My Beauty Space : Product Reviews, Tips and Experiences

Cellulite reduction products such as creams, serums, gels and liquids, heck, even some offer pills that claim to help with the reduction of the appearance of the stubborn spongy stuff, have quite a few ingredients in common usually.  There’s a reason for that, and that is these ingredients have been demonstrated to have somewhat of an effect on the appearance of cellulite in the people that use it.  Albeit it is usually a temporary reduction, but it nonetheless does seem to disappear from view at least reasonably for hours after application.

But are their ingredients that really help to tone and tighten, that you should look for when choosing the best cellulite treatment you can find, and do these products really make a difference?  My belief is that they do, as a cellulite cream user myself, since I can definitely see a difference in the pitting and spongy look in my buttocks and thighs when I’m using the cream regularly vs. not using it.

First off, your cellulite cream should definitely have some source of caffeine in it. Where the caffeine is derived from it shouldn’t matter, but caffeine is one of the best surface toners out there, and models have been using the coffee grounds to reduce cellulite for a long time, however that’s messy and time consuming, so utilizing caffeine in a cream is best for those of us who don’t have time to mess with using used coffee grounds on our trouble areas in the shower every morning. 

Many types of algae have been shown to have skin tightening properties, as well as helping to alleviate surface water from the skin, which just pushes the bulges out further, making the cellulite appear worse than it is and exacerbating the problem areas.  Natural algae is not only great for cellulite, but also is therapeutic for the skin as well, so you get a two for one here.

Retinol and retinoids are excellent as well, as they are a derivative of Vitamin A, and they have great therapeutic properties for toning the skin and helping promote elasticity, something that is hindered by cellulite, hence the puckered look instead of a smooth look.  Retinol is not only a great cellulite fighter, but is also excellent for the skin and is used in several top notch skin care products for anti aging because of it’s promotion of skin elasticity. 

I finally broke down and bought an eye makeup remover.  Don’t know why I’ve always been so averse to actually using the stuff, but I found some Neutrogena makeup remover at a local CVS and figured I’d start using it on my eyes to remove those stubborn bits of eyeliner that seem to stay around your eyes even after you wash your entire face. I must say, it’s nice to have a completely makeup free face after washing it before I go to bed!

The Neutrogena oil free eye makeup remover is a good product, like many other products made my Neutrogena, although I’d never recommend most of their makeup line since I’ve personally tried some of it and had no luck at all.  It’s a clear liquid that comes in an almost 4 oz. container and is priced around 6 bucks.  At the rate I’ve been using it, it’ll last me forever, so I’m not really concerned about buying this adding to my makeup budget at all.

It takes the eye makeup right off, including mascara and eyeliner, which are my biggest worries since you don’t want this stuff on your eye area after you’ve washed it, irritating the eyes.  I never realized how much eyeliner I had leftover on my eyes after washing my face until I used this stuff.

I use it by dipping a q-tip in the liquid and gently gliding the q-tip under my eyes, and over my lashes if there is any mascara leftover, and the cotton always comes out with brown stuff on it, more than what I thought it would too, so that means it works.  It really has no smell, like many other Neutrogena products, and it didn’t burn my eyes when it got in them, although it made them feel “oily”, but that was quickly remedied when I blinked a few times.  Good stuff!   

Well, I have two for one reviews now, since some products are just very simple and you can only go on so much about their subtle nuances like smell, feel and effectiveness.  The first product I’m reviewing today is a simple but great moisturizer. 

I’m going to start off by saying though, that I think this moisturizer is better for winter than summer because of it’s high emollience.  I’d prefer a lighter one for the summer, but St. Ive’s 24 Hour Moisture cream is truly a great moisturizer, and it really does moisturize you for a long time, not just immediately evaporating as you feel some others do.

24 Hour Moisture is a thicker cream with an ingredient called “Hydratein” which they developed to supposedly retain moisture even longer than traditional emollient ingredients that are found in skin moisturizers.  It’s so moisturizing that when you first apply it, you have an almost dewey glow from the product, which is nice.  The scent is very light and clean, and there appears to be no artificial coloring as it is just a white cream, which is always good. 

St. Ives has been around forever with their skin care products and reasonably priced, if not cheap, hair care products.  I never cared for their hair care products, but some of the moisturizers they make do work well and are very reasonably priced.  Other ingredients in this value moisturizer are pure swiss glacial water, various swiss botanicals, and the hydratein complex.  Like many other moisturizers, the first ingredient listed is water.

The second product I am reviewing is a deodorant. Not exactly beauty related, but certainly hygeine and health related!  This one is a natural deodorant, which is the only kind I use now unless I’m planning on doing an extremely stressful activity that day or have a big meeting I have to run at work and don’t want sweat marks or odors, since aluminum deodorants tend to be better at absorbing odors and wetness.

Nature’s Gate is a great organic beauty and toiletry company that uses certified organic botanicals in it’s products and focuses on making chemical free, healthy alternatives.  The one I tried is the formula with Tee Tree and Blue Cypress, both of which are supposed to be excellent astringents. 

This deodorant worked very well on me, as I did not notice any odors when wearing it, and it seemed to also reasonably control my perspiration.  It did not however work on my boyfriend.  I love the clean, earthy scent, and the stick costs $4.90 at a natural foods store and has already lasted me a month (since the boyfriend’s not using it).  I’ll be buying this line of natural deodorants again, just may try a different formula to mix it up a bit. 

We’ve briefly discussed facial exercises and how they may be able to keep age at bay by helping to tone the underlying facial muscles that keep us looking young and sculpted, but I wanted to touch on it again after a comment from a woman who reviewed a glycolic acid peel I just purchased.  She said that she was in her later years and that she has kept her face looking younger and more wrinkle free by doing facial exercises. 

I think it’s fascinating that exercising your facial muscles can keep your face in shape, much like exercising the body keeps the body in tip top shape and prevents aging and certain illnesses and conditions that go with aging.  You can do so much with anti aging and wrinkle creams, and of course I advocate putting only the best products on your face to keep the overlying skin youthful, vibrant and toned, but what about the underlying structure that supports the firmness and lift of your face as you age?

It can definitely help with things like facial drooping (thanks to gravity), jowls, the development of that under the chin flap affectionately referred to as a “waddle” (thanks Ally McBeal for popularizing that one), and other sagging and drooping of the face and eyelids that contributes to that look of aging that we sometimes can’t even put our finger on.

Not only are there certain exercises that can help tone those facial muscles and prevent sagging, bagging and droopage, but there are even devices out there that claim to help tone the underlying muscles and top layer skin and dermis, which only require that you move them over your face, much like a hand help device. 

With the facial exercises, you just have to be careful to read reviews on the books you get, because some of them have been reported to create new wrinkles because they are so intense and held for so long that they create new opportunities for wrinkles.  If you think about it, that’s how wrinkles are created, they are areas of our face that repeatedly get scrunched, pulled and manipulated into the same position, and that is how these depressions and creases become permanent when our skin loses that youthful elasticity. 

Did you know that there are things you can do that are relatively simple and not such a huge pain in the butt, even if you happen to be a smoker, that can help you maintain white, clean looking teeth and add a ton to your appearance and smile?  The first tip is actually focused for coffee and tea drinkers and some may not like the idea, but it definitely reduces the contact of the staining factor to the teeth, which is what is needed for stain avoidance.

Try drinking staining beverages through a straw.  This way, the drink passes by the teeth and goes straight down the throat, minimizing contact and therefore also minimizing it’s potential to stain the teeth.

The reason that teeth absorb deeply colored foods and beverages is that they have a degree of porosity to them, just like every bone in the body, and because of their porous quality, they do absorb and take on deep colors, making them appear brown or yellow instead of their natural white.

As we age, you see this process compound, since our teeth have absorbed thousands of staining foods and beverages as we get older and consume more and more over time.  Plus, the aging process alone can leave teeth duller and tinted.  Drinking damaging beverages through a straw will help with the introduction of these substances that speed the staining process up.

The problem is that the stronger you drink your tea or coffee, the more staining potential it has since it takes on a deeper “stain”, and has more ability to stain your teeth because it is more concentrated.  Similarly if you eat darkly colors fruits, esepecially blueberries or grape juice or lots of dark wines, you will notice that they have strong staining factors that sometimes are almost immediately visible. 

If you are a smoker, you really can’t avoid the tar that emits from smoke from clinging to your teeth and sinking in to create a darker appearance, but there are some products you can try that help to take the tar off, but they must be used once every night at least, especially after a day of smoking.

One is a mouthwash called Targon which is used prior to brushing the teeth.  It helps to pull tar stains out of the teeth, and loosening them up so that when you brush your teeth you are actually brushing tar stains out.  Many smokers swear by this one.

Strawberries are actually a natural tooth whitener, especially when eaten raw and by themselves.  Not only are they a natural teeth whitener, but they are also high in antioxidants and tasty, so noshing on strawberries daily can help to whiten teeth naturally.

There are several tooth whitening chewing gums available now that claim to help combat stains and keep teeth white and bright.  If you pop a piece of this gum after you’re eaten a meal with staining foods or a beverages that is dark in color, this may help to offset the effects of the food or beverage consumed.

Also there are some quality teeth whitening toothpastes that can be purchased at your local drugstore that have teeth whitening capabilities, especially if they’re used right after consuming something that may stain the teeth and take away the whiteness even more. 

What I say when I mean a good self tanner plus natural sun means you get a gorgeous deep tan, is of course not that you fry yourself out in the sun, and take precautions, especially when it comes to sunscreen on your susceptible body parts that burn easily especially the face, but that with a little natural sunlight after applying a self tanner, you do get a very nice result because the self tanner effect is intensified over and over again when it is exposed to sunlight.

This is for a few reasons.  First, because the natural radiant heat that is emitted from the sun helps to “bake” the self tanner in further and help it penetrate the skin’s layers, making for a potentially longer, more lasting tan, and also making for a more beautiful, deeper color that you can say really came from some natural exposure (but not too much). 

Second, self tanner’s main ingredient is made to interact with oxygen, and when it is exposed to oxygen there is a small chemical reaction between it and your skin, which produces the browning of the top layers of the skin, which produces the self tan that helps make you look gorgeously summery while maintaining the integrity of your skin and helping to prevent wrinkles and skin cancer. 

The less covered you have your body, say if you have a pair of shorts and tank top on, this means the more oxygen your body is exposed to, and the better the self tanner develops, and the quicker it develops, into a brown tan that you can be happy with.  Any time I’ve ever applied self tanner and then gone out in the sun, I’m amazed at how quickly and effortlessly the sunless tan develops, whereas it may take a lot longer to develop if I am fully clothed and indoors. 

A little sunlight is good for you, it helps you produce Vitamin D, it’s just those that overexpose themselves to UV rays that find it backfires on them and they may develop skin cancers and premature wrinkling since sun exposure does produce Vitamin D in the body, but it also can produce free radicals which help destroy healthy skin cells. 

I was just in one of my favorite discount stores, TJ Maxx, who I think has upped their factor of having more different brands and good prices again, after a few years of being ho-hum, and found that they again are carrying one of my favorite skin care lotions that seems to really do the trick to make my skin look younger.  It’s the Virtual Laser line, and the one I buy is the wrinkle eraser version, because they also have one that eliminates redness, which I do not have a problem with right now. 

The products are very reasonably priced, especially at TJ Maxx, where a bottle that is a decent size is just $7.99.  I’m not sure what exactly makes this product work, but I suspect it is some sort of light reflecting technology, because I notice a dewy luminescence right away when I apply it over my anti aging serum (which I also love, and never go without applying, even under makeup or under my regular moisturizer).

While it may all work by smoke and mirrors, and I’m not sure it has any truly therapeutic values to the lotion itself as far as imparting external nutrients and antioxidants to the facial skin, it really doesn’t matter if you’re applying the stuff that really gets the anti aging part of the job done, like the Revitol line of anti aging and wrinkle skin care products, underneath.  It still works the same, you just have to let your based lotion or serum sink in before you apply the Virtual Laser product. 

I remember hearing about this controversial surgery way back when, but I thought it was only for patients who had legitimate need for lengthening their legs, such as an asymmetry in leg length, or some other disproportionate and medically challenging attribute where one leg grows longer than the other.  Well, it seems that now a clinic in Russia is offering a leg lengthening procedure for anyone who wants it, no matter what the reason - mostly for cosmetic reasons.

The remote Russian clinic employs interpreters for it’s foreign customers, which are plentiful since most other places, such as in the US and Britain, will not perform such a radical , risky surgery if there is not legitamate medical need.  They use a technique (brace yourself, it’s kind of gruesome), where the legs are broken just below the knees, and a device is inserted between the bones which prevents the bones from naturally generating more bone tissue and fusing the bones back together.

By tricking the bones into believing they need to generate more bone between, they keep moving the contraptions so that the body keeps creating more bone tissue, creating length in the lower legs.  They do recommend that patients don’t go any more than a few inches though, since all the length is really underneath the knee caps, and it can end up looking disproportionate to the thigh part of the legs if they add too much length below. 

Many people who are just five feet or barely over have opted for the surgery and been happy with the results, which usually end up with a faint scar just below the knees, however, the recovery process is gruesomely painful as reported by some, and take a long time.  For some patients, the bone growth is slower than expected, and they are debilitated for longer than they had hoped, which is a pretty big deal, especially for a surgery that is not medically necessary. 

There are people though that get it done for medical reasons, such as an asymmetry between the lengths of the two legs, and end up happy and able to walk normally.  The surgery to lengthen the legs is expensive, ranging from the upper seventies to over one hundred thousand dollars, once the physcial therapy and all is said and done. 

Enjoy - this is a short article that’s headed for publication soon on some article sites, it’s about the Fraxel and Titan lasers, both of which have demonstrated some pretty remarkable results for various reasons. 

We’re all looking for something that will help us age a bit more gracefully.  Some even go as far as getting a facelift, which we all know can backfire easily, many times looking unnatural and leaving you worse off than before, and actually making some people look “scary”, all in the name of getting rid of wrinkles and fighting aging.

The worst part is, surgery like this is not only painful and has a grueling recovery, but it’s also not reversible and can completely alter the way your face appears, making you look like, well - not you!

We’re lucky in this day and age though, because there are some excellent non surgical options that leave our bone structure and underlying facial tissues alone, leaving us looking like ourselves, just a younger version with tighter, more vibrant and youthful skin.  One such family of facial skin care treatments that can be performed in a professional facility, that gives beautiful results, are laser treatments.

The only problem is that they’ve evolved so much that many women and men get confused when looking for the type of laser procedures that will work best for their individual situation and skin care goals.

For example, do you have acne scarring, or is hyper pigmentation more your concern?  Are you looking for something to help smooth those crow’s feet and fine lines, or are you looking for something that will take away years of sun damage and restore the smooth texture of your skin?

Everyone has different skin care goals, and there are different types of laser treatments, none of them cheap unfortunately, but most of them very effective at targeting certain issues successfully, and many times with minimal downtime and risk.

So, let’s take a look at two of the most cutting edge and popular laser skincare treatments today, and talk about what they can do for your skin.

1.)Fraxel laser : This method is also called the fractional method, because the laser works on the skin to remove imperfections and sun damage, and restore a youthful even tone and brilliance, fraction by fraction of the skin.  This means because it works on such small areas at a time, it is able to “fine tune” each individual area, and perfect it before it moves onto the next targeted area.

This also is supposed to mean a very short recovery time and very little pain, however, I must caution that I’ve read discussion boards where women and men refute the claims that it is virtually pain free and say they did indeed experience discomfort during the process.  The cost of the fraxel laser method is pretty high, with a package of six treatments usually running a couple thousands dollars, depending on where you go to get them done.

2.)Titan laser skin improvement system : This one is very interesting indeed and is exciting because it uses a method that not only helps improve the skin’s surface dramatically, but it is also used to help regenerate collagen, and can even be used to soften and “fill in” nasal labial folds (the area on either side of the mouth, that runs from the edges of the nose to the mouth, these folds often get more pronounced with age).

The Titan laser is one of the deepest penetrating lasers, and that is how it claims it can help stimulate dramatic increases in collagen production and help to fill out lines and folds in the skin and make the face look “plump” again as it did when you were younger.  We do tend to lose facial fat as we age, which accounts for much of the aged look of the face, since the cheeks get more sunken, and this leads to an increased appearance of wrinkles as well.

The Titan is supposed to also help with acne scarring, and may be an especially good choice for acne scarring because of it’s “skin filling” abilities due to the increased collagen production, which would be ideal for filling in pitted acne scars and ice pick-type scars form acne lesions.

It’s called a “Local Secret” lotion in Maui, Hawaii, where the product is manufactured, and after using it I can sort of agree, but I did notice one drawback of the Maui Babe Browning Lotion, but it wasn’t really all that important since I did feel it worked.  The lotion has become somewhat of a hit with the tanning crowd, because it is supposed to give you a dark tan that is faster and even may help curb burning, although it does not contain any sunscreen, supposedly perhaps because it is such a dark lotion to begin with that may serve as somewhat of a screen against UV rays, but that’s really just my uneducated guess.

Maui Babe, contrary to what I said in my last post, is not in as small a bottle as I thought.  I thought the bottle size was a bit too small from pictures and just visualization before I got my bottles in the mail which I ordered from Amazon.com, but when I got them I thought they were well worth the ten dollar price tag, and after I used the product it furthered confirmed the value becasue a little bit of this super rich and thick lotion does go quite a long ways. 

The Maui Babe Browning lotion does have tons of emollients in it, and because it does, it helps to draw the sun to you a bit more, but it also gives a nice brown instant color because of the potassium iodide, which is also presumably what helps your skin tan a little faster.  I remember the old trick of putting iodine in baby oil when I was young and dumb and just fried my skin to get a tan, so it doesn’t surprise me that potassuim iodide is in this stuff, it’s probably what lends a lot of the dark color to it. 

Some of the other ingredients in the product that are great for the skin are a light mineral oil (less comedogenic than heavy mineral oil, which isn’t recommended because it clogs pores more readily), Kukui Nut oil, vitamins E, C and A, Kona coffee plant extract, aloe and potassium iodide. 

Some of those ingredients are antioxidant powerhouses, so it’s really got some great stuff in it.  My only complaint is that the product does seem a bit heavy and almost sticky, so you do want to be careful not to load up too much when you apply it, because you will feel sticky and gooey for a while, but I think that’s why it lends itself to being water resistant also, because it does stick to the skin very well.  One of the best parts about it is that it gives that instant color like tinted self tanners do, so it’s ideal to put on while you’re in a bathing suit so you can get a little extra brownness going on that looks good instantly.