How to Make Your Eyes Look Bigger in 4 Easy Steps

In my dream last night, I was traveling to Paris on a Jet Blue airplane and a passenger asked, "Why are your eyes so small?" As I am writing this I can attach all three items to a particular event yesterday: Paris -- reading about the Total Beauty bloggers who will be travling to Paris; Jet Blue -- listening to Sarah from Style It Online and Coutorture on Blog Talk Radio educate me about Twitter and her frustrating experience with Jet Blue; and my small eyes -- I woke up this morning with the most horrendous sinus headache and my eyes look like slits.

With an early appointment this morning, I need to pry open those slits so I can see.

What's my course of action to make my eyes look bigger?

The refrigerator and my makeup bag. You are 4 easy steps away from having bigger eyes!

First I will place cold green tea bags that I have saved in the refrigerator to reduce the swelling.

Second, I will fumble for the following items in my makeup bag:

• Neutral eyeshadow


• Eyeliner

Thirdly, I will brush on three layers of eyeshadow:

• Today I am using Bobbi Brown Ivory over my entire lid to make my eyes look less tired.


• Then I am smudging Bobbi Brown Expresso right above the crease which has a contouring effect that makes eyes look bigger and more wide open.


• The last layer is a dab of MAC Gesso white shadow under the brow bone which reflects light and lifts the eyes to make them sparkle.

Lastly, eyeliner along the lash line. I will use Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in navy blue to make my hazel eye color pop. The trick is to gradually thicken the line and sweep it up at the outer corner of the eye. For more effect, smudging a dark shadow on the lower lash line -- faintly as possible -- and meeting at the corner of the eye will add more definition.

A touch of mascara and my eyes look noticeably bigger.

Now, what do I do about the headache.

Do you have other tips to make my eyes look bigger?

Achoo,

Beckie

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Sunday Book Review: The Surgery-Free Makeover

Sunday Book Review: The Surgery-Free Makeover by Brandith Irwin, M.D.

I received this book from the publisher last week and thought, "Not another makeover book!" To my surprise, The Surgery-Free Makeover is all you need to know for great skin and a younger face.

Brandith Irwin, M.D., is board certified in dermatology and medicine and is the author of Your Best Face. Named Seattle's "top doctor" by Seattle Magazine, she has also appeared on Today and Oprah.

The renowned doctor knows that women are tempted with thousands of thousands of beauty products, so she writes a prescription as to what we really need. The Surgery-Free Makeover is chock full of useful and sensible information for the woman who doesn't want to undergo invasive plastic surgery.

Here are snippets of the book, but to get the full value, you must read it from cover to cover:

Cleansers: Cleansers are on your face for about fifteen seconds twice a day, hardy long enough to have any therapeutic effect on your skin. Dr. Irwin recommends Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleaner, among others.

Sunscreens: Sunscreen is the most important product you can use on your skin every day. Dr. Irwin helps you choose the best sunscreen for your skin. Some of her recommendations include Neutrogena Healthy Defense, Lancome UV Expert 20 with Mexoryl SX, and a new one I'm going to try, Blue Lizard Australian Face Sunscreen SPF 30.

Toners: Toners are generally useless in my book.

Moisturizers: Moisturizers are worth using. Dr. Irwin likes Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream, Olay Total Restoration Lotion, among others.

Repair Creams: The only products that have been proven to work to reduce wrinkles at this time are the vitamin-A cousins (Retin-A, Renova, Tazorac), some antioxidants like vitamin C serums, some hydroxy acids, and possibly creams containing cell-growth factors or peptides.

According to Dr. Irwin, there are lots of questions remaining as to the efficacy of antioxidants and cell growth factors in skin cream, but she thinks a repair cream should be part of your skin care regimen. Some of her recommendations are TNS Recovery Complex, Replenix Cream, Olay Regenerist (which was also tested against nine other wrinkle creams by Consumer Reports and it was the most effective), SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic, and Neutrogena Healthy Anti-Wrinkle Cream with Retinol.

Beyond the creams: Dr. Irwin gives you a personal consultation and discusses the cost, longevity, risks of Botox, line fillers, laser, Thermage, peels, and microdermabrasion.

Food lifestyle and skin connection: Eat six foods with color a day, eat more fish, eat less sugar, and drink plenty of water.

Lifestyle changes to make your skin glow: Sleep seven to nine hours a night, limit alcohol and coffee consumption, exercise four to five days a week, wear sun-protective clothing, have your vitamin D level checked!, decrease stress, stop smoking.

Menopause and your skin: Use creams that build collagen (Retin-A, Cellex-C, and alpha- and beta-hydroxy acids), a gentle scrub like Bobbi Brown's Skin Refining Cream, and fractional resurfacing lasers like Fraxel.

Brains on Beauty: The Surgery-Free Makeover is brains on beauty. Dr. Irwin cuts through the myriad of confusing options to get a face-saving plan that will work for every woman and every budget. It's a must-read for any woman contemplating buying a skin cream all the way to Botox and Fraxel.

Happy reading.

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Tempting Tuesday: Bobbi Brown - Almost Bare

Tempting Tuesday: Offering up a reverent petition to the gods of beauty products yesterday for an early release of Bobbi Brown—Almost Bare ($60), I tiptoed into Saks (so as not to disturb the gods) and made my way to the Bobbi Brown counter. As you might suspect --Curses! Foiled again! -- the June release of Almost Bare is scheduled for June.

Since Saks Girl had not put her lovely phalanges around the neck of a retail bottle of Almost Bare, we both entered into a lively discussion about our love of the sample that we both had received.

Product Review: Almost Bare is a fresh floral fragrance that features a delicate balance of inspiring Italian Bergamot blended with Violet Leaves to relax and soothe the senses. The scent is enhanced by a note of Soft Muguet and gentle Jasmine Petals, with a Soft Cedar and Warm Amber background. Like Bobbi Brown, this fragrance promises you a long-lasting but uncomplicated clean and fresh friendship.

As a aficionado of soft floral scents (see Sephora's fragrance finder), I have discovered very few that leave me wanting more. Philosophy's Amazing Grace, my signature scent, has been a party of one for years.

But no fragrance is an island.

Bobbi's Beach has consistently been part of my summer repertoire.

Recently I added Zents-Fresh.

And now, Almost Bare.

Further Temptation: After leaving Bobbi Brown, I rounded the corner in more of a disappointed stomp than a tip-toe and something fabulous but dangerously expensive caught my eye: Bond No. 9 New York Andy Warhol Union Square, exclusively at Saks.

If price was not an object ($1,500), a punch of this artsy Andy Warhol Union Square Portfolio would be just the je ne sai quoi that my newly renovated minimalistic spa bathroom needs. This collection of investments are bonds of a different fragrance: The scent left my olfactory senses bankrupt. The animal musk was a little too frisky for my portfolio, but, oh, the artwork calls my name.

Andy Warhol Union Square Portfolio. The Portfolio of ten bottles, each displaying a different design from Warhol's Flowers series, are meant to be viewed as one, as Warhol intended. The scent is a seductive floral that's simultaneously cool and warm. Sometimes the gentle scent of lily of the valley seems about to prevail, looped together with blue freesia, golden amber, and animal musk to enhance its sensuality.

Tagging along with The Hubster, who is attending a financial conference, it has been lovely window shopping.

MasterCard purchases: 0
Stress-free vacation: Priceless.

Have a great Tuesday,
Beckie

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Behind The Scences At New York Fashion Week With Bobbi Brown's Crew

Behind the scenes at Fall 2008 New York Fashion Week I befriended a group of makeup artists. Not just any makeup artists, mind you. Bobbi Brown makeup artists. The models at Fashion Week would take your breath away, but we all know that makeup on the runway or off the runway can change a face dramatically (as shown in photo below: Betsey Johnson model at Fashion Week).

These artistes are the unsung heroes and figuratively the true face of Fashion Week. Without makeup, most of the Fashion Week models are just a tall canvas. All the Bobbi Brown makeup artists that I met were as confident, if not more, than the models on the catwalk. And they were having so much fun! (A tall canvas in street clothes entering the back entrance of Fashion Week).



After my newfound friends went backstage to perform their magic, Bobbi Brown, a beauty philosopher that I have always admired, walked past me with the same North Face jacket as her crew, but I didn't recognize her until after the fact. Her dark hair, petite and slim body, short stature (from my estimation under five feet tall), so-trendy-that-they-weren't-trendy black eyeglasses walked in like she was a supermodel. Compared to the models that entered the back entrance prior to her, Bobbi was the antithesis to the fair-skinned, lithe, and tall Fashion Week models.

According to JV magazine, Bobbi realized at a young age when she was standing next to all the supermodels that she couldn't compete with them. "I decided that I can't be what I'm not - I have to make the most of what I have."

And that my friends is what beauty is all about -- walking in a room full of supermodels and celebrities and having confidence and owning your own style.

Tomorrow, the outside-in tour will continue on the inside of the tents of Fashion Week. In addition, I am putting Girl-Woman-Fashion-Brains-Blog to rest tomorrow. I have found that my other editing activities and the daily posts on this blog are chewing up more time than I had anticipated. In addition to the beauty trends, tips, and independent reviews that are currently posted on this site, I will add current fashion trends, fashion tips and advice, and independent fashion reviews to Girl-Woman-Beauty-Brains-Blog.

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Review of Clinique's Supermoisture Makeup

I don't know if you remember my before and after at the Clinique cosmetic counter a few weeks ago where my free makeover left me looking like Mimi Bobek from the Drew Carey Show, but I finally got up enough courage to return to said counter to get a few samples of Clinique's new Supermoisture Makeup. Clinique Girl color-matched my skin, and I raced out of the department store so that Makeover Girl would not be offended by my previous escape, and I took my sample home for the real test drive.

Clinique advertises this new product as, "Ultra-creamy yet refreshingly lightweight formula goes beyond flaw-fixing, acting as skin’s undercover moisture agent for a dewy look. Disguises unevenness with sheer-to-moderate coverage. Instantly puts drier skins at ease. Skin looks soft and radiant all day."

As advertised, Supermoisture Makeup is creamy, lightweight, and dewy. It is a good choice for women with dry skin like mine. I have been using Bobbi Brown's Moisture Rich Foundation, but found it to have too much coverage for daywear. I will keep Bobbi's foundation in my makeup arsenal, but I am going to add Clinique's Supermoisture Makeup for day. I am sold on this product.

You can find more reviews of this product at Bella Sugar.

In reference to the previous post, the jury is still out on the concealer. I need to have a few friends give me their honest opinions. I will report the results to you.

Cheers.

(Image from Clinique.com.)

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