Make-up hints

I put a MUCH lighter shadow on the inner corner of my eyes almost halfway across, then a dark shadow over the other half. I don't use eyeliner, so I do use the dark shadow and mascara on my bottom lashes. The light at the inner corner makes me look awake.

Egal, the best way to stop eyelash pulling is to brush some fine face powder or cornflower on the ends of the lashes with a soft blush-brush first.  This does two things, 1) It absorbs any moisture/humidity (which causes the lashes to stick to the curler) on the lashes, 2) It helps to thicken and separate the lashes to give a natural finished 'look'. I have lived by this routine for nearly forty years and it worked well until they started to make mascara almost wet and packaged it in packs which don't allow you to pull the wand out to see the texture of the goop inside. Now I have about 1000 types of mascara and the best one seems to be the Rimmel brand.

Abbadoodles, the eyeliner thing is so 'retro' I can't believe it's back!  We used to do that in the 60's and it was a hard thing to do then.  Nobody's eyes are exactly the same, so if you have to outline something that is shaped differently, you are just making it more obvious to the onlooker.  I liked a softer brown/taupe line that wasn't so obvious, still do, but can't help but laugh to see it back again.

Sheila.

Dream, that comment made me smile! But I know what you mean. They have done it that way for so long that when I see them without it, they look naked!

I am finding that one color over all eye area and a little gel pot eye liner from Bobbi Brown is working GREAT. Not using mascara at all now.

Is it Latisse???

What works best for me that I use two eye liner colors. A dark gray liner under my eyes that try to draw a thin line from about half way out. And for my upper lid I use a black liner that I draw a thin line along my lash line.  If the liner comes on darker then the line definitely needs to be thiner but it the liner comes on lighter then it can be a little thicker.  I finish it off with some water proof black mascara.  The regular mascara made my eyes itch and would smudge especially in the summer. I do dab a little powder on my eye lid and lashes prior to applying my liner and mascara.

Iodine, you've tried everything!!! You like latisse?

Surgery?  What surgery are you turning down?  BTW, I am finally recovering from my surgery last spring.  Six weeks ago if you'd asked me about it I would have told you it was the worst thing I ever did in my life, but now, I think it's the best thing.  I don't miss those wrinkles on bit!!!

Miz 

Hey my chiquitas (esp Raye and Tina)...what was that shade of Opi y'all recommended? It's like a blush hue, a very pale pink..? I found myself in front of the Opi display at a loss and I don't want to spend money on a shade that looks like  the bajillion others I've bought which are either too pink or too white. Didn't it have a "marital" theme?

Also, what top coat do you recommend? I need something tough to last through all of my initial wakeboarding lessons (where I expect alotta crash 'n burn!)!

~Marin

Sheila - what type of top coat do you use? I look in my drawer here at work and I have Nail Envy by OPI, which is a nail strengthener - I wonder if that will work as a base coat? I do like Sally Hansen polish as well, as it has something in it that makes my  nails stronger. I have an older OPI (maybe from last year) called La Paz-itively Hot, that I am wearing. Sort of a brightish pink - nice for summer and goes well with a tan.

Tina - did you ever try any of those Frizz Ease products by John Freida? I have some serum from that line that works really well as long as I have softened water. Down in Myrtle Beach, we had hard water and my hair was frizzy even with the serum. May have been the humidity also, but it is hot and humid here today and I am not having that problem. Now one of my girlfriends told me about a product she uses and darn it, I can't remember the name. Something strange. Helpful, aren't I? I will ask her and report back. She has wavy/can be frizzy hair - but with this stuff - her hair is softly wavy with no frizz at all.

Raye, I can't remember what my top coat is, although it may be one of the Sally Hansen top coats, the bottle is at home. I think the nail strengthener would work as a base coat, some of the Sally Hansen base coats are also nail strengtheners. One color I have (soft pink with a white tone) is a Sally Hansen with a 'diamond' on the bottle. It is supposed to resist chipping like a diamond. I do have a hot pink polish (not name brand) I bought last October for Halloween (I was Brittany Spears - with a frizzy blonde wig) that I have put on my toe-nails this summer - just because I wanted to.

I just went to the Sally Hansen site and they have a color checker where you put in your nail length, shape, skin tone and you can check out colors on nails with your skin tone. It was fun checking out the colors without committing to buying anything. http://www.sallyhansen.com/

Sheila

Right now I have the diamond strength passion flower creme on my finger nails. I go between this and the bamboo shoot color. My bottle of top coat is almost empty so I will be looking at getting a new bottle this weekend, I may try the instant dry top coat by Sally Hansen. My nails are beginning to start showing some wear on them, so I will probably start my manicure process this weekend. I know it takes a couple of days but when I try to do several coats in one evening, I end up with smeared nail polish and this system works for me.

I have voted a couple of times for the Aerosmith fan.

Sheila

Cristl - my hair came back differently as well; it was always wavy, but when it was about 2" like yours, it became curly (tight curly) and the color was off. Mine came back much darker - but an odd shade - I used a temporary Clairol dye to take away some of that ironish black look my hair had. When the dye washed out, my color was dark, but a nice dark.

I ditched the wig three months post chemo and wore a banana over my head - I felt safer that way.  Accessories: I would wear headbands, stretchy ones or the hard ones and then, as my hair grew longer, I started using little clips. In the pic below, I am 9 months post chemo and was able to use the clips. For me, I couldn't wait for the bangs to come in - they seemed to have taken the longest to grow.

I think getting a little trim is a great idea; there are still chemicals in your hair from the chemo and it is good to that hair trimmed. I had a few tiny trims after my hair started coming back in.

Hang in there - little by little you will see a difference. Don't wash your hair too much, as you don't want it to dry out and use a nice conditioner and maybe a leave-in conditioner as well. Oh, I also used a sticky gel-like product to bring the tiny curls out and make them more defined and controlled.