Fall's Skin Care Rules

 

When the seasons change, we all get excited to change out our wardrobe. We start moving the shorts out for jeans, the sweaters make their way back into the front of the closet, but what about skin care? Should our regimen change due to the weather? YES!

Here are my favorite things to do to get my skin ready for the season.


Exfoliate
Everybody needs to exfoliate, no matter your age or skin condition. Getting better skin fast is quite easy. Just make sure to add a product that exfoliates into your daily routine, and you’ll get glowing skin in no time. Exfoliation helps skin look better right away by removing dead cells from the skin’s surface.


Hydrate
The air is getting drier... first thing you should do is get the humidifier turned on at home. The second thing is you can add in a super hydrator like hyaluronic filler or a hydrating serum. And of course, drink plenty of water. A person is supposed to get 1/2 their body weight in oz of water daily. For example, if you are 200 LBS, you should get 100 oz of water a day.


Lighten
The summer sun has done its damage and now it's time to lighten and suppress those spots! Use products that contain Kojic Acid, Mulberry, Bearberry and Licorice to lighten brown spots naturally. Seek out a skincare professional to get your skin looked at under an ultraviolet light like a Woods Lamp. Ask them to let you take a peek, you may be shocked to see the damage your skin has endured. And as always, apply sunscreen daily.  


Refresh
Along with fall comes new smoky eye makeup and dramatic eye liner. The eyes really have the attention in fall/winter makeup. Unfortunately, that’s also where the first signs of aging can occur with fine lines, wrinkles and dark circles. A quick trick to brighten your eyes is to use anti aging skin products that are specifically developed for your eyes. Use a crème that tightens around the eyes while brightening dark spots.




 

Whip those brows into shape!

We've all been there..... "I'll just tweeze a couple little hairs, I'll just try to wax my brows myself".... For me, this never worked out well. I would start tweezing and never know where to stop. Before I knew it, I had lost 50% of my brows. And to top it off, I never knew how to shape them anyways, so they would end up straight with no arch.   

Insert beauty school and ca-pow! .... I was taught the proper way to shape and fill in my lackluster eyebrows. I want to share some simple tricks to get the right shape and fill in your brows. You can use whichever form of brow filler you like, there are pencils, loose shades, moose and compact style. 

(These brows have not been filled in)

1. Determine where your inner brow should end. Hold a straight edge, such as an eyebrow pencil or a ruler, vertically in front of your face. 

Line it up so that it touches the outermost of edge your nose and the inside of your eye. This line will determine where your eyebrow should start.

Mark that spot with an eyebrow pencil. Repeat for the other eye.

 

 

2. Determine where your outer brow should end. Angle the straight edge further so that it touches the outermost edge of your nose and also passes along the outermost edge of your eye. This tells you where the eyebrow should end.

Mark this point with your eyebrow pencil.

Repeat with the other eye.

3. Determine where your arch should peak. Angle the straight edge so that it lines up with the outermost edge of your nose and the outermost edge of your iris. 

It's very important that you look straight ahead — both your face and your eyes should be looking directly forward at the mirror.

Wherever the line intersects your eyebrow is where the peak of your arch should begin at the top border of the eyebrow.

Mark that spot with your eyebrow pencil.

Repeat for the other eye.

4. Pluck the strays that fall below the line and outside the marks you've made. 

Consider your face shape.

Certain brows better compliment specific face shapes.

 

To minimize the curve of a round face, direct the outer third of the brow towards the top of the ear.

If the face is square, direct it toward the middle of the ear. This helps balance the face.

If the face is long, keep the brow more straight across, directing it above the ear.

An oval face already looks balanced, but to enhance this harmony, you can direct the outer third towards the ear lobe.

Everyday Maintenance

1. Trim your brows. You may find that hairs are within your ideal shape, but are just too long. Use a pair of eyebrow trimmers to clean up your look. Using a brow brush, brush the hairs upward. Cut the hairs that extend beyond your natural hair line.

2. Fill in sparse spots. If your brows are too light (or dark), fill them in with an eyebrow pencil.

If your brows are fair, choose a pencil two shades darker than your hair.

(If you have dark hair, go two shades lighter.)

Hold your skin taut at the temple, and line softly along the upper edge of your brow. Then, line along the bottom edge.

With feathery strokes, fill in between the two edges.

Remember to blend!

If you don't have an eyebrow pencil, substitute matte eyeshadow.

3. Use a clear gel to set. Brush the hairs how they naturally lie and apply gel to set the hairs in place. Clear mascara can double as a brow gel.

This also prevents smudging, if filled in.