As those of you who watch "What Not to Wear" and/or read my Beauty Bar blog know, I often focus on the eyes when I'm doing someone's makeup, or offering advice. When I helped make over mom of 10 MaryLou Russ, I was most excited about "waking up" her magnetic blue eyes. That's why these particular questions stood out to me:
Janet asked: "Can ANYONE please tell me the best product or procedure to remove dark circles under your eyes? Mine are very severe!! I consulted with a dermatologist and had NO LUCK. He basically said, I'm stuck with them."
Unfortunately, Janet, your doctor is right. Extremely dark circles are hereditary. The only thing you can do is embrace them, love them -- and know they give you a sexy mysterious stare. If you want to hide them, choose a thick concealer in a shade that is about one shade lighter then your skin tone like Kryolan Dermacolor and tap it on lightly with your ring finger. Play up another feature to draw attention away form the circles like using a fun new shade of lipstick.
Marie's question was: "I'm entering the years of menopause and have noticed my eyebrow hairs have become thicker, longer and less flexible. If I trim them, they nearly stick straight out! I've always had fine thin hair and have no idea how to approach this. I tweeze some, but that doesn't rid my brows of the coarseness of my brow hairs. Is this hormonal in nature? Common during mid-40s? Any solutions?"
Speaking of brows, my eyebrow shaping and styling guide started a lively debate among many of you who wondered whether there's a difference between plucking and tweezing.
The answer is no -- it means the same thing. Whether you pluck, wax or thread it is always just a hair being pulled from it's root.
Finally, Leila wrote in: "I have a mole on my right brow but due to overplucking my eyebrows are thin. How can I get them to grow so I can cover the mole? Permanent makeup is starting to sound good..."
I never advise using permanent makeup for many reasons. It will someday wind up lower than when you started due to natural aging and sagging of the skin, plus it can change color over time and look incredibly unnatural. Grow in your brows and if the mole peaks out you can just hide it with a bit of concealer -- or see a dermatologist about removing the mole and eliminating the entire problem.