How To Choose The Perfect Blush For Your Skin Tone

Blush is such a gorgeous product. It breathes new life into your face and adds a little color to stop you from looking washed out.

image of Charlotte Tilbury Beach Stick in Moon Beach

Choosing the right blush can feel a bit overwhelming though, so let's look at the rules of blush, and how to choose the right blush for your skin tone.

The Rules

Blush should never be confused with contour. Contour products are made up of black and grey and are designed to absorb light and create the subtle illusion of a shadow falling under the cheekbone, making the cheekbone look higher and the cheek look thinner.

Blush and bronzer are not interchangeable! Bronzer's job is to make you look like you've been out in the sun, giving you a sun-kissed glow.

Don't choose a blush that is deeper than the color you would naturally flush to. It will make your complexion look muddy and heavy. Blush is supposed to give you a little lift!

Color

The most important criteria when choosing a blush color is knowing your skin's undertone. 

Are you a cool tone - ivory/beige/pink or are you a warm tone - olive/ bronze/ebony? 

Jessica Chastain is a cool toned girl

If you are a cool tone then cooler, more blue based blushes will look best on you. If you are a warm toned girl then you need a warm based blush.

Jennifer Lopez is a warm toned girl

That nutmeg spice colored blush that looks stunning on an olive girl can look like a heavy brown smudge on a cool toned girl. If you have a cool skin tone but want to wear a more neutral blush a softer, pinky-red based buff or gentle beige-brown color can look beautiful.

The slightly blue based pink that is charming on a cool toned girl can sit up on top of an olive skin and look all wrong. If you have a warm skin tone but want a pink blush, choose a coral based pink instead of a blue based pink.

Tips

If you are using a blush with a shimmer or a sheen choose one with a gold based shimmer. 

Cream blushes help to keep your skin glowing.

Look for products that give sheer, buildable color.

Blushes I love:

Charlotte Tilbury Beach Stick in Moon Beach 

Lipstick Queen Frog Prince Cream Blush
No - it's not green blush! It adapts to your personal pH and gives you your perfect cheek.

Nars Orgasm. It's been around for ages, no doubt because it's so fabulous.

How To Choose Your Perfect Foundation In 3 Easy Steps

Do you ever get overwhelmed at the thought of choosing a new foundation? 
Have you found yourself standing  in front of a wall of foundation bottles, all different colors and formulations and not known where to start?

Have you ever had buyer's remorse when you get home and find the pricey new bottle of foundation that you just bought doesn't look right?

Well rest easy - your perfect foundation is only 3 steps away!

How To Choose Your Perfect Foundation In 3 Easy Steps

STEP ONE

Know your skin type.
In order to get a flawless complexion you need to match your foundation to your skin type. If you have dry or maturing skin you need to avoid a matte finish or oil free foundation because it will make your skin look dry and old. Instead choose something more emollient and glowing such as a silicone based foundation.
If you have oily skin a glowy foundation can leave you looking far too juicy, so you may be better suited to a matte finish foundation.

STEP TWO

Choose your coverage.

image via makeupandbeauty.com

A word to the wise. Contrary to everything you see on the IG and You Tube your foundation should not look like a thick mask. It should be as sheer and lightweight as possible - it's job is to even you out a little and look like fresh glowing skin. Coverage should be based on what actually needs to be covered. Full coverage foundation is for skin that has extreme discoloration, scarring, melasma, etc. If you have perfect skin you need to look at a sheer coverage base, and if you fall in the middle you need to find a coverage in the middle. The key is to not go too thick or too opaque, and to always remember the goal is to create what looks like gorgeous skin.

STEP THREE

Choose the right undertone.
Either you are a warm toned girl or you are a cool toned girl.
No matter what they tell you on Instagram, cool toned girls need cool undertoned foundation, warm toned girls need foundation with warm undertones.
There are no exceptions.

A yellow or warm based foundation looks wrong on a cool skin. It leaves the complexion looking anything from flat to jaundiced.
A pink or cool based foundation makes a warm skin look ashy, grey and cold.

Lets break this down further, because so many people get this so wrong. Warm toned girls look more golden. Their skin ranges from yellow toned to golden honey tones, olives and deep sand tones. Warm toned girls typically tan really easily.

Jessica Alba has warm toned skin

Cool toned girls have ivory, pink and beige undertones. 

Bombshell Christina Hendricks has a cool skin tone

Still not sure? Try Charlotte Tilbury's Foundation Finder, a super simple way to figure it out!


If you get the undertone of your foundation wrong, your makeup will never look right.

If you're not sure if a foundation is cool or warm, hold the bottle against something that you know is. If you hold something pink next to the foundation you should be able to see that they either talk to each other or clash with each other.

You can't always trust the judgement of the person selling you the makeup. I recently had someone adamantly trying to tell me that a very yellow Makeup Forever stick foundation was the perfect shade for my cool skin tone. Not only could she not see that it looked completely crazy, but she told me the yellow base would cancel out the pink in my skin. Not so. It looked ridiculous!

5 Things Women With Perfect Skin Always Do

image by Eric Cassee

5 Things Women With Perfect Skin Always Do

We all know them – women with perfect, gorgeous, flawless skin.

They all live in different places and use different skin care products, so the answer isn’t a magic serum or lotion or potion. (Although I swear by all the lotions and potions that I use, and won’t trade in a single one of them!)

There are 5 things that women with perfect skin all do, and that no matter which skin care products you are using, if you’re not doing these 5 things you won’t make it to skin care perfection.

They Exercise

They all do some form of exercise regularly. (Not necessarily running marathons – you have to be super careful as an outdoor runner to keep your skin and yourself hydrated and to be saturated in facial SPF) Be it yoga or spin class or hiking or going to the gym, girls with perfect skin all move their bodies one way or another.

They Drink Lots Of Water

You can’t have perfect skin and be dehydrated. It’s a simple equation – great skin needs tons of water. Just for basic good health your body needs 8 glasses of water each day, great skin likes a little more.

Girls with perfect skin tend to shy away from high sugar drinks, avoid sodas, limit coffee and tea and only drink alcohol sparingly.

They Make Sleep A Priority

Image via davelackie.com

Without enough sleep you will never have perfect skin.

JLo, who is famous for her spectacular skin says she gets 10 hours sleep per night. I cannot even imagine what it must feel like to have the kind of support with home and children that enables you to just rack out each night for 10 hours! For those of us that fall into the mere mortal category 8 hours each night is the ideal for good health and for great skin.

They Eat Clean 

What you put into your body will be reflected on your skin.

Women with perfect skin tend to eat a pretty clean diet, most of the time. The occasional slice of pizza or drive through meal probably doesn’t hurt, but in general these women avoid those foods like the plague, opting instead for diets rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, quality fats (like avocado).

They Use The Right Cleanser

I can’t stress how important this is! Sensitive skin, dry skin, irritated skin so often are caused and exacerbated by using the wrong formula of cleanser. The wrong cleansers can strip the good oils from the skin, sometimes making the skin desperately make more oil, other times leaving it roughed up and dry. Women with perfect skin use cleansers that dissolve and remove makeup and cleanse away impurities and balance their skin.

My favorite cleanser is Memebox I'm Cleansing Oil, available online at Memebox.com

How To Minimize Your Zika Risk

As an avid traveler I've had to start weighing the risks and possibilities of exposure to the Zika virus.

For me it has largely just been a case of evaluating whether Zika has made an appearance where I'm going, but now it seems to be moving around a lot more so I'm starting to pay more attention.

I just saw this article by Matt Villano on Afar.com

An Expert’s Tips for Minimizing Your Zika Risk

Things you need to know about the virus to protect yourself—and the ones you love.

News about the Zika virus is everywhere these days, and rightfully so—if a woman is infected during pregnancy, the virus can cause frightening birth defects in infants. The virus started in South America and has spread across the Caribbean. Most recently, a Zika outbreak in a neighborhood of Miami Beach has many experts considering whether to issue a travel warning to the area. Still, for most people, Zika has mild or negligible effects—as far as viruses go, it’s not much worse than the average case of pinkeye. We recently spoke with Dr. Michele Barry, director of Stanford University’s Center for Innovation in Global Health and former president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), to get the scoop on Zika and what travelers can do to minimize risk of contracting Zika on the road.

If I’m traveling, what do I need to know about Zika?

Three things, really. One is to be aware of whether Zika is happening in the area that you’re traveling. Two is to make sure that you avail yourself of the best mosquito repellent out there, and in my estimation or opinion, that’s anything with diethyltoluamide, DEET. Three: Make sure you’re wearing permethrin-impregnated clothes, which are easily obtained in mountain goods stores like REI. These clothes have mosquito repellent built-in. If you have permethrin-impregnated clothing and a little bit of DEET on your exposed skin, that’s probably the best protection that you can have. The CDC also has some great tips about prevention.

You mentioned DEET. What kind of DEET is best?

I like to use a percentage between 35 and 50. The percentage of DEET doesn’t mean it's more effective; it just means it stays on your skin longer so you don’t have to keep reapplying. The higher the percentage, the longer it lasts, so if you’re using a low percentage like 10 to 20, everybody thinks that that’s less carcinogenic, but actually that means you have to reapply it every two hours, and in actuality, the studies on carcinogenicity in DEET are really lacking. There really are very few side effects, even in long-term use. Another mosquito repellent you can use that’s equally effective is Picaridin, although I have to say I tend more towards the DEET products. Picaridin only comes in one percentage, but there are some people who like that better and think it works as well.

So many Zika cases are in warm, tropical climates. Any tips for applying repellents with sunscreen? 

Absolutely. Everybody should remember to apply the sunscreen first and then the mosquito repellent over the sunscreen so you don’t dilute out the mosquito repellent.

Travel During Pregnancy: What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

You’re a doctor at Stanford’s Travel Medicine Clinic [which is open to the public]. Are there any other precautions travelers can take?

Try to reduce your environmental exposure. If you’re renting a house in a tropical setting, make sure there’s no standing water around your house. If you’re able to rent a place with air-conditioning so that you can stay inside and not be exposed to mosquitoes most of the time, that’s also better. Then recognize that there are areas that mosquitoes like to hang out in, which is stagnant pools, ponds, swamps. Try to avoid those, or when you go near them, just be sure you’re wearing repellent. 

The CDC has said Zika is most dangerous for pregnant women or women who might want to get pregnant. How can these specific travelers minimize risk? 

If you’re a pregnant woman, you should not travel to a Zika area. If you have been exposed and you want to become pregnant, you really should wait eight weeks before conceiving. Men who want to conceive should wait six months after being in the area; if a man gets the disease, it can hang out in his testicles for a while. 

What would you say is the biggest misconception about Zika out there today? 

First, I think those images of babies with tiny heads have created mass hysteria. I also think we need to remind people Zika is not just a mosquito-borne illness, it’s also a sexually-transmitted disease. The majority of Zika cases to this point are asymptomatic—about 75 percent of all cases involve people who don’t even know they had it. It’s important to educate people on this point. This also is why the situation in Miami Beach is so concerning. That’s a very sexually active population there. That could create a mini-epidemic pretty fast. 

How does the Zika saga end? 

Viruses die down, and this one could. We also have a bill on the table in Congress to fund a vaccine. One vaccine candidate already has been approved for trials. I wrote about that in a recent op-ed for USA Today. Congress needs to get off their asses and move on it. 

Until then, what can we learn from Zika? 

The larger, more philosophical aspect of Zika is that this is another disease that's jumped from monkey to man, like the yellow fever outbreak that's going on in Angola, and potentially the Ebola outbreak that happened in Guinea. We as a society need to take care of our animals. If you look at the Ebola outbreak in 1976, they had a big die-off of gorillas six months before it even jumped into man. If we had known that, we might have been able to prevent many deaths. There is something called the One Health Initiative, and it focuses on keeping animals and humans healthy by doing better bio-surveillance. That will only become more important.

Matt Villano is a freelance writer and editor based in Healdsburg, California. In nearly 20 years as a full-time freelancer, he has covered travel for publications including TIME, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Sunset, Backpacker, Entrepreneur, and more. He contributes to the Expedia Viewfinder blog and writes a monthly food column for Islands magazine. Villano also serves on the board of the Family Travel Association and blogs about family travel at Wandering Pod. Learn more about him at Whalehead.com

The Wonderfully Weird Makeup Trend Sweeping Korea

I'm absolutely obsessed with K-Beauty. 
I swear by Korean skin care. I can honestly say my skin has never ever looked better. It looks firm and smooth and it glows. 
In fact today a new order of skin care products arrived from Memebox. I order all my skin care products through them - they are so inexpensive especially when compared to Sephora's pricing, and because they ship out of San Francisco they get here in about 3 days.

Learn how to layer your skin care Korean style 

Anyway when I opened the Vogue.com email in my inbox today there was a story about K-Beauty, which of course got my attention.

I can't say that I will actually try this technique. Apart from the fact that I'm sure it would go hilariously wrong for me, I'm into super glowy looking skin, rather than matte. But I can imagine it going crazy on Instagram :))

The Wonderfully Weird Makeup Trick That’s Sweeping Korea

by Monica Kim for Vogue.com

image via Vogue.com

“It’s the hot tip in K-beauty right now.” This, I’m told constantly, and always take with a fat grain of salt. But at dinner in Seoul last week with a particularly plugged-in friend, I heard that a rather unorthodox trick called jamsu makeup (roughly translated to “diving” or “submerging”) had swept the city this summer, producing a perfectly matte, melt-proof face with little more than a bottle of baby powder and a basin of water. Given the thick humidity enveloping both the U.S. and Korea of late, I was at least intrigued by the wholly whimsical proposition.

It was purportedly a Japanese beauty blogger who sparked the trend on YouTube, though it quickly became a Korean sensation. The novel technique bears some similarity to “baking”—setting your makeup with powder and body heat—but feels rather next-level. First, cleanse and moisturize, then swipe on primer, foundation, and concealer, per usual. Then, shake heavy handfuls of Johnson’s Baby Powder onto your palms (though any loose powder will do) and pat it on freely, releasing clouds of it into the air until a pale kabuki-style base appears. Filling a sink with cool water, plunge your powdered complexion into the bath and hold it there for no more than 30 seconds. Finally, pat your face dry, and finish the rest of your look with a lasting, pitch-perfect canvas.

“If you have dry skin, don’t push your face in the water too long,” my friend says, adding that one might take a facial mist and spray liberally, instead. A bit reluctantly, I dunk my Ringu-esque head in the sink for some 15 seconds, feeling (frankly) ridiculous. But, I quickly find, the results are beyond. Yes, my skin is intensely matte, but also incredibly smooth and even-toned. Better yet, when shading in my arches and applying liner, there is no oil-induced glide, allowing me to craft fine, pencil-thin strokes that are the best brow-work I’ve done in ages—all thanks to a $4 tin of drugstore powder. It lasts remarkably well with no under-eye smudging and, I’m frequently told, my face looks softer and even younger—appropriately enough, like the skin on a baby’s bottom.

 Learn more about Korean skin care here and here  and here

Post - Summer Hair Fixes

By the time a long, fun summer comes to an end your hair is thrashed.

image via Hair World Magazine

Sun, surf, and chlorine all do their damage to your hair. Perspiration through your scalp, dry shampoos and all the products you use in your hair can gunk up your scalp. The combination of these things can leave you with dull, damaged, color challenged hair, so in order for your hair to look luscious for fall it's time to the following four steps:

         

Image via Huffington Post

1 Microderm Your Scalp

My hair dresser turned me onto this and it is one of the best hair tricks I have ever learned. Just as the skin on your body and on your face need exfoliating, so does your scalp. When your scalp gets a build up of products and dead skin and sebum it can start closing over the follicle, and hair gets thinner and loses its luster.

Using a microdermabrasion treatment at the end of summer clears your scalp and makes way for your hair to grow thick and shiny.

It's a great thing to do pre having your hair colored, and my hairdresser has me do it at the end of each season. You won't believe the difference in your hair and how bouncy it gets after one of these treatments!

I use Nioxin Scalp Renew Dermabrasion Treatment. I order it on Amazon.

2. Get Cut.

When summer is over it's time to get a really good cut. 

Refresh your shape, get rid of damaged, split ends and get some new movement in your hair for a fabulous fall look.

3. Masque It.

Summer dehydrates your hair. It losses its luster, gets lank and dull and gets dry dry dry. Show your locks the love by using deep conditioning treatments and masks. My hairdresser makes me use a heavy duty conditioning treatment every time I shampoo, but you may want to do it every couple of weeks or so.

When I want to spoil myself I use Oribe's incredible Masque For Beautiful Hair available at Space NK

I use lots of Bumble and Bumble products, including their Mending Mask.

I also love Moroccan Oil Intense Hydration Mask. Not only does it make your hair feel beautiful, it smells divine too!

4. Color It.

As fall approaches it's time to change up your color. Ashy, white and platinum blondes need to soften down to soft beige blondes, brunettes can add in a little warmth. Maybe you want some balayage, maybe you want a major change, or maybe just a little toning. Regardless, it's time to work your color!

The Fabu-list August 2016

 

What are you coveting this month?

Summer is nearing it's end, and although every year I hang on for as long as possible, it's time to start thinking about the transition into fall.

I've made this list a fabu-list instead of a coveted list, because I do own some of the items. But I do have a major covet going on the others...

Clockwise from top left:

Miansai Screw Cuff Bracelet in gold. I love that this bracelet is sleek and chic, and stands out as being different. You can wear it in a stack of bracelets, or in complete simplicity on it's own.

Reves de Sabine bath and body oils. I have both of these and absolutely love them. Your skin feels amazing with these beautiful oils, and I'm convinced that they are extending my tan from Italy this past June. They feel luxurious but come at a very friendly price point. Read about Reves de Sabine here.

Prada Tote  Isn't this just the perfect tote for fall? It's very roomy, the color is gorgeous, and it has a very Olivia Pope feel to it. I so want this bag!

Charlotte Tilbury Hot Lips in Kim K.W. is the perfect pinky nude for the entire year, not just fall. Inspired by  Kim Kardashian West's signature nude lip it has already become a best seller, and no doubt will stay one. It's just perfect.

The Michael Kors block heeled Marina slingback sandal is about as perfect as it gets. Killer with a pair of jeans this shoe elongates your leg with a little black dress, works with skirts, pants - basically every single thing in your closet. Love.

Paris In Love by Eloisa James. I'm always in love with Paris, so I grabbed this book as soon as I saw it! Eloisa up and moved her family to Paris for a year. I dream about doing that myself, and I love reading anything set in the city of light, so this book was a win before I even opened the cover.

And it's a perfect read to close out the summer.

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre eye shadow in Rouge Brule. You absolutely cannot beat red and gold eye shadow. It may sound intimidating at first, but it is absolute magic! Want to really spark your eye color and draw attention to your eye without overwhelming it with makeup? A subtle swipe of red gold on your lid is your absolute best friend. This eye shadow is everything!

The Na Kd off the shoulder knot blouse in white is super chic! The sleeves are gorgeous, the knot detail is so stylish, and the back of the blouse has a little something extra to cover your booty.

This blouse is lovely with a skirt, killer with a pair of jeans and a tan block heeled sandal, great with a pair of pants. It's fabulous.

Chanel nail gloss in Rouge Radical. I love the concept of a red see-through gloss instead of a full red nail polish! It's so fresh and modern.