Beauty Products You Should Be Keeping in the Fridge

Do your beauty products keep going bad? Use your fridge to help them last longer, and get more bang for your beauty buck.

Eye cream

One of the most obvious candidates for cold storage is eye cream. When your eye cream is chilled, it can help deflate under-eye bags more quickly by reducing puffiness and boosting circulation. So it lasts longer and it’s also more effective.

Lipstick

Store your lippies in a cool spot to give new meaning to long-wearing. Heat is dangerous to lipstick because it can cause its natural oils to go bad. Keeping lipsticks refrigerated—or at least away from heat—can prevent the lipsticks’ chemicals from decomposing.

Facial mists and sprays

Applying a cold facial mist or spray is a win-win for your skin. Refrigeration can make the products last longer, and putting a cold spray on your skin feels more refreshing than when it’s room temperature. A cold mist or spray can also help soothe dry or inflamed skin more effectively than a warm product. Try these dry skin remedies made from ingredients you probably already own.

Sunscreen

As you move through the fall and winter months, make sure to stash any leftover sunscreen you have from the summer in your fridge, as leaving them out can lessen the effects of SPF over time. If you have extra lotions or cans lying around, pop them in the fridge now for next summer. Check out these sunscreen mistakes you may be making.

Mascara

Liquid makeup has a short shelf life, and mascara is no exception. If mascara is kept in warm temperatures for too long, bacteria can start to reproduce and it can develop a bad odor. Experts recommending tossing your mascara every three months anyway, whether you’ve kept it cool or not.

Perfume

Perfumes are sensitive to heat, which can cause chemical changes that alter their scent. Since too much light and heat isn’t good for your perfume, storing it in a dark fridge can help preserve the fragrance.

Toner

Like facial spray, toner can be more effective when it’s applied cold. The chilled liquid helps reduce puffiness and stimulate your face while reducing redness, and the refrigerator can help your toner last longer too.

Aloe

One of the most common uses for aloe is healing sunburns, and keeping aloe cold helps it do this job even better. Applying cold aloe to sunburns helps reduce itching and burning and speeding healing. Don’t miss these other fast fixes for sunburn.

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This Restaurant Seats Customers in a Dumpster to Raise Awareness About Food Waste

At the Salvage Supperclub, ingredients include imperfect produce, and an entire six-course meal takes place in a Dumpster.

At most New York City restaurants, you’d be hard-pressed to find a menu advertising wilted basil, past-prime tomato, and bruised beets as ingredients. But at the Salvage Supperclub, you’ll get just that. Oh, and the entire six-course meal takes place in a Dumpster.

Founder Josh Treuhaft, 32, launched the club in 2014 as a way to inform people about food waste and how they can squander less. “We use foods that ordinarily would have been thrown away,” he says. In a country that discards about 40 percent of its food supply, it’s a worthy effort. It’s estimated that the average family of four wastes up to $2,275 a year on food they end up tossing.

Treuhaft and his team keep this in mind when they plan their menu. One favorite recipe was a banana cream tart made of leftover chocolate-chip cookies Treuhaft rescued from a work event and blackened bananas bought at a reduced price from a local grocer.

And then there’s that Dumpster. It’s parked outside one of the dinnergoer’s homes, where it’s cleaned and disinfected. To add a touch of elegance, Treuhaft hangs tea lights and sets the table with matching place settings.

The dinner’s polished aesthetic shows that even imperfect foods can be used to create a special experience. “Getting people excited around waste is hard,” Treuhaft says. “It’s icky and makes you feel kind of guilty.” But each dinner has a similar effect on diners: “Attitudes change and minds shift,” he says. “There’s a conversation that has a ripple effect beyond the people in the Dumpster.”

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7 Tips for Perfect Eyebrows That Can Transform Your Appearance

Get back to basics

Your first step to achieving perfect eyebrows is also one of the most challenging: hands off for three months. “This lets your eyebrows fully grow back to their natural shape before you groom them again,” says Ramy Gafni, New York City-based makeup artist founder of RAMY Beauty Therapy who has worked with everyone from Halle Berry to Taylor Swift. “I can’t tell you how many thin-browed clients come in for a brow shaping and tell me they grew in their brows… for all of a week!” He emphasizes, “By constantly removing hairs in an effort to improve your brows, you perpetuate overly thin or misshapen brows.”

Exercise restraint

“Women with great brows don’t obsess over every stray hair and don’t over-zealously pluck their eyebrows,” Gafni says. “I always preach, ‘When in doubt, don’t pluck it out!’ If it’s truly an errant hair, you can always remove it tomorrow.”

Treat your brows like the hair on your head

You don’t just need to shape your eyebrows, you need to groom them, too. “Brushing through your brows with a spooly brush helps keeps hairs in place, exfoliates the skin under your brows and increases blood flow,” Gafni says. “This not only helps your brows look their best, it encourages hair turnover and growth.” You can also condition your brows with your hair conditioner or coconut oil.

Don’t fight Mother Nature

Your eyebrows are how they are for a reason—they correspond to your facial structure and bones. That means you shouldn't stray far from your original shape and positioning, no matter how much you want to “help” your situation out, Gafni says. So no shaving off the outer half if they’re full or, on the other end of the spectrum, don’t create an artificial arch using makeup.

Do nothing permanent

Chances are, you’ll regret making a nonreversible change to your eyebrows. “I don't recommend permanent laser hair removal or eyebrow tattooing,” Gafni says. He says he has never met a single person who was happy with permanent hair removal in their brow area and very few women who were happy with the outcome of tattooed brows. “Your face and your brows change over time, so you don’t want anything permanent done that may not be flattering in the long run,” he says.

Use makeup to your benefit

“Even the fullest brow can benefit from a brow filler like an eyebrow pen or pencil or a clear brow gel for unruly brows,” he suggests. “A brow filler can fill the little gaps created by our hair patterns and make the eyebrow look more perfect,” Gafni says. “They key is to use a product that is universally flattering and then brush through your brows to blend the product so your brows look amazing—not made-up,” he says. If your light brows need bumping up try a pencil slightly darker than your natural shade like one from Eylure Eyebrow Liner Pencil. On the other hand if your brows are full and only need light taming, try a brow gel like Ramy When Harry Met Sealy in clear. (Related: Find other ways to use makeup to make your eyes pop.)

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This Is How to Bake a Box Cake When You’re Missing One or More of the Ingredients

Box cakes are a simple alternative to breaking out all the baking supplies in your home. They’re effortless; most recipes call for just water, oil, eggs, and in some cases, butter. So what do you do when you’ve mixed the water and oil and just realized you don’t have any eggs? Follow these simple substitutions.

If you’re missing eggs, try pureed fruit. Because eggs help your cake to rise and keep it moist, they can be difficult to replace. Fortunately, most box-cake mixes include powder leavening agents that will pick up some of the slack. Replace each egg your recipe calls for with one smashed banana or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce. Note that the change in ingredients could slightly disrupt the texture of your cake, or the amount of time it takes to bake.

If you’re missing oil, try melted butter. Some experts say using melted butter as a replacement for oil improves the taste and texture of box cakes. Use the same measurement of butter as the recipe calls for in oil.

If you want to replace water, try milk. If you’re baking a white cake, consider adding milk instead of water. This simple swap will add density and flavor to your cake.

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6 Things You Should Do ASAP If Your Wallet Is Lost or Stolen

Don't panic just yet—you can avoid identity theft by taking the right steps.

FIRST: Call the police

If you suspect your wallet was stolen, call the cops. Even though the police might not be able to track down your wallet, putting in a report will cover you in other ways. If a thief does try committing identity fraud, you’ll have to prove that you aren’t responsible for the costs. “Someone is going to lose here, and it’s either the credit card company, bank, or you,” says Robert Siciliano, CSP, CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com. “If you say you’re a victim, you need to prove it.” That police report could be the proof you need to show you’re telling the truth about false charges. Don't miss these tips for keeping your purse safe in public.

Close your debit and credit cards

Any lost credit or debit accounts should be closed as soon as possible. Start with debit, which can be even more devastating than having a credit card stolen. “The money is coming right out of your bank account, whereas credit is a credit card company’s money,” Siciliano says. But act fast—you’ll be liable for up to only $50 of fraudulent charges if you report it within two business days, but any longer and you could lose $500 or more. Credit cards, on the other hand, have a 60-day gap for you to report. Siciliano recommends swapping out a debit card for an ATM card, which lets you take out or deposit cash and checks but can’t be swiped to pay at a store or restaurant. These are 26 secrets identity thieves won't tell you.

Put up a fraud alert

One option is to put up a fraud alert on your file by calling just one of the three credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union). If someone tries to open credit using your name and information, the business will take more steps to confirm their identty. “The problem here is that if they have a hold of your license, they could take your information and put their picture on a faked license,” says Adam Levin, chairman and founder of identity protection service IDT911 and author of Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves.

Freeze your credit

An even better alternative to a fraud alert is freezing your credit. Whether your wallet was stolen or you just want extra security, a credit freeze will keep you—or thieves—from opening any new accounts. “All a credit card company does is refund your account if there’s fraud,” Siciliano says. “They’re just forgiving the debt, not guarding your credit.” You’ll have to call all three credit reporting companies to freeze your credit, but you can call just one if you want to thaw it. There’s a fee of about $10 every time you freeze and unfreeze (though it’s free if you’re an identity theft victim), but it provides extra protection that’s hard to crack.

Set up a monitoring program

A program that keeps an eye on your credit is especially important if you lost your Social Security card (though you should leave that or any of these items out of your wallet in the first place). “Once they have your social security number, they have that option on your life,” Levin says. “It’s not ‘if’ but ‘when.’” With a monitoring program, you’ll get an email, text, or phone notification whenever you or anyone else tries to apply for credit to confirm that it’s you.

Keep an eye on your accounts

Thieves can’t buy with a card once you’ve closed the account, but that doesn’t mean you should be lax about double-checking your spending—a routine you should make habit even if you don’t think you’ve been a victim of fraud. “Closely monitor before and after you lose your wallet,” Siciliano says. Depending on what your bank or credit card offers, you could get an email, text message, or app notification alerting you of account activity. If not—or in addition, just to be safe—go through your statements regularly to make sure everything is accurate, he says. Some thieves sell cards based on zip code, meaning the credit card company will think charges seem normal and won’t issue a warning, though you’ll recognize the extra costs, Levin says.

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Country Wisdom: Buy Your Kids a Wagon, and They’ll Never Complain About “Work”

When our first child, Philip, was born, his great-grandfather sent us a check with a note asking us to buy him a wagon. Little did Grandfather know how useful this gift would be in the years ahead.

We went out and bought a medium-size Radio Flyer, just like the ones we had as children.

Our baby enjoyed rides galore: to the park to gather leaves and chestnuts, down the street to the horse pasture to pet the horses and to the corner store for a loaf of bread.

When his baby sister, Janie, arrived, she joined her big brother in the little red wagon, his chubby arms holding her tight.

Finally their little brother, Paul, completed the family circle. He crowded out Philip, who was ready for kindergarten and had graduated to riding a bicycle.


We had our tumbles. A wagon isn’t built for hot-rodding, and, as every wagon-pulling parent knows, corners are especially tricky.

But early childhood passed in relative safety, and that little red wagon had a birthday each summer along with our oldest child.

About 10 years after we bought the wagon, we moved to the country. We sold the children’s outgrown and outdated possessions, but the wagon wasn’t among them.

We cherished the memories it held, and hoped it would give us more years of service and fun. As it turned out, we had no idea how useful this battered piece of metal on wheels would be in our country paradise. It went where the pickup, the wheelbarrow and the riding mower feared to roll.

You wouldn’t believe what we’ve done with that wagon. We moved the playhouse, the chicken house, the sheep shed, you name it. This requires every hand on the place and a balancing act that would bring applause in any circus, but the job gets done.

Railroad ties, concrete blocks, sod, compost, manure, hay bales, and 50-pound feed sacks have all taken a ride at one time or another.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. If the wagon is involved, the children don’t see it as work. Wagons are for fun, aren’t they? We did get a few grumbles, but teaching the kids the value of work is one of the reasons we chose to live in the country.

The wagon will be 16 years old this year. Philip is ready for fancier wheels, something with shinier paint that requires a driver’s license to operate. But we aren’t ready to trade the wagon in just yet.

You would hardly call it red anymore, and it has a few rust holes, but, hey, there’s more work to be done out here. We’ll have potatoes and onions from the garden to haul in, lambs will be born next spring, and who knows what will need moving.

If any grandparents are wondering what to buy for your grandbabies, I recommend a wagon. Their parents will thank you for years to come.

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