Help! How Do I Pick the Right Foundation? - 
I remember my drugstore beauty days when I stood in the drugstore aisle trying to figure out my best foundation bet by holding up the bottle to my face. I inevitably picked the wrong shade and walked around with the telltale line at the jaw. These days, we're lucky most department and drugstores have very liberal return policies. Now you can buy a slew of foundations, try them out and keep the one you like, returning the rest.
I got an email recently from a 41-year-old woman with combination skin and some rosacea. She has tried numerous foundations and formulas and has yet to find her perfect foundation fit. She asked my advice. Find out what I told her in, "Help! How Do I Pick the Right Foundation?"
Some tips when picking foundation:
- You'll likely need a lighter shade in summer and a darker shade in winter. Get more tips in "How to Pick the Perfect Foundation."
- Don't cover your entire face with foundation, the older you are, the more it settles into your wrinkles, causing a "cakey appearance." Only use foundation on the spots where you need it most. See my list of 13 best foundations.
- Plump up face with a moisturizer before foundation. You'll find the foundation glides over moist, dewy skin better than dry skin. Get more tips in "How to Even Out Your Skin Tone."
Image: Photodisc for Getty Help! How Do I Pick the Right Foundation? originally appeared on About.com Beauty on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 20:29:02. Permalink | Comment | Email this
How Much Skincare is Too Much? - 
Every night I use Pond's cold cream to cleanse my skin. I follow the cleansing with moisturizer before applying eye cream and Retin-A. As you may know by now, I'm convinced Retin-A will be my secret to looking 60 when I'm really 70. Once every couple weeks I may treat myself to a microdermabrasion scrub or a hydrating mask.
In the morning, I use a washcloth dipped in organic coconut oil to wash off the dry skin flakes that sometimes come from Retin-A. I follow that (sometimes) with antioxidant rich Vitamin C cream and I top that with La-Roche Posay's SPF 60 tinted sunscreen.
After all of this, it's amazing I find the time to floss.
Dermatologists are always touting retinols, antioxidants AND microdermabrasion, but if one is on a prescription-strength retinoid (like my Retin-A), should she also be subjecting her skin daily to a Vitamin C cream and twice a month to a scrub? I was wondering how much is too much, so I turned to Maryann Mikhail, a dermatologist at Manhattan's Spring Street Dermatology with that exact question.
Find out what she had to say.
Image: Photographer's Choice
How Much Skincare is Too Much? originally appeared on About.com Beauty on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 23:09:38. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Rancho La Puerta's Famous Guacamole Recipe (Made With Peas!) -  Last week I wrote about my stay at Rancho La Puerta spa in Baja, Mexico, where I exercised all week, got massages and facials and fell in love with a healthy guacamole recipe made with avocados and peas.
People wrote to me asking for more information, so I called up the Ranch's corporate offices in San Diego and they happily sent it to me their Aztec Guacamole recipe.
Turns out you use a cup of frozen peas for each avocado to make this delicious guac. Don't like peas? Don't worry, you don't taste them at all. I was blown away when I found out the guacamole had peas in it. You can also use cooked asparagus tips, edamame or broccoli. Other ingredients are expected: lime juice, onion, cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, tomato, sea salt and pepper. Get the recipe.
Photo courtesy Rancho La Puerta
Rancho La Puerta's Famous Guacamole Recipe (Made With Peas!) originally appeared on About.com Beauty on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 18:10:11. Permalink | Comment | Email this
My Secret to Amazing Brows - It's weird, but every once in awhile someone compliments me on my brows. Of course this leads me to wonder, "Why not my eyes? Don't you like my hair? Is 'brows' the BEST YOU CAN DO?" But I take the compliment graciously and tell them my secret to groomed brows: threading.
Every few weeks I wander into a little threading shop underground at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NY (yes, that's "30 Rock" to you) and I get my brows done for a mere $8 -- $10 with tip. They do a great job, it doesn't hurt too much (not like waxing) and I'm out of there in 5 minutes.
You can find threading shops in larger towns and cities. They seem to be on every other block in NY. I highly recommend you try one on your next visit to the big city. Here's how it works.
My Secret to Amazing Brows originally appeared on About.com Beauty on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 20:11:08. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Goodbye Fashion Week, See Ya in September - Fashion Week in New York ended today and I missed the whole thing (again) despite living in New York and working only 10 blocks from the tents.
I used to go to Fashion Week and I love looking at the B-list celebrities (sometimes A-list!), but I have a day job and this means I'm too booked to devote the many hours of shows and waiting in lines that it takes to properly cover Fashion Week. Also, the makeup and hair trends are always just a little too bizarre for the average person, in my opinion, and the average Mrs. Joe America doesn't get, or always care about the concept of presenting fashion six months before it hits the shops.
My fellow colleague at About, Women's Fashion Guide Cynthia Nellis, always goes to Fashion Week and she's got some great buzz on this year's shows and the hottest trends for Fall 2010. Check out her coverage on her site.
Goodbye Fashion Week, See Ya in September originally appeared on About.com Beauty on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 20:19:33. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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