midlife beauty

The New Foundation Bases: Bobbi Brown BB Cream & CK One

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in Makeup

In my eternal quest for that product which will miraculously render me if not beautiful, then at least damn-I-look-good, I’m always open to trying something new.  This month, I have two contenders, both of which can be compared, favorably or not, to the Laura Mercier and Bare Minerals I’m already using.

The first is Bobbi Brown BB Cream.  You have heard about the BB creams, haven’t you? Of course you have. But let me review: the BB creams are an Asian, of-the-moment import.  They are touted as having miraculous curative powers and, in fact, the BB stands for Blemish Balm.  The backstory is that BB was developed in the 60s by a German dermatologist for her post-laser patients to use to cover the immediate effects of the laser and to speed healing.  From Germany, BB migrated to Korea and became a popular favorite for Asian women wanting that porcelain look.  Europeans took it up soon after and now, because we must have whatever they’re having, it has come to America. Depending on the manufacturer, the formulations of the BB cream are different–and so are the promises.

Bobbi Brown’s BB Cream is touted as a moisturizer, treatment, spf and foundation, all in one tube. It’s got a bunch of unpronouncable, but seemingly natural products that are meant to, among other things, reduce dark spots, boost collagen production, protect from the dreaded free radicals and provide broad spectrum UVA/UVB spf.  Not only that, but ”Light Reflective Pearls instantly brighten dull skin.”

I got a sample at Nordstrom’s and here’s what I found: it’s thick and even the lightest application makes for a dense coverage. I can see why it would be great for covering blemishes, but that’s one problem I don’t have.  It also feels heavy, almost like a skin on top of my skin, and I can feel myself sweating underneath it.  Finally, it has very quickly settled into my pores, which makes for a most unappealing mottled effect.  Excuse me while I go wash it off…

Obviously, I won’t be returning to the Bobbi Brown counter for a full-size tube, but that’s just me.  What I want in a foundation of that sort is something very light.  I’m not looking to create the illusion of perfect skin; I just want a product that will kinda even things out.  If you’re looking for more coverage, then definitely try this. Go to Nordstrom; get a sample; see what you think.

The CK One 3-in-1 Face Makeup is part of the recently released cosmetic line coming from the Calvin Klein brand. Note that I say ‘brand’ because I’m not sure that Calvin himself ever sees any of “his products” these days. Still, the CK brand is a good one, that I associate with classy simplicity which sounds to me like a very good thing for a makeup line.

The 3-in-1 part of the CK One is that a serum, primer and foundation have all been mixed together, ostensibly saving time and, I suppose, money. The promotional bumpf reads, “Triple-treated pigment technology mimics skin for an effortlessly natural, radiant finish.”

CK One is another relatively thick foundation but it applies very easily (yes, I used a brush).  Just one pump from the bottle did my entire face, and the coverage was excellent.  It dried to a matt finish and felt weightless on my skin.  Yes, it was “effortlessly natural”; as for “radiant finish”, not really (it’s a matt, after all).  It’s oil-free, non-comedogenic and has an spf of 5.  The low spf isn’t an issue for me, especially since I’ll use the CK One as an evening foundation for when I’m pulling out all the makeup stops.

So that’s one hit–the CK One 3-in-1–and one miss–the Bobbi Brown BB Cream.  Not bad–especially considering that the miss was a sample.  The moral to the story is to always try to get samples of new products. Most stores will accommodate that and some on-line sellers have lenient return policies.

Have I tempted you to try one of these new foundations? Tell me why or why not in the Comments.

 

 

 

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When & How to Use Bare Minerals

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in Makeup

Bare Minerals from Bare Escentuals is the original mineral-based powder foundation that came out about five years ago.  Being an Early Adopter in makeup as well as electronics, I bought the kit–again from Sephora–back then.  I looked at it, looked at the CD that came with it and got totally intimidated.  Then I saw Leslie, the woman who first marketed the stuff, demonstrate the Swirl,Tap, Buff technique on TV and I gathered up my courage to try it myself:

There is something about that buffing process that appeals to me. It seems so much more thorough than just slathering on some foundation. I can get quite meditative about my Swirl,Tap, Buff.

The only caveat: I have to make sure my face is “properly hydrated” before using this, which means using a good moisturizer. It’s best, I’ve found, in the heat of summer, and I always use a primer underneath.

That said, the trick to more complete coverage is to build it up with multiple Swirl, Tap & Buff applications; this is not the time to load up your brush with product.  Have patience and you’ll be rewarded with an incredibly natural look, probably more than a traditional foundation base will give you.

Have you tried the mineral-based makeup?  What’s your opinion?  Is one brand better than another?  

 

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My Personal History of Foundation, in several parts

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in Makeup

This is a series of posts about that goop you put on your face to make it look nice. Face Paint. Spackle. A glossing of color just to even out the skin tones. Whatever.

When we were young (and cute), we probably didn’t wear such stuff.  At least, I–maven of makeup from the earliest days–didn’t.  I wore eye-makeup and maybe some rouge (as we called it then), but foundation  or base (as we call it now)–nope.

When did I start? I think my gateway drug to base (free-base?) was a compact of cream foundation that was applied with a dampened sponge. I was in love with that sponge. And with the way I could control the amount of product that was deposited on my face.

That last is important: if there’s one thing you want to avoid, it’s Overdoing. The. Foundation.  It’s a temptation, I know.  If I apply enough of this stuff, then my face will look picture perfect like the models in the magazines.  Who are airbrushed.  Of course, if I get that look, I can’t move my face or smile or speak because the effect will be shattered into a million (okay, only a hundred or so) wrinkles.  Because I am no longer young and cute.

So what do I use?  Have a look at my Foundation tray:

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up clockwise:

  1. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer (spf20)
  2. Calvin Klein CK one 3-in-1 Face Makeup (spf8)
  3. Bobbi Brown BB Cream (spf35)
  4. Bare Minerals Foundation (spf15)

The first thing you’ll notice is that all of them have some measure of sun protection.  That’s good.  Of course, all spfs are not equal, as we’ve been told incessantly.  And we’ve also been told that we never use enough sun screen to properly do the job.  That being the case, I always do a sun screen moisturizer under the foundation.  I am nothing if not well-protected.

Why do I have so many kinds of foundation, you ask?

  • Because I’m a makeup junkie.
  • Because I always think the newest one is the best.
  • Because I need different kinds of products depending on the weather and the state of my skin.
  • Because the event I’m going to often determines the amount of coverage I want,
and did I mention
  • because I’m a makeup junkie,
  • and I always think the newest one is the best.
That said, over the next couple of days, I will give you the low-down on my two ‘old’ foundations and my two ‘new’ ones”.
This is a serious subject, people, complete with scientific data and personal BS.  I’ll be asking you to tell me what you use–and why (or why not). Pretend that we’re in the ladies room at that restaurant our SOs have taken us to.  I’m peering at your face and you’re peering at mine .  ”What do you use?” we exclaim in unison!  Snap, we say…and then we fall to sharing the details, which are–.

 

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Advanced Style: The Thin End of the Wedge

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in Body

For those of you who rant about ageism in the media, for those of you who are mad that popular culture ignores people who qualify for Medicare, for those of you griping about the way that the fashion industry has shut seniors out–I offer you example A: Ari Seth Cohen’s book, based on his blog, Advanced Style.

Over the past several years, Cohen has wandered the world taking photos of women and men who he finds stylish. Almost every day another photo brings another 70-100+ year old that is still invested in how they dress. His taste is eclectic. So is theirs.  Sometimes I see the most stylish woman and think, “that’s who I want to be when I grow up.”  Sometimes the outfits are more what I would call getups, but then I think, “if someone was a kooky dresser at 23, why should they have to change their style at 83?”

I started the blog–Ari Cohen says–in order to change people’s perception of aging and show that there is much fun to be had once you reach 80, 90 and 100 years old. Women often tell me that after 40 they have started to feel invisible. Throughout the last two months young girls have reached out to tell me that they look forward to growing old like the Advanced Style Ladies. Older women have commented that my photos have given them the permission to dress up and feel good about themselves. I am so grateful for the impact the book is having on everyone and have to give credit to my own incredible grandmothers. I know the ladies and gentleman that I meet have surely changed my perspective on aging and given me something to look forward to.

Cohen’s blog and his Ladies have become an acknowledged part of the international fashion scene.  Aging women are suddenly in style! The fact, of course, that the poobahs of the fashion world, the Wintour’s et al, are getting older is not insignificant.  Relevance starts at the top, after all.

True, it’s a niche market–which is what MidLifeBloggers and MidLife-Beauty are, after all. It is, however, for those of us headed in that direction, the thin end of the wedge to increased visibility and viability.  Now it’s up to us to carry on and make our stand.

Go have a look at Advanced Style, the blog, and come back here to tell me what you think.  What style do you plan NOT to give up as you grow older?

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Growing Eyelashes

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in Makeup

Eyelashes are in.  You knew that didn’t you?  You could tell because there isn’t a female appearing on TV that isn’t sporting mega-eyelashes.  I liked the look, maybe because it took me back to the days when slapping on a pair of false eyelashes was as natural as putting on mascara.  That was back in the ’70s, when I also drew in Twiggies with eyeliner beneath my bottom lashes and wore my skirts hemmed way up to here.

I used to be a dab hand at applying false eyelashes and I figured it was like riding a bicycle; I’d do it from muscle memory.  So I bought myself a new set of  at the drug store that came with their own little tube of glue and set about applying them.  Muscle memory indeed!  The trick to successfully applying false eyelashes is that you’ve got to get them as close to your natural lashes as possible.  To put it bluntly, I couldn’t.  Maybe it was me or maybe it was the lashes or maybe it was the glue, but I never managed to get them closer than a quarter inch away.  Not good, I tell you.  Not even passable.

Did this mean I had to give up the idea of lush eyelashes?  No, it does not.  I merely grew my own.  Not via Latisse, which goes for upwards of $100 a pop, not to mention the doctor’s fee when you get the prescription.    I bought a tube of RapidLash, and every night after I wash my face and apply my going-to-bed facial products, I apply this as well.  It goes on like a clear eyeliner, just on the top lid along the lash line.

Yeah, I didn’t expect it to work either.  Every day I’d peer at my eyelashes to see if new ones had sprouted.  Nope.  But then one day as I was getting ready to go out, I thought I noticed something different when I applied mascara.  My lashes were, well, longer.  A couple of weeks later, the result was undeniable: I now had long eyelashes.  Really long eyelashes.  Batt-ably long eyelashes.  It was kind of creepy, in a way, how they just grew, like they were unspooling from inside my eyelid., and I wondered where or when they might end up.

However, I also saw why some women become addicted to the application of mascara: it’s fun when your eyelashes are really really long.  And I flashed my lashes in the face of all my friends, just to show off, to share the news.  Which is, actually, how this site got started.

Before: My naked eyelashes after RapidLash

After: an application of plain old Maybelline mascara.

I bought my Rapidlash at Ulta, the beauty superstore, for about $45.00.  My friend, Jan, who is the leading member of our Advisory Board, got hers online.

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Long Hair: Who says it’s wrong for older women?

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in Hair

I’m growing my hair.  I think.  I last had it cut about six months ago.  It was the third strike and out for that particular hairdresser, and I haven’t found anyone to replace her.  Well, I’m replacing her, actually.  I have some haircutting shears (they came with the dog grooming kit I bought for Molly) and I am, from time to time, using them.  I figure I can fuck my hair up as well as the next stylist and then I only have myself to blame.  Plus, my prices are low.

The real question is, however, how long should I go?  I love the look of very long hair that I see on celebrities. I fantasize about swinging my shiny, cascading locks like Kyle Richards of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Or casually pulling it all back into a ponytail like Bethany Frankel.  Then I think about the reality of my hair, which is not glossy black and has never done that cascading thing. And I think about the admonishment we all grew up with: no long hair on older women.

Why is that, I wonder? What’s the deal with older women being restricted to short hair? It must be a relatively recent thing since until the early 20th century, women simply didn’t cut their hair, ever.  It was buns all around for everyone, young and old. At what point did the shingled style that was once the province of the young, with-it Flapper became the default hairstyle of older women?

It seems to me that the real question is, what is it about long hair that created the cultural rule that it  was improper for an older woman?  The easy answer to that question is that there is more money to be made by hair care producers when young women, who are more insistently involved in their grooming, are the focus. But I believe blaming advertisers or manufacturers or even our consumer culture is a kneejerk answer, true to a certain extent but it doesn’t go far enough to really answer the question.

If I dig down deeper into the issue, I have to ask: what are the images of long-haired women that come to mind: harridan, witch, grotesque, madwoman.

Let’s see if I can parse this out: Hair is a cultural symbol that we use to signify something about ourselves. As such, it is also a marker for the ways in which society works to inscribe cultural rules. Long hair is a symbol of women’s sexuality (or as Paul put it, “their crowning glory”) and as such, it must be restricted to those who are sexuality viable. That means women who are fertile. Long hair on women whose fertility is a thing of the past offends our sense of the natural order of things. When that happens, the adjudicators of our culture work to restore the natural order. They proscribe and punish those who transgress. Thus, you get the media, specifically women-oriented mass market media, advising older women that long hair is really unattractive on them.

Except. The times they are a-changing. Suddenly in 2012, something different is happening. You get Hillary Clinton, aged 65, with long hair.

And writer Dominque Browning on the Today show with long hair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this gorgeous model. And this one. And this one.

The thin end of the wedge these long-haired older women are, and I shall take them as my role models. Now I just have to decide whether long hair looks good on me. But that’s the stuff of another post.

What do you think about long hair and older women? More to the point, how long is your hair and at what age will you think you need to cut it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Buying A Bathing Suit

Body

The fact is that my figure flaws are exaggerated, exacerbated, and made paramount by the wearing of a swim suit.

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Introducing: MidLife-Beauty.com

Uncategorized

We’re hungry for information about all things cosmetic, even those of us who used to be above such things….MidLife-Beauty is a window onto what my friends and I are saying to each other about makeup and hair, our skin and our bodies.

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