The Shopping Enabler Strikes Again

The only thing better than picking out cosmetics is helping someone else do it (seriously, I'm that weird lady at the drugstore who tries to help you even though I don't work there). So imagine my delight when my pal Alyssa asked me to go makeup shopping with her! She was ready for a new look and needed some help. As a gal who hasn’t worn a lot of makeup in the past, she was facing the usual challenges:

• A makeup bag with a few old and unsuitable products
• Unsure what colours or formulas worked best for her skin
• Option-paralysis caused by insane amount of makeup out there. 

I asked her a few key questions to help plan our trip. These are good starting points for anyone who’s ready to embark on a makeup overhaul.

•      What’s your budget?
•      How much time do you want to spend putting on your “face”?
•     Are you aiming for a day-to-day look, or something fancier?
•     What are your favourite things about your face? What are you slightly less in love with, or feel is an area you’d like to downplay?
•      Any other concerns/issues? (e.g., allergies, animal testing, etc)

The answers to these questions will immediately help to narrow your focus and make shopping easier. Under the “other concerns” category, because Alyssa is an environmentally conscious gal (with a sweet baby who likes to nibble on his mama’s face), she wanted to choose products that were as natural and toxin-free as possible.

Armed with our plan, we met up after work to hit the Sephora and the Shoppers Drug Mart.

Let's DO this thing!

Here’s what we came away with:

•     Tarte Smooth Operator Amazonian Clay tinted moisturizer in shade 02 (Sheer, light, “slap it on and go” coverage with SPF 20. Alyssa has AMAZING skin and didn’t need anything heavier. This can replace her daytime moisturizer.)
•      Josie Maran Argan Color Stick in Rosey (This Allure magazine “Best of Beauty” winner blends easily, has a natural, buildable colour, and can be used on lips as well.)
•   Tarte SmolderEYES Amazonian Clay waterproof eyeliner in Fig (This can be applied in a thin or thicker line, and has a built-in smudger on the end. It should last all day without touch-ups.)
•   Bite Beauty High Pigment matte pencil in Bramble (Is there anything more gorgeous than a redhead with a deep red lip? This is the quickest way for Alyssa to get an evening look.)
•   Korres Lip Butter in Pomegranate (sheer, “sproingy” colour balm for everyday tint and shine)

Now that's how we fill a bag.

For those of you who are scared of Sephora, I want to tell you—don’t be! We rounded up the products we wanted to try, then sat down with a Sephora Colour Expert (aka, nice guy who works there and wears a toolbelt filled with brushes). He tried all the products on Alyssa, making sure the colours were the right ones for her, and showing her how to apply everything. This way, she got to try a couple things she wasn’t sure about and see the makeup “in action” before buying. The staff are there to help, so don’t be shy! (I think I’ll do a post soon about how to be brave at the makeup counter...)

These people have been sent from the future to help you.

Then we popped over to the drugstore (because there’s no reason to spend thirty bucks on mascara, truly!) and purchased:

•  Maybelline Define-a-Lash Mascara in Brownish Black (A good basic mascara that gives definition and length while still keeping the look natural. Another good choice is L’Oreal’s original Voluminous mascara.)
•  Maybelline Define-a-Brow brow pencil in Dark Blonde (My favourite brow pencil EVER at any price—soft enough to blend, but firm enough to stay where you put it.)

What it all adds up to is a ten-minute routine that brings out all of Alyssa’s natural beauty, but still lets her look like herself. And a couple of weeks later, she reports that everything is going well—she’s using and loving her new makeup, and is getting lots of compliments. She also says she might be ready to try adding another eyeshadow colour…so my evil plan to turn everyone into a makeup monster is working! Mwah-ha-ha!

Eye Creams and Magical Thinking

“The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oh Ralphy, you know: there are mornings when I wake up and it’s clear that I not only had one hell of a good time the night before, but over the last few lifetimes. If my eyes are any indication, my soul is most definitely antiquated.

I’ve had a couple requests to recommend products for the eye area, and there are few beauty products on which ladies hang more hope than eye creams. We know that lipstick isn’t going to change our lives, and we maintain a kind of cautious optimism about most skincare preparations, but when it comes to eyes, we’re willing to believe just about anything in our quest to firm, tighten, de-puff, brighten, or otherwise improve that tiny bit of real estate around our peepers. Cosmetic companies know this and exploit it. They use marketing words that aren’t words at all (usually some play on “botox”), make scientific promises that are about as far away from actual science as a thing can get, tell us a product is made with something wonderful and then give us the merest “fairy dusting” in the actual ingredients list—and charge us all top dollar for believing their gross misrepresentations.

My number one recommendation then, is simple: manage your expectations. No matter what the packaging or advertising suggests, a topically applied product isn’t going to completely counteract your genetics and undo the effects of time and gravity. If such a product existed, forget my eyes—I’d be rubbing it on my tits. Realistically, with a good formula, you can hope for a slightly more even skintone, a small reduction in lines and wrinkles along with a smoother and softer feeling, perhaps a temporary tightening of the skin around the eyes, and a delay in the accumulation of further damage.

Paula Begoun, with whom I don’t always agree (but I love her website and respect her research), posits that we don’t need an eye cream at all. If a product is well-formulated, she reasons, why wouldn’t you be able to use it around the eyes? She maintains the area is not more sensitive or in “need of special care”. However, my eyeballs are about as delicate as can be, so products that work great on my face (such as SPFs, retinol, and alpha-hydroxy acids) would turn me into a weepy Tammy-Faye Baker mess. But if you like your regular face creams, give it a try—you might save some money, which you can then use to buy me a beer!

While we’re talking about Paula, I suggest you read some of her information about useful cosmetic ingredients. Knowing what to look for—and what to avoid—has been really helpful for me. Many of us read our food ingredients obsessively but have no idea what we’re putting on our skin, so taking a few minutes to find out what some of that stuff actually is, and what it does, can save you lots of money and trial and error in the long run.

Speaking of saving your money: I’d like to caution you against the latest trend in eye creams, which are those pen-like products with the roller-balls or the fancy metal applicators. I haven’t had much success with these, although I’ve only tried a few. Some of them contain film-forming agents that can temporarily tighten skin, or in my case, make my eyes water and burn, thereby defeating its purpose and making me look puffier, or they contain ingredients that “cool” the skin. Problem is, these things are usually irritants, like peppermint and menthol, or they contain a lot of alcohol, which does feel cool and delicious—too bad that sensation is the alcohol evaporating and pulling your skin’s moisture out with it. Dryness and irritation are the opposite of what most of us are going for. So, if you really want that cool feeling, buy quality products and store them in the refrigerator.

Other things you can do to improve your eyes:

•Protect your eyes from the sun. Put yer sunglasses on, and try an eye cream with a sunscreen if you’re going to be spending a lot of time outdoors. It’s crazy how few eye creams contain sun protection, but Elizabeth Arden makes a great one.

•Clean your face properly. Sleeping in your makeup is not doing you any favours. If you’re looking for a good eye cream, and you’re not even washing your face at night, GIRL, what is your problem?

•Stop rubbing your eyes. Yanking on your skin to apply or remove makeup might not seem like a big deal, but if you do it every day, it’s gonna add up—especially if you also rub your eyes when you’re tired or itchy. Quit it.

•Eat fat. My optometrist told me this, so consider it legit. I have very dry and irritated eyes, and my eye doc says it’s because there’s not enough FAT in my TEARS. That seems like such a supermodel problem that I kind of love it. But for real: make sure you’re getting enough healthy fat in your diet: the good stuff like fish oil, nuts, avocado…

•Be virtuous. I know, I hate this one too, but getting adequate sleep, drinking lots of water, and watching your intake of booze and salt can really help cut down on the under-eye bags and general bedraggled appearance. My mother, rest her soul, used to describe my morning-after eyes as “two piss-holes in the snow.” Yeah, she was a real treat.

•The old “spoon trick”. Everyone knows about the DIY eye “masks”: cucumber slices, or tea bags, or those gel masques from the drugstore, but who has the time or inclination to actually do any of that shit? Here’s my thirty-second solution: keep two teaspoons in your freezer all the time. When you’re getting ready to go out or you need a little pick-me-up, pull those spoons out, wave ‘em around for a second or two so you don’t stick to them, and then just gently press the spoons around your eye sockets. So cool! So refreshing! Seriously, it works. Cuts down on puffiness and redness and feels almost as good as a nap. I can’t use most eye drops, so this trick really makes a difference.

So, you’re thinking, what eye cream does this bitch use? Well, I try different ones, but right now I’m loving my ROC Complete Lift eye cream (but the Canadian version is in a jar, not a tube as the site shows). Yes, it promises all the things I told you not to believe: firming, tightening, depuffing, and so on. What it actually does is feels nice, doesn’t pill or glom up when I put makeup over it, and has yet to give me any sensitivity. Lowered expectations for the win!

My crush with eyeliner.

I’ve had a few requests to discuss long-wearing eyeliner, or rather, how to do eyeliner that doesn’t smudge. Unlike advanced makeup tricks, like putting on false eyelashes or doing your own nail art, applying a bit of eyeliner—and having it stay where we put it—is something many of us want to be able to do, at least some days. So! Let’s figure out how to do that.
First things first, though—if your liner always ends up fading, or migrating onto your lids and creasing, or smudges like crazy below your lower lids, there are things to help it “set” a bit better. But the main technique to master is picking up your wallet and keys and getting your ass to the store, because you probably need to buy a new eyeliner! Take comfort in knowing that if you’ve got major issues with a liner, it’s not you; it’s the liner. Just like lovers, there are a lot of bad ones.

When you’re shopping for liner, you’re looking for the right balance of “slip.” Slip is the smoothness and glide of the product. Liners with great slip are easy to apply and blend, but may sacrifice durability. On the flip side, some liners labelled waterproof or long-wearing might last all day, but if their application feels like you’re sawing at your eyelid with a Crayola, that’s a less-than-desirable experience.

(Let’s take a moment to note that this here post is specific to eyeliner pencils. There are myriad liner formulations out there, including cake, liquid, pen, and gel, and we can talk about all of them later, but when it comes to the basics, most of us are gonna choose pencil.)

Because I have ridiculously sensitive eyeballs, I need a super-smooth liner. But I also like to line the waterline (this is the tender and juicy inner rim of the top and/or bottom lid.) It’s hard to find a liner that’s soft enough to apply here, but will still stick to the area. EW IT’S A MUCUS MEMBRANE YOU GUYS but once you’ve started lining it, just try to stop. So, when Auntie Jenni recommends a liner, you know it’s gonna stay put. I’ve tried about a billion, so here are some of my favourite brands for every budget.

At the drugstore:
It’s no fuckin’ secret that I’m a big fan of the drugstore. Many makeup products here can be just as good or better than the snazzola department-store stuff. But when it comes to liner, I’ve found only a few cheapos that meet my high standards.

Revlon Colorstay
This is a good basic liner that wears well. I haven’t used it in a while, since I’ve since found the liner of my dreams, but you could do worse. Not a ton of colours, but it does the job.

Covergirl Liquiline Blast
This product promises “the intensity of a liquid in a pencil” which is a load of utter horseshit, but it is a good, well-pigmented product that has the added bonus of a smudger do-dad on the end. It also has a pretty good colour selection. It requires sharpening, and some people have a hard time sharpening them, which always surprises me. Are they trying to hack away at it with an old Buck knife or something? If it does go a bit crumbly on you, put it in the freezer for a few minutes before sharpening it.

Prestige Waterproof Eyeliner
A word of warning—don’t even bother with the other liners that this brand makes. You want the pencil in the link. Yep, that one.

At department stores/Sephora, etc:

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil
If you’ve been looking for the liners required to complete your Rainbow Brite costume, look no further. These are fantastic pencils, with excellent wear and fantastic slip. They glide on like a dream and are smudgeable for about twenty seconds, then set and will not budge. They have a huge following, and despite their relatively high price point, it’s easy to see why. They also have awesome names: my faves include Bourbon, Rock Star, 1999, and Zero.

Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes
Another great choice for those who love colour, although they come in plenty of “normal” tones too. The one thing I’ve noticed about these is that some colours don’t seem to apply/wear as well as others, and I think they dry out more quickly than the Urban Decay ones. But your experience might be different, so give them a try. And never leave your lids off!

Stila Smudge Sticks
It’s really hard for me to talk about this liner without GETTING A BIT SHOUTY. This is my Holy Grail of eyeliners, the liner I would have made myself if I had a chemistry degree and a makeup company. Named after their beloved “Smudge Pots”, these are a relatively new product, and I’m praying that Stila never discontinues them. The word “smudge” is totally misleading here, since these babies set within moments of application. They’re twist-up and don’t need sharpening, which is a bonus in my book. Don't twist up more than a millimeter at a time though, because they’re soft enough to break off. And when a product ounce for ounce costs more than ACTUAL GOLD, you don’t want to waste a single crumb. The colours have a subtle, metallic shimmer that’s just lovely. They stick to the waterline like nobody’s business. Worth every penny. Just think of all the money you’ll save never buying a shitty eye pencil ever again!

Coming very soon: A freaking VIDEO how to put on your pretty new eyeliner and keep it there! Plus: Um, how do I get this shit OFF now?