My So-Called Beauty Routine

This is the third blog post I’ve started for this week.  Everything I have wanted to write about keeps bogging me down and feels too weighty for this place and this time.  I really want to write about something a little more substantial than our good weather, but it keeps coming back to that.

With the advent of our fantastic weather, I have been getting outdoors most every day the past few weeks.  Which means I’m starting to get a little sun on my skin.  I’m a huge advocate for the benefits of some sunshine, but I’m also old-school enough that I would still love to get a dark tan.  I fight that inclination, try to cover up a bit more, use a bit of sunscreen and always wear a hat when I’m out exercising. However, life in the American West, and especially Arizona, means I get sun damage. I visit the dermatologist and get annual screenings. I also exfoliate and I and get a laser treatment in the winter.

This week I went in for an IPL laser treatment at All About Me Medical Aesthetics.  I have been seeing the adorable Dr. Leslie Predmore for many years and I like her collaborative approach to skin care and “anti-aging.”  I quote that because in my experience, I keep just aging.  Oh, well. It’s amazing how one laser treatment removes so much sun damage.  After the laser treatment, my skin looks like coffee grounds and after about one week, the “grounds” fall off and I have no further sun spots. Please excuse the extra-lousy photos. My camera got onto a strange setting while it was rolling around in my purse.

Here is a pic 24 hours after my treatment and you can see all the brown spots that are raised on my skin.  By this time next week, it will all be clear! For about one hour after the treatment, I feel like I have a sunburn and my skin is uncomfortable. After that, it doesn’t hurt at all.

I have been using a red LED for a number of years, and while I cannot definitively say it helps, I have read a lot of medical articles that tout their use – both for improving skin and for overall health. Hey, it can’t hurt, right. The one I have is pretty old, but here is one on Amazon that says it’s FDA cleared and gets good reviews.

I feel a little silly even bringing up the topic of beauty because I’m no expert and I really am pretty minimal. I’ve always thought that a woman should look well maintained without doing too much or too little.  Too much looks like a bad Hollywood blow-up job and too little feels like I look homeless. I might look a little on the homeless side.

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Since we’ve ascertained I’m not what I consider a pampered person, I do have a five-minute minimum make up routine I don’t leave the house without (even going to the gym):

• Tinted moisturizer, blush, mascara, lipstick
  • I use Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer in Tan (which is really dark, but I need to match the rest of me because my face is really white), I use Lancome Plum blush and Definicils mascara.  I found a beautiful neutral, yet snappy lipstick, also from Lancome, Curtain Call.
• Now that my eyebrows are mostly non-existent, I am tinting those
  • I found Godefroy tint from Amazon and find it lasts over two weeks.
• DIY Gel polish
  • I use my MelodieSusie LED lamp (here is a link to a cordless model) and do my own nails.  They don’t last quite as long as the salon, but the convenience is worth it.
• Spring/summer DIY pedis
  • This is a hard one.  I am too scared to get salon pedis so I do my own, but I gotta tell you getting down and bending over my toes is getting harder by the year. I take the polish off in October and give my nails a rest until February.
• A pair of earrings
  • When I go out walking I always wear a hat and sunglasses and literally my friends don’t always recognize me. I feel like wearing a pair of earrings makes me a little jauntier while I’m in disguise.

While I think I take pretty good care of my skin, I should set a goal to do a little more. Most of my friends look MUCH better than I do and I know some is genetic and some is hormonal, but maybe I could control more – somehow. Ugh.

What I’m Reading

I read a really short Joe R. Lansdale novel, The Elephant of Surprise (Hap & Leonard).  I love Hap & Leonard and read everything Lansdale writes, but this one was so short, I felt cheated.  He’s so funny and smart and tender and violent. All the things I love. On the other hand, I never got bored or antsy reading it.

On audio I am listening to Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore.  It’s not my usual style of book, but I heard a line today that just stopped me in my tracks with its brilliance:  “The way certain things felt wonderful when you held them in your hands: a book, an ax, a baby, a beer, a big–ass pile of M&M’s.”  Best line all year. Who else is with me that M&Ms, along with Tostitos, are among man’s finest inventions?

I finished a third Tres Navarre audio by Rick Riordan, The Last King of Texas.  Each book in the series is an improvement over the last. My favorite thing about his series is his 21-pound cat named Robert Johnson. No idea yet how the cat got his name, but there has to be a good story there.

What I’m Eating

Honest to Pete, I don’t know how much longer I can stand this diet, but I did want to share how I fox up the fruit I ate for lunch.  Sprinkled fresh strawberries and cuties with some coconut and drizzled a bit of chocolate over it.  The Midnight Moo from Trader Joe’s is like chocolate syrup for adults.  Delish.  I keep the coconut in the freezer so it stays fresh a really long time.  No need to thaw out, just sprinkle and go. That second bowl and the whipped cream made hub happy.

My sister Monique made a French tomato tart with Swiss chard from her garden, grape tomatoes, ricotta and BIL, Pete’s, homemade Dijon.  It turned out so gorgeous and this is the recipe she was inspired by.

What I’m Doing

I had a pretty low-key week, but I did watch a few movies at home including the Mr. Rogers’ story – It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I will say it starts off really slowly and odd, but it redeems itself and is a good movie. On Amazon streaming I watched Fast Color which is a low-budget indie move. I didn’t love it, but it was something out of the ordinary and I made it through to the end. We had a really rainy (1 inch – whoo hoo!) day on Saturday and Sunday was sort of chilly and cloudy, so I found just the movie to watch – Blue Hawaii with Elvis. That movie was made in 1961, and though hokey, the colors and locations are stunning and still hold up. Not sorry I spent a little time with handsome, thin Elvis this weekend.

The other thing I am doing this week is praying.  I don’t love praying and I’m really bad at it, but it’s powerful and I use it. I just have to be upfront, I have a lot of loved ones (and loved ones of those loved ones) who are facing health issues right now.  My hub had skin cancer removed from his calf and that simple procedure netted a whole bunch of stitches and a really sore leg. It seems like the prayer needs just increase from there. Other friends and family members have more substantial issues, and my heart has been pretty heavy with the need to keep everyone lifted up.  When I pray, I ask for total healing, strength and peace.  Since I’ve spent so much time outside walking and enjoying the Divine in Her Own space, I’ve been spending a little extra time praying for issues I’m aware of and for those I don’t know about.  BTW, I believe God knows everyone’s needs and certainly doesn’t need lowly ol’ me goin’ to bat, but it’s a sacred privilege for me to pray and I hope the blessings I am asking for are poured down on each of you.