Need to know how to give pale skin a healthy glow or get rid of a spot before a hot date? Well, the solutions to these and hundreds of other beauty emergencies are in a new book by expert Rona Berg.
Fast Beauty (Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 2005) has 1,000 quick tips, all tried and tested by Rona, former beauty editor of New York Times magazine. They're easy to do, cheap and, above all, fast.
As well as beauty tips in general, there's specific advice on the different ages of womanhood, from puberty and pregnancy to menopause and coping with stress.
Here are some of Rona's best remedies:
- Speed-dry your nail polish by dipping your nails in a bowl of iced water and keep them there for a minute.
- Make your eyes look bigger by applying a second coat of mascara only at the outer corner of your upper lashes.
- Plain, low-fat yogurt is not only a healthy part of your diet -- containing calcium for strong bones -- it's also good for hair and skin.
- If you apply it to skin that feels tight and dry, it will soothe it, soften it and make it feel silkier. Apply it to oily skin, and it will absorb excess oil.
- Massage yogurt into an itchy, flaky scalp, then leave it on for 15 minutes. Rinse and your flakes will be gone.
- Carry a cream blush stick or tube of cheek gel. By mid-afternoon, skin can look washed out, but a dab of color applied to the apple of your cheek will instantly brighten the face and give you a natural-looking flush.
- Baking soda is an amazing beauty multi-tasker. It can be used to brush your teeth, applied as a paste to dry a pimple overnight, or massaged through damp hair to get rid of styling product buildup. It can also be rubbed on flaky elbows and knees and used as an exfoliant on the face.
- Disguise a double chin by brushing a bit of rose-brown blush along your jaw from your earlobes to your chin. Highlight your chin with light translucent powder. Blend well.
Here are some do's and don'ts to flatter a fuller face:
- Try long, sleek lines around the face, which will de-emphasize fullness.
- Go for highlights or lowlights around the face, a hair length that's between the jaw line and the shoulders, a side part, or an "up-do" style.
- Avoid extreme lengths and extreme shapes, which make your face look fuller.
- Say no to really long, really short, really big, really curly or wedge-shaped cuts. And try to avoid too much hair at the sides of your face and by your ears.
- A facial will get your glow going, but if you don't have time, mash a few strawberries and brush on clean skin with a pastry brush. Leave on for five minutes. You'll feel a slight tingling as the natural fruit acids rev up your circulation and exfoliate dead skin. Rinse with warm water, then cool water.
On-the-spot tips >
