Welcome to BeforeTen.com: a rather creative place for design lovers, extraordinary bloggers, and photography enthusiasts

What is BeforeTen about?

When you’re an inspired individual who spends the majority of your time in an uncreative environment in your daily grind, it’s important to find the time to enjoy and explore that creative realm of your life.

For many of us, our passions lie in the ability to be creative or in spending time dreaming about art and design. I strongly believe that exercising this part of our brains is as important as being logical and grounded – both combined help us to be well-rounded and more fulfilled as people.

The M.O. for BeforeTen is

Take the time to appreciate art and design around you. The little things are as important as the bigger things. Reserve time to create — being able to do so is an essential human trait and the possibilities are endless. And even if you’re not an artist at heart, spend time to curate your personal collection of images and tastes. Doing so can help you sharpen your sense of style and eye for design.

BeforeTen’s mission is to help inject some creativity into your life, to foster appreciation, creation, and curation.

On BeforeTen you’ll find posts about:

• design appreciation
• design tutorials
• blogging tips
• freebies
• and more

Make sure to follow BeforeTen on:

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• Twitter: twitter.com/b410creative
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• BeforeTen Newsletter

Stay inspired: sign up for the BeforeTen newsletter!

These products have been my go-to’s for months now, some of them for a year and counting, and it’s high time I share the lot of them with you.

1. Too Faced Beauty Balm in Cream Glow – You and I both know that I’m bb cream obsessed. This Too Faced bb cream takes the cake. I hope they never discontinue it!
2. Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle under-eye concealer – I mentioned this in my old minimal makeup post from January 2012, and it’s still going strong. I know I should invest in a new one soon… but this one just won’t die. I love how thin the formula is and how it manages to cover and brighten my under eye circles without looking cakey.
3. Mark Good Riddance Hook Up Concealer in Light/Medium and Fair/Light – I’ve been a (pseudo) mark. rep for longer than I care to admit, and this is one product I keep buying. I’ve tried countless other concealers over the past few years, but this one always does the trick. Having the two colors to choose from is key for concealing, as well. Unfortunately it looks like they stopped making these, so whenever I run out I’ll be in the market for something very similar.
4. Tarte Smooth Operator micronized clay finishing powder – I’m really liking this loose powder. It allows me to finish my face makeup quickly and effortlessly; it doesn’t cake and creates a smoother looking texture for my skin.
5. Physicians Formula Powder Palette blush in Blushing Berry – My all-time favorite blush is Tarte’s Dollface, but I think I lost it. (Cries.) This drugstore blush has been my substitute and savior. I may even repurchase it instead of investing in Dollface again, simply because it’s less than half the price and I love it so much.
6. Make Up For Ever Waterproof Cream Eye Shadow (as eyeliner) in Aqua Black – Picked this up at Sephora on a whim after a sales associate recommended it to me. I’m a huge fan, and apply it with my bdellium tools 714 and 710 eyeliner brushes.
7. RevitaLash Perfect mascara Primer – Using mascara primer dramatically increased the oomph of all of the mascaras I use. I love this RevitaLash one because it’s blue and because it works so darn well.
8. CoverGirl Professional All-In-One Waterproof Mascara in Very Black – An all-time favorite. I’ve seriously been buying this mascara for almost a decade. I’ll admit I’ve strayed, but I keep coming back. CG All-In-One always takes me back with open arms.
9. Benefit Brow-Zings Out of all of the brow products I’ve tried recently, I default back to the wax of this product. It’s a subtle and quick application and prevents my eyebrow hairs from flapping in the wind (what a mental image, huh?)

I love so many things about my current daily makeup routine. It’s fast, easy, and works every time. Probably takes me five minutes, max. I don’t have to fuss over products and worry if they’re going to work, which is all a gal can ask for from her everyday products!

What makeup products do you use every day? Are you using anything that you continue to buy, year after year?

It’s giveaway time on JennStaz.com! I am really excited about this one. I’ve been a long-time admirer of Yes To products and somehow just started using them about a month ago.

I’m in love!

Read more for my review of these products, or scroll to the bottom to enter in my giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget. More exciting news – two lucky people will each win a set of these products!

Overall, the Yes To Grapefruit line is designed with hyperpigmentation in mind. This line is right up my alley. I scar and hyperpigment so easily on my face from acne and on my body from random blemishes and bug bites. Knowing I’m using a suite of head-to-toe products that will gradually help to even out my skin tone helps keep my mind at ease.

Dark Spot Correcting Body Crème

This body cream couldn’t have come at a better time. With the winter months still in full swing, this product is amazing to have in my personal care arsenal. I love how rich the cream is without being greasy. It absorbs quickly and has a very pleasant scent. I haven’t been using it long enough to notice a difference with scars, but hopefully with continued use it will fade them. My one qualm – I wish this were in a tube! The consistency isn’t too thick and could easily be dispensed in a standard crimp-top tube.

Dark Circle Correcting Eye Cream

I have to admit – I’m usually horrible at remembering to use eye cream. Since I’m now in my late twenties, I know I really have to jump on the bandwagon and make it part of my routine. I’m at that age where it’s no longer a preventative measure!

There’s a couple things I really love about this – the first thing being the packaging. So many eye creams are unhygienic because the eye cream is in a pot, and sticking your finger in a jar day after day, even if you’ve washed your hands, isn’t the best thing. This slim squeeze tube allows you to dispense the perfect amount of product and keeps the rest of the cream sanitized.

Since I’ve started to treat my eye area the right way, I’ve noticed a slight improvement. I didn’t have the darkest circles to begin with (partly because of my Garnier Roller Ball, I’m convinced).

Brightening Facial Towelettes

This is a real treat to use these. For some reason I can’t get myself to buy makeup removing wipes to use normally, because I feel like I should be un-lazy and just wash my face twice. But these large facial wipes are fantastic. And they also remove waterproof mascara and eyeliner without being irritating.

If I really felt like pinching pennies, these towelettes could easily be cut in half… they’re huge!

Dark Spot Correcting Serum

I’ve been using this twice daily for a while now underneath my argan oil moisturizer and this has been the most impressive product. Much like my new favorite skincare treatment – the amazing O.R.G. Skincare Facial Peel – this serum will help slough off the outermost layer of dead skin. Would this replace O.R.G.? No, since O.R.G.’s peel is the most effective treatment, but this Yes To Grapefruit serum is a good product to use in between treatments.

Also, a little bit of this product goes a long way. My skin has been noticeably clearer and more even in tone since using this in combination with my regular skincare routine.

One product I’d absolutely love to see in this line is a hand cream! Maybe someday, right?

Enter in the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What are your favorite Yes To products? And what product from the Yes To Grapefruits collection would you be most excited to try?

Post contains a PR sample sent for consideration – more info

About YesTo:
Founded in 2006, Yes To, Inc. is a global leader in natural skin and hair care, with awesome and affordable products made with fruits, veggies, and a smile! Yes To’s award-winning formulations are over 95% natural, have proven results, and are free of parabens, petroleum, and SLS. We offer six unique collections including products for face, body, hair, lips, and even babies…to allow people to create their own natural ‘recipe’ that works for them. We are a fun-loving, wine-drinking, yoga-doing, active-life-living bunch of folks in San Francisco who a) create affordable natural products that really work b) give back by planting school gardens for kids to help teach them about healthy living and nutrition, and c) have a pretty awesome time doing it. So join us, and say YES to naturally good products…unnaturally good results!

Look at this stuff, isn’t it neat? Wouldn’t you think my collection’s complete?

My second thought? Who knew there could be this many different types of tweezers, and who on earth needs all of this?

Just in case you are in the same mindset that I am, I wanted to whittle this collection down to the three main types of Tweezerman tweezers and analyze whether a person would really benefit from having the different types. Onward!

Slant Tweezer

From Tweezerman:

For more than 30 years, our award-winning Slant has been the choice of makeup artists, models, celebrities and those who demand the very best.

The Slant Tweezer is a Tweezerman classic. They’re what you find at Target when you are looking to buy a new pair because somehow you lost yet another pair of tweezers. The more iconic Tweezerman tweezers are enamel-coated with a fun pop of color and design. I admittedly have quite a few pairs and have learned to keep them strategically placed throughout the house, and then keep one pair at work and one in my travel bag.

If you can’t already tell, the Slant Tweezer is my favorite. The angle is perfect, it’s easy to use, and it grabs unwanted hairs with ease without snapping the hair in half.

Point Tweezer

Famous for its precision, the Point features perfectly aligned hand-finished, ultra sharp pointed tips that grab the smallest and finest hairs with ease.

These could practically be a weapon. They are SO sharp. Please, if you ever buy these, keep the little rubber tip around for storage. It’s not a good feeling when you’re reaching for a makeup brush and you poke yourself with the sharp end of these guys.

Warning aside, these are incredibly precise. While you can grab several hairs with the Slant Tweezer, these are a one-at-a-time kind of tool. These really come in handy when you’re close to the brow line.

Another good use? Ok, so I don’t relish in sharing this with you, but I thought I should let you know. These are amazing for pulling out unsightly blackheads out of your nose. I’m not suggesting you gauge out your pores with this thing, but if you have a blackhead that’s already slightly protruding, you can grab it with the sides of these tweezers and you’ll be able to yank it right out. Just sayin’.

Pointed Slant Tweezer

This uniquely designed tweezer with perfectly aligned hand-finished tips combines the easy handling of our Slant with the precision of our Point.

Best of both worlds, right? This Pointed Slant Tweezer has the longest tweezer surface of all three, making it a master of destruction if that’s your goal. The angle is slightly smaller than the Slant Tweezer which may feel a little funny to you if you’re used to the classic Slant.

While you may think this one rounds all of the bases, I may beg to differ. The big difference in surface area and the angle makes it a little bit clunky to use.

Also, even though this combines the precision of the Point and the all-star attributes of the Slant, it really doesn’t make a very good love child of the two.

Conclusion

Yes, you could probably do with just the Slant. I personally wouldn’t recommend the Pointed Slant Tweezer if you’re used to the Tweezerman classic Slant. The Point Tweezer is different enough where I would say it’d be good to add to your collection, especially if you also have a bad habit of yanking out blackheads. (Again: sorry, overshare, gross.)

In this before and after photo below, I honestly used the Slant for all three areas pointed out. However, I could have gained more precision by using the Point on the baby fine hairs around #2, and using the Pointed Slant on the hairs right under the brow in numbers 1 and 3.

If you don’t know where to start with eyebrow grooming, I have a beginners post and video about shaping your brows and also have some great products I recommend from Benefit and Elf, and Billion Dollar Brows.

Do you have a favorite brow tweezer? Have you ever tried the less-known Tweezerman tweezers?

Post contains a PR sample sent for consideration – more info

This Precious Minerals Bright Fit BB Cream by Etude House from Momomango has:

• Full coverage with a sheer feel… isn’t like spackle
• Four colors to choose from… you might be able to find the right shade
• It won’t break the bank at $26.

When I tried this BB Cream for the first time, I was very pleasantly surprised. The thin formula spreads quickly and easily over your skin and doesn’t take forever to blend like some other BB Creams I’ve tried. It also doesn’t get hung up or patchy when placed over a freshly-moisturized face.

While this color, Sand Beige, was probably one or two shades too dark for me, it evened out nicely and gave my skin a realistic tan glow. In the picture below (sorry for the fish-eye photo) all I have on my face is moisturizer and the BB cream. It covers my under-eye circles and minor blemishes very well.

You can kind of see where I didn’t blend it in very well myself between my eyes and above my eyebrows, but the photo gives you the general idea of how well it coverages despite the color difference.

Other benefits of this BB Cream?

• SPF30
• Whitening
• Anti-Wrinkle
• Anti-Darkening

This color is the darkest out of the four available colors, so I hope my photo will give you an idea of what color would work best for you. If I had another chance, I would probably go with Natural Beige.

Overall, I adore the thin, smooth formula and am so happy to have found a BB Cream that offers darker color options.

What qualities do you look for in a BB Cream? Comment below!

Post contains a PR sample sent for consideration – more info

Oh no. You’re in trouble.

Whenever I find one of those products, you know, one of those types of products that works really well, I usually won’t stop talking about it.

These are the things that go on my short list of things that solve life’s problems. Currently that list consists of:

1. Jumping jacks
2. More sleep
3. More water
4. Argan oil
5. Start a blog

I’m proud to introduce #6 on the Jenn Staz short list: O.R.G. Skincare’s Organic Mineral Face Peel.

Whether you’re an experienced peeler or shy away from chemical or natural peels, don’t let that word deter you. This is something entirely different.

It’s best explained as a beadless, super gentle exfoliator. But that description doesn’t embody all that’s fantastic about this product that should be a staple in your arsenal of beauty products for yourself or your makeup artist kit.

To use this non-irritating product, you spray it directly onto your skin and let it sit for a whole 5 seconds. Then massage it gently on your skin with your fingers, and you will be happily horrified at how much dead, discolored skin beads off.

Personally, I have a few troublesome skin ailments: allergies that affect my skin and cause it to flake easily along my cheeks, jawline and neck, exacerbated by the dry winter weather… pimples and hyperpigmentation, and some persistent thicker skin due to minor sun damage along my forehead and nose.

Guess what helped all of that within minutes – without irritating my eczema or sensitive skin? Yeah. You guessed it.

The first time I used this product on my face, I was amazed at how noticeably soft and even toned it was. Hyperpigmentation that’s plagued me for months faded immediately. My skin got that insta-glow thing going on, and I could notice a huge difference when I applied makeup on top of my fresh skin, too.

In the photo below, you may be able to see some dry patches in the first frame, and then how much clearer and fresher my skin looks in the after picture in the third frame, especially near my mouth and around the jawline.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may know that when I really love a product, I really really love it. If When you add this product to your collection, I recommend doing one section of your face at a time to aid focusing in on trouble zones.

Here’s a helpful guide to the ingredients and why they are so effective:

This is so easy and quick to use (you can make it even easier by using it in the shower to make rinsing easier), and the benefits are immediately apparent. I consider myself extremely lucky to have learned about this product at IMATS in January and am SO excited to share my thoughts with you finally.

PS – check out how amazingly beautiful this O.R.G. Skincare Soap is!

What’s your exfoliating routine? Do you think your skin could benefit from this product?

We all love it when our favorite celebrities get Red Carpet-ready. Take the Golden Globes that happened this month, for example. The flawless makeup applications of the actresses are inspiring for our own makeup looks.

I lean towards a fresh-faced look and like to enhance my features without the “LOOK, I’M WEARING MAKEUP!” thing.

Actresses that sported the natural, healthy glow look at the Golden Globes this year that come to mind are: Stacy Keibler, Amanda Seyfried, and Megan Fox. You can bet their makeup artists used high end makeup… but good news is these looks can easily be achieved on a budget!

Wet n Wild’s products chosen for the Gettin’ Fresh look is inspired by the au naturale makeup looks of the Golden Globes, and this entire set can be yours!

I’ve tried out these pieces myself, and I have a brand new set to give away! These makeup pieces are fantastic staples and can also help you achieve that natural beauty Red Carpet look, too, all for $16.

All you have to do enter to win is fill out the Rafflecopter widget at the bottom of this post.

The nail polish included is Private Screening: a sheer peachy nude (3 coats in this photo).

Here are swatches of the eyeshadow trio, Walking on Eggshells, and the lipstick in Pink Suga’. Both are fantastic to use every day, too.

This Mega Volume mascara in Very Black is awesome! Here is a comparison photo, without and with the mascara.

Here’s my quick and easy look with this kit. Reserve YourCabana bronzer makes a great highlighter for me and gives me an all-over glow.

You can take a peek at the four Wet n Wild Golden Globe makeup looks and watch tutorials here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How would you create a Red Carpet-ready look if you won this giveaway?

Post contains a PR sample sent for consideration – more info

IMATS LA 2013. Somehow this is the third time I’ve been to IMATS and it just seems to get bigger every year!

I’m so glad I got to see and hang out with my lovely YouTube buddies Chie and Jen.

ORG Skincare

Major thanks to ORG Skincare for inviting me to IMATS to hang out and learn about their featured product and meet the owners. I am so excited to tell you about their Mineral Peel in a post coming soon. Seriously amazing stuff, and natural to boot!

The Pro stuff

Loved seeing the professional makeup artistry. I had to share some photos of the pro stuff – seriously, how creepy is the huge Lincoln head? Or that one head in the middle of the picture that seems to be staring right at the camera. *Shivers*

The Smaul

Somehow I managed only to spend $10 while at IMATS. I really only wanted one thing (ok, maybe 4 or 5…) but the lines were crazy long and I wasn’t feeling well enough to stand in line for hours.

You may know how much I adore Bdellium Tools makeup brushes. I had to pick up something from their new pink bambu line – so I got two 710′s, my favorite gel eyeliner brush ever.

Yeah, this haul looks just a pinch different than my 2011 or 2012 IMATS hauls. I really feel like I have everything I need. Is that weird to say? Please don’t disown me, if you’re a product junkie :)

How cute are these brushes? And just as soft and high quality as the Green and Yellow Bambu lines.

Did you go to IMATS LA this year? Do you plan on going to one in another city? What would you buy at IMATS?

The new location is manned by one-man hair-removal army, Glenn, whose eyebrows are in a constant state of perfection. He’s been threading since he was 13 years old – I didn’t want to be rude and ask his current age, but from what I could garner, that’s the better part of 10 years. He was self-taught, then he was trained by Ziba and was hand-picked from the Vegas store (one the most popular and high-traffic locations in the US) to work his magic on LA’s pretty faces.

When I recently visited him, I’ll admit: my eyebrows were hell. I hadn’t had them done in about 5 months. My former brow studio closed up shop without notice, and I have no idea where my former threadist went. I had visited some random place back in the summer and they gave me tadpole brows. There is no beauty sin worse than tadpole brows: a super thin arch with a really thick inner brow shaped into a circle, thus resembling a pre-frog. Gross.

Glenn took one look at my brows and said, “What happened!?”

Exactly.

Tadpole brows look good on no one, but least of all not for someone like me: a round face with full cheeks, deep set eyes and hooded lids. I need strong, thick, arched eyebrows, with straight angles and not a circular shape in sight.

I knew that. Glenn knew that too, as he should – as he will tell you, brows frame the face, and a bad brow shape can mess up your entire face feng-shui. A well-groomed and nicely shaped brow will open up your eye area, make you look revitalized and less tired, and have people wondering if you got work done. A good brow specialist will take into account not only the shape of your face, but the shape of your eyes, the texture and thickness of your brow hair, and the current state of your brows.

In under 15 minutes, Glenn studied my face, sat me down in a chair, and managed to make my eyebrows look decent with some thread and some clever flicks of his hands. It was really fast and one of the least painful hair-removal situations I’ve ever experienced.

If you’re new to threading, I highly, highly, highly recommend it. My first threading experience ever was in 2006, at, coincidentally, a Ziba Beauty. I REALLY needed to get my eyebrows done and I was in a new city, so I went there upon recommendation from some makeup artist friends.

I haven’t allowed wax near my face ever since, even when I was enrolled in Esthetician school. That’s about a solid 7 years now. If I could thread my whole body, I probably would. Threading is just that: a threader takes some thread (thicker than your average sewing thread), twists it around, and moves the string up and down over the area that is  being treated. The hairs are caught between the loops of the tread and effectively removed. The thread never touches your skin, so there’s no pulling, tugging, or burning, therefore it’s significantly less painful than putting hot wax on your skin and has no long-term sagging side effects, like waxing can.

For brows, prices run between $12-15 for maintenance, and can be up to $25 for a brand new brow shape. Glenn will let you know if advance if you actually need a full reshape – and if your brow game has been as bad as mine, you might.

Guest post

Bren Lee Gomez is a pants-hating, Ke$ha-loving glitter-huffing beauty-obsessed  freelance writer. Before the invention of Twitter, she was a makeup artist; she’s currently pursuing her Esthetician’s license. She blogs about shoes, boys, and beauty at http://omgbren.com

Have you had your eyebrows threaded? How do you typically get your eyebrows did?

Yeah that’s right, I went there.

As far as jennstaz.com goes, I am so grateful for all of the opportunities presented to me because of my hobby. I got to go to some amazing events including Revitalash, Jurlique, Conair, Ole Henriksen, Wet n Wild, and of course IMATS LA. One of my main highlights is winning the Beauty Blogger of the Month for my Too Faced BB Cream review.

So many amazing products have crossed my path this year as well.

I know none of this would’ve happened if it weren’t for YOU. Thank you so much! I appreciate the time you spend reading my blog – whether you’re a long time friend or a new reader. You all help me feel accomplished and connected.

Inspired by an IFB project, I wanted to share my top 10 posts from this year. Next year I hope to be sharing my best posts on my new site!

Dr Jart BB Cream Review

Raw Veggie and Fruit cleanse

January 2012 Beauty Favorites

Sigma Beauty premium professional eyeshadow brushes review

Ask a Beauty Blogger – Favorite high end and budget beauty brands

Elf’s $3 vs Benefit’s $30 brow kit

My new favorite go-to eyeshadow

Kiwiberry Korean Circle lenses

3LAB BB Cream (I just ran out. That was a very sad day for me.)

China Glaze on Safari swatches and review

What did you enjoy most about 2012? What do you have in store for 2013?

Jenn

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