We just got over the season where the most food consumption occurs. I have to tell you, though, I am sick of food at the moment. I’m tired of thinking about it, shopping for it, and most of all I’m sick of preparing it! This all comes about because I do baking marathons for Christmas every year. As gifts for my work friends and my best friends, I bake cookies - Lots and Lots of Cookies. It has become a big tradition, and there is no way I will ever stop doing this. However, as I’ve recently shared with you, I am a diabetic now, and having all those delicious cookies around did cause me some problems. I gained about 5 lbs., and it was definitely all cookies. Not to mention the blood sugar went up, of course. So, right now I’m not even thinking about food, except to make sure I eat enough and eat decently.
Instead, I’m going to think about makeup.
Yes, makeup.
You may not have known that I actually am a graduate of a Skin Care school, and I did operate a little spa right out of my home for 4 years. I also was the manager of a very busy upscale salon. I adore makeup, and it makes me happy to discover great products and great tips for my own skin and nails. I am a pretty good makeup artist, and have done people’s faces for years. I’ve even done some weddings. So, to get my mind off food, I’m cleaning out my old makeup and replacing some as well. I thought I would share some time saving tips with you for the New Year, and recommend some techniques.
TIP #1: Beauty does not have to be expensive
Get the free gift
If I am going to treat myself to expensive products, I never buy anything unless I get a free gift. Clinique, Lancome, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden and many other companies offer free gifts several times a year at different department stores. I get emails from the stores announcing their bonuses, and I only buy things at those times.
Shop for yourself AND someone else
I also tend do buy “gifts” as my purchase. I don’t really use expensive skin care products myself, so I figure I may as well get something for someone else and clear that name off my gift list. In the summer months, I will buy sun products as my purchase because I always use those, and I have found that the “good” sun products seem to be a little better than drug store products.
TIP #2: Heed to a few basics
Get some brushes and a tote bag
We all know how useless a cheap toothbrush is. The same is true for make-up brushes. Purchase some decent makeup brushes and throw out those horrible ones you’ve probably been using for years. Also, you can find nice tote bags at these bonus times. I’m still using my Clinique tote from 2 years ago to carry my swim items to the pool.
Ask the experts
If you love makeup like I do, and you want to look good and not scare small children, treat yourself to a little makeover. I like going to a salon rather than the mall, because I truly feel that very few mall employees are paid well or get a decent commission, and the salon employees are better trained and need to be good to make money! Visit an Aveda spa or something similar, and you can have the make up artist show you techniques appropriate for your skin color, age and type.
TIP #3: You can do it!
Putting on make-up doesn’t have to take all morning (if you know what you’re doing)
Face
Once you have a nice makeup selection, you can learn to minimize the time you spend every morning applying makeup. I can put on my face in 5 minutes, 10 if I’m going out at night. Here is what I have found minimizes time and mistakes:
* Apply your moisturizer with sunscreen
* Apply your MASCARA (I know, this seems backwards, but bear with me)
* Apply your foundation, if you use it, and use concealer just where needed. Blend well.
Cheeks
Use a touch of blush or bronzer in a very neutral color. I think this is the one place where women tend to really mess up. Did you see Hilary Clinton’s cheeks while she was campaigning? Her make up artist should have been shot. She has very prominent cheeks and she invariably looked like a clown. THIS WAS DONE BY A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST MAKING TONS OF MONEY!!! I am fair skinned and have light eyes and dark hair, and I barely use blush, if I do I always keep it very neutral and never PINK.
Eyes
Apply neutral eye shadow to most of eye area, avoiding the arch of the brow. Use taupes, browns, greys, peaches, sand colors. You can use an angled stiff brush to line the lower lash area if desired. It is not really necessary to use eye pencil, but if you must, be very gentle and “dot” it, then blend with your finger. For evening, you can get funky and use more exciting shadows like metallic, and more liner. I have never mastered the art of liquid eye liner, so you are on your own there!
Now that you haven’t gotten glops of mascara all over your freshly applied shadow, do you see why you put it on first? If you do get mascara on your bare lids, it wipes off really easily with a moistened q-tip. I will freely admit that I lick my q-tip, but hey, that’s just me.
Very important tip coming up. EYEBROWS MAKE YOU WHOLE FACE LOOK EITHER REALLY GOOD OR REALLY BAD.
If you have thick brows, find a good esthetician and keep them neat. If you have thin, light brows have an expert teach you to fill them in. What seems to work for me, and I have patchy grey brows ( hormones, my friends, hormones), is the stiff angle brush and light brown shadow. Ido use a pencil sometimes, but I find the brush easier to manage. The pencil is fine, just a little harder to erase mistakes. I feel like my face looks completely different when I don’t do my brows. I will always get asked if I don’t feel well. I once had a manager who was born without eyelashes or eyebrows. You would think that she would have learned to apply perfect brows, right? No, she drew a single brown line shaped like a reclining bracket over each eye. It was so startling that you couldn’t help but stare at her, and she looked like she was “amazed” all the time. If I had been older and had more confidence, I would have said something.
Lips
Apply some lips, ladies. You don’t have to commit to any dark colors, but find something that works for you and use it! Just a little color really brightens up and finishes your “face” for the day. Lip liner is ok, just don’t fall back into the 80’s and use a dark liner and a light lip color. I personally love a very light makeup all over, and a dazzling lip color. I do love red and brick and burgundy, and I’m not a big fan of really shiny lips. Must be my mom haunting me, she only ever wore a smear of red lipstick and a little brow color.
Maybe we couldn’t all control our eating, but we can all do make-up!
Since I have “mature” skin, I have really started to lay off the face powder. I still use it a little if I look shiny, but it probably can be skipped unless your skin is young and firm and moist! Powder tends to settle in lines on your face and can age you. We don’t want that.
Ladies, have fun with makeup. It doesn’t have to be a chore, and you can find great stuff at drug stores that are just as good as the expensive products This January, when you are feeling fat and out of shape and are sick to death of Nutrisystem commercials (that is the grossest looking food I have ever seen, and that’s on their own advertisement….) take yourself and $10 down to the drug store and treat yourself to a new lipstick. No calories, instant spirit lift!
Peggy Sparks
Personal Attaché