FASHION Magazine

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

I love under-eye concealer, but I’m worried about the reverse raccoon look showing up in photos. Help?
The most common culprit of the dreaded reverse raccoon look is a concealer that’s light-reflective. Sure, it’s great for bouncing light into the darker undereye area, but less so in flash photography as it can reflect back the light in a pretty extreme way. A more natural finish is your best bet to skirt this issue. Instead, try a satin finish, like Marc Jacobs Beauty Re(Marc)able Full Cover Concealer ($38, sephora.ca). This conceraler will provide you with coverage that looks just as flattering in photos as it does in person and the formula is nourishing for skin, containing shea butter and coconut extract. Bonus: the pinky-peach undertones of the concealer act as a brightener and concealer in one, giving you a two-in-one effect in a single product.

See all our eyebrow tips and tricks »

Eyebrows have long been an over-groomed feature, having been waxed, plucked or threaded into oblivion over the last few decades. Recently, inspired by the natural features of celebrities such as model Cara Delevingne and starlet Lily Collins, full brows have made a full resurgence in the beauty zeitgeist.

One of the most common complaints on the green beauty front is the struggle to find natural hair care products that work as well as their non-natural counterparts. Natural beauty aficionados are keen to toss away their conventional skincare and stock up on organic makeup, but that light fluffy feeling of freshly washed hair isn’t easy to concede. Though some green beauty converts opt for the baking soda wash and apple cider vinegar rinse and swear by it, not everyone can be expected to go to the same lengths for clean locks. No worries, there are green solutions out there for soft and silky strands—no kitchen concoctions required.

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

I like blowdrying my hair, but don’t love how it looks immediately after styling it. What can I use to give it a more lived-in look?
Sounds like you’re looking to achieve a style that falls right between squeaky-clean and second-day hair, which is surprisingly attainable when you reach for the right product. Try a dab of pomade, but don’t recoil in horror at that term! Pomade is traditionally a little heavier and gel-based, but it’s just a matter of finding a formula that delivers the effect you desire. Try a cream-based pomade, like Drybar The Chaser Shine Pomade ($28, sephora.ca), to give your hair a soft, tousled look after a fresh blowout. This sandalwood-scented formula adds shine and improves the condition of hair thanks to hibiscus extract. Be sure to concentrate your application through the lengths of hair for a piece-y, relaxed style.

Ever wonder why your super strong deodorant gives off a kind of sweat-mixed-with-fragrance smell on stressful or hot days? It’s not your sweat that smells: it’s the bacteria that’s mixing with it. Add to that the strong fragrance of a deodorant—which does little more than attempt to mask the smell—and you may find that by the end of the day your shirt is soaking and you’re keeping your arms as close to your sides as possible to avoid blasting co-workers with your own Eau de Ew.

However, given that there’s a pretty common misconception about how effective natural deodorants are, it’s hard to convince naysayers to give non-chemical options a try. If you think that you could never replace your drugstore antiperspirant or deodorant because you simply sweat too much, you’re in for a surprise.

Natural beauty is more than the sum of a few drops of the hottest new ingredient. The real stuff—the good stuff—is about freshness; using products designed with active ingredients within a particular timespan so that the ingredients retain all of their freshness and efficiency.

Consider it as you would your food: The fresher the product, the more beneficial the results. However, food obviously differs from cosmetic concoctions—it’s unlikely you’d be eating the same banana over six months. Products containing organic, raw, and pure ingredients need to last longer than the average head of lettuce, but to keep the formulation free of chemicals, it often means removing many mainstream preservatives and replacing them with natural ones. It also means a shorter use-by date. Hence, refrigeration.

See the Coachella 2014 style gallery »

For the past two years, the ultra-successful Coachella has expanded its festival over two weekends, promising an equally epic time for both batches of 225,000+ festivalgoers. And while it may have been hard to top last weekend’s epic Alexander Wang x H&M announcement, this weekend held strong with a surprise performance by Jay-Z, Daft Punk (or very convincing lookalikes) and even Alessanda Ambrosio’s 5-year-old daughter Anja.

See the Coachella 2014 style gallery »

From a surprise Beyoncé performance to the announcement of Alexander Wang x H&M, the first instalment of Coachella 2014 was probably the most major on record. Got FOMO? Us too.

And while the stage may have been full of surprises, what we saw on the fields was pretty much in line with what we’ve been seeing since music festival style became a thing: fringe, feathers and flower crowns. This year, the candy coloured hair trend made a nice accent, with our favourite festivalgoer pictured in a shark-print bathing suit and turquoise hair to match. Also spotted was an inside lip Coachella tattoo. Now that’s commitment.

See the skin finish tips and tricks »

One of the easiest (and often overlooked) ways to switch up your makeup look is by changing the finish of your foundation. It might seem like a small thing, but skin finish—the texture and amount of luminosity of your foundation—has a big effect on any look. In fact, many eras of beauty are in part defined by the skin finish that accompanied them, for better or for worse. Where full-coverage, matte foundation accompanied the brown beauty palette of the mid-90s, shimmering skin went hand-in-hand with the lavish application of bronzer in J. Lo’s early-aughts heyday.

Of the many variations on skin finish, three stand out as classics: luminous, dewy and matte. Let’s explore these different variations, learn which products you need to pull them off and how to pair them with complementary makeup for best results.

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

How do I define my curls without the crunchiness of mousse or hairspray?
If the crunchiness of curls isn’t really your thing it’s definitely time to explore your options. Hairspray and mousse usually contain high amounts of alcohol, which dry hair out. Moisture is a key to softly defined curls, so make sure your styling products hydrate while helping you achieve your desired look. While serums are optimal for smoothing hair, they may not deliver the defined curl you’re looking for. A creme texture, such as Frédéric Fekkai Pot de Crème ($30, at Shoppers Drug Mart), will impart moisture in hair thanks to the high content of shea butter, making soft, touchable curls totally achievable.

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Nail polish often looks uneven because the natural texture of my nails shows through. Can I fix this?
The visual appearance of our naked nails is actually a significant indicator of our internal health, so it’s important to pay attention to what’s up when they’re bare. It’s normal to have ridges on your nails that run up and down lengthwise, and these are not a huge cause for concern. Buffing nails prior to applying polish may seem like a logical solution, but this can actually weaken your nails. A better solution is to use a ridge filling base coat, such as Joe Fresh Ridge Filler ($6, at Joe Fresh), in order to create a smooth, even surface for polish application. A quick coat of this before you apply your colored polish will balance everything out and make ridges a thing of the past.