Forget Self-tanners.

Forget the self tanners

Maybe you know something that I don’t, but self tanners have been disastrous for me. It hasn’t made any difference if I bought an expensive one or one from the drugstore. The result has been orange or a dull brown and yes, with streaks. I did all the things that you were supposed to do. I exfoliated my legs so there was a nary a hair on them. I moisturized. I applied carefully and then I allowed it to dry. That meant no hopping into bed, putting on socks or hose or even shoes. However, hours later the result was always uneven; my feet were the worst. They had splotches of white and orange. It seems that once I put shoes on (even after drying for hours) the outlines made by my sandals were white and I was left with toes that were bright orange and white. I tossed them and thought I would be left to deal with fish white legs. I live in Florida. Those are scoffed at as “one week tourist legs’’. Nonetheless, wherever you live when you choose not to wear panty hose you do want your legs to look good. I found an answer. It is the new body moisturizers with a tint of color. These are somewhat similar to the facial moisturizers with a tint that I often use (along with SPF sunscreen 30 or higher.) These are body moisturizers and can be used on your arms, neck as well as legs; the do keep an even subtle tone. If you want to go darker put the moisturizer on successive days. I use a light tone although there is a medium tone available as well. Be sure to look for the shade on the tube. I like L’Oreal’s Sublime Glow and Dove’s Energy Glow. (That one says self tanner on the tube but it is not to be confused with the self tanners in the tanning section of the pharmacy). A particular favorite is Smooth Glow by Sally Hansen which also removes stubble as well as moisturizing and giving a nice color (This brand is for all skin tones. How dark depends on how often you apply it). I was somewhat skeptical of “stubble reducing’’ but it does work. I don’t want to shave my legs every day and this truly does remove stubble; it leaves your legs feeling as soft as a baby’s bottom. One note of caution. When people look at us they see arms, legs, and face (If we are wearing a bathing suit they see even more). Nothing looks more fake than dark legs, white arms and maybe a different color on our faces. For that reason I blend the facial tint moisturizers onto my neck and ears. Then I use the tinted body moisturizers on my throat, the top of my chest, my arms and my back. I admit when I first tried the tinted moisturizers I forgot my arms and ears which remained pale and stood out in stark contrast to the tinted parts of my body. One more note if you are fair don’t go crazy using these every day. The operative word is “tint” not baked in the sun. A big plus with all of them is they moisturize and at 55 and older we need all the moisture and most cases oil we can get.

Beauty Products Hits and Misses

Cosmetic hits and misses

One woman’s make-up find is another woman’s “waste of money”. I will weigh in on these and then tell me if you agree or not.

I love body wash and have bought the generic at times because I just didn’t see much difference among brands. However, I found have found one I love. It’s Dove supreme Cream Oil body wash.

It has moisturizer but also softening oil. This makes my skin feel great, not oily, just smooth and soft. One note: about half way the cream takes some effort to get it out of the bottle. I re-seal it and put it under hot water. A sharp tap on the bottle gives me what I need. A little goes a long way.

When have I felt ripped off? When Revlon launched its Vital Radiance was intrigued. Supposedly it is designed for mature skin. I have used and loved some Revlon products since the days of Fire and Ice lipstick. Revlon put out one of the earliest anti-aging creams Ultima. I still buy Revlon products but not Vital Radiance. I felt it was overpriced and designed to appeal to consumers eager to look good after 50 but basically the products were the same. In some cases, not as good. I did not like the eye shadow which dried up despite having the cap on tight. I found the under eye concealer not as good as other brands. I couldn’t believe Revlon was charging that much more for products that were inferior, OK anybody out there disagree?

 

The best foundation? Here are my picks.

Of course, I have not tried all of them and frankly when cash is tight (like it is in this economy) I tend to bypass the department store products. If I could be convinced that it was truly worth the extra bucks I would probably cut back on something else to buy it. Until then I am in the drugstore or Wal-Mart. I like either the tinted moisturizers that I have mentioned before or a cream make up. I like the coverage and I am careful not to apply too much so it lands in any wrinkle or crease.  I think the most important thing to do however is to first go to a make up department and get the usual make over. If you walk out with only one product (hold on to your willpower here) let it be foundation. I say that because I think the single biggest problem with foundation is finding the right color. Do you want to know how many pink toned or yellow toned foundations I have thrown out? I am a neutral but that means trying to figure out what shade to buy when the colors are Buff, Sand, Natural Beige, and Light Beige. This is when it pays to take that department store foundation with you to the pharmacy. Forget those colorful names. Look at the color code and match it. I know half the time the color on the bottom of the bottle or the chart is different from the contents. Return it! I have. It isn’t my problem if the color shown is not the color in the bottle. So far I have always been able to exchange it even after the bottle was open. Why not? Look at all the money I spend at that store not to mention the money I spend on other products by that cosmetic company. One other note, and I don’t know why it took so long to dawn on me. Using a tinted moisturizer gives a build up of color to the skin. I tend to use the tinted ones more in the summer and that is why my make-up is a slightly darker shade in the summer.

My own favorites are; Neutrogena Healthy Skin Cream Powder and Clinque’s Superbalanced compact make-up. Advanced Radiance by Cover Girl has been a favorite. That is until I realized I was wearing too light a shade. I usually avoid oil-free products, but Clinque’s Superfit make-up does provide a luminous look.  Occasionally I use the mineral make-up but I find that it leaves my skin dry and flaky by the end of the day. However, I do love the mineral finishing powder even if I have a cream make-up but not if   the foundation includes powder,