Last June, I attended the social part of a conference my husband’s company was hosting at the Banff Springs; it was my first Major Social Event since before the pandemic, and I was so excited to go, dress up, and talk to as many people as possible. It was so much fun, and Nicole The Hug Monster was unleashed, which was a little bit unnerving after the fact as my husband received notification that one of the conference attendees was Confirmed Covid post-conference, but I didn’t get sick and neither did anyone else on my husband’s team, including him.
My favourite part about events like this is the social aspect, but also, I love to get all dressed up. Quite frankly, I felt really beautiful in my nice dress and my dark lipstick and my heels, but as I chatted with the other women there – all of whom were around my age or a few years older – I couldn’t help but notice something: they all had really, really gorgeous skin. Dewy, glowing, and smooth, their faces were lacking in wrinkles, particularly, and crucially for me and comparisons with my own face, on their foreheads. Normally I try to refrain from commenting on other people’s appearances, but we were all several glasses of wine in by this time, and I plaintively said they were all gorgeous, their skin was gorgeous, and what was their secret?
At this point they all glanced at each other and started laughing. “Oh honey,” one of them said to me, “It’s Botox!” Another woman said, “Honestly, the doctor’s office is the only way to go.”
Ah! I see.
I am not a woman with low self-esteem in any department, and I am satisfied with and confident in my physical appearance, but I will tell you this: at that moment, I felt somewhat akin to the Crypt Keeper. I did not feel great about my Forever Furrowed Brow and Eternal Eye Bags. I have, at times, briefly considered consulting with a dermatologist, but have always opted for not consulting a dermatologist. On a practical level, I cannot imagine scheduling appointments every four months and then paying hundreds of dollars each time just because my forehead reflects a lifetime of over-exaggerated facial expressions. On a philosophical level, I am staunchy Pro-Aging, I believe every year is a gift, and, as the saying goes, Erase Your Lines, Erase Your Life. I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to have a frozen face that doesn’t move with me and my hands when I talk excitedly, I don’t want to have the same face at eighty that I do now, I hate that the patriarchal society we are living in wants to make older women invisible or, at the very least, does not value our beautiful faces in the same way that it does women half our age. Fuck all that, with age comes wisdom, wisdom is beauty, our gorgeous faces showcase our lives lived.
I do, however, want to look just a little bit less haggard.
People contain multitudes and I am no different. I also am well aware that nothing short of medical intervention is really going to change my appearance, and, deep down, I don’t want to. Unless I start filtering all my Instagram photos and conduct all social interactions from inside my own home, never leaving the house, the face I have now is what I am going to present to the world. Since that evening in June, I started been using a few products that, while not significantly changing anything, has at least slowed down my wrinkly trajectory. I feel not like a crumpled up paper bag; I feel like a once-crumpled up paper bag that has been smoothed over. The wrinkles are there and always will be, but they feel slightly blurred. Blurred lines! But not the weird kind. If you know, you know.
Nicole’s Favourite Things: The Love The Skin You’re In Edition
Mirror Meditation
In the early 2000s, my mother-in-law gifted me a subscription to O Magazine, and I absolutely loved it. Remember magazine subscriptions? I was so happy to get something fun and shiny in the mail every month, and my favourite part of O – other than her Favourite Things, on which I have based this very series for the past decade plus – was the Ask Val column, with beauty editor Valerie Monroe. Imagine my excitement, then, when Monroe was the guest on not one but two of my regular podcasts. She is in her seventies now and is truly inspirational with respect to her attitude towards beauty and aging.
One thing discussed on both of these podcasts was the idea of Mirror Meditation: this is looking into your own eyes in the mirror, with love, as if you are looking deep into the eyes of someone you love. “As if” sounds a bit odd; of course you should love yourself in the same way you love others, but of course, we are our own worst critics. If you are a woman in this world, then you have most likely spent your life being socialized to be dissatisfied and unhappy with your face and body. Anyway, I have been doing this Mirror Meditation every day, looking at myself with soft eyes and a loving expression and I am here to tell you that it is really wonderful. Try it! Look at yourself without thinking oh, I should do something about those roots, yikes, what is with my eyebrows today, ugh, I look exhausted…just look at yourself and think I love you. Does it sound kind of weird and hokey? YES. Does it work? Also yes!
ROCing My World
Something I really appreciated about the Monroe interviews was her attitude towards beauty products; her thought is that if you like the way a product feels, and you can afford it then why not buy them, BUT there are very few products that do anything close to what they claim to do. In other words, clinically speaking, there are very few products that actually do help to smooth out or minimize wrinkling or other features of aging. One such product is a prescription retinoid or, for those of us unwilling or unable to obtain a prescription retinoid, its off-the-shelf cousin, retinol. I have been using retinol products for a long time now, and in June I added ROC Deep Wrinkle Night Cream to the list.
I thought of including a photo of a new tube, but I wanted to show you how long this small product lasts: I am nothing if not consistent in my skin care routine, using it every night on my forehead since mid-June, and I still have some product left. I think this is great value for the money and although it is not some kind of Botox-miracle-substitute, I do think it’s helped my Furrowed Forehead. In any case, my forehead has not gotten worse.
Face Facts
My whole life, I have had fairly oily skin, but perimenopause has really changed that, at least in the winter months. I have started using Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint and I love it.
It’s very moisturizing, with a dewy, natural coverage, and it has SPF 40, which is important even in the winter months. I spend at least ninety minutes outside a day, and that adds up, sun exposure-wise. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it has a strange, medicinal kind of smell, which I attribute to the sunscreen. It’s almost like old-school zinc, in scent, but it’s a price I am willing to pay for soft, even skin.
Pack Your (Undereye) Bags
I have never been a person to wear undereye concealer; I have always found that it creased or became greasy-feeling midday, causing my eye makeup to gravitate downwards, which wasn’t just pointless, it actually exacerbated the problem. Hello, Rocky Raccoon Eyes. I had heard good things about this Ilia Vitamin C Serum Concealer, so I thought what’s the worst that could happen?
Well, the first time I tried it, I thought yes, this is the worst that could happen. To paraphrase Bridget Jones, it was like I had smeared the entirety of the white cliffs of Dover under my eyes. The product was pretty pricey, though, so I didn’t want to give up just yet. I tried again, applying immediately after I had put on my Ordinary Caffeine Solution; it worked like a charm, blending nicely AND de-puffing my undereyes.
Here’s me at 4:15 in the morning, completely makeup-and-product-free:
And a few hours later, de-puffed and “brightened” under the eyes:
Who Cares About Eyebrows?
For those of you whose eyebrows lived through the late Nineties, and all the plucking that occurred, I see you. I feel you. I am you. I was born with super-thick Brooke Shields-like eyebrows, that due to my youthful obsession back then with being eyebrow-current, have been decimated. Some of you may recall when I was eyebrow-shamed on Instagram, but at any rate, my eyebrows are patchy at best, and also still like to suddenly sprout thick dark hairs just above my eyelid or below my hairline, randomly, without any thought to where eyebrows actually are. To top it off, I have some individual eyebrow hairs that are going white, and if you think I am going to pluck those white hairs and add to the general patchy mayhem that is my eyebrow area, you have another think coming.
The white eyebrow hairs are what caused me to look beyond my little beloved brow pencil, and into Cover Girl Easy Breezy Brow. It’s easy! It’s breezy! It works like a little mascara, but for your eyebrows!
A word of warning if you buy this: scrape the brush off really well before use, and use a VERY light touch for a natural look. The first time I tried it, it came out a little globby and when I tried to fix it, I ended up making it much, much worse. I do not understand the mechanics here. When I wash my face at night, the product disappears, but if I try to wipe it off either with a soap-and-water-moistened tissue or an actual cleansing wipe, it makes my eyebrows look like they belong to Uncle Leo. How or why I cannot say, but I have learned my lesson.
All I Need Is A Miracle
I think this is an Aging Thing, but it is also a Winter In Calgary thing: my nails are a crumbling mess. This doesn’t happen in the summer and didn’t happen in my youth, but this is what my nails look like without any polish:
Yikes. I have been adding Sally Hansen Miracle Cure as a base coat, before polish and top coat, and it has REALLY helped. I think that nothing can really combat Calgary’s frigid desert air, but it tries.
Outfit of the Month
Other than the last couple of days, when we got a pile of snow and it’s been in the minus 20s, it has been a pretty mild February. I have only been wearing my really heavy sweaters this week; the rest of the month have been Light Sweater Days. Light sweaters, layered onto long-sleeve tees and, on teaching days like this one, yoga tanks. So, a light sweater with two other layers, that sounds like a Mild Calgary Winter!
This long tunic sweater dates from 2014 or 2015; it is from long-defunct-but-much-missed Jacob. The boots are my “light” boots, and the legwarmers are my “light” legwarmers. Those yoga pants are BRAND NEW (brand new being relative, I think I bought them in 2019, but they FEEL new).
A very, very common aspect of perimenopause, and one which I am experiencing, is a softer, rounder tummy. There are a plethora of articles about the dangers of what I am going to call A Little Around The Middle, and even more articles about ways to eliminate it, but you know what? I am not worried. I am not going to eat less than I do currently, or change my way of eating, and I am not going to exercise any more than I already do. I am strong, I am in the best cardiovascular shape of my life, and I also like my weekly dessert and red wine. If my tummy is a little softer and rounder than it used to be, well, so be it. I am going to OWN it. LOVE THE SKIN YOU’RE IN! And also, I am going to enjoy my long, loose sweaters and my elastic-waisted yoga pants. Therefore, this is my outfit of the month, and I love it. I feel great in it, I can remove the sweater and boots to teach in it, I can curl up on the couch and read in it. What more could I ask for?
Those are my Favourite Things this month – whew, there were a lot of them! But I’m celebrating me and what I look like right now. We have all been told our whole lives that we are not enough, we don’t look good enough, there is something wrong with our bodies or our faces, and I am here to tell you that is complete bullshit. You are beautiful, I am beautiful, changing bodies and faces are beautiful, soft tummies are beautiful. Let’s love the skin we are in. If you have any favourites this month, why don’t you share them with me? I’d love to hear all about them. xo
Well, I’m sure I won’t be the only one who loves this post! It’s the pep talk we all need. I remember reading somewhere that most people never look in the mirror without having a critical thought, and it’s true! I’m going to try your mirror meditation today.
So, I think 4:15 am Nicole is beautiful, but I do have to say… wow. Your under eye de-puffing routine really makes a difference! I can see why you love these products.
I went back and read the post about the instagram incident. I like how the commenter was encouraging and complimentary, while also basically telling you your eyebrows looked horrible. I think she was just trying to help???
Anyway, thanks for this post. I’m off to put on my post-menopausal long tunic outfit!
I do think that commenter was trying to help but…I didn’t know them so it felt very weird! What a weird thing to comment on, I thought then and I still think now!
We are all so critical of ourselves, and it’s just unnecessary! And thanks so much for your very kind and sweet words, Jenny!
You are gorgeous and your selfies always make me smile back at (screen) you, Nicole. I hadn’t noticed how beautiful your hands are though! So graceful and dainty.
I cannot wait to try the mirror meditation and that eyebrow product. Botox side effects and upkeep sounds quite… taxing. I’m postmenopausal so I’ve been paying extra attention to my skin. A product that has really helped is Vit C serum; CeraVe makes one that’s $20 or so. A good exfoliation works wonders too.
Thanks Maya! xoxoxo
I have heard nothing but good things about CeraVe, and now I feel like I must go look up that serum!
I think you are so beautiful and it shines from the inside out. While I am vain enough to want botox, I have heard of too many horror stories of droopy eyelids when it goes wrong. Plus it’s actual poison! My sister is a dermatologist and she always preaches about sunscreen and covering up. I wear a sunscreen face lotion every day and take collagen every day and we run a humidifier in our house all winter (maybe that would help your nails?) We can only do so much, you know?
Thanks Colleen, what a kind thing to say! We actually DO have a humidifier in our house, if you can believe it. It’s not at tropical levels of humidity though! We can only do so much, I agree!
Such a wonderful, inspiring blog post, Nicole! I needed to hear all that. I have a sign above my bathroom mirror that says, “Look upon yourself with kindness.” It’s a good reminder, and it does help!
You are gorgeous and I love your attitude about aging and changing.
Thank you so much, Michelle! I love your bathroom sign. I think we should all have one (at least in our minds!)
My feelings about Botox is that if anyone wants it they should go for it. I’m not saying that I would never, ever get it but I don’t think I will just because I’d have to research it and then maintain it and I just don’t have the bandwidth. With that said, I feel like my skin is looking a bit dull lately so a visit to Ulta is probably in order to find something nice to put on it.
Oh, I totally agree! I mean, everyone should be able to do what they like with their own faces. I just don’t think I have the capacity to keep scheduling appointments…forever!
My obsession with The Ordinary products feels like such a life hack. That bottle of caffeine solution lasts for months and only costs $5! What a win! I turned 40 and started slathering on all the products on my face because my skin went from “combination” to “dry as a desert” and the only way I know how to combat that is through various oils and unguents. I think of my extensive skincare routine as merely self-care, although I would like to wake up and have my 27-year-old skin again if possible.
I love the Ordinary! Such great value for the money. For me, it’s been a bit weird getting dry skin since I have had issues with acne and oiliness my whole life! So this is a change (a welcome change, I would much much much rather deal with dryness and wrinkles, rather than acne.)
Just ordered that caffeine stuff because I use preparation h under my eyes and this seems better. You are gorgeous, and you articulate my probs with botx (and the like) SO WELL. But I am still considering it. 2 probs (besides being pro-aging): 1. WHAT ABOUT MY NECK? I think the contrast between smooth face and forehead/baggy neck is weird. 2. Will it be a slippery slope? Like, will I all the sudden be all tucked and filled? Also! I don’t know how my brows survived the over-plucked 90s– right there with you.
I have heard of using preparation h for eye puffiness! I’ve never tried it myself.
Sarah, you bring up an excellent point: WHAT ABOUT MY NECK. And also, yes, I think it would be a slippery slope. I’m just imagining my smooth perky face, followed by my crepey neck.
Scarves! Scarves are the answer to the neck problem. I am super self-conscious about my neck and so now half my wardrobe is scarves to just hide the problem from the world.
Great point! I do like a nice scarf!
Oh, Nicole. I love this. I love your attitude and your approach. You really do look amazing. I laughed at you complimenting the women and asking for their secret after you had a few glasses of wine.
I wear almost no makeup. I’m sure I could look better, if I tried – but no one is complaining. I do appreciate your pro-tips, since you look great and maybe at some point I’ll put in a bit more effort.
Love the outfit. I just dug out a turtleneck dress that I wear with leggings and I haven’t worn in awhile. I usually try to buy clothes that I think will have a long life. When I went to see Ed for mom’s weekend, I thought – did I wear this 3 years ago when I was there? I sometimes am amazed that I’ve owned some things for as long as I have.
I have that same feeling, Ernie, that I’ll think “wait, how old is this? Did I buy it when my kids were in preschool?”
NICOLE! I JUST went to Sephora with Eve and bought that Ilia serum, after seeing it on Facebook a bunch of times. The sales girl put a little on my face and it DISAPPEARED but also made my skin look better! I am interested in the caffeine solution because I get under-eye bags but I hate the idea of putting concealer there. I also bought a brow gel Eve recommended because I tried a brow mascara thing and it was… not good. I guess I should be glad I forewent the brow plucking in the nineties, even though it was suggested I do it many, many times.
You should be very glad – you dodged a bullet! My poor eyebrows. I’m excited that we are SERUM TWINS!
Nicole – I love your philosophy on ageing and loving the “skin you are in.” This post was a beautiful pep talk to remind us all to be more kinder to ourselves.
I love The Ordinary caffeine solution (on your recommendation) – does it help with the actual suitcases under my eyes…maybe a bit. But it just feels so luxurious that I look forward to using it every morning and evening. I will definitely add Ilia serum to the roster.
Lately, I’ve been using e.l.f.’s Holy Hydration daytime moisturizer. LOVE it.
I think one of the problems with Botox/surgical options is that once you start, it would be hard to stop. And we’ve all seen pictures where it’s just too much.
Gigi, I’m happy you like the Ordinary! I will check out e.l.f. as well. I have seen the displays but never tried anything – yet. And I agree, I think it would be a slippery slope on the botox.
I must say the under eye serum and concealer combo was an amazing win! I of course love this post. I think the thing that has helped my skin the most, which is prone to dryness, is CereVe night repair cream. So hydrating! I love old leather I’d just prefer my face didn’t look like it yet.
That’s another vote for CeraVe! I have heard so many good things from them I may have to try them myself!
I can’t say with 100% certainty, but I am fairly certain that I will never get Botox. It sounds like a lot of maintenance plus I do believe in being proud of our age! I wear basically no makeup (mascara only) and my skin care routing consists of a daily sunscreen face moisturizer. I may regret this later but right now I want to keep it low maintenance. I have tried some of the under eye serums and night creams but I did not really notice a difference with the ones I used plus it was an extra thing to do at night/in the morning, and I guess I am lazy when it comes to my beauty routine!
If it works for you, it works for you!
I don’t like to be bossy about what other people do BUT I do think everyone should incorporate sunscreen, even if they are only outside for a short amount of time. It’s so important! I know you are quite active so I’m glad you use your sunscreen!
You look beautiful! Thank you for your recommendations. I’m always looking for good skin care products. Like you, I had slightly oily skin for a long time and using a moisturizer on my face would result in pimples. And it still happens! I only use creamy ones around my eyes. For wrinkles on forehead and neck, I use Clinique hydrating jelly.
I’m always surprised how many women of modest means get Botox. It’s expensive! I’m too freaked out by needles to ever do it. Honestly, I’ve seen so many people with fillers that make them look fat in the face. I’d rather have lines!
It is SO expensive! I guess we all spend our money on something, but the expense and the TIME make it too overwhelming a process for me.
When I was younger I had to be so careful with the types of moisturizer or sunscreen, so that I wouldn’t break out. Happily those days seem to be over (god, I hope so anyway!)
I once had a friend comment on Instagram about how dry my hands were, and the post wasn’t even about my skin! It irritated me so much that I’m still thinking about it today.
Since 2016, you haven’t aged a day. I appreciate how you share photos of yourself without makeup and your makeup routine to help others. Nicole, you are so genuine. Beautiful on the inside and out.
I also like how, when you asked the ladies at the social event what their secret was, they actually told you.
I get Botox for migraines, and my health insurance sometimes pays a little extra. Maybe next time I’ll ask for some on those little lines on my cheek bones?
xoxo
Oh, that IS irritating, Kari! Especially in a public comment.
Thanks so much for your very kind words!
I have heard of getting Botox for migraines and TMJ, and I heard that it is so helpful. I am so glad it works for you! xo
I love everything about this post. Maybe especially this sentence: “Fuck all that, with age comes wisdom, wisdom is beauty, our gorgeous faces showcase our lives lived.”
Also, you are so beautiful Nicole. Love these photos. I really, really wish my skin could handle retinol because it seems like such a fabulous product! I am really in the market lately for a) pore minimizing and b) anti-crepeing because holy moly I need them.
Thanks so much Suzanne! My skin is not super-sensitive so the products I use wouldn’t be too helpful for you – I know you’ve tried retinol before and it wasn’t a good experience!
I get together with a group of 3 college friends on a fairly regular basis and I am the only one who hasn’t started to use botox. I’m in the “never botox” camp. It’s totally a “you do you” kind of thing but I don’t want to go down that path. I definitely need to work on my under eye area. I did buy some Ilia under eye brightener when I was in Dallas last week as our hotel was connected to a mall and I sure as heck was going to go to Sephora since I wasn’t pushing a stroller like I was last time I was there (Sephora is NOT stroller friendly!). I need to try out that caffeine product you recommended, too. I have the absolute worst under eye circles – probably because I have young kids. But I know I need to invest more in some beauty products to counteract what young kids have done to my face. Ha!
But I love your overall perspective on this. Aging is such a gift!! I try not to take it for granted. But I would like to look a bit less exhausted. 😉 Oh and I over-plucked my eyebrows, too. I had my brows waxed several years ago and got scolded by the person doing the waxing. She was so sure I was plucking my eye brown currently and I said I swore I had barely touched them! She showed me where my brows should start and I tried to explain that i had plucked that part of my eyebrows many many moons ago when I was in my teens and dumb.
Lisa, I hear you, I feel you. Sometimes I think I have old mascara under my eyes, try to wipe it off, and realize that it’s just my skin. Ooops. I agree that it’s not that we want to look younger, necessarily, but we would like to look less tired!
Also, yes, our poor eyebrows. The Nineties was hard on them.
One word: FROWNIES.
(Caveat: I don’t use them myself… YET. Definitely strongly considering it after seeing results on people I trust.)
Ariana! I have never heard of these before! Now I’m going down a rabbit hole and probably will end up trying them! This is really something!
I love this post…and yes, “love the skin you’re in” is such a great mantra!
You always look great! I always see in the photos you share a happiness and beauty that shines from within and that’s the most important part, I think. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to be as beautiful in physical appearance, too!
I should take heed and try to take care of my skin more. I am not a routine person and I put things off so much that I am way too sleepy by bedtime and no time to do a proper skincare! 🙁
M, thank you so much. What a sweet thing to say. I do think we can tell a person is happy from their face.
Full confession: I usually start my pajama-and-skin-care at 7:30 pm, sometimes 7:45, because otherwise I am too tired!
I don’t use much in the way of skin-care products, other than lotion, but I have been borrowing Beth’s Wild Mountain Soap Company solid lotion bar (toasty marshmallow scent) to rub on my heels after I shower. I like the smell.
The lotion I use everywhere else is mandarin-vanilla scented and I swear it smells like baby aspirin. I’m only using it to use it up.
I loved this post! Really admire your openness and transparency. This is such a complicated thing for women, and it really feels like mostly a losing battle! I mean, none of us are getting any younger. Just not the way it works! I also feel like it’s sort of “always something”…. you notice one “issue”, and then eventually some other “trouble spot” pops up… I really admire people who seem able to really just embrace it. I have problematic skin as of the last few years, too- acne prone, and melasma (dark spots/ hyperpigmentation on my forehead) and I feel like my under eye area gets worse and worse. I had dark circles even as a kid- I think it’s just how I’m made. I probably don’t sleep enough, so that doesn’t help matters. I basically wouldn’t leave home without my Maybelliene Instant Age Rewind dark circle eraser concealer on. I don’t feel like I have many noticeable wrinkles at rest, but when I smile, my under eye area gets SO wrinkly!!! I hate it!!! But no eye creams or anything I have tried seem to make any difference at all.
I did start prescription Tretinoin last year for acne and melasma, and I do think it’s slowly improving certain aspects of my skin. Retinoids are the long game though. I regret not having started taking better care of my skin many years ago. Up until ~3 years ago, I literally didn’t even wash my face before bed. I also totally abused sun/ tanning when I was a teen and early 20s. This acne stuff in my late 30s has been very demoralizing, too. Not sure if it’s related to my iud (which I otherwise love..) or just hormones shifting around or what. It feels like a constant battle and I kind of can’t imagine being able to just go out without at least some makeup on/ concealer. Always seems like just as one little spot clears up, another one pops up, even though I don’t have like, full face acne or anything- thank god! I suppose it could be a lot worse than it is, and I do think the antibiotic lotion they prescribed plus the tretinoin is making a difference at least, but I still spend too much time kind of feeling really down on my skin. 🙁
Kae, I had acne in my late 30s as well and it was really awful. I found it so embarrassing, as well as painful. I hope the tretinoin really works for you! I 100% understand – been there!
I am noting down the Maybelline product – I really have had good luck with Maybelline so I might give that a try!
The eye-brow-shaming incident made me shake my head in disbelief. Fancy leaving such a mean-spirited, unkind comment for a complete stranger! What is wrong with people?!
It’s funny how eyebrow fashions change. I remember the “plucked bare and drawn back on with a pencil” look that the Older Girls had when I was in my early teens, and more recently the craze for thick, dark, ‘Scouse brows’ (UK terminology) – both equally attention-grabbing in their own unique ways. I have never done anything with my eyebrows, and during the pandemic abandoned all vestiges of what could never have been described as a beauty routine, even in its heyday! I now wander through life completely make-up-free, but my daughter (age 30) is Quite Keen. She goes to get her eyebrows ‘done’ (plucked/threaded/shaped??) at a beauty salon and dyes them herself in between visits. She inherited her father’s white-blond eyebrows and is very self-conscious about how odd she appears in photos if she leaves them au naturel (they’re basically invisible, as if she has shaved them off completely). I think she uses Eyelure Dybrow – I’m sure other brands are available – every 4-6 weeks. It takes about 5-10 minutes and saves her having to use the eyebrow mascara type product you mention above. Might be worth a try, although you really are lovely just as you are!
Oh interesting! I have never thought of dying my eyebrows but now that they are going kind of…white, maybe I should put this in my back pocket for later consideration!
Thanks so much, Amelia!
You are always so inspiring, Nicole! Thank you for reminding me that I Am Enough!
I love the products by The Ordinary, but I forget to use the caffeine solution and I should be using it each day!
I still can not get over someone shaming your brows! The nerve!
I have found that the caffeine solution really works, but with everything – it’s better when used consistently!
Lololol me and my poor shabby eyebrows!
Nicole, I ALSO had someone comment on my eyebrows on Instagram! She told me my eyebrows were too light for my hair color (when my hair was dark brown) and that I needed to fill them in. It’s made me self-conscious of my eyebrows ever since. When we had the permanent jewelry experience at book club earlier this month, we got to talking about brows since this woman also does permanent makeup. She talked to us about this brow thing she does that (like microblading, but different) and it was SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS AND ONLY LASTS TWO YEARS. Can you imagine paying $350 A YEAR to have nice brows? No thank you!
I have started getting a little self-conscious about my face and showing signs of age. I’ve started to get this line across my forehead when I raise my brows. And I know women my age who are doing preventative Botox. I’ve thought about it, can’t lie! But I probably won’t subject myself to it because there are better ways to spend my money.
What is with all the eyebrow shaming??? WTF INSTAGRAM!!! I cannot fathom spending that much money on my eyebrows. I think that cover girl product cost about $8 and I think it’s going to last a while!
I raise my brows constantly, so it seems by the lines my face has settled into.
I love this so much, Nicole. I don’t understand body/face shaming. We are who we are – and I would rather see a real face than a filtered, “grammed” version. You are beautiful – and so are your eyebrows. I suspect it is not only your physical appearance, but the light and joy you bring to life. <3
Oh thank you so much, Anne!
You don’t need botox, girlfriend. You’re looking fabulous just as you are.
xoxoxo