Face Stuff Part Two
You have questions? I have answers! Well, not really, only in a very narrowly limited way. So like Sasha, I have been doing a lot of Zoom or Google virtual meetings wherein it is extremely difficult to avoid staring at my own face, and I also do not enjoy it in the least. Everybody else seems to look roughly the same and I seem to look like Oliver Platt (who I'm sure is a lovely fellow). I'm trying to get over it. I also agree that when I look at my face ruthlessly it seems that it would require a goodly amount of liposuction. I always get upset that when I smile for pictures my eyes disappear and Eve says I'm being dumb because 1) if I tried to smile and keep my eyes open I would have crazy eyes and scare people and 2) many people have cheeks that squish their eyes closed when they smile and she thinks that's nice. I should be more like Eve.
Also, I think Botox used judiciously might be less jarring than the lip filler. That's what my friend (Eve's friend's mother) has done and it looks great, by which I mean it's unnoticeable and I like her face. I'm not in a rush to try it because I think it's mostly for foreheads and I have bangs. I often hate that I have to have bangs (have you SEEN that meme going around about no matter how bored you are during quarantine you don't need bangs? HURTFUL!) but since I do, might as well look for the silver lining.
To answer Lynn's questions: The injection is hyaluronic acid, which is an ingredient in a lot of skin care stuff, they're just injecting it under the skin instead of applying it topically. It subsides over about six months. It's very noticeable to the touch at first and then gets less and less so. Right now I can barely feel it at all (when did I get it done? Hmmmm... checking....oh, ha ha, it was Valentine's Day, so almost two months exactly. Honestly, if I could get this effect right away, I might consider doing it again, but I don't really think it's worth the money or the hassle.
On other skin care fronts, I did realize that it was a little bizarre that I went directly from Dove soap and a dab of Oil of Olay every night to shooting crap into my lips, so I decided to try something a little less drastic. The first thing I tried was buying Retinol A in Mexico, which I never would have thought of except my friend asked me to get her some. Like a total noob I didn't read the instructions or look up how to use it, and after three days it was burning my face off. I asked my friend how hers was working and she said "fine, if you used it the right way". I was like "ha ha yeah totally, the right way is....?" and she said "once every three days" ha ha YEAH, THAT MAKES SENSE. Eve was mortified when she found out about this and thereafter referred to it as my "sketchy Mexican wrinkle cream" and I stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it.
Happily, the same awesome-mother-having friend's grandmother (by marriage) sells Rodan & Fields and is ALSO AWESOME, so I decided to try some of her wares, partly just so I could hang out with her for an hour. I bought a microdermabrasian paste, an under eye cream for night (actually I think I'm supposed to use it in the morning and at night, but I don't) and a big-ass tub of moisturizer, plus an "unblemish" mask for my oily t-zone. It took me a while to get into the groove of using it, but now that I am ( for a couple of months) I think I am seeing subtle results - my skin looks a little brighter and I'm comfortable going without makeup even when I'm dressing up to go out. This isn't a huge deal, since the most makeup I usually do it lipstick, mascara and a bit of concealer on the spider veins on my right cheek and the sides of my chin. Eve commented that my skin looked nice at Easter dinner.
So yeah - maybe consider smearing shit ON your face before trying the shit that they shoot INTO your face. Thank-you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Comments
I died at your conversation with friend 'laughing- yeah, and what would the correct way to use it be?' I am satisfied with my current plan to get color on my face by laying in the sun. I miss those results when they are unavailable 9 mos of the year. Fortunately I take most of the family pictures so I am not often in the pictures.
I think Eve is right about smiling. Your eyes can squish up. Many people smile that way and they look very happy.
I've heard good things about Rodan and Fields.
Years ago (10?) I tried Retin A and did not heed the instructions and yes, I had a firey face.
I started using it again a few months ago and if done correctly, it will not burn your face. The only issue is that you have to wear SUNSCREEN all the time when going outside after using Retin A. Maybe not an issue for you there, but here, I need it first thing in the morning as I usually take my cup of coffee outside and walk the yard with the dogs. If you use Retin A and get any sun, you can burn.
What time is the next Ted Talk?
I LOVE when people's eyes get squinched by their smiles. There is almost nothing that looks more genuinely happy and adorable; it's like a "you definitely want to be friends with me!" cue. This is reminding me of how my friend haaaaaates her slightly-prominent eyeteeth, when actually I think they are one of the best things about her already-great face: those teeth take her smile from ordinary to SO CUTE I CAN'T STAND IT.
Bangs are like the best anti-aging thing EVER. They just totally hide forehead stuff. I am definitely interpreting the "don't get bangs in quarantine" stuff as "don't try to give YOURSELF bangs, only an expert can figure out how they should go," not "no one should have them." I laughed at "HURTFUL!"
I also should say, I've always thought you have a lovely smile.
However, for several years I diligently applied sunscreen to my face every day and totally ignored my neck, which resulted in my neck going all unvevenly, brownishly, splotchy and it would never fade, even over the winter. I added my neck to my sunscreen regime and it didn't get worse, but it didn't really get better, so I decided to try … skin cream!
I found this - https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B017XZVYMC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - which is Canadian, and is really not expensive as skin creams go (less than $40 CDN) and at the rate I'm going through it, will last a decade and I'm telling you, the splotches are fading!
Also, it passes the sniff test. We use NOTHING scented in our house (nothing). Which is nice, but which also means anything scented is immediately noticeable - I can walk in the front door and know my kids have a friend over because his clothes are washed with regular Tide and I can smell it from the basement. All to say, this could be the best cream in the world, but if it smelled too strongly I'd have to get rid of it … but it doesn't. It has a very light, natural type of scent that doesn't cling in your nostrils.
So, there you go - a skin cream recommendation from a non-skin cream believer!
My website is here - https://bhines1.myrandf.com/ca
Ps - Allison - I’d hang with you any time girl! Post pandemic cocktail, end of driveway cocktail, name it ��