Beauty Tips for Ministers

Suddenly Snow White: Going Grey With Style

In an earlier conversation, Charlotte contributed,

“As for Suddenly Snow White: make sure you hydrate, hydrate, hydrate – hair, face, lips! My grandmother had beautiful, shockingly white hair which she always wore short. She had lovely soft skin and always wore a berry-colored lipstick. I think she was more beautiful with white hair than ebony!

Perhaps the look is a little dated, but she also always wore a bright scarf tied around her neck.”

Charlotte, I am JEALOUS of your grandmama’s shockingly white hair (and believe me, the bright scarf thing may be dated, but it’s classic). The way women go gray in my family tends to be gun-metal gray, lank and just ugly. The hair loses its body, the color just looks Blas-ville and permanently greasy. To quote the famous Dreamgirls’ song, AND I AM TELLING YOU… I’M NOT GOING …that route with my hair, God as my witness and Revlon as my redeemer. How wonderful to go gray in such a way that flatters, that makes one say, “Oh, look what a new head of distinguished older person hair I have!” or even just, “I’m a silver foxy babe, man!”

I ran into a friend the other day who has let her hair go gray and although she’s very young (she’s also a gym rat and is in enviably trim shape) she just looks fabulous!!! I complimented her white-gray hair and she told me that it’s natural, “with a little help.” Now isn’t that an interesting idea… she highlights her gray hair, I think, to make it shinier and to keep the white-gray strands bright looking. I should have gotten the name of her colorist. Maybe there’s hope for my inevitably gun-metal blah, greasy strands of the future.

Roberta was wearing WONDERFUL tortoise-rim rectangular specs that made her look modern and sharp and added a great pop to her face. Her hair was cut in a mid-length curly style and she just looked adorable. I think she was maybe wearing mascara but I didn’t get the impression that she was wearing make-up at all. She has great skin.

The best description of her look was that her hair had energy to it. Her glasses and classic, simple work clothes (she works in a shoe store), contributed to that feeling of energy. She was a woman who had gone grey and looked very cool. I wish I had had a camera to snap her photo. That girl is doing Snow White Right.

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Dark Circles

Hello my weary Sunday-working pastor pals,

Someone wrote to PeaceBang today asking about how to cover up dark circles under the ole eyes, so before she skips off to write her newsletter column and watch Part IV of “John Adams” on HBO, PeaceBang will try to offer some helpful advice.

First, she’ll share what she thinks is pretty unhelpful advice on the subject, which she found by a blogger named “NY Make-Up Artist.” Not to malign New York Make-Up Artist’s skills or sage wisdom, but PeaceBang thinks that the following regimen

# Powder the area under your eyes with very fine translucent powder to set the corrective concealer, and then go over the area one more time with your regular, everyday concealer (the one that matches the rest of your happy, non-discolored skin).

P.S. If you have no idea why you constantly have dark circles under your eyes – if you have no reason to believe that your recurring dark circles are hereditary or caused by allergies, for example – you might want to see a dermatologist, who can determine whether your dark circles are caused by poor circulation.

Here’s PeaceBang again, who agrees with the author above in one detail: to cover dark circles, it really is worth the time and effort to find the right formulation for your skin and the particular hue of your circles. When PeaceBang gets the Walter Mondale bags on important occasions, she follows this routine:

1. For puffiness, ice and lots of water. Witch hazel on pads over the eyes for five to ten minutes (if there’s time). Application of a firming eye cream kept in the fridge.

2. When eyes are dry and hydrated with a day cream of some sort (that’s had time to fully absorb into the skin, and nothing too oily), GENTLY apply a foundation with a very light touch (tap with edge of finger) to undereye area AND EYELID (don’t forget to blend into corner of eye/bridge of nose) as you apply to the rest of your face (or just to blotchy areas, as PB prefers to do, which means sides of nose, chin and forehead).

3. If skin still looks noticeably dark, use make-up brush to apply a very light coat of light-reflecting cover-up to circles under eyes. Choose a shade just one shade lighter than your skin color; nothing too obvious. Tinted products can work very well, as the article above details. Again, blend well into bridge of nose and surrounding area. You do NOT want to look as though you have clowny circles around your eyes.

4. With a small, fluffy brush, set the area with a translucent powder. Better yet, set the area with a light-reflecting powder. There are many on the market right now but PeaceBang has been using Revlon Skinlights for a thousand years (the same container, in fact, which is ridiculously huge: did they think I was going to douse my entire body in the stuff? I decant it into a smaller container and it’s still fine after all these years).

5. On dark circle days, avoid lots of eye make-up. Curl your lashes, load on the mascara, smudge some eyeliner on the top lid only, and use a bright lip color and sweep a pop of blush on to wake up your face.

6. Gentlemen, there is no reason on God’s green earth that those of you who have hereditary or fatigue-related dark circles can’t use a subtle product to make them less noticeable. You will look ten years younger and rested, and if that doesn’t matter to you, your eyes will be more expressive and less shadowed in the pulpit.

7. I travel with this wonderful product by Mac, which doubles as a foundation AND cover-up! It’s supremely blendable and comes in so many shades, you’re bound to find one that works for you.

8. If the dark circles are a new thing for you, consider dietary and hormonal changes. Dark circles under the eyes can be related to other health issues, so don’t hesitate to ask your doc about it. For some reason I remember hearing that dark circles can be caused by nasal congestion (NETI POT!) and also by vitamin deficiencies. Someone once told me to eat lots of leafy green veggies if I got dark circles, but I can’t swear by that.

Finally, can you believe someone has a blog that’s exclusively about this subject??? I couldn’t believe it, either, but here it is!

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To Night Cream Or Not To Night Cream?

Darlings, Caroline Divine asks PeaceBang’s opinion on night cream. Someone advised her to forget about it and to “let her skin breathe.”

That’s an interesting idea, and God knows that MotherBang has beautiful skin at the age of 69 without having washed her face with anything but soap over the years or having used night cream (she now uses various retinol-based creams, however). I’m sure it can be done.

However, PeaceBang’s skin looks and feels MUCH better when she follows a nightly regimen of washing with a gentle cream-based cleanser (currently using one by REN), smoothing on an anti-oxidant serum with retinol in it (this excellent product by Paula’s Choice) and finishing off (after giving the serum time to soak in) with a healing, redness-reducing moisturizer (currently by REN). She dots ROC eye cream with retinol under and around her eyes (the evidence is undeniable; I had worse crow’s feet two years ago than I do now), puts in her night bite guard and goes to sleep at a decent hour.

During the day, I wash with a gentle cleanser in the shower, smooth on an anti-oxidant pomegranate serum by Desert Essence, top it with a Neutrogena SPF 30 sunblock (or I skip it and use a Neutrogena tinted moisturizer with SPF 30 — not really enough but I’m not much in the sun until the warmer months). I must thank Miss Conduct, Robin Abrahams, for turning me on to this wonderful Neutrogena product.

I exfoliate twice a week or so with either a fruit enzyme masque or Aveda’s Tourmaline Charged Radiance Masque. I cannot use anything even vaguely granular on my skin; not even so-called “gentle” scrubs.

If you are adding up the cost of all these products, believe me, I am too. The masques and serums last for many months. The eye cream lasts even longer than that. I use the expensive cleanser only at night (when I try to massage it in for a full, relaxing minute or so) and a $8-10 one for daytime use, when I’m in a hurry. I portion out my REN moisturizer carefully and even the small pump bottle lasts pretty long, though not as long as I would like, because I LOVE REN products and think they’ve done wonders for my skin. They are worth every penny, and when I don’t have enough pennies to keep myself in REN, I switch to the closest drugstore equivalent I can find.

This recent photo was taken in winter sunlight: I’m wearing eye make-up and lip color, but nothing on my face but the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer and some creme blush. I’m 42 years old, very fair and have extremely sensitive, blotchy-and redness-prone skin. I’m happy with the results of all my potions. Drinking enough water, eating well and exercising also make a big difference in my skin’s appearance, of course, and so does being happy. Do what works for you, pigeons!

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How Dry I Yam

Boy oh boy, is my skin dry.

I’ve used all kinds of moisturizers and my daily choice is a simple, unscented product from Trader Joe’s that works well in a no-nonsense kind of way.

But this, Sephora Body Butter works even better and smells like coconuty, almondy heaven. It sinks right into your skin, and to make it really effective, exfoliate first:

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Hey Lady, Where’s Your Face?

GIRLS. WOMEN FOLK. SISTERS IN MINISTRY.

Harken unto PeaceBang. Please.

If you have not yet considered how washed out and exhausted and drab you look without any make-up because you have been too busy to look in the mirror lately, or because of your feminist commitments, or because you don’t want to spend the money, please understand that PeaceBang has the most sincere respect for all of those reasons. But she still wants to say that too many of us are going around looking seriously drab and wan when we don’t need to, and that It’s a Problem for some of us.

I know that we live in a sexist culture. We also live in a visual world, and always have. We can still fight sexism and look like vibrant leaders and not washed out, blotchy and eyebrowless women whose visage screams, “Who, ME? A public figure? Oh, no, no, no, not MOI. I am a simple woman, a humble woman, a woman unaware of the fact that lipstick might actually brighten my face and make me seem as though I made even the slightest effort to prepare myself to be present in a visual universe.”

I’m seeing a whole lot of Seriously Drab out there, sister ministers (and brothers, too — you can use skin care, too! It won’t effect your masculinity in any way, I promise). And from a distance (as in from the pew’s perspective), that’s a serious detriment to your message. When your mouth proclaims resurrection and your visage proclaims that you didn’t take time to properly wash your face this morning, there’s a major disconnect.

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Transitional Seasons

Dearest bun-buns,

PeaceBang is taking a moment of quiet to check in with you while the beagle sleeps in the living room and the cat sulks upstairs in her own little room after a little “let’s get to know each other” encounter on the stairs that didn’t go very well. PeaceBang is trying to Breathe Deeply.

Transitional seasons like New England spring are difficult. It’s easy to fall into a Frump Slump and wear the same bundly sweaters and blazers and earth tones, being grateful we can skip the heavy coat and leaving it at that. But let’s not do that. Let’s remember that we have an opportunity to look as though something miraculous just might happen — like Christ rising from the tomb, for example, or the Democratic Party deciding not to act like a bunch of stooges around the Obama-Clinton race. Let’s add bright spots of color to our winter outfits in the form of light scarves or bright shoes or a nice Eastery-hued tie on the guys.

Women, how about baby pink or hot pink paired with brown? Looks fab. Or a wonderful turquoise top or earrings with a denim skirt and white t-shirt? Get out your knee-length springtime skirts and wear them with nubby cardigans, opaque tights and cute flats in a matching color. Carry a bright yellow bag. Get our your white boot cut denim summer trousers and wear them with a black sweater and white faux pashmina wrap with butter-colored boots. Be creative.

Look at the items in your closet with fresh eyes, and get out there and be fresh. In a good way, I mean. Not like a certain beagle puppy I know who hasn’t been neutered yet and who keeps trying to make puppies with all the female visitors to the parsonage.
Naughty Max!

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