Peak Oil

One of the most pressing issues on my mind today.  No, not because I'm worried about whether or not New Jersey-ites will be able to drive their Escalades into New York City and honk in ten years, but because of the proliferation of skin oils on the market, and what exactly they're good for.

Case study:  my beloved friend H, who is perhaps the most fickle of all skin obsessives.  Sephora loves her, because she'll spend hundreds based on whatever that month's facialist suggested, then dump it all and spend hundreds more the next month when some other facialist disagrees.  As a result, I recently inherited a full bottle of Shu Uemera cleansing oil and a nearly full bottle of Josie Maran Argan Oil (both of which I use, and suggested that she use) thanks to one of these very facialists.  The issue?  That H worries about breakouts, and the facialist insisted that anyone who has ever had a pimple should avoid oil like the plague, and absolutely should not put any on her face.  Ever.  Sounds logical, right?

If you consider that acne is like a chair with four legs, (oil, hormones, cell turnover, and bacteria) and that knocking out one leg  will cause the chair to fall over, then yes, it does sound logical.  BUT also consider that in the case of cleansing oil, oil breaks up oil, so removing your makeup with oil is highly efficient.  Sub-case study:  C is a pastry chef, and was horrified to find her teenage breakouts returning with her first job in a commercial kitchen.  The culprit?  Pam.  Its everywhere in a pastry kitchen, and her regular cleanser, an excellent workhorse in normal circumstances, just wasn't cutting through the layer of non-stick cooking spray that accumulated on her face over eight hours.  Ugh.  I suggested that she use a cleansing oil prior to washing with her normal cleanser and bingo, back to normal.  Cleansing oils not only break up oil, they do rinse off.  It isn't like waterproofing your face with Vaseline, trust me!

And what about oils that you leave on? Not all oils are comedogenic.  They're light.  They sink in quickly.  Some contain natural anti-inflammatories and bacteria inhibitors.  Some pack a powerful punch of anti-oxidants while hydrating and moisturizing, obviating the need to layer on products.  All pluses for the breakout prone.

For the drier-skinned, that they sink in quickly makes them fantastic for layering.  What's not to love?  I am looking forward to trying out two that are currently buring holes in my medicine cabinet shelves I'm such a huge fan.   So oil it up, and slide on.

Celebrity Skin

No, not Cate Blanchett without airbrushing or some weird stalker website. Rather, I bumped into uber famous dermatologist Dr. Frederic Brandt yesterday. Yes, dermatologists can be famous. Dr. B has a skincare line (duh) so of course I know who he is. He looked a bit frightened when I chased him down the street describing the items that are not currently on the market that I want....was that weird??

Anyway, I did refrain from mentioning that I'm in the midst of test driving an item from his line up, (review coming soon). Journalistic ethics and all!

The Goddess of Glamazonia

Or the image of self we all need to summon this time of year. Never mind the three parties we went to last night. Never mind that pile of work that needs to be done. Never mind that flab-tire collecting around our waists. We're off to conquer yet another holiday party!

Clutch stowed in utilitarian day bag? Check. Change of pumps? Check. Strategic jacket removal? Check. Now what about that face??

Ten hours in the office later, can't be fabulous, can it? I know mine isn't.  But I can look a LOT better without even stepping away from my desk.

First things first, have a big glass of water.  Then blot any oil from your nose, using oil blotting papers like these from Bobbi Brown.  (No residue!)  Perk up the skin under your eyes using a hydrating product that can be used over makeup.  I usually put oil on any dry or dull spots, like my cheeks and upper lip.  Then, hide any shadows under your eyes using a highlighter.  All-star of all time is YSL's.  Next, my secret weapon:  powder.  No, not any old powder, normally I wouldn't recommend it; it sinks into lines, makes your skin look dull.  THIS powder by Smashbox has zero glitter or shine, yet isn't at all matte.  It has a bit of coverage, but not too much.  Believe it or not, it hydrates.  Dust a bit on and you will look...amazing.  If I want to look like a diva, I dip my brush into a bit of gold powder too.

Set with water (yes, Eau Avene Thermale comes in handy again), add some eyeliner and brighter lipstick, and you're off.

To Spend or Not to Spend?

A question for the ages. I have an aunt who falls solidly into the 'it's all nonsense, don't spend more than five dollars' camp, and a friend just as firmly rooted in the, 'I wouldn't be caught dead with anything that costs less than $150 in my medicine cabinet' camp.

Does it sound like either of these approaches makes sense? I hope not. More is not always more. Less is not always more. So when to spend?  The answer is that its all in the ingredients.  Certain ingredients do in fact cost quite a bit, or are only available via one manufacturer, and thus command a premium.  Often, you're paying for lovely packaging and brand tribalism.  And if that's your bag, fine.  There is a massive psychological element in all this anyway.  But for those of us who need to arbitrage between the cost of our shrinks (or reiki healers, or accupuncture guys, or tarot readers, or whatever....) and our cosmetic arsenals, its important to know when to make the arbitrage, and when not to bother.l

For the topic that sparked the thought, moisturizer, the answer is a resounding NO.  There are so many moisturizers on the market that no can hope to keep track of them.  Most dermatologists will tell you that the best of them are available in drugstores, are fragrance-free, contain commonly found ingredients (like urea, glycerin, ceramides, and hylauronic acid), and cost around $12.  Most dermatologists will rave about CeraVe, which is very reasonably priced considering how effective it is and the range of skin types that it benefits.  There are consistencies for everyone, special add-ins that do this and that, but just to moisturize?  Meh.  I mention B5 gel all the time.  Yes, its expensive (due to the ingredient factor), but you use a very tiny amount to hydrate like mad.  Add a moisturizer on top of that and the driest of environments won't beat you down.

Other items that go on the 'don't spend' list:  cleanser, eye makeup remover, shaving cream (I didn't even know until recently that expensive versions existed), nail polish remover, body scrubs, lip scrubs, non-prescription retinol, sunscreen.  One would think that with my obsession with sunscreen, I'd be advocating for the absolute top brands.  And I do.  It just so happens that here in the US, the top performers are rarely, if ever, the most expensive.  Plus with the rate at which you're supposed to go through the stuff, you'll be spending at the rate our national debt goes up if you're doing it right.  So get yourself to the drugstore and knock yourself out.

Now happy shopping.

Product Review - Neocutis Eye Cream

I don't change products on a whim.  I give them at least six weeks to work, and if they do, I stick with them.  Unless said product is eye cream, in which I am always willing to fall for a miracle-product description.  Who isn't??

I have zero memory of who recommended Neocutis Lumiere Biorestorative Eye Cream with PSP  (well that was a mouthful, wasn't it??) from www.neocutis.com.  But I'm on my second bottle, and the skin around my eyes looks excellent, no advancement on the crows-feet front.  My main obsession is resiliency, and this product promises to tackle this particularly heinous issue, and I do think I have seen a bit of improvement in that area too.  As soon as I pat it on (eyelids included, no irritation, and my eyes are SENSITIVE) the tiny lines around my eyes, visible in the 8000 watts of light in my bathroom, are plumped a bit, demonstrating excellent hydrating properties.  I love how quickly it absorbs, minimizing the risk that it was migrate into my eyes as I sleep, causing me to wake up looking like a deranged frog.

The product comes packaged in a bottle equipped with a pump.  NEUTRAL  While tubs allow you to get every scrap of product, they also allow you to transfer whoknowswhat from your fingers to the remaining product in the jar, which may cause oxidation or decay.  Pump leaves overage?  Use a toothpick to scrape it out.  Downside of pumps is that they're often defective, and dispense unpredictable amounts of product, sometimes in unpredictable directions.

The texture is light, but surprisingly hydrating, thanks to hyauluronic acid, and sinks in quickly.  PLUS.

Miracle ingredients include PSP (glad you asked, it stands for 'processed skin proteins', egad), wild yam, and beech tree bud extract.  PSP is obtained via cultured fetal skin cells, and the idea is that such proteins will encourage your skin to act younger, eg, more resilient, more able to repair damange.  Wild yam is a phytosterol, or in other words, what Samantha in Sex and the City 2 rubbed on her hoo-ha to calm down menopausal symptoms.  As we age, our skin dries out and gets grouchy due to declining estrogen levels.  Trick it into thinking that estrogen levels are parked somewhere around 21, and skin is moister, perkier.  Beech tree bud extract is an anti-oxidant, from the 'youth tree.'  "Anti-oxidant", "Youth Tree"?  Need I say more??  PLUS.

Sadly, like too many cosmetics, this eye cream is loaded with parabens.  BUMMER.  I am avoiding parabens in everything else that I can possibly get away with so I can keep this eye cream; its worth it!

Out, Out Damn Spot! Act I

We can be afflicted with more than one kind of spot.  And they need to be treated in different ways, or we can actually make them worse rather than better.  (Ouch.)  The first kind of spot is trauma induced.  You know, like, a scar.  Say, the kind you get when you do what you swore you'd never do, pick at a zit or manually extract a blackhead.

These horrible spots are visual reminders of our shame, our inability to control ourselves, a veritable scarlet letter.  Until they turn a sort of brownish color that seems to take forever to go away, and is impervious to concealer. 

The best defense is not to pick at your face.  Or decollete.  But now that you have, if the wound is still fresh, try Mario Badescu's Healing Mask or SKII's Repair Serum.  (The former is a LOT more economical, and is specifically forumulated for blemishes; the latter works better on that red, peeling skin that you got from freaking out with the isopropyl alcohol when the blemish was active.)  Keep using the MBHC until all of the redness has gone away.  Hopefully, the dread dark spot won't set in if you're careful and didn't go off the reservation too far while the blemish was active.  If the worst occurs, apply a salcylic acid cream nightly (love Aveeno's Blemish Control, totally non-drying), let it absorb thoroughly, and then a tiny dab of Mederma.  In a few weeks, you should see significant improvement.