Remedy a Fragrance Overload
When you've indulged in too much of a good thing, here's a quick fix: Moisten a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and wipe the skin where you overspritzed. Alcohol dissolves the oils that release perfume's scent on your skin; the cotton ball gently exfoliates the skin's surface, which also helps to remove the fragrance, says Alan Hirsch, MD, director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago.
Find the Right Shade of Blush
Take a very brisk walk to the drugstore or department store. When you get there, look for a blush that matches your natural flush, says makeup artist Molly Stern. Here's where to start:
If your skin is fair, pastels (like baby pinks and peaches) work best.
If you have an olive complexion, try fuchsia and orangey tones.
If your skin is dark, choose a coppery or golden shade.
Get Rid of That Ponytail Crease
You know the bend that's left in your hair when you take a ponytail out of its elastic? Here's a trick for getting rid of it, from Tommy Buckett, a stylist at New York City's Marie Robinson Salon. Lightly dab a little water on the bend. Part your hair down the middle from front to back and separate each section in half. Then, with the nozzle of your blow-dryer directed down over a flat brush, run the brush through each section from roots to ends. (If you have curly hair, let it air-dry; the hair will go back to its natural wavy texture.) Finish by using a smoothing shine spray (like Tresemmé Smooth No Frizz Shine Spray, $5; drugstores).
Keep Your Red Lipstick from Bleeding
Follow this simple three-step process from Rick DiCecca, Estée Lauder's global makeup stylist. First, swipe on a lip balm with shea butter (like Aveeno Lip Conditioner, $4, or Nivea A Kiss of Moisture, $3; drugstores). Then apply a dab of foundation and blend with your fingers all over lips. This evens out existing lines and creates a smooth surface for lip liner. Use a liner with a waxy formula (like Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Lip Pencil, $19;
EsteeLauder.com) and follow your natural lipline. Lipstick pigments will adhere to the wax, creating a barrier that will stop the color from bleeding. —
Alessandra Foresto
Stop Flyaways
Next time you whip off your hat to find your hair standing on end, rub an unscented dryer sheet over the flyaways, says David Evangelista, a hairstylist in New York City. To further calm static, use a conditioner that contains cetrimonium chloride (like Neutrogena Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner, $7; drugstores). The positively charged ingredient dissipates the negative charge that causes flyaways, says Mort Westman, a cosmetic chemist in Oak Brook, Illinois. This two-pronged strategy will cut down on your hair-raising experiences. — Alessandra Foresto
Photo: © 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation
Prevent Chipped Nail Polish
Avoid soaps and lotions that contain hydrating ingredients, like vitamin E and aloe vera, before painting your nails. Traces of oily residue cause polish to separate from the surface of your nails and chip off, says Ji Baek, owner of the Rescue Beauty Lounges in New York City. Next time, wash your hands with a nonmoisturizing soap (like Dial Antibacterial Hand Soap, $4; drugstores), wipe each nail with polish remover, and
then start painting.
— Alessandra Foresto Related: A few of our favorite new nail polish colors
Photo: © 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation
Stop a Shaving Nick from Bleeding
The next time you draw blood as you whisk a razor around your ankle or knee, swipe a dot of antiperspirant onto your finger and hold it on the cut, says Jeffrey Benabio, MD, a clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the University of California San Diego. The aluminum chloride derivatives found in most antiperspirants, used to constrict sweat glands, can also shrink blood vessels, slowing blood flow and creating a clot. — Alessandra Foresto
Photo: © 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation
Get Neat, Healthy Cuticles
Holding clippers at an awkward angle to cut your own cuticles (half the time with your weaker hand) isn't just difficult—it's dangerous. "If you slip and remove too much, you create an opening between the nail and skin where potential irritants and bacteria can enter, increasing the chance of inflammation or infection," says Diane Berson, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. Here's a safer option: Every day, at the end of your shower when your hands are soft from the warm water, use a damp washcloth to gently push back each cuticle. The more often you do this, the easier it is: The cuticles don't have time to build up. After you've dried off, blend a drop of cuticle oil into each nail.
— Kate Sandoval
Photo: © 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation
Undo a Blush Overdose
Has a glance in the office mirror—yikes!—told you that you overdid it with the blush this morning? Here's a quick way to fix it, from Carmindy, the makeup artist on TLC's What Not to Wear. If you need to cover up cream blush: Put a drop of foundation on a makeup sponge, then brush the sponge down your cheek in tiny strokes. If you overdid it with powder blush: Use a dry sponge to blend it, or cover with a light dusting of finishing powder.
— Kate Sandoval
Look More Awake
Although you might be inclined to load on the eye makeup when you look tired, your eyes will appear brighter and more lifted if you keep things minimal. Line your lids with a peach eyeliner pencil (which makes your eyes seem bigger and the whites of your eyes whiter), and then use the same pencil to conceal the shadows on the sides of your nose near your eye sockets. Finish by curling your lashes and applying one coat of black mascara.
— Kate Sandoval
Photo: Gisel Florez/Studio D
Remove Dark Polish
Just when we think we've seen it all, a beauty trick comes along to jolt us out of our jaded state. This time it was from Creative Nail Design manicurist Roxanne Valinoti, who told us how to remove even the darkest polish in one swipe. First, get (brilliant!) Graham Hands Down Ultra Nail and Cosmetic—cotton rounds that won't tear ($5 for 60; SallyBeauty.com). Apply cuticle oil around each nail bed (it will keep color from staining your fingertips), then saturate a pad with polish remover and hold it firmly over the nail for three seconds. "The acetone will penetrate the layers of color, and with a few small circular massaging motions, the polish will loosen," says Valinoti. "Then you can sweep it away in one movement—always toward the nail edge." Clean and simple.
— Jenny Bailly
Photo: Ben Goldstein/Studio D
Conceal a Blemish
Why is it so hard, anyway? For one thing, the consistency of the concealer has to be just right—soft but not too creamy. (The ones that come in a compact are usually best.) And you need to use a concealer brush because your finger will grab too much of the product and can push it off the blemish when you're trying to blend. Use the brush to pick up a tiny amount of the concealer, dot it directly on the spot, and blend outward very, very lightly, says makeup artist Trae Bodge. Set by patting—not sweeping—on a pressed powder.
— Kate Sandoval
Photo: kryczka/iStockphoto
Keep Your Teeth Dazzling
Another reason to frequent the local farmers' market: Fresh vegetables are good for your smile. "The ones that really crunch when you bite into them, like celery, carrots, and string beans, can literally help scrub stains from your teeth," says Jeff Golub-Evans, DDS. They're most effective on recent discoloration, though. So chase a glass of red wine with a couple of carrot sticks, and you may save yourself the hassle of whitening strips later.
— Jenny Bailly
Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D
Grow Out Your Hair
It sounds counterintuitive, but it's best to cut your hair an eighth of an inch every six weeks, says New York City stylist and salon owner Ruth Roche. Here's her logic: If you let your hair grow for six months without getting a trim, when you finally do cut it, the stylist will have to lop off at least a couple of inches of split ends. If you get regular trims—always less than half an inch since hair grows only that much a month—you'll cut off less and your hair will continue to look healthy throughout the growing process.
— Kate Sandoval
Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D
To Dry Your Hair
We know, we know: patience, virtue, blah, blah, blah. But when we're standing at the bathroom sink in the morning, trying to blow some style into our hair, it regularly occurs to us that we could be doing something more productive or (especially in the warmer months)...cooler. So we asked David Dieguez, the creative director of Blow Styling Salon in New York City, how to speed up a blow-dry. "Using a round vent brush [like the Goody Style So Smooth round brush, $8, above] will cut your drying time," he said. When you wrap a section of your hair around the barrel of the vent brush and blast it with the dryer, the air currents travel through the brush's open grates, simultaneously drying both sides of the section. With a flat, unvented brush, you can't cover as much surface area at once. And while that tornado of hot air whirls inside the brush's barrel, the heat infuses more volume into your style.
— Jessica Matlin
Photo: Ben Goldstein/Studio D
Clean Up Your Brows
Instead of tweezing with a hope and a prayer that somehow you'll reveal perfect arches (or at least two fairly symmetrical ones), begin with a pencil and a plan, suggests Arianne Damboise, brow expert and national makeup artist for Benefit Cosmetics. Using a white or pale beige eye pencil, draw on top of the hairs that you think you want to get rid of. Then look at what you haven't drawn over: Do you like the shape? If so, go ahead and tweeze everything within the pencil-covered area. When you're done, blend in the pencil with your fingertip—the pale shade will beautifully highlight your newly cleaned-up brow bone.
— Jessica Matlin
Illustration: Erin Petson
Cover Your Roots
If you're between haircoloring appointments (or late on your at-home shampoo-in job) and your roots are showing, zigzag your part. It will conceal the growing-in color and also add volume, says Kim Vo, Las Vegas celebrity colorist.
Photo: Marko Metzinger/Studio D
Clean Up Spilled Nail Polish
When your favorite crimson pigment drips on the dining room table, what do you do? Sprint for the nail polish remover? Furiously wipe at it with a paper towel? "That's exactly what you shouldn't do—remover will damage the varnish on the table; rubbing it will spread the stain," says Ji Baek, author of Rescue Your Nails and owner of Rescue Beauty Lounge in New York City. "Instead, walk away. When the polish is completely dry, gently flick it off." We tested Ji's advice on a countertop in our office and easily scraped off all the dried polish. (Whew!) Ji says her method works on shoes and handbags too. We'll take her word on that.
— Kate Sandoval
Photo: Quavondo Nguyen/iStockphoto
Fix Eyeliner Mistakes
You're rushing to make up for a party, the ringing phone startles you, and—damn!—you just flubbed your eyeliner. To fix unevenly applied liner in a pinch, try celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal's trick: Dip a clean, pointed Q-tip into liquid makeup remover (Lancôme Effacil Gentle Eye Makeup Remover, $24, isn't too oily), then squeeze the soaked tip with a tissue until it's almost dry. Use it as an eraser to even out your less-than-perfect work.
