Being a music biz and PR lady by day, party denizen by night, Geneva Simms has mastered the art of looking good. She checks in with us now and then to offer tips and recommend products that have been tried and treasured, plucked from the vast market of beauty, makeup, and hair products for ladies (and sometimes men!). Suggestions can be sent to her here.

At some point many moons ago, my hair went from lustrous brown sugar to lousy mousy. To rid myself of drab and dull, I started going color crazy. I haven’t seen my natural hair color in too many years to count. At some point, Heart, my stylist, even had to help cure me (albeit, kicking and screaming) of being a bleach queen since, on a whim, I decided to pay homage to my Finnish grandmother and go completely white bleach blond… a la Debbie Harry. I’ve finally found a happy medium of colors: light brown on top, bleach blond in the middle, and a medium brown on the bottom layer.

As everyone knows, constant color upkeep can cause severe damage to one’s hair. Even though my hair is pretty straight to begin with, I’ve been getting lessons from Mr. Siriano in getting it perfect with a flat iron and a good amount of hair spray. The coloring combined with the straightening can really cause some trouble. In order to buffer it, I’ve been using Citre’ Shine’s Shine Miracle Products, Split End Mender and Aerosol Shine Serum. They’re infused with grapefruit, lime, and mandarin orange extracts, so they’re a perfect fresh scent for summer. Plus, they’re really affordable, so I can save money for more important things like that vacation I’m planning on taking someday…

These two products are especially perfect for hot weather: they’re light and won’t weight my hair down, leaving it looking glossy, not greasy, in the summer sun.

Being a music biz and PR lady by day, party denizen by night, Geneva Simms has mastered the art of looking good. She checks in with us now and then to offer tips and recommend products that have been tried and treasured, plucked from the vast market of beauty, makeup, and hair products for ladies (and sometimes men!). Suggestions can be sent to her here.

Living in NYC can be likened to being on a constant vacation: late nights seven days a week, brunch time all-you-can-drink cocktails on weekends, beach access just a subway trip away, being endlessly entertained and on the go all hours of the day if one so chooses. Having lived here as long as I have, my idea of vacation has become to visit my mother in Ohio and do absolutely nothing. However, just because I don’t leave the city to hit the beach doesn’t mean that I don’t spend any time in the sun. On most weekends in the summer, I’m running long distances to train for the NYC Marathon, so I get more than my fair share of sun exposure.

Recently, to lessen the blow of sun damage to my skin and hair, a friend of mine suggested I try Fruits & Passion Tahitian Monoi Nourishing Milk and Nourishing Hair Mask. The main ingredient, Tahitian Monoi, is extracted by soaking and softening Gardenia flowers in coconut oil. These products are great at conditioning my hair and skin both pre- and post-sun without being too heavy or oily. Plus, the scent takes me back to happy days when I would slather on sun tan oil without thinking about sun damage and did travel to distant places to spend time on the beach.

Being a music biz and PR lady by day, party denizen by night, Geneva Simms has mastered the art of looking good. She checks in with us now and then to offer tips and recommend products that have been tried and treasured, plucked from the vast market of beauty, makeup, and hair products for ladies (and sometimes men!). Suggestions can be sent to her here.

It’s staying lighter later in NYC and the city is thawing out from winter. It’s about this time of year when I seem to notice couples coming out of hibernation, canoodling on blankets in McCarren Park or holding hands while they walk to brunch at Enid’s . It’s also that time of year when I notice that my skin has taken a turn for the worse, as if it too is in thaw mode.

Thankfully, I recently discovered a line of products called Everyday Minerals. All of the products are mineral-based, and actually good for the skin. Because they are non-comedogenic (they won’t clog your pores), they are far less detrimental to the skin than traditional cosmetics. I’m particularly crazy about the blush, which only requires one application throughout the day. It comes in loose powder form and the shades are very natural looking, giving me a subtle glow, perfect for spring and early summer. With the Sooshco Baby Kabuki brush made by Everyday Minerals to evenly apply them, my favorite shades are Amusement Park (a peach shimmer) and Waffle Cone (a subtle natural tan). And when my skin gives off a little too much “glow,” if you know what I mean, I just turn to the brand’s Blotting Paper to tone it down.

The second best part about these products is that they won’t break the bank. They’re extremely affordable without sacrificing quality. Check out more at the Everyday Minerals website. While I may not be twitter-painted for a particular person at the moment, I can say that these products make me look and feel good about myself. And we all know that when this happens, we carry ourselves through the world in a confident, satisfied way. What can be better than that?

Being a music biz and PR lady by day, party denizen by night, Geneva Simms has mastered the art of looking good. She checks in with us now and then to offer tips and recommend products that have been tried and treasured, plucked from the vast market of beauty, makeup, and hair products for ladies (and sometimes men!). Suggestions can be sent to her here.

In New York City, there really only are two seasons: bitter, cold, cathartic winter; and sultry, sweltering, fun-loving summer. The milder seasons, Fall and Spring, are skimmed over, if recognized at all. Whenever summer approaches, I get nostalgic for summer 2001, when I was in love. We’d just moved to Skillman Avenue in Brooklyn and we filled our days riding the Cyclone at Coney Island and getting gelato at Sette Pani. We sat for hours in comfortable silence on a water front roof top in Williamsburg. We mailed each other love letters on post cards every day that entire summer.

Now, another summer is upon us and life is exciting and everything is new and possibilities seem endless! As the daylight hours grow longer, it’s time to put away the liquid eye liner and simplify the makeup routine, which brings me to my latest and greatest find: The Multiple by NARS (I use the “South Beach” shade). This brilliant little multi-tasker is small enough to fit in my pocket and smart enough to take care of three-in-one: eyes, cheeks, and lips. In just sixty seconds’ time I achieve a subtle “I just spent all day in the South Beach sun” glow… minus all of the sun damage!