Recent discoveries

Being the last by whom the new is tried, I'm sure my savvier readers will roll their eyes and think "Seriously? She's just gotten around to trying it?"

But here's the thing: the fashion/beauty press is an ever-moving stream of information. When the hot new thing is new, everyone is blathering away about it. You can't get away from people nattering on about Creme de la Mer or Tory Burch flats or Sevens jeans and then, all of a sudden, the chatter dries up.

(Except for Maybelline's Great Lash mascara, which still gets press. I don't know how Maybelline does it, because it sucks. But mark my words, that smeary, goopy crap in a pink-and-green tube is on somebody's Best of list even as we speak.)

Anyway, here are some things I've been liking:

Bioderma Cráline H2O Solution Micellaire 

I mostly don't watch the beauty gurus on YouTube. I mean, I like conspicuous consumption as much as the next girl, but those teenagers with their haul videos sicken even me.

I also find them almost maddeningly inefficient. I mean, if I tell you that this stuff is a cleanser that you use on cotton pads like a toner, and it's cool, soothing, and gets your face beautifully clean without stripping or irritating your skin, you know everything you need to know, and I didn't just waste eight minutes of your life.

And yet, I have to give the YouTube gurus credit: they know their stuff. This particular video was about French drug store products, and being the world's biggest Francophile, as well as someone who delights in discovering great drug store products, I sat up and took notice. Unfortunately, I can't remember which video taught me this. Sorry, beauty guru, whoever you are. (The 250 ml size is available for $25.00 on Amazon.com--here's a link to all their Bioderma products)

Embryalisse Lait-Creme Concentré

The same beauty guru also turned me on to Embryalisse Lait-Creme Concentré, which is a very plain, very gentle, slightly fluffy-feeling moisturizer. It's like a fluffier, less greasy version of Eucerin. It's great when my skin feels super dry or when I've been testing its patience with too many retinols and acids. A good-sized tube goes for $25.00 on Amazon; here's a link.)

Benefit Dandelion

See what I mean about my lag time? This stuff came out a decade ago! My friend Wendy turned me on to it. She said she'd used up three of them. I love it. It's blusher for the blusher-challenged--at least if they're pale. It's such a pale shade of pink, it probably wouldn't show on medium or darker complexions. But porcelain types can sweep it on lavishly with the big white brush and never be afraid of developing 80s disco cheeks. It's $28.00 at Sephora. Thanks, Wendy!

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 17: Be a brownie

You might be wondering why on earth Pamela Anderson is doing in a blog post aimed at beauty and style for women of a certain age. Well, duh, I'm using her as an example of what not to do. And I'm not going after her super-thin eyebrows and super-obvious implants. I'm going after her eyelashes.

Mascara has become like a Model T Ford--you can have any color you want, as long as it's black. Which is OK, as long as you think everyone looks best in black mascara. Unfortunately, I don't.

Black mascara is lovely at night, but for broad daylight, I find it a bit stark and artificial looking. If you're blonde, redhead, or like me, an aging brunette, you'll probably look better in a softer shade of brown/black or brown. In fact, if you're a redhead, you'll probably look best in auburn--if you can find it anywhere.

Unfortunately, most drugstore mascaras only come in black, super-plus-blackest-black, and black/brown. I checked L'Oreal, CoverGirl, Maybelline, and Revlon, and the story was almost always the same.

There are drugstore brands that offer brown mascara, but you have to dig pretty deep. Almay has at least one mascara available in brown.

For years, Max Factor was the only line with a mascara for redheads; unfortunately they're leaving the States. The mascara is still available at Drugstore.com, though. And Revlon's DoubleTwist line includes a shade called Blackened Ruby that looks auburn.

Fortunately, the latest fad in drugstore mascaras appears to be ones that emphasize the color of your eyes. Physician's Formula sells a brown mascara, and in addition, their intensive i-color mascara and intense i-color mascara with light interplay both claim to intensify eye-color. They're available in four shades. CoverGirl sells a similar line.

Department store lines offer a wider variety of mascara shades: Estee Lauder has several formulas that come in brown and and even navy blue; MAC has some browns, and so does Lancôme. (Lancôme also sells specialty mascaras, like gold and silver. But that's not the point of this post.)

Boutique brands like Jane Iredale, BeneFit, and Sephora offer mascaras in a variety of interesting shades. In fact, if you go to the Sephora website and do a search for "brown mascara," you'll discover that there are plenty of options.

The trick is to not go crazy. Colored mascara can be fun, but it's not something to wear if you want to be taken seriously. For proof, remember Princess Diana and her blue eyeliner and matching eyelashes. I'll confess to having developed a certain degree of fascination with colored mascaras, and I'm trying like crazy not to succumb to Yves St. Laurent Fascinating Violet or the Benefit BadGAL in Plum.

I remember the 80s and I don't think the world has yet recovered from my experiments with Princess Di-style cobalt blue.

Or my Two-Faced glitter lashes in the 90s when seriously? I was old enough to know better.

But while I busy myself locking up my credit cards and backing away from the Sephora website, I urge you to think about whether the black mascara you've been wearing for years and years is actually doing you any favors. Or could you, like the women pictured here, benefit from a softer look around the eyes?

Elsewhere:

The Beauty Blog has a great post on mascaras for redheads here.

Did you know that there is a beauty blog devoted to mascara? There is. It's called Clumps of Mascara. Currently on hiatus, but still packed with useful reviews. Click here.