Cosmetics Galore

I’ve tried a lot of foundations in my life time. Due to my complexion, and my past problems with acne, I really like to wear a real foundation – especially in the winter time. I will just wear a shear “glow” kind of lotion sometimes in the summer when a natural tan helps camouflage imperfections and makes my skin look better.

But in the winter, I resort to the full on, flaw-masking foundation of the liquid variety. I’ve used many foundations that just don’t seem to really camouflage anything. They are almost too sheer.

The whole point of foundation, to me, is to make your skin look more uniform and “even”, to help cover redness and uneven skin tone, and of course to help camouflage imperfections such as acne scarring and other blemishes.  I also like to use self tanner on my face to help make it look more uniform in the summer time.

I had always heard that MAC had a really great professional-grade foundation.  But then I read a couple of interesting tips from professional makeup artists, and some of them said that if the MAC price tag was too hefty, to check out Revlon Colorstay foundation.

Revlon Colorstay costs anywhere from eleven bucks to fifteen bucks, depending on where you’re shopping and what geographic locale you’re in.  It lasts a long time because a little bit of this foundation does go a long way.  I basically put a small dallop on my foundation application pad, and that blends in my entire face.

I combine it with Revlon Skinlights (since discontinued, much to my dismay, I’m actually thinking about making my own when my tubes run out, I love it that much), and together with this, it gives me a dewy, fresh look.  It also really evens my skin tone and blends things like my under eye discolorations or any other imperfections that I want to sort of blend away.

It is by far the best foundation I’ve tried. This foundation is definitely for people who want a real, professional grade foundation. It’s not for people who want minimal coverage or happen to have fabulous flawless skin naturally. If you know any of these people, I’d be surprised, I certainly don’t (well, maybe one).

I like it in the “Buff” color. This is the most universally flattering tone they carry it in. And a lot of other people like the Buff color too, because it is often sold out or on the very last one when I buy it. I only buy it about once every eight months to a year, that’s how far it goes, so it’s a very good investment.

And hey, I’m saving myself some serious coin from the higher priced department store brands, so I’m a happy camper.

I started noticing a trend in my hair that I really didn’t like when I turned 35 years old.  I noticed it not only starting to gray more, but also that it started to take on a more coarse texture at the base. It started to be more unruly, and it was nearly impossible for me to have any type of bangs going on because they would just end up being one big cowlick.

Not only that, but another disturbing trend was that even the hair that wasn’t graying was still looking more “washed out” than usual, like it was losing pigmentation and richness in color and looking more mousy (I’m a brunette).

Another disturbing trend in my hair as I aged was that it started to look a bit thinner in the front of my head. I remedied this pretty much by taking some really great hair growth vitamins, but I didn’t like that it naturally just started to thin out like that in the front of my head.

I think this also contributed to the feeling that my hair at the front of my head was always one big cowlick. But it is growing nice and thick now thanks to my natural shampoo and my good hair vitamins.  I wonder what it would be doing in a few more years if I didn’t change my hair care routine and hair care products though!

So here are the three lovely effects that aging has had on my hair :

1.)  Loss of color and richness and depth of color.

2.) Increased coarseness and changing texture

3.) Thinning hair at the front of my head.

Here are the remedies I’ve taken part in to help reduce these three undesirable effects and “symptoms” aging has had on my hair.

1.)  I color my hair about once every two months to three months with a natural, chemical free or very low chemical hair color product.  This helps increase the rich look of my hair and appears to reduce the porosity making it look thicker and fuller.

2.) I use a natural shampoo and very intensive conditioners every time I have a wash night. This has helped keep the cuticle smooth and make my hair look less coarse and younger, more supple and shiny.

3.) I’ve been taking hair growth vitamins for some time now. They do help a lot with thinning, because I notice when I stop taking them for any amount of time my hair starts to get a little thinner at the front. I also notice my hair doesn’t have as much luster and sheen when I stop taking them.

I start off taking the maximum recommended dosage for about a month while my body builds the nutrients it offers, then I scale back to just one a day, which works great for me.

YES, YES, YES, red light therapy can and definitely does make you look younger. I am a testament to this. I have been using red light therapy on my face on and off now for a few years.  And it works folks, yes it certainly does work. It’s just a little time consuming, but not expensive if you buy a home red light laser unit to use on yourself.

I have a small, hand held red light therapy unit. It uses two batteries, and the batteries can be recharged. It cost about $150 for the unit and has laste me well over two years thus far.  It has a small head from which red light in a particular “nanometer” of therapeutic light emits itself.

Red light is not just a colored light that you shine on your face.The light is in a particular frequency and it has healing and anti aging properties.  I notice the next day after using the unit that my skin looks smoother, my imperfections less noticeable, and my skin looks very toned, very radiant.

My wrinkles, which are a combination of fine lines and wrinkles (my crow’s feet are the worst of them, I’m 37 years old and I laugh and smile a lot), seem much smoother after using the red light.  I even have gotten compliments so perhaps the red light is one of the beauty secrets of the likes of Madonna or Jennifer Aniston for staying so youthful looking.

As with anything else that’s worth it though, it takes time and discipline. You’re supposed to use the red light for at least 20 minutes a night several times a week. I was doing that when I first got it, but as the novelty wore off I kept forgetting to do it or I’d swear I’d do it all weekend so I wouldn’t have to do it when I was exhausted coming home from work.

Not that it’s a lot of work. You can literally do it as you are sitting watching television if you want to. It’s just a matter of remembering and having the discipline to do it. The results do pay off though. Oh, your results will be much better if you use the conductive light therapy gel that comes with it.

This gel somehow conducts the light much better and allows it to penetrate deeper, or perhaps to refract more effectively on the skin and really get to work on the complexion imperfections you’re trying to address, such as acne scarring or leftover war wounds from your childhood (see our page on lasers for acne scarring).

If you saw the Super Bowl halftime show yesterday, or if you’ve seen any pictures of Madonna over the past five years and compared them to pictures taken five or more years ago, you know she clearly has either an excellent wrinkle cream that no one else knows about and a kick butt skin care routine that seems to keep turning back the clock on not only her younger looking skin but seemingly her bone structure, or she’s had some sort of facial plastic surgery done.

Or maybe she’s had a procedure done, not plastic surgery. However, my vote goes to plastic surgery – and very good surgery at that, because it’s some of the best I’ve ever seen.  One one hand, Madonna’s skin is totally smooth now. This could be due to a partial facelift or “lifestyle lift”, which pulls not only the facial skin back a little, but also the neck skin to create a younger looking decollette.

Her cheekbones look a bit more defined though, which makes me question whether she had a full-on facelift, since facelifts not only pull the skin itself back on the face, but they also alter the bone structure by messing with the muscles lying underneath the skin and fascia (tissue and muscle) that supports the facial structure.

There’s also a possibility of a procedure called Thermage, where the facial skin and muscles underneath are rejuvenated via  process combining heat and pulsations that are electric in nature which pull and tone that muscles and supposedly help them to regain their tone.

However, thermage is still a very mixed-results procedure and I doubt Madonna, or her handlers would allow her to undergo this since women and men alike report totally different results, some even saying it made them look worse than before.

Madonna likely takes excellent care of her skin as well, which definitely helps. However, there is something more dramatic than just great anti aging skincare going on here and periodic facials or dermabrasion.  There was something done to lift the entire face, and the muscles underneath appear to have been pulled up as well or manipulated in some way.

Hey, Madonna looks great for being in her early fifties.  Her body is still kicking and she can still put on a great show as she demonstrated at half time yesterday. Is she supplying her diet with some form of HGH enhancing foods or even shots?  I have to say I liked her older stuff and not the new song she performed with MIA (who apparently flipped the camera off, I missed that part) and Nicki Manaj.

Coulda done without Cee Lo Green though – something about that guy is just annoying.

Argan oils is one of those fad-ish sort of rages right now in the world of beauty and hair care. As it should be. It is truly one of those universal beauty oils that a lot of women (and men) of all nationalities and skin and hair types can use to help beautify their hair and skin.  It’s very versatile.

In fact, although it seems totally counter intuitive, argan oil has even been touted as an acne scar healing oil. Over time, some claim that application of argan oil to their skin where they had acne scarring has helped to even out the scars, smooth them out and reduce the redness.

Of course, there is a concern that the oil could be too oily to use on actively acne prone skin, and that would be a valid concern, but it may be of use once the skin isn’t so oily and one is trying to reduce leftover acne scarring.

But argan oil, which is the pressed oil from the argan tree which is found natively in Morocco, also goes by the name of Moroccan Oil. Actually, the “Moroccan Oil” hair treatment line is probably the reason this oil became so popularly known as a dry hair treatment remedy and then subsequently as a great hair growth remedy as well since it is non irritating as a hair care product.

I’ve been using organic cold pressed argan oil on my face every night for a few weeks, and I like it so here’s my review of the oil. I wouldn’t say it has transformed my skin or anything, but it keeps a nice moisture balance in my skin and a little goes a long  way – I use three drops on my entire face.  My face does look good after I apply it too, it’s not irritated or red but rather calm looking and almost looks dewy and fresh.

I also put some of the oil in a spray bottle combined with another hair glosser that I had left over, just some cheap stuff I bought at the grocery store.  I figured it would be a great little spritzer for when my hair needed refreshing, looked dry, or generally needed a washing and I was too lazy to do that.

It refreshes the shine in my hair and tames the frizz when I need it.  I’ve used the Moroccan hair products, the intense thick conditioner to be specific, and I liked it but I also wouldn’t say it provided any miracles for my hair. What is argan oil – a miracle worker?  No, it’s just a good, all natural product that give you good results that you can feel good about because it doesn’t have any chemicals in it.

Like I mentioned a little while ago, I’m totally into going as natural as I can. I now use natural hair dye and natural deodorant, and I use lotions and soaps that don’t contain any chemicals or sulfates.

I think that just about every woman I know has a little mini crush/admiration for Jennifer Aniston. I think it’s because not only does she have great, easy taste when it comes to fashion and manages to make a plain black dress look downright adorable yet sexy at the same time, but she seems like she’s the woman who you could have a conversation with. She’s “obtainable” that way, even though she is a huge mega star and has had her life repeatedly invaded by the paparazzi and her love life scrutinized, written about and speculated on for over a decade.

Let’s talk first about her fabulous hair. She has always had really beautiful hair, one of the most admired heads of celebrity hair there is. It always seems to lay right, and she wears it in the most gorgeous yet simple updos and side swept looks.  She can wear it wavy or pin straight and look really pretty doing it.

Her makeup is simple.  That’s why she looks somewhat like the girl next door – even though she’d be the girl next door that every guy wants to date.  She uses simple nudes, what looks like a small amount of natural foundation and shades of brown a lot and pink, which fits her naturally tan, fit look best.  She wouldn’t look good with caked on makeup, and she seems to know that and chooses the most elegant and simple, casual looks for her makeup, yet manages to look young, fresh and vibrant every time.

She has a look of “fun” about her. Like she’s the girl that every man and woman wants to be friends with. And that my friend, is probably more attractive than anything else – hair, makeup, clothes or any other physical attribute.  And she looks to have no cellulite in those photos of her in bikinis, which makes her the envy of most women.

I’m kind of liking her hair when she doens’t flat iron it.  It looks so pretty with the multiple layers of highlights that seem darn natural if they aren’t.  The waviness and texture really looks fantastic with her chocie of clothes and makeup too.