Answers To Your Beauty Questions

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Thank you to everyone for all your emails and questions.  I hope my answers to some of your questions in this issue will help more readers with the same concerns.

Q. I am going to a wedding and I want my nose to look slimmer. Is there any makeup trick I can use?   

A. You need a highlighter a shade lighter than your makeup. Just sweep a sheer stripe of it down your nose then blend. Then dust a warm blush or sheer bronzer on the sides of your nose. Finally, use a fluffy brush and lightly blend the colors. Most importantly, make sure you have a lot of fun.
 
Q. I have dark circles under my eyes and it gets worse when I am tired.  I keep hearing about using concealer, but how do I choose a right shade?

A. Oh, you have no idea how many people have under eye dark circles and ask me about how to get rid of them. First, make sure you find a concealer that is creamy, and will glide easily on your skin. Try not to use the stick formula because most of them cake up on the skin and make your skin look crinkly. To counteract the blue undertone, choose yellow-based concealer. For darkness with a green or purple tinge use pink or peach-toned concealer. If the concealer is too light it will accentuate what you are trying to hide. Make sure you apply eye cream before using concealer. Use a brush to apply it if you have one, if not use your ring finger (so you won’t put too much pressure on the skin) to spread it. After blending it well under and around your eyes, lock it in place with loose powder. One thing to remember is the more you rest, the less visible dark circle around your eyes will be.

Q. I keep hearing about the danger of parabens in cosmetics. What are these and why are they bad?

A. Parabens are used as a preservative and became popular with cosmetic companies because of their broad spectrum antibacterial properties. They are listed on ingredient labels with the prefixes methyl, ethyl, propyl, and butyl. Manufacturers like parabens because they are inexpensive. At one time they were considered safe, but in 1998 British researchers at Brunel University discovered that parabens mimic estrogen. Studies have linked paraben exposure to low sperm count and decrease in testosterone level in men and researchers found high concentrations of parabens in breast tumors due to routinely applying cream with parabens to skin. Unfortunatley most manufacturers continue to add them to cosmetics and personal care products.  Try to look for products that use natural antioxidants such as vitamin E instead of parabens.

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