When fashion comes to mind you think of Paris, Milan and New York. Boston does not really roll off the tongue. But Boston is a fabulous city that is brimming with style and attitude. New Brahmin is a blog that is striving to put Boston on the map and showcase why this city deserves to be taken seriously. Personally I love Boston, in my humble opinion is one of the most diverse and intellectually stimulating towns in the US.
Jeannie Vincent is a well known make-up artist that serves the Boston Metropolitan area (check out her site at www.jeannievincent.com). Jeannie is a contributor to New Brahmin and takes a close look, which they call “test drive” where they actually spend some quality time for the products they are reviewing. We love that Jeannie loves the products that we sent her. We now have some new friends in Boston and a great new blog to get the skinny of what’s hot in B-town.
Cosmetic Chef
David Parker
What’s NEW BRAHMIN…
Boston is the intellectual hub of America, full of progressive politics and champion sports teams. It’s also a city where boybanders who are 15 years past their prime receive A-List attention (I still love you Joey McIntyre) and “no sneaker” policies are the norm at the door at everything from shitty pubs to nightclubs. With more important distractions from business, academics and athletics, this is a city that has little time to care about style.
With the sea of Red sox caps, college sweatshirts and blue oxford shirts that flood its streets, Boston is a blip on the style map. However, there is a flourishing community of forward thinking individuals who are providing influence for a more stylish Boston. Artists, designers, retailers and the like are inspiring how we dress. The tweedy image of the Boston Brahmin is both dated and inaccurate. Now is the time of the New Brahmin.
New Brahmin is not a distinct style. There is no formal dress code, uniform or walk of life that illustrates a New Brahmin. You cannot put your finger on it because New Brahmin is distinctive style. It’s not a matter of the clothes or where they’re from, it’s how they are worn. The attitude, the connotation, the appropriateness (or inappropriateness, if you will) all adds to the equation. It’s not something that can be purchased. Style is innate. And this is home to such style in Boston.
Here at New Brahmin, you can see how style is broken down and where you can find the right elements to create your own right in town. We’ll let you know where the sales are happening, if there’s a good shipment to our favorite off-price retailers, brands you should check out, who’s wearing what to where, lots of trend talk and some history lessons. We might get a little bitchy from time to time when we see flip flops in the winter or other major “don’ts” that the general public continues to offend us with, but it’s all in good fun and hopefully someone out there will learn something. New Brahmin is here to unite the stylish and promote the cause throughout Boston.
Liana Peterson
Founder, Publisher, Executive Editor
New Brahmin – Beauty Review, Light Facial Emulsion.
Beauty Test Drive is a new feature where we test out new products sent to us from a variety of companies. We promise that our reviews are honest and are by no means influenced by the companies who send us products.
Figuring that I’d leave the reviewing up to our in-house beauty experts (that would be Jeannie & Lauryn), I couldn’t let The Body Deli’s
Flash Flood Light Facial Emulsion go. It’s that time of year when I have to put away the Oil of Olay that I’ve been using since I was 16 (by my mother’s influence) because my skin becomes fragile from the cold. So fragile that I’m convinced that I’m allergic to the cold. I usually turn to a heavy cream that makes my skin feel like an oil slick, just to keep it from flaking off.
We recently received a package of goodies from The Body Deli, a beauty brand made of natural, fresh ingredients, sold directly through their e-commerce site and at some very select spas around the world. Inspired by natural living and the science of “living foods”, all of the products are handmade in small batches and incorporate raw, fresh, natural and organic ingredients.
I don’t know what will take me more getting used to – the fact that each pump explodes out of the bottle and sometimes completely misses my hand or that it doesn’t feel like I’m wearing moisturizer at all. When they say light emulsion, they mean featherweight. I am beyond impressed how my skin doesn’t feel heavy or greasy after applying. Plus it smells delicious, although I can’t pinpoint whether it smells like a cookie or a delicious frozen drink best served on a beach. Read the
ingredients and you’ll probably understand where I’m coming from.
I’ve recently been having a horrific time with my allergies, which means I spend most of my evenings sneezing or shoving tissue in my nose to prevent leaking (sorry, TMI). This usually results in my nose resembling that of a particular holiday reindeer. I’ve been now using the Flash Flood for well over a week and there is no trace of my allergic drama in the form of a dry and inflamed nose. Even more surprising, the irritated patch of skin above one of my eyes (again, thanks to allergies) has completely disappeared. This emulsion uses chiral technology to increase cellular absorption and reduce irritation, which totally explains everything.
Another major benefit of Flash Flood is that unlike other times I’ve switched moisturizers, it hasn’t made me break out. The combination of Salicylic acid and a benzol peroxide alternative helps heal and prevent “blemishes”. Maybe if I stopped picking at my face, there wouldn’t be any blemishes.
My only problem with Flash Flood is that 1 to 2 pumps is suggested for use. I use an average of 4 pumps, then another application. But than again, I may just be going through some sort of withdrawal of that greasy feeling I’ve always associated with a hydrating face cream.
Healthy ingredients, awesome smell, healing and preventative powers – I highly recommend that you try Flash Flood if you’re in the market for a light moisturizer that doesn’t leave you feeling or looking like an oil slick.
Flash Flood Light Facial Emulsion, $36 for 2 oz. available at
The Body Deli.
New Brahmin – Beauty Review, Blueberry Fusion Scrub.
When I opened my jar of Blueberry Fusion Scrub from The Body Deli for the first time, I thought I had mistakenly grabbed blueberry sorbet out of my freezer. That’s how good it smells. Top that with the fact that the olfactory delight it imparts comes not from artificial fragrance or perfume, but real live blueberries, and I was pretty much hooked.
Now I have never been one to seek out natural products, because in my opinion, sometimes things can be a little too “crunchy” to work properly. But for a facial exfoliator–natural can be perfect. Gets the job done but isn’t too hard on your skin. This particular product is free of detergents, dyes, fragrance and any of that other garbage. The ingredients are as follows:
This little jar houses one of the better facial exfoliants I (product whore) have ever tried. It’s extremely natural and fresh (arrives on ice) and is like health food for your skin. It is gentle enough to use a couple times a week but effective in removing the top layer of dead, dull skin to reveal a beautiful, glowing complexion. More fanaticism and ingredients dishing after the jump.
Organic Aloe Vera Juice, Colloidal Oatmeal, Guar Gum, Organic Blueberries, Xanthan Gum, Diatomaceous Earth, Vitamin E, Organic Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Carrot Seed Oil, Organic Rose Hip Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Rosemary Oil Extract, Fresh Cells of Pomegranate and Kiwi, Organic Fruit Acid Enzymes, Potassium Sorbate.
Blueberries of course are anti-oxidant rich super fruits and protect your skin from pollutants in the air (a.k.a. free radicals). Aloe is very calming, soothing, and cooling for the skin and makes a great base for this product. The exfoliation you get with the Blueberry Fusion Scrub is both manual (very finely ground earth particles) and chemical (fruit acid enzymes). It also contains meadowfoam seed oil is super hydrating for your skin but never clogs pores. $36 buys you a 2 oz. jar that should last through at least a couple months of regularly washing away the winter doldrums. All around I have nothing really negative to say about it although I do wonder how necessary refrigeration is to maintaining the integrity of the product as it does not have the traditional cosmetic preservatives but rather food grade potassium sorbate. Either way, I cannot wait to try more Body Deli stuff and can’t believe I never found it until now.
THEBODYDELI.COM
WOW! That’s all I can say about this amazing botanical facial masque from The Body Deli.