March 2, 2018

An easy, instant brow boost, products that belong in your gym bag, Nannette de Gaspe gets a little sister and a Briogio leave-in treatment you can believe in.

Give your brows a big (or little) boost

I honestly can’t remember the last time I got my eyebrows done—but I can tell you that it was sometime before the holidays. Making an appointment has been on my to-do list for about a month, and there’s no specific reason I haven’t gone (I guess I’m just feeling lazy in the personal-maintenance department). Last night I took a good look at my brows and realized I don’t even need to go, so now I’m wondering what’s going on. I used to go every six to eight weeks and pluck almost daily between appointments. Could my brow growth be slowing down with age? If so, it’s not really a problem.

It seems all I really need these days is a bit of product intervention with It Cosmetics Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil topped off with a light swipe of Brow Power Pomade, so naturally I started exploring other enhancement options, and Josie Maran’s new The Good Brow caught my attention. With a brow pencil on one end for shaping and filling and a highlighting pencil on the other, just a little handiwork is all it takes to create natural-looking definition and give the eyes a lift. And it’s available in Light/Medium and Medium/Deep so all of us can get in on the action.

If you have under-achieving brows and need a more significant boost (or you just want to rock a Brooke Shields/Cara Delevingne-esque look), check out LashFood’s BrowFood Velvet 3D Brow Glide. Packed with pigment, this one product acts as a conditioner, thickening gel, styling wax and pomade—and growth-stimulator. The dual-purpose applicator features a sponge tip for precise color placement and a spoolie brush to blend and smooth stray hairs, and the waterproof formula stays put all day without smudging or flaking. It’s also available in five shades so you’re sure to find your perfect match. (See the transformation for yourself here.)

Regardless of which end of the spectrum your brows lie, I’m sure we can all agree the one 90s trend we don’t want to see again is thin, overplucked arches, right?

If you work out, you need these products

When I lived in New York, I was never without a ginormous bag packed with everything and anything I could possibly need from the time I left my apartment to go to work in the morning until I got home in the evening after hitting the gym, happy hour and/or a work event. Makeup, multiple changes of clothes and pairs of shoes, snacks, items that needed to be returned—it was like a real-life bottomless Mary Poppins bag. These days I have the luxury of showering at home after working out, but if I were to go back in time, you’d definitely find at least a few sweatWELLth products in there, too.

Combining fitness, health, wellness and (obviously) skincare, this range of innovative products features science-driven offerings for before, during and after your workout. From encapsulation technology that releases actives upon motion and sweating to anti-inflammatory ingredients that aid recovery to cooling agents and anti-bacterials to help prevent picking up anything unsavory at the gym, you’ll also be impressed with what you won’t find in these products (namely parabens, sulfates, GMOs, synthetic fragrances and the like).

Among the standouts are the Awesome Chalk Ultra Grip Spray that stands up to sweat without leaving a mess and the Power Shower cleansing spray that thoroughly removes sweat, dirt and oil with a spritz and a wipe (and hydrates skin while it’s at it). Not sure where to start? Consider the Workout Essentials travel set, which includes the Friction Free anti-chafing spray, Power Shower, electrolyte- and SPF-enhanced Lip Quench, No Sweat hydrating spray and cooling Hydraquench facial mist.

I may not need to schlep a giant tote bag with me on a daily basis anymore, but I do think I need some sweatWELLth in my life… What about you?

These luxurious masks just got more accessible

If you’re not familiar with Nannette de Gaspe’s dry sheet masks for the face and body, it’s probably because you’re not in the position to spend up to $310 on a package. Obviously you’re not alone, and this patented skincare technology is now available at a friendlier price point with the launch of Miss de Gaspe.

Offering similar waterless, mess-free, reusable treatment masks with high concentrations of active ingredients, the Miss de Gaspe range includes three options (for now). The Defy & Drench anti-aging version targets dehydration and loss of elasticity, the Brighten & Beam helps even out skin tone while soothing sensitivity, and the Purify & Purge offsets the harmful effects of pollution as it clears and refines the pores.

$36 might still seem like a lot to spend on a sheet mask, but remember that they can be reused up to five times, which actually translates to a great deal if you go by cost-per-use—and this innovative formulation is well worth it.

Take a break from the madness with this reparative hair treatment

Last week’s events in Parkland threw all of us for a loop—especially me for quite a few reasons. First, I graduated from Stoneman Douglas in 1994, and this tragedy occurred about 20 miles from where I currently live. I also know a significant number of people who lost loved ones. But perhaps the biggest impact is related to the fact that I have a son in elementary school, and it’s been hard for me to drop him off in the morning without just a bit of worry since the shooting—and the beefed up police presence upon pulling into the carpool line just makes me sad that this is the world we all live in now.

So when I looked at my to-do list for today and saw that writing a hair post was on my agenda, I thought to myself, How can I talk about hair at a time like this? Then I went through my file of product info and saw that Briogeo’s Don’t Despair, Repair! Strength Moisture Leave-In Mask was in the queue—and just the name of this product gave me the push I needed to at least try to move forward with my regular responsibilities.

“Don’t Despair, Repair” is quite fitting today, even If it’s for improving dry, damaged, brittle hair. Offering the benefits of a deep-conditioning mask in a leave-in formulation that uses micro-beads of argan oil to reinforce and rejuvenate strands between washings. It instantly makes hair look healthier and shinier—and at the very least it might divert your thoughts from the craziness that seems to be surrounding all of us for just a minute or two.