Manolo for the Beauty

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Unless you hate Valentine’s Day, and if so, then Valentine’s Day sucks!

I’m all about keeping you happy.

Today I’m going to postpone the normal Monday Beauty Poll (as fascinating as it was) in favor of some of the wackness that always comes to the Grammy’s red carpet.  I think that the Grammys are by far the loosest red carpet of the awards season, and many of the performers are more than happy to bring teh crazy.

Not an overly crazy red carpet this year in beauty, but there are always, er, colorful looks to discuss.

It’s always good to have a visual reminder of why blue shadow right up to the brow should stay in the 1970’s. Thank you, Adrienne Lau, for being this year’s sacrificial lamb.  I DO NOT want to talk about the Boob Canyon.

Does someone like Cyndi get an automatic pass no matter what?  Because her hair reminds me of this.  I’m pretty sure that’s a bad thing.

It always baffles me to see multi-millionaires with horrific, ratty-ass hair extensions.

Eva, we can see the white under your eyes, and we don’t want to. I read somewhere that her uber-white undereye thing was due to HD makeup, but nobody else looks like that. Fire your artist, hon.

When M.A.C. creates a lipstick in your name, I’m guessing you get a lifetime supply.  I’m prepared to see Nicki Minaj with this lipstick for the next ten years.

More crabbiness after the jump…

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Has anyone else had a rough week? I’m glad mine is coming to a close, let’s just say that.

For today I’ve got a picture from the newest Louis Vuitton ad campaign, featuring 90’s supermodel Kristen McMenamy, and models of the moment Freja Beha Erichsen and Raquel Zimmermann. Shot by Stephen Meisel, I can’t decide if I like them or not. Or maybe that’s just because it’s Friday.

Kristin is rocking the gray hair, that is for sure.  At 46, I think she is actually more striking than the younger models.

I think what holds me back from loving these ads are the dead faces and the fact that I sort of hate the purses.  Also, there might actually be a bit too much going on pattern and color-wise, even though I appreciate them trying to incorporate it.

What say you?

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Gorgeous women. Bad, bad, photos.

All right, even trying to disregard the badly placed and colored V, WTF? Jane recently admitted to having plastic surgery, and they really did do a good job because she still looks pretty natural and well, like Jane Fonda.  However, why do they have her hands placed on the side of her head as if she was trying to pull up her face? Or holding up her hair. And why is her hair sticking straight up off of her head? Everybody hated when Ke$ha did it, it doesn’t look any better on Jane.  Isn’t the open mouth photo the one we are always yelling at people not to take of us, as we are ready to take a bite of something?  “Don’t take a picture of me with my mouth open, for god’s sake!” But here’s Jane, right on the cover with the very same look.  So many questions, so little answers.

Next up we’ve got the stunning Sigourney Weaver, who has somehow defaulted to the “I’m having a bad hair day” soccer mom hairdo. A baseball cap? If they are trying to evoke youthful playfulness, it’s not working. This is  freaking Ripley people, not some poor schmuck who’s running late to carpool.  I take strong issue with the fact that we have what basically amounts to an upshot of her nose.  Well, at least the V frames her face nicely, and that’s all the good I have to say about this one.

Oh lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The wig Susan Sarandon is so gamely sporting looks like it came out of a moth-eaten trunk from the wardrobe of a small-town, low-budget production of Lady Macbeth.  If you look past the egregious hair, she definitely looks the best of the bunch.  Which isn’t saying a whole lot.

If that’s the best they can do with the wonderful subjects they had to photograph, no wonder everyone is afraid of aging.

My stylist frowned at me and asked,  “Do you sleep on your back?”  At the time I did, and I answered in the affirmative.  She said I had all kinds of broken hair on the back of my head from sleeping that way, and advised me to buy a silk pillowcase, stat.   I never did, because I couldn’t really see them, and at the time, I was really poor.  Then later on, I read that sleeping on a silk pillowcase helped to fend off wrinkles on the face as well.  Now that one is reigniting my interest in silk pillowcases, because I can indeed see my wrinkles.  A little too well, actually.

I decided to do some research on the intertubes as to whether purchasing one would be a good idea, or just money down the drain.

What I found was really interesting.

First, I found this website that examines in a scientific manner the claims made by one particular producer of silk pillowcases.  And scientifically, there was nothing that said they were better than regular old cotton, at least from a skin perspective.  The hair perspective wasn’t really addressed. For some entertainment, go ahead and read some of the comments, almost all of which are shills for silk pillowcase companies expressing outrage over the findings on the site.

Then I went on a few different websites and looked at chat forums and such, all of them asking about the efficacy of silk pillowcases, which often sidetracked onto satin pillowcases and debates about the different merits of the two. 

So what seemed to be the consensus?

That silk/satin pillowcases can be pricey, but really good ones are soft and lovely to sleep on, if nothing else.  Almost everyone said that they noticed a big difference in their hair, but as far as the face goes, the pillowcases only served to prevent sleep creases, not actual wrinkles. 

I’m going to call myth on the wrinkles, and fact on the hair.

So a while back, everybody was going gray.  From Tavi to Gaga, gray hair was all the rage.

Because, of course, it wasn’t their natural hair color.

But the whole gray hair trend amongst people who have never experienced a true gray hair coming out of their own head sparked a debate amongst those who have. And who, if they allowed it, would have more than just a few gray “highlights.”

I would be one of those people.  If I stopped going to the salon to get my hair highlighted with blonde, probably sixty percent of my hair would be silver.

The other day I noticed my husband was getting some gray around his temples, and my first thought was that it looked sort of distinguished.

My second thought was annoyance that men always seem to look “distinguished” with gray hair whilst women simply look “old.”

I’ll be forty in a few months, and I have a one year old and an eight year old.

I happen to sort of like the silver hair, which is shiny and pretty, but I’ll be damned if someone at the playground is going to think I am my daughter’s grandmother. Because, you know, there is no way someone with gray hair could possibly procreate, right?

I’m not sure the micro-trend we saw last spring and summer has translated into a wellspring of women suddenly embracing their naturally gray hair.

I’m guessing women are going to choose to continue to be a slave to the salon, or to the box, or whatever way they alter their color.

I know my salon is pretty much guaranteed to get my money for at least the next ten years.

The revolution will have to begin somewhere else. I’m too chicken.

Who else is scared by their reflection in the miror when they wake up in the morning?

I didn’t used to be so scared of it until I started getting lovely things like wrinkles and blotchiness and other entertaining skin variations that come with the aging process.  If it is indeed true that you get the face you deserve, I must have been a total bitch my entire life.

Not that I hate myself when I see my reflection, but I sometimes stand there and say, really? So this is what it’s come to?

For someone who enjoys putting on makeup, I find myself not using a whole lot of it lately, but I think my almost year-old daughter is mostly to blame.  My morning routine these days is lucky to include a splash of water along with brushing the teeth.  Sometimes between getting my son out the door for school and dealing with the baby, I am sad to say my hair doesn’t even get brushed until hours later. 

Wouldn’t you just love to visit me first thing in the morning?

I promise it will make you feel better about yourself.

I have, throughout the years, used more types of facial cleansers than a reasonable person should.  My skin has always been oily and acne-prone and I could never seem to find the magic product that not only would make my skin oil-free, but perfectly glowing and blemish-free.  Well, I still haven’t exactly found a product that can do all that, but this one comes close.

A drugstore brand I bought for years was no longer being stocked, and so seeking a change, I searched  for a suitable replacement.  This 5% glycolic acid wash was definitely not a compromise.  It cleanses without stripping, and my skin tone looks to be a bit more even.  I don’t really use it to minimize wrinkles, although I’m reaching that stage more quickly than I’d like. Initially it seemed expensive, but you can get away with using a very small amount of product, and the bottle is quite large.  I’ve had mine for over three months and have used maybe a quarter of the bottle so far.

And you know what? It tingles.  It makes my face feel all tingly, and if I accidentally get some in my mouth, it puckers a bit.  Like a rube, I fall for the tingly sensation every time. If it FEELS like it’s working, it must be, right?

But all that aside, this is an excellent wash for someone with aging, oily skin.  Like moi, unfortunately.

Well, we might as well start off with me explaining my take on “beauty” which is a term that encompasses a vast amount of products and services.   And even though I can view beauty products with a part-crow mindset of “ooohprettyshinymewant,” I like to think I  have an equal amount of practicality.  I consider my approach to beauty as somewhat cerebral, if that’s possible.

I think that your beauty routine should:

1. Fit your lifestyle.  Heavy cat-eyes might be “in,” but if you don’t have time for it, do what works for you.

2. Fit your budget.  Fancy and expensive products aren’t the only options out there.

3.  Make you feel good about yourself.  If your beauty routine is as simple as applying a moisturizing sunscreen and a little lipgloss, and that is what makes you feel comfortable, I say go for it.  Not everyone is cut out for the Taylor Momsen look.  Actually, I’m not even sure Taylor is cut out for it, either.

4. Be flexible.  Consider colors, products, or techniques you haven’t used before.  Play around a bit.  Don’t be like the ladies who use the same eyeshadow they did twenty years ago.  This stuff is supposed to be fun! 

I am of the opinion that like your clothing and shoes, your makeup (or lack thereof) says something about you to the world.

Let’s make it a positive statement, shall we?

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