Even the pros make beauty blunders

Results can be ugly when beauty experts don’t follow their own advice Krause / SelfSELF''s beauty editors come clean about their beauty offenses. Beauty director Elaine D''Farley said yes to Botox.  More from SELF.com Subscribe to SELF.What''s best for achy muscles and joints?How much stress is normal?The hidden signs of depression.  Message board  Skin & Beauty: Share your tips  Most Popular• Most Viewed• Top Rated• Most E-mailed  Western storms may deliver deadliest winter  A sense of satisfaction, then anguish  He’s in a pile of trouble  Six Republicans debate in South Carolina  Superjumbo A380 rolls off runway in SingaporeMost viewed on MSNBC.comTourists shun crime-hit Mexico beaches‘Meanest mom’ sells car after finding liquorDog''s bite saves boy and pals from house fireSecond in N.H., Obama ''still fired up''Thousands follow soldier’s fate in WWI ‘blog’Most viewed on MSNBC.com  He’s in a pile of trouble  Six Republicans debate in South Carolina  India’s Tata Motors unveils $2,500 car  Western storms may deliver deadliest winter  A sense of satisfaction, then anguishMost viewed on MSNBC.com  RSS feeds on msnbc.com

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updated 3:51 p.m. ET Nov. 9, 2007

What happens when SELF’s beauty editors (who have a combined 26 years of experience) don’t follow their own look-good advice? Well, the results can be ugly! Now they’re coming clean about their offenses in the hopes that it will keep you out of trouble.

“I had too much of a good thing.”
— Elaine D’Farley, beauty director

I’m not anti aging; I’m into aging well. So when doctors I meet offer to, say, inject my butt fat into my face to “fix” it, I refuse. After all, I’m not broken. But for me, Botox falls in the aging-well category. It seems less extreme than a lot of other cosmetic measures. Remember when people whispered, “Does she or doesn’t she?” about hair color? Today that’s Botox, and I think, like dye, if used right, it can make you look subtly fresher, not fake. Story continues below ↓advertisement

My dermatologist, David Colbert, M.D., in New York City, is conservative with Botox, giving me just a bit in my brow, where it looks natural. And when I’m tempted by other doctors’ suggestions and ask him to inject more, he says no. He told me not to get Botox under my eyes because they wouldn’t move when I smiled. I appreciate his honesty and that he looks good for being in his 30s, 40s, whatever it is. He’s not anti his age either.

But one morning I gave in to temptation. I thought I’d be with a group of editors meeting a plastic surgeon at a press event but found myself having a one-on-one consultation. The surgeon pointed out my hooded eyes, falling brow, sagging chin. He then described all the easy things he could do for me. I knew better than to believe a brow-lift was easy, but I said yes to the Botox — I was too consumed with worrying about my hooded eyes to think about consequences. Moments later, Dr. Shot was injecting. And injecting more. I squirmed, but once I commit to letting an expert do his thing, I don’t feel as if I can extricate myself. I don’t want to offend the doctor or imply I know more than he does. Afterward, I crept to the elevator holding ice packs to my swollen face.

It wasn’t until the next week (Botox can take up to 14 days to fully kick in) that, looking in the mirror, I froze. Literally. Nothing moved! Not my brow, my forehead or anywhere around my eyes. My under-eye circles were actually more pronounced, like dark muddy puddles trapped under ice. Instead of many expressions, I had one: blasé. I looked as if I’d had work done — not good for an editor at a magazine whose credo is “Be beautiful from the inside out.” I was so self-conscious, I ended up telling everyone what had happened. It took a few months before people started saying how exhausted I looked. And I was relieved to hear it. My old face was coming back!

My advice, which I vow to follow, is stick to one doctor you trust, whose goal for you matches your own. Mine is subtlety. I want my husband to say, “You look gorgeous!” Not “You look…” and struggle to find a word. Then I won’t need to confess what I did; I can simply say thanks and enjoy the compliment.

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Krause / SelfSELF''s beauty editors come clean about their beauty offenses. Senior beauty features editor Beth Janes let a stylist go too far.“I let a stylist have her way with me.”
— Beth Janes, senior beauty features editor

It all started with Nicole Richie. Bored by my long layers, I became obsessed with her side-swept bangs. They are so chic, so diagonal. I thought a similar look would give my hair more style, earning it a release from daily ponytail prison.

But who would cut my bangs? I don’t have a relationship with one stylist, as I’ve always advised; I have brief affairs. (Every job has perks. Mine includes pros who offer to save me from split ends.) Around the time I was contemplating a beauty booty call, a stylist’s publicist called me about a meeting. “I’m thinking about bangs,” I said.

A week later, sitting in the stylist’s chair, I asked her about trends. Bangs and blunt cuts are in, she said, foreshadowing the horror to come. I then proceeded to ignore more of my oft-given advice: See examples of a stylist’s work. Be exceedingly clear about what you want. Bring pictures, draw pictures, whatever. Reiterate your likes and wants. Many times. I skipped all that. I thought being a beauty editor was kryptonite against an ugly cut. All I remember saying was “I want side-swept, angled bangs.”

After the stylist finished, I saw no delicate, sweeping angle, only hacked-off, blunt ends, as if they were traditional, forehead-covering bangs that I’d simply pushed to the side. Richie’s fringe blends gently into the rest of her hair. The ends of mine formed a right angle at my temple with a wall of shoulder-length hair (also cut extremely bluntly, by the way). On the other side of my part, the hair was angled beautifully, mocking its counterpart. The two sides seemed to belong to different haircuts.

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I lied about how I felt, breaking another rule: Be honest. Stylists want you to be happy and will try to correct mistakes, regardless of whose fault they were. But I was embarrassed — for both of us. I was foolish, and it was a bad cut. I felt despondent but figured I would learn to style the bangs. That night, I spritzed, moussed, blow-dried, finger-combed and flatironed. Nothing helped. Before work the next day, I pinned the bangs on top of my head. Two days later, another stylist told me my bangs were too short for her to fix. So I spent more time at the mirror, now with an imaginary Tim Gunn from “Project Runway” shouting, “Make it work!” Finally, I changed my part, blow-drying my bangs to the opposite side. Aha! They were almost Richie-esque!

If only that were the happy ending. Richie-esque bangs take time to style, and they get in your eyes. I was so hypnotized by the fabulous 45-degree angle, I broke yet another rule: Get a cut that fits your lifestyle. I’m low-maintenance; the bangs were not. They work for stars with on-call stylists. On the red carpet, it’s sexy if hair covers one eye. At work, the partial view is maddening. My bangs looked good, but they felt like a forehead toupee. I escaped ponytail prison only to land in the bobby pin big house.

Now, after four months of growth, I finally like my bangs, parted in the middle, brushed to the sides. I won’t stop salon hopping, but next time, I’ll be ready. I’ve been tucking pictures of Mandy Moore, my latest hair obsession, into my wallet.CONTINUED: ''I was a walking skin contradiction''1 | 2
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