Lifestyle: Live the Lovely Life

Lifestyle: How to live a lovely life ... in style!

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BY TERRY LIGHT-EXPERT CLICK BRUSH FOUNDATION is NEW + IMPROVED

March 16, 2017 · 8 Comments

2025 Update: This article is a product review of the improved redesign of the By Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation. We cover 4 ways the resigned Light-Expert is better, and one potential caveat. Read on for details.

By Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation isn’t new, but a recent re-design & formulation tweak gave a smoother consistency & easier application. How does it compare to YSL Touche Eclat now? Does Light-Expert belong in your beauty arsenal?

New & improved: By Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation

ABOUT THE BY TERRY BRAND

Some time ago, devoted YSL Touche Eclat fans heard that Terry de Gunzburg, the creative director behind the iconic Touche Eclat, took her creative genius self and developed an improved version of the popular product, under her own haute couture quality line, aptly named By Terry.

So of course, we bought it immediately.

Some of us liked, but we didn’t love.

We did, however, very much like the foundation click pen named Light-Expert.

Then BY TERRY LIGHT-EXPERT CLICK BRUSH FOUNDATION got an overhaul that we DO love.

ABOUT The Improved BY TERRY LIGHT-EXPERT FOUNDATION

By Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation is intended as an overall foundation but is pigmented enough to work as a concealer for a dark undereye.

BY TERRY LIGHT-EXPERT FOUNDATION Swatch in Apricot Light

I selected the shade Apricot Light to warm up my pale skin. It gives a hint of color without making me unnaturally orange or fake looking. Because it blends so well, the extra color looks natural.

There are rosy shades, golden shades, and neutral shades.

Swatch of By Terry Click-Expert Foundation in shade Apricot Light

By Terry Click-Expert Foundation Apricot Light swatch

COMPARING BY TERRY LIGHT-EXPERT CLICK BRUSH FOUNDATION + YSL Touche Eclat

Of the By Terry line, we evaluated the three products we considered the closest match to the iconic Touche Eclat. We liked the Light-Expert more than the products that are considered counterparts or replacements for the Touche Eclat for two reasons:

Light-Expert is versatile with fuller coverage when applied directly, but it can be buffed and blended to a very sheer, almost undetectable finish.
Light-Expert is a better color match/dupe (see photo above) for the youthifying brightening we get from the iconic YSL Touche Eclat than the smaller click-pen Touch Expert Advanced Multi Corrective Concealer Brush ($47 at Barneys) or the By Terry Touche Veloutee Highlighting Concealer (about $58).

4 Ways How the BY TERRY LIGHT-EXPERT CLICK BRUSH FOUNDATION is Better

IMPROVEMENT ONE: SUPERIOR INGREDIENTS

If you are a regular StyleChicks reader, you know of our love of Hyaluronic Acid.

It pulls moisture from the air into the skin resulting in plumping out wrinkles and fine lines, enlarged pores practically disappear, and skin becomes a smooth surface to apply makeup.

IMPORTANT TIPS FOR WHEN USING FOUNDATIONS CONTAINING HYALURONIC ACID

Make sure to use a good moisturizer underneath the foundation to hydrate/feed the Hyaluronic Acid.
If you’re in a dry-air environment such as an office, library, museum, or other places with dry, forced air, consider misting your face with a water spray, or an infused hydrating product such as MAC Prep & Prime Spray, or just dab your face with a damp Beauty Blender during the day to keep the makeup supple and dewy. Otherwise, it might be subject to a bit of cracking as the Hyaluronic works to pull more moisture into the skin.

IMPROVEMENT TWO: ABILITY TO SEE HOW MUCH PRODUCT IS LEFT

By Terry Light-Expert is constructed similarly to a refillable ink pen, as seen in the photo below.

With the new By Terry Light-Expert, you can screw off the top above the brush head and pull out the see-through cartridge see how much product is left so you know if it is time buy a new one.

Many of my click pen style cosmetics are a mystery in that regard, and I’ve had times that I do the concealer on one eye and then when I click again, it suddenly ran out of product mid-face.

I hate that.

It is one of my biggest pet peeves that I have no way of knowing how much product is left in a liquid eyeliner or click pen, but that is not a problem with the By Terry Light-Expert.

Nice touch, By Terry, classy and sturdy construction to boot!

Not sure how much product is left? The By Terry top unscrews to see the contents

IMPROVEMENT THREE: BETTER BRUSH

The original brush was shaped like a traditional foundation brush, but it was more of a sloppy paint brush head that clumped together. Also you couldn’t see the product click out until it was over-pumped and overflowing.

The new brush is a round flat top cut at an angle, and the product is atop the surface when clicked, so you can see how much product has been dispersed.

With the new design, I rarely “overpump” and waste product. The brush also does not clump together like the old version.

I also like that the brush itself is angled nicely for direct application especially on facial contours, and it is a solid brush with dense bristles comparable or better to many foundation brushes. Or you can use your Beauty Blender or other brush.

New round flat head angled Brush for smoother application on facial contours

Improvement Four: DARK CIRCLE COVERAGE CONCERNS

If you’re searching for the peachy undertone that conceals dark circles so well:

YSL has come out with the YSL Touche Eclat Neutralizer in Bisque
By Terry has the Light-Expert Perfecting Foundation Brush in Apricot Light (peach) and Rosy Light (pink).

POSSIBLE CONS DRAWBACK

Some Light-Expert shades were discontinued in this overhaul.

If you prefer the original formulation of the By Terry Light-Expert, some one-off vendors (read *not* Barneys, NM, or SpaceNK) have limited quantities of these discontinued colors.

WHERE TO FIND Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation

By Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation is found at Barneys, DermStore, Nordstrom and SpaceNK for $65 for .65 fluid ounces, well in excess of other foundation and concealer click brush pens

By Terry Light-Expert Click Brush Foundation

PRIMITIVE SURVIVORS Survival Filtration Straw

March 16, 2017 · Leave a Comment

If you suddenly found yourself without enough safe drinking water, what would you do?

We had a statewide travel ban during Storm Stella. In snowstorm season, there’s risk of getting stranded without enough drinking water. Or you’re on a hiking or camping trip and may not have enough drinking water due to an accident, poor planning or an unexpected delay. Or sometimes while traveling, the water looks “iffy.” Finding safe drinking water becomes imperative but difficult. Or sometimes while traveling, the water looks “iffy.” Finding safe drinking water becomes imperative but difficult. Primitive Survivors has an answer: an easy-to-use filtration straw that makes water safe to drink.

TheÂ PRIMITIVE SURVIVORS Survival Filtration Straw ensures fresh drinking water while camping and hiking.

The PRIMITIVE SURVIVORS Survival Filtration Straw ensures fresh drinking water while camping and hiking.

ABOUT THE SURVIVAL FILTRATION STRAW

Ideal for a “bug-out,” survival or “go” bag, to keep in your camping/hiking gear, or as a safety measure in a glove compartment of your car, the Survival Filtration Straw works without electricity or batteries to filter water to make it drinkable. The Hollow Fiber UF Membrane has an Antibacterial Activated Carbon Filter that allows drinking directly from any water source including water from streams, springs, lakes, rivers, and even ponds.

You don’t have to be a camper or hiker to need a filtration straw. There is probably water that at times, might seem a bit “iffy” when away from home, including water from containers that may not appear to be as clean and safe as you may want, or while you are traveling.

The Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw fits easily into a go-bag for emergencies

The Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw is perfect for an emergency go-bag to ensure enough fresh water. Recommended go-bag items include cash, a flashlight, a toothbrush, eye drops, prescriptions, a power-bar, hand sanitizer, moisturizer, etc.

SURVIVAL FILTRATION STRAW FEATURES

NO CHEMICALS: The filter is an antibacterial activated carbon with no chemicals, and it is BPA free.
LONG-LASTING: Filters up to 1000 liters – equivalent to a year of drinking water
The filter removes 99.9% of bacteria, viruses, parasites such as e-Coli, campylobacter, shigella, vibrio cholerae (a bacteria in saltwater), and salmonella
PORTABLE: The straw is lightweight: only two ounces, and is less than 9 inches long, one-inch diameter. It has a very secure and sturdy metal clip that can attach to a belt, backpack, or key ring, so it is readily available while camping and hiking.
NO POWER NEEDED: It requires no electrical power, batteries or replacement parts
Safe and easy even for a child to use

Primitive Survivors Filtration Straw Features

CAN I EAT SNOW FOR WATER IN AN EMERGENCY?

Time to test our McGiver skills: If you run out of clean drinking water, can you eat snow to stay hydrated?

There are two factors to consider:

TOO COLD: According to a 2014 issue ofÂ Outdoor Life magazine, don’t eat the snow, it is too cold, and you’ll risk hypothermia when snow is consumed in enough quantity to hydrate yourself. Always melt the snow first to avoid further lowering of your core body temperature.
TOO POLLUTED: According to the University of California Science Line, (USCB) snow can contain the same pollutants that permeate the air, these need to be filtered before drinking. If you can boil the snow before drinking, that purifies the water. If you can’t boil the snow, then melted snow is consumable through the Survival Filtration Straw.

Whether the snow is boiled first or the Survival Filtration Straw is used, avoid collecting snow with a pink tinge, snow that has been plowed or mixed with salt, and snow that could’ve mixed with dirt. Try for the most recently fallen snow; it has the least pollutants and the least exposure to ground-level toxins.

HOW TO USE THE SURVIVAL FILTRATION STRAW

Here are the instructions for to use the straw:

Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw step-by-step instructions. Note the internal Hollow Fiber Membrane system

Put the bottom of the straw directly into the water source, whether in a drinking cup or glass, container, lake, river, stream, pond or hose and sip through the mouthpiece.

Place the bottom of the Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw into the water source

Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw has an attached cap

Drink through the top of the straw of the Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw, seen here with the attached cap

The bottom can also be connected to a water bag or bottle, then squeeze the bag or bottle to drink. See the instructions for details.

For fresh water sources, open the bottom cap of the straw and insert the straw directly into the water.

PUTTING THE SURVIVAL FILTRATION STRAW TO THE TEST

The water at work is city water, it is safe to drink, but it tastes particularly bad. Some people even say they feel sick to their stomach after drinking it. When traveling, especially in the major cities, the tap water has often tasted awful, and bottled water is available at a huge price markup.

I used the Survival Filtration Straw to drink a glass of this unsavory work tap water, it filtered out the nasty taste. I just placed the straw into a wide mouth drinking glass and it fit fine and was not cumbersome. While not the intended purpose, I prefer investing in the straw instead of always buying water bottles from the vending machines, and I feel safer having the straw for an emergency.

CONCLUSION

Ideal for campers, hikers, those who travel, and those who live in areas prone to natural disasters and weather emergencies, The Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw is portable, lightweight, durable and can remove 99% of bacterias from water, making even fresh water sources safe for drinking. Perfect for your “go” bag to ensure you have safe water for you and your family to drink. Much more convenient than carrying lots of water to drink or boiling water while hiking or camping.

The straw comes boxed and sealed with full instructions and makes a great gift for a nature enthusiast, camper or hiker.

For all Style Chicks readers and followers, get a special offer and free shipping on all Survival Straw orders at:
http://survivalstraw.weebly.com

Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw

Style Chicks received the Primitive Survivors Survival Filtration Straw in exchange for our unbiased review and received compensation for our time and effort. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% ours.

Profile of a Jewelry Brand: 7 Charming Sisters

March 13, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Today is National Jewelry Day, so we’re thrilled to tell you about a brand that crafts gorgeous jewelry pieces, 7 Charming Sisters.

My family has been collecting gorgeous, classic pieces of jewelry for generations. I’ve also curated a collection of stunning pieces myself. Some pieces are from Harry Winston; some are costume jewelry pieces. Once you determine your jewelry style, high-end and less expensive jewelry work together wonderfully!

Who are the 7 Charming Sisters, you ask? They are seven “work sisters” who have strong and distinct personalities and styles. They are: Paula, the elegant Classy Chick, Kim, the vivacious Life of the Party, Jennifer, the dedicated Fashionista, Donalda, the flirtatious Social Butterfly, Jessica, the Smart and Sexy Nerd, Kimberly, the cute Girl Next Door and Melissa, the sporty Super Mom. Any of those sound like you? Then you have a starting point of what type of jewelry might appeal to you.

7 Charming Sisters Vintage Beauty Bracelet and Champagne Toast Ring with a Tahari mid-length coat

Personally, my jewelry collection is a bit eclectic, so I always look through all seven collections, and always see multiple items I like in each collection. Both of the items we picked for the photos in this article are from Kimmie’s collection, but I have purchased items from all seven collections here and there. Have you seen a ring you like in any of our Youtube videos lately? It is probably one of the ones we picked when we treated ourselves to some new jewelry pieces on 7 Charming Sister’s sale!

I started wearing some of 7 Charming Sister’s pieces before I became familiar with the brand. I picked up a large statement ring, which I later found out is their Bug Out Ring . Every time I wear it, people who are definite jewelry connoisseurs always ask me if it is from Bulgari. It is an expensive looking piece that always gets attention!

7 Charming Sisters Bug Out Ring

7 Charming Sisters Vintage Beauty Bracelet

The Champagne Toast Ring is a gorgeous spiral ring with Pave Diamonds. I chose the gold toned option, and I love how it is an easy way to add polish to a work outfit or as one of the several rings on a hand. I like wearing it on my index finger as it makes a classic piece feel modern and youthful. It’s also a way to add a little sparkle to your hand without it being mistaken for an engagement ring. It captures the light beautifully when you run your fingers through your hair!

7 Charming Sisters Jewelry looks gorgeous at an art gallery in the Impressionist Wing! Decadent Jewelry in front of a Monet.

7 Charming Sisters does a lot of good as well. They have a deep commitment to helping the disabled find employment, and they employ those with Intellectual Disabilities, who make many of the beautiful, handcrafted pieces you see on the site. Gorgeous jewelry from a company with a conscious!

Whether you have a jewelry collection that would put Cartier’s showroom to shame, or if you are just starting to build your jewelry collection, 7 Charming Sisters has so many beautiful choices. The unique styling and intricate detail of each piece make 7 Charming Sisters a brand worth watching!

Find more amazing pieces at 7CharmingSisters.com!

7 Charming Sisters

7 Charming Sisters Vintage Beauty Bracelet

Style Chicks received sample pieces from 7 Charming Sisters and received compensation for our time and effort. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this profile are 100% ours.

Tell Me a Fairy Tale: The Tell-All Guide for Telling Amazing Fairy Tales

March 10, 2017 · Leave a Comment

Storytime holds a special place in our hearts. Memories of a grandparent or parent telling us a tale bring a smile to our face. Being a good storyteller is an art.

For our Read an eBook series, today we feature Tell Me a Fairy Tale: A Parent’s Guide to Telling Magical and Mythical Stories, which is like Clif’s Notes for over 60 classic & little-known Fairy Tales including alternate endings & easy ways to enhance your storytelling game now that you’re the grown up.

WHY YOU NEED THIS BOOK

Tell Me a Fairy Tale: A Parent’s Guide to Telling Magical and Mythical Stories offers concise synopses of both classic standards and lesser known but beloved African-American, Asian, Native American, and European fairy tales. Tell Me a Fairy Tale is not just a collection of stories, but a guide to telling stories in a kid-appealing way, a how-to for revising scary parts, and how to modernize while retaining the tale’s essence. What details enthrall kids and what bores them? It’s all covered.

Is it time for a bedtime story? Tell Me a Fairy Tale comes to the rescue!

TELLING THE TALE

Instead of relying on the same old stories, this book has helpful coverage of over sixty fairy tales of interest to both boys and girls. While some tales have a moral to the story, some just amuse children like Paul Bunyan being so BIG that he ate 400 pancakes a day and dug the Mississippi River!

HOW TO USE TELL ME A FAIRY TALE

The Table of Contents lists the Fairy Tales in alphabetical order. Each Fairy Tale provides:

Summary: a brief thumbnail overview of the story
The Characters: the name and brief description of the main characters and how they relate to each other
The Plot: The full story summary
How to Tell This Story: Notes on any underlying moral to the story. If there is no moral to the story, a possible lesson that could be interjected is suggested. Areas of the story that would benefit from extended descriptions or visually imagery are noted to enhance the story for a young, vivid imagination.

FAIRY TALES NEED SOME MODERN-DAY TWEAKING: HOW TELL ME A FAIRY TALE CAN HELP

Fairy Tales morphed over time, often into versions that make little sense today. The moral or lesson may be unclear, and some fairy tales are downright scary in their original form. Not that every story must instill a life-lesson, but they should, at a minimum:

Not confuse a child. I’m looking at you, Goldilocks, you hapless, insufferable imp. How were there no consequences to this unsupervised spelunking? Breaking and Entering, Destruction of Property and porridge-theft misdemeanors are crimes. Goldilocks as we know it is nothing like its’ original yet antiquated self that along the way lost its’ lesson and conclusion. Tell Me a Fairy Tale has some suggestions to remedy this classic into a story with a legit ending and useful life lesson.
Not condone dangerous actions: (i.e. No good comes from taking apples from strangers). As we no longer live in a world where a child should ever think of taking food from strangers, the book includes alternative tellings that fit the story context within potentially problematic tales.
Not scare your child so much that they can’t sleep afterward. Some stories are too scary for bedtime or young children. This book has stories for even very young kids.

Over sixty Fairy Tales from around the globe

WOMEN IN FAIRYTALES

How do you want to characterize women in the stories you tell children?

Full disclosure: any female with a beauty & fashion blog, such as ourselves, wishes they had their very own fairy godmother to upgrade our “Outfit of the Day” to “princess level” with the wave of a magic wand. A girl can use a little Cinderella in their life.

There are precious few positive role models for women in fairy tales. A fairy tale female is often a beautiful, passive victim awaiting rescue or a lazy, cruel step-sister or, of course, the aging, jealous, heartless evil stepmother who’s the source of all the trouble. Gretel of “Hansel and Gretel” is one of the few fairy tale females with her wits about her.

In this collection, there are some “…and they lived happily ever after” kind of stories. But there aren’t any of the impossible to respect “The Little Mermaid” type characters that forsake their Beyonce quality singing voice, disobey, lie and desert a loving family for the pursuit of a cute boy. That’s something else I like about Tell Me a Fairy Tale: a wide variety of protagonist types to break out of the constant damsel in distress story dynamic, making for a more rounded balance of characters, themes, mysterious lands, cultures and foreign places within your storytelling arsenal.

Not every bedtime story requires spinning a tale with a feminist-themed life lesson akin to “Madame Curie and the TWO Nobel Prizes.” Some stories are simply entertaining and amusing. The book offers suggested a modification of tales that ONLY have stereotypical fairytale depictions of women, which is something many parents consider doing when telling bedtimes stories to their children: girls AND boys.

One approach suggested in Tell Me A Fairy Tale is that the villain can be adapted to suit the circumstances of your family. Particularly in blended families, this step-mother as antagonist concept may need revision. Does the villain always have to be a vapid woman over the age of thirty-five driven by jealousy, vanity, revenge or self-interest? How about sometimes making the villain a supervisor, an evil nanny, a monster, an uncle, a troll, or a robot?

FAIRY TALES ARE SCARY

Grimm Fairy Tales are grim indeed, initially closer to horror stories than soothing bedtime tales. Tell Me A Fairy Tale provides alternate scenarios to some of the scary parts and suggests some modern-day improvements. For example, instead of Hansel and Gretel killing the witch, the book suggests that Gretel tricked the witch, locked her in a closet, escaped and alerted the police and Gretel got a medal. Modernized options are offered for stories such as “Sleeping Beauty” and “The Red Shoes” Sad tales dealing with death, such as The Little Match Girl are included as sometimes a sad story is appropriate, although possible variations are suggested.

CONCLUSION

Tell Me a Fairy Tale is a great gift for a new parent, Grandparent, Aunt or Uncle so they can learn the art of telling stories. It may also be of interest to those who work with children such as teachers, librarians, and child care services. The collection of Fairy Tales is a nicely curated blend of main characters and cultures, some with a life lesson; others are just amusing tales. There were several tales I didn’t know and many I’d forgotten. It is a fun read for an adult!

The author, a father of two girls, understands the powerful impact a story can have on a young mind. The book offers empowerment for a daughter or niece not by compiling only stories of heavy-handed feminist heroines, but from giving many non-stereotypical options for positive role models that aren’t based solely upon gender constructs.

Ready for story time?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author Bill Adler, Jr, also known as Father to Karen and Claire, finished this book just before his second child was born. Already a polished storyteller, as Bill (@billadler) has authored several other books including Outwitting Squirrels (The Wall Street Journal: A masterpiece Boing Boing: One of the funniest books I’ve ever read) Boys and Their Toys: Understanding Men by Understanding Their Relations With Gadgets, and How to Negotiate Like a Child.

Bill is a Claren Books Publisher, a second-generation book company.

TELL ME A FAIRY TALE

Find the Style Chicks recommended Tell Me a Fairy Tale on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: CLAREN BOOKS

Are you an aspiring writer or avid reader? Read more about how StyleChicks loves the way Claren Books supports the creativity of authors.

Find out more about Claren Books and the online creative community they have cultivated for authors at:

Twitter: @clarenbooks
Facebook: facebook.com/clarenbooks
Website: http://www.clarenbooks.com

Style Chicks received a copy of this book in exchange for our unbiased review. However, our experience with the product and the opinions expressed in this review are 100% ours.