Beauty Tips for Ministers

Summer Make-Up And Skin (for boys and girls!)

It happens to us all, pidgeons… in the heat of summer when we want to keep cool, maintain a simple routine and keep make-up off our faces, a bout of acne or some other hideosity will strike, leaving us wishing for some camoflauging options.

If you should get an outbreak of some sort when the weather is beastly hot and humid, here are a few tips for you:

1. Keep your face as clean as possible, but avoid scrubs like the plague!! They are TOO harsh and can make things worse.
2. Change pillowcases regularly. Keep your hair off your face and forehead while you sleep.
3. Wear a big hat in the sun or stay out of it all together; take a break from the SPF product you have been using. It may be clogging your pores.
4. Drink lots of water and avoid coffee.

To hide a spot:

1. Wash and dry your face. If you use moisturizer or serums, give them a few minutes to soak in.
2. Rub a bit of creme stick make-up on your hand.
3. Using the tip of a finger, dab the make-up carefully onto the spot, pressing gently rather than rubbing or wiping.
4. Gently blend the edges.
5. Shake a bit of face powder onto your hand.
6. Using a clean small eye shadow brush or the fingertip that God gave you, dab a bit of powder over the spot to set the make-up.
(A small make-up brush does a terrific job in lieu of your finger for applying the make-up, but you may not have one on hand)

7. Avoid super-drying treatments like tea tree oil or those acne preparations made of alcohol. If you feel super oily, wash your face once during the day and dab T-zone with a bit of witch hazel.
8. Do not skip your moisturizer if you’re over 40, but do switch to a lighter formula.
9. Icing a zit does help bring down swelling, as does a dab of Visine applied with a Q-tip.
10. Do not apply ice directly to cold sores or sun blisters, it’s too harsh. Use a very cold washcloth instead, pressed gently to the face.

All sorts of flare ups indicate inflammation in your system. I find that hot, humid weather brings on more inflammation and more skin problems. This can be due to :
>facial masques that don’t bother you other times of the year
>hormones
>sun exposure
>bug bites or poison ivy-type allergies
>general allergies
>humidity
>stress
>too much “vacation food” (fried clams, anyone?)
>air-conditioning
>chlorine
> your baseball team having a lousy season

Remember:
Keep your hands off your face!
When in doubt, be gentle and do less, not more to make the problem go away.
Get a pair of huge sunglasses and learn to rock them like an Olsen twin.
Smile big and no one will notice the acne on your forehead.

The Olsen twins.

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The Uniform Project COOL NECKLACE

This is a shameless plug for my friend Sari, who designs really cool necklaces. Look, she got hooked up to The Uniform Project (check this blog’s archives for more of my thoughts on the project).

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Blood Pressure

Well, pigeons, we’re getting into some serious territory here, but knowing too many clergy colleagues who have had heart attacks, I thought it worth posting this on here:

When you have your blood pressure checked, please ask the person checking it to check BOTH ARMS. A consistent irregularity could mean a problem that the doc can’t hear through the stethoscope, so do it for yourself, for those who love you, and that means for me, too. Okay?

Now go be beautiful, healty and full of God’s joy!

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How Do You Get Your Ups?

PeaceBang is dragging through the end of a day without caffeine. She had been slowly upping her intake over the past months until it got way too high for her, and she has gone Cold Turkey.

Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from Dunkin Donuts drive-through, Lord!
I do love their iced lattes so!

We know the usual energy-boosters: exercise, happiness, love-making, a good night’s sleep, wasabi peas (which I am eating right now), a healthy diet… but what are your favorite and less well-known ways to boost your boom-chugga-lugga? Vitamins supplements? Seaweed? Cold baths in Earl Grey tea? Rolling around in the backyard with a litter of golden retriever puppies crawling all over you? Mad giggling?

DO tell.
And if it comes in a bottle and they carry it at Whole Foods, I’m likely to go pick some up tomorrow afternoon.

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Check Your Rear View

I did a funeral last week for a woman I had not known, and I wore a black dress under my robe.

When I got home I was (sarcastic tone) SO HAPPY to see that I had powder all over the rear of my dress. Hot day = liberal application of Johnson’s Corn Starch= messy pastor.

1. I forgot to take my own advice to ALWAYS check your rear view in a full-length mirror before you leave the house, and to check again before you go to the sanctuary.

2. I’m glad I was only seen before the service by the immediate family and that my powdery backside wasn’t a distraction during the service (thank God for vestments).

3. If it had been a service for a member of my congregation, someone would have told me about the powder.
But that’s no excuse.

Check your rear view!

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Partnership!

We’ve been jabbering about wedding horrors here for a week or so, but I’d like to say that I officiated at a wedding yesterday at a huge, beautiful rental estate and the Wedding Coordinator was a huge help.

She did another little mini-rehearsal to show everyone how they would enter and stand in the yard and she arranged us as necessary to make sure everything would look beautiful. She was the one who rounded us all up at various times and cued our entrance. She directed us around shrubbery and told us where to wait and for how long. She had a clipboard and was totally professional. I LOVED not having to worry about any of the logistics.

She was also dressed beautifully, as were the other staff people at the site. Which reminds me of the time that the catering staff at one super-formal wedding were walking around in droopy, stained black sweatpants and filthy red T-shirts. Their hair was long and ratty, some were chewing gum, and it was altogether disgusting. I got their card from the bar and called the owner, who had no idea that her manager was allowing this kind of attire and decorum. She sounded genuinely horrified and said she would drive down and see for herself.
Seems that the staff even had uniforms with neat black shirts they were supposed to wear.

Busted.
Like I said, sometimes you have to be the Bad Cop.

Anyway, shout out to the Wedding Coordinator I worked with yesterday! Saved me a passel of heartburn; I was totally relaxed when we went in to begin the ceremony. And Amen to that!

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