It’s Fashion Flash Monday!

This week Jackie of Aging Backwards is hosting Fashion Flash.  Jackie is one of the best beauty journalists I have ever met.  We can go to the same conference and she will find great  new products and  experts, that never  made  it on my radar.  In fact Jackie introduced  me to two of  my new favorite skin care products– Brush on Sunblock and microfiber  cleansing cloths.  She  also spots trends  months before the rest of us and if you want to read it first, be sure to check out Aging Backwards.

Free Make-up Master Class

Last week I went to a work-shop by master make-up artist Francisco Valera, hosted by Marmur Medical in New York City.  You’ve seen his work in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Marie Claire and Elle and his clients include  Christy Turlington, Kate Moss,Giselle and Sandra Bullock. 

Francisco ( just first name, like Cher or Madonna) used techniques  that I’ve never seen before.  He started by applying a dab of Eight Hour Cream from Elizabeth Arden to the lips.  Although he  does the lips last, he wanted  to give  the cream time to hydrate the often  dry skin on the lips.   I was fascinated as he used three different shades of the same  cream foundation to cover redness, add light and create definition.

For a daytime  look, he brushed  champagne beige eye shadow on the lids.  Then he mixed the same eight hour cream with a cherry red Chanel lipstick to  produce a translucent yet intense lip color.  To switch to  a party look, Francicso created a delicate smoky eye and “took down”  lip color to a softer neutral beige.  Watching Francisco work, I could see why Christy, Kate and Sandra look so good.

Marmur Medical will be holding a second make-up master class on May 9 2013.  From 5:30-7:00, Francisco  will share the secrets of supermodel beauty and you will go home  with both great knowledge and a great goody bag. To reserve a  seat,  RSVP to Marie.Lum@marmurmedical.com. I’ll be going back  for another session and I hope to see you there.

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Its Fashion Flash Monday!

This week Jackie of Aging Backwards is hosting Fashion Flash. Jackie also writes for The Examiner and Style Goes Strong covering health, nutrition and aging providing useful info in an upbeat voice. She is one of those people who can spot an idea and find a practical application. We can go to the same event, hear the same presentation and she will find a nugget of information that went right past me. No wonder the PR chicks are so happy so see Miss Jackie   show up at an event.

Both Jackie and I worked during our “Mommy” years, but  I’ve had close friends  who had focused their  lives and energies on their children.  When the last  child went off to college they struggled  with  anxiety and depression and it was hard  for them to   enjoy their  new stage of life.  Beyond the Mommy Years is  a great resouce  for all  moms  who  need to relearn their lives.  Author Carin Rubenstein, PhD is uniquely qualified to write this book.  A social psychologist and mother  of two, she  inteviewed over   1000 women on their views,  challenges and  solutions to reinventing the post- parenting years. 

For  many women  their lives were centered around playground community,  sports and even PTA  events.  When the  last child is deposited  in a college dorm room,  moms need not only to restructure their days, they need to find a new identidy.  Beyond the Mommy Years  offers  dozens of suggestions on finding  new meaningful paths include going  back to school, starting a  new career and  and making new  relationships.  Its a cruel coincidence  that  mommy years often  end  at the start of menopause.  This  positive book offers special advice and support   for the physical and emotional  tsunami   that   accompany “The Change”. 

As any  Mom  of a college grad will tell you,   parenting doesn’t end, but evolves  when a child leaves home.   Rather than  packing lunches and running to  gymnastic practice,  I now get to take an ecstatic  18 month old granddaughter  to a doggie run  and then go out to a wine bar  with my editor.   If you wait long enough, you can  have it all.

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It’s Fashion Flash Monday!

This week  Jackie of Aging Backwards is hosting Fashion Flash. Jackie  is passionate about  heath and fitness and  committed to getting everyone to make  the best  health choices.  Last week her advice kept me safe.  Until I  met Jackie I never put  on the seatbelts in a cab. When she saw   this,  Jackie  scolded me and  rattled off some disturbing  statistics. Its hard to change years of habits, but when  I sat down in a cab  that seemed to be driven by a Nascar wannabe, I remembered Jackie’s warning and strapped myself in.  Less than three blocks later, he plowed into  the car in front of  us.  If I had not been wearing the seatbelt, I would have gone head  first into the partition.   Her advice is that good.

Help! I’ve been scraped! No, its not a new type of microdermabrasion.  A post from No-Nonsense Beauty Blog  has  been picked up by an ethically challenged blogger and reprinted  at  least eight times. In the real world  this is called plagerism and the offender  is sued and disgraced.  Online, a Google spider saw the eight copies of the article on different sites and read this as duplication– a BIG  offense in their algorithm.  As a result Google  slashed my search rankings  and my traffic fell sharply.  

People tell me that this is not an uncommon problem.  What they can’t say  is how to fix it.  If anyone knows  to deal with this and/or  can connect  me with a  live human person at Google, I would be  so grateful.  ( Sympathic  emails  would also be very welcome) What really stings is that in the past two weeks since  I was scraped, I’ve done  several articles    posts with new and helpful info that has  been missed by over 10,000 vistors who didn’t come to my site.  For example  I explored the  value of gluten-free cosmetics and skin care products  and found that two groups of people may  find them beneficial. Its  probably not surprising to read that people with gluten  intolorance  reported greater symptom relief when they switched to gluten -free products.  However if you are one of the estimated 20 million Americans with eczema, gluten-free products may reduce irritation and itching.  I also  discussed the problems of finding truely gluten-free make-up and skin care  products and include links to three safe and recommended brands.  If you or someone you know  has eczema, please tell them to  take a look at the article.

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Its Fashion Flash Monday

This week Jackie of Aging Backwards is the host of Fashion Flash.  Jackie is one of those people  who always seem to get it right.  She is the one in a group  that picks the best restaurant in the neighborhood (  and orders the tastiest dish), she  gets invited to the best parties ( and takes you along) and shares  her knowledge with  joy and enthusiasm.  We bumped into each other at the International Beauty Show and  walked thru the exhibits together.  It is pretty overwhelming, but  in the mass of  products, Jackie suddenly spotted  a table of sponges.  She grabbed  up two packages of microfiber wipes declaring these were a great way to  remove  make-up.  When I got home, I roadtested the round lavendar disks and was blown away.  They were the BEST way ever to remove  eye make-up.  Just a swipe with the dampened  pad and   mascara and  liner were gone.  Used dry, they are a powerful  yet non-irritating exfoliator.  The point of this  story-  and I do have one- it that Jackie is someone whose advice  is genuinely good.  Her  site – Aging Backwards-  is filled with  info that you can trust.

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Its Fashion Flash Monday!

This week the host of Fashion Flash is Jackie of Aging Backwards.  This big site covers  a wide range of alternative health  issues including  nutrition, beauty, and medical problems.  You will love her spirit and energy  and  learn, as I have, to value her advice.  

Jackie is passionate about exercise and is constantly urging me to join  her gym.  I’m not quite there yet, but I’ve started exploring exercise videos to firm up my arms.  I found a  Marie Winsor Plilates video at a chruch tag sale.  I had seen Winsor Pilates infomercials on TV and at 50 cents for the VHS tape, it  looked  like a deal too good to pass up.  I also liked the fact  the Marie Winsor was over 40 and hoped she  would offer a workout with age in mind. 

Not quite.  From the start this approach did not seem right  for me.  The warm-up was brutal and seemed to go on forever. It began with a straight back and legs at a 90 degree angle and needed a large ball.  Right away I felt stress in my back and the back of my legs.– not uncommon for a baby boomer.  After a few  children and decades carrying them and the  dead weigh oft bags of grocercies,  most of us  have had some  type of back problem and this type  of exercise  only  makes it worse.

I wan’t quite  sure where the warm-up ended and the exercises began, but I noticed that the instructions became more complicated and now included breathing patterns.  And while  the tape was called Upper Body Sculpting, they seemed to be directed at  my abs, not arms.   The exercises kept increasing in difficulty and required strong core muscles.  I almost felt that if I could actually do these combos, I really didn’t need this tape.

Finally the warm-up was done and so was I.  I actually  had to rest on my couch for a bit before I could follow her exercises for tricpes and bicpes.    However the tape recommended only one  set of 10 reps with 1-2 lb weights.  I know I’m a newbie in exercise programs  but this didn’t seem like enoogh effort to  get the results I am hoping to see.  Next!

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