A veteran magazine beauty editor/writer (and a member of the 40+ club), Genevieve Monsma created MediumBlonde to help Gen Xers and Baby Boomers age the way they want.
As part of a regular series, I’ll be asking inspiring, in-the-know women to share their best tips and favorite products. The point? As always, to find out what works. Today's beauty insider: Amanda McIntosh, founder of Take My Face Off reusable cleansing cloths
Not so long ago, to get your hands on French beauty products, you had to trek to a French Pharmacie and buy them in person (or beg a friend visiting France to stock up for you). No longer. French beauty staples can now be found pretty easily Stateside, either online or in specialty boutiques.
When I was the beauty editor at More, one of the best-read stories we ever published was by an American fashion editor who wrote how she’d moved to Paris, adopted a French approach to skincare—and watched her complexion improve dramatically, then age remarkably well, over the two decades she lived abroad.
With holiday reds and metallics behind us—and warm-weather brights still (alas) months away—early February can feel like nail lacquer purgatory: neither here nor there.
I was talking to a beauty industry executive the other day about clean/green/natural (insert your own earth-centric buzz word) beauty. She confessed that, while there is no single traditional skin, hair or makeup product that she views as particularly harmful, the quantity of beauty products laced with chemicals we use over a lifetime does give her pause. Like one pack of Twizzlers at the movies=not so bad. But eating sugary twists daily for the rest of your life=not so good.
I am impatient. Nearly two decades of living in New York City taught me to loathe long lines, inefficient service, and slow-walkers (if a New Yorker bumps you while you stroll down Fifth Avenue, you probably deserve it. Think how you’d feel if she went to your town and drove a Suburban 10 mph down a one-lane road.). When we first moved to Ann Arbor, I even stopped visiting one coffee shop because the barista was too chatty, greeting my order of a soy latte with “soy-tainly!” and then taking 15 minutes to mix my drink. Nope. Not before 8 a.m. Buy-bye.
I spent last weekend in suburban Chicago, zigzagging between ice rinks for my son Heath’s hockey tournament. His team won their division, which made all that travel (and a not-exactly-posh stay at a Hampton’s Inn) worth it. The other upside: I rediscovered Neutrogena’s Body Lotion Light Sesame Formula
Every winter, my husband complains that his skin is itchy and dry—and he asks me to get him more of that “stuff” that provides quick relief. Heath, my teenage son complains about his chronically parched, peeling lips, and my hair can become so dehydrated and static-y come January that I develop a permanent halo of flyaways. I assume you or your family are similarly moisture-challenged by mid-winter so here are some solutions that work for us:
If you are still wearing foundation on a regular basis, but don’t love the way it makes your skin look, join the club. And keep reading.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I once read that only eight percent of us are still sticking to them come February, so it seems futile to me. I do, however, believe in finding ways to jumpstart my fitness routine in early January since the post-holiday letdown always leaves me feeling sluggish.
Most people who watched the Golden Globes last night are talking today about Oprah’s speech, Seth’s monologue, the all-black dress code, and Natalie Portman throwing shade while announcing the all-male best-director category. But one of my favorite moments was a hair commercial.
This week in Ann Arbor temperatures have hovered around zero outdoors, so we’ve cranked the heat inside. The result of this dry-air assault: flaking, cracking, super-thirsty lips. Slathering on balm feels good (so does licking your lips, but DON'T DO THAT because that will only make things worse). To truly improve chapped lips, you have to add this step:
As part of a regular series, I’ll be asking inspiring, in-the-know women to share their best tips and favorite products. The point? As always, to find out what works. Today's beauty insider: Taryn Rose, M.D., orthopedic surgeon and founder of the Taryn Rose Shoe Collection
If your household is like mine, you do all the holiday gift shopping. My husband came home yesterday evening and asked where all the wrapped, tagged and stacked gifts had “come from”—like Santa had popped by with a delivery while he was out. And while I am not complaining (I like being in charge of this family task), it’s a lot of work. Which is why, to say “thank you...me” this time of year, I sometimes sneak in one small gift to myself.
When I interviewed Erin Cotter, GOOP’s VP of Beauty, earlier this fall she raved about Jao's Goe Oil, an all-natural, plant-based hydrator she said smelled like a tropical vacation. Sounded nice but I wasn’t totally motivated to try it until this week when Mother Nature dumped eight inches of snow on Ann Arbor, and I started to feel like I was never not buried in a goose down coat and heavy Sorel boots.
