***For dark circles, see the "Shimmer," thread where I posted about them to Dotsie!
Also remember to check with your doctors to make sure dark circles are not about your health!
D.


Okay, pretty Princess, here we go:
We inherited those dark circles and before you mask them,, remember that many in high fashion find them "sexy," and mysterious! I rather like mine without makeup. I am also lightskinned Italian so I can help you here.
Forget about whether you are a "winter," "summer," Or "winter/summer!" you are you, the Princess.

Starting on top, the hair. I see it in the photo. I want to tell you that the bob you are seeking is a good way to go with your face shape and your eyes. Like myself, you get lost in too much hair.
IMPORTANT ABOUT BOBS. (Listen to this, Lady Jane!)
IF you let your bob curl under you are aged right then and there. There is a cure. The way they cut the bob is important. I will tell you what to ask for. First Lenora, you can wear a bob as short as you want to go and you would look terribly cute! Your face would support a European bob that French and Italian women wear, which is shorter than the American suburbian bob that curls under. It is cute and easy to manage. IF you could deal with bangs with your cut, you'd look FABULOUS, but you don't have to weat them.
You tell your hair dresser that you want your hair to HANG STRAIGHT. You tell her how short you want it, ask her if she agrees, and if she does not like your length choice, hear her out, it's her job and she may have a point. If the point is stupid, Princess, dismiss it and tell her to get going. Your hair should not be called a "bob." It should be called "Hair." You want her to pull each layer of the bottom of your hair to the bottom and cut it EXACTLY the same length as the last layer she cut! Each piece of your hair at the bottom should be EXACTLY the same length to avoid that curling under, suburbian bob look that is OVER!
(Are you reading this, Lady Jane?) Lenora, if you do this to your hair, you will appear as young as you are, you will find SO much you can do with clothing that you never thought of and so much make up tricks you want to try! You will find yourself again and like your outside! SO, to picture it, the bottom of your short cut looks like these silky perfect ends that do NOT curl over of under, but hang nicely with body. THIS is beautiful on someone like you. But remember, Princess, be FIRM, tell the hairdresser you do NOT want it curling up or down, and you want the bottom of your hair razor sharply even! Ah, I get excited just picturing it on you! It would work with or without bangs. To wear it with bangs would take the guts.... Uh huh!

Hair color: Stay true to your roots, but get it colored! We are Italian so NO RED in your hair! A RICH dark or ligher brown depending on how you like it is the way to go. Make it shiny by coloring it and get yourself a hot iron so if you want to be dramatic and straighten your straight hair, you can! ( It looks peachy straightened!)

*** You are a dynamic woman, Princess and this is what you should look like! NO more hiding, honey, let's let them see the real and beautiful YOU, ok? This hair cut will help!

Your under eye bags, I addressed those for Dotsie, I think in the thread abour older make up or another of my recent fashion theads, very recent. I wrote a dissertation on how to cover them in the best way. Again, though, Princess, people LIKE them in this country too! They shade your face naturally like all those little sheer dark hairs on your face creat dark and light accents that bring out your natural Italian beauty and highlight your cheekbones! Remove NO hair from your face but that which is on your CHIN and those that make your eyebrows a mess.

Your make up.

Your eyes are a good, good feature but you MUST keep some of your natural eyebrows, do you? If you are blessed with dark eyebrows like I, use them! Have then cleaned up and i will tell you how if you don't know, ( just ask, ok?) Our eyebrows are a blessing!
Use Bare Minerals NOW. Go get them in Denver, do they have a Sephora or another free standing make up store? Call around and ask them if they have them and GO, do not pass go or collect 200 dollars! It's so worth it with your lovely skin color that matches NO foundation as mine does not. You skin color, because of your heriage is being covered by whatever you are using and as they say in this business: In the skin game, Italian women won. We did. You need the minerals!
At your age, you need black mascara on the top eyelashes to bring out your lovely eyes that already have dark lashes, it takes two min. and I suggest waterproof. Also, get yourself some eyebrow powder and darken your already dark eyebrows just a LITTLE bit more for some beautiful drama that does NOT show that you did it! (Trust me here.)

I need to know what year you were born to do some of this makeover so can you tell me?

Now: Run, up and down steps, in place, anywhere and look in the mirror. THAT will show you your blush naturally. I think you will be surprised to see that it is pink on us! A little Bare Mineral blush is beautiful and NO, it will not be seen if you do what I say and find that natural blush color! You WANT to wear blush lightly as you get older. Just try some of a lipstick as a test and blend it in to your skin WELL, very, very well and look in the mirror. With your new haircut, the blush will look, again, beautiful and natural! You can get the best bluch for you from Bare Minerals and you are getting the foundation so why not a blush? It works, my Princess, it truly does!

So: You use B. Minerals for a base, and it has a sunscreen. You use a moisterizer, NO OIL, ( for Italians ESP.) The B.Min. is all you need for a foundation and use the concealer I recommended for Dotsie on my other post. It takes 2 seconds to apply the powder which is not powder. Use a LITTLE bit of blush on the apple of your cheeks, (smile to find the apple,) and that's that, you could go like that!
But,
You use a curler on those lashes that are dark and apply a one stroke cover of mascara in black over those lashes even if they are black. ( I cheat on this if I'm not going anywhere I have to look that good. I go our in my P.J.'s and no make up!) After mascara, use RED lipstick, as I've been preaching, OR only LIGHT color on your lips, use your lipstick if you like and blend with your pinky to make it ligher. You can also blot the H*ll out of your lipstick once applied to get this effect. I always put on a coat of moistner after my lip color to keep my lips nice. I recommend those that "plump," lips too. Those that plump are nice and do give your mouth a full look. They are not that fierce. L'occitane has a nice natural one that looks great and feels light.

OKAY!
We have hair, face, and next I will give you clothing ideas. I need your year of birth to help me if you choose to give it!

Try any of this and you will look superb!! I promise! I get excited just thinking about how nice you will look!

I will return for clothing and other ideas. I must go to the doctor today and I've one other errand. I hope this gets you started.

And, oh yeah, part your hair on the side!!

Love to you, my sister!
dancer nine

Dancer,
You are a wealth of information! I have tried some of your suggestions and they are wonderful. I have always worn foundation but as I got older I found that it feels heavy and just looks.....I don't know how to explain it, but maybe a little spackled looking, ha. I have changed my foundation to tinted moisturizer, as you suggested in one of your threads, and than added a little mineral powder on top of that. It feels so light and I think I look more natural. I also switched from black eye liner to the dark blue pencil liner, since I have blue-gray eyes. It changes the look of my eyes. I like it! I think we get in such a rut with our hair and make-up, we tend to stick with the same routine of applying and buying make up as we did when we were younger. You got me crusin' the make-up counters looking for new stuff again, Dancer!

Thank you, Cookie! It sounds like you've made some beautiful changes!
I appreciate you for sharing with me that it helps you. I do know quite a bit about these subjects but to know it is helping you is a wonderful feeling!
If you find a product and want to know about it, ask me! I've probably heard of it or used it!
If I can help you with anything let me know.
Like I said, you sound as if you are looking very nice.
The blue pencil was a great touch! Those are always good ideas if you have such good eyes!
Oh, and Lancome sometimes makes a waterproof blue pencil!
dancer9, proud of Cookie!

Princess,
I have much more for you, but I wanted to write to you about a bronzer:
You and I are Italian with light skin. (Snow whites,) so NO Bronzer works for us. Give up. Our skin is unusual and the only make up company in Italy is now manufactuered in New York so we lost most of our choices! Borghese was made in Italy and is sold at fine department stores everywhere. THEY can match the darker Italian skin. I am three quarters Italian, straight from Venice and one quarter French, so I know your problem with color.

More tomorrow about clothes and stuff. Leave feedback about your make over if you wish!
dancer

Isn't that funny? I was wearing red today, and at work everyone said they liked me in red, and said I looked like "snow white" which you mentioned above. I have green eyes. My mother and grandmother are completely Italian looking (sicilian) with olive skin, brown eyes. They can tan, I burn. My other grandmother had light eyes, hair, and skin. She was Italian but not Sicilian. My grandfather was also Sicilian, and my other grandfather was drunk, disorderly, and an inbred illiterate. Oh, I digress...Dancer, I HATE the bronzer, and I am sorry I was talked into it. Wish I could get my money back! Cookie, what brand of dark blue pencil liner did you buy? Do you like it? I fear my black liner, even using less of it, is too heavy. My eyes are green-blue-hazel, depending. Dancer, I do wear bangs like in my pic, mostly to cover my permanent frown lines. I do part it on the side. The truth is I look better and more dramatic with my hair pulled back away from my face, but now I have to cover the wrinkles. If not to use eye shadow as we mature, then what to brighten the lids? I've used the Olay lip plump, but it is $25.00 (which is not a lot, but is a lot to me right now) and does not have much effect. Where do I get the L'occutane? I still have a lot of eyebrow, although they are thinning with age, and some are gray. I use a "brow set" because they tend to stick straight out, perpendicular to my face. I have let them grown, and I do need a brow wax. I never considered NOT waxing my face. I thought all that fuzz was NOT natural. I'd love to skip that chore. I will however continue to pluck the long stray hairs on my chinny-chin chin! I love knowing that the curled under bob is OUT, and I will get my hair cut ASAP. I walked into a salon today thinking from the outside that it would be just another boring salon, but this place was BEAUTIFUL and smelled so good, and I can't wait to set an appointment (pending price check!) Aveda salons are great, but in my area, they are tending to be more factory assembly line and less individual, and there is a lot of turn over in staff, so if you find someone you like, he/she may not be there next time. Dancer, I was born in 1954. LJ, you said your skin was thinning as it ages? I hear that collegen products, especially a collagen mask, helps. Dancer, with your career(s) and your infinite knowledge, have you considered a beauty book? You could feature your own photos from over the years, not that there have been that many years. I'd love to see you in various costumes, too. I hope you kept many scrap books, which you can digitize. L, PL

Princess,
I use Maybelline Unstoppable eye liner pencil. The color is sapphire and it is waterproof. Yes, I do like it! It is dark, but not harsh looking and I think it makes my eyes look better. It is the only waterproof pencil liner I have found. I like the waterproof because it stays put....it doesn't wear off as the day goes on.

dancer, were you suggesting in your thread to the Princess that I, too, should get a bob??! Yikes! I need a little length to my hair, trust me. I just can't wear short hair well.

LJ, you can where a so-called "bob" at just about any length. Cookie, thanks for the tip. Dancer, come back. We need our cosmetics consultations! L, PL

Okay, brain fade, princess. It gets worse by the day I think. A longer bob would be nice! But I need layers. My hair is just too fine.

Oh, I've ideas for you, Lady Jane, hang in, I'll give you them! I've got GOOD ideas, my shimmery friend.
dancer