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We’ve recently experienced a burst of warm weather here in the NE.  After weeks of dashing from car to house trying to avoid the frigid temperatures, it was nice to open the windows and let in some fresh air.  But opening those windows also reminded me how dirty they’ve gotten over the winter.  It brought back memories of my grandmother taking down all the heavy drapes in the living room to wash them at the first signs of Spring.  There was a procedure to follow every year.  Drapes and curtains came down, you got yelled at to clean your room, dust mops came out and grandma could be found hanging outside the second-story window cleaning the glass (daring and crazy old woman!).  And now as an adult, I do the same thing…well my windows tilt in, and at least I THINK about taking down all the curtains to wash them….

But I digress.  Spring is also the perfect time to give your make up bag and your face a good cleaning.  Go through the basket in your bathroom, the drawer on your vanity and all the stuff in the bottom of your purse (scary, I know) and throw out anything that’s old, broken or unused.

Here are some general rules for how long to keep cosmetic items after they have been opened for the first time:

Mascara: Toss your mascara after 3 months. Mascara has the shortest life span of all make up because the risk of transferring bacteria back and forth from your eye into the mascara tube is so great. If your mascara starts to dry out before its 90 days is up, throw it away. Don’t add water or saliva to your mascara to rewet it. Doing so will only increase your chances of getting an eye infection.

Eye pencils: Eye pencils can be kept up to 2 years. To make sure you’re using a clean tip, and sharpen before each application.

Eye shadows: Keep your applicators clean, and your powder shadows will keep 2 years.

If you’ve had an eye infection, you’ll need to throw out all of the eye make-up and applicators you used from the time you developed symptoms. The virus or bacteria that caused the infection has probably taken up residence in your make up, so using those cosmetics again could cause you to develop another infection.

Lipsticks: You can stow your tube lipsticks and your lip pencils for 2 years. As with eye pencils, sharpen your lip pencils before each use.  If your lipstick starts to smell ‘off’, toss it.

Blushes and powders: Discard your powder blushes and face powders after 2 years.

Think of your make up a bit like you do your food. If it smells weird, develops a film, or has a mold-green tint to it, it’s gone bad and needs to be tossed out.

Using clean brushes and sponges will help lengthen the life of your cosmetics. Be sure and wash or replace your applicators frequently.

When you open a cosmetic for the first time, write the date on the product. It will help you keep track of how long you’ve had the make-up so you’ll know when it’s time to throw it away.

Now that your make-up bag is good to go, time to switch the focus to your face.  Weeks of exposure to cold air and dry indoor environments can leave your skin looking dull and lifeless.  My personal favorite treatment (and one I think works the best/costs nothing) is to give your skin a good scrub down.  Rinse your face with warm water.  Take a terry cloth wash cloth and apply your favorite cleanser.  Personally, I use good old-fashioned natural bar soap.  But, depending on your skin type, you could also use ground oatmeal, yogurt, buttermilk, smashed banana or avocado.  Whatever you choose, rub your face with the wash cloth using GENTLE circular motions.  No need to try to remove a few layers of skin here.  And do your entire face.  Don’t forget your forehead and neck area.  This process should take about five minutes.  When you’re done, rinse thoroughly with warm water until all traces of cleanser are removed.  Then splash with cold water a few times.  You could follow with your favorite moisturizer, or I like to do a honey mask (apply honey to the face for ten minutes and rinse off).  For a few hours after I do this facial spring cleaning, my skin looks blotchy and not exactly attractive – so do it at night or on a weekend.  But the following day my skin looks AMAZING.  Smooth, soft, even, tone.  Such great results from such a simple process. 

So when Spring finally hits your area, don’t forget to clean the windows, dump your make-up bag and scrub your skin!

It’s amazing what you can get used to, and what you can’t live without.

 Recently I took a trip to North Carolina for a meeting at Earth Fare Markets.  As I was going through the always chaotic security line at Philly International Airport, I got singled out to go through the x-ray machine.  “Hands above your head…elbows back further…feet wider apart,” were the commands barked at me while others in the crowd stared as if I were a criminal accused of some heinous crime.  I’m all for airport safety, but I was wearing a t-shirt, yoga pants and I was barefoot (shoes going through the scanner); what weapons could I possibly conceal?  My back had been hurting, but before I could ask for print outs of that x-ray for possible diagnosis, I was pulled off to the side to have my luggage rummaged through.  I’m weird – I hate people touching my stuff.  It freaks me out.  But the TSA worker didn’t have to rifle through much before she found my Honeybee Gardens Hair Spray.  Damn.  I forgot to put some hair spray into a smaller bottle so it would meet airport requirements. 

 “I have to confiscate this,” the worker told me. 

“But I really NEED my hair spray….do you know what my hair will look like if I don’t have it?” I pleaded.  I’m sure she’s heard much more compelling arguments by people who wanted to keep their banned liquid items.

“I’m sorry,” she replied, and walked off.  I don’t think she was truly sorry.  Or maybe she was.  But she probably has to go through similar situations every 15 minutes because of people like me who forget the new rules, so she’s immune to our pleas.  And I wonder what happens to all those confiscated products?  It would be a shame if they were simply thrown away.  But I digress…

 I finally made it to my hotel around 10:00 p.m.   I asked the front desk clerk where I might be able to purchase hair spray nearby.  She informed me that all stores were closed, but they had amenity-sized bottles of hair spray in their gift shop.  What luck.  I purchased the one single dusty bottle on the shelf, ambled up to my room and fell asleep. 

 Getting ready for my meeting the next morning, I remembered the hair spray still in my work bag.  Now I LOVE our Honeybee hair spray.  It’s all I use, and have used for years because it’s really the only one that works so well on my rats-nest hair.  I dried my hair, and grabbed the drugstore brand hair spray to hopefully hold my hair in place.  With the first spray, I was overwhelmed by the scent.  I can’t even describe it, really.  It wasn’t floral.  It wasn’t citrus.  It was just an obnoxious chemical fragrance.  And STRONG.  I sprayed again.  It wasn’t working.  My hair fell limp.  After several more sprays (as I held my breath), I finally gave up.  It was windy outside anyway.  I could use that as an excuse for my bad hair (I always have some excuse…my hair stylist is blind, the cat slept on my head, birds attacked me on my way into work….) 

 All morning and into the afternoon, I could smell my hair.  I began to push it back, wishing I had a ponytail holder with me.  By the plane ride home that evening, I became nauseous.  Actually sick in the stomach.  I finally got home, made myself some peppermint tea and washed my hair.  I was shocked that the scent could last THAT long.  What was in this stuff??  I texted my co-worker Katy, asking her to put a bottle of hair spray on my desk, so I could have it when I got into work.  Some products I can substitute if I have to.  My Honeybee hair spray just isn’t one of them!

I recently started modeling.  I know, it’s laughable at my age, especially when I look around at the 20 year olds and realize I could be their mother.  But we’ll save that discussion for another time.

Normally I do my own make-up for a shoot.  But for some reason, I decided to let a make-up artist have her way with me at a shoot I did in Philly this past Sunday.  My mistake.  Don’t get me wrong, the girl was lovely, and certainly did her best given the limitations of the palette she had to work with.  But WOW, my skin was not ready for the onslaught of chemicals which had been bestowed upon it. 

“You have beautiful skin,” she started out saying. “ You must get spa facials pretty often.”

“Um, actually, no….I don’t even remember the last time I had a facial,” I replied, thinking about how sensitive my skin is, and being terrified about how my skin would react to the products they use at most salons. 

“Oh, so what system do you use on your skin?”  System?  Does my skin require a ‘system’?  Geez that sounds like an awful lot of work and expense.  “Uh, no…” I go on to explain.  “I wash my face with a natural bar soap and water once a day.”

With a stunned and skeptical expression on her face, she says, “that’s IT?!”

“Yep,” I replied.  “Well, plus I exercise, eat organic foods, try to keep anything processed out of my body..” thinking to myself, and if I actually got enough sleep and found a way to stop stressing about every little thing in my life I would probably look five years younger. 

Throughout our friendly little conversation, I started to notice my skin feeling smothered.  Now she wasn’t heavy or cake-y with her make-up application, but I could actually feel my pores being blocked and irritated.  She was using regular department store brands: Chanel, MAC, NARS, etc.  Products people probably use every day.  When she was done, I looked in the mirror smiling but thinking to myself ‘OMG I look like Alice Cooper’.  I snuck off to the bathroom to tone down the look and noticed my left eye was watering.  I continued my shoot for the next hour and during that time I could actually feel my skin reacting to the foreign chemicals.  It itched.  It burned.  It actually hurt.  Not just the foundation powder, but even the eye shadow and areas where she put blush felt irritated.  My left eye continued to water non-stop. 

Finally the shoot was over, and I could not WAIT to get home and get this junk off my face.  I’m still amazed at how quickly and harshly my body reacted to non-natural cosmetics.  I likened it to my recent fast food experience.  I don’t eat fast food.  Period.  No McDonalds, no Burger King.  I just don’t.  Well, it seems that after a long time of NOT having food like that, when you finally DO have food like that…let’s just say it’s not pretty.  I ate a burger recently from one of the burger chains and became violently ill for the rest of the afternoon.  When you cleanse your body and rid it of chemicals, toxins and stuff that isn’t good for it, it gets used to running clean.  Kind of like a car.  You constantly give it the high grade of gasoline, then one day fill you tank with the low grade, and then listen to your car ping and sputter.  Same hold true with make-up, apparently.  Your skin gets used to thriving without being bombarded by chemicals, fillers and harsh preservatives.  It’s now 24 hours later, my skin has been thoroughly cleansed using my favorite natural bar soap, and I still look blotchy and feel irritated.  NOT fun.  I wonder how long it will take for my skin to detox?

As for me, if I use a make- up artist again, I will be providing the make up!