Beauty Matters

We’ve cut our career teeth on the principles of networking in every facet of our lives.  As we become fabulous mature women, our networking venues are changing every day.   That old tight feeling of not being sure we will do or say the right thing goes into action again.

• Will I say the right thing?
• Will I shake the right hands?
• Will I show up with my the back of my skirt tucked into my panty hose?
• OMG….I think I will just skip this poisonous activity.

Well, forget those worries!  Jennifer Gniadecki has written a guidebook that will help get past that stress time.

Learn how to get ahold of your copy of Non-Toxic Networking  so you can get from the poison zone into that Sweet Spot!

  We have added a new project to our small Midwestern acreage.  We decided we would really be able to enjoy the company and care of a few hens while they shared their eggs with us.  Do you have similar projects that give you happiness as you are moving into maturity.

Some of our hens and our rooster are in this first picture.  We have seven hens who lay brown or green/blue eggs, in exchange for some grain and greens from the garden.

Please comment with your precious experiences.  Thank you for stopping by to read up on the beautiful elements of maturity.

  When you’ve made the decision to join several beautiful celebrities and embrace your silver side, you will have some different choices to make regarding make-up colors.  Isn’t Dame Judy Dench fabulous?  Or Merle Streep.  Jaime Lee Curtis just gets pixie cuter every day!

If you are fortunate and have high color, your choices are easier to make.  Usually, regardless of the hair color we use, our coloring and skin tone will begin to be dull as compared to our youthful coloring.

I prefer the eye shadow colors that are also good for film, TV and general public when choosing make-up.  Matte, of course, the color to use.  Even though, as I’ve said before, I always felt I was really getting my money’s worth to have glitter in my eye shadow.  The magic colors are brown and green (not together).  Greens today are good — they are rather mossy, not GRASS green.  Matte browns that I am enjoying are close to skin tone, (no drama here) almost tan to taupe. Again, I try to keep the application on the light side.  For crying out loud, I’m just trying to enhance your experience of being seen with me, not use up the eye shadow before the expiration date comes around

I like a neutral, rosy blush.  I have a brownish powder that worked best all over when I was in a line of work that had me out of doors and tanned more than I am now.  It makes a good touch on the ridges of cheek bones.   I have another neutral glow, not to pink, that I like.  Even though some would say use pink, I say use something that is complimentary and use it lightly.  Those big brushes work wonders!  They will make the color lay on your cheeks in the natural lines of your face.  Using a pad or smaller brush controls the application, making it blocky.  No one’s cheeks have blocky roses, I don’t care what her age is!

Your foundation can have a little more glow, which can be a challenge for that jaw line.  I simply do not want to have my foundation to end in a line or have to apply the stuff clear down to my belly button in an effort to have continuity.  Too much work and too expensive.

One thing that I will warn about frequently, from experience, regardless of hair color.  Do not regularly apply the self-tanning lotions such as the Jergens glow products ALL over your face, particularly around your eyes.  One of the formulas is a moisturizer for faces, so I thought I would have an easy answer to complexion tasks.   The result was sudden, unusual, and atypical circles and shadows under my eyes!  It took me awhile of wondering if I was about to die to figure out that I was making them, sort of like goggles and shades make a mask on children’s summer swimming pool tans.   When I stopped using the tanning moisturizer, they went away like magic.  That tan glow can look great with silver hair; the sporty, active, mature woman with a healthy glowing complexion.  Just take care around your beautiful, mature eyes!

  Thank you for stopping by to read my post.  Have you had successful make-up choices after going gray?  JudyAnn Lorenz

Now that I am “mature”, I can laugh at the phenomenon that drove me nuts a couple decades ago.  What is it about our hormones or DNA or whatever that makes a hair grow out of our face, usually our chin, OVER NIGHT!!   And frequently of a dark color that has absolutely nothing to do with my complexion. Or a stiff, white little thorn!  I think the ease of stress began when my daughters found their first ‘wild hairs’  and we could laugh together.    I am the first generation hairy person on the maternal side of my family; thank goodness for the company of fuzzy daughters.  My mother and grandmother don’t know me.  I know of a hairy aunty on the other side; but that is another post.  I have read that while the ‘wild hair’ phenomenon is normal, it is also hereditary.

Even with maturity, it is kind of hard to feel assured of beauty success when I find the ‘wild hair’, doesn’t matter if I am a brave baby boomer woman.  Even if I have achieved feminist goals and been an amazing   boomer woman.  That darn hair is just a deflating experience. 

At the sight of it, my first thought is, OMG, how long has that been there.  It ranks with leaving a smudge of mud on my face or something!   Sort of unkempt or unwashed!   One comfort is that a hair of this magnitude is not difficult to get ahold of with a tweezer — There; be gone!!

My biggest warning that has a bigger place in a future post is this:  Do Not Shave these little babies!  That will lead to a frightful stubble.  Well, if you cannot find a good tweezer and you cannot stand it and have to go out in public for a couple of hours, it is okay to ding that hair off with a razor, but don’t plan on shaving as a perpetual solution.

Frequently, these ‘wild hairs’ feel  different, more coarse, when I run my hand over my chin. 

Putting my hand on my face is something I don’t like to do.  Fingertips around the eyes lead to all sorts of problems.  Fingertips on an itchy eye get cold germs moved on for a chance to get into my mouth.  I seldom put my fingers in my mouth since infancy, but I do put fingers on those cookies and chips.  You get the picture.  

Can’t rub my eyes any more, like a little child awakening.  That is so cute in kids, but it makes bruises on mature eyelids!   Well, I ramble.  Where was I?

Brushing fingers softly over and around my chin; finding something that doesn’t feel quite like ME! More like someone else , from another planet!    Sometimes I can get ahold of that hair and snap it out by the roots without going for a tweezer.  Believe me, if a tweezer isn’t handy, I will try the snap maneuver till I succeed!  There aren’t many days when a tweezer isn’t handy; I have learned to keep one in my purse and near the bathroom mirror.   Of course, if you see the tweezer in my purse, I will tell you that it is there in case you, my darling, get a little splinter.  Or, if you laugh at the hair on my chin and I have to pinch you!   Sometimes, even a baby boomer woman will not behave as mature as her skin, hair and hands indicate she is capable of acting.

Thank you for stopping by to read my post.  JudyAnn Lorenz

We’ve always been intrigued with eye make-up. We’ve seen a lot of changes over the years.

• Mascara as a cake with a straight brush that resembled a little tooth brush whose bristles were out of proportion.
• Heavy eye brow pencils that resembled china marking pencils.
• Or we scraped some of that mascara cake and rubbed it onto eyebrows.
• Eye shadows that were cremes in tubes as well as the perpetual cake styles that we use today. (poor applicators though)
• All of the crazy colors that resembled bruises — except that bruises don’t collect in the cracks/lines of eye lids!
• The crazy colors applied to mascaras as well as eye shadow.

Since we were teens, we’ve known instinctively that the eye area was delicate skin and we tried to apply the tools of our trade with the least amount of damage. Personally, I was never impressed with water-proof mascara. I know it was a real pain to have tears mess up the mascara, but I didn’t ever like to have to apply REAL pressure to get the mascara off. That element of mascara influences my decision today to avoid it as much as possible. I have enough trouble with the lines and sags around my eyes without yanking and stretching on them trying to clean up mascara that has migrated from my lashes to the skin under my eyes. Plus, as I age, I produce fewer and shorter eye lashes. Not the sort of thing that really looks sharp with mascara.

But, vain old woman that I am, I wanted to dramatize my eyes somehow. I’ve continued to use eye shadow (which they tell us should be matte, not iridescent) and eye brow pencils. Recently, I observed a model on a TV commercial who is probably in her seventies. She wore no mascara, but had a fine line of eyeliner on her upper eyelid. No smoky eyes, but just that fine line. It really did emphasize her eyes.

Then, one of the younger women in my family introduced me to the soft eyeliner pencils that don’t abuse tender, maturing skin or risk blindness from pressing too hard, then slipping to poke my eye! Much better than a poke in the eye, I can fix a fine subtle line that dramatizes my eyes, keeps the mascara flakes out of my eyes and the smears from under my eyes and generally makes me happy!

My new matte eye shadows (I’ve always felt I was getting more for my money to buy frost eye shadow) go on gently with a fresh view, but not a fright show. The eyebrow pencil is softer and the eye liner is really soft, yet both let me apply with feathery touches for a mildly dramatic beauty. A successful beauty move that works well for professional ‘every day’ and makes me feel beautiful which is what the parade is all about!

In a completely off aside about the soft eye liners. I got one for the costume make-up for the gentleman who wore our community’s Easter Bunny suit a few days ago. Boy, were the other committee members surprised to see my new toy! I mentioned using eye liner and immediately they were all advising him how to wet the tip and draw on whiskers. Nope, ladies. This just draws on nicely and washes off even nicer!

 Thank you for stopping by to read my post.  Have you had a chance to become a member and receive the free scent/perfume analysis?  The membership page above will help you.   JudyAnn Lorenz 

Call me plenty silly, but I admired Lauren Hutton and her career before I learned that she had worked to assemble a collection of cosmetics formulated for mature skin.

Now, I’m extra pleased to report there is a new release in the First Kiss line.  Two items actually, cheek stain and lip balm.

A quick order gets us a bonus gift of an eye liner too, plus a deal on shipping.   Check out Lauren Hutton’s cosmetics today.  She has a plan that Baby Boomer Women should bloom beautifully with plumped lips and great coloring just as if we were younger and hotter babes!  

We have professional goals at our age and we are not ready to be put on a storage shelf, colorless and unseen.

Thank you for coming by and reading my post.  JudyAnn Lorenz

Have you seen the commercial about your car, saying that the car should turn you one when you turn it on?   Your scent should work that way. 

A candid fact about your perfume is that, unless you wear too much, most of the rest of the world won’t always notice and appreciate (or dread) the scent.   BUT, when you put that dab of scent behind your ear and on your wrist, you get the turn on.  Suddenly, you feel YOU; you stand differently, you walk differently and you communicate more positively.   Your ensemble feels completed with the waft of scent no matter who else on the planet is impressed.

I have been experimenting with some scent oils.  I love jasmine or geranium rose.  I have added them to my personal mixture of moisturizers.   I enjoy a little kick of lavender in that moisturizer too.  Last time I mixed up a batch, I split it and put some lavender in one part and some rose in another.  My family uses my mixture, so they are now the ‘testers’ for the different scents.

Jasmine oil in purest form is difficult to get and very expensive.  Jasmine oil which has been cut or diluted with other neutral oils to preserve the Jasmine essence is preferable to that which is phony Jasmine scent, a mixture of other scents which attempts to imitate the real thing.   I like to put a drop from my little vial of oil on a fingertip and then apply it behind my ears or on my wrists.

The geranium  rose oil is so potent that one or two drops will scent 1/2 the batch of moisturizer mix.  I love to sniff the bottle, but I’m reluctant to use it as a scent.  The risk for potential overpowering is too great.  

When considering the prospect of overpower, I am being reminded how that works.  My box of scent oils got tipped over a few weeks ago. I cannot figure out which one leaked, but it managed to make an oils saturation stain on the box, though no bigger mess.   My office smells wonderful or it wreaks, depending on whom you ask.    Back to the turn on thing again.  The question isn’t how you turn on your scent.  The question is does your scent turn you on?   

The free perfume assessment that you received with membership included a link to a fun project– Scent Design  which permits you to blend a scent that you like– that will turn YOU on.   Try it!

 Thank you for stopping by to read my post,  JudyAnn Lorenz

We are surely mature in experience, in years and more than that in wisdom.  In application of that mature wisdom, we know that few of us are setting down our working skills and seeking the old rocking chair.

 

Many of us continue in the workforce where we have been contributing valuable time and effort, proving ourselves.  We’re paying attention to the things that are swirling around us — web 2.0 and all the little facets of blogging, podcasting, social networks.   We know we can be good at this but there are little things that keep blocking us.   Little things that make the new things murky when we need them to succeed, sometimes to survive and for sure we need them to have a good time.

 

I’ve found an easy to read e-Book that will be new wrinkles (pardon the poke) for some of us and a valuable review for others.  Online Networking for Newbies by Angela Smith is a valuable tool that I highly recommend.

 

I am personally acquainted with the author a professional young woman (yes, not a baby boomer)from the Midwestern USA.  She works from her own office as a virtual assistant.  Virtual assistance, by the way, has a lot of promise for professional baby boomer women who are ready for a career change.

 

Back to the point,  Online Networking for Newbies is clear, concise and  just plain easy to put into application.   We can all benefit from a lesson in maneuvering around in the virtual world where what we write/say is easily interpreted differently in the black and white format of email, forum comments, instant messages and social network profiles.  Our statements can just come across so lacking or so over the top; much different than if we were able to deliver them in our own friendly handwriting, expressive body language or  our positive  voice.

 

The great little book can help us navigate through the excellent writing.  Angela just tells us clearly

1. Stand out in the Crowd,
2. Do things right the FIRST time, (with a stimulating, make-you-smile or blush list of forum faux pas to avoid.
3. Get Known

Make Personal Connections

 

You don’t have to be a newbie to learn from this book.   Readers with some experience will find answers to nagging questions and comfort from assurance of things they have done right.   These guidelines are written with an encouraging voice.

ALL THIS and a GREAT PRICE: $14.95. 

 

I encourage you to check it out!  Business women can use this information and share it with their clients and customers.   Have a new client or a friend who is uncomfortable on the Internet?  But them a copy as a gift and help them avoid learning the hard way as some of us have done.

 Thank you for stopping by to read my post.  JudyAnn Lorenz

 

 

Nail extensions have received another look from this Baby Boomer woman. One of the things I get to indulge myself in at this time of my life is to be able to re-express myself. 

I have exercised that indulgence to write again about nail extensions and some of the things we can do to insure we have a good experience with them. Tips to avoid infections or irritations that we do not have time to mess with. 

    My article can be viewed in whole at eZineArticles at this link in the sidebar.   Safe Nail Extensions for Baby Boomer Women     In my never humble opinion, the writing has improved over the last expert effort.

Thank you for stopping by to read my post.  Please click on over to eZineArticles for a view of new material and better writing.  JudyAnn Lorenz

  Earlier I wrote a post about the use of Botox for beauty and health.  Since then, more controversy has arisen about the safety of using this toxin for casual appearance purposes.  

As mature women of the baby boomer generation, we need to reevaluate our goals and core values.  Is it true that we will only be appealing if we have no wrinkles?  If we resemble the latest teeny bopper idol?  To whom will that appeal be projected?  Anyone that we are really interested in?      For some of us, the eyebrows go up. We get huffy and incensed about the possibility of being remotely phony. 

      But, for others, the appeal of Botox has validity. These women will enjoy the wrinkle-less life and the company of the people in their circle to whom being without wrinkles and lines in important.

I have edited and re-written the botox material.  That information  is available at this link on the sidebar.   Botox–Poison for Beauty

There is some more discussion about the appeal from researchers to regulate the use of Botox and to demand information be posted on the delivery bottles regarding the risks.   There is also some rebuttal information from the cosmetic botox industry with their opinion about the risks.

Thank you for stopping by to read my post and to check the article at eZineArticles for updates on Botox Information.

JudyAnn Lorenz