beautiful you

I am such a girl.  Love beauty products of all kinds and all that promises beautiful things. And much to the dismay of my (absolutely right) mother, it took me awhile to master the less is more rule when it came to things like makeup. Thankfully, I, along with the products available, have become better.
  In this high definition age, a beautiful complexion need not be a pipe dream.  Obviously, what you eat, how much sleep you get, stress levels & DNA can have a big effect on how your skin looks.  It is the largest organ on your body, so it pays to take care of it.  I had a skin cancer scare this fall on my face that in addition to scaring the hell out of me, also woke me up.  Now, even in winter, sunscreen is in my moisturizer & my foundation.  The memory of those horrid black stitches in the middle of my face & the relief I felt when the biopsies were negative is something I have not forgotten.
Putting your best face forward can be achieved by taking good care of yourself and its never too late to start.  My advice?  Ignore all the "achieve total happiness organize declutter become a new you" noise that is everywhere this January and get a five minute technique down for cleansing and moisturizing.  Achievable, beneficial, done.
Back to makeup. Not long ago, foundation was thicker and much more detectable.  Nowadays women want to achieve a "natural perfection" to their skin--in other words, not coat over every part of your skin, but give it a healthy glow without shine so that you look like you, not like you are ready for your part in an opera.
I recently received a sample from Chanel in the mail for their new foundation, Perfection Lumiere, and almost threw it out, then on a whim gave it a try.  Loved.  It is semi-sheer & semi-matte--a whipped soft texture that gave my skin a luminous glow.  More companies are creating products that not only make your skin look better but actually are good for it as well.  The combination of skin care & makeup is one of the reasons behind me trying the new product Revlon Age Defying with DNA Advantage Cream  Makeup, straight off the drugstore shelf. Being a Laura Mercier foundation user in the past, I was a bit unsure about helping myself & making a guess as to color, but ended up with a perfect match.  I have to say that I loved it as much as Chanel, and for a fraction of the cost.
You can find these new products in the department stores by other companies, such as Clinique, as well as L'Oreal & CoverGirl.  It makes putting your best face forward a little easier & gives a beautiful benefit to your skin. Happy New Year!