College taught me a lot. It taught me how to pay attention to key words while drowning out the rest of the lecture. It taught me that C’s get degrees. It taught me how to know my drinking limit. It taught me how to choose my friends. It did not teach me anything about what I want to do in life or how to file my taxes. I completely believe that for most people college is the best 4 (give or take) years of their lives. You meet people that you haven’t known your whole life. You make a ton of mistakes. You get your first horrible, life ending hangover. You gain so much knowledge in these four years that I’m sure would take someone who didn’t go to college a whole life to accumulate. Maybe you even gain the freshman fifteen. I am certainly an advocate for education. You can barely get a job anywhere nowadays that doesn’t require an associates degree or equivalent. You most definitely can not get a great paying job without an education. The part of the education system that I don’t love is that, at least in my experience, after four years of classes and a lot of money spent I still didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do. I didn’t even have an idea of what I’d be good at. I studied psychology with a minor in business. I did research in school, I got good grades, I took all of my electives, I made great contacts, I even went to a semester of grad school but I didn’t figure out what I wanted the rest of my life to look like. Whatever you choose to do you’re going to be doing it 40 plus hours a week. After college this really sank in. I wanted to find a career doing something I love. For years, like many college grads I floated from job to job. Retail, bar tending, waitressing, makeup, and finally landed in sales. I sell beer. Beer pays my bills. I am currently studying to become a Cicerone (certified beer expert). Who would ever have thought that would be a thing. I love drinking beer, I enjoy selling beer, I enjoy people who enjoy beer. So I've decided that for me selling beer isn’t a shabby career at all. Although, I find my pants don't fit the same if I take a week or two off of the gym while consuming as much beer as I do. More things they don’t teach you in college - or at least in any of the classes I took include: personal budgeting, paying taxes, home loans, car loans, how to fill out a damn W2, and that white wine gets out red wine stains. These are all immensely important things to know. I hated being poor and confused after college. So here are some of my personal favorite tips for adulting!
Take all this for what it’s worth. I am not a professional accountant and have no business telling people how to live their life. These are merely my suggestions and what has helped me go from only being able to afford ramen noodles after college to being comfortable with my finances. It took me years to get out of my post college financial slump but man does it feel good when you do!
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After a brief two years away from writing I have decided to re-join the blogging community. A lot can happen in two years which means I have a lot to say, but I'm a woman so that means I basically always have a lot to say.
2016 will go down in my books as a year full of lessons- good, bad, and ugly. Good: I learned some patience. Bad: I had things and people test my patience. Ugly: I'm positive my hair is turning grey. Side note: I don't think grey hair is ugly; I just don't like mine to be grey. On a slightly more serious note I will be filling this blog up with some stories and lessons, both good and bad, some even funny. Some more tips and tricks and maybe even some photos. Here are my first tips:
I look forward to this new chapter and sharing it with anyone who cares to read what I have to say! Stay tuned! I was recently told that I am a "Friday night date girl". So many questions ran through my head when this man told me that. Am I not worthy of a Saturday? What do you mean? Is this because you think a Friday night date means you're getting free dessert? So, in the sweetest way I could while assuming this man was a complete jerk I asked what he meant. He told me that in his day (he was probably 60) he would have wanted to take me out on Friday nights because I was worth giving up a night out with the guys. This is probably the sweetest thing that I have heard in a long time since every girls wants (rightfully so) to feel important to the man they're dating. But it was promptly ruined by him going on about how Wednesday night girls are the girls you don't care about.
According to urbandictionary.com (the most credible source for vocabulary) we are in the midst of cuffing season. "During the Fall and Winter months people who would normally rather be single or promiscuous find themselves along with the rest of the world desiring to be in a serious relationship". We all know people who are in relationships that we didn't expect to see happen. Summer is for fun and winter is for cuddling in bed with movies and wine. So as a woman, or human for that matter, in the north during the winter, my head is totally in cuffing season. But what I have been thinking about lately is dates and people who date (the act of going on one with your significant other) while in a relationship. This man had me thinking- I am a Friday night date girl- but dating doesn't happen anymore so I would never have realized this. I have been on dates- mostly first dates and almost never on dates with someone I am dating. When did dating become a nonchalant, nonromantic, nonexistent thing? Dating today is comprised of three stages: 1) Lets get coffee. The coffee date is a half hour to an hour long date with someone you barely know in order to find out if you think you can talk to them and maybe hang out for a longer time period. 2) Lets get drinks. This is almost interchangeable with lets get coffee. Its very noncommittal. Getting drinks happens in a short time frame but the alcohol can induce people to be more comfortable and more open with each other. 3) Come over and watch a movie aka Netflix and Chill. Watching a movie is the final date. Don't get me wrong- I am lazy as all hell and love to lay in bed watching movies all day, but not everyday. That is it. Three date options. What happened to lets go out to dinner or to a concert or a sporting event? What happened is that we have gotten too comfortable with one another. Guys think that giving a girl their time is all thats important and girls think that they don't need to put on makeup or jeans anymore (I am guilty). I have asked handfuls of couples what is helping and hurting their relationships and there is a common denominator- activity/dates. Girls want their men to plan something nice once in a while. For example bringing her out to dinner for no reason other then its been a few weeks since you've shown your lady off to the rest of the world. Yes women want you to take them out and show them off sometimes- any chance to dress pretty and make yourself up is appreciated. And although men do think sweat pants hair tie chillen with no makeup on is when you are the prettiest, they still like to know that you care enough to look nice for them. Finally, romantic gestures are not cheesy, and even if they are cheesy people tend to enjoy them hence making them cheesy things in the first place. Flowers, chocolate, standing outside my window with a boom box, I want them all (and any girl who says she doesn't is a liar!) There has never been a woman who received a romantic gesture from a man that she cares about and didn't swoon (hint: if she honestly didn't swoon then she's probably not that into the guy who did it for her). Women don't want flowers every day or every week because then they aren't special. It doesn't even have to be a flower- I was once given an actual plant and I thought it was the best thing I've ever gotten (but then I killed in like 2 days later). In conclusion- dating and romance is dying and I personally think thats correlated with the current high divorce rates. Enjoying special time and things with your significant other can really keep a relationship happy and close. So try doing things together once in a while outside of the house so you keep your relationship alive. I bet you both end up feeling closer and liking each other more. Anxiety. We all experience it at some point in our lives but for some of us its a monster that consumes us piece by piece. This monster can reveal its self in many forms. It can cause your heart to race, your skin to burn, your stomach to turn, your palms to sweat, or your brain to shut off. If the monster even smells something that could trigger stress it wakes up and starts eating away at your day, your week, your month.
My fight or flight response goes 0-10 in a half second. The smallest of stressors can make me jump off the deep end. I feel 500 emotions an hour and constantly have to decide which battles are worth fighting. When I feel anxiety, like many people, my first response is flight. If something causes me to even feel slight panic my initial reaction is “well I am better off without this being part of my life” which obviously isn’t a good way to live, thats how a person can become a recluse and never leave their house. So as I have gotten older and presumably more responsible I try to calm myself down and decide if said stressor is a) actually a stressor at all b) a stressor that I can control c) something that isn’t worth trying to fight for or d) I should immediately abandon this situation/person. Nine times out of ten I decide that the correct answers are A or C. Now the real problem is when you don’t think whatever is giving you anxiety is controllable and you don’t know how to handle it. This is truly when your fight or flight response kicks in. If I care about something I tend to have more anxiety over it which is normal and also shitty because it also means I am the most irrational about those things. I have failed assignments, quit things I love, ended relationships, and had so many arguments because of anxiety and most of the time it was me jumping to a high level of panic over something minuscule and the other person involved couldn’t comprehend how to handle me. Most people who have not felt a high level of anxiety at some point in their life probably find it very difficult to deal with someone who feels anxiety all of the time. If you are someone who doesn’t go through anxiety often think of the most stressed out you have ever been, now imagine that is how you feel 75% of the time. Anxious people are always wired even when they appear calm. We not only expect the worst but we prepare for it all of the time. If something can go wrong it will. The best thing for an anxious person is having at least one person in their life who understands that their feelings are obnoxious and interrupt their lives, their thoughts, their actions. It’s also the best feeling in the world to have someone that you feel you can trust to calm you down even when you feel like you’re loosing your mind. Positivity is a beautiful characteristic. It is so enjoyable to be around someone who does not assume the worst of people and who can make any situation less daunting. I spent a few hours working with a girl like this over the weekend and it was very relaxing. I am one of those people who can become exhausted when I am hanging out with someone who is always cheerful and that results in me avoiding that person. However, we all have a few things we need to learn from the people in our lives with outrageously positive outlooks. I believe it is important for everyone to constantly be aware of themselves, their attitudes no matter how good or bad, and how they interact with others.
I am naturally a realist which some people probably consider more of a negative disposition. I don't always think of the glass as half full or half empty because that is just going to depend on the situation and my mood. If I do think of the glass as half empty my next thought is well what am I doing to do to fill it up? I will not wait around for good things to happen to me so I just can't consider myself a positive person all of the time. After watching the girl I worked with interact with so many different people I realized there are at least a few things I can take from her positive outlook to make myself a better and mentally healthier person. The first characteristic I noticed in the girl at work was her kindness. She was so kind to everyone. Every single person she interacted with she had a huge smile on her face. This is huge. Its proven that smiling can actually improve your mood with a change in brain activity. If you are smiling people will also be friendlier to you, just seeing someone happy will typically cause you to be happier as well. Being friendly and not judgmental is good for your own mental health. I've never understood how it is so easy to judge a stranger or someone who you don't know that well but it is so easy to keep from judging or even justifying all the strange or "bad" things our friends and family do. We are far more lenient with people we care about but we should just practice not judging people we know nothing of. We have all been in a situation where we are mad at someone whom we don't know for something that they didn't do. Example: you get snotty with the waiter because your food is taking so long when in reality they're not back there cooking it. Your meal is taking long due to other circumstances such as a delay in the kitchen or the cook burned something so why are you being mean to your waitress if she put your order in promptly? Your impatience and rudeness will stick with you for a while too; once you get frustrated it takes a few minutes to calm down. Each of us goes through situations like this all the time where we get upset about something completely out of our control and if you just stay more calm you'll make your life and everyone else's a little easier. Patience is probably the thing I need to work on most. It is annoying to everyone around you if you loose your temper because your patience runs out. I go from 0-100 in 60 seconds. I'm sorry to anyone who has ever witnessed me being impatient, it sucks. As an adult I have unrealistic expectations that everyone else my age and older is mature. We all get frustrated about things, work, people, and want to vent a little and that is natural. We would explode if we didn't! But complaining about everything all of the time is a disgusting and unattractive habit that needs to be broken. I am guilty of this myself. I vent way too frequently. If there is something in your life that you are very unhappy about you need to actively seek a way to change it. This could be a job or a friend, a significant other, anything. You create your own life. I will not feel bad for people who made their own situation and spend time complaining about it as though they didn't know what they were getting into in the first place. Over the last few years I have been weeding people out of my life who I think have been bad for me, which has been a challenge because I tend to easily attract people who are not good for me. If I have the time to sit around and dwell about things I want to change then I have the time to look for ways to change them. People who are constantly upset about something, complaining about something, being mean about other people, and just generally being judgmental and rude are unhealthy and also suck to be around. They bring you down, make you feel stupid or inadequate, or make you feel like you're walking on eggshells. If feel like you may be described like this it is probably time to find a super positive friend and start trying to be more like him or her. Having awareness of yourself, your actions, and how they affect everyone around you is extremely important. It can improve all of your relationships and your own mental health. No one ever stops to realize that their bad mood can affect everyone they interact with down to the woman cashing you out for the bottle of whiskey you plan on drowning you sorrows in. Lipstick might be the most simple cosmetic available. You don't need five brushes to put it on, you don't need to worry about blending, its small and you can carry it with you easily, and yet it seems to be the most difficult thing to pick out. Choosing a lipstick is not rocket science. If you like it, wear it. I am always telling clients that if you handed me a mint colored lipstick I would gladly rock it for a day even if I do get bitch face all day. As far as makeup goes if there are rules I will break them. Wear what you feel comfortable wearing. That being said there are actually proper ways to choose a lipstick that will look best with your skin tone. I will break down all the ways to figure out what lipstick is best for your skin tone (and actually how to find your skin tone) but first there are some really important things you need to know if you plan on wearing lip colors. You need to exfoliate your lips. Lips are skin. There are no pores on your lips though which is why you will not get a blemish on your lip (you can still get a blemish around your lips though). Like the rest of your skin, you should exfoliate your lips 2-3 times per week. The quickest way to do so is to gently rub a wet wash cloth or tooth brush (designate one for this purpose) in circular motions. You can also purchase lip exfoliators which are going to have added benefits such as oils that will hydrate. I typically just mix my own exfoliant every time I want to use one. I mix coconut oil, honey, and sugar together and use my finger tip to apply the product in circular motions. The coconut oil will hydrate while the sugar exfoliates and the honey just helps to keep it together a little longer. Honey also has natural antibacterial properties so this exfoliant can actually be used anywhere on your skin and have nice results. Exfoliating your lips will help any lip product adhere to your skin better since you are removing the dead skin. It will also help prevent chapped lips. Lip products look a million times better on smooth lips. Keeping your lips moisturized is just something every person should be doing. No one likes to have dry lips or to look at someone else's dry lips. Chapstick brand lip balm is not good for your lips. It is mostly wax and mineral oil so it is not going to actually hydrate dehydrated lips. You are better off putting coconut oil on them. Look for ingredients such as jojoba oil, olive oil, and rose hip seed oil in your lip products to keep them hydrated. A lot of women use Vaseline on their lips; this is also doing you no good. It is creating a barrier so no moisture escapes but it is not moisturizing in itself. Apply Vaseline over a hydrating balm. Always moisturized your lips before bed. Lip liner will not only keep your lipstick from bleeding, but it will also help prime the lips and keep it on longer. You can also alter the color of your lipstick with a lip liner. A nude liner for example can cancel the pigment in your lips out so the lipstick will be more true to its color. You can line your lips before or after applying lipstick! If you do it after it is a great way to just clean the edges of your lips up. Undertones: There are warm and cool undertones. Many women fall in the neutral category where they are a nice mix of the two (neutrals find most colors easier to wear). These are the quickest and most apparent ways to find your undertone. Warm undertones (more yellow in your skin) usually look nicer in gold jewelry, their veins appear more green, and tend to tan and not burn. Cool undertones (more pink in your skin) typically wear silver jewelry better, have veins that appear more blue, and burn in the sun. If you can't tell or you can answer to either tone then you are most likely neutral. Ok so now into the good stuff. There are a hundred different types of lip products: balms, lipsticks, stains, glosses, liquid lipsticks, lip lacquers, you get the point. There are also a bunch of different finishes: cream, gloss, satin, matte, semi-matte, you get it. Finding the one you like best is going to be trial and error. Glosses tend to be sticky and a lot of people don't like that but balms tend not to give as much color payoff as some women want. The formula and finish you choose will be personal preference. If you have lighter skin and a cool undertone blue or pink based will look the most flattering on you. Deep purples, plum-reds, and berry colors will look amazing on you. Nude lipsticks in beige with pink undertones will keep life in your lips. This skin tone will not look as good in orange-reds and pale browns that don't have a pink tone. Hot pinks will also be more difficult to wear so you want to look for one with blue undertones. Lighter skin tones with warm undertones should stick to caramels and brown colors. Medium skin tones on the warm side should stick with deeper shades such as dark berry colors, deep reds, browns, and burgundy. Medium skin tones that are closer to cool or brown tone look fantastic in rose colored hues, berry pinks (think strawberry or raspberry) but should avoid pastel shades and orange lipsticks. Dark skin tones look best in deep shades of red with blue undertones, wine reds, and coffee browns. Similarly to medium tones, dark skin tones should stay away from pastel colored lips and oranges. Red lipstick is classic. And contrary to popular belief every can wear red lip stick. Finding the perfect red for you is essential. Cool toned girls should be trying a cherry red lipstick, olive skinned girls look great in fire-engine red, and deep reds look amazing on dark skinned ladies. Above are some of my lipsticks swatched on white paper so you can see the tones of them. For example Anarchy is a blue based hot pink and Vemon is a blue based plum color. Many of my lip colors are blue based because I am neutral-cool toned and light.
Except I live in Buffalo, NY so the only salt in my hair is the salt spray or a really fun night involving Patron? Humidity is my worst enemy. My friend doesn't feel humidity until its around 90% and I hate her for that. As with most women, my hair tells me its humid before I even have a chance to leave my apartment. The next thing to go is my skin and with that my makeup. It is so discouraging to be going somewhere during the summer when you want to look cute but know you're odds of beating the heat are slim to none. This weekend is the 4th of July so I am sure we will all be out celebrating at someones pool, the beach, on someones boat, at a concert, or a BBQ. This holiday is almost always spent trying to look cute in the sun, at least for me. I have compiled a list of easy summer go to products that you may not have thought of or maybe you did think of but want some good recommendations for products! Enjoy! 1.BB or CC cream. Beauty Balms (BB) and Color Correcting (CC) creams are not only made for sheer to medium coverage but most of them have an SPF in them. They are the perfect base to a summer makeup routine. You can apply them with a beauty blender or a brush but most likely you will do what I do and slap it on your face using your fingers. BB and CC creams can be found everywhere. For a drugstore BB cream I love Garnier AntiAging BB Cream but not the oil free kind. The oil free kind is actually really runny and gross, which is counterintuitive. Also the best BB cream I have ever touched is the Diorskin Nude BB Creme. I am obsessed. It is so smooth and hydrating and just perfect. Dior is a luxurious brand so I expect the best from them, and they nailed this. 2. Waterproof mascara Have you every tried swimming with regular mascara on? I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. Mascara is horrible to get off. It is even more horrible to get off when it has seeped into your pores. A water resistant mascara or water proof mascara should be a staple in your cosmetic wardrobe anyways. Try Urban Decay's Cannonball Mascara, it is waterproof and doesn't leave your lashes looking screwy when you get them wet! 3. Budge Proof Eyeliner Black eyeliner melting underneath your eyes in the midst of an outdoor JT concert is not an attractive look. It also is still not a cute look when you are at drinks with your friends and look like you're crying over your dumb ex. Investing in a nice budge proof eyeliner will save you. You can find nice liquids, creams, and pencils. Anything that says waterproof will be a good option. I am a liquid or cream liner girl myself so I pick either Kat Von D's Tattoo Liner or Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner. 3. Summer Blush Yes that's right, summer blush. I personally think there is a distinct difference between summer and winter blushes. On skin tones close to mine (Fair-Medium) a mauve colored blush or a berry colored blush looks incredible... in the winter. Blushes with bright pink and/or peach tones are gorgeous in the summer. Orgasm by NARS is probably the most perfect example of this blush. It is pinky-peach with a gold sheen throughout it. The gold sheen is beautiful and warms up any complexion. I can't get enough of the Milani Baked Blushes which are a drugstore line. They are the nicest blushes I have ever used and the shade Rose D'Oro is so similar to Orgasm! Cantaloupe colored blushes are also flattering on almost all skin tones and bring a beautiful glow to the complexion. 4. Tinted Lip Balm with SPF I don't think enough people pay notice to the fact that your lips are part of your skin and they can and will get a sunburn. Sunburned lips, like sunburned shoulders, peel and crack and hurt. It is hugely important to take care of your lips starting with hydration (yay for balms) and SPF and ending with exfoliating them. A tinted balm is great because it adds some color to your lips making you look like you put in a little more thought or effort than you actually did. Lip products with a high SPF are hard to find, so an SPF of 15 is going to be enough especially when reapplied. 5. Setting Spray A setting spray is absolutely essential all year round. During the warmer months it will be your savior though. A proper setting spray (Urban Decay All Nighter) will extend the look and life of your makeup significantly. All Nighter is the best one I know of. Drug store setting sprays in my experience aren't worth your money except maybe for a quick dewy glow or to wet your brushes. Some setting sprays will also help waterproof your makeup. Once you're finished with your makeup the final step is to spray your face with an 'X' and then a 'T' motion and voila, you're set! I'm not ashamed of that pun. 6. Salt Spray Salt spray, surf spray, texturizing spray, whatever you want to call it is the perfect hair essential for the summer. Tousled, beachy waves are desirable to most women and very easily achieved! You literally spray salt spray in your hair and scrunch it with your hands, a lazy girls dream! I like to use salt spray as a second day hair option. My hair takes really well to it when I used a curling iron or curling wand on it the day before. I personally haven't noticed a huge difference between salon quality and drugstore salt sprays. Salon quality typically have more hydration to them but all salt sprays kind of dry out your hair. You win some you loose some? Dry Bar has a salt spray, Mai Tai, with aloe in it so thats a better option for damaged hair. But Not Your Mothers Beach Babe is fantastic! 7. Dry Shampoo In the beauty industry the girls probably max out at 3 hair washes a week, I honestly prefer to do 2. It saves so much time and in the summer who in their right mind wants to blow dry their hair? Dry shampoo before bed and the next morning your hair will look freshly washed. You can also dry shampoo in the morning or on clean hair for volume. Any dry shampoo will work, I am not picky. I like Tresemme a lot and its so easy to find. 8. Sunscreen Sunscreen is a summer must... actually, an all the time must, but especially a summer must. I devoted an entire blog post to the importance of sunscreen! If you have questions on types of sunscreens please read that post! Here are a few add ons that almost made my list:
Have a happy Fourth of July! Face masks; they come in a variety of forms, a variety of price points, and with a variety of ingredients. Every face mask will do something different for your skin depending on the ingredients. The most common categories of face masks are brightening, detoxifying, hydrating, and de-puffing. Everyone can and should be using face masks at least one to two times a week! Its a great way to amp up your skin care routine. I know that you're thinking doing a face mask twice a week sounds like a huge pain. Some of them require 15-30 minutes of time to sit on your face and do their magic. These ones are also typically the same masks that make your bathroom look like a tsunami hit because it takes you so much work to rinse them off. Well, I have good news. If you are one of those people who think you're too busy for a face mask then you should probably try a sleeping face mask. These are fantastic for someone who is busy or anyone really. Mostly you can slap a sleeping face mask on as your night time moisturizer and climb right into bed but in some cases you may not want to do your serum or oil but instead only use the mask. The next type of mask I want to talk about is a fiber mask. Fiber masks are cool because you can lay them on your face and then remove them 15 minutes later and you look like a mummy while you're wearing it. They come individually packaged and drenched with amazing product. Usually any excess product can be rubbed into the skin and treated like a sleeping mask! An example of a fiber mask is this one by Sephora! Peeling masks are painful if you have sensitive skin. You apply a thick layer (avoiding the eyebrows at all costs) and allow to dry for up to 30 minutes. Once the mask is completely dry you can go in and pull the mask off in one piece if you have applied enough product. Its a lot of fun to see the end result but not very comfortable during the peeling. Mud masks and other products resembling mud masks are probably what you are most familiar with. They turn your face brown or black or maybe green and you look like you just got done doing some sort of tribal pow wow. These are the ones that you see girls instagraming or if you are lucky enough to receive my snapchats you see me wearing way too often. Side note: Hair masks are amazing too and you should be doing them once a week or so! They are super nourishing and can help tame and revive your hair. My favorites are Mudslide by Drybar and Restore by Living Proof but I also love some organic coconut oil smothered in my hair! The best way for me to talk about masks is just telling you a few key ingredients and what they will do for you. Vitamin C is a miracle worker for the skin because it will brighten, tighten, and lighten. This means it will help with dark spots, uneven skin tone, and firming the skin. As you probably assume vitamin C will be found in anything citrus (specifically orange) but you probably wouldn't assume that roses are packed with vitamin C. Algae is also a very brigthening ingredient and if you have very sensitive skin it may be a better option for you because sometimes vitamin C can irritate the skin in high doses. The Algenist Algae Brightening mask is one of my favorites because its a very pretty shade of green (because of the algae). If you are interested in this sort of mask you could try the Korres Wild Rose + Vitamin C Advanced Sleeping Facial or Bosica Bright White Mask. Mud and clay masks are detoxifying. This means they pull out oil, dirt and bacteria from your pores. They can help reduce break outs and make the pores appear smaller. GlamGlow Supermud Clearing Treatment is probably the most well known clearing mask. It is well work its hype. You can see and feel it working in the 10 minutes you're wearing it! You can and should also use Supermud as a spot treatment. It has a high price point but is well worth every penny. I personally love the FAB Red Clay Purifying Mask. This one seriously pulls everything out of your pores, but it is a peel off mask so its painful. The red clay mask is also red so my roommate said it looked like I was covered in blood while I wore it which is actually really disturbing. Hyaluronic Acid is a moisture binding agent found in most skin care and makeup products that are meant to moisturize the skin. Hydrating masks will most likely have this ingredient in them because it can hold moisture and bind it to the skin. As many of you may know well hydrated skin will look younger and also age more slowly. For these reasons I love me some hydrating masks. I sleep in GlamGlow Thirstymud frequently. It smells like coconuts and I am obsessed with it. I also put it on my knuckles in the winter when they were really dry and it brought them back to life. After editing this post I realized that I did not include any drugstore product. Most of the products that I mentioned can be found at other high end retailers like Sephora or online. I am a huge advocate for skincare and believe that if you are going to spend money on prestige brand makeup then you should use nice skin care to make your canvas hold the makeup better. A good skin care routine really does make a huge difference in your skins health and appearance. Disclaimer: I do work at Sephora so I obviously love the company but I do shop other places and quite frequently! I used their website to link all the products because I am familiar with the website and know you can get good client reviews on the products as well as an ingredients list and usage directions! I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what makeup is appropriate for your age? If you aren't asking yourself that question it is likely that you are young and have youthful skin and don't need to alter your makeup routine. The harsh reality is that the older you and your skin get, the more you have to be conscious of the makeup you are putting on it.
For women, aging is a sensitive subject. We pretend its not happening until we can no longer avoid it. I hear it all the time, "What shadows should I be using? My eyelids don't look like they used to anymore so I don't know what I can and can't wear." and my personal favorite, "I want cat eye liner like yours!" The hard part is putting it gently that I am 24 and you are 65, you most likely can't or shouldn't be wearing the same makeup that I have on. Eyeshadows and eyeliners are probably the number one cosmetic item that needs to be changed with age. For eyeshadow products there are different formulas (powder, cream, liquid) that come in different forms like loose powders, pressed powders, baked powders, cream sticks, or pots of cream shadows. Every different type of eyeshadow will have different application methods, for example you typically want to apply a loose powder with a wet brush. The finish of the eyeshadow is probably the most important thing you want to consider when you are trying to find the right shadow for your age. Finishes are considered either matte, satin, shimmer, glitter, metallic, or luster matte. Teens and girls in their 20s can wear pretty much anything you want. The only thing you will want to consider is your skin tone and type. Women in their 30s still have a pretty good palette to work with. At this age you mostly want to consider your profession and your sense of self. If you want to wear blue glitter shadow then by all means wear it, but if you're a lawyer I hope you are wearing it in an appropriate and classy way. Not like MiMi from the Drew Carey show. Your eyelids may still be really firm and not yet crepey. Crepey is a term used to describe loose, tissue paper like eye lids. This will happen to everyone and it will happen sooner if you are not using the proper anti aging products. Believe me, no one wants their eyelids to be crepey. They move when you try to apply makeup to them and it makes blending a lot harder. The specific age that you need to really start changing your makeup is undefined. It will be different for everyone based on how aged their skin is. The more crepe like your lids are the less shimmer you want to use. Women need to make a transition into using only matte eyeshadows after their eyes become extremely aged. Shimmers, satins, creams, and liquids will only settle into your wrinkles and make them look more intense. Mattes will sit nicely and just create definition around the eye are. Eyeliner is also a cosmetic that needs to be altered with age. A winged liner will elongate the eye. This is so on trend right now. I throw a winged liner on probably six days a week because I feel it completes my makeup. The winged liner is not a good look on a grandmother though. If you have crepey lids that are sagging and starting to hooded you probably won't be able to apply a nice winged liner and therefor it will not look as good on you as it does on a 20 something. Winged liner is tricky enough to apply without having to tug and move your lids (YOU SHOULD NEVER TUG YOUR EYELIDS!) The other important factor to consider when choosing a liner based on your age is the color. Black can look really harsh and so brown is a nicer option for a lot of aging women. Greys and deep blues are also really good choices because they will define your lash line without looking too intense. The last thing I want to talk about is foundation. Women want flawless looking skin. Women want flawless skin actually. There are thousands of foundations and they are all going to be different. Some will be best for dry skin, some for oily, some are long wearing, some are full coverage. Like all other cosmetics, the younger you are the easier it is to wear anything you want. Great skin makes for great makeup. Just be conscious of your skin type and learn the kind that will be best for you. Full coverage foundations can be really heavy and settle into fine lines and wrinkles easier than something like a lightweight BB Cream will. That being said I think it is really important to acknowledge the fact that a thick foundation will look cakey and settle into wrinkles if you have very mature skin. A woman with very mature skin should consider wearing a lighter coverage foundation or a powder. A BB cream is another really good choice for aged skin. A lot of older women love powders and I think that is mostly nostalgia. Women in the 40's and 50's powdered their faces in the "powder room", but it is good to experiment and try new things that may fit your skin and your lifestyle better. I am one of those girls who would try a mint lipstick if you handed me one. I believe fully in trying and wearing what you want to wear, I am only suggesting to wear the best formula for your own skin and age. Similar to how not all body types look good in the same clothes, not all skin types and ages look good in the same makeup. A good tan makes almost everyone look and feel better. Tanning can make you look slimmer, your skin break out less, your mood improve, and help kick your immune system into gear. I used to manage a tanning salon and I couldn’t get enough time in the tanning beds. I was orange all year long and I thought it was fantastic. And then I got a serious reality check. My mom and dad both had skin cancer moles removed and are both fine but it didn’t make it any less scary at the time. I have a natural skin tone that might make people think I am sick. In the dead of the winter I was harassed for my “pasty probz”. I'm pretty much snow white all the time. I can sit in the shade and burn as you can see from this photo (I did have on SPF 45 this day and was only outside for about 2 hours). Laying in the sun is one of my favorite activities. I love the sun and the heat, the beach and the water but this year I will be doing little to no sun bathing. So many women come into Sephora asking for dark spot treatments or if we can cover their dark spots (caused from sun damage throughout their lives). There are some treatments but they will all take a very long time to work and a very large monetary commitment. I can also say that in my opinion we do not have a concealer in our store strong enough to camouflage a dark spot 100% without other products as well. Another kind of skin damage the sun causes is wrinkles. Wrinkles are terrifying. Once you have them they do not go away. There are some very pricy products that can and will help the appearance of wrinkles, but once again you have to be committed to using them daily. I am very uninterested in spending the rest of my life trying to correct the damage I’ve already done to my skin so I am in no way trying to do more damage. Self tanning is my new best friend. There are so many brands and forms of self tanner to choose from. There are lotions, mouse, oils, instant tans, gradual tans, tans that last 3 days and tans that last 3 weeks. I love St. Tropez (pronounced San tro-pay) tan right now but I am very interested in trying the Vita Liberata pHenomenal 2-3 week tan. The key things to remember if you are going to self tan are: 1)exfoliate and shave immediately before 2) you need a glove or kabuki brush in order to best buff your tan in and look the most natural 3) do not shower for at least 4 hours in order to ensure the best benefits (the longer the better unless your tanning product has different directions). 4) Using lotion liberally after you have tanned and cleansed your skin will extend the life of your fake tan. Ok, so a main argument for tanning and for sunbathing is that Americans lack Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a fat soluble hormone needed for growing healthy bones and supporting a strong immune system. Vitamin D starts to be created in the skin when the skin is exposed to sunlight. The kidneys then convert this substance into active vitamin D that can start to support the immune system. So yes, tanning beds and direct sunlight can help your body produce more Vitamin D. Tanning beds are ridiculous. Tanning beds are sooooooo ridiculous. Its like smoking cigarettes. Ew. I will admit I know how good it feels to lay in a hot tanning bed especially in the middle of a New York winter but come on, get over it. Get a cup of hot chocolate and a kitten- you’ll be fine. Tanning beds typically only emit UVA rays. UVA rays are the rays that cause deep skin damage that will come to the surface when you get older. Going outdoors while the sun in shining is a much better way of getting Vitamin D. At least this way you’re getting some fresh air and paying doing some physical activity? If you insist of being in the sun all day wear sunscreen. Wearing sunscreen is the best way to prevent skin damage from the sun. Sunburns are not only insanely painful but they are also a sure way to cause skin damage and potentially cancer. There are two types of sunscreens: chemical and mineral. Chemical sunscreens are the most common and the less expensive sunscreens. The main chemicals in this type of sunscreen are avobenzone, oxybenzone, octisalate, and octinoxate. These are a bunch of chemicals that I do not expect anyone to know about. The main thing to know is that avobenzone is one of the best ingredients for protecting against UVA damage, however it breaks down in sunlight so it has to be stabilized by other chemicals in order to make it into a sunscreen. The toxicity level in chemical sunscreens can be pretty high. They can cause hormonal disruptions and can irritate the skin. Mineral sunscreens contain either zinc oxide or titanium dioxide in order to protect in the skin from UVA (longer rays that penetrate the skin more deeply) and UVB (shorter rays that cause surface damage to the skin). Like chemical sunscreens, mineral sunscreens do need chemical stabilizers in order to make them last longer in the sun. Spray sunscreens should be avoided because there is a good chance you will inhale all these toxic chemicals into your body. Also, higher SPF does not mean you are getting better sun protection. It does mean you probably think you don’t have to apply as often. This is false. Higher SPF has to be applied just as often and also has more chemicals in it. An SPF of 30-50 is the safest way to go. |
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