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.
This week marked the official beginning of the new season. And though it still feels pretty wintery here in Michigan, when I went to get a manicure, I decided to trade in my navy Essie After School Boy Blazer and Chanel Pirate for something less moody from Essie’s new cheery spring collection.
As part of a regular series, I’ll be asking inspiring, in-the-know women (all 40+, of course) to share their best tips and favorite products. The point? As always, to find out what works. This week's beauty insider: Naomi Whittel, 43, founder of Reserveage Nutrition and current CEO of Twinlab
Winter whipped back into town this week and with it, insta-chapped lips the second you stepped outside. Regular readers know I love Fresh Tinted Lip Treatments, but when it’s 16 degrees out, I up the ante on lipcare with cult-classic Smith’s Minted Rose Lip Balm from Rosebud Perfume Co.
A reader recently emailed and asked me if there was an advantage to starting Botox at 40 before she had any lines etched—or if it made sense (and was more cost effective) to wait and do it once she noticed lines didn’t disappear anymore when her face was at rest. I started Botox at 33 so you already know where I fall on this issue, but I did ask Gary Goldenberg, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Dermatology at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, for his opinion.
Beauty Pie, a new cosmetics “club” started by Marcia Kilgore, the amazingly-prolific, 48-year-old founder of Bliss Spas, Fitflops, and Soap and Glory, may forever change the way smart women shop for their beauty products.
When I first started working as a beauty editor, I butchered the pronunciation of more than one French beauty brand. My friend and fellow beauty editor, Didi, practically collapsed on the floor when I told her I was on my way to a Guh-vin-chee press launch (I was trying to say Givenchy, which Didi, through hysterics, explained is actually Ghee-von-shee). I’ve still not lived that one down. But I know I'm not the only one who never took high school French (or Italian or Japanese), and who has struggled to sound out fancy, foreign-sounding beauty brand names.
It has been three weeks and four days since I started my Lash Boost application. Rodan+ Fields says some (lucky ducks) may see results in as little as four weeks, while, for others, it can take closer to six to eight weeks. I think I fall in the latter group.
If you've got fine, limp or thinning hair—or you just crave more body and volume, you should not live another day without Living Proof’s Full Dry Volume Blast.
If every anti-aging product on the market really did what it claimed, we'd all look 18. And while there are many effective products that help make the most of our looks as we age (and I, for one, like the way I look better at 45 than I did at 18), there are also many that are nothing but snake oil. Thus, I've created this series, Spend or Skip?, in which I will apply my twenty years as a beauty guinea pig to objectively road-test and review buzz-generating, anti-aging products that everyone's talking about. The mission: to help you decide whether to buy—or bypass—the latest fountain of youth.
I spent too much time in the sun as a teen. By college, I already had brown sunspots splattered all over my chest. I hated them so much, I avoided v-necks and strapless tops until my mid-twenties, when I had the spots zapped off with a laser. Diligent skincare, sunscreen, peels and some touchup lasering has kept new dark spots mostly at bay for me. However, since I turned 40, a new kind of spot has started to appear: white ones.
My friend Sandra recently underwent a series of laser treatments to zap off a smattering of sunspots. It worked and she’s pleased with the results. She’s also terrified of having the spots come back (as you know, laser treatments are no small expense), and correctly assessed that once you’ve had sunspots, you’re forever susceptible to them. Thus, she contacted me, asking for a fail-safe, spot-prevention strategy. My answer in a word: Sunscreen. But not just any sunscreen. Which, I guess, is actually six words.
Here in Ann Arbor, it's been freakishly warm: 60s and sunny. This has triggered some early spring fever: I've been writing on the porch, driving with the windows down—and craving rosé before dinner and ice cream after. Last Friday, I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a pint of Talenti Sea Salt Caramel Gelato, but was sidelined by a display of Halo Top, a low-cal, low-sugar, low-carb, high-protein ice cream brand I’d been reading about on nutrition blogs.
For those unfamiliar with the term K-Beauty, it refers to skincare products and regimen rituals from South Korea. I realized K Beauty was becoming a “thing”—not just for trendy Millennials, but also for skincare-savvy Gen Xers and Boomers—when a friend of mine who's a successful, 40-something dermatologist, got remarried and went to Korea for her honeymoon. Instead of lingerie, she brought an empty suitcase, then went on a skincare shopping spree, stuffing it with sheet masks, night creams laced with snail mucin, and an assortment of ‘essences.’
I don’t particularly like roses. I’ve nothing against them really, they’re just a little traditional for my taste. And my favorite flowers—tulips and peonies—aren’t readily available this time of year. I’m also not a big fan of going out to dinner on Valentine’s Day, largely because February 14 usually falls somewhere in the middle of the work/school week, which means we have to be up early the next day. What I really want today? Cozy ambiance—at home.
If every anti-aging product on the market really did what it claimed, we'd all look 18. And while there are many effective products that help make the most of our looks as we age (and I, for one, like the way I look better at 45 than I did at 18), there are also many that are nothing but snake oil. Thus, I've created this series, Spend or Skip?, in which I will apply my twenty years as a beauty guinea pig to objectively road-test and review buzz-generating, anti-aging products that everyone's talking about. The mission: to help you decide whether to buy—or bypass—the latest fountain of youth.
