Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Photo by pullip_junk.

I’ll be the first to admit it – I’m bad at sunscreen.

That’s not entirely true. I’m bad at putting sunscreen on my shoulders and back at least once a year, which means once a year I get more sun than I should. I’m trying to be better at this, but it’s an uphill battle!

You don’t need me to lecture you on the reasons why you should use sunscreen. But maybe you’re thinking about buying one and you want to know which one would be best for you. Well, there I can help you out. I’ve been looking into it and here’s what I found!

The Environmental Working Group has a great sunscreen guide that outlines which are the best... But here's a little round-up of the best and worst!

The Best:

• Alba Botanical Sun Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30
• Aubrey Organics Natural Sun Sport Stick Unscented Sunscreen, SPF 30
• Kiss My Face 100% Natural Blue Sun Stick, SPF 30

The Worst:

• Banana Boat Sport Performance Active Max Protect, SPF 110 ("The letters SPF mean “sun protection factor” and refers only to protection against UVB radiation, which burns the skin. It has nothing to do UVA radiation that penetrates deep into the skin, accelerates skin aging and may cause skin cancer.")
• Elizabeth Arden – Eight Hour Cream Sun Defense for Face, SPF 50 ("Even though sunscreen makers like Elizabeth Arden can add stabilizing additives to slow down the pace with which the cream breaks down in sunlight, this product simply does not last for hours and hours on the skin.")
• Coppertone Water Babies Sunscreen Lotion SPF 70+ ("This Coppertone sunscreen is one of more than 20 sunscreens with the word “baby” in their name and the chemical oxybenzone on their ingredient lists. Don’t buy them. Plenty of safer products are available.")

Keep in mind, I'm not a health expert! I'm just passing this information along to you. When you do apply sunscreen, here's how to do it right!

Here's hoping you have a burn-free summer!

Act Your Age… Or Don't

Photo by Elana3.

I was talking to my parents on the phone over the weekend, and the subject of my latest hair colour decision came up, which happens to be Special Effect's Cupcake Pink. One of them (and in all fairness, I can't remember which one) said, with a note of dismay, “I just thought you'd have outgrown that by now.”

I laughed it off and said something along the lines of, “Well, I love it,” and moved on with the conversation.

But after we hung up the phone I got to thinking about the difference between being “age-appropriate” and being an individual who can show their personality through their clothing and presentation.

I also recently got a question for my Apartment613 column (which will be answered in an upcoming column) from Nadine Thornhill, a fellow columnist and wonderful blogger. She asked about the appropriateness of miniskirts past the age of 35 - as anyone who has even a passing acquaintence with What Not To Wear is familiar with the sign that shows up in the credits that says, “No miniskirts over 35”.

Here's the thing about Nadine - Nadine is gorgeous. Like, drop-dead stunning. Like, her husband is a lucky, lucky man. She's also a runner with amazing legs. (I've taken her shopping, and I've seen her in shorts.)

To me, there is no reason that she should shun miniskirts. She has a lot of class and a lot of style, and a miniskirt on her looks cute and summery and kicky and fun, never sleazy, never skanky, and certainly never mutton dressed as lamb.

I think on of the main reasons that the What Not To Wear folk foist so many “age appropriate” rules on their victims/subjects is because the vast majority of them have no sense of style themselves and simply don't know what works on them and what doesn't. People of any age should shun a miniskirt if it doesn't fit and flatter them.

Another problem is that the term “miniskirt” is pretty broad, and can mean anything between approximately 20 centimetres above the knee (about mid-thigh) to just barely covering your lady bits (which, let's be honest here, is really just a wide belt). A miniskirt that shows some cheek is not right for anyone, but a miniskirt that's slightly cheeky? I have no problem with a 35-year-old woman with great pins rocking that!

The thing about clothing and physical appearance, the secret, is that you can wear whatever it is that you want. With a few caveats, of course.

• It has to fit.
• It has to flatter you. (Even if you love love love orange, if it makes you look like death you should probably stay away from it.)
• You have to own it.

We are all free to be whoever we want. If you want to be a walking contradiction, a whirlwind, a mind-bending Sphinx-like riddle, someone who is happy with themselves & doesn't answer to anyone else, you can be! Let criticism roll off your back. Embrace your individuality. No one is stopping you but yourself.
                                                          - Gala Darling

Of course, you know that means I'm keeping my hair pink, crimping it from time to time, and wearing whatever outlandish concoctions I come up with from my tickle trunk of a wardrobe!

*****

A reminder that today is the last day to enter my fabulous Ottawa Fashion Week ticket giveaway! The contest closes tonight at midnight.

On a more serious note, the tragedy in Japan just keeps getting more and more horrific to hear about. Please consider giving a monetary donation to the Red Cross. I've added a Hello Bar up at the top of the blog so donations can be made to the Red Cross. Please help in any way you can.

Controlling Your Communication

Photo by Laila.

I've been writing this blog for a while now, and every once in a while I get asked questions in e-mails by people who are looking for life rather than fashion advice. I usually answer those questions privately, but (with the sender's permission) I decided to answer this one here*.

I had a falling-out with a girl last year (over a guy). I've apologized to her, and while I know that she and I will never be friends, I'm doing my best to just move on with my life. Part of that means I don't read her blog or follow her on Twitter, because I know that she's still not over it and she talks about me on there sometimes. Which, you know, I don't have a problem with, because if that's how she's dealing with it then fine.

The problem comes up when other people start getting involved. She and I have a lot of mutual friends who do read her blog, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and they always seem to want to tell me when she says something that could be even remotely taken to be about me.

I know that she's just being malicious because she's still hurting, and I know that she's not going to stop saying things about me, but I want to make sure that I stop hearing about it!

Every time it happens, I talk to the person who passed the information along and tell them that I don't want to know what she's saying about me, but every time it happens it's another person!

I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like every time I hear something she's saying about me it prevents me from moving forward and I just get angry at her all over again!

This must be very frustrating for you! It probably seems like you are doing everything you can to avoid being brought down by someone else's bad feelings about you. It's good that you recognize that she's still not over it. I certainly hope you know that any criticisms she is sending your way at this point are actually not directed at you! People tend to criticise that which they don't like about themselves.

The bigger problem is how to deal with the communication coming from other people, letting you know what she's saying about you. I think you're taking good, strong steps in the right direction by being very clear about the fact that you don't want to know what she's saying about you to the people who pass the nasty bits of information on, but you know that you need to do more.

Luckily I have a few ideas! (Mostly because I have been in this position myself rather recently…)

First of all, you need to make sure that you are treating people the way you want to be treated - this means that if you are a bit of a gossip yourself, or are saying to people, “Guess what so-and-so said about you on their Twitter?”, you need to stop right now. You can't expect people to treat you any differently than what you put out there yourself.

Gossiping is a very hard habit to break! You might want to try something like what I did when I was trying to stop saying negative things: I wore a rubber bracelet around one wrist, and every time I said something negative I had to change it to the other wrist. My goal was to keep the bracelet on the same wrist for a week. It was hard work, but after a few days it actually got easier!

Secondly, since it seems like you are pretty social media-savvy, you might want to consider issuing a “blanket statement” on your blog, Twitter or Facebook, something along the lines of, “Please don't tell me when I'm being talked about”. It's a bold move, but it may make your life easier if everyone you know sees that. And if they then try to pass along some nasty bit of news, you can just direct them to where you said that!

Finally, if someone comes to you and says, “Guess what she said about you today?”, you can always say that you don't want to know. You need to be firm! Stand your ground.

The most important thing to remember about communication is that the person sending the communications out isn't the one that is in charge of how you receive it. You can always choose to not listen to negative things directed at you! It's just like changing the channel.

I wish you all the best in this!

*If you want to ask me a question, please feel free to e-mail me at jes.lacasse@gmail.com. Also, please don't forget to enter my fashion week tickets giveaway! The contest closes Wednesday, March 16th at midnight!

Colour Theory For Non-Artists

I was recently asked about combining colours in outfits. How is it done? How can I do it? How do I avoid looking like a douchebag?

Many people find colour intimidating. There are so many colours out there! If one doesn’t have an art background or a good eye for such things, how does one know what goes with what?

Luckily, there is a ton of information available online, and I’m going to do my best to dispense some wisdom as well.

When you first start playing around with colour, you might do well to try out neutrals with a “pop” of colour. Think brown pants with a red top, a white summer dress with an aquamarine belt, or a navy suit with a deep indigo dress shirt. It’s a simple way to incorporate colour into outfits without having to worry about whether or not it “matches”. It doesn’t have to match, it just “goes”. Neutrals (black, brown, white, navy, grey, tan) go with everything.

It seems deceptively easy, but a more challenging ways of dressing when it comes to colour is to dress in a monochrome outfit. This is probably easiest to pull off with all black–because of variations in manufacturing, not all navies, browns, or other colours are the same, and often don’t even have the same base colour–but can be done with any colour. Just be careful of looking like Grimace in all-purple! With monochromatic looks, remember that you’re not just looking for one saturation* or brightness of the same colour. A red dress can look very stunning with burgundy tights and a pink bag. It is, in the words of Tim Gunn, a lot of look. Tread carefully in monochrome outfits that are not neutral.


Not a fashion icon.

Complementary colours are colours which are directly across from each other on the colour wheel. Examples would be red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple. Again, a little tough to pull off, but totally doable. Let’s say you have a purple sweater dress. Like, exactly the purple that’s above in the colour wheel. Look at the yellow directly across from that–would you wear tights in that colour with that purple dress? Probably not. But if the tights were a toned-down version of that colour, it would work. Like, if the tights had more grey in them. Mmm. Mustard-y.

So, you’re managed neutrals with a pop, monochrome that’s not black and complimentary colours. “Challenge me, Jes,” you say. Fine. I will.

Split complementary.

A split complementary is when you take one colour on the colour wheel (let’s say for the sake of argument in this case, amber), and rather than pairing it with its complementary colour (indigo), you use the two colours on either side of its complementary (blue and purple). That’s right, this outfit has three colours. For example, an amber top with a blue suit and a purple bag and shoes. Hot.

As a side note to the split complementary, you can also combine colours that are one jump away from each other on the colour wheel–take the amber out of the last combo and put blue with purple. (Or red with orange, or yellow with green, etc.)

On the colour wheel, you’ll notice a triangle in the middle. You can draw this triangle between any three colours equidistant on the colour wheel. Drop one of those three colours, and you’ve got yourself a two-thirds colour combination. Blue and red for example, or purple and orange. Again, make sure that it’s not all very saturated colours!

A few other things to remember when it comes to colour theory:

* Light colours emphasise, dark colours de-emphasise. Big butt that you want to hide? A black skirt will be better than a white one.
* Warm colours emphasize, cool colours de-emphasise. Still want to hide that lovely booty? Put it in a navy skirt, not a red one.
* Play around with colour. If you don’t know if things go together, try them out! Be bold in your experiments! If it doesn’t work, there’s always tomorrow!
* If you really don’t know what colours go together, look at existing colour combinations. Look to magazines to see how ads combine colours. Use store windows not to tell you what to buy, but to figure out the colours that they put together. Even nature is full of inspiration!

For more information on this topic, Academichic has four fantastic posts (lessons one through four) on this subject, with awesome illustrations. Do check them out!

Are you experimenting with colour in your wardrobe? Let me know how it’s going in the comments!

*Saturation has to do with the amount of white in a colour. The more white, the less saturated a colour is. Red would be saturated compared to pink. Basically, the purity of a colour.

How to sleep.

Every spring and fall I stop sleeping.

I mean, obviously I do get some sleep or else I wouldn’t be able to function, but I go from my near-princess-like levels of nine to 10 hours a night down to a scant three or four, and that’s if I’m lucky. And those three or four are interrupted at near-hourly intervals.

It partially has something to do with the change in season, it partially has to do with my medication (and all the related fun nausea and mood swings that come out of that), and it partially has to do with stress. Regardless of where it comes from, it sucks and it’s pretty much the worst.

This year, I decided to fight back. I started taking Gravol before bed, hoping its effects would knock me out. No such luck. Then I graduated to SleepEze-D, which knocked me out, yes, but left me feeling exhausted the next day, not to mention kind of stupid and off-kilter. I suspect as well that it may have had some sort of interference with my brain drugs.

Finally, at both my mother and partner’s insistence, I tried melatonin.

Melatonin is a revelation. Your body produces it naturally to help with your circadian rhythms (read more about how it works here), but for those of us who have trouble sleeping it is luckily also available at the pharmacy.

I chose the melatonin in strip form, which actually comes sealed in a light-proof pouch similar to photographic paper. At night, I turn out the lights, fumble in the drawer for the strips (which are in a container not unlike minty breath strips), and pop one. The Jamieson ones say they are “chocolate mint”, but I think that might be code for “minty chemicals”.

I take one of those, and ten minutes later I am lulled off to la-la land, and I sleep through the night.

Another thing that helped was when I stopped using my bedroom for non-bedroom activities. I used to watch movies, work on my computer, read, sew and craft from bed. Since I cut all those out, I now associate my bed with sleeping, so when I get into it my body is ready.

I asked for some input from friends across the internet on how they deal with not getting enough sleep. Susan Murphy of Jester Creative (@suzemuse), in addition to recommending melatonin, says she reads when she falls asleep. When I asked her what she reads (because I have a problem with getting too engaged in books and then not being able to put them down), she says she reads blog posts. This may not be for everyone, as the light from a computer screen may be stimulating, but I think when I next have trouble sleeping I will be trying this out! I can see how because they are short little bites they make it easier to put down.

Sheila (@beaty_boop) recommends warm milk or tea with some honey in it. Additionally, she says when she can’t sleep she’ll try some brief, intense exercise before her warm beverage (push-ups to exhaustion, for example). Personally, this isn’t something that works so well for me, the raising of my heart rate makes it harder for me to drift off.

Sheila also recommends establishing regular sleeping and waking patterns over the course of the week to fool/train your body, depending on how you look at it.

My friend Geneviève tells me that she no longer has trouble sleeping–if anything, she has trouble not sleeping. She started going to the gym regularly last November, and every day that she does she passes out at 9:00PM and wakes up the next day feeling absolutely terrific.

So there you have it. Some ways to get some sleep. Have any thoughts of your own? Leave them in the comments!

How to wear long hair.

I’ve always wanted long hair, but for some reason I can’t ever seem to grow it out past shoulder length. Actually, I know what the reason is: I get bored and frustrated and think I don’t look edgy enough, so I cut it off. Not this time. No sir. The goal is to grow the hair long. Very long. Mid-back long.

Not that you’ll be able to tell most of the time, since I’ll be wearing it back in public. I’m a firm believer that if your hair is longer than your collarbone, it should be worn up if you’re older than 25 (and especially if you have an office job).

I have already started with wearing my collarbone-length hair up at work–I usually just put it in a simple twist with a clip, but that’s mostly because I’ve never worn long hair before and I kind of don’t know what else to do with it at this length, not to mention the fact that I am lazy like crazy in the mornings… I sometimes do wear it half-back or with a headband (I feel like it’s just barely still short enough to do this, although not for long), but really I feel most comfortable with it off my neck. My neck is one of my best features, so I might as well show it off…

When it comes to going out, I usually spend a little more time on my hair–I’ve been experimenting with Victory Rolls but am looking forward to getting a little more length so I can mess around with slightly more complicated styles, like messy buns and interesting ponytails… Styles that are a little too labour-intensive for just wearing to work, but worth the extra effort for a night at the cinema with a lovely date.

Speaking of lovely dates, I am most excited about having long hair for the boudoir. I think there is something inherently sexy about unpinning one’s hair before bed, or better yet, letting someone special unpin and brush out one’s hair. (Are you listening? This is a hint.)

Anyway, the point is that my hair is in a growing out stage. And it’s hit an ugly point. I’m getting frustrated with it and generally annoyed, so it’s time very soon to at least colour it and maybe get a tiny trim so that I don’t go hacking away at it and ruining a good year’s worth of work on growing it out. I’ve heard that prenatal vitamins help your hair and nails grow (they are meant to build a human, after all), but I don’t know how they would affect someone who wasn’t actually pregnant, and it doesn’t seem like a good idea to mess around with such things.

I need to go online and look for pictures of the hair I want, so I can more readily resist the temptation to cut it all off yet again… I need to find several styles that will look good with my coarse, thin hair and round face. If I pick that is about two inches longer than what length my hair is now, I can take the picture with me the next time I go to the salon. Even though my hair isn’t that length yet, the cut will be established so that growing it those extra couple of inches will happen a lot more gracefully.

Once my hair gets to the length I want it to be, I want to take good care of it… @heartovmidnight advocates not ever washing your curly long hair, just rinsing it every day and using conditioner on it, but mine’s more wavy than curly so I don’t think that would work for my hair texture.

I do know to not brush my hair when it’s wet, and to use a leave-in spray conditioner. (I used to use Infusium-24 in high school, do they even still make this?) My hair only gets washed every other day, and I do trim it every eight weeks to remove damaged ends.

I also need to remember, this summer in particular, to protect my hair from the sun and chlorine–this means hats and sunscreen hair cream.

What’s your advice for getting and keeping long hair! Feedback in the comments!

How Not to be Intimidated.

Social intimidation is very different from being physically threatened. What I mean by social intimidation is someone spreading rumours about you, slinging mud, trying to convince other people to not like you, and generally acting like a petulant child who isn’t getting their way. I mean, even if you did something horrible to that person, there is a right way (acting with class) and a wrong way (acting like a bully) to deal with that. If you are under a physical threat please contact the proper authorities where you live.

I'm the kind of girl that people either love or hate. There's no in-between about me. If you love me, you love me like crazy, but if you hate me, well, you definitely hate me. It's been this way all my life. I was loved (and returned the love) by my best friends and early boyfriends passionately, but for no good reason I drove some people crazy.* (Which isn't to say that sometimes I don't deserve the hatred, because sometimes, oh yes, I do.)

When you're hated, and I mean really hated, it's easy to feel intimidated by that, not to mention feeling intimidated when someone is talking trash about you all over town. I know that in the past I've done things like change my phone number, drop whole (associated) groups of friends (by the way, you guys, thanks for taking me back), and even change cities because I have felt that my reputation has been irreparably damaged. Through all of these experiences I've learned how to cope with someone who tries to publicly humiliate me, and I'm finally at the point at 33 where I refuse to be intimidated by anyone who thinks they can harm me.

So, if you are in a position where you are being intimidated (once again, of course, I do mean socially here, not in any physically threatening way) and you're not going to take it anymore, I'd like to share what I've learned with you.

Refuse to waste energy on the person who is intimidating you. Regardless of how you really feel, complaining about them to your friends or partner isn't really going to help matters anyway. You need to push them out of your mind–sometimes being a person who meditates comes in really handy in this exercise. When negative thoughts arise, just recognize that they are there, and then move on from them. Expending energy on negative thoughts and emotions isn't good for you. It makes you look tired, it hurts your stomach, and your body doesn't function as well. Push them out of your mind as forcibly as you have to. (Sometimes that's a fun mental image to play with…)

That being said, this is the time to rally your friends and loved ones around you. You don’t have to be constantly telling them how you’ve been wronged by the intimidator, nor do they need every detail of the drama that you feel is consuming your entire life, but it is important to surround yourself with people who love you when you feel you are being attacked. Some of my deepest, most important friendships have blossomed during these times. Just don’t make the time you spend with them all about you and your problems, listen to and love them and it will shore up your heart to wade once again back into the fray.

Be honest. When someone asks you what has happened to cause this ire towards you in someone else, tell them. Lying to cover your own ass is never a good path to take. The whole point of this exercise is to take the high road. If you honestly don’t know why someone dislikes you, that’s fine, but if you know that there has been a slight on your part towards that person (perceived or otherwise), it is your responsibility to own up to it. Don’t allow yourself to take blame for things you didn’t do, and don’t allow blame for things you did do to be blown out of proportion, but own them and be truthful about them. (Really, when it all comes down to it, no slight is worth being dragged publicly through the mud. If you want to play with the big kids you have to be nice to each other. Or get out of the sandbox.)

Speaking of taking the high road, don’t sling mud back. It may be tempting to say, “Yeah, well, maybe she’s lying and telling people I’m a shoplifter, but I know for a fact that she’s drowning in debt and hunting for a sugar daddy,” but that’s not going to make you look good, now is it? I am reminded of something I read in The Fabulous Girl’s Code Red: A Guide to Grace Under Pressure by Kim Izzo and Ceri Marsh, about how a common misconception is that good manners exist to make people feel more comfortable, but in situations like this (or any other potentially awkward social situation), good manners can make the other person very uncomfortable. That’s what we’re going for here. That high road is going to make you look mighty good, and make the other person feel and look very low, small and petty.

Don’t back down. Don’t let that person take away your boldness, your bravery. Still go to social events where they might be. Most of the time (I’d say 95%), that person isn’t going to throw a punch–I mean, they might, but it’s not very likely–and you need to prove that you refuse to be intimidated by someone else’s talk. Walk in, hold your head high, and have a great time. This is the perfect place to exercise the social snub. Not only do you not talk to the other person, they do not exist. Powerful and frightening. Reserved for the very, very bad. I have only had to use it on one person, and that person felt it very strongly.

Continue to live your public life publicly. If you have a blog, keep it as candid and open as it was before. If you use Twitter, keep it open. Be honest with your readership and don’t be afraid to speak your mind in the public spaces you have carved out for yourself. However, do be more guarded in your private life. No one needs to know all your intimate details, regardless of who hates you at the moment. A friend mentioned to me recently that living his public life very openly allows him to have a very private private life. This is something I am trying to live up to.

Most importantly, protect yourself. Learn about the libel and slander laws where you live, and how they apply to your current situation. Which is to say, if some of what another person is saying about you (whether in public, online, or to your friends) gets back to you, know how you can use it to defend yourself. Often a threat of legal action is enough to get even the meanest of bullies to back down.

No one likes to be in these situations. They are uncomfortable at best. But hold your head up high, be calm, look cute, succeed.

*Liz from high school and the little girl from summer camp who pulled my hair come to mind.

How to break up.

Break-ups happen. They suck, but they happen. There are right ways and wrong ways to do them, yes, but like it or not, unless you're either deliriously happy with your first love, or have never fallen in love, your heart is going to be broken at some point in your life.

There are rules in every break-up. I can't say that I've followed them all. I've been the victim of horrendous public shamings, and I've been the perpetrator of the phone fade (calling when you know the other person is busy, letting it trickle down the drain like dishwater). And I've fallen everywhere on the spectrum in between.

But there's one rule in any break-up that can't be broken. It's an important rule. It's one you should never forget. Whether you are the dumper or the dumpee, it remains the same.

No emotional abuse.

This means if you're getting dumped, don't:

• threaten suicide;
• tell the dumper that they'll never do better than you;
• insist that the person leaving you can't make that decision on their own;
• call, e-mail, show up unannounced, text repeatedly even though the person has told you to stop;
• scare your ex.

Commonly, people tell each other that they owe each other something. Relationships are not a series of checks and balances. No one is obligated to give another person anything, whether they are partnered, recently ex-partnered, or not.

I am a fan of the advice from It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken: The Smart Girl's Breakup Buddy by Greg Behrendt and Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt that was passed along to me by @sobbee: two months, no contact, no (e-)stalking. This seems absolutely reasonable, as well as maybe allowing for the possibility of friendship down the road.

However, having said that, @missbontemps gave me the very sound advice of not trying to be friends. Actually, the way she put it over on the Twitter was DON’T TRY TO BE FRIENDS, but I prefer to interpret that as don’t try to be friends. If a friendship comes about naturally (as it has between me and Michael), then cool. You’re lucky. You’re rare. But if not, don’t try to force it.

It sucks to be hurt. But usually, the person doing the hurting isn’t feeling too good about it either. Don’t add more to their plate.

Some of you who are near and dear to me might know that I have recently gone through a breakup of spectacular proportions. While it was not handled in the best way by any of the parties involved, please do note that this blog post is not an implication of guilt. A lot of feelings and thoughts have been brought up by this situation, and I needed to write about what is OK and what is not by me. So that in the future I can point to it and say, "Look, see, what you are doing is not alright with me."

Makeup Tutorial - 1920s Flapper

Once again, another great tutorial from Amy at Ask Me Makeup. Products are clickable to buy. Products which show up differently from the products she recommends are my personal choice replacements.

And can I just say, I love that she has Carol Channing in this, music-wise? Oh man, I love Carol Channing.

How-To: Keep Your Skin Looking Young

Young-looking skin is practically an obsession in our culture. What can I say - I am jealous of babies, not just because of all the attention they get, but also because of their wonderful skin. But there are some things you can do to keep your skin supple and young-looking. While you can't reverse the aging process, or even stop it, you can reduce it to a slow crawl.


The first, and most important thing, is sunscreen. SPF15 at least. I'm a fan of Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock in SPF30. It doesn't feel gross on the skin, it absorbs quickly, non-greasy... I love this product! Throw it in your bag (next to your sunglasses, which you should always be wearing anyway to prevent those nasty crow's feet) and go!


While we're on the subject of crow's feet, get that eye cream on, ladies! I know I harp on that a lot here, but start now and you'll thank me later.


There are a few habits you can train yourself in that are simple enough to help you out as well. When you are cleansing your skin, never pull or tug, especially around the delicate eye area. As a matter of fact, just keep your hands away from your face as much as you can. And for anyone with pesky little spots (pimples, I mean), do not pick at or pop them. Tempting, I know, but let them go on their own. If you must, put a hot compress on them to bring them to a head, a dab of rubbing alcohol to dry it out, and a touch of Visine to take the redness out (betcha you didn't know that!).


Finally, do yourself a favour and start doing some facial exercises. There's tons online that you can look up. Alternately, this video is great:



Warning: Funny faces are made.

Preferably, do these in the bathroom with the door closed if you cohabitate. Trust me, you're going to get some pretty funny looks if you do it in front of anyone. Actually, let me take that back - do it in front of your partner, it's a great test of love.


You're well on your way to beautiful skin for life!

Face the day.

As a makeup artist, people are always grilling me on not just techniques, but also what I use on my own face. Some days, I really turn it out with the makeup I wear and really go out full-faced, but most of the time I’m in a rush in the morning, so all I want to do is slap a little product on my face, gulp my coffee and trudge off to work through the snow. So, here are some thoughts on what I do on a daily basis and how to do it.

When it comes to skincare, I am pretty anal. And I also use exclusively Clinique skincare products. It’s not that I think they are any better than any other brands, I just like their giveaways the best. I stock up when they have good bonuses. (Bonii?)

At night, I take off my eye makeup with Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm. I dab it on my eyes and then gently swab it off with cotton pads (I buy these in bulk at the dollar store, five or six packs at a time). Always work from the outer corner of the eye to the inner corner, very gently, so as not to tug on this delicate skin. Repeat until your cotton comes away clean.

Following up the eye makeup removal, I lather up my skin with Rinse-Off Foaming Cleanser, making sure I get into all the little nooks and crannies to take the day off. Never, ever pull downward on your skin, always work up. You want that skin to look young as long as possible, don’t you? (Other ways to keep your skin looking young? Well, maybe that’s going to be another blog post...)

Rinse off with lukewarm water. Ten splashes should get it all off. Make sure there’s no residue on your skin.

My skin tends to be rather oily, so I always follow-up my nighttime cleansing with a swipe of Clarifying Lotion 3.

Every once in a while (particularly once a month), I get a few little spots on my chin and jawline. When I get one of those, at night I dab on a tiny bit of Acne Solutions Spot Treatment Gel. That usually gets rid of the little devil after a couple of applications.

Are you using an eye cream yet? Maybe you think you don’t need to, because you’re still in your 20s and don’t have any lines around your eyes. Trust me when I tell you that it’s never too early to start. I started religiously wearing eye cream at night when I was 26, and I wish I had started a little bit sooner... Maybe 24? But I can’t really complain, because practically everyone I meet thinks I’m younger than I am... Anyway, at night I slide on a bit of Repairwear Intensive Night Cream. Then I follow-up with my night cream, Zero Gravity Repairwear Lift. And then, sleep!

You wouldn’t think that a morning routine would be that much different than an evening routine, but what can I say, I love products!

In the morning I need a quicker routine, so I wash my face in the shower with Liquid Facial Soap - it comes in a pump and you don’t need much, just the size of a pea. The great thing about higher-end products is that you don’t need much and they go very far. This cleanser is pretty strong and gets rid of all the oil on my skin from the night before, so I don’t bother with the toner follow-up in the morning.

I had been using Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, but I recently picked up the Superdefense SPF 25 Age Defense Moisturizer, because I like two-in-one moisturizers with sunscreen in them. And I am loving it!

I take a dab of my moisturizer and put it on the back of my hand. Then I take my MAC Select SPF15 Foundation in NC25 (to which I have added a pump), and add one squirt of it to my moisturizer. I blend the two together*, and voila! Tinted moisturizer! That gets a smear all over to even out my skintone.

Now, it’s time for some magic. Yves St. Laurent Touche Eclat has changed my life. The texture is magnificent, you need the tiniest amount, and it brightens and lightens everything. I dab a bit in the following places:

- under the brow bone
- on the inner and outer corners of my eyes
- on the bags under my eyes
- in the nooks beside my nostrils
- down the nasal-labial folds to the corners of my mouth
- around my cupid’s bow and lower lip

Tap it into the skin gently, and glow glow glow!

Eyes are simple as anything - Benefit BADGal eye pencil on the upper lash line and smeared into the waterline, followed with a slick or two of L’Oreal Bare Naturale Mascara in Black, which I liked when I first bought it, but now I’m not really loving it. It gets really flaky throughout the day, which is really too bad because it looks really pretty. I’m too cheap to replace a mascara before it’s done, though, but as soon as it’s gone I can’t wait to try something else... I would use it on a photoshoot though, if I was looking for a nice, natural-looking lash.

I throw a little blush on the apples of my cheeks - Clinique Fresh Bloom All Over Colour in Peony. Followed with a slick of either lipstick (Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Mad About Mauve), or gloss (Benefit Her Glossiness A-List Lip Colour in Who Does Your Work?), depending on my mood...

And that’s it! I know it seems like a lot, but this takes me about five minutes in the morning, and with practice it should take you no more than that!

*Do note that SPF25+SPF15 does not equal SPF40. It’s still just SPF 25.

Tutorial - Turquoise Cat Eyes

In honour of The Boss Hop*, coming up this Friday night, a makeup tutorial!



Did you know? Clicking on the pop-ups within the video will take you to the product websites! Cool!

*

Makeup Tutorial - 1960s Makeup

Makeup Tutorial - Pinup Girl

Very special thanks to the Carneys for helping me build my first overlay!

Büstenhalter, Sujetador, Sostén, Mamzono, Podprsenka, Bysthållare

It is tragic when I see a beautiful woman in an ill-fitting bra. Girls who are sure they are a size 32B when in reality they are a 32D, squeezing into a bra they found at La Senza or Victoria's Secret, and who cares if it isn't the right size? Dammit, it's pretty!

The cover of Cosmo so often shows women whose cups runneth over, but that is not the way they were meant to look all the time, especially not under a button-down shirt or (horror of horrors) a tight-fitting sweater. There is nothing sexy about double-boobs under a sweater.

Anatomically speaking, your pretty girls are glandular tissue with very little natural support (connective tissue). As the breasts mature, they fold over and their lower surface lies against the chest wall when vertical. Unfortunately, this maturation is referred to as "sagging" or "drooping", although plastic surgeons refer to it as ptosis. Wearing a bra can offer relief of breast pain, particularly when women are performing strenuous physical activity or exercise (sex not included). So you need one, right?

Well, keep in mind that many of the statements about the benefits of bras are actually situations where they can make things worse, because the vast majority of women wear bras that are ill-fitting. For instance, rather than keeping the breasts away from the chest wall, bras that are too tight can actually compress them against the chest even further. This also pulls the upper thoracic and cervical vertebrae forward and down, interfering with back, shoulder and chest movement. When the shoulder straps transfer most of the weight of the breast, a deep groove can be seen over the shoulder. Use of thin straps, such as spaghetti straps, can exert pressure on the trapezius muscle, resulting in temporary symptoms such as neck and shoulder pain; numbness and tingling in the arm; and headaches.

So, without further ado, here is the proper way to determine your bra size once and for all.

You will need:

• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Paper
• A calculator if you really suck at math

Get in front of a mirror, or get a friend (preferably with warm hands) to help you. Pull the tape measure across your back, under the bust, and around the ribcage. You know, where your bra sits under your love pillows. You want to make sure of a couple of things (and this is where the additional pair of eyes comes in handy) – check that the tape is flat all around your body, and that it is at an even level all the way around your body, not rising up or falling down at any point. Also, you want the tape to be snug, not tight. It should not cause anything to bulge above or below. So, now that you have it right, write down the measurement in inches.
Now, if your measurement is under 33", add five to that number. If this number odd, round up to the next even number. If your measurement is over 33", add 3 inches. If this number is odd, round up to the next even number. This is your body size. Which is to say, the number in front of the cup letter in your bra size. If your body size does not add up to a standard (which is to say, even) bra size, round up to the next even number.
On finding your cup size: your cup size represents the difference in measurement between your body size and the measurement around the fullest part of your bust. To take that measurement, you want to do something similar to what you did for your body size – wrap the measuring tape around your back and over the fullest part of the bust – this is usually around the nipple area. As with your body size, again you want the tape to be just snug, and not at all tight, with no bulging. This will ensure a correct fit. Take that number down in inches as well.
So, here's what we've all been waiting for – determining your cup size. Take your bust measurement and subtract your body measurement. What is the difference? For each inch of difference, that is a cup size. One inch would be an A, two inches a B, three inches a C, and so forth.
Example: Your rib cage measurement is 33". If you add five, you get 38". Your bust size is 42", for a difference of 4". This means your cup size is a D. Which means you are a 38D. So stop squeezing into that 36C already! (Imagine my surprise when this exact scenario happened to me. I quickly ran out and bought myself the proper bra right away.)
However, bra sizing systems differ widely between countries, between manufacturers, and between brands and designs, so remember that you need to try every single one on that you are interested in. Some warning signs to look for are:

• Bulging anywhere. Check yourself in the mirror from the front – you should not be spilling over the tops of your cups.
• The bottom of the bra should run along the bottom of your mams, not be pulled forward (I've made this mistake – convincing myself that it fit when it really didn't).
• The straps should not cut into your shoulders in any way. Anything larger than a B cup and you really need a more substantial strap.
• Check your side view. Make sure there isn't an extra bubble of boob over the top of your bra. If so, go up a cup size.
• Check your back view – if your back looks like butter being cut by dental floss, the straps / body of the bra are too thin or too small. If your bra fits properly in the back, your shirts will look better and you won't see back fat.

I hate to tell you this, but the pretty bras are usually the useless ones. Have a few (that fit properly, please!) for seduction with matching panties if you must, but for everyday wear you want something sturdy and practical.
As with any other piece of clothing, buying the first one you try on is usually a mistake.
And if your gals want to send me a thank-you note, they can feel free to do so.

Fashion Rules for Boys

Thanks for coming to read "Fashion Rules For Boys". I am slowly reposting old blog content on my new website, jeslacasse.com. Please click here to read the article.