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Positively Midlife Podcast
Ellen and Tish, college friends now in their 50s, take on midlife with a big dose of reality, humor, and fun. They cover diverse topics including friendships, books, experiences, adventures, stories, sex, relationships & dating, health, wellness, and BIG dreams. Each week features fabulous stories, interesting guests, and open and honest discussions about topics that are important to women in midlife. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen!
If you're interested in being a guest on the podcast or advertising, send an email to postivelymidlifepodcast@gmail.com.
Positively Midlife Podcast
Ep 98 Blending Luxe with Less: Beauty Bargains and Midlife Skincare Wisdom
Ever found yourself torn between the allure of high-end makeup and the practicality of drugstore finds? This week's beauty banter is all about navigating that very puzzle, promising you insider tips on when to indulge in the luxe and when to seize the steal. Our makeup bags are a testament to the beauty that lies in balance, blending the splurges with the saves. As we share tales from a recent girls' getaway turned impromptu beauty exchange, we peel back the curtain on what really goes into the price tag of your favorite products, from ingredients to packaging and marketing.
Hold onto your highlighters as we sashay through an abundance of beauty product recommendations—think of us as your personal shoppers for all things glam. Marvel at multi-use oils and serums that promise to rejuvenate your skin, and foundations that meld with your complexion like magic. We don't stop at just our own experiences; our friends have spilled their top-shelf secrets, too, featuring stalwarts like Armani and Chanel alongside faithful finds from L'Oreal and Il Makiage. Whether it's the foundation that won't quit in the heat or the skincare that's post-menopause-approved, we've sampled and scrutinized to bring you the crème de la crème.
Lastly, we're not just talking surface-level beauty; we're diving into the nitty-gritty of midlife hair and skincare woes. Embrace the challenge of thinning tresses or graying locks with products and tales straight from our own journeys, and discover how the right hair care can redefine femininity at any age. We wrap by cultivating a community of empowered midlife mavens, redefining what it means to age with grace, wisdom, and a little bit of lip balm. So, brush off the old and blend in the new as we share, connect, and inspire one another through the transformative power of beauty.
Here is the link to the High - Low Amazon Postively Midlife store!
Website: www.thepositivelymidlifepodcast.com
Email: postivelymidlifepod@gmail.com
welcome back to the podcast. Today we are going to do something really fun a comparison between our favorite high and low-end makeup and skin care for midlife to splurge or to dupe?
Speaker 2:that's the question, right ellen. That is the question tish who doesn't just love a good dupe to a real high-end product, right? I get so excited when I find something that is as good or at least comparable, right? So the question becomes when should we splurge and when should we go for that more economical substitute, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I think that's a great question, and there are some must-have higher-end products that I just can't live without, but the more affordable brands are getting better and better all the time. I see this. So, my makeup bag, whether it's my big makeup bag or the one in my purse. Both of them have a combination of both high and low, and I think most women are like that. What about you, Tish?
Speaker 2:You know, ellen, it sounds like your makeup bag is like that book, the Outsiders, where the greasers and the socias are mixing but they're living together. It's scandalous. You know, elle, I know I had to reach out to a lot of our girl tribe and I wanted to find out more about what they wanted or what their high and lows were, and so we could share some of their favorites as well.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. I love that. So this week Tish just for our listeners, we're not calling out individual obsessions like we usually do, but we're gonna share a link to our special Hilo storefront on our new Amazon store. So it is a special page dedicated to everything that we talk about today. I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2:I think that's going to be great, and so, as any of our listeners are listening to this podcast today and you're like, oh, I got to write this name down or this product down, don't even worry about it, go to our storefront. They're all going to be there, so you'll be able to go through them.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So I think our listeners know that we went on a big girls getaway last fall and one right one of my favorite parts was seeing everybody's makeup bag, what they brought and using.
Speaker 2:I needed to sample different hair products, makeup stuff. I mean I felt like we were back in college again. What kind of blush are you using? Can I use that? Get hair curler?
Speaker 1:you know it's so true. I love that part and let me tell you I walked away with a few nuggets from it. I had so much fun looking at what you, felicia, kristen and Kathy had in their makeup bags and really finding out why they had that specific product. You know what they liked about it, but the thing that really struck me was the mix of high and low across everyone's makeup bag.
Speaker 2:You know I felt like I hit the lottery when I got to be Femi's roommate, because I was knee deep in all kinds of great products. It was like a smorgasbord of facial care.
Speaker 1:Not only facial care. I have to say there were a lot of hair appliances in that room too.
Speaker 2:I fell in love with the one that sucks in your hair and curls it until I heard the price tag. But it was real fun using it while I was there.
Speaker 1:We're going to talk about that later on, because I invested in that too, and then cut my hair and I have nothing to suck into the very expensive hair.
Speaker 1:I'll give you my address. Oh my gosh. Well, you know, for me I always assumed that one of the major differences between like a drugstore like for me it's CVS and the high-end formula were the ingredients. But I don't think it's still these days only the ingredients or just the ingredients. For me I think a lot of times it's the design and the packaging and how they really market it right. Those really contribute to a large part to me of the increased price of high-end makeup large part to me of the increased price of high-end makeup.
Speaker 2:You know, some of the high-end products do have some better maybe formulations. Sometimes you pay more for animal like there's no animal cruelty involved, things like that and those are worth it and those are worth it. But sometimes it's really about the color palette. Sometimes those high-end ones just nail this amazing new colors and that perfect shade that really grabs our attention. But I will say the dupes are getting better and better at copying those.
Speaker 1:You know where I grew up in New Jersey, Tish. It was L'Oreal, and Lancome had a very big production plant there and I was so lucky a neighbor worked there. I had access sometime to go into the company store and it really struck me that a lot of the things they were developing for Lancome were also being used in L'Oreal. But I always felt like there was a difference in the color selection, like you were saying, with the Lancome products at that time versus the L'Oreal. So I think it's really come a long way, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 2:I would say so too. You know, it's, I think with, especially with, social media, where you can. I love when they go and do half their face in the high end and half their face in the low end, so you can really see the difference, right and but it. But sometimes it's that color, sometimes it just comes down to the color. So you've got to make those decisions right.
Speaker 1:Right Big decisions and, as I said, I'm a mix of high and low and I love to look at. Allure magazine has the best of beauty every year. Yes, yeah, right it's such a great mix of high and low, really, um, products that span the bank, all the mix, and so I get a lot of my information there. But you're right, social media has really just opened it up wide for us yeah, you know, I think a lot of the differences too.
Speaker 2:There are some differences in the formulations, I know for me I have a really sensitive skin to anything that has fragrance in it, so I always am looking for that fragrance free, that that you know, um so so, because otherwise, like almost instantly, I'll start to itch, you know so. I can really tell the difference. So yeah, so you got to look between the performance, between the high end and low end, and I think we have some of our we're going to talk about our favorites in both camps.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, and when I reached out, when I reached out to all the friends. There are some like they're not budging from their high end product. You know there's some that they're just. You know that's the only thing they use, whether it's a mascara or a foundation, and then other things it's like oh no, I use this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's true. It's true, and I'm a real sucker, as I said, for the packaging, or the fragrance-free, or the hypoallergenic, or sometimes they say they're done by dermatologists or scientists. It's so true. What each of us has is that lever to choose whether we go high or low. All right, I just want us then to really dive in Tish and talk about some of our favorites and some of our friends. So for me, let's start low end. I really like CeraVe and my dermatologist has recommended it. I don't know about you with that product.
Speaker 2:You know I've not used that one in particular, but I have used, like I said, facial Luberderm. That's kind of my low end that I always kind of go to, and again it's about that fragrance-free, about that lightness, and so it doesn't make me itch, but yeah, I've got to try that CeraVe as well.
Speaker 1:Right. Another one that actually one of my sons turned me on to is from a company called the Ordinary, and it is a marula oil and this company I mean things are like $10, $12. That marula oil I can use on my face because I'm trying to dry my cuticles it's some sort of oil that is comes in a little glass bottle. Yeah, I think it is a nut. I should have looked that up, but um it.
Speaker 1:I can use it in my hair, you know where. It's a thing you can use wherever and the Ordinary makes a lot of different oils that you can use kind of across your body. And I also use a thing called Bliss Vitamin C. I think Kathy Shea from our girl tribe was the first one about 10 years ago that turned me on to using a vitamin C serum. So those are a few things on the skin as far as that area that I like. I know you like Lubriderm, anything else, high, low.
Speaker 2:You know I've tried like. I have a friend of mine who sells like home product like, so I've tried a lot of their products and stuff that I've really liked. You know, that leaves your skin rather glowy, um, but I seem to always tend back to the Luperderm because it seems to do the job for me right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, one of the higher end products I love is a company called OC O-S-E-A. It's out of Malibu, california.
Speaker 1:Right there, they had me Again a whole line of kind of ocean scented facial cleanser, but body oil and I don't know if you're like me, tish, here you know, menopause, post-menopause, I can't get enough moisturizer on my body at this point, but I had a facial last year and all the products they used were from OC and they just smelled light not heavy fragrance, because I know you don't like that, but that's a brand that I really like and I know that Kristen and Kathy also had that on our girls trips.
Speaker 2:Yes, I didn't get into Kristen's bag, and that's one I should have gotten into and see what she's, you know, because she has amazing complexion. You know, for somebody as fair as she is, both Kathy and um, kathy, shea and and uh, kristen, they're so fair but yet their complexions are just amazing.
Speaker 1:I know I'm going to talk about one of Kristen's secrets a little later on from her home state of Vermont, so we have something from her makeup bag. But you know, I really love this low-end kind of foundation called L'Oreal Skin Match and it is a blendable powder foundation. I've had this problem, tish, where a tinted moisturizer is too light but a foundation feels too heavy a lot of days. But this L'Oreal Skin Match 34 shades, shades, amazing product again CVS all the way.
Speaker 2:Well, me personally, what? When I do use foundation and I don't use it all the time? I started off with that El maquillage that does the perfect color matching, you know based on a quiz. And I'm sure everyone has seen all the social media where it's just like amazing and it looks like there's nothing on your face. So me, when I go to use something, that's what I tend to use and I think it's more middle of the road. Yeah, but they came bursting on the scene or scene, or at least came to my. You know it was during the pandemic where you couldn't go out and buy stuff like that, so that was a big thing to be able to to do that. But one of our friends, kitty, she absolutely loves the Armani. This is a high-end one, the Armani Luminous Silk Glow Foundation. I didn't even know she wore a foundation. That's how amazing her skin looks with that.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you she is somebody who has not gone out in the sun a lot and you can really tell at this point.
Speaker 1:I did get into her makeup bag because if you remember, her room was directly across from the room I was in and she also had a lot of Tom Ford products that were really, really great. I have to confess, after we were putting down our things to do this episode, I did order a sample of El Maquillage and I took the quiz and it came and it is really nice. And you're right, it's not a high or a low, it's a middle of the road.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I'm going to tell you I have had that and I, like I said, I don't use it every day. It just goes so far though, like I've had it for quite a while and been using it. Now a good friend of mine, kelly she absolutely loves Estee Lauder and Laura Mercier is another one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, mercier, and you know as far as their foundations. So those were her favorite picks. And then another friend of mine that I was quizzing because it was funny how many people came back with foundations. They had real strong opinions on foundations and my friend, sarah, said Chanel. And she said now we're down here in the South and so in the summertime it's hard to wear foundations because it kind of melts off your face and she is definitely out in the public all the time, so she'll do full foundation and even in the Southern heat it will last all day for her.
Speaker 2:So she swears by the Chanel foundation, and that's another person. I had no idea she even wore foundation and I think I think that's what you, I think that's what you should go to when you're talking about foundation.
Speaker 1:You shouldn't know when you know to have that more natural look, yes, I love that natural look and I think, as we age, one of our biggest. My biggest concern is, like you know, the older lady with the wrinkles, with the foundation stuck in.
Speaker 2:I don't know anything about that. How do you like my island of denial?
Speaker 1:Listen, you know this, but I had to get a 20X mirror to learn how to put these contacts in, and I saw things that I had no idea were on my face prior. Listen, ladies. If you want to really know what's out there, just get a 20X mirror.
Speaker 2:What's funny is we had another vote on El Makiash and that was from Linda. She swears by that and again that color match kind of sold it for her as well.
Speaker 1:I love that Linda is into that, and I think she came back with a few other things we're going to talk about today, so thanks, linda, for sharing that for sharing that.
Speaker 2:So I would say the second biggest response that I got from our friends was to talk about favorite mascara. First it was the foundation. That was what most people responded, but second came back with they were serious about their foundation. Now me, I'm typically on the low end. I absolutely love the L'Oreal Big Sky Mascara and I was always a huge fan of Better Than Sex Mascara. Yes, and the one time I went in there and the store that I was buying for they were sold out or something of the better than sex, and so I picked up this one and the girl behind the counter said people like this one better than that one. I said, okay, so that one she just absolutely swears by. I recently, you know, tried another one and I find that it's all over my face almost right away. It's like flaking and coming off.
Speaker 2:So I'm like I think I'm going back to big sky.
Speaker 1:You know, I know you were going to also say I think Kitty swears by the Trish McElroy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the dramatic lash mascara. And she said, I mean, her eyes always look amazing. She's got those bright blue eyes and which, and? But she again, being fair, she has very pale lashes, so without mascara they kind of get lost a little bit. And she said, with that one, one coat for daytime, but she can put on multiple coats and it's almost like she's got, you know um, a set of lashes on. You know it's amazing yeah, well I.
Speaker 1:I think, though we we also tried a mascara when we were down there called thrive, right? Ah, that was, yeah, faley's thrive and tubular, so it allegedly puts a tube over your lash and then easily can easily come off at the end of the night, right, I asked for that for Christmas from some family and I got it, but I don't like it. I don't love it, like I thought I loved it down there Very interesting. I'm like Linda. I still want that tube of pink and green, is it?
Speaker 2:CoverGirl or.
Speaker 1:Maybelline, right, you know.
Speaker 1:I like is it Maybelline I that tells you where I'm at. I like to change my mascara all the time, like once I feel like it gets clumpy. I just want to throw it out and have a new one. So I don't want to invest a lot in it. But I have to say I was disappointed with the Thrive. I know other people love it. You know, tish, I found this thing and I might be late to the party by about 30 years on this, but I was always getting mascara on my eyelids or my lower eyelashes were so long.
Speaker 1:But I got this kind of thing you put over your eye and you brush your mascara on over it and then you take it off and any mascara is on this. I will put a link to it. I know I'm probably not explaining it. You know it's from Tweezerman, that brand Tweezerman that makes the best tweezers ladies, Gotta go with the Tweezerman, but it's, you know it's like a $4 thing but it's absolutely amazing. I do think if you ask me mascara, I would choose mascara over foundation as the number one beauty product.
Speaker 2:What I'm not saying. It's the number one beauty product, foundation. More people had very specific opinions on that, so I got more feedback on the foundations. The second, the second biggest response I had was about mascaras.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like a friend of mine Sarah she swears by Mary Kay, and it's been years since I've used them. You know, I don't think I've. You know, we all used to get invited to all those parties and, um, I don't even, I don't even know if they do those anymore, but um, yeah, so I was like huh, maybe I gotta try that again, but when I when Linda reminded me about the pink and green, I thought maybe I should do that one yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that one. All right, let's move on to an area that I think is kind of new, at least for me. Again, I think I'm late to the party. It's serums, okay, okay, and Kristen, in her makeup bag had a lot of products by a Vermont brand. She's from Burlington, vermont, called Ursa Major Beauty, and she let me use a lot of her different products that she had. But I became addicted to this Mountain Glow Serum and this serum has 44 clean actives, adaptogens, vitamins, b, c, e, I mean you name it and I love using this serum and again, it's between a high and a low, you know it's probably like $40 a jar and a pump and I must have put it on a, you know a repeat and save kind of thing, because I went out in front and there was a box there and I was like, oh, my god, it's my mountain glow.
Speaker 1:Serum Ursa Major I love it.
Speaker 2:I love it. Does it give you a glow?
Speaker 1:It's not dewy, like I think you're thinking, like it's not the dewy, it's just, you know. Not dewy like I think you're thinking, like it's not the dewy, it's just, you know to all of the photo, esterols and adaptants are supposed to make your skin glow.
Speaker 2:um, in that sense right, um, but I, you know I'm obsessed about the glow. I'm all about the glow, always. You are all about the glow and my friend kelly, like her low-end lotion was the nivia lotion, but the one with the almond oil.
Speaker 1:She said it just gives her a great glow wow, yeah, I mean I think there's, um, there's the idea of like the dewy or a little bit of the opalescent in it. These are more the serums I'm talking about. They're not glowy like that, but I love the dewy glowy. I also use a brand called SkinCeuticals which has one of the, I think in the Allure Beauty or when I look around, it's probably one of the most used um, uh type of serums. But I also kathy, um kathy boggs, from our friend group. She gave me some keels you know that brand keels um k-e-i-l-s. It's again it's. I would say it's a low to medium brand. But she gave me a serum, like an overnight serum from them. Amazing, I think you know. Putting it on and then putting on a heavier moisturizer, you know, before bed has been really um, a good thing. Now I know our friend Ellen. She suggested a moisturizer as well.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I think it's called Bianca.
Speaker 2:Bianca, that's right. That's right. Bianca brand yeah, and that was one I was not familiar with either. Is that like a California brand. Do you know where that one's from?
Speaker 1:I don't know where that's from but I'll look it up. But you know Ellen has a great makeup bag. She was my roommate on the trip, Ellen and Ellen in the front bedroom there. She had a lot of really beautiful products there and I know that Yonka was something that she really liked for moisturizer. You know, Tish, I have this stuff called Wish for crepey skin. Do you remember that? It's like a really a good, a good one, I think, low end, less than $20. And I think to use it on the crepey arms during the summer and the crepey legs.
Speaker 2:Have you ever used Wish? I have not used Wish. I had actually used Gold Bond, that's great.
Speaker 2:It's a really good one and I really feel like that one works because it does make me a little itchy. And I really feel like that one works because it does make me a little itchy. So I just felt like well, there must be something going on there. But again, faley got me onto that For me. I love to be in the sun, to get that fresh sun look to you. I think it just makes you just look so just awake and healthy and whatnot. But I've been trying not to expose my face in particular to a lot of sun. But I still want that sun-kissed look. So I have found just a low end the Lumi Glotion by L'Oreal just makes you.
Speaker 2:It just puts this ever so slight sheen to your cheeks, like you get when you've been out in the sun for a couple of like two hours.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that. I'm going to check that one out. You know I have used this other bronzer for about 30 or 40 years, the Guerlain bronzer. It comes in a compact and you can just kind of put it on those high cheekbones, but I like this idea of the Lumi Glow, so it's always great to talk to other women and find out about these products yeah, products um, yeah, absolutely so, we.
Speaker 2:So let's kind of move on. Yeah, you know, after we, you know, start talk. Stop talking about the face, let's. Let's face it. It's all about the hair, right, and we have such changes with our hair in midlife. You know, um, what was so funny is our one friend. She was talking, she has so much hair and I thought, laura. Laura said, oh, I'm losing my hair Losing. She's got like five times much more hair than I have. It's so thick and full. But again, it's whatever you're used to. It's dealing with how it changes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it is all relative, you're absolutely right. But big fear of mine is, you know, having being bald, being able to see my scalp, and you know. The other thing I noticed, tish, is our eyebrows, as we age, are getting shorter.
Speaker 2:I mean it's wild.
Speaker 1:So, all right, share with me some of the best hair products that you've got.
Speaker 2:So with the hair, and this is a funny story too. So my friend Constance, and again she's got a lot of hair, but it's thinner than it used to be for her. So we have both gone to this rather odd dermatologist. He's very good, harvard Medical School educated. He says crazy things. So she goes in there and she mentions I feel like my hair is is is my hair is thinning. He starts poking around and I'm telling you she's got a lot of hair. Oh yeah, I see some bald spots in there. Oh, my gosh, rogaine, rogaine.
Speaker 2:That's what he told her and he said do not bother with the female Rogaine, Go right for the male Rogaine.
Speaker 1:It's stronger.
Speaker 2:Oh blah. And I said do you think it's cancerous? And he stops and he goes yeah, of course it is Like look how fair you are, it's cancer, it's cancer. I was like I was so traumatized by his reaction, because you say that we're cancer and and it just flips people out and yeah, he was just like of course it is, of course it is. I was like oh dear lord.
Speaker 1:Well, you know sometimes, whether it's bald patches or cancer, we need a direct kind of communication he's mr direct again, um, his people skills, but he's really good at what he does.
Speaker 2:But this idea of the thinning hair, it's really for women. I think hair is a symbol of their femininity. Right, it's one of the bigger things that sets us apart from men, you know for the most part. But there's another product that's incredibly awesome and it's bumble thickening plump mask. And so you know, if you're not, if you don't want to go for that rogue game which is now over the counter, you don't have to go and get prescriptions for it anymore, and because that'll run you about $50. But you know, people swear by it, especially if you're addressing it early on. But maybe just some thickening plump mask.
Speaker 1:I love it. I mean, I definitely think hair is a big issue here at Midlife. You know, for me it's been. Should I go gray, shouldn't I go gray? But being a cancer survivor and being in Midlife, my hair has a different texture. It's so much different than it was and the curl, it's less curly than it was all those years. So you know, I feel like again, it's an area every woman I know has a little bit of stress about here at midlife.
Speaker 2:It does. Even, like we were saying with Laura, who we think has like a bounty of hair, it's not as much as it used to be. So it does work on you mentally, I know.
Speaker 1:And her hair is gorgeous. I want to put my little plug in here for a product I've been using, though, with the dryer hair. This is called K18. And I'm going to call this a high end because it's $75 plus. It's a leave-in conditioner and there is a colorist that I follow on Instagram, jack Martin, and he takes women not gray, but silver, beautiful silver hair. I think he did Jane Fonda and a few other celebs. I'm blanking on her name right now. She was in three weddings and a funeral, four weddings and a funeral. Allie. Anyway, he swears by K-18 and now the hairstylist I go to she also does it just conditions your hair so beautifully you leave it in and you only need like a little pea size.
Speaker 2:So the $75 jar can last you six months, but you know if you're not able to swing that. $75, wow products oh my God, I'm a huge fan of wow. Now, it's not super cheap, but it's kind of more of that middle range. It's usually around 20 bucks, you know, 20 to $30, but they're anti-frizz. I have a leave-in conditioner from them and it's wonderful. It never leaves my hair feeling heavier, weighed down. You wouldn't even know that there was a leave-in conditioner in it.
Speaker 1:I love the Wow products too and I have a compact that I keep in my bag. That's a little gray touch-up from Wow and it's the first Wow product I had ever. Now it must be like eight or nine years ago when I had to start touching up that gray. But it comes with a little brush and you can just do the best touch-ups and it really got me into Wow products and I think their anti-frizz is as good, I'm going to say, as the K18. I've also tried Olaplex, which is another higher end brand.
Speaker 2:I'm not as crazy about Olaplex as I am on some of these other things that we talked about, but if you do have damage to your hair, that K18 is really worth the investment.
Speaker 1:It is, and I know our friend Ellen also. She can't live without the Moroccan oil luminous hairspray and I did use that in the room when we were in the Caymans. That was a great one, you know, tish. Here's where I'm going to confess that I talked about buying this Dyson I think it's called the hair system for like over a year I'm sure all of my California friends were like shuddy uppy and just buy the damn thing. So I did, and it comes in a giant box with like six or seven you know attachments.
Speaker 2:It is so powerful Because you need a mortgage to purchase it.
Speaker 1:I've even heard that you can buy refurbished ones online. Kathy, our friend Kathy was telling me this. Of course, she does, because she always finds the bargains.
Speaker 2:She knows the deal yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, this thing is so strong that it has blown the fuse in my bathroom like 30 times. I am not kidding you. It does dry your hair so quickly. But about two months after I invested in the system, I cut my hair. I bobbed my hair to my ears, from way below my shoulders. I can't even use the spinny things. There's not even enough hair for the spinny things, oh my gosh, I know.
Speaker 2:So Thaley had that system, that Dyson system, and I was loving it and I thought I'm getting this when I go back, until I heard the price tag.
Speaker 1:Maybe not. Well next time you're here maybe we'll trade. I can have your L'Elange Duo, which I've used in the past, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love the Duo because you can use it as a straightener, you can use it to curl and the big thing about it and for somebody who has thin hair like I do, like soft hair or fine hair, as you want to call it and Liduo heats it and also cools it at the same time. So there's a fan that goes on with the Liduo. That's what sets it apart from other like just regular, you know hair stuff. So it sets that curl in. So for me, when I do my hair with Liduo, it allows the curl to stay in for a long time, for hours, where if I just use a curling iron it's going to fall out in like 30, 40 minutes.
Speaker 1:Interesting. I didn't know what the duo was of Le Duo, but now I do.
Speaker 2:I think Le Duo for them means it can be a straightener or a curler.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, not the okay, okay, not the hot or I don't.
Speaker 2:I don't think that's the reason that they call it la duo. I think it's because it's a straightener or curler, depending on how you push it through your hair, but it's. It's that fan part of it that allows the curl or the straightening to set. Got it, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I know we've already covered skincare a little bit, but I think there's a few other things we want to talk about before we move on to sunscreen and wrapping up. So what do we?
Speaker 2:got Tish, you know, here's the thing with the. I get lost with this one. There's so much out there that has to do with anti-aging and, and a lot of these products are when you really go high end, because nothing scares us midlifers more than wrinkles, us midlifers more than wrinkles, right, you know, I agree anything to to get rid of wrinkles and stuff. So there's a lot of stuff out there, um, both high end and low end, you know. Um, now, elastin is a product that you're familiar with, right?
Speaker 1:Yes, I am familiar with that one that you're familiar with right. Yes, I am familiar with that one.
Speaker 2:I really like that one that's a high-end one, right that reduces the fine lines and wrinkles, and so that was probably the number one that I kept hearing about over and over and over when you talk about high-end.
Speaker 2:But Vogue had selected the best one for deep wrinkles, right? Or at least maybe the ones that you've neglected to deal with your wrinkles, right, and you got. It's gone a little far, but theirs was the Rock Retinol Corrective Deep Wrinkle Anti I mean it has such a long name corrective deep wrinkle anti I mean it has such a long name anti-aging. It covers everything night cream, and that one comes in at like $13. So like $12.99,. Right, and they listed that as the best one.
Speaker 1:I'm really glad you mentioned the Rocker ROC, because they do have great products and they're across a number of things, whether it's a night cream, a serum, um and um. I noticed they always come out high in in that type of thing. But I'm going to say something maybe a little controversial here. I had, I had a lot of skin damage from being very fair and tanning excessively, as you know through college, and I regret every moment of band de soleil in my life.
Speaker 1:But I think if you're feeling like you have age spots, if you have sun damage, if you have wrinkles, go to a dermatologist, get a prescription retinol. I use a thing from my dermatologist. She calls it the VAT. It's like this big tub of all of these goodies together that you have to like start once and only go every three or four days and you know it really does the job, and I just I'm going to go with that as my number one recommendation.
Speaker 2:The next time I come out to visit, I might need to like book an appointment with your dermatologist.
Speaker 1:You need a vat to go, you need a vat to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was. It was funny again. You know Faley as a roommate and I know she has used this one product since college. So she every day she uses pond cold cream to remove all of her makeup and she swears it what it's what has left her skin so soft. And she has religiously used ponds. I think my grandmother used ponds, you know.
Speaker 1:I know my mom used ponds and she would put it on every night before bed, in bed with, like you know, her hair pulled back. Yes, I somehow have like bad Joan Crawford from that movie. Mommy Dearest of her with palms all over.
Speaker 1:Oh wow. Well, I mean, we've touched on sunscreen a little bit here, tish and I know again, this too is all over the place, from like-end to high high-end. I know that La Mer, which is a brand I always aspired to use when I was younger, and I couldn't afford it. They have the Blanc de Mer SPF 50 protecting fluid and allegedly it has cell-renewing energies and miracle broth. I just want to know what the F miracle broth is. I have no idea.
Speaker 2:But you know, I will say that a lot of the magazines swear by this particular formula as, yes, invest in this one.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I know. Now for me, again, again. This is from failey. She had a glow screen, the super goop right, which is an spf 40 um, so it's a skin, um, it's a glowy skin. Oh, but it also had has hydro hydro. I'm so bad at these names.
Speaker 1:Hydrolonic hydro hydro yeah.
Speaker 2:Vitamin B5, you know so. It has all this stuff in it. It comes in kind of mid range, you know so you're talking mid. You know 30s $30 for this one, right. You know 30s uh, 30 dollars for this one, right. But in a comparison, you know, like a sun balm, they have some great ones. La roche pose, they have some great ones too. Um, I would say, though, you know, you should really expect to spend at least a good $25 for good sunscreen. It's worth the investment to not have to go to crazy dermatologist, not to have to go get a bath, right. So, after we've done all this wonderful stuff to our skin, we need to make sure we're maintaining it.
Speaker 2:And so you want to make sure that you really have a good sunscreen right, listen, my gal says repair, so repair the damage and protect.
Speaker 1:It's all about a UPF hat and great sunscreen after you repair all the damage you've done. But you know, let's move on to lips Tish, because I know we've got to wrap up soon and we both have some great ideas around this.
Speaker 2:What do you think, can I, before we do that, you had mentioned the eyebrows and I think that's really important. Oh, you're right, you're right, you know, and I just I just want to grab that, because that again is one of the youthful pieces that makes a big difference on your face. And so you know, the high end of, you know, solution to it is microblading. Don't go cheap on the microblader.
Speaker 2:Because if you go to a cheap place that's like too good to be true. You're going to end up looking crazy. You want somebody that can do it and make it look natural and work with your eyes. You know, definitely get recommendations from friends for microblading. Would you get microblading done?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, in a hot minute, absolutely, and.
Speaker 2:I do think my eyebrows.
Speaker 1:You know I'm very bummed that they're getting to be less and less. But I do think that there are some great brands. I use Benefit. It has a great eyebrow. It's like a little tube, it's liquid. But a friend just recommended Lady Gaga has a makeup brand called House Labs H-A-U-S. This is from my friend, our friend Pookie. Okay, a lot of high-end brands and she swears by this eyebrow pencil that makes like little strokes.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love those yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so we'll put a link to that there, but yes, definitely.
Speaker 2:But if that's too rich for your blood, Elf has an awesome one. It's a brow lift and has special applicator and stuff. So if you're doing all this work, eyebrows do make you look younger they do. So it's definitely something to consider. You know, if you can afford microblading, go for it All right. Now let's go to the lips.
Speaker 1:All right, let's go to the lips.
Speaker 2:Well, I think you have to start. So, as we get older, our lips get dry. We have a lot of dry skin around that we have. So I think it's really important to use a scrub to remove the dry skin to start with. Right, and a nice sugar scrub um, I know that, um, as far as a high-end one, there's one called sugar lip, um polish exfoliator, um, what would gently kind of, you know, uh, do this treatment and then you know, if you put lipstick on dry lips, it's just gonna look a mess, right. So you gotta prep them and then keep them hydrated and stuff. But if you can't, you know, and, and that's a high end at 18. So it's not super high end, no, but Revlon has one and it's called Kiss Sugar Scrub Exfoliator and that's only like $5. So make sure you're starting it off with, just like you would your face with cleansing it properly and treating it properly. Get in there with a good lip scrub.
Speaker 1:You know, I'm going to admit that I had no idea there were lip scrubs, I think, for me, because chap lips are not my thing, knock on wood. Unless I'm up in the mountains or something, I don't really think about it too much. I mean, I am a user of, like a Burt's Bees lip balm occasionally, but this is all new for me. I'm going to have to try. Maybe you know the Revlon lip scrub bomb, because I'm not going to go high end on this. Consider I've made it all these years and not used it. But I am intrigued by this idea, you know, tish.
Speaker 2:So, once we have these, these soft lips, what are we going to put on them? Right, that's the question. So hit me with your choices for lipstick.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I am, of course I know I've talked about this before a lover of the Clinique Black Honey. I'm going to call it iconic. It's iconic yeah, it looks good on everyone. I am also into Tom Ford. He has an amazing lipstick and it's a breast cancer fundraiser. And again, it's a very neutral color that looks good on everyone. And my new favorite is by a brand and again this is high-end brand called Westman Atelier, and I believe that it's someone named Gucci Westman who makes this.
Speaker 2:And this is called Lip Suede.
Speaker 1:I mean who doesn't want lip suede? Lip suede, I mean who doesn't want lip suede? And it has the cutest I'm showing Tish because she can see this, just the cutest packaging.
Speaker 2:Great applicator, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it has a magnet. The top goes back on with a magnet. Anyway, those are my three big colors. I don't really have a lot of other ones. I do use a nude lip pencil again that Pookie gave me and I do like the idea of putting on a lip pencil. Again, I do not have dry lips and I think a lot of ladies may not like the lip pencil for that. What about you? I know your signature lipstick, but let's hear it Tish.
Speaker 2:I have, over the years, tried different colors, different brands. I always go back to my love from college Silver City, revlon, silver City Pink yes, it is just me, that's my signature lipstick. And then I do have some small lines around my lips right now in the silver city, you don't see it because it's a.
Speaker 1:It's a shinier lip, it's not a shiny and it's a very light pink.
Speaker 2:when it goes on it's shiny, so you don't get that. When I put on, say, a matte, that's darker, you can start to see where it starts bleeding into my little lines. I don't like that. So I think I'm going to the grave with Silver City Pink, sorry, well.
Speaker 1:I'm going to say the 1983, 1984, 1985 versions of the two of us. I was wearing black honey and you were wearing silver city pink. I love it we have. I think now we really want to talk about this balance, right Tish, we want to talk about finding that balance.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think too. You know, sometimes you don't even want to have lipstick on, but I still think it's important that you go out with a good lip balm, you know, and there's so many great ones out there. What are some of your favorites?
Speaker 1:Well, I think I mentioned I do really like that Burt's Bees brand and it's got. I put them in stockings. They make stocking stuffers. Easter basket just little gifts. Pink grapefruit coconut I've never met a coconut product I don't like in my life.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, they have a coconut pear one. That is yummy, right yeah.
Speaker 1:And they have just lip moisturizer, a lot of beeswax. It's tint free, it's natural, and so I really like that. And you know what? Again, like you can't take the seventies or the eighties out of the girl, but give me a chapstick, classic medicated lip balm, right, the old chapstick.
Speaker 2:So it was so funny because my kids growing up would lick their lips so much that they would have like huge red marks around their mouth right.
Speaker 2:Yeah the big chap. The only thing that would get them cleared up and fast was the light blue. It's in the light blue one, the chapstick, classic medicated lip balm. And I even remember seeing another little boy and his were so red and raw and they it. You know it hurts them. And they and I went over to the mother and I said look I said my kids do the same thing. This is what you have to get. But today, even if I'm, like you know, during you know different seasons where my lips dry out, or you know I, you know I'll go back to that, I'll revert back to that and it seems to put my lips in a better condition.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I love that. I think maybe that's where it's colder than here. Um, I don't feel that, that that but it's so good to know that when you need something that's really, really strong, that's a good one to go to. But as we wrap up- I was going to say.
Speaker 2:We've talked a lot about when to go high, when to go low. I really think it's about finding that balance between the two and staying within your personal preferences, your personal budget. There's no sense in going broke or putting yourself in that situation just to have some name products. There's too many good dupes out there.
Speaker 1:I agree Absolutely, and it's all about self-expression, confidence, authenticity here at Midlife. Knowing and understanding your personal style goes into your personal beauty routine as well.
Speaker 2:For everyone listening. We're going to have a lot of these products posted on our Amazon storefront, so if there's something that you heard that you want to try, or whatever, definitely visit us on our store. That one stop and you can pick up all these products.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. As we wrap up today, I hope that our listeners that you've gained insight into high-end, low-end beauty products that we think work for women at midlife. And remember it's not about the price tag at all, but how that product makes you feel and what works for you. Like for me, finding a clean product like the Ursa Major brand really works for me, and not high-end.
Speaker 2:Right, and I just want to give a big shout out to some of our new listeners in Park Ridge, Illinois, and Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, White House Station, New Jersey and even Sterling Virginia. Thank you for joining us on this podcast, you know.
Speaker 1:Welcome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, welcome, I love it. Right, so you know just this is just one of the topics that I think a lot of friends talk about so much, so stay tuned for more empowering discussions on navigating midlife with style, with grace, with confidence. The stories, the wisdom, the insights that we explore are not really meant to be kept to ourselves, but by sharing this podcast with other women at midlife, you're not just spreading the knowledge or whatever, but you're sparking some inspiration, you're fostering connections and you're building a community that's focused on support and empowerment.
Speaker 1:Well said, tish. I don't even know if I can top that. I really don't. But you know, share with your friends, share the podcast, share good news, share beauty, product right. Really just share and build your community and this can be a catalyst for someone else's transformation, for igniting a new perspective and for building that community. So what do we say till next week? Midlifers, till next week midlifers Till next week.
