Removing Eye Makeup: More Important than You Think!

Soon after I publshed a criticism on the fallacy of keeping mascara and eyeliner on overnight, Paula Begoun noted, "a basic remedy for puffy, irritated, crepey skin around the eyes was being sure to remove every last trace of eye makeup before you go to bed" and recommended using an eye makeup remover in addition to a water-soluble cleanser.


Artificial tears - a must in your makeup kit

On a related issue, I recently had some inflammation along the lower eyelid. I quit wearing eye makeup on the lower lid, applied artificial tears
(not eye drops formulated with steroids) and an eye ointment
, and began washing my hands more thoroughly. I use hand sanitizers like Purell
only sparingly, as I take seriously the fact that bacteria and microbes will mutate into more resistant strains in response to antiseptics.

Selling Radical Chic to Teens

Radical Chic was a term coined by author Tom Wolfe to describe the soiree in which the late Leonard Bernstein hosted members of the Black Panther militant group. More recently, several retailers that market to teenage girls have been selling scarves resembling keffiyehs. The keffiyeh has been traditionally worn by men in the Middle East, and was particularly associated with the late Yassir Arafat, who wore the keffiyeh to cover his bald pate.

There has been an uproar over selling keffiyehs, as many people associate the keffiyeh with terrorism.

Below is an example from Urban Outfitters:

An ironic name for this scarf

This type of "radical chic" is reflected in T-shirts carrying the image of Che Guevara; even the perfumeur Le Labo has used Che's image to portray its fragrance line as "revolutionary." (hat tip: Beauty Addict)

Beyonce and the "Roboho" costume

I stayed up past midnight last night listening to the shout-out between the Rev. Al Sharpton and Harvey Levin of the TMZ.com celebrity gossip site on Fox News concerning TMZ's describing the costume that Beyonce wore at the BET 2007 Fashion Awards show last month as "Roboho." The Rev. Al thought that the term was demeaning and racist; Harvey Levin said it was all in good fun.

Source: bekkiboom-ultimateweirdestcele.buzznet.com via STYLE on Pinterest

What was missed in this whole shout-out was the similarity of Beyonce's costume to that of the female robot in the 1927 film classic Metropolis.

Source: thestylepage.blogspot.com via STYLE on Pinterest

Madonna riffed on Metropolis for her video Respect Yourself.

Design*Sponge: r.i.p jane

The premiere issue of Jane (L) and the current issue

The Style Page has reported on the demise of CARGO (Lucky for men) and SHOP Etc. (Lucky rip-off) magazines. Now comes news via Design*Sponge that Jane magazine will cease publication with its August 2007 issue.

The New York Times also reported on the demise of Jane in its article A Women’s Magazine That Tried to Be Otherwise. The authors described Jane as the grown-up version of Sassy, the groundbreaking, but now defunct, teen magazine. Detroit-based conservative columnist Debbie Schlussel has her own take on Jane's demise: So sad, too bad ...

I find the way that titles such as Glamour, Marie Claire, Vogue, and O conflate articles on fashion and beauty with articles on social and political issues jarring. Moreover, these magazines don't reflect my views on social and political issues. I also dislike the way that magazines geared toward women in their 20s and 30s are obsessed with sex. No wonder I prefer magazines such as Lucky and InStyle, which don't contain such articles.

A fabulous resource on home design too good to keep to myself

I was watching Sheila Bridges: Designer Living on the Fine Living TV Network yesterday, which had a feature on Pintura Studio, a design firm that designs and hand cuts stencils that are then used to hand print fabric and wallpaper. As Pintura Studio uses a lot of (Asian) Indian motifs, and I love these motifs (see my post on Block-printed textiles), I wanted to find Pintura Studio's web address. I Google'd on Pintura Studio, and found this resource: HomePortfolio.

Although I had just discovered HomePortfolio, many others had discovered it before: there are nearly 1200 saves of its home page in My Web from Yahoo!

HomePortfolio is a fabulous resource for everything to decorate your home. It presents offerings from many vendors and enables you to create your own online portfolio of items for the home. That's why I'm making special notice of this site through The Style Page blog.

Links for Pintura Studio and HomePortfolio may be found on My Web (tag: home).

PS Despite recent pictures of Sheila Bridges with a bald head, I am assured that she is in good health.

Good and bad advice from Allure

Here are Beauty tips of the month from Allure:

1. For a little drama, try not washing your mascara and eyeliner off completely—it will be smudgy and sexy the next day, says Charlotte Tilbury.
   
2. Try a lipstain instead of gloss—the look is more inviting, say makeup artists. Dab color on the middle of lips, blending outward. It should look as if you've polished off a Popsicle.
   
3. Work a new version of smoky eyes with bronze colored shadow. Line eyes with a soft chocolate pencil and sweep eye shadow over the lids and a little underneath, blending so there are no hard lines.

Regarding the first tip, going to bed without removing your makeup is a no-no! It will not be sexy in the morning!

Facial cleanser is usually not enough to remove eye makeup, so be sure to use an eye makeup remover (I prefer oil-free or two-phase liquid eye makeup removers that don't leave an oily residue) and pat clean with a cotton ball or pad. Eye makeup removers formulated with mineral oil causes smearing. Use a second cotton ball or pad to make sure all eye makeup has been removed.

I won't comment on the second tip - I tried to take advantage of Allure's giveaway for Laura Mercier's Mulberry Lip Stain, but the server for her web site was probably overwhelmed with visitors taking advantage of the same offer.


Isadora Eye Shadow Quartet in Antique Gold

However, the third tip is great - I like the Isadora Eye Shadow Quartet in Antique Gold (I use the darkest shade as a liner), but the Eye Shadow Quartet in Bronzing Plum also looks tempting.