Get Your Glow On

Winter comes to town and brings with it the tragic combo of dull and dry. The flakey dance where your skin utters a silent sigh and wants to hibernate until spring. Winter weather sure puts the chill on pretty.
Well, I have a new beauty duty, a must have great enough to make you brave the snow and sleet. DermaGlows' Radiance Glycolic Gentle Peel Solution gives your skin back its gorgeous glisten. Skin that looks like it's lit from within and is silky soft to the touch. I am gushing, in an oh so makeup man way, but I am loving this stuff.
It is gentle enough to use everyday and is as simple as saturating a cotton ball or pad and sweeping it across your cleansed skin. There is no need to rinse off afterwards and you can immediately put on your moisturizer. It has been clinically proven to improve the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, sun damaged skin and age spots. It makes your skin look and feel as if you have splurged and hit the medi -spa for a little high tech beauty maintenance.
Now there's no need to forgo the mortgage payment for a daily dose of pretty and while I have not filled my bathtub and splashed around hoping to emerge with the sparkling vampire visage of a tween Twilight cast member, I must confess I have found myself having a couple of narcissus mirror moments, thinking what is reflected back is looking pretty great for 37ish (again.)
DermaGlows Radiance Glycolic Gentle Peel Solution, like all their skin care products, is Dermatologist tested. It is non drying, non irritating has a 10% glycolic acid and is packed with other AHAs* and sodium hyaluronate*. The full sized bottle I have also comes with a bonus of Glycolic Smoothing Moisturizer inside the box. While I bundle up to tackle the wild of winter head on, I will be doing it with an enviable polished complexion, that has me gleaming and glowing and believing in The Power Of Pretty.



FYI- A little beauty lesson-

*AHA's are Alpha Hydroxy Acids which are fruit acids derived from natural sources such as citrus fruits, milk and sugar. The family of AHAs includes glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid and tartaric acid. They are capable of softening fine lines and surface wrinkles, improving both the skin texture and tone whilst opening and cleanseing pores. They also stimulate blood supply, increase collagen and generally improve skin conditions.

*Sodium Hyaluronate is thought to play an important role in modulating the interactions between adjacent tissues by acting as a lubricant. Sodium Hyluronate is distributed widely in your skin's extracellular matrix and is believed to promote tissue repair.

Interview I did with Cosmeticholic for Makeup Artist Mondays

I just did an interview with Cosmeticholic web site @ http://www.cosmetiholic.com/ where she focused on four specific questions and also some products I like and why. Below are my answers. I am reposting two of my Cargo Face Charts I did for my recent personal appearance- see below- it shows what I am explaining with how to apply bronzers. I also posted a still from a video shoot I did called "Love is Gone" by Dave Armstrong featuring H. Boogie to show how to wear shimmer on your face- eyes, lips and cheeks. As one of my all time favorite quotes, from a movie so bad its painfully and deliciously good says,
"NEVER LET THE GLITTER OVERWHELM THE ARTIST."

Topic: Wake up winter skin

1. In the winter, skin often looks pale and dry. What makeup and skincare products can combat this?
2. Can you wear bronzer in the winter? Tips/tricks
3. What are your tips for disguising tired eyes?
4. How do you apply shimmer in the winter?


1.In winter skin can go through a bit of a beating and look really dry, dehydrated and pale. Especially with cold weather blowing in and bringing wind, snow and freezing temperatures and buildings heating systems turning on their radiators and other indoor radiant dry heat. These factors can really play havoc with your skin and turn your complexion into looking like parchment paper fairly quickly.

There are ways to combat this effectively by changing up your beauty regimen and tweaking a few of your normal routines. I really recommend keeping your skin as hydrated as possible- if possible get a humidifier for your home or office and make sure you are drinking lots of water. This is also the time for most women to put away the light weight summer moisturizer and add a serum loaded with essential skin nutrients. A favorite serum loaded with nutrients and not greasy is Time Arrest Face Fluid by Dr. Brandt teamed with a more emollient moisturizer that has Hyaluronic Acid in it. Hyaluronic Acid or HA is a natural molecule found in plants that are rich in starch and is known to hold lots of water and moisturize the skin from the outside in. Quite a few moisturizers from different brands with varying price points have HA in them and I have tried numerous ones with no clear winner depending on your preferences. The most important thing is to keep your skin moisturized and hydrated. Also make sure the lips and eye area are well moisturized also. Dermaglow makes a great product for the eye area called Triple Action Eye Lift that comes as a nifty roller packed with sodium hyaluronate, which also holds moisture and escin, which is a natural extract derived from the horse chestnut tree and promotes collagen production.


On a clean face mix a bit of liquid/cream foundation with your chosen moisturizer to make it really sheer and hydrating. This helps melt into the skin and give a nice overall coverage without looking cakey or too heavy. For a healthy looking radiance use a small bit of product like Strobe Cream"or Smash Box's Luminizer added into the moisturizer/foundation combo, giving your skin a beautiful all over natural glow. For longer wearability I am loving Dior's Skinflash Primer- Radiance Boosting Makeup Primer under makeup for it's light reflective qualities and anti fatigue photo-smart pigments. Just worn bare on skin makes a huge difference in pretty and makes skipping heavy foundations and powders so much easier.

I recommend you work with lots of creams/liquid bronzers like one of my favorites, CARGO's Multimix Bronzer,apply with a foundation brush across the forehead, nose, chin and cheek bones. Use a pop of pink or a coral shade blush on the apples of your cheeks to wake up a tired or dull complexion. NAR's, creamy Orgasm and its peachy/pink with small golden flecks is a perfect compliment to most women's skin tones and really makes a complexion look fresh and alive. A swirl on the apples rounding upwards is one of the fastest way to put life back into tired, dull looking skin and its' creamy consistency can be used on eye lids and lips also for a quick all over face pick me up.

For most women, in the dry winter especially, stay away from powders. Except if needed in the T zone if it is oily and use only a light dusting on a large powder brush. If needed elsewhere, dust all over to set the makeup, as too much powder really dries and dulls out the healthy luster or natural sheen of the skin. Another product I really like is CARGO's Liquid Powder that goes on wet but dries quickly to a lightweight powdery consistency and has small light reflective qualities that don't flatten or dull down the look of the complexion and imparts a healthy looking halation or glow.

2. Of course you can wear bronzer in the winter. I suggest you stay away from anything that is too orangey or too dark since when your skin naturally gets paler in the winter months you need to adjust and you may want to use a lighter shade of your favorite bronzer. As mentioned earlier creams and liquids give a really natural healthy glow by tinting the skin where the sun would hit you. If you are want to amp up the look for evening or go for the chiseled cheek that was all the rage on the runways this season, stay away from shimmery bronzers underneath the cheek bone and make sure, if you are using a bronzing powder, that you first set your face with a light dusting of translucent powder so the bronzer will blend easily and not get stuck or look muddy. After you bronze, play up the just back from the beach vibe with a pop of color on the apples of your cheeks- CARGO's blu ray Bronzer powder is great and blends like a dream topped with their Shimmery Beach Blush or my new favorite, blu ray Blush/Highlighter. NARS's Malibu is another great cheek shade and you can use the same sun kissed shade in a gloss or sheer lipstick on your lips like two of my favorites, Du Wop's Venom Glosses in Lantana or Coral Tree.

3. Tired looking eyes can easily be taken care of in the winter. Stay away from packing any powders and heavy liners under your eyes is a great way to start them from looking tired. For day time, line the top of the eyelashes against the lash line with either a pencil or liquid depending on the look you want but stay away from the underneath, as if you are like most women this area breaks down easily and faster. Curl the lashes and only apply mascara on the top only. A great trick is after you are done applying your eye makeup, take a q-tip dipped in moisturizer and roll it under your eye, this picks up any flecks of shadow that may have fallen and would muddy or discolor your under eye area. Now when that is all clean put on a light reflective concealer and my favorite is Yves St Laurent's Touche Eclat. Pay special attention to the dark inner area of your eye against your nose and not just under the eye. Follow this with a beauty bag must have by CARGO called EyeLighter on the inner corner near your tear duct to brighten up the entire area and mimic a young fresh eye.

4. Shimmer can be applied in a variety of ways in the winter according to what type of look you are trying to achieve. If wearing it on the cheeks it should be the highest part of the cheek bone and on the outside corner of the eye. It should not be worn if skin is dry or flaky as the shimmer will accentuate this. Also stay away from shimmer all over the eyelids into the crease if they are crepey, as this will accentuate the wrinkles in the skin. You can still do shimmer under the eyebrow, the inner corner of the eye and on the lid if paired with matte eye liners and shadows that give the eye depth. Also the icy eye is a strong look for Holiday and is easy to do with a shimmery shadow paired with lots of mascara and making the rest of the face matte and hydrated.