I thought I was doomed to live forever with dark circls under my eyes. I’d always read that they were caused by capillaries below the skin, and that allergies make them worse (I have those!) and that lack of sleep contributes (I don’t have that!). So imagine my surprise when I read a dermatologist say that for some people, dark circles are caused by too much pigment in the skin beneath the eyes, and that to find out if your problem is pigment, you can press the skin below your eyes and if, when you let go, the spot where you pressed is lighter then turns dark again, capillaries are causing your dark circles, but if there’s no color change, it’s too much pigment, and you can use skin lightening products to lighten your dark circles. I fell into the latter camp! Holy cow! Can it be that there’s hope beyond concealer (and the search for the perfect concealer) for many of us? Read the rest of this entry »

The Murad line of products is weird. Some of them are wonderful and contain and do wonderful things; others range from smelling terrific (the Murad Acne Clarifying Cleanser) all the way to smelling like something your dead grandmother wore (the Brightening Lotion). Yet others are loaded with irritants, and you wonder why a dermatologist would dream of putting irritants in a skincare product (see the Clarifying Cleanser for an excellent example), slapping a big pricetag on it, and foisting it onto consumers who either don’t read the ingredient panels or don’t understand them. (I am neither of those.) Murad Perfecting Day Cream SPF 30 for Sensitive Skin is a beautiful, rich, creamy (unscented!) cream for those of us with dry, sensitive skin, and it contains essential fatty acids as well as anti-oxidants (including magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, the stable form of vitamin C. Yay!). And the best part (besides the pleasing SPF 30) is that it doesn’t make my face so greasy that my glasses/sunglasses keep sliding off. Cool! But wait! What’s this? In looking further down the ingredient panel, I find… no, it can’t be! Read the rest of this entry »