A New York City Health and Beauty Blog

How To Manage Makeup When You Have a Cold

When you’re sick you almost don’t want to wear any makeup but there are ways to manage makeup when you have a cold. Statistically there’s no increased risk of contracting a cold during the change of seasons, anecdotally, people often complain of getting sick this time of year. If the fatigue, aches, sore throat and generally yucky feeling are not enough to deal with when you’re sick, looking presentable becomes infinitely more challenging.

Just when you really need to look a bit perky and less tired, managing makeup becomes a Sisyphean task- and cold-ravaged skin often feels a lot better clean and makeup free. In a perfect world, you could camp out in bed with some romance novels and apple cinnamon tea until you feel totally healthy- but chances are you’ll need to go to work, or to an event, or even to the store to stock up on NyQuil. Doing makeup when you’re sick or have a cold is a bit more difficult, but not impossible- try these tips while you heal.

La Prairie Skincare Advanced Marine Biology Day Cream SPF 20Moisturize like crazy. Nothing is as soothing when you’re sick as a nice, hot bath or shower. It clears your head and mitigates the schlumpy, groggy feeling. Try to moisturize as soon as possible after you towel off. A thick, soothing moisturizer like Dermologica’s Intensive Moisture Balance or La Prairie Skincare Advanced Marine Biology Day Cream found at Beautique UK will help maintain skin hydration, but you might want to add a stick-style moisturizer, particularly around irritated areas like your nose. Trish McEvoy’s Luxe Moisture Balm is a good spot-soother.

 

 

Fight flakes. During a cold, blotchiness and uneven skin are part of the territory, and frustratingly, foundation often rubs off or settles into dry or chapped areas. Even if you’re a mineral makeup queen, you might want to stick to a tinted moisturizer and a super-light dusting of setting powder until you’re better. Tarte’s Smooth Operator is a well-liked option, and Jemma Kidd’s Gossamer Finish Ultra Sheer Translucent Skin is finely milled enough to handle frequent touch-ups.

Be conservative. Even something as routine as mascara can be a recipe for disaster when you’re under the weather. Consider forgoing intense eyes, although curling lashes always wakes up your face. Liner and pigmented shadows also not only migrate, but can irritate already itchy, watery eyes.

Fake a healthy glow. After smoothing out skin tone, a bit of sheer blush and some soothing lip color will go a long way to minimize the overall washed-out look that comes along with being ill. Urban Decay’s Afterglow Glide-On Cheek Tint is sheer but pigmented. For lips, a tinted balm or sheer lipstick will add color without settling into flakes or cracks. Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey is a cult favorite because it’s sheer and flatters everyone, and Lucy B. Cosmetics Stung Lips Tinted Balm comes in a nice range of rich hues.

These tips will help you to look good when you have a cold. What’s your plan of attack for looking your best when you’ve got a cold? Do you have any go-to pick-me-ups?

Extending Your Haircolor, Part Two: Stalling Salon Visits

Earlier this week, we posted about best practices for coloring your hair at home and extending your haircolor. Getting to the salon, as stated, sometimes is just impossible. Things come up, excellent stylists book up- and if you, like me, have some super-premature gray hair, those in-between periods can be nearly unbearable. (It doesn’t help when your best friend points out that she didn’t realize how peppery your roots are.) Even coloring at home can be a commitment- I’ve been doing it for the better part of two decades and I still manage to touch up the sink, part of the wall and all my towels.

Whether you color at home, in a salon or have a personal stylist who touches up your roots poolside while you sip Dom Perignon, sometimes it causes less damage and work when you can color less frequently. Here are some ways to put off the task of coloring your hair a bit longer- although, very few beauty thrills are as potent as freshly tinted locks.

Color depositing shampoos: These aren’t going to dramatically change your hair hue, but they will go some way in staving off a stint in the salon chair. For me, it’s Aveda’s Black Malva. Options are available for every shade, but you might want to try a smaller size or keep the receipt when beta-ing a new product- I learned this the hard way when a British henna formula turned my black hair an unfetching eggplant color.

Wash it less: My friend Amy has the most amazing hair- and frustratingly, when you ask her what her secret is, she says it’s washing it infrequently. Finer haired girls can’t quite get away with such shenanigans, but my hair is the finest texture ever, and even I can go two showers without washing if I touch it up with heat.

A dry shampoo like Fekkai’s Au Naturel will freshen and perk up post-shower cap hair, and Bumble and Bumble’s Hair Powders come in a range of shades to boost color when removing unwanted shine. And one thing I have noticed is integral for this task is a decent shower cap. Any large one with a tight band is sufficient, but there are some cute fancy versions like Dry Divas that could make not shampooing a bit more palatable. (And adorable.) The fewer washes your hair is subject to, the longer color will last.

Be prepared: Inevitably, there will be times when your roots feel so obvious right before a proper touch-up. Luckily, there are some last-ditch options til your stylist makes space for you. Rita Hazan’s Root Concealer helps hide grays and demarcation, and Oscar Blandi’s Pronto Colore Root Touch-Up & Highlighting Pen comes in a wealth of shades to match hair accurately.

Do you have any tips or tricks for the awkward period just before you recolor?

Review: R.E.M. Spring is a Hair Removal Game Changer

REM Spring hair removal

If you’ve ever had laser hair removal before, you know that during the process you must shave areas being treated, but cannot wax, pluck or otherwise pull hair out by the root. Thusly, my daily shaving habit began. Seven years later, I am still stuck shaving. I can’t wait for stubble to grow out and wax, and plucking is not an efficient way of removing the hair. It’s been like a razor-lined prison, so I was piqued when I saw this highly rated and oft reviewed gadget on Amazon- called the R.E.M. Spring. Priced at about $19, the tool is very well made- for a spring.

The R.E.M. Spring kind of works like threading, and it doesn’t require a cream/powder/lotion mess or electricity to leave you hair-free. You bend the device into an inverted U-shape and twist the handles as you move it upward over your skin. A few caveats, though not necessarily cons- one is that it really takes about ten minutes of practice before you get the hang of the spring. It may seem ineffectual at first, but it does eventually become very effective.

That’s the other consideration- the R.E.M Spring doesn’t tickle. It pulls the hair out- several at once- quite effectively. It’s definitely not a pleasurable feeling, but eventually you get used to it and kind of welcome the minor discomfort. The spring is also super effective- it will remove the hair, even if it takes a few passes.

I have to admit, I really thought I’d seen it all when it came to the de-fuzzing game, and I lamented a possible future of daily shaving forevermore. And while I’ve got a few days of compulsive springing until I am hair-free, I forsee this little thing becoming an integral part of my beauty routine. (It comes in a velvet carry case, and is about 4″ wide, so it should fit in your makeup bag.

If you’ve been trying to break a razor addiction (a common secret among women who suffer from PCOS) or just don’t like to wait to wax, the R.E.M. Spring could break you free of both or either. Do you have a hair removal secret? What methods do you find work best?

Mascara Melee: Five Top Formulas, Road Tested

Even at their best, mascaras are a bit difficult to gauge. Very, very rarely do you find one that just “wows” you. If it doesn’t run and it doesn’t clump, it’s basically an awesome mascara, right? Even a really impactful mascara can be difficult to commit to, because you always want to find that really amazing curling, lifting, separating mascara.

Mascara also uniquely has the downside of degrading more quickly than any cosmetic. So sometimes a fantastic mascara will be amazing for ten days, before it turns into a flaky, goopy mess- which is such a shame, because when mascara is great, it can make your whole look feel exceptionally polished.

There are a few biggies in the mascara realm- some better than others and all with slightly different attributes. Let’s break down some of the best mascaras…

MAC Zoom Lash: Zoom Lash holds a special place in my MUA heart, because it was introduced when I was just starting out as a MAC freelancer. It was one of my first coveted “big girl” products, and a lot of my affection for it is based in that memory.

Bear in mind this is a controversial mascara, in as much as a mascara can be controversial. But even though the staying power isn’t the best on the market, it solidly darkens and thickens lashes and holds a curl well.

Lancome Hypnose: Earlier in the week, we discussed Lancome’s Dual Finish Pressed Powder Foundation. In the GWP that came along with it, I received a sample of this formulation. A moderate Definicils fan, I thought Hypnose would be a nice twist on Lancome’s mostly solid mascara line. I was definitely underwhelmed by the flaky formula, which called to mind Halloween costumes from when I was a kid. This formula gets some decent reviews around the web, but there are far better options at the Lancome counter.

Maybelline Full n’ Soft: I love high-end makeup, but mascara has far less of a gulf between fancy and mass-market than color products like lipstick or eyeshadow. If you’re at the supermarket or drugstore and need a mascara option stat, Maybelline’s Full n’ Soft is far better an option than the much lauded Great Lash. It defines and separates lashes without clumping, and has a lengthy makeup bag life. Definitely a diamond in the rough.

Clinique Naturally Glossy: Not one of the more dominant mascaras, Clinique’s Naturally Glossy is often overlooked and certainly underrated. This formula is great for work because it goes on thinly, but separates and darkens lashes really well. It doesn’t flake, stays put, and washes off with a minimum of fuss.

Dior DiorShow: DiorShow is another divisive mascara- one of the higher-end options on the market, and very loved by some. The formula defines and separates, without getting too thick or intense – good for day and night.

Everyone has a standard mascara they come back to time and again- what’s yours?

Rediscovered: Lancôme Dual Finish Powder Foundation

Don’t we all love new and innovative beauty products? A lazy Saturday trip to Sephora can yield an unexpected shopping bag full of new to market goodies, many of which we gleefully dish about on this very blog.

But perhaps as gratifying is the discovery of an older standard that you’d forgotten or previously overlooked in beauty scouting expeditions. There’s something comforting about learning a tried and tested formulation suits all your needs, and a newly-found old standby is far less likely to be discontinued than some upstart potion that rocks hard but never takes off properly.

I’ve often overlooked their solid, established products in favor of trendier brands. And while I was pretty attached to my Bare Escentuals base, we haven’t been getting along all that well lately. I needed a new foundation, but have grown accustomed to the convenience and lack of shine a powder foundation offers.

I scouted Bobbi Brown, MAC, BE, Benefit and Laura Mercier hard before being drawn in by a GWP at the Lancôme counter. I’d honestly forgotten Lancôme’s Dual Finish Powder existed, and was surprised at how even and natural the coverage it provided was. A quick trip to adjacent “outdoor lighting” revealed a shockingly light but flawless blendability that even worked fabulously when used as a concealer.

It bears mentioning that I’m not a teen or twenty-something, and powder foundations aren’t just for super oily skin. Lancôme’s Dual Finish Powder is finely milled and goes on smoothly, even if you don’t have completely perfect skin. Redness, rosacea and even dark circles disappear under the powder, but it seems to be more cohesive and- dare I say?- natural than its mineral counterparts. It does require the odd touchup, especially in warm weather, but that’s pretty par for the foundation course.

Surprisingly, the included sponge is the best tool for applying the foundation, and there’s a lighter puff for touch-ups- portability is another huge plus with this formula. I personally don’t recommend applying it wet as some of the counter artists recommend- it interferes with the integrity of the makeup, increases the chance of spoilage and creates a streaky finish.

Overall, though, this is one product I foresee having a seriously long and happy relationship with. Touchups that allow for full coverage without interfering with blush or setting powder are my new favorite makeup feature.

Have you ever rediscovered an older product and fallen in love? What drew you in?