No matter what your age, you always want to look your absolute best. Throughout my life, I’ve learned all kinds of beauty tips and tricks from reading, talking to friends, and getting to know a few make-up artists when I appeared as a guest on TV shows. I always ‘pumped’ these girls to get their secret beauty tips while sitting in their chair and getting made up. I recall one make-up artist from the set of Dr. Oz who made me look fantastic despite the fact that I hadn’t slept in 2 nights!
She brought me to life with a few tricks, some of which I’ll share today if you keep reading below.
NOW, what you’ve been waiting… the tips I’m ready to share
1. Get Rid of Red
If you put an ice cube into a paper towel and apply it under your eyes for 5 minutes, the red puffiness of ‘bedroom eyes’ will vanish for a little bit. Then you can apply your eye cream and concealer and look vibrant and more rested. This is also a great way to hide the fact that you’ve been crying or grieving because it gets rid of red instantly. Optionally, you can apply a light moisturizer and concealer. I recommend the concealers that contain mica or titanium dioxide because those are reflective and work faster and better.
2. Curl Your Lashes Like the Pros
I never use eyelash curlers, they freak me out and I’m afraid to poke my eye. Still, I’m aware these are trendy and a lot of you know how to use them. A make-up artist once told me her secret about eyelash curlers. She said to warm up your eye lash curler for a few seconds with the hair dryer. It needs to be warm not hot or you’ll burn yourself, and I feel bad telling you something that is obviously common sense. So anyway, be careful… the point is that a slightly warmed eyelash curler works better. She said its effect is akin to a curling iron on your hair.
3. Hide Insomnia
After an approximately 29-hour hour flight from South Africa I had a connection from Jo’ burg to Dakar South Africa (they sprayed our plane down with insecticides so it got in our hair and clothes)… fly around the world, land in US, get through customs at LaGuardia in New York, find my driver and get over to the Dr. Oz studio and then tape a segment. Upon arrival, the make up artist did me up, but it took her about 2 hours and 3 layers of concealer.
She used bronzer on me to give me color because I was pale like a ghost. Bronzer is an excellent cosmetic secret because it defines your bone structure instantly, while making you look tan and healthy… even if your vitamin D is very deficient and you’re anemic. It still works. The brand I use is made by Too Faced (medium) and it actually smells like chocolate, you can CLICK HERE to see it on Amazon. My suggestion is to get a brand that is without sparkles if you’re over 35. Get the matte bronzer because it looks more natural than the kind with glitter in it.
It’s amazing that I didn’t faceplant in the studio because I was beyond tired but when it’s ‘lights-camera-action’ I just came alive. (You can watch the episode by CLICKING HERE if you want to see me, or learn about pharmacy ripoffs.) I curled my hair. Luckily I had my secret weapon to hide insomnia… it’s just a white eyeliner pencil. After she put on my dark brown eyeliner on the lower lid, I applied my white eyeliner on the waterline. Here’s a picture of the waterline so you can see.
Note: I pulled this picture off the Internet on Google images, and it’s pretty evident that this girl has an eyelash glued onto her right eye but not left, and she also has more eyebrow on the right eye (I didn’t do that), but the point is I like this picture because it clearly shows you the waterline which is where the white eyeliner goes.
That’s what I’m trying to show you here, it really opens the eye up, whereas the darker eyeliner does not. There are many eye pencils, I like Rimmel’s “London Soft Kohl Pure White Pencil” because it goes on easily, but no matter the brand be aware that -due to the placement on the waterline- it’s going to fade within hours.
Just be careful putting it on because as you can see, the white goes in an awkward area and if you’re not careful, you might brush up against your eyeball! My pencil requires six or seven swipes and it still fades after a few hours. So again, first apply your normal darker eyeliner where it goes, then apply the white eyeliner in the waterline area.
Below is a picture of me from the set. This is the AFTER picture.
I’m not showing you the BEFORE image because:
a) I don’t have it.
b) It was akin to what the cat dragged in!
If you have 4 minutes, you can watch our show, just click on the image below.
4. Fresh Eyes
Homemade gel undereye masks are one of my favorite treatments for puffy eyes. You make these yourself with gelatin, which is rich in collagen. Collagen is something that keeps a person’s skin youthful.
Here is a DIY recipe for a de-puffing eye mask that promotes collagen. The green tea imparts a touch of caffeine which helps remove dark circles: Mix together one tablespoon chilled Manuka honey with one tablespoon prepared green tea. Add unflavored gelatin powder to desired consistency. Spoon onto a cucumber (sliced in half) and apply under your eyes for 10 minutes.
5. Shiny Hair
You can take 10 years off your age by making your hair soft and shiny again. Whisk one banana and one egg together and apply to wet hair after shampooing. Leave on for about 3 to 5 minutes then rinse. The first time I did this I had to re-shampoo my scalp but it worked nicely.
6. Glowing Skin
Soak a clean face cloth in a cup of cold milk that has 3 drops of essential oil of lavender. Wring out and drape the cloth over your face. Relax with it for 10 minutes then rinse your face, tone and moisturize like normal. This brightens and moisturizes your skin, giving you a luminous glow and relaxed sensation.
BONUS TIP: Zap Zits
If you get a pimple, you can zap it quickly by applying essential oil of Tea Tree. Estrogenic herbs and adaptogens (and hormone drugs) can cause a zit to flare when you’re not prone to them so always consider what you took the prior day or two… milk thistle, licorice, damiana, black cohosh, evening primrose and others. These are estrogen mimickers, and very good at what they do, but for women who are sensitive to the effects of estrogen, they can cause zits to flare up. Natural aromatase inhibitors like DIM or broccoli extract may be helpful in curbing ‘estrogen dominance’ symptoms.
If this topic of cosmetic secrets interests you, I have an ebook on this topic, and I’m happy to share it with you. Click below to download a copy.
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Suzy Cohen, has been a licensed pharmacist for over 30 years and believes the best approach to chronic illness is a combination of natural medicine and conventional. She founded her own dietary supplement company specializing in custom-formulas, some of which have patents. With a special focus on functional medicine, thyroid health and drug nutrient depletion, Suzy is the author of several related books including Thyroid Healthy, Drug Muggers, Diabetes Without Drugs, and a nationally syndicated column.
