Into BEAUTY (Make-up and Skin Care)

I'm thirty-five and it's only now that I'm starting to really enjoy putting on make-up. I have worn make-up since grade school for theatre, for myself through college and work and even been beautified professionally for television. But it's only now that I am having the courage and perhaps the reasons to try new things.

Part 1: Skin Care

First of all, let me say that more important than make-up is skin care. In this I have always placed value. When I was younger, my mother's regime always included Ivory soap. I believe it to have been effective in keeping pimples at bay even when I was an adolescent. Then later on, in my teen years, it became Neutrogena. Then early adulthood ushered in the universally respected brand, Clinique.

Now, however, I've moved onto Shiseido. I've been using this brand for three years now and so far, although I've tried others, I go back to Shiseido in the end. It just works.

My early thirties ushered in changes in my skin. The most noticeable was the dullness. While walking around Nordstrom, I noticed the Shiseido consultants' skin. They were dewy! Mind you they ranged in age from around mid-twenties to late forties. So I walked up to their counter and asked to look like them. I walked away with a softener (which was supposed to be the secret to the dewy look) and moisturizers (tinted and with SPF for day and another one for night). I started with the Skincare line and was very pleased with the result. It cost me about two hundred dollars but it did last for about a year or a little more.

A year later, I moved onto the Benefiance line. It was winter time and my skin was dryer than normal. Again, I spent a few hundred but this line, being richer, lasted even longer.

I now use a combination of both Benefiance and Skincare lines and am very pleased.

Below is a link to the Shiseido secret:

http://www.us.shiseido.com/beautymethod/softener.htm

For make-up, however, I have remained loyal to no one. I have my share of Shiseido make-up: Lifting Foundation, Make-Up Smoothing Veil but for the eyes and cheeks I use other brands. They range from drugstore to department store brands.

Part 2: Make-up

The first make-up I remember buying for myself was a lipstick from the Body Shop. I was a sophomore in college, away on exchange program in England when this happened. It was a nice neutral pink. I used it throughout my college and even early working years.

Now, I'm starting do discover other brands: Urban Decay, Benefit, Maybelline, Revlon, L'oreal, Clinique, Lancome, MAC, Bobbi Brown, Philosophy, etc.

Needless to say, we women can't get enough of make-up, right? More on make and my experiences with them on my next entries.