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 it becomes steamier and stickier outside, many of us wrestle with the right way to moisturize our aging skin. Slathering on a rich cream worked well in mid-February, but that same product probably now leaves you feeling more gooey than dewy—and it may be causing your makeup to slip and slide around your face. Not good. My solution? On days that are super-soupy, I skip lotions and creams altogether and sub in a hyaluronic acid serum.
Back in the dead of winter, I wrote about how I was using Vita Liberata’s Self-Tanning Serum to provide a subtle boost of color when my skin was looking late-January drab. However, now that it’s sundress-and-sandal season again, I’m finding the result is too understated. I’m not after a Giorgio Armani tan (although it does look quite chic on him, UV damage be damned), but I would like to appear lightly sun-kissed. So I’ve upgraded to Clarins Radiance-Plus Golden Glow Booster, which I find imparts deeper color, faster.
I wrote about the hydrating and scalp-nourishing benefits of coconut oil a few weeks ago. But today, as I was researching another magazine story, yet another expert (this time, a dermatologist who specializes in disorders of the scalp) said coconut oil may also help with dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis and get this, a greasy scalp. What can't this oil do?
Four and half years ago, on a cloudy December afternoon, I was sitting at a picnic table in Central Park with some girlfriends, watching our 9-year-old sons play baseball. Suddenly, our smart phones began to ping simultaneously with a news alert: School shooting reported in Connecticut. As the pings revealed increasingly grim details about that horrible day, our group went from chatting animatedly about holiday plans…to silence. Two of the mothers began to cry. I’m guessing many of you also remember where you were when you first heard about Newtown.
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: Laura Geller, makeup artist and founder of Laura Geller New York cosmetics
Two new, easy-to-wear cheekcolors from Mary Kay are low-risk purchases. Either color will look good on you: One is a pigment-rich pink, the other a sheer peach, and both are spiked with luminescent particles that are particularly flattering on aging skin. But those aren’t the primary reasons to purchase one (or both).
I’m researching a hair story for a national magazine, and the experts I’ve been interviewing keep waxing poetic on the healthy-hair benefits of coconut oil. (To clarify, they’re not advocating you eat food cooked in coconut oil, though that’s not a bad idea. Rather, most are suggesting you slather it on like a VO5 hot oil treatment.) My stylist Nunzio Saviano has been touting the benefits of coconut oil for a few years, so its accolades are not new(s) to me. But, given that several experts offered up coconut oil as a “surprising” source of good-hair health, it seems word is not getting out...
I just passed the twelve-week mark, and have seriously l-o-n-g lashes, corner to corner. As I noted at the eight-week mark, I was hoping another month of Lash Boost use would bring improved density.
Two weeks ago, I had by my brows shaped by arch expert Kristie Streicher. Here are the products she recommended (and/or used on me), many of which I’d never have thought to try on my own. And after two decades in the beauty business, that's saying something.
I had a fascinating chat with brow guru Kristie Streicher (clients include Emily Blunt and Mandy Moore) on my recent trip with Mary Kay to Blackberry Farm. I’ve assumed for years that my thin(ning) brows were the result of DNA. So, I’ve become fairly adept at using a pencil to fill in sparse spots—and have come to (mostly) accept that anemic arches are just one of my lots in life. Turns out, this may be wrong.
Before I left for New York, my son Heath had a bad cold—the kind that starts with a sore throat, then morphs into a stuffy nose…and lingers for weeks. So, when my plane touched down at LaGuardia and I felt the start of a scratchy throat, I knew what I was in for. Two days later, as I circled Central Park for the Shape Half Marathon, I was drugged up on DayQuil and sucking on Chloraseptic lozenges. The morning after the race, I headed out for meetings armed with a wad of tissues. Yuck. Thus, I was grateful when I met up with my friend Jaime, a beauty publicist, for lunch, and she slid Farmacy’s Honey Savior across the table to me.
If you read Monday’s post, you know I spent the past week on the road (and in the air). I discovered so. many. amazing. products. But, to avoid overwhelming you with a list as long as my arm, I’m parceling them out in a series of posts. To start, these three dusty-blue finds are surprisingly versatile— neutrals (but not) that will break you out of a beige/brown/pinky-nude rut.
In the past week, I’ve been to New York City, Greenwich, Bronxville, Jersey, and Tennessee. All this traveling did prevent me from posting—but not from stockpiling new beauty and health info. My trip to the East Coast was peppered with breakfasts, lunches and cocktails with editors and publicists (and I took copious notes). Then Mary Kay took me—and about two dozen other beauty editors—to Blackberry Farm outside of Knoxville to showcase their new spring and summer launches. I’ll be weaving info from this weeklong trip into posts for weeks to come, but here, to start, are five (surprising!) tips and tricks I picked up along the way.
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: Jane Park, CEO and Founder of Julep
When I was the beauty editor at teen magazine CosmoGirl!, we frequently published recipes for skin and hair masks made from common kitchen ingredients like honey, avocado, yogurt and eggs. The treatments were easy to make (albeit messy) and mildly effective. The new Facial Moisturizer Kit from Ktchn Apothecary is kind of like that, but with more grownup, potent ingredients—and far less cleanup.
