"Every woman should learn how to be her own skincare expert." -Bobbi Brown

The other day, one of my lovely co-workers who follows my blog surprised me with a beauty book! You can never go wrong giving another female a beauty book (keep that in mind if you need to buy a gift for one of your girlfriends!). This book, called "Ask" which has tons and tons of beauty questions answered, is a great source for beauty information.

While reading through the book I found something interesting that makes sense, but I had never thought of before. When putting on your moisturizer, apply it to your face making long upward-sweeping motions with your hands. When you apply it to your face in downward motions, it can drag your face down.

If you go all the way back to one of my first posts, "Fresh Face Cont'd," you will read about how IMPORTANT it is to wash and moisturize your face twice daily. ALWAYS moisturize your face, neck, chest and hands. These are the places on your body that will show signs of aging first, but moisturizing them daily will help keep your skin youthful.

XOXO

SHIMMY SHIMMER

Ladies, I am about to tell you the key to brightening your eyes- whether it be for an early morning to wake up tired eyes or to go out for a night on the town. This is a trick Beyonce's make-up artist even uses (see proof below)!

When you want to bring out your eyes- SHIMMER eye shadow is by far the best thing to use. I swear by eye shadows that have shimmer in them- in fact, it's pretty much all I use. The best places for shimmer to go on your eyes to make them appear bigger is in the inside bottom corner of your eye (near your tear duct) and right under your eye brow.

I like Stila eye shadow in Kitten ($18) at Sephora or ULTA. It is a very light metallic and looks great on. I use the Sephora Collection All Over Shadow Small Brush #23 ($20) to sweep this shadow in the inside bottom corner of my eyes (near tear duct) and up on my brow line. You can essentially use any light colored metallic to do this.

Take a look at Beyonce- her eyes look AMAZING.


XOXO

Crease and cling free

So you applied your eye shadow 4 hours ago and you look in the mirror...what do you see? CREASED eye shadow. Unfortunately it happens to most everyone.

Luckily, there is a product you can use that will extend the life of your eye shadow and help avoid creasing. It's called Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion ($18) and you can find it at Sephora. I used to use it and after trying out different brands, I found myself going back to this one because I think it works best. The other morning I applied my eye shadow at 7am and at 12pm that afternoon my eye shadow was STILL intact and crease free!

The applicator is a wand, but I found it works better to rub the potion on your finger and apply it with your finger instead of using the wand directly on your eye lid.



On a side note:
Invest in a short slip if you do not already own one. With spring/summer comes light weight dresses and skirts. Wearing a slip helps the fabric not cling to you and hides underwear lines.

XOXO

Bio-Oil

Ladies, I have found a oil that fixes scars, stretch marks, dehydrated skin and uneven skin tone. It is called Bio-Oil and you can find it at any drug store for about ($10-12).

I saw it at CVS the other day and decided to try it since the price was right and it said it helped scars heal. Well, I have been putting it on a scar I have for about 2 weeks now, and I must say it is not as noticeable as it used it be. At night it's good to mix it with hand cream and apply to your hands to wake up with smooth hands in the morning! It even says it helps aging skin, but I have not tried it for that purpose yet.

Apply to problem areas with your fingers and massage onto your skin for about 20 seconds. The smell is a little funky, but the scent does not last long.



XOXO

No 'Wrinkles in Time'

If you have read back to my first blogs, you have read about my freak out when I turned 25 last summer about starting to see the first signs of aging on my face. Oh the joys of being a woman!

Well, while I have fully embraced getting older and more fabulous with age (hey, with age comes more money!), I still am conscious of premature wrinkles or "expression lines." The places I see it most on my face are my eyes and my forehead- where I have found most women find their first signs of aging.

I have tried a few different creams to help ward off nasty wrinkles and recently have found the BEST anti-wrinkle eye cream: The Youth As We Know It Anti-Aging Eye Cream by Bliss($75). I have been using it only a little over a week and have started to see results. It's pretty much amazing. The crows feet I had started to see are GONE, yes- GONE!! While a little bit higher in price, so far it is definitely worth every penny. Find it online at (http://www.blissworld.com/product/anti+aging/the+youth+eye+cream.do) or at Sephora stores. They also have a face moisturizer, The Youth As We Know It ($79), which I have also tried and it is great. Find it at http://www.blissworld.com/product/code/BLISS-260.do or at Sephora also. If you need to choose one or the other since they are pricey, I recommend the eye cream. Just be sure to use some kind of moisturizer on your face daily. I still swear by Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer with SPF 15 since my skin is sensitive.



Another thing that helps ward off wrinkles is to always wear sunglasses. They protect your eyes from crows feet and when wearing them, you don't squint which can help prevent forehead lines.

XOXO

Avoid getting rubbed the wrong way....

Sorry for it being a week since the last beauty blog, but I had the flu all week and had no business trying to give any kind of beauty advice while still looking like a hot sick mess.

If you are in the DC area, you witnessed the most gorgeous weekend with temps in the middle 70's and a great breeze! Ah so nice! Spring is around the corner, which means skirts, sun dresses, bathing suits.....which all can result in "red legs," aka when your inner thighs rub together when walking or running. Ouch.

There are a few things you can do to avoid this- as it can be very painful if it's super hot outside and you are sweating and walking or wearing a wet bathing suit- that's the worst. I remember when I was studying abroad in Italy, it was so hot and I walked so much while I was there, I seriously thought my "red legs" were going to bleed!

My favorite trick is to rub solid deodorant on one or both of your legs where they rub before getting dressed. Any solid white powder deodorant will work. The gel deodorants do NOT work.

Body Glide is good also- I haven't used it but I have had friends who use it and say it works well. You can find it at www.rei.com for $6. Other products you can use are petroleum jelly or baby powder- but the baby powder can sometimes make a mess.

If you have really bad "red legs"- wear pants and put some Neosporin on it to help it go away.

Happy Walking/Running!

XOXO

When it rain it pours...

Concerts, graduations, festivals, travling....I'm sure you have had to attend an event or sight see in the rain before. While the rain is good for the plants and trees, its a hastle to have to be in. Especially when it rains during a big event you were excited for. I went to NYC a little while ago and there was a torential down pour and I refused to stay in the hotel since it's not everyday I'm in NYC. While attempting not to look like a wet rat, I came up with some ideas that help get you through the storm.

Makeup: Wear water proof mascara to avoid it running. I like MAC Splash proof in blacksplash ($13). You can find it at MAC stores/Nordstrom/Bloomie's. Wear minimal makeup to avoid it streaking if your face gets rained on. Wear under eye concealer and a light layer of powder. You can also wear a shimmer eyeshadow with the mascara to make your eyes look good. Stila eye shadow colors Kitten, Oasis and Nude are pretty and stay on pretty well. You can find them at Sephora ($18).

Hair: If you have curly hair, don't bother straightening it...it will just get frizzy and be a mess. If you have straight hair that gets really limp in bad weather, wear it up in a clip or wear a pony tail with a cute jeweled hair tie- you can find cute ones at J. Crew.

Clothes: Wear jeans/leggings tucked into rain boots to keep your feet dry. The most uncomfortable thing in the rain is wet feet! You can find cute rain boots at Target and Laila Rowe for under $30. Also do invest in a rain coat at some point. I bought one about 2 years ago and I wear it all the time in the rain. It was one of the best buys I've ever made. And, be sure it has a hood. This way if you can't use an umbrella, your head will stay dry.

XOXO

The Taming of the Brow

I've already blogged about caring for your eyebrows (waxing, threading, plucking) but I haven't yet talked about how to TAME them....they do seem to have minds of their own sometimes. I swear I look in the mirror some mornings and it's like they grew out overnight! This trick takes less than a minute and can clean your look up in 2 easy steps.

In the morning before applying your eye makeup, get a eyebrow brush and some hair gel. Step 1: Put a small dab of the gel on your finger and rub it onto your eyebrow. Step 2: Take the eyebrow brush and with the large bristle side, brush your eyebrows into the desired shape you want and comb down any straggling hairs. You only need a very small amount of hair gel, I usually split the gel between both eyebrows.

So, if you don't already have an eyebrow brush, head to Sephora/Target/CVS/or order online at E.F.F. (only $1). You don't need an expensive gel for this to work- I usually get the cheap one since I only use it on my brows.



On a side note: I thought up the name of this blog from the classic "The Taming of the Shrew" by Shakespeare about a man who is trying to "tame" his new wife (the shrew). It is very comical and the movie stars the glamorous Elizabeth Taylor. Talk about a true beauty icon!

XOXO

Starbucks out of a Straw

As bad of a habit it is, I normally start my day with a tall skinny vanilla latte from Starbucks. Hey- at least it wakes you up and boosts your metabolism. Plus, Dr. Oz says coffee is a anti-oxidant. The bad thing....it stains your teeth. Yes, now-a-days you can get your teeth whitened in the mall (Tysons Corner has EVERYTHING), but why not avoid things that will make you have to spend $$ instead?

To avoid coffee from staining your pearly whites, use a straw to sip it. Yes, I know it may look funny drinking hot coffee from a straw, but it really will cut back on the amount of coffee that touches your teeth. The same goes for dark sodas- they too can stain your teeth and hurt the enamel on them.

So, pick up a straw when drinking anything dark to keep your smile bright! ;)

XOXO

Purses can smell good, too!

Last night I was at the mall leaving my hair appointment and as I walked by the perfume counter at Macy's I saw Sarah Jessica Parker's new fragrance: SJP NYC. Since it is a bright colored bottle covered in animal print and hot pink, I was naturally drawn to it. So I picked up the perfume testing card and sprayed it to make sure it smelled good before spraying it on myself.

Let me guess, you all do this too, right? If you don't, you should so you don't spray something that smells like burnt hair on your wrist that will give you a headache. Yes, I have totally done this to myself before and it's not easy to get rid of the headache OR the smell.

Before testing a perfume on your skin, test it on the sample cards first. Once you have established if you like it or not then test it on yourself, but what do you do with the sample card? Easy- if you like it toss it in your purse and zip it up. This way, the fragrance will make your purse smell good every time you open it. Don't like it? Leave the card on the counter. A friend of mine gave me a tip too- you can put the perfume sample cards in your drawers so your clothes smell nice!

And by the way, SJP NYC smells delicious to me. I am definitely going to invest in this one!

"The first rule of eye makeup is that you can never wear enough blue eye shadow." -Shelly, My Girl

Unless you want to look like Mimi(Drew Carey Show) or the "ladies" at the local Drag Club in your town- you certainly CAN wear too much blue eye shadow. Exhibit A below:



I was watching "My Girl" the other day on TV and I chuckled when I heard this. Yes, while the movie is set in the 1970s, I still have seen women at this day and age wearing piled on bright blue eyeshadow. Now, you may be looking at my picture of Sephora on the right side if the page. Yes, the model is wearing a ton of blue eyeshadow, but it is for art/advertisement/runway purposes and it looks good for this.

Ladies, save yourself the humiliation and stay away from crazy colored eye shadows- unless it's for a Halloween costume. When I say "crazy colored" eye shadows, I mean if it's a color of the rainbow and it's REALLY bright, leave it at the store.

If you want a "crazy colored" eye shadow, opt for it in a deep color- instead of wearing bright violet eye shadow, buy a shimmery deep purple- it can be very flattering on green or brown eyes. If you want a blue, buy a shimmery blue and put it on ONLY the lid of your eye. Anything more can be overkill and you WILL look like Mimi.

If you want a colored eye shadow:
Urban Decay Deluxe Eye Shadow ($18) has some awesome colors and most of then have shimmer in them. You cannot go wrong with these colors, just don't over-do it and apply the shadow up to your eye brows! Find them at Sephora.

MAC Eye Pigment Eye Shadows ($19.50). I have blogged about this before- the colors are great and the eye shadow lasts forever! Buy at Nordstrom, Bloomie's or MAC Stores.

XOXO