Make-up hints

dash

I like to use a lipliner and then lightly fill in the entire lip with the pencil and add some gloss. It looks great and lasts longer than lipstick does on me.

BethNY

I rarely wear anything on my lips except gloss.  On the very rare day that I want to wear some insane dark lip color, I use liner, and lipstick, and I hate the fact that I'm constantly checking to re-apply it.

Having such dark eyes, my face looks better playing up eyes and sticking to a clear or shimmery gloss for my lips.

iodine

Bay, I do the same thing.  I've been buying Remmel (sp) at Walgreens and wallyworld, just as good as all the expensive ones I have and no sharpening.

dash

Dotti, I'll look for the remmel brand next time I'm at walgreens. The last ones I bought from Sephora and though I loved the colors, I can't find a sharpener to fit them!

Beth-IMO, the key to the lipliner as lipstick thing is to buy a very natural shade very close to your own. Your lips will look so sweet yet anyone looking will think you must be naturally lip blessed!

marshakb

I was doing a show at the theatre where I had a big make out scene and I looked every where for lipstick that wouldn't rub off/smear easily.  I finally found that "mood' lipstick, it changes to whatever your natural shade would be and kinda stains your lips.  Lasts forever, doesn't smear and you can just put a gloss over the top to keep it fresh looking.

abbadoodles

Dottie, wattaya mean "your age?"  You think I'm an ingenue?

Anyway, I've never had lipstick run anywhere.  I'm not sure what you mean by this.  Everything stays just where I put it.  It does rub off/wear off, though.  And, I've tried making my lips larger looking by going outside the natural lip-line and I look like a freak!

My biggest problem with my lips is that they get dry and can get rough from time to time.  Has anyone used a lip exfoliator and do they work or are they just a waste of money?

Tina

Anonymous

Okay ladies, I have three words for you:

Maybelline Define-a-Lash Mascara 

It comes in a green tube.  This stuff is amazing.  I actually tried to clump it on this morning and I couldn't.  I challenge you to try it...you will not buy another mascara again I promise! 

Hugs

Me 

Anonymous

PS:  Still laughing at "lack of directional flow"

Anonymous

I love these mascara recommendations!!! Sure wish I could have an eyelash transplant though. They've just never been the same since chemo. Oh well.....

Bay.....where did you get that tank top? I want one!

~Marin

Anonymous

Regarding my lipliner ..... it's a must for me, don't have creases but it seems to "hold" the lipstick on my lips. I also color my whole lip with the lipliner and put lipstick over that. I don't use a lip brush and haven't figured out why I would except when the lipstick get real low!  Then I do use one cuz I am too cheap to throw a favorite color until its really all gone.

BethNY

lol tina-- If I ever try to lip line my lips outside the natural line to make them bigger I look like a drag queen.  I don't understand how women do it.

Marin- you do know there is such a thing as eyelashes being sewn in by plastic surgeons?  I saw it on a discovery show once I thought it was so gross.  Its like a hair transplant for eyes. UGH.  But the chic had alopecia,so it was worth it for her.

Emelee26

My hair salon glues eyelashes and you get fills every 6 weeks....a bummer if they fell off during a date though

I've used lip exfoilators and I like them..Body Shop makes one as does Benefit in Sephora - Benefit's is a kit - exfoliator and moisurizing lip stuff to put on after $28 - and it's in a cute box

iodine

Marin, I have had success with Revitalash for my lashes.  Didn't have chemo, but an hypothyroid and had tamox.

I used it for 8 weeks and was convinced I'd thrown my money down an ebay hole.  then low and behold---I have lashes, wayyyyy long enough to use a curler, even.

they arn't a Lot thicker but at least i now have something to put mascara on.

I had been just lightly lining my eyes for the longest time cause mascara was such a waste of time.

I never try to put lipliner outside my lips.  I agree, it looks weird. 

abbadoodles

Girls, I finally did the wax thing this morning with the Poetic.  It was not a happy experience.   So, once I had finished my upper lip, I just abandoned the whole thing. 

However, I do have to say that the wax did a good job except for where I was afraid to overlap my top lip with wax.  Still some fine hairies there.  The before and after treatments in the Poetic kit seem to work because, although my UL was pink for about a half hour, it has calmed right down now (about 2 hours later).  Since I have to go out today, that is a good thing.  No pink mustache for me.

Maybe I will find a salon that I can trust that does waxing.  I had an aesthetician for years but I stopped going during chemo and then there were scheduling conflicts and that kind of made me happy since I used to spend about $150-200 a month there and was kinda looking for an excuse to stop. 

Speaking of aesthetician, does anyone have a recommendation for a good but safe over-the-counter peeling cream or kit? 

Tina

Anonymous

Whats a peeling cream?

abbadoodles

You know, a glycolic peel or exfoliator.  Get the old sludge off the face.  Make way for happy, new skin cells.

iodine

Lancome used to make primordial and it was good.

I use a soft Buff Puff, and a citrus exfoliater.  I understand that Olay and some of the drug store, L'oreal, etc have very good ones.

Emelee26

I use Oil of Olay regenerist Thermal Skin Polisher - it's great!

Sorry about the awaxing..at least you don't have rips and bruises

Maybe I will get a magic carpet and ride around and wax people..lol

BethNY

the oil of olay regenerist-- is that the two step one?  if it is then thats the one I recommend.  My sister has them all, and I did the two step scrub then the wash, and I was blown away.  or was it loreal??? hmmm, I'll ask my sister.

AT HOME LIP EXFOLIATOR: take a childrens soft bristle toothbrush. A little water, and and lotion on the brush, and exfoliate away... neat lil trick I learned a few years back.

Emelee26

The Oil of Olay isn't 2 step...it's purplish with little beads and when you add water to it, it becomes warm...you use it everyday  and after a week your face is much smoother...I love it!

dash

Thanks Marin--isn't it great? I bought it last year on cafepress. They still have that design but not on a spaghetti tank. Just type in warrior breast cancer in their search engine.

Anonymous

Thanks, bay. I don't wear t-shirts though...maybe they have sweatshirts, so I'll check. I much prefer calling ourselves "warriors" to "survivors" (sounds so bedraggled!) and there is a marked near-absence of pink. I like pink, but not on my bc attire (not that I really have any). Anyway..............

I'm still struggling with finding the right cover-up/concealer/highlighter for my under-eyes. I seriously look like a concentration camp survivor with the very dark circles under my eyes. Everything I've tried just clumps up and looks cakey, even when I mix it with moisturizer first.  Wish I could grow some new skin.....

~Marin

Emelee26

Marin..Laura Mercier makes a great undereye concealer in a little pot - it's very creamy and dries nicely and covers everything..check it out on nordstrom.com...it's worth it!

BethNY

I like the neutrogena stick or the physicians formula sticks.  They are color correcting, depending on what color you need to even out.

iodine

Years ago, before TV sales shows, Adrian Arpel had a light blue conceler for the under eyes.  it is used on TV makeup to hide dark circles.  Use it under your foundation.  Works really well.

Guess it reflects the light or something.

Raye99

It's not really a concealer, but someone recommended SmashBox photo finish, which I am going to order from Sephora. Supposedly, it fills in the fine lines so you can apply the foundation with the lines appearing more noticeable.

Also, someone (again too lazy to go back and read the posts) recommended sharpening the eyeliner pencil every two days, which I've been doing and what a huge difference - the result is more defined, natural lines.

thank you!

abbadoodles

Raye, you can buy a travel size of the Photo Finish and it's priced right.  You don't pay extra; in fact it's cheaper per ounce than the full-size bottle!  There are also color-corrector versions of the Photo Finish.

Marin, Smashbox also has a primer called Color Blend which they say conceals undereye discolorations. 

http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P9889&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=3990

They also have something called O-Glow (new) which is supposed to react with your own chemistry to produce a natural, all-day glow.  I do love my Tarte Cheekstain but this sounds so tempting I may have to try it. 

Tina

BethNY

my mom is alllllll about the photo finish, so it must be a great product.  She's obsessed with looking 10 yrs younger than she is.

Avoids the sun at all costs, and has such nice skin... she raves about the photo finish.

Do you guys wax/tweeze your eyebrows at home, or do you get it done? Does anyone do threading?

Anonymous

Great tips! I'm also obsessed with looking ten years younger (or 20?), so I'm gonna have to check out the photo finish stuff. Also, this is the second time I've heard the Laura Mercier stuff mentioned, so I'll look into that too.

Beth...I don't have enough eyebrow since chemo to even tweeze anything . They're mostly tattoo. How's the threading done and what's it's intent?

~Marin

BethNY

I don't thread, but theres a ton of places that do it near me.

I wax cause tweezing hurts.  I don't have a lot of brows either, but I need to keep them shapely.

I just get sick of getting them waxed, b/c there's always that one freakin person, who messes up the shape, and makes them too thin, and then I have to try to grow them back, or they are too round, and I'm soooooo not into the golden arches look for eyebrows.

I know threading hurts more, but they say you get better shape.

Still haven't done anything about the wax situation down there, although I amazed myself in the shower with my razor as I contorted my body into never before twists to get those hard to reach areas.

lol.

Marin do you tan (fake or real sun)?  I know that's the key to looking young, unless you were blessed with amazing genetics. AVOID the sun.  Which is hard, b/c we all look better and thinner and Marin in your case, your freakin insane 6 pack abs are more defined with a tan. BUT, When I see my moms friends, and truthfully, I don't really think about it probably b/c I'm young, but once my mom points it out to me I notice.  You can see SO MUCH SUN damage on them. From facial wrinkles, which I think aren't that bad, too the brown spots all over their chests from baking in the sun.

My mom (who lives on the beach and walks on it every day) is always covered up, and always has on sun block, and has been doing this since probably her late 30's.  Her skin is so beautiful.  It's so soft and I love to hold her hand or kiss her face.  When she tells people she's 57 they never believe her.

After cancer I gave up tanning, and I was a tanning junky.  Now I go for the fake stuff, and wear sun block for my romps in the sun.

I also recently heard that women who are BRCA+ are more likely to get melanoma.