull, dry skin cells - the ones that make your skin look dull. The formula is enriched with sugar apple extract to enhance collagen production and improve inter-cellular cohesion and sweet almond protein to naturally firm, lift, and smooth the skin's surface.

It has an addictive scent! Bergamot, caramel, and exotic açaí fruit laced, with undertones of white and green tea make Sugar Acai Age-Delay Body Cream one of the most delightful body creams I'm using. I use it after my morning shower, before bed, or anytime I'm looking at my dry arms thinking about how parched they look.

Açaí oil is obtained from the purple berry of the açaí palm native to the Brazilian Amazon rain forest. The berry is known as a super-fruit because it is rich in vitamins and anthocyanins, the same pigments found in red grapes that provide antioxidant value. Açaí is also rich in essential fatty acids, such as omega-6 and omega-9, which help to maintain the skin's elasticity and smoothness and prevent water loss. Fresh's signature sugar is a natural humectant and skin soother that helps to prevent moisture loss, while it smoothes and revitalizes.

A citrus fruit AHA complex in the cream gently removes dulling, dry skin, promotes cellular turnover, enhances suppleness, and clarifies skin. Sugar apple extract and sweet almond protein provide firming and toning benefits. Finally, time-release ingredients prevent dehydration and provide a constant stream of moisture.

Fresh sent me Sugar Açaí Age-Delay Body Cream, and I wanted to tell you about it as I formally announce a special party/master class we'll be having at Neiman Marcus Tysons Galleria on Wednesday, June 22, after work. Jawn Marques, Creative Director of Fresh, will be flying in to lead the class and give participants individualized beauty tips. The whole Fresh team, including Alyson O'Brien, Account Executive, and Alison Kauffman, Product Specialist at Neiman Marcus, will be with us to make sure you have a great time. Kathy Shoreman, super sales associate and an expert herself, will be there too.

Every time I get together with Jawn, I have a blast. He is so much fun - and beyond talented. We'll learn how to use Fresh makeup and skin care to look and feel great and treat our skin, and we'll have a fun exposure to all of Fresh's fragrance products. We've been planning this for months to ensure you have a great time.

The party starts at 5:30 pm at the Café at Neiman Marcus Tysons Galleria. That's a soft start for those who want to come and chat - or maybe have a glass of wine and nibble on some food. The hard start will be at 6:00 pm, when the master class starts (of course, the food and wine will continue to flow). Fresh will sponsor a drawing for a gift basket of Fresh products. Everyone who participates will be entered to win.

To make a reservation, call (703) 761-1600 starting tomorrow, Memorial Day, and ask for Kathy Shoreman at extension 3282. Alison will be off getting married in June, so it's best to look for Kathy. You can also reserve a spot by e-mailing Kathy_Shoreman@neimanmarcusstores.com. I hope to see my DC-area friends there!

Photo at top courtesy of Neiman Marcus; photo of Jawn and Alyson by Best Things in Beauty

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Fresh Soy Face Cleanser and a Coming Attraction

Did you know that Fresh Soy Face Cleanser ($38) is Neiman Marcus's best-selling cleanser? I didn't until I started talking with a Fresh representative who had given me one. It was also a Neiman Marcus Beauty Award Finalist in 2010, voted by customers.

I told one of my "Fresh friends," Alyson O'Brien (remember Alyson? she wrote a guest feature for us), about burning my lips recently with glycolic acid and that I had used only pure, gentle products on my face the week after. I didn't want to apply anything that would exacerbate the burn and accompanying pain. My Fresh Soy Cleanser had arrived recently, and it seemed like the perfect choice for removing makeup at night and washing my face in the morning shower. I knew it was mild, so it has been my go-to cleanser since. I love it!

Soy Face Cleanser has a unique, multifunctional, soap-free formula that promotes a pure, clean, healthy complexion. Ideal for all skin types, this ultra-gentle face wash contains nourishing amino acids, rich soy proteins, and soothing botanicals to hydrate, calm, and tone. The lightweight, natural cucumber- and rose-scented formula has a refreshing and cooling effect (good for the dufus who her burned her skin). It effectively removes every last trace of my makeup, even around my eyes - no raccoons here (inside at least)! It even conditions your eyelashes.

Fresh’s unique crème-gel formula won’t strip the skin of its essential nutrients. It leaves my face feeling hydrated and clean. Because it's safe for use around the eye area, I apply and cleanse with abandon, which is how I got myself into trouble with the glycolic acid. No worries - Fresh wouldn't hurt us.

The ingredients of this French-made cleanser contain pure, organic extracts of rose and cornflower, mallow, and aloe vera, cucumber, and ginseng.Then, there's the soy. Soybean extract is a valuable protein that protects the skin and improves texture and resiliency. Soybeans provide amino acids that are essential in helping the skin to retain moisture, maintain elasticity, and preserve a smooth appearance. They contain a high concentration of isoflavonoids, a type of polyphenol that exhibits antioxidant properties. Soybean germ extract is derived from the soybean; after the hulls and oil are collected, the remaining flakes, which represent this valuable protein-rich extract, are crushed into a fine powder and used to make this soy extract in the cleanser, which is a liquid-gel that dispenses easily and feels great. It also contains soybean oil. It has an unusual botanical fragrance - floral, fresh, fruity - more like cucumber than rose.

I can see why so many women have discovered it before me. If you share your house with a man, you may be fighting for the Fresh! You can find it at Neiman Marcus, Sephora, and Fresh's Web site, along with the rest of Fresh's Soy Collection. This mild cleanser has earned a permanent spot at my house.

Heads up: Jawn Marques, Creative Director of Fresh, is coming back in June! We are having a Fresh party at Neiman Marcus after work. E-mail me if you'd like to attend.

Photo courtesy of Fresh

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Fresh Sugar Honey Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15

Fresh has done it again with the latest shade of its Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 ($22.50). Sugar Honey, a warm nude tint, is a color anyone can wear - and treat her lips while she wears it.

Sugar Honey Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 is formulated with an array of ingredients that nourish and protect the lips. Sugar, a natural humectant, ensures long-lasting moisture, while hydrating meadowfoam and black currant seed oils condition the lips. Its antioxidant-rich vitamins defend against wrinkle-causing free radicals and provides year-round protection from damaging UV rays. The versatile formula allows for buildable coverage to customize a sheer or rich hue.

I have every shade of Sugar Tinted Lip Treatment! The inspiration for the collection dates back to the childhoods of Fresh co-founders Lev Glazman and Alina Roytberg. Each of their grandmothers used sugar, a natural antiseptic, to heal their scrapes. Wanting to pass this effective ritual onto the world, they bottled their shared tradition, pioneering the use of sugar in the beauty industry. Today, the beloved Sugar Collection offers a complete head-to-toe sensory experience and is an amazing source for supremely soft skin. The lip treatments make sure your lips feel and look great.

Here's a swatch photo of Sugar Honey, taken in full sun. The shade will look a bit more pink on your lips if they have pink pigmentation. I find it a perfect shade for a nude look on me. It's sheer, which I love, and the combination of my lips and Sugar Honey is flattering. The case is bronze, which helps me differentiate it from the clear ones in darker cases that are always at my side.

If you don't want nude, you'll find plum, rosé (strawberry), and clear shades of this wonderful balm-like lip treatment. You can purchase Fresh at Sephora, Neiman Marcus, the Fresh Web site, and other sources. It's easy to find. I bought my Sugar Honey at Sephora.

Photo at top courtesy of Sephora

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Fresh Event at Neiman Marcus, Tysons Galleria, with Jawn Marques

Visiting with the Fresh team is like a day of sugar kisses. It does wonders for your face and spirits! Last Thursday, Jawn Marques, Creative Director of Fresh, and Alyson O'Brien, Account Executive (and Best Things in Beauty guest contributor) joined product specialist Alison Kauffman at Neiman Marcus, Tysons Galleria, for a day of beauty. I had looked forward to the event for at least a month. I made an appointment for my friend Berry too. Fresh products are so universally appealing, I knew she would have fun.

Jawn was doing mini-facials and makeup applications, with a hand and arm treatment thrown in too for pampering. Berry went first, and his mini-facial turned her dry, reactive skin into a glowing wonder. Jawn usually exfoliates with Sugar Face Polish ($55), but he does so much more. He cleanses, tones, exfoliates, treats (always a mask and a serum after), and moisturizes - using many Fresh products that he custom-selects for his client based on her or her skin condition.

Berry started out a little dry. Her skin showed her recent travel and the ravages of winter and retinol, but by the time he finished with her, her face was radiant. For makeup, he gave her a golden bronze look on her eyes, and because her skin looked so good by the time he had finished the facial, he used almost no foundation on her peaches and cream complexion. On her lips? Fresh Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 ($22.50), of course! I think he also used a lip gloss with her lip treatment, but I got carried away chatting and missed that detail. The results? Jawn and Berry posed for me when he had finished. Her hair got a little flattened under the headband he had used to keep it out of the way, but otherwise, she looked fabulous.
The whole time he was working, I had three things going on: 1) talking with Jawn and Berry, 2) talking with Alyson O'Brien (shown immediately above on the left; she wrote a guest post for Best Things in Beauty here), and 3) talking with Alison Kauffman (at right above) - all without leaving my comfy chair. So I missed a few details. What I know is that Berry and I both hopped out of Jawn's chair with a naturally pretty look. While Jawn was working with me, Berry shopped Fresh's wonderful fragrances and soaps - a treat one should never miss.

When it was my turn, Jawn used the wonderful new Black Tea Age Delay Face Serum ($80) on me (among many other products). I had wanted this serum since its winter introduction, and I finally purchased one Thursday. The serum is a concentrated blend of potent antioxidants and peptides that firms, restores, and refines the complexion for smoother, younger-looking skin. The secret to this powerhouse formula is black tea extract. Packed with polyphenols, potent antioxidants that defend against the most aggressive free radicals, black tea extract protects the integrity of the cell membrane to prevent lines and wrinkles from forming. Its high melanin content also has a brightening effect on the skin for a radiant glow. I know I'm going to love it. I love everything from Fresh I've ever bought.

Jawn used the Fresh Imperial Bedroom Face Palette ($55) on my eyes. This palette is a little hard to find, but Neiman Marcus had it. This subtly sultry collection from Fresh captures the behind-the-curtain, forbidden sensuality of imperial aristocracy. The palette includes luminous shades of lightly gilded Eye Lusters (Pale Moonlight and Gilded Satin), an opalescent Satin Liner (called Black Chemise, but to my eye it has traces of deep blue and green in it), a warm shimmering Satin Luster for the cheeks (Chantilly Lace), and a seductive Crown Rubies Lip Shine. The colors have an elegant brilliance that remains discreet on the skin for a masterful expression of sheer sophistication.

All fives shades were customer-blended by Alina Roytberg, co-founder of Fresh, who was inspired by the unmatched charm, romance, and over-indulgence of the British aristocracy of the early 1800s This pleasure-seeking period was all about excess and style, sophistication and lust. "I imagined a luring bedroom setting where a sensuous, shimmering beauty is lit only by candlelight and surrounded by plush fabrics and rich colors" said Alina. While history may be the inspiration for this opulent collection, the result is modern and dramatic. I loved it! I came home with that too.

I swatched the shades so that you could see how pretty they are. My photo was taken outdoors in the last snatch of sunlight we had today, and I applied each shade with my fingers. I started with Chantilly Lace at the top. Below (top to bottom) are Pale Moonlight, Gilded Satin, Black Chemise, and Crown Rubies. John mixed the Lip Shine in with the Stain Liner and used it on my eyes. These colors all have an elegant glow, perfect for those of us who like a radiant, natural look. He used Sugar Rosé Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15 on my lips, as he had with Berry.

Skip forward to the end of my session, and here I am posing with Jawn. Isn't that a silly, self-satisfied smile on my face? I went straight from Neiman Marcus to physical therapy, and everyone in the room complimented me on my appearance! I was sure they wouldn't recognize me with makeup on. Normally, I have no incentive to dress up for torture. Because we were running late, I didn't have time to get close-up photos of his masterful work on my eyes. It was one of those times when I didn't want to wash off my makeup when it was time to go to sleep.

I have a lot more to tell you about Fresh. Click on this link for a quick description of Jawn's last visit. Stay tuned in the coming week for more about Jawn Marques and celebrity beauty.

Photo at top courtesy of Fresh; palette photo courtesy of beauty.com

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