Recently I was reading one of those newspaper inserts with advertisements, purporting to be articles, with various guru doctors who are guaranteed to make you better, younger, happier, more fulfilled, and you name it…
But first, they have to tear you down to build you up.
All to create the demand for their services.
Do you see anything wrong with this picture?
I have to say the silliest — or most offensive — or downright aggravating one was the one from the plastic surgeon who would fix my (your) (anyone’s) breasts. He used phrases such as ‘out of harmony’ and ‘deformed’ and ‘aging’ — guaranteed to make me (you) (anyone) run right down and sign up for his services. After all, he corrects other doctors mistakes, that might have left one’s breasts mismatched or deformed or, oh dear, out of harmony.
I have this image of them singing out of tune.
He was describing natural breasts — or breasts where the operations were not successful —
There’s something odd about assuming that what is natural is really artificial — or what is actually artificial is somehow natural. And what is really natural is deformed. From having children or breastfeeding.
Okay, then.
Are you confused yet?
I know there are problems best solved by the experts who will fix what couldn’t be fixed a few generations ago. I am not talking about that. Many, many blessings to those who have had to find solutions no one wants to need.
But creating a false need by playing on women’s vulnerabilities, creating a need for one’s services where one doesn’t really exist, tires me out just thinking about it.
And it makes me mad.
How about you?
If it weren’t so sad, it’d really be funny.
And then there are the doctors who will make my teeth whiter or cure issues I don’t even have — but they’ve tried to plant a seed of doubt and worry for my future years.
I’m not going there — and I hope you don’t either.
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I enjoyed watching the Oscars last night. Many of the presenters were cleverly funny. Robert Downey, Jr’s, aside about himself was wonderfully drole.
So many of the dresses were beautiful. I didn’t care for the big bow on Nicole Kidman, but the color was radiant.
Helen Mirren looked divine. Such a beautiful dress.
Naomi Watts was spectacular in that shade of yellow.
Reese Witherspoon’s dress looked black on camera, but in the paper’s picture this morning it looked the deep purple that it was.
No big fashion faux pax that I saw like the swan from a few year’s back or the ballerina…but Meryl Streep could take better advantage of herself, and Celine Dion, with her divine voice, needs a fashion consultant.
I’d like to see the jewelry in more detail. Up close and personal would be fun. It would mean that I was there…
Will Smith’s son is too adorable for words.
Some of the men were stunning, as always.
Jack N looked like he was becoming Marlon Brando in his later years. He was good natured, though, which is a little scary coming from Jack.
Peter O’Toole, poor man, I wish he’d won. Meantime, I hope he’s got a couple more powerhouse performances still to give us.
The skit with Jack Black’s was fun. I didn’t know he could belt a song out.
I thought it was funny when Ellen passed her supposed script to Scorsese…and later when Clint Eastwood told her he was expecting a copy of her script too.
There are always some surprises in the awards. It has to be disappointing not to win, but it should not eclipse the fact of being there.
Hmmmmm, come to think of it, I’d like to know what perfumes they were wearing.
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How about some more looks from the same young woman! They should make you happy just to look at them.
She says:
A collection of makeup looks done by me. An explanation of some of these…Some are my everyday looks, others are for photoshoots, club nights, events, halloween, or specific challenges (i.e. the drag styles were for a drag queen specific makeup challenge, not something i wear out) Wearable or not I hope I can show that makeup can go beyond just lipgloss & mascara, and that it can be ART. Makeup is not hiding or a cover up like so many small minded people think, it’s EXPRESSION.
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I saw this movie today, and it was surprisingly funny. I hadn’t particularly wanted to go, but I was glad I did.
The entire audience laughed a lot. There were only a few really dumb things, and one character I could have written out, but the main character is so delightful and watchable and innocently kind that she is a pleasure to watch. And she holds many lessons.
There are a couple of questionable things for very young children and some bad language, but not a lot. My girls would love it, at 10 and 12. I think they can handle it.
Shelley (Anna Farris is charming in the part and makes the movie) is living the life of her dreams at the Playboy Mansion. She feels the mansion has given her the home she never had before. (The movie begins with a short montage of her early childhood spent in an orphanage, until she finally found acceptance and a sense of family. This is not dwelt upon, but you might need to be aware of it.)
Hugh Hefner plays himself in several cameos in the movie. It’s good to see his health has improved. I hadn’t realized he was in it.
When Hugh goes off for a time, immediately after Shelley’s 27th birthday party, she is presented with a letter from him giving her 2 hours to leave the premises as she is now ‘too old.’ 27 is now evidently 59 in Bunny years.
How she finds herself the housemother of what likely began as Zeta (Zeta Tau Alpha) but morphed into a close cousin in name, is part of the poignancy and fun. The girls in the house need to pledge 30 girls in order not to lose their charter. How she turns them into a viable sorority is a delight.
There is a typical sorority bitch that has shown up in several movies. (And there is a Bunny bitch too.) In a way this movie is like a female version of Sydney White, but we liked it better. (The theater rated it 3 out of 5.)
It’s easy to imagine Elle Woods living this life. (Colin Hanks plays her love interest.)
She’s definitely a likeable bimbo, and you can’t help but root for her. Many scenes touched my heart.
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I love spring. I was out bike riding with two of my girls today and thought about how much I love spring — and so, not in any particular order, here are 10 reasons:
1. The temperatures — so much of the year it is terribly hot here. It’s a wonderful respite to have mild weather.
2. The colors — the new greens of the grass and the budding trees, the colors of flowers.
3. Flowers and flowering trees. Some of this reminds me of spring in Michigan and the sweet alysum that my mother used to plant along the walkways — alternating years were either white or purple. Somehow I would be surprised to see them newly planted, then they would take off in profusion.
4. Scents in the air — a plus for someone who loves perfume. A friend has a beautiful purple flowering jacaranda tree — the whole area outside her home smelled of these flowers yesterday. I made her come outside to smell them — and I pulled down one of the branches to smell the flowers up close and personal. Very lush!
5. Bike riding — one of life’s pleasures. Tonight waxy yellow flowers of the plumeria trees scented the bike path.
6. Enjoying my porches. I especially love the front porch during a heavy rain. The porch is tiny, but it provides enough shelter that I am only wet with the spray in the air. I love the sounds and the smells of the rain. In earlier years I would sit on the porch during a storm with my oldest Chinese daughter who was at that time petrified of storms. She would sit on my lap, and we would see how beautiful it was, the lightening, the thunder, the rain — how it couldn’t hurt us, we were perfectly safe.
7. Birds singing.
8. Perfect weather — I know I already wrote this, but it bears repeating twice. It is such a pleasure to get out in it. It’s hard to stay inside. Yesterday we washed three cars and enjoyed doing it.
9. Listening to the frogs at night. They are currently ’singing.’
10. Newness of life reminding me of all the goodness that is on offer if we just get out in it and put ourselves in the middle of it.
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People often say that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves. Salma Hayek
She says she doesn’t have a formula for long life — no magic to it, other than being blessed to be happy in her home life, happy in her marriage and determined to find beauty of some sort in everyone. [said about Maurine Engel, age 105]
Determined to find and to express beauty, not in any superficial way, which tends to fade…to look beneath the surface to deeper essences…that is a worthy desire. Looking within ourselves may be as daring as it is beautiful.
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Our paper chronicles today a woman who is 105. She looks good! They say she has a spark.
Here’s some highlights:
She began playing the drums at 12.
A neighbor says of her:
She’s an inspiration to me. I enjoy being in her company. I look forward to visiting her; we’re both happy to see each other. She is a very popular woman. People don’t forget her.
She says she doesn’t have a formula for long life…no magic to it…other than being blessed to be happy in her home life, happy in her marriage and determined to find beauty of some sort in everyone.
I just worship the Lord, try to help add positive things to people’s lives and try to find happiness in everyday life. Maurine Engel
Bless her! I want to be her when I grow up. “Determined to find beauty of some sort in everyone…” I hear her. She also says she enjoys being around young/er people.
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Recently I’ve been thinking about the subject of youth and age and what constitutes beauty. Is beauty cookie cutter, the way some plastic surgeons make their patients? Does everyone have to look the same?
Is there a difference between elderly and aged?
A friend’s mother was elderly at age 50, but she wasn’t aged. She was actually younger looking at 60. That’s something to ascribe to!
And others who are clearly aged (in years) are not elderly. I laugh sometimes to see in a newspaper, “elderly woman, 63, in accident,” most likely written by someone a lot younger.
I have a very dear older friend who will never be aged. She keeps too current in her thoughts and attitude.
What constitutes age?
How does one get from thinking they will never age to thinking it has either begun or already happened?
How old is old? How old will old be?
There are claims that someone alive today will live to be 150. I don’t think it’s out of the realm of reality. It might be you; it might be me. Why not! I say I’d like to live to be 150 and look 60 — and I’m working on looking 60.
How old are some of the oldest today?
Yesterday, AOL had picture links to the world’s oldest, ranging in age from 112ish upwards to 140 (not verified, because there’s no birth certificate, but there is a passport.)
What about projections?
Projections of what beauty is are everywhere! Images, images, images, everywhere!
April 2009 Allure Magazine’s cover, which you can see here jumped out at me.
On the left side of a gorgeous picture of Taylor Swift are the words:
Younger
Fresher
Happier
Seriously, do they think younger and fresher equate to happiness? OK, OK, I’ll give you that no one wakes up in the morning thinking that older, haggard, and out-of-date equal happiness, but surely happiness is linked to something a bit deeper.
And seriously! how could she be any younger or fresher. Give me a break.
And while fresher can be achieved with cosmetics, it also refers to a state of mind. All the cosmetics in the world — or surgeries — won’t help an attitude if it is stuck and unwilling to be renewed, fresh, or modern.
Then it goes on to say:
* Anti-Age Creams
That Really Work
*Foods That Fight Wrinkles
*Timeless Ways to Dress
And More
I want to go on record to state that I categorically am sure that Taylor Swift uses them all. Not.
Let’s get real on a cover, shall we? I doubt she is giving a moment’s thought to what she will look like at 40 or 50 or (gasp) 60 or (double-gasp) 70 and beyond.
And she is a seriously beautiful young woman who knows what it is like to look different than her contemporaries when she was in school.
And let’s not forget that she had a stylist for this cover. Who wouldn’t want one!
Not to mention that finding any mention of eye creams is about impossible. How about putting the page on the cover? There was a mention of which eye creams sell the best in different areas of the country (p 60.) That doesn’t count.
And p 170-177 are seriously ugly. Ugly eyeliner. Ugly hair. But the model got the job. I bet she’s really quite lovely. Do we have to uglify ourselves in order to be beautiful?
Here’s a new book — surprise! — with the same subject matter:
Have you read the book? I’d like to!
Beauty Snob called it to my attention with a review that had me laughing. Thanks for reminding her that 40 was around the corner — and she was ‘pissy’ besides!
“I continue on and found my self laughing out loud at the “shout outs” author Charla Krupp (long time Beauty Editor of Glamour magazine) gives at the beginning of each chapter. “Nothing Ages You Like…. Too Long hair that’s parted down the middle, a solid block of hair color, gray or white brow hairs, obvious lip liner, yellow teeth etc etc”. To make a long story short, I ended up staying up half the night giggling over the photos and fast tips Krupp gives throughout the book. There were more than a few instances when I gasped and thought “I MUST STOP DOING THAT!” I went to bed with a smile on my face and excited about waking up to utilize some of the tips.” beautysnob
How about eyeshadow making one look old(er)?
“Some of the most notable tips are eye shadow
application. She shows photos of the “old” way and the “just right way”. For example, bright bands of shadow color and a single strip of false lashes? OLD! Blend nutral shadows and add small clusters of fake lashes are more natural and youthful. Another example is shadowing your eyes: The Old Way: Paint three distinct color blocks on the lid, one atop another, with the top tier a pearly white up to the brow bone. (So many of my friends are guilty of this! They think they’re blending but it looks scary!) The Newer Way: Use two neutral colors and blend them so they look natural. Oh, and there are lots of tips from experts like Chanel’s Chief International Make Up artist Susan Sterling who advises to never match your shadow with the color of your eyes because it’s “TACKY!”. The author and her friends do not mince words and you must read it for yourself! The book is highly addictive and funny to boot.” beautysnob
To tell you the truth, I’m a little tired of all the emphasis.
I’m tired of all the emphasis on the negativity of aging. Consider the alternative!
I’m tired of images of very young women superimposed with words stressing over aging.
How about you?
Several years ago, there was a photo spread in one of the magazines targeted to older women (likely 45 and up, LOL!) of women in their 60’s and 70’s. While each of them was different than the others, each was beautiful in her own right. There was the older woman who looked like my elderly grandmother did. There was the older woman with medium length layered hair who still looked like a coquette. There was a beautiful older black woman…and more. I clipped the photos. This was real life.
We can contribute our own pictures as the time comes.
Wear no makeup. Or conversely, wear the same makeup you wore at 18, unless you are only 22 or hit the right thing for you right off the bat, and it is still in style and modern. Or you are projecting a look.
How about staying fresh?
Be open to new ideas — don’t automatically be critical of or dismiss them.
Get out and about. Mingle with others who think differently than you do.
Get rid of things — and beliefs — that are no longer appropriate, don’t make you happy, or aren’t beautiful.
Learn something new everyday. If you’re not a reader, find someone who loves to share new ideas. Let them do the reading. Encourage them to share.
Make choices that lead to happiness.
Try to surround yourself with positive people. Be that positive person. Don’t be a joy-sucker.
Let by-gones be by-gones. Insofar as possible, forgive others, while being wise.
Be forward looking. Look to the future expecting good things.
Help someone.
Give a compliment.
Smile.
Last, do things because you are healthy, not to make you healthy.
When you are active, be like a child who is active because it is what a child does. And as you are active and receptive, you will be less inclined to think or act differently.
I have a dear friend who is up to 7 miles a week on his bike after a severe biking accident. Not only is he demonstrating increasing health, but he is expressing health every day. You rock!
Here’s a Bible promise I try to take to heart
Job 11: 17 And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
18 And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
19 Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid;
And what do you think about all this?
Do you know older men or women whose spirit shines through, and they are beautiful, whether conventionally or not? What makes them beautiful? Is it that you love them?
Who is the most beautiful older person you know?
My Chinese friend tells me that the Chinese believe that you become beautiful if you surround yourself with beauty. That’s not that difficult!
And I want you to know that I always find something of interest in Allure. I am not down on Allure.
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Here’s the update, 10 days into it
The design is pretty much off my hand except for the middle of the back of my hand.
It is still going strong — perfectly — on my foot and leg.
I’m still enjoying my henna. People notice and give me compliments every day.
Today, getting my hair cut, I learned that one of the receptionists is married to an Indian, and for her wedding all the family and bridesmaids had henna done by one of the cousins who does henna where she lives. I need to call her tomorrow and say I’d just love to see pictures!
My stylist has a tattoo on her foot, but she wasn’t able to complete it up her ankle because it was so painful. She said I should get the henna design on my leg and foot tattooed and colored. No way! I love the idea of being able to change it.
She wondered if Natasha (hennagirl) had used a template. She was amazed that she had done it all free hand.
I think one of the prettiest designs that Natasha brought with her to show for possibilities of what could be done was one she had done up the arm and shoulder and down the other arm on a woman who was going to belly dance. The undulations of her arms would have been beautiful with the henna.
Can’t you just see it!
Natasha left some of the henna with us, and when this wears off, my daughter is going to try it on me. Yippee skippee! I can’t wait. I might even try to henna myself. How cool would that be!
Karin
You can find more of her work here and here.
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If you are lucky enough to have a Soho kiosk near you, then you have seen some of the lovely hair accessories that they have. They are not inexpensive. But they are very elegant, though they can be worn with jeans.
You can search to see if there is a location near you. I also have a business card they gave me that lists their locations.
The good thing is that they will show you how to use them and let you try every color or color combination or style until you find what works for you.
They also have hair extensions that really are amazingly good matches for people’s hair. I’ve seen them sell one or two every time I’m at their kiosk. (I have a couple that I’m not wearing that are not from them, so I haven’t yet decided to buy one. And my hair is plenty long on it’s own. The question is whether I want a fast way to put it up. And then, of course, if I would ever do it. Shades of the 70s revisited, but updated. I wore plenty of them then.)
I first saw them in Las Vegas, but since have seen them in a couple of other malls.
Don’t be put off by the styles necessarily showing on their website. Some are over the top.
Many are beautiful in clear rhinestone.
The stick styles are pretty sprinkled in the hair along the sides. They are even nice when used in multiple colors, either in rows of separate colors or alternating. On blond hair, I liked amber or clear. The amber is more subtle.
You can see other ways to use them at the website. Using the half rounds with little stars or flowers is very nice too.
One style I bought in LV was difficult to get out of my hair because it snapped so tightly. They made an exchange for ones of the same style that opened more easily. Using these (they are crystal circles that snap together) makes it look like my hair is braided without braiding. I haven’t tried the looser ones yet. The tight ones necessitated by daughter helping me remove them so as not to break my hair. The above styles do not do that. But I thought their service was excellent!
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Ellen Goodman has a way with words. Her column [05-25-07] in our area talked about cheating in sports not being cut and dried.
She mentions Masazumi Soejima, who she admires, ‘running’ the Boston Marathon in a wheelchair and beating the best times of those on foot by 44 minutes and 57 seconds.
She notes also a 20 year old South African named Oscar Pistorius who recently won the 100- and 200- meter races in an international competition for disabled athletes. He won on a pair of J-shaped carbon fiber blades known as Cheetahs. He calls himself ‘the fastest man on no legs.’ His lower legs and feet were amputated at 11 mos because of birth defects. He wants to race in the Olympics. A final decision won’t come until August.
Exactly what kind of technology, training or performance enhancements should we applaud? And what kind should we reject?
She mentions Tiger Woods whose Lasik surgery improved his eyes to 20/15…and 4 straight championships afterward.
Is better-than-perfect vision a kind of enhancement like doping or a correction like contact lenses?
This struck me as funny considering our time frame and the push (or is it jump) to plastic surgery, sometimes with little effect (or need) and sometimes with huge improvements:
Some years ago, I questioned a beauty pageant in whch the contestants had been surgically altered and implanted. They didn’t owe their beauty to their maker but, rather, to their remaker.
I have also kept an article on plastic surgery in Asia. The young woman had undergone a number of procedures, only to be disqualified in a beauty pageant because of them. She was a lovely Asian woman in the before picture. She almost looked as though she were from the 50s as to her style of hair and etc. She was a lovely, strikingly beautiful woman in the second, but she looked like a different woman altogether. I showed these pictures to my two young Chinese daughters (at the time about 7 and 9) and both of them picked the before picture as being more beautiful.
Why is it that it is difficult to see the beauty we already have? Why would someone think they needed Caucasian features to eradicate their Asian ones? I’ve heard of some Asians having their newborns’ eyes surgically altered at birth. Why would they think that was necessary?
Or what of the woman (man) who marries and maybe doesn’t tell, and lo and behold, their newborn looks just like they used to? Would they be able to see the beauty that they couldn’t see in themselves? Would their spouse think less of the child or the parent?
Going back to sports again (and there is beauty in sports too, ask me, my son used to play basketball)…Ellen quotes ethicist Tom Murray:
Similar questions about the remanufacture of athletes force us to ask what is the point of sport. Whatever we think is meaningful about sports has to do with the ways we admire natural talents and hard work and dedication.
It is a brave new world out there with so many choices that didn’t exist in previous years. I applaud the wonders of better protheses. I’m sorry that much of that work came out of military injuries. (But then that’s where plasma came from also according to a Smithsonian article.)
I don’t fault anyone for cosmetic surgery, but sometimes it doesn’t look as if it were necessary. If it is going to be a necessity across the board for everyone, then insurance ought to pay for it, LOL. It used to be enough that one had one’s own teeth. Now they have to be white. (Ever looked at old movies and marveled at their teeth not being white. It is so glaring compared to what we are used to today. Yet they were considered the beauties (and talent), male and female, of their era.)
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I gather that Glamour Magazine has been thought to be making inroads on the current belief that a size 8 or 10 is plus size. They are considered, or think themselves to be, ahead of the curve — or the curve we hope to see evidenced, because it truly has not been, when we still see wafer thin models advertising everything, so thin they surely don’t speak to the majority of women — because they put Queen Latifah on the cover in May 2004.
Sure, Queen Latifah is a gorgeous woman, but she isn’t average, by any means, even by the measure of talent. We love to watch her in everything she has chosen to act in. She deserves to be on a multitude of covers.
What about the average or plus-sized Jane? Have they ever put a real larger woman vs. a star or model on the cover?
The September 2009 issue has a photo on p 194 that women are identifying with and it is circulating around the net, but I take exception to the idea that she is plus sized. You can see the photo here. And you can tell she has lost a bit of weight by the pooch of her stomach. (They admit she is a normal size 12 here, but sometimes is a 14.) She is a 20 year old model, shot by a fashion photographer. To me, growing up in the fashion business, plus sizes were 1/2 sizes or anything above an 18. By the time you got to 22 1/2, it was a real plus size.
The exception to that might be a very tall woman.
The woman pictured isn’t even close to plus sized. She is probably on the thin side of normal.
143 pounds on someone who is 4′8″ would be entirely different on a woman who is 5′8″. As one pundit put it, her bones alone would be a size 12. And that is not a bad thing, when at the other end of life women are constantly being bombarded with the need to protect their bones.
To think that the normal woman might be a 00 with a DDD bust line without a little help is a testament to the power of advertising, including the advertising of plastic surgeons.
And, if that normal woman were a DDD, likely she would be thinking of breast reduction surgery.
If you have it naturally, it is not the same as the woman who wishes she had it and it will never be a natural state of being.
One interesting — and realistic to me — series of picture in the same issue is on p 193 where 6 pictures are taken of the same woman over 30 days. Underneath each picture are her feelings about herself that day — from
“I am completely motified being in a national magazine wearing essentially nothing but my underwear [a 2 piece bathing suit]…I feel fat…my thighs looked thin and if I held in my stomach all was well…”
And then she realizes that all the pictures look essentially the same. And she recognizes, at least intellectually, that fat days are
“about what’s going on in my head — not on my thighs.”
Why do we do this to ourselves?
Why do we allow current ideas of fashion, that may have started as early as Twiggy, to wrap themselves around our thoughts and begin to constitute what we think and feel about ourselves?
I try very hard not to — and it can be an inward battle for the best of us.
Frankly, I’m looking for something different in a magazine.
Their cover yells:
331 sexy looks you can afford!
25 naked truths about guys bodies
3 flat belly secrets
Not what I’m looking for.
And tucked into the cover:
36 things every woman should know about money
5 dinners absolutely everyone can cook
Talk about mixed messages!
I sure would like less dross and more gold.
How about you?
What magazines do you read? Do any of them speak to you particularly?
What do you consider to be normal vs. plus sized?
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
don’t steal my posts — you know who you are!
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I always like a good beauty quote, and Andrea Claire had a few good ones in her interview with Makeup Junkie. You can read the full interview and learn more about Claire’s makeup, hair and style career here at MJ’s blog. You can also see some of Claire’s print work. I’m glad MJ is back online posting again.
Here are some highlights:
Fall 2009 Beauty Trends
Claire feels smokey eyes, matte red lips, and 80s revival will be the top trends this fall. This was confirmed in the MAC videos I posted earlier.
Advice to women of a certain age
Avoid trends such as 80s revival, if you already lived it once. Makes sense to me.
…if you had been there done that and bought the lime green shadow you cannot do that again! Besides, it is very much a ‘must have young skin’ to pull it off. Bold colour blocking with eye shadows can age you and have you looking like you are stuck in a time warp. This look is only carried off if you are an adolescent so if you are 21 and under I say rock it, over 21 opt for another trend of the season.
Claire gives the following makeup tricks: Smokey Eyes
*layer carbon/charcoal shadows with metallic colour. [You notice that I have done this, as it works better for my eyes.]
*If you find shadows are difficult to blend with your dark base then layer MAC’s Smolder pencil with a Lise Watier’s Metallic Eye shine pencil, smudge together with a Q-Tip. [Or use the MAC smudger brush as I have done. And use a lighter base. MAC's Smolder moved on me and made a mess. Blackgraph stays put. They are two different formulas. Smolder would likely smudge better.]
Matte Red lips
*apply the lip liner after the lipstick so it doesn’t appear to[o] geometric.
*dot a smidge of vitamin e on top – not to add gloss but just a little moisture — if matte is too drying for you.
What I really loved is her beauty mantra:
Be realistic. Be real… Beauty is not serious – beauty is a moment in your day that can convey confidence, flirtiness, calm. What I mean is, all women ‘take 5′ in their day by touching up here and there … Beauty is a moment in time that is forever changing. Embrace those little moments but don’t be those moments just live in them…. HA! Life is short – enjoy it – have fun with it. That’s what beauty and fashion is all about; … A form of expression that can change day to day, season to season – enjoy the trends but remember to enjoy life too. Andrea Claire at Makeup Junkie
Be sure to look at Makeup Junkie’s blog.
Karin –I do wear the lime shadow, just judiciously.
www.savvythinker.com
don’t steal my posts — you know who you are!
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As we get older, there is less spark in our look. Generally we lose our oily T-zone, for example, so there is no longer a natural glow that reflects light.
It is easy to duplicate this glow.
Remember that wherever you have light or reflected light, it draws attention to the area (or causes it to move forward) (and by default moves attention from another area.)
You can use light optically to highlight areas of your eyes, your face, your lips.
Here are some of the tricks I use: Face
I use a powder with a bit of sparkle in it, creating my own mix. You can find my recipe here.
I highlight up the center of my face with liquid shimmer before my sparkly powder and/or with a powder highlighter after my sparkly powder. This gives a healthy glow. I vary which I do by how I feel or what I want to look like.
Eyes
I generally use some glitter (made for eyes) somewhere around my eyes, usually as dry liner. I don’t mind if it drifts some under my eyes or sideways, because it enhances my eyes. I’ve never had any get into my eyes. It draws your eye to my eyes and balances my face.
Lips
I highlight the center of my lips with a lighter color of lipstick or with gloss. I often use gloss to rim the outer edge instead of a lip pencil.
Many times, but not lately until yesterday and today, I use a Wet n Wild silver glitter gloss in the center of my bottom lip, then smoosh my lips together. I have a couple of W&W colors with glitter too, but the silver is my fave.
I found the gloss one year during Halloween, and I’ve used it ever since. It is a subtle change, but a nice one.
When my first wand got low, I opened the top, added some Stila Blush Shine gloss, then mixed it well with a chopstick to distribute the glitter through the Stila. I put the little plastic thing back on the top and use it whenever I want a sparkly rose colored gloss. I found I wasn’t using the Stila otherwise, and I like the formula.
You can make your own glitter gloss by either taking a clear or colored gloss and adding some fine cosmetic made-for-lips glitter. Any of Aromaleigh’s Rocks! glam glitter colors that are safe for lips (or another similar brand) would work.
I have had really good success adding Rocks! Glam Glitter to my lips, just by picking up a bit of the glitter on my lip brush and putting it on top of my lip color. The Rocks! glam glitter has a very soothing feel to it. I cannot speak to any other brands. In general, the smaller the micro particles the better it feels on your lips, but if the particles are too small they don’t show up. One of my favorite colors to do this with is shakeitup.
Hair
I use two shine products. The first, I apply to the top of my hair when my hair is wet. I have tried several brands of this. Some are heavier on your hair and work best if your hair is thicker and more coarse, not as fine. My favorite is Redken Glass smoothing serum. At the moment I am using John Frieda Frizz-Ease. I prefer Glass. I don’t notice that either product de-frizzes, just gives a bit of light reflection. I have also used a 3rd product, I’ll add the name later, but I find it heavier, and it weighs down my hair.
The second product is Paul Mitchell SoftStyle The Shine. I spritz this on the top and sides when my hair is dry. I like this product a lot.
Karin
www.savvythinker.com
don’t steal my posts — you know who you are
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