Clean sweep

Hey internet! I'm back!

Sorry, that whole getting-the-kids-back-to-school completely kicked my ass. But now that the dust has settled somewhat, I'm incredibly excited and energetic--the way I am every fall.

I love summer, but fall--when the heat's not on yet, but the air conditioner is off? Is the best time of the year. And it doesn't hurt that my kids are in school and I can actually get things done.

So here are three ways I'm welcoming fall.


My Diet

I signed up for a free LiveStrong MyPlate account. This is a great site with fabulous free diet tools. As far as I'm concerned, this site leaves Weight Watchers's online tools (which ran really slowly and frequently crashed my laptop) sitting in the road.

LiveStrong offers a lot of important health information--so much that I feel sort of petty bothering them with being pudgy. I mean, hello, the first thing you see when you head to the site is a huge photograph of Lance Armstrong. Way to make me feel shallow, Lance.

But MyPlate has so many useful tools. It helped me figure out how many calories to eat every day in order to lose 1.5 pounds a week. (And mid-life ladies? Do we agree that a measly 1,375 calories a day is not very much food? I thought so.)

I track what I eat every day. I track my so-called workouts. And once or twice a week, I weigh myself and add that information, too.

I'm just geeky enough to sort of enjoy this kind of thing. This helps me tolerate a life of 1,375 calories a day. Which is good, because 1,375 calories = Not Enough Wine.

Also, I've lost six pounds. That helps, too.

My Complexion

Have any of you bought a Clarisonic? I've heard great things from a couple of friends, but I balk at spending $250 for a face scrubbing doo-hickey.

That's why I'm so delighted with the Sephora complexion brush I got in a party goodie bag.

A couple of my friends have popped for the Clarisonic, but I'm analog to their digital. I use a Sonicare on my teeth two or three times a day. At this point, I'm excited about using a tool that doesn't make an annoying high-pitched whining noise.

Believe it or not, this little $5 face brush does the job. I use it morning and night, and it helps bump up the cleansing power of my Murad cleanser. The cleanser rinses off better, too, probably because the brush distributes it more evenly.

I swear, I have a real glow, and my pores look smaller. Not bad for five dollars!

My Closet

I'm either bored with or sick of everything in my closet. On top of that, I have clothes that are size 10, 12, 14, and 16. It's time they went. I deserve to have a closet full of clothes that I like and that fit.

I am in serious purge mode.

This is way more than a change of seasons switch-up. It's like I walked into my bedroom and went all drill sergeant: Listen up, good-enough clothes. You're not. You're The Clothes Formerly Known as Good Enough. And your mama isn't here to help you out. It's time to shape up or ship out. Now drop and give me fifty!

I'm getting rid of an amazing amount of stuff.

I'm starting with the size 16 summer stuff. When I do laundry, I'm folding my summer clothes and putting them in donation bags.

By next summer, I'll be wearing significantly smaller clothes! Either that or I'll be wearing a barrel.

Dr. Murad's assistants, or, what I did to bump up my skincare regimen

If you've been reading The Beauty Boomer for a while, you might remember that last May, I popped for a Murad Resurgence 90 Day Kit.*

I never really reviewed the kit, because I felt that I hadn't given the products enough time. I didn't want to be one of those Makeup Alley reviewers who use a new moisturizer and are all "Squee! Holy Grail!" and then two weeks later are leaving another review saying "THAT CRAP GAVE ME HIVES."

But at this point, I think I can give a pretty thorough review of the products, and explain why I added some additional skin care products to my regimen.

Mostly it's because the Murad products are so gentle. I have dry, fair, freckly skin, so you'd think it would be sensitive, right? But it really isn't. And I don't know ... maybe it was Death Becomes Her, or too many episodes of AbFab, but I kind of equate effectiveness with a degree of stinging, redness, and/or peeling. When a product warns me that my skin might react, I'm like a kid at a horror movie. I think "Cool!" grab a tub of popcorn, and get ready to watch the show.  What can I say? When it comes to complexion flaws, I'm a little bloodthirsty.

So I ended up being a little disappointed in the Murad products. The very slight tingle I felt the first couple of times I used Murad Resurgence Age-Diffusing Serum dissipated pretty quickly, to the point where I started using it every night. In fact, of the four products I received in my starter kit, it's the only one I've almost used up. But honestly, it's just an AHA product, and the stuff at the drugstore is probably just as good.

As for the other products in the kit, I've got about half a tube left of the cleaning cream and the AHA BHA Exfoliating Cleanser. Just as I had suspected, the cleansing cream didn't leave my skin feeling particularly clean, while the exfoliating cleanser was so incredibly gentle, it didn't feel like it was doing anything at all.

The Murad night time moisturizer is lovely, and I love its cake batter smell, but I find it a little rich for summer. So I'm saving it for colder weather, when my skin will appreciate it.

Long story short, the Murad kit is only OK. So I added a few products to my regimen. Here are two products I've liked. And one I've hated:

1) NuFountain® C20 Vitamin C Serum (19.99/1.0 oz.)
NuFountain's serum comes in a brown bottle (since Vitamin C degrades with exposure to light) and is dispensed with a dropper.

You're advised to start by putting five or six drops in the palm of the left hand, and painting it on with the right. This is another one of those products that warns you your skin might react to it. It has a pH of 2.5, so it's sort of like applying lemon juice or vinegar to your skin. I didn't have a problem with it at all, and since it's only 19.99/bottle, and since the manufacturers warn you that the product will degrade over time, I've been applying it all over my face, neck, décolleté, hands, and rubbing what's left on my lower arms.

I can't really describe what I think it does. I've seen some lightening of age spots, and my skin feels firmer, but more than that, there's a kind of ... well, the word is glow. I've gone through two-thirds of the bottle and will definitely be ordering more.

2) Avene Eluage Cream ($40/oz.)
This is a retinol product, where the retinol is suspended in a very emollient base. I've used both Retin-A and Renova, Retin-A's supposedly more moisturizing little sister, and Eluage feels completely different. It has Hyaluronic Acid Fragments and feels like a luxurious night cream. I've noticed no particular benefit from it, but I've also noticed no dryness or peeling from the retinol. Again, the price is right, and even if it only has a slight effect on surface lines, it's a keeper.

3) Retin-A (by prescription only, unless you sneak some of your son's supply)

OK, leading up to BlogHer I felt a certain pressure to look AMAZINGLY YOUTHFUL, stylish, slim, and gorgeous. Naturally there was nothing I could do about the slim part of things, but I got my hair color refreshed--no tell-tale roots on the Beauty Boomer--stuffed my Stila train case full of fabulous makeup, and made sure I left my baggy t-shirts and Mom Jeans at home.

But I also dipped into my son's supply of Retin-A.

I know, I know. Bad Poppy! But Internet, I couldn't help myself. He gets 11 refills in the next year! There's no way he could use even half that, and it would just be going to waste.

So this is how my skin punished me for sneaking dabs of someone else's prescription and blithely applying it every night for five nights:

OW. BURNING. PEELING.

And that's why this beauty blogger used nothing but Vaseline on her face for a few days before BlogHer.

Of course, when I showed up at Blogher, I was probably DIVINELY EXFOLIATED. But I don't recommend it.

So here's my current regimen:

A.M.

• wash face with uber gentle Murad cream cleanser
• apply nufountain Vitamin C serum
• apply Garnier Nutritioniste eye cream
• apply Garnier Nutritioniste SPF28 moisturizer

PM

• remove eye makeup with eye makeup remover of choice
• wash face with uber gentle Murad cleanser
• apply Garnier Nutritioniste eye cream
• apply Murad's Age Diffusing Serum/Avène's Eluage on alternate nights

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*This link, as well as most of the other links on my site, goes to Amazon. Full disclosure: I finally managed to get the Amazon Associates doohickey set up properly, and last time I checked, I had earned forty cents! So feel free to click through and purchase stuff I link to, even though at this rate, it will take me until Christmas to earn a cup of Starbucks.

Murad's Resurgence, or My New Skin Care Regimen: Let Me Show It To You

At some point last April, I decided to make myself into the internet's guinea pig.

First of all, I realized that I'd stick to a skin care regimen more thoroughly if I was trying to make a point for my invisible internet friends. There would be no more of this deciding I'm too tired to do the full skin care regimen; no sneaking one of my son's Stridex pads to wipe off my makeup; definitely no falling into bed with my makeup on. No cheating.

And so far, it's working. I've been really good about the whole cleanse/treat/moisturize program. (Obviously, I need to bring the internet to the gym with me. And tape a picture of the internet onto my refrigerator. Heh.)

Anyway, this is my current regimen: Dr. Murad's Resurgence night time skincare kit, plus two Garnier Nutritioniste products I really like and don't want to give up: their Ultra-Lift eye cream and SPF28 Daily Moisturizer.*

Murad's Resurgence line claims to target the effects of "hormonal aging," i.e., what happens to our skin as we approach menopause. According to his website, this is what happens:

Low estrogen levels result in weakening of the collagen and elastin fibers. Wrinkles become more prominent, while the skin assumes a dull, discolored, rough, dry appearance. Additionally, women who never had acne in their life may discover unexpected breakouts because of a lack of estrogen in their bodies. You may find that you have an increase in facial hair as well as brown spots and increased sensitivity to skincare products.

Well, thank you Dr. Murad for pointing out all the things to be depressed about, at least when it comes to my complexion. And internet, it turns out I'll make a great guinea pig for you, because all of it is happening to me--except for the unexpected breakouts (knock wood.)

Anyway, since May first, I've been using Murad's Resurgence three step system. It consists of

Renewing Cleansing Cream (4.5 oz/$35) available on Amazon for $25.99

Age-Diffusing Serum (1 oz/$70) available on Amazon for $59.70

Age-Balancing Night Cream (1.7 oz/$80) available on Amazon for $59

I bought the three piece kit on Amazon for $119, when the three pieces purchased separately would cost $185. To find out more details about the products, I checked out Murad's Resurgence website. The website sells the kits, but it also enrolls you into a monthly delivery system, which--no. Just no.

Also, can I just mention how embarrassing it is to buy something and discover, once you've done a little research for a blog post, that it has that "As seen on TV" thingie on the web site? These products have been featured in an infomercial! Shame spiral commencing in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... entering a shame spiral.

Anyway, so far, I like these products. However, I'm not recommending this kit or any Murad product until I've made it through the entire month, because there's no point in being all enthusiastic about my new toy after only using it for a week, only to find out on day 20 that it breaks me out or gives me a rash.

And I made a video about it! Which I'll embed here. So that you can listen to me ramble incoherently about it in real time.




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* If you click on the link to the Garnier Nutritioniste SPF28 Daily Moisturizer, you'll discover that Amazon is selling it for $2.49, yay! Unfortunately, that's because it has apparently been discontinued, boo! So I ... um ... just 1-clicked five bottles.

Disclaimer: The products that I'm not reviewing in this not-review were purchased by me by means of Amazon-1-clicking and two glasses of wine. I'm signed up with that thing that supposedly gives me money if people buy something they see on my blog, but I've never gotten a penny from it, so don't go buy this Murad stuff thinking that you're going to help send my son to college, because it's not happening.

Now is the month of Maying / when merry lads are playing / and ladies who lunch hold one damned lunch after another / Fa la la la

For a lot of people, May is a lovely month, but for me, May is the month when every non-profit, club, and board on the face of the earth holds its annual meeting.

Before I went to an annual meeting, I thought it would be a room full of guys in suits wondering what happened to this year's dividend. I pictured uprisings and gavels being banged and the kind of ruckus you see in those all-Springfield meetings they're always having on The Simpsons. That would have a certain charm.

Unfortunately, in my case, annual meetings are ladies' luncheons where everyone gets all dressed up, listens to boring reports, and eats too much fattening food.

And this week I had three ladies lunches on three successive days. THREE.

It's all an enormous strain. I'm a geek. I'd much rather be talking to the internet about eyeshadow. Instead, I'll be slipping on one of the three versions of this dress I scored at Old Navy and driving downtown to listen to rathah dull reports and eat too much.


(I got it in black, slate blue, and this Yummy Plummy color. Two were $25 and one was $12.95, can you believe it?)

But seriously, people, can you imagine serving lobster souffle and then having coconut cake for dessert? That's a week's worth of calories in a single meal.

Internet, I'd rather hang out with you. Granted, you end up costing me a lot of money (see above) but you're way less fattening, and anyway, I want to finish what I have to say about neutral eye makeup. I mean, let's face it; I'm one of the most interesting people I know. I like making the internet listen to me talk to myself. It's fun.

I also want to tell you about what I'm doing to get ready for my 30th college reunion. Yes, I said it. Thirty years.

I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone and try some new things in a last-ditch attempt to impress my classmates with how fabulous I look for my age. I bought a Murad Resurgance starter kit ($119) and started using it on May 1st.

Murad Resurgence 90 Day Kit

I also bought the new five-minute Crest Whitestrips. And some absolutely enormous vitamins.

But I don't know when I'm going to find the time to post, what with all these luncheons.

(I might actually make a video, instead.)