A beauty salon is an establishment providing services related to beauty.
Anyone who has spent a meaningful amount of time with me knows that I have a fascination with personal care products: its usage, the packaging, and the industry. Who else's childhood hobby was collecting product brochures from the Estee Lauder Company's line of brands? Some people are members of EMACS usenets, I look forward to receiving Heather Kleinman's Cosmetic Connection newsletter in my inbox each week.
This idiosyncrasy drew me to Vicky, a great friend and essential fashion reference. Jen and I, beyond serious discussions of Taiwanese politics, also share a yen for beauty care. I used to think every guy knew how to apply a mask till my freshman year in college, when Kuo goggled at me as I walked around the entry with a mask. I then realized that Galen, my younger brother, is wise in the ways of skin care because of my influence.
I remember cornering him when he was four, educating him about the importance of lip balm and trying to apply it to his lips.
My skin tends to be oily. Thankfully, I no longer have to deal with acne as often as I did during adolescence. Five years of living in Boston also contributed to my first experience of dry (!) skin. My skin has been on a roller coaster of behavior since I moved to Taiwan last September-but change is good because it challenges by forcing one to pay attention.
I don't skimp on facial skin care. That said, I don't believe in using expensive cleansers. The product is usually on your face for less than a minute-will that ten times more expensive per ounce product really make that much of a difference? I don't think so.
Somehow, I've never really spent that much time or money on the rest of me. I rarely comb my hair and I never blow dry. My fine hair has withstood nearly nine years of competitive swimming and done just as well or better with inexpensive drugstore brands than specialty brands. I remember to moisturize my body when my skin itches from dryness.
More (as in harder scrubbing, layers of products) is not better. Simple and gentle is best.
beauty salon
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Sunday, I finally decided to retire my Reflect.com compact (the first product I have used up completely), and start using the Chantecaille Real Skin compact in Glow. The texture is smooth and dewey, and the coverage is very light. If I need extra coverage, I use Chantecaille Future Skin in Nude as a concealer, applied with a brush. I top everything off with either Nars loose or pressed powder, both in Eden.
I use Chantecaille because the textures are luscious, always very silky, and the look is very natural. They also have luxurious, elegant packaging. None of their powders matched my skin tone, however, so the Neiman Marcus saleslady directed me to Nars. Nars powders are very finely textured. Unfortunately, their packaging definitely places form over function, so what I've done with the loose powder is dump the contents of my Body Shop loose powder (a product I don't like as much), and recant the container with the Nars powder.
The Body Shop's loose powder used to come in what is the most useful packaging I've ever seen for loose powder: a shaker, much like a baby powder bottle. This way, you can shake out just the right amount of product neatly into the palm of your hand, and the product--since it never comes into contact with the applicator--stays hygenic. Unfortunately, the Body Shop's loose powder no longer comes in that packaging.
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