“Our brows often lack symmetry, and women pluck too much trying to make them the same,” says Kim Roxie of Lamik Beauty in Houston. Get a pro to define the shape and then maintain it with tweezers like the limited edition Tweezerman/Cynthia Rowley Mini Slant ($15) and Slant tweezers ($25, Sephora).
Gloss is our go-to for flirty glam. For celebrity makeup artist Oslyn Holder, it’s all about finding the right color and tip. “Go for a brush instead of a sponge for a precise finish,” she says. “A brush gives you more control and will keep you from overdoing it.” Try STILA Lip Glaze in Cranberry ($22, stilacosmetics.com).
You don’t need a lab to create your most useful beauty elixirs. You can make these two at home. Add brown sugar and olive oil to create a customized body scrub that leaves skin gleaming. You can also mix yogurt, honey and almond oil to create a hair taming concoction that smoothes tresses and fights frizz.
Two biggies: (1) We don’t get sun damage. FALSE! Melanin does give us an advantage, but we still need sunscreen every day. (2) We don’t show age. FALSE! Yes, our skin is slow to wrinkle, but melanin doesn’t keep us from sagging. Loss of volume is the number one aging factor in women of color, says Washington, D.C., dermatologist Cheryl M. Burgess.
Q: How can I get my eye makeup to last?
A: Don’t you hate it when you glance in the mirror midday and your eye makeup is gone? When it comes to eye shadow, double up. Start with a cream shadow close to your natural skin tone, then layer a powder shadow over it. The cream gives the powder something to attach to. If you’re a liner girl, you’ll love the Tarte Clean Slate 360° Creaseless 12-hr Eye Primer ($19, tarte.com).
We may look younger longer, but we should still be proactive about preserving our complexion. Enter serums. They’re usually more concentrated than lotions and penetrate the skin more easily than creams. Plus, a drop goes a long way. Try YSL’s Forever Youth Liberator serum ($150, ysbeautyus.com) to rejuvenate cells.