30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 18: Grow

You're thinking I've gone mental, right? How can you grow? OK, you can't. But you can give the impression of being taller very easily. How?

Stand up straight.

I know, I know. Boring. But it's true. After all, what do we associate with old lady-dom? Dowager's hump--you know, that situation when a woman's neck sticks out instead of up. I'm sure you don't have dowager's hump. But why would you want to look like you do?

Then there's debutante slouch--where the chest is concave and the pelvis juts forward. It doesn't look so hot on girls who are young enough to be debutantes, like Miley Cyrus. And, guess what? It looks even worse on women old enough to be Editor in Chief of Vogue magazine.

Here's the real problem with posture. If your posture's really crummy, standing and sitting up straight is going to seem like a lot of work. And it will take a lot of effort to maintain. After five minutes to perfect posture, you'll be exhausted.

There are two reasons for this. The first is poor muscle tone in the upper back and shoulders. If you're spending all your time typing at a laptop, those muscles aren't being used, and they start to atrophy. Standing and sitting up straight becomes too tiring. It's easier to slump.

The best cure for this is swimming, dance, yoga, and fencing--any activity that uses the entire body and stresses good body mechanics will help your posture. (I mean, have you ever really looked at the women on the stair machine? They may have buns of steel, but they have the worst posture ever. Don't let that be you.)

Unfortunately, I don't get to the gym very often. I tend to walk or use our home treadmill, which means only the bottom half of my body is getting used. And this means I need to add some weight lifting to my regime.

The second thing that helps improve my posture is stretching, particularly my lower back. I find two things really help loosen my lower back muscles and decompress my spine: yoga positions like the Child and Downward Dog, or dance stretches on a mat on the floor.

Strengthening and stretching the muscles of the neck, shoulders and back makes it easier to stand with good posture habits: stomach in, butt up, knees soft, and a straight line from the ear/shoulder/knees.

If you find it hard to keep your body properly aligned for longer than five minutes at a time, you've got your work cut out for you. But in the mean time, remember: standing tall is the fastest way to grow an inch, lose ten pounds, and take 10 years off your age.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 17: Be a brownie

You might be wondering why on earth Pamela Anderson is doing in a blog post aimed at beauty and style for women of a certain age. Well, duh, I'm using her as an example of what not to do. And I'm not going after her super-thin eyebrows and super-obvious implants. I'm going after her eyelashes.

Mascara has become like a Model T Ford--you can have any color you want, as long as it's black. Which is OK, as long as you think everyone looks best in black mascara. Unfortunately, I don't.

Black mascara is lovely at night, but for broad daylight, I find it a bit stark and artificial looking. If you're blonde, redhead, or like me, an aging brunette, you'll probably look better in a softer shade of brown/black or brown. In fact, if you're a redhead, you'll probably look best in auburn--if you can find it anywhere.

Unfortunately, most drugstore mascaras only come in black, super-plus-blackest-black, and black/brown. I checked L'Oreal, CoverGirl, Maybelline, and Revlon, and the story was almost always the same.

There are drugstore brands that offer brown mascara, but you have to dig pretty deep. Almay has at least one mascara available in brown.

For years, Max Factor was the only line with a mascara for redheads; unfortunately they're leaving the States. The mascara is still available at Drugstore.com, though. And Revlon's DoubleTwist line includes a shade called Blackened Ruby that looks auburn.

Fortunately, the latest fad in drugstore mascaras appears to be ones that emphasize the color of your eyes. Physician's Formula sells a brown mascara, and in addition, their intensive i-color mascara and intense i-color mascara with light interplay both claim to intensify eye-color. They're available in four shades. CoverGirl sells a similar line.

Department store lines offer a wider variety of mascara shades: Estee Lauder has several formulas that come in brown and and even navy blue; MAC has some browns, and so does Lancôme. (Lancôme also sells specialty mascaras, like gold and silver. But that's not the point of this post.)

Boutique brands like Jane Iredale, BeneFit, and Sephora offer mascaras in a variety of interesting shades. In fact, if you go to the Sephora website and do a search for "brown mascara," you'll discover that there are plenty of options.

The trick is to not go crazy. Colored mascara can be fun, but it's not something to wear if you want to be taken seriously. For proof, remember Princess Diana and her blue eyeliner and matching eyelashes. I'll confess to having developed a certain degree of fascination with colored mascaras, and I'm trying like crazy not to succumb to Yves St. Laurent Fascinating Violet or the Benefit BadGAL in Plum.

I remember the 80s and I don't think the world has yet recovered from my experiments with Princess Di-style cobalt blue.

Or my Two-Faced glitter lashes in the 90s when seriously? I was old enough to know better.

But while I busy myself locking up my credit cards and backing away from the Sephora website, I urge you to think about whether the black mascara you've been wearing for years and years is actually doing you any favors. Or could you, like the women pictured here, benefit from a softer look around the eyes?

Elsewhere:

The Beauty Blog has a great post on mascaras for redheads here.

Did you know that there is a beauty blog devoted to mascara? There is. It's called Clumps of Mascara. Currently on hiatus, but still packed with useful reviews. Click here.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 15: Bump up your nails

This is not a post about good grooming, per se. But I do have a question for you. What's worse than ungroomed hands? That's easy. Aging ungroomed hands.

So, OK. Age doesn't do our hands any favors. We don't have the soft, sweet hands we had when we were 17. And you might feel that the less attention paid to them, the better. I get that, I really do.

But even if you don't want to make a big show of your hands, they're going to be on display all the time. You should keep them as presentable as possible.

In addition to that, you should keep them as hip as you are comfortable with. Maybe you've never liked calling attention to your hands. But if you have, maybe you're wondering whether you're too old to wear the latest nail polish colors.

My philosophy on that is simple. Nail polish won't make your hands look younger, but the right color will certainly make your hands look hipper.

So as long as your hands are tended and your polish is perfect, go for it. The most fashion-forward society ladies I know wear dark polish. If it's good enough for women 15 years older and 40 years younger than I am, it's good enough for me.

So find out where you score on Poppy's Nail Scale. Then bump it up to the next level.

Level One: You keep things clean. You clip and file. You slap on a little lotion when your hands feel rough.

Level Two: You shape your nails into the most flattering shape for your hands. You keep your nails a uniform length, and you put on lotion pretty much every time you wash your hands.

Level Three: You buff your nails to get rid of ridges. Or you wear clear polish. You might get a salon manicure for a special occasion.

Level Four: You regularly wear a sheer baby-pink shade of polish, like Essie's Ballet Slippers or Mademoiselle. Maybe you splash out for a pedicure in the summer months. You go a little crazier on your toes.

Level Five: You frequently get professional manicures. Your toes are pedicured all year round. You also keep abreast of nail polish color trends. You spent the fall wearing dark shades like OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark; for winter you switched to Chanel's Particuliere or OPI's You Don't Know Jacques.







Now that's it's spring, you're ready to move on to pale grey-lilacs.






Except that this week, you're wearing a lovely shade of green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Nail tools, nail care supplies, and nail polish are about the most cost-effective way you can update your look. And after all, it's only polish. I'm not telling you to dye your hair purple.

I say it's time you got more fashion-forward and did something adventuresome with your nails. Think about it; your nails can help you look dowdy, or they can help you look hip. Which will it be?

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 14: Wear blusher

Whose idea was it to stop wearing blusher? It's been about 10 years now, and it's making me a little crazy.

I read an article once about Evelyn Lauder (maybe Estée herself!) that said she was always trying to talk women into putting on a little more blush. So hey--you might not care that I think you look better with some color in your cheeks, but when the first lady of cosmetics is begging you to wear a little blusher, I hope you pay attention.

Think about it. Pink cheeks are youthful and pretty. Where do you think the expression "the first flush of youth" came from in the first place? This is what makeup is for.

Sure, there are all kinds of more sophisticated looks, but when it comes to your cheeks, I hope you will leave sophistication to 14-year-old supermodels with naturally pink cheeks. We need some color.

The thing is, it has to be the right kind of color. And you have to apply it properly. But honestly, it's not that complicated. Here's what to do:

Pick the right color. At the moment, I'm talking about a powder or cream blusher with some opacity, not one of those super-intense gel blushes. For powder and cream blushes, the correct color isn't a crazy shade of fuschia, red, or brown. The perfect shade will be a nice version of my-cheeks-but-better pink.

And you don't want to pick too icy or unnatural a pink. Even if you're very fair-skinned and used to wear pinks that were almost fuschia or lavender in tone, you don't want to do that anymore. As we age, our skin becomes more yellow toned, so a very icy cool pink will look unnatural. You want to use a nice fleshy pink, one with some coral or brown in it to warm it up a bit.

Find the shade your cheeks turn when you've gone for a nice brisk walk. (Not the beet-red you become when you've been doing wind-sprints.) Or give them a pinch. Or use your MLBB shade of lipstick as a guide.

Wear your blusher on the right part of your face. Maybe you've seen this picture of Maggie Gyllenhaal already.



It's a perfect illustration of what not to do. Her blush is too dark; it's too red, and it goes too far down her cheeks.

Your blush should go on the apples of your cheeks (mind you, Maggie's got a bushel of apples there, which might explain it.)

Madonna got it right.


The cheeks themselves look a bit off, but the blush is perfect

If you don't know where the apples of your cheeks are, imagine a line running across your face under the tip of your nose. Your blush needs to stay above that line. Then imagine a second line going down from the arch of your eyebrow. The center of the blush should be along that line. Blend it out from there.

Want to see some more pictures of blush done right? Check out these pictures of Winona Ryder. God bless her, she gets it right every single time, whether she's on the red carpet or doing something much more casual.



See how her blush is strongest in the center of her cheek? That's how it's done.



Ready for some don'ts? Don't use blush all the way up to the hairline. Do not sweep it up towards your temple. You'll get lamb chop cheeks like the late Pat Buckley.



Also, most celebs apply their blush too far away from their noses and too close to the sides of their faces, creating a pair of pink parentheses (or in this case, orange.)



This is probably supposed to highlight the cheekbones, but it looks unnatural, and is probably the reason blush got such a bad name in the first place.

Also, don't even think using blush to contour hollows. Blusher is not contour powder.

I'll go into the specifics of brands, powder or cream, best brushes, etc., at some later date. For now, I just want you to think pink!

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 13: Wear a camisole

I just realized something. There are probably kids out there who don't know what a girdle is. "What is this 'girdle' of which you speak, oh wise one?" asks the teenager of today.

But you probably remember girdles. And you know that they no longer exist, because it's all "shapewear" these days, right? You're hip to Spanx. Right?

Confession time: I have some Spanx in my shapewear drawer, but I don't wear them much. Mostly I wear jeans. And Spanx under jeans? Who would bother to do that? If you want to wear Spandex on the bottom half of your body, you can buy jeans with Spandex already in them. More would be redundant.

But I can't get enough camisoles.

Not the ones like a slip cut in half--the ones with up to 14 percent Spandex, like this:

Maidenform Everyday Control Microfiber and Lace Camisole

I'm a late adapter. So sue me. When shapewear camisoles like Sassybax and Yummie Tummies first came out, they were being marketed to be worn instead of a bra. So I ignored them. I'm sorry, but my girls need more cantilevering than a camisole can provide.

Even if I didn't need more in the way of lift-and-separate, I wouldn't have gone near Sassybax, because they're fugly. They're the lingerie equivalent of an orthopedic shoe. Seriously, check it out:

You wouldn't catch me dead in a Sassybax camisole

My grandmother wore better looking underwear.

See, here's what I had to figure out all by myself: the manufacturers of Sassybax and Yummie Tummies forgot to mention that you can wear shapewear camisoles with a bra. It works fine--actually, the camisole helps your bra get the job done. And they're comfortable. Even with 14 percent Spandex, they're more like a tankini then a tourniquet.

And there are plenty of attractive ones out there. Some, like this one, are marketed to be worn instead a blouse, as well as under one.

Flexees Shapewear Chic Lace Bodice camisole

Yes, the lightbulb finally went off over my head, and I'm now the proud owner of about ten camisoles. Some are merely frivolous, but many serve a serious function. Think of the problems they solve:

Midriff bulge/muffin top/back pudge Tops are cut very fitted these days, and nobody wants to look like the Pillsbury Dough Girl.

Yummie Tummie Freedom T is a great waist cincher and layering piece.

Yummie Tummies look kind of plain, but that disguises their amazing ability to whittle your middle. Slip into one of these and you won't believe your waist. I also highly recommend the Maidenform camisoles. They're amazingly comfortable and as for firming--these things are like a personal trainer you can hand-wash and drip dry.

Excessive see-through. Have you noticed how crazily see-through a lot of clothes have gotten? Even t-shirts. But wear a camisole as your first layer, and you can wear something pretty daring on top. And daring is younger and more fun than stodgy.

Excessive cleavage. If you've got a lot on your balcony (as the French would say, if they spoke English) you probably shy away from certain tops because they're inappropriate in broad daylight--or maybe at all.

I give all my tops the cleavage test by placing my hand at the base of my throat. I hold my pointer finger at the base of my throat and check to see whether my shirt reaches the outside of my little finger. If skin shows under my little finger, I wear a camisole. Again, it's easier, younger, and more fun to wear a camisole than shop and shop for something high-necked enough to cover up the girls.

Shopping for camisoles. OK, here's the bad news. The retail prices on these things are insane. It's easy to spend up to $70 on a single camisole, which is madness. This is where discount stores are your friend. I've got a Yummie Tummie I bought at Loehman's for $16.99. I picked up a black Flexees Lace Bodice camisole at Macy's for $9.99 at an after-Christmas sale. (I probably save a lot of money because I don't feel the need to have my camisole match the rest of my underwear.)

Don't forget the cute factor. I'm a big fan of nude bras and panties, but there's something kind of Ace bandage about nude camisoles. I prefer white, black, and colors. This is something you can have fun with, so why not splash out on cheetah-print chiffon with purple lace trim?

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 10: Lighten up, Francis

When you get to be our age, everyone has one piece of advice about makeup: wear less.

Well, I disagree. I wear much more makeup now than I did in my 20s, 30s, and 40s. For one thing, I wear foundation pretty much every day--I never bothered before. I wear concealer, eye shadow, eyeliner, and eyebrow color pretty frequently, too. But it's not obvious, because I 1) pick the right shades and 2) blend like crazy. I also retouch, check for shine, and fix smears.

These ladies don't. Here's Maggie Gyllenhaal in need of some foundation, but with too much smeary black eyeliner, a startling amount of very pink blusher placed too low on her cheeks, and very bright lipstick.


She looks better here. Her eye makeup is great, and her skin looks beautiful. There's still way too much blusher, though. And it should stop at the bottom of her nose, not go all the way down to her lips.


This is Catherine Zeta-Jones promoting Elizabeth Arden's new Red Door Red lipstick. Where do I start? Too much eyeliner, too much blusher, and basically too harsh a look. Let's just call her Cruella de Lipstick and move on, shall we?

To a different picture of Catherine Zeta-Jones, this time demonstrating that when it comes to bronzers, a little dab'll do you.

Would it be over the top to call her Cruella de Oompa Loompa?

In conclusion, wear as much makeup as you want. But please, emphasize either your eyes or your lips. Limit your blush to a healthy flush. That goes for bronzer, too. And for heaven's sake, keep the eye shadow above the eye.

This advice is for everyone, of course. A 23-year-old needs to guard against a tendency to ladle on the spackle. Makeup is fun, after all. Whee! But you get older, you really need to be careful. Constant vigilance.


Be Joan. Not Bette.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 8: Make friends with concealer

If you can remember when concealer was pretty much limited to that lipstick-shaped "Erase" stuff you get at the drug store, you're old enough to have the kinds of problems a good concealer is designed to correct, such as under-eye circles, broken capillaries, and age spots.

The right concealer banishes all of these problems. It can also work as an eye shadow base, improving the wear and appearance of your eye shadow. And you can use it instead of, or in addition to foundation.


Right now, I'm using one of two concealers. I keep a tube of Cargo's OneBase in my purse. It's a tube with a sponge-tipped wand. The formula is very versatile. You can apply it with the sponge tip as a concealer, or squeeze the product out of the tube and apply it as a foundation. You can even mix it with your regular day-time moisturizer to make a tinted moisturizer.

It's handy for travel or trips to the gym, and for putting on makeup in the car. (Shut up! At red lights, duh.)



When I'm at home, I use Maybelline Age Rewind. It's very highly pigmented, which means it gives excellent coverage. It also means it's easy to use too much, so a lot of the time, I take the cap off and only use what I find on the end of the tube.

However, I'm having a lemming attack over Revlon's Age Defying Moisturizing Concealer. It's brand-new, and it's supposed to be great for older skin. It's received rave reviews from Makeup Alley. And it has SPF 25, which is fabulous. What better place to have high SPF than a product that is used around the eyes?



I'm super-tempted to pick up a tube of the Revlon, but I don't know that I need to add to my concealer collection. Yet.

Apply concealer here to take ten years off your face:

• To cover under eye circles, apply both below and above the eyes in the inner corners, near the nose. Don't use it on the outside corners; this will emphasize lines.
• Neutralize and brighten your eyelids by applying it across the eyelids, too.
• Pat on a bit to conceal age spots, red marks from healed blemishes, and burst capillaries.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 7: Rethink your jewelry

Jewelry isn't just adornment. When you look at a woman's jewelry, you're seeing who she is. And it's not just her socio-economic status. A woman's jewelry is where her age and hipness intersect. While jewelry can't literally make you look younger, it can certainly make you look very less than hip.

This is not the look to emulate.

Admittedly, this is a state portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. But think about it. Do you wear jewelry as if you were posing for an official portrait?

What follows is my advice on what not to do with your jewelry.

1. Don't wear jewelry like medals. Our jewelry tells the world what stage of life we're at. Religious medallions, the starter studs you get when you first pierce your ears, your high school and college rings, your engagement ring, wedding ring, baby presents and anniversary gifts all tell people where you are in life. Think about it--people can probably guess your age within about half a decade simply from the jewelry you wear.

The answer? Remember jewelry's primary purpose as adornment. If a piece doesn't work with your outfit, don't wear it.

2. Don't wear too much. I'm no minimalist. Far from it. But I slip in and out of various social groups, some with younger and some with older women. One thing I notice about the older women is the sheer quantity of jewelry they wear.

I see one group of women every week, and many of them are in their 60s. I often see them wearing three obviously real, expensive yellow gold bracelets on one wrist, an expensive watch and another bracelet on the other wrist, plus rings, earrings, and maybe a pin or a necklace.

This looks uncoordinated and a bit insecure. Remember, elegance is refusal.

3. Don't flaunt your wealth. OK, maybe wealth isn't the right word. But when you reach mid-life, you tend to have accumulated some Important Pieces. And hey, good for you if you have. Enjoy. But don't wear them all at once. Say you've got an 11-carat diamond engagement ring. How about wearing a couple of long strands of gold chain studded with crystals instead of a Serious Necklace?

4. Don't confuse style with price. In case you haven't noticed, right now jewelry is all about cascades of semi-precious stones, brown diamonds, and crystal. It's pearls mixed with tulle and chain. It's glass beads and charms on long, long chains, fringe necklaces, and statement necklaces as big as a baby's bib.

It's not classic, expensive pieces. It's not diamond ear studs, 18-inch pearl necklaces, and Cartier tank watches. These are great basics, but they're unexciting, and they're not current. If that's the only kind of jewelry you're wearing, chances are you look ossified.

5. Have fun. Branch out and find something frivolous to wear. If you don't know what's current, check out ShopBop for inspiration. You might have some candidates in your jewelry box. And of course, if you bead or wield a glue gun, you're in luck.


Elsewhere:

For a look at Forever XXI's amazing, dirt cheap jewelry, (the ring below is $6.80!) click here.

Check out Nordstrom's costume jewelry, sorted by price with the lowest first, here.

Anthropologie and Banana Republic have great stuff--pricey, but watch for sales.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 6: Exfoliate

Many components of our skin contribute to its healthy glow, and some of these are easily improved with very little effort. Our skin is multi-layered, with thin cells on top that are continuously sloughed off and replaced by new cells that push up from the dermis. As we age, our cellular turnover, i.e., the rate at which new skin cells replace old ones, slows down. It's over twice as long in a 50 year old as it is in a baby.

Thank goodness it's easy to nudge along the process by regularly exfoliating the skin.

Exfoliation is using cosmetic or mechanical means to remove the outermost layer of the skin. Exfoliation removes dead skin cells, smooths the surface of the skin, unclogs pore, and allows serums and creams to penetrate more easily.

No matter what your skin type, exfoliation will improve it. If you have clogged pores, exfoliation will unclog them. If you have dry skin, exfoliation will get rid of its dull, papery look.

Ways to exfoliate

If you use soap, a bar cleanser, or a foaming cleanser, mechanical exfoliation would probably be easiest. Instead of making a big deal of exfoliating, just use a good, scrubby washcloth a couple of times a week in the shower. A washcloth is the simplest, and if you have any left-over baby washcloths, they're wonderful, because they're thin and easy to manipulate.


If you use a creamy, wash-off cleanser, you can exfoliate by mixing a bit of baking soda into your cleanser before you apply it to your face. A quarter teaspoon is plenty--mix it into your cleanser in the palm of your hand, then wash as usual.


If you use a cleansing oil or other wipe-off cleanser, your best bet is to use a cosmetic exfoliator, rather than a mechanical one. I really love Alpha Hydrox 12 percent solution. It's designed for feet, elbows, and other problem areas, but it works fine on my face. I use it a couple of times a week, applying it right before bed. It keeps the flakes at bay.

Just remember that it's easy to irritate the skin by over-zealous exfoliating. Be gentle and ease up if you see any signs of irritation.

Try to make exfoliating a regular part of your skin care routine. You'll find your skin will look fresher, and your makeup will blend better and look more natural.

Elsewhere:

Susan Wagner's BlogHer BeautyHacks post, Exfoliate for Brighter Skin: Out with the Old, in with the New

Sarah Chapman's helpful video outlining chemical and granular exfoliators is here.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 5: Perk up the girls

I live very near a very large high school, so for the past 12 years, I've become increasingly conscious of teenaged breasts. Specifically, how high up they are.

Supposedly, when you're wearing a bra, your nipple is supposed to be halfway between your shoulder and your elbow. Would somebody tell these teenaged girls? Because seriously, their nipples appear to be an inch south of their collarbones. If that.

For proof, check out 15-year old Michelle Trachtenberg (and 23-year-old Sarah Michelle Gellar.)

Now check out Bea Arthur as Maude.


Or check out Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia.


Bea and Meryl don't look terrible. In fact, they both look pretty great. But they would both have benefited from a bit more lift and separate.

I want you to try on every bra you own and get rid of any that aren't working. If you're using the tightest hook and the highest strap setting but you still fail the pencil test, you've achieved bra fail. Ditto if you've washed it so many times that it's getting hard to read the label. And if you can't remember where and when you bought it, chances are it isn't doing what you paid it to do.

This also includes bathing suits.

Uma, Uma, Uma. Please. You know better.

So please. Toss out the bras that have passed their expiration date. Today.

Remember, diamonds are forever, but the same can't be said of spandex.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 4: Curl your lashes

I know this sounds incredibly picky, but think about it.

Ages conspires to bring you down--both literally and figuratively. Think about what it's done to your figure. You still have everything you've ever had! Unfortunately, it's two inches lower down. And the same is true of your face. Just as your body seems to want to move south, your cheeks start to migrate towards your jawline.

OK, I'll stop before I get us all depressed. The thing is, you can counteract this effect by drawing the eye back up. This will de-emphasize your face's journey southwards.

This is why women used to cut their hair short as they got older--to draw the eye upwards. It's why bat wing eyeliner was invented. I suspect it's one reason we all love wearing sunglasses. And for all I know, it's why women used to wear hats all the time.

So do me a favor and at least give it a try. Curl your lashes, and see if it brightens your face--and your outlook.

What kind of eyelash curler should you use? Genuine hard-core fashionistas swear by Shu Uemera's model


which is available at Ulta for $19.00

But I get perfectly respectable results with a Revlon curler, also available at Ulta for $4.29.


How to curl your lashes

1. Start with clean, dry lashes, and curl them before you apply your mascara. If you curl your lashes when you're wearing mascara, you're likely to leave a few lashes behind on the curler. Ouch.
2. Position the curler so that it's just ahead of the roots of your lash line. Close the curler and squeeze firmly for a slow count of five.
3. If you have large eyes, you might want to curl your lashes more than once, aiming the curler towards one corner, then holding it in the middle, then doing the other corner of each eye.
4. Some people achieve a more natural-looking curl by curling their lashes in stages. They curl once at the roots, then "walk" the curler further out along the lash and curl again.
5. If you have stubbornly straight lashes, try heating your eyelash curler first with a hair dryer. (Just don't let it get crazy hot, OK?)
6. If your lashes are simply impossible--the equivalent of a sullen teenager--there are also heated lash curlers. (Which, to continue the metaphor, must be boot camp for eyelashes.) This Japonesque one is available at Ulta for $17.39.

I hope I've convinced you to at least give this a try. Honestly, on days where I'm really rushed, there are times I curl my lashes and skip mascara. The bright-eyed effect of curling my lashes has become more important than the lengthening/thickening/darkening effect of wearing mascara. I know--gasp!--but it's true.


Enough information to make your eyelashes curl:

Seventeen magazine has a short video that illustrates the process--to watch it, click here.

Makeupalley is one-stop shopping for product reviews. If you haven't joined, please do--it's an invaluable resource. Then check here to see reviews of eyelash curlers.

30 Days to 10 years younger--10 minute tips. Tip 3: Triage

OK, the whole thing started because I was working on a video about eyebrows. Yes, like Badger, I was thinking about dipping a toe into the growing field of vlogging.

So I was in the bathroom applying eyebrow powder and talking to myself in the mirror. You know, practicing. Suddenly I realized that I needed to drop off my daughter's lunch at school. And that the lunch bell was going to ring at 12:05. And that it was 11:55. And while my eyebrows were looking particularly fetching, the rest of me was still in my pajamas.

My daughter's school is a five minute walk away. Which gave me one minute to get dressed, two minutes to fix lunch, and two minutes to clean up my act.

The two minutes to fix lunch was easy. I put together a PB&J sandwich, a snack-sized bag of Doritos, a container of chocolate pudding, and an orange.

Then I spent the same amount of time cleaning up my act in case a teacher or another mom snagged me after I dropped off lunch. And I realized that I was just as fast and efficient at getting ready as I was at making lunches. It's because I had the cosmetics equivalent of snack-sized bags of Doritos ready to go.


My first step was to wipe my face with my son's Stridex Daily Care Maximum pads. Despite their tough anti-acne talk, they're actually just little wipes soaked in a gentle salicylic acid solution. There's no Benzoyl Peroxide or alcohol or anything harsh like that. They're a step more thorough than a cotton ball with toner--perfect for a quick clean up.

Then I applied a pea-sized blob of Garnier Nutritioniste Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 28 all over my face

and finished with a fast slick of my beloved Revlon ColorStay Lipglaze in Infinite Rose.
Then I disguised the rest of me with some clothes, my favorite black puffy jacket, black and gray fingerless gloves, a gray wool beanie over my disheveled locks, and a pair of sunglasses.

And shot out the door at the speed of light.

The lesson? We all need to figure out the one or two products that will make us look at least halfway presentable time we're incredibly time-crunched. (I'm aware that the phrase "time-crunched" usually does not denote a housewife talking to herself in the bathroom--but bear with me.) At our age, looking good takes planning. There are products out there that can make us look 100 percent better--and in almost no time at all. For me, the crucial thing is lip color. I'm deeply unhappy when I'm caught without it, so I try to always have something handy, even if it's just Cherry Chap-Stick.

I don't sweat my eye makeup nearly as much, probably because I always have glasses on. Everybody's different. Your first priority might be concealer, mascara, or eyebrow color.

Do you know your first priorities? Have you figured out a three minute system? If not, you should figure it out. Because I'm here to tell you, a combination of fuzzy PJs and impeccably filled brows doesn't cut it.