Your Face is your Story
– So you better keep it Real!- Sabine Reichel http://grayinlosangeles.blogspot.com

I have an uncomplicated relationship with beauty and cosmetics.
Lucky that I am (thanks Mom!) I still have some (at 69) what is called
“flawless” pale skin. I never smoked, never drank much alcohol or any
soft drinks, never fried for hours in the sun. Didn’t like any of it. Boring?
Worked for me.

It’s all very simple. Age means more wrinkles, drier skin,
mostly on the body, and very dry hair when it’s gray! Logic: Less decorative
cosmetics, more rich body lotions, hand creams and hair oils.
Less showers, too (especially in California).

Once made up like a model – I’ve dropped it all after 50,
just like any other pretense and became a minimalist. You are You! Finally. No raccoon-eyes
and too dark lipstick for me. My motto is: Don’t enhance your eyes, enhance
your views. Look for your buried dreams not BB-cream on sale.

So, instead of wasting loads of money on useless magical
anti-wrinkle-creams, I travel, discuss hot topics with strangers, laugh a lot,
buy books and eat good food.

What’s really good is that I have a lifelong love affair with
cheap drug-store-cosmetics I can pick by myself (also in foreign countries!) since
I dread snooty cosmetic counter ladies. So my trick is the mix – a little bit
like with clothes. I only rarely throw in a few items that are fancy and
expensive -which is much more fun.

So – right now I clean my face with “Facial Foam
Cleanser” from “Trader
Joe’s” (6.99), the best I think. I recently bought organic Korean
Ginseng Milk from Erboria (39 $) for
my face lotion. Feel guilty about the price! And equally guilty about another
item, but what can you do, right?

Hands, a dark topic. Why, oh why did I touch even one dish
without using rubber gloves in the last 25 years? L’Occitane has the best Shea
Butter hand cream, it’s very rich and expensive (28 $) but I have to be
nice to my abused hands!

I always wear a little makeup and sunscreen since I’m 25, only because an old charming skin
specialist once explained that it protects you from the environment. My sister
bought me Georgio Armani “Maestro
Fusion Makeup” in a chic black compact with a 29 sunscreen. It’s light
beige and creamy, I like that. No powder for me.

My other “best friend” is a concealer – a must for
under-eyes and dark spots. I have a liquid one from NARS and a stick from “Wet
n Wild” (2.99$).

I was born to wear lipstick till I drop dead, and I’m
sticking to it. I’m not even dropping my trash without putting on lipstick. I’m
often asked which brand and color I’m wearing. Many different ones. I go by
shades. I have gray hair so I ALWAYS pick only dark pink, fuchsia, wine and
mauve tones, or the famed DIOR red, which is really good but expensive.

I adore SEPHORA, so there is one shade of their own cream
lipsticks called “Private Selfie” (No 51) that I like (12.99). On the
cheap front: NYC lipsticks (from
2.99) and Wet n Wild (from 1.99),
all in drugstores. Never buy matte lipsticks.

Last not least. I have two staples that always work:

Being German, of course I still use NIVEA (only in the blue tin, no tubes!) cause I grew up with it.
It’s perfect for lips, removing eye-makeup and carrying around in your handbag.
The other one is Organic Virgin Coconut
Oil (in a jar, for 5.99 $) from “Trader
Joe’s” – that can go anywhere: your hair, your legs and your frying
pan.

My cheapest and most effective beauty-secret is simple and
can be used by anybody (including men!). I’m not crazy about the vertical
lip-lines, and so I smile a lot. And I mean naturally! First, because I see the
funny and absurd side in everything (that philosophy grows in age), secondly,
because I’m friendly and like to
smile at people and connect. The result is natural Botox and a life not filled
with fillers but humor and gratefulness for the fact that I still can put on
lipstick by myself!