Beauty: Make-Up Free Marie

Tired, make up free me looks OK (with help from cleavage).

I was surfing Twitter last week, and I noticed a story about celebrity women without make up that freaked me out. They're not new stories, and of course, the shots were by paparazzi in a quest to catch these particular celebs at their worst, (women famed for their beauty), either in poor lighting, or very early in the morning, or just leaving the gym, or when they weren't dieting for a role. Jesus. The "with" makeup and "without" shots were gruesomely different, with the exception of one or two woman, most notably Kim Kardashian, who looks great naturally. I've written about my public stance on cosmetics before: I'm not against them at all, I just don't want to get caught out looking like a circus clown in plain clothes, or a drag queen on her day off. I blame overzealous Photoshopping production artists pushed by ad execs as much as I do the photographers, though. You have to be complicit with sort of thing to airbrushwoman into all irrelevance with regards to her day to day life.

Me, the morning of this piece, minutes after waking up, make up free.

As it so often does, pop culture lead me back to myself, to take a good hard look. I know I look great at 43, I know I look great without make up, I know I'm photogenic, and I know I 'm an exception to most rules, but I'm also a woman, vulnerable to the same harshness of society's gaze as any other woman walking the streets, and I've heard it all: "She's plain" to "She has, like, these little bumps all over her face that you can see if you talk to her up close" overheard by me as a bridesmaid to my soon-to-be sister-in-law. Yay! She ignores me mostly or takes weird passive-aggressive snipes under her breath when she leaves the room. For the record, my skin DOES have bumps, and pores, and some fine lines, and sometimes blemishes, just like all human skin does. It doesn't not have the excessive skin damage of say, a sister-in-law who thinks that tanning cures all her ills. Sorry, girl. I'm pale and I know it. But by knowing who we are really well, it prevents other  people's insecurities from getting under are skin, and that's the most valuable advice I can give any girls out there struggling with the crap thrown at them when they dare to look through a fashion mag: to thine own self be true, and the rest are just haters.

Me in natural light, with pores, bumps, blemishes, and some fine lines.
I'm wearing cover up set with powder, mascara, cream blush, & lip balm. 

So, in the interest of honesty, I shot myself in different lighting conditions, with makeup and without, while still trying to get a nice looking pic with good color, clarity, good composition, etc. And it really is true, I honestly prefer myself without make up because my dark eyes pop out against my skin tone, which gives me what I think is a unique appearance, one that holds the key to my ethnicity and cultural make up. I also train fairly regularly in gyms or dojos, and if there's one thing I know for sure, it's this: if you have even a bit of oily skin, the quickest way to ugly break outs is sweating profusely in make up. It's just so gross, plus it gets on my gi, and that stresses me out more. I may leave cover up on a raging blemish out of deference to my sparring partner, but even that I dislike. I wash it ALL off before I train, and I wash my face again afterwards, going home with a clean face. 

Diffuse light gives a warm glow to the skin that's favorable.

 It's one of the times when I feel most like myself. In professional settings, I prefer to wear make up because it helps me either blend in or knock 'em dead (like war paint), depending upon whichever effect I need to perform for that day. I famously took the summer off from cosmetics at one publishing house early in my career; it gives my skin a chance to air out, plus I get freckles, a little color that I find appealing, and my hair lightens up in the sun. Instead of saying kudos, the art director looked at me and noted I looked "surprisingly well". He's not exactly my biggest fan, but like I wrote, because I actually like myself, I can withstand just about any barb someone throws my way. Wanna-be photogs be warned: not only can I shoot better pics than you armed with just my iPhone (and ruthlessly critique said shots like an art historian in print), I fight, too. Let that sink in, and don't let me catch you behind a bush. When the lights go dim at the end of the day, who are you? Do you like what you see? Do you wake up looking at a stranger in the mirror, or simply like yourself?

Overexposed (highlights are blown out, losing some detail), though still showing some fine lines on the skin that make it realistic as a portrait.

Curly-haired, and you've accepted it? Same: http://www.pinterest.com/mariedoucette/curls/.

Curly ‘Do

There comes a time in every curly life when the thicket must be cleared. Such a time came to me one hard-working weekend, when I noticed that the shorter ends growing out of my layered ‘do looked sufficiently better than the long piece stuck down the back of my jacket. I was at the office, it was freezing, and I peeped myself in such a state in the bathroom mirror. Lo and behold, an idea for a new hairstyle was born.

My awesome hairdresser, a former RISD attendee natch, was on board because it's right on trend for the season. He went a little shorter than we originally discussed, but it was cool. I was up for it. So here it is; an uneven blunt cut with some hip longer pieces. He wanted to stay far far away from Soccer Mom Land, and so did I. We did that. Rudy, you da man homeboy ;) Thanks for the hook up.

Springtime curly ‘do

Green Hair Care, for Curly Girls on a Budget

Hello to the all the Curly Girls, Guys, Kiddies, and people who love them! We know by now that we can't use typical drugstore products, like widely available, commercial, and typically cheap shampoos and conditioners for our hair type. It strips our hair of moisture and causes frizzies like we've been trekking through a rain forest for two days: in other words, a snarled, tangled mess.

We also know that cleansing conditioners without sulfates are the way to go, but with the best one on the market being produced from top-shelf, organic oils, it's a pricey deal for great hair. If you can afford No-Poo from DevaCare, do it. Do it now. Do it today. Just run out and buy it, curly girl, and don't look back. Thank me with years of great hair pictures on your Facebook profile, or whatever you kids do nowadays. In stores, it retails at around $15.00-$18.00 for 12 oz. of product, but I just did a search, and I found an online retailer selling it for $7.32 without tax or shipping. I can't vouch for it, because I haven't ordered from the site before: http://www.buy.com/prod/devacurl-no-poo-zero-lather-conditioning-cleanser/230761186.html?listingId=239661618.

If you're days away from a payday, or you're currently without a paycheck at all, what can you do? I found a few lower end options that you can buy in stores, for all budgets. My local drugstore chain had an organic brand called Renpure on the shelves that was on sale for around $10.00, but the picture on the 18 oz. bottle of the founders' straight-haired niece did not bode well for me. Experience agreed with my assessment, and I found that his blend did not work for my scalp type and curls. C'est la guerre.

One afternoon at my local Target, I got a cleansing conditioner that smelled like vanilla and also cost only $10, but I can't remember the name of it, just that it was in a cheerful blue bottle. I couldn't find it online, either. Booooo! May your next trip there be more fruitful than mine. Look in the multicultural section, around products like Shea Moisture and Mixed Chicks. Down and out, I had to find something else on the shelf that would work for my hair type. After a lot of searching and scrutinizing of labels, I found a Suave Naturals line that might do the trick, at the bargain price of $2.00.

It's important to remember that commercial conditioners have more than enough cleansing power for your delicate curly hair. You do not have to use shampoo, just work the conditioner through with your fingers, and scrub your scalp well. Rinse a couple of times, still massaging your scalp vigorously and working your hands through your hair, removing loose hair and excess sebum. That's it! I'm back on the same "wash every two days" schedule that I'm on with the pricier organic cleansing conditioners, though my curls are drier and not as defined like they are when I use more specifically targeted organic products for curls. The Suave label does have natural oils listed, along with some more dangerously chemically-sounding derivatives, but it's definitely better than using commercial brands that have harmful sulfates and no organic products or natural oils at all.

Happy Hunting!