Best Beauty Always

Make It Your Own With Layers

We've layered our hair, and our tee shirts. We've had burgers our way for decades, ordering only those condiments that appeal to us. Kids serving themselves from the soft drink station mix flavors in ways that make me a little queasy just thinking about the results. We customize our cars and our phones. One-of-a-kind is the new mass appeal. So what's a great way to get just the fragrance or nail polish shade you want?

Nail polish maven Essie Weingarten tells More magazine that she customizes her fragrance and her nail polish by layering. "Clinique Happy plus Chanel Allure has become my signature scent. And I get a weekly manicure mixing two sheer Essie shades: Blushing Bride topped by Ballet Slippers," she says in the February issue.

Layering fragrance generally means using a favorite fragrance in multiple forms - bath oil, body lotion and perfume, for example - to make the fragrance last longer. Combining two distinct scents to create something different that smells great on you is called scent layering, and it can take time to perfect. I did a little research after I read Essie's comments, and found an article that explains the fragrance layering trend and offers a step-by-step approach to creating your own custom scent. Let me know what you come up with.

Seeking Illumination?

I wasn't on any particular mission today when I stopped by my local makeup counter, except perhaps to find something new to lighten up the winter gray that surrounds me. What I found was something both new and illuminating!

Revlon Age Defying Spa Face Illuminator (with SPF 18) goes on with a built-in brush anywhere you want a little glow or highlight. You can wear it alone or with foundation, or even mix a little into your foundation. I played with it a little bit, trying it alone, with foundation applied over primer and without primer, and over a favorite tinted moisturizer. I tried "Pink Light" on my cheekbones, above the brow and a little on my chin and I liked the effect.

I paid about $12 for 1 oz.

Will You Break Piggy for Beauty?

Women's Wear Daily reported this morning that consumers grew used to doing without in 2009 and are expected to focus spending on the important things in 2010. We're dining out less, holding on to cars that are still in good condition, and thinking twice about buying status brands. So what about beauty?

What kinds of decisions are you making about your beauty regimen? Are you cutting back on evenings out to maintain your cut and color? Will you make your expensive handbag last another season so you can have that weekend at a spa? Perhaps you've stepped away from the department store beauty counter - even temporarily - to buy skin care products at discount stores or drug stores.

I was talking with an esthetician yesterday about a skin analysis and facial and she told me her price range, so I know what I'm facing there. I have also been looking for a good hand treatment plus a manicure before an evening out with friends. That's not something I do every week, or even once a month, but I am not happy about the way my hands are looking. Oh, and I need a new night cream. Winter air is dry, dry, dry. What's a woman to do?

Get me a hammer. I'm going in!

Finding My Inner Spandex

Resilient New Year!

For many people, the "nought" years were fraught with stress, change, and fear. For me, the year just past saw losses and leave-takings pile up into a mountain I sometimes felt ill-equipped to climb. But in the course of doing some mental laundry - the sort of cleanup precipitated by life's natural disasters, I read my label. And wouldn't you know it! Just like nearly every garment on the market today, I am at least one percent Spandex, or whatever it's called in the human fabric. Yep! I can be pulled and stretched, sat upon, tossed around in the gale of life and still bounce back to my hanger-fresh form.

Sometimes it takes a decade like the "zeros" to really discover what you're made of. If your mental laundry requires a little darning, be sure to weave some love, laughter, family, friendship, good memories and at least a little resiliency into that garment, and wear it every day like a favorite scarf.