SPF - Sunscreen is NOT Optional!

Be sure to wear a sunscreen everyday!  As careful as I have been with my complexion, it is not something I have always done.  Going about day to day life, I often used a foundation with an SPF of 15, but often I didn't.  Now I know that you can prevent signs of aging by wearing a sunscreen year round, yes, even in the winter when all you do is hop in and out of your car to do errands. And remember, your foundation may have a sunscreen, but most people do not wear enough foundation to get true protection.  The answer is a moisturizer with sunscreen and a foundation with sunscreen. Wear both - everyday - even in the dead of winter!

Don't Forget Your Ears

One of the often neglected body parts are our ears!  Oh, yes, we adorn them with cute dangly earrings, expensive baubles; we try to keep them clean, but we forget that our earlobes can show age, too.  Every night when you put on that special cream to lift, moisturize, and/or erase your wrinkles, don't forget your earlobes!  They need all the moisture they can get.  In the morning, when you put on daytime treatments, and especially when you apply your sunscreen (you do wear sunscreen everyday, don't you?) make sure that you pull your hair back securely and slather your earlobes and the outside edges of your ears with moisturizer and your daily SPF.

Remember also not to sleep in your earrings since doing so will pull your earlobes down.

Foundation: Armani VS. Estee Lauder - and the Winner is...

 

There has been so much hype about the new Giorgio Armani silky foundation that I felt that I had to try it.  Armed with my Neiman's charge card (or rather, in this case, my husband's) I set out to Tyson's to see if it was all sold out.  It wasn't!  It had a nice silky finish and I bought a bottle and took it home.

Now at this point it is probably important to add that I have stuck with Estee Lauder's foundations since the 1970's and been ever so happy with them  My favorite and the best all-time foundation is Estee Lauder's Fresh Air Make-Up Base; for a while in the 1990's I couldn't find it anywhere, but luckily it's available again and I am happy again!  During the interim when it wasn't available, I had used Double Wear by Estee Lauder and was happy enough with it, but nothing beat the Fresh-Air make-up.
So I paid by $59.00 to try the Armani make-up (over twice the price of Fresh-Air's humble $24.50 price tag). The result: it looked fairly good, and it was different.  Very light, but there was coverage unlike most "light" make-ups. However, after wearing it for about 5 hours one day, I happened to look in the mirror while I was wearing my reading glasses and noticed that I had a bit of flaking near one side of my nose and a rather dry looking patch on the other side. I no longer had that refreshed look of well-moisturized skin, but rather skin that said, "I've been on the overnight from Heathrow to Dulles and my skin feels it!"
I washed off the Armani and put the Estee Lauder back on.  It looked wonderful; the color was richer, but matched my skin, and it gave me a half-dewy, half-matte look that requires no powder.  I've been checking everyday since with my reading glasses to see if the look is lasting after 5 hours, after 10 hours... and it is!
If Estee Lauder ever gets rid of Fresh-Air, I may have to use the Armani, but until then, the winner is - Estee Lauder's Fresh-Air make-up base.  Never fool with a winner!!
  P.S. You can find Fresh-Air make-up in the standard department stores that sell Estee Lauder, but they don't seem to stock a lot of it.  I usually buy it directly from the Estee Lauder website.

It's Going to Be a Blue Spring

Blue for Spring

It's going to be a blue Spring - and I mean that in the happiest way possible. Blue, especially aquas and turquoises, are very in for Spring, and that's good news for most of us since blue is an almost universally becoming colour. Feel that you can't afford any of the new blues in these trying economic times? No worry, it's easy to add a touch of the new blue to your wardrobe without going into a personal recession. Think of accessories:

*Great sunglasses in blue from Jil Sander's new sunglassesline

*Blue jewels (try handcrafted artisan jewelry to get both real jewels and an affordable price)

*scarves - yes, they are very in right now especially if they are long enough to double around your neck and hangdown to your waist. *

*Find a shocking turquoise belt to brighten up the tobacco coloured dress or pants from last year (or the year before)or add it to a pair of light grey slacks.

* Turquoise or blue shoes make a real statement when worn with an all-black ensemble or really many different monochromatic outfits. The good news is that if you can't afford them at first, you're probably going to beable to find these on sale just a bit later in the season.

Always remember that dressing chic is mainly an attitude and keep the attitude strong!

Essie's the Best!

I have a love/hate relationship with nail polish. On the one hand, I like how it looks and makes my hands look (and my hands do need help). On the other, there are not many things that look worse or that will downgrade your entire appearance more than having chipped nail polish. My new favorite": Essie. I first came across it when getting a manicure/pedicure in Arlington, Virginia. Then my daughter-in-law gave me some for Christmas. I can't find it here locally, but I buy it through amazon. com simply because I usually have other items to purchase at the same time. Essie goes on smoothly, dries remarkably quickly without any drying agent, and comes in quite a few delicious colours. My only caveat is that I bought a colour (I think that it was called Beach Party) a sort of ballerina slipper pink, that had no shine whatsoever - totally matte so that it looked as though I had messed up my nails in some way. Otherwise, dark colours and their light pinks (try No Pre-Nup) are fantastic and have lasted a week for me - an unbelievably long time!

The Cream de la Creme!

I have extremely dry skin (on my body - my face is slightly different). In fact, my skin has a condition known as ichthysosis (the ichthys from fish) which basically means fish-scale skin. And if left alone, it would look very much like fish scales. Luckily my case is not as severe as it could be, but it still makes finding the right lotions and creams a challenge.
Of course, I love, absolutely love, Aveeno lotion. It is the cream that I use on my face - the only cream, and I've used it for years (I've received many compliments on my complexion which is rather porcelain-like; I attribute the complexion to Aveeno and to good sunscreens). However, finding a good body lotion/cream is a different matter. I seem to need to rotate creams in order for them to remain effective. The body butters from The Body Shop and Bath and Body Works are some of my favorite concoctions (I loved the ones with grapeseed and with pumpkin, both of which are now discontinued), but I've found a wonderful alternative.
The Wildflower & Thyme Company in Waterloo, Illinois makes a cream to die for! This body cream supplies just what my skin is hungry for: grapeseed oil, jojoba oil (my two favorites), avocado oil, Vitamin E, aloevera, and other goodies for your parched skin. And best of all, the nice people will scent your cream with your choice of fragrance: LAVENDER/ROSEMARY, PATCHOULI, ROSE, VANILLA BEAN, LILAC, PEACH NECTAR, JASMINE, LEMON VERBANA, GARDENIA, CINNAMON, MUSK, TROPICAL BREEZE, CUCUMBER MELON, PEPPERMINT, HONEYSUCKLE, GRAPEFRUIT, PLUMERIA, SANDALWOOD AND BROWN SUGAR, EVERWOOD OR FRAGRANCE FREE.
The Jasmine is my favorite, and it's a good strong jasmine so that the fragrance lingers.
It also isn't as greasy as many of the body butters (those with shea butter especially), and it rather inexpensive at about $1.00 an ounce.
You won't believe how great this cream is - and no, I have no affiliation whatsoever with the company. I found them one night while frantically googling for lotions with grapeseed oil and jojoba oil together.
You can e-mail them for information at wildflsoap@aol.com. At times they sell on ebay under the id cacook1. Here is a link: http://cgi.ebay.com/BODY-CREAM-ALOE-VERA-JOJOJBA-GRAPESEED-AVACADO-VITA-E_W0QQitemZ300249052852QQihZ020QQcategoryZ21205QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



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Back with Good Products

I've been concentrating on other things lately and have let this blog lapse shamelessly - but now I'm back! I'm not sure that it was the discovery of good new products that have brought me out of hiding or the completely hideous fashions that I've seen everywhere lately (more on those lately), but here I am again.
First new product: Not necessarily a new product, but great are two mascaras, both by Lancome. The first is Lancome's Hypnose, the one I think that I cannot live without and that will take the place of the single best mascara, Elizabeth Arden, I've ever used that was discontinued years ago. Lashes are longer; lashes are thicker; lashes are curled, and they do not have that spikey look that does not flatter older women at all. The second is Lancome's Fatale, a mascara with a funky brush that takes some getting used to, but that will probably become your favorite mascara if Hypnose is not.
Stayed tuned for the next great find: a wonderful cream that moisturizes and lifts your spirits with its wonderful fragrance!

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