Tuesday, August 2, 2011

What to do when you get burned

If you’re anything like me you’re always in a rush or on the run throughout the day. This means that oftentimes our beauty regiment is compromised and turns into a minor disaster. I recently had to find a place to wax my eyebrows and left with more than just cleaned up brows. By the time I got home, I began to see why my face felt like it was on fire. The wax must have been too hot. I didn't realize it at first while I was at the salon but either way I was stuck with bright red burns that eventually darkened over the next two days. I was in a bind because I knew I had several meetings that week that I did not want to cancel. I'm sharing my story because I figured this could happen to anyone. At home with a curling iron, distracted while cooking or any number of things us girls on the go do on a daily basis could lead to an inconvenient burn on or near your face.

I’ll share a few tips with you that I learned along the way that will help you take care of any burns on or near your face and how to use the right makeup to hide your little beauty mishap.

How to take care of the burn:

Tip 1
: Use a damp washcloth to cool the affected areas on your face. You can use ice water as well but don’t put ice directly on your burns.

Tip 2
: Get a real gentle face wash. I generally use a face wash from La Roche-Pousey but I soon found out it was not gentle enough. I picked up Cetaphil from the pharmacy and that made a huge difference. No stinging and it leaves a nice soft moisturized to the touch.
Tip 3: When a few of my girlfriends found out what happened they suggested putting aloe on the burns. That is typically good advice but these days there are so many products on the counter that you need to be sure you pick up 100% aloe. I opted for using Neosporin. As I was getting ready for bed I couldn’t get over how much my face hurt and Neosporin provided pain relief and gets the job done.

Now, it's time to talk about hiding the little mishap. Here are a few tips for covering up eyebrow waxing gone wrong.

First, clean your face with the gentle face wash. Then, towel dry and apply a little Neosporin. Once your face is dry, apply a good concealer only on the spots that you’re trying to hide. I used Christian Dior Long-Wearing Moisturizing Concealer.
Then, apply compact makeup. My favorite is Chanel Double Perfection Natural Matte Powder Makeup.
Then, use eye shadow. Choose a natural palette of browns and nudes. Proceed as usual with bronzer/blush, mascara and lipstick. Ta da! Now, you’re all set to take on the world. No one ever has to know that you're hiding a few beauty burns under there.