Archive for October, 2008:
Oil of Olay, one of the largest and most widely available anti aging and wrinkle skin care lines that is out on the market today, and by the way, also the most popular one right now that can be purchased at most drug stores and retail outlets like Wal-mart and target, has come out with a new addition to their ever expanding, extensive line of skin care products. It’s a part of their Definity line of skin care, which is supposed to be a line dedicated to enhancing natural beauty as well as decreasing the visibility of lines and wrinkles through vitamin infusion.
This product, the Definity Color Recapture tinted moisturizer, is aimed more as a light diffusion method to making the face appear more even toned, less lined and brighter and more youthful. This is one of my personally favorite ways to help reduce the look of aging and wrinkles, since I use the Revlon (now discontinued, not happy about it) line called Skinlights, which is a color tinted makeup that helps to diffuse the light naturally which helps to lighten and brighten the skin.
Oil of Olay has some of the best skin care products on the market today that are available through traditional stores. In fact, it was one of the best rated skin care products to reduce the looks of lines and wrinkles as voted by Good Housekeeping magazine if I recall correctly.
I do still think that there are better, stronger formulations that are available though online and through other outlets, that you just can’t get in traditional retail stores like Revitol, which is a superior, heavily vitamin infused product. This way you can get the maximum exposure to beneficial ingredients such as vitamin c, alhpa lipoic acid and DMAE, all of which are great taken orally for the skin and also for applying topically.
OK, so this isn’t actually me that this review is from, but from my boyfriend, who just bought the new Vaseline for Men. It’s a lotion that is supposedly formulated more tailored for men’s skin and the unique problems and characteristics that man’s skin has. For example, did you know that men naturally have tougher, thicker skin than women do? It’s true! That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll age a whole lot better in the face than women, but sometimes it does explain the number of men who outnumber the women who look much younger than their age.
My boyfriend is almost thirty years old, and doesn’t realy have a wrinkle to count on his young face yet, but he does get dry and irritated a lot, especially where his goatee is. He is prone to getting splotches of red around that area, and his skin gets abnormally dry in the winter months when humidity is hard to come by unless you take a steam shower.
Vaseline for Men is in a large dispenser, sort of like a woman’s body cream would be. This just goes to show that men don’t need all the fancy, smaller packing for something to work. It’s also very reasonable, considering this product will probably last him two years if he continues to only use it on his face. It only costs around six dollars.
He says that he likes it, it’s definitely doing the job it needs to and is keeping the red spotchies away while soothing his skin after he shaves without irritation bumps, so it was a good buy.
Well, this certainly isn’t a story that any woman wants to read, it actually somewhat like a story from a horror novel if you want to know that truth, at least the headline did to me. The beautician is based out of New York and is a woman, and she is charged with disfiguring two clients with injections into their face that they thought were a combination of collagen and other beauty enhancers, but in fact when tests were done they were closer to pure silicone, which cannot be injected right into the body without side effects.
The injections ended up severely disfiguring both women’s lips to the point that they could barely talk or eat, and they pursued legal action against the woman for using something that clearly was not approved to be injected directly into the skin without serious repercussions as they had. The women have both had to have several surgeries to try to fix the disfigurement, and have been left with many scars from the procedures, so they definitely have right to sue.
Of course the beautician’s attorney claims there was no wrong done to the women, and in fact claims that his client did not ever even treat one fo the women. The truth will come out as this story unfolds in the courtroom, and it should be interesting to see if the outcome is in this woman’s client’s favor or in the favor of her.
If you’re looking for fuller lips and don’t want to risk the pain and discomfort and cost of cosmetic injections, look at these lip plumper reviews to see how products applied topically can pump your lips up to their individual max by increasing moisture retention and helping to plump out creases, making them fuller and poutier looking.
I know I reviewed the new Cover Girl Lash Blast Mascara just a few weeks ago, but i wanted to follow up on a comparison review of this new mascara against my all time favorite and regular mascara that I’ve been using for over ten years, L’Oreal Lash Out. The two really don’t compare in my opinion when it comes to coverage and drama.
Lash Blast, which I agree has a great brush design, just doesn’t seem to deliver enough of the actual mascara to my lashes, leaving them puny looking, while L’oreal Lash Out delivers plenty of mascara and also helps to separate the lashes and lengthen them with it’s special teddy bear brush. I think it’s the consistency of the mascara itself in L’Oreal’s mascara though that makes it a superior product in the end, because if you put the same mascara in the Cover Girl bottle, you may get the same results, unless I am wrong and the brush design really just stinks for Cover Girl’s Lash Blast.
L’Oreal Lash Out is my staple because even with no other eye makeup on, it works so well that it helpst to define the eyes by fattening the lashes emphatically and drawing the eye to this area of the face.
For a spa feeling that you can use right in the comfort of your own home, Nu Skin has products to hydrate, cleanse and treat your skin. Probably the most unique product that they have is the galvanic spa device that uses galvanic currents to cleanse impurities and hydrate your skin.
The Galvanic Spa System 2 helps to smooth lines and wrinkles and rejuvenates your complexion. You use this device with specific different gels designed for pretreatment and another set for treatment. It is recommended to use the galvanic spa system two to three times a week for the best results. It is effective in smoothing lines and wrinkles associated with aging skin as well as helping people with mild to moderate acne.
For step 1 of the treatment you use the fountain 1 setting which uses a negative charge current together with the pretreatment gel. This step prepares the skin and removes impurities so the pores can breathe. In step 2, you switch the galvanic device so it is on the fountain 2 setting. This setting uses a positive galvanic current together with a positive gel and provides your skin with nutrients, hydration and has an antioxidant effect on the skin.
You can choose up to 5 minutes of treatment for your skin with the galvanic spa. You should hear a beeping sound when using the galvanic spa as this means it is finding a current. You should hear the beeping sound about every 20 seconds to indicate it is still effectively finding a current. You usually will not feel the current except occasionally people may feel a slight tingling sensation around the mouth area if there is metal in the mouth.
To clean the galvanic spa device, remove the head and clean with rubbing alcohol. Store the unit without the head. For more information on the Galvanic Spa System, log on to www.magicinthe mirror.com.
I decided to talk about a few hygiene tools that could be viewed as purely necessary by some, but that I not only view as a hygiene necessity, but also as a beauty necessity since they serve a double purpose. The first is a nose hair trimmer.
There’s nothing more unsightly than overgrown nose hairs, is there? I know some people – particularly men – who let those babies grow right out of their nose! I tend to have that trait if I don’t make sure I keep my nose hair trimmed with an electric nose hair trimmer at least once a month, so I consider this to be part of my hygiene regimen but also part of my beauty one as well since it serves both purposes.
And how about tweezers? Those are another one that is viewed as both, but I tend to mostly think of tweezers when it comes to one thing – my eyebrows, which I think are one of the most important parts of a woman’s face and are extremely important to shape and keep groomed if you want to look your best. A well groomed set of brows can change the whole way your face looks, and making sure that they naturally curve with the curves of your eyes is very attractive too.
Tweezers can also be handy to pluck those weird stray hairs that you might get on your face or other body parts where hair is not exactly the most “desirable” thing to have growing. My tweezers are one of my most prized beauty tools and long held ones as well, since I’ve had them for well over fifteen years, an inherited set from my mom which are still the best tweezers I’ve ever used – and I’ve used the best ones too!
This is a note to all the ladies who love eyeliner and use it pretty much everyday, except on the weekends like myself. I buy the kind of eyeliner that you have to sharpen with an eyeliner sharpener (that resember a pencil sharpener). I like my eyeliner in pencil form because I have more control over how sharp I can get the tip, and that means that I get a more precise tip so I can daw a more precise, and thinner line if I want to, underneath my eyes, which is where I use eyeliner to begin with.
I’ve never been a fan of using liner on the top lid unless I’m going for the smokey eyed dramatic look for an evening out on the town or some other bigger event, so it’s imperative that I keep the point very thin. I know it may feel like you’re wasting the eyeliner, but the good sharpeners will shave off as little as possible, still making it a sharp point, but not using too much of the pencil up in the sharpening process.
Some good sharpeners are MAC, which has an awesome line of makeup tools like eyelash curlers, makeup pads and brushes, and you can find some decent ones in the stores, but this is one item that you want to pay a little more for. Don’t go for the bargain bin ninety nine cent one when it comes to sharpeners, because they can rust quickly and may provide a horrible, chunky sharpening that wastes more than it sharpens, something you definitely don’t want when you’re shelling out money for your makeup.
When sharpening, keep the pencil as close to the sharpening as possible, so that you don’t get divots in your pencil, which means you have to resharpen and waste even more product to get that sharpened edge. A sharp pencil is ideal for creating precise stylish looks that aren’t too harsh or overbearing. You can let the sharpening ride for a bit if you’re going for the chunkier, thicker line.
I just got a great new color from the Mac line of lip glosses called Plush Glass. I really like Plush Glass a lot, not only for it’s remarkable ability to stay on the lips forever without getting gummy or gross, but also because it’s color goes on really sheer, and not pasty looking or too glittery at all, although I do wish they had a better selection of more muted colors in this line.
The new color I got is a bit darker than what I usually go for, called Pop Sugar. It’s a darker mauve-ish sort of color that will go great with fall colors, and will look good when I eventually dye my hair a bit darker for the winter season. I noticed that they didn’t have a great selection of colors in their Lip Glass either, or else I may have tried that, but I don’t like the fact that some of their lines have brush applicators and others have the sponge applicator, which I’m partial to.
It seems like they should offer both options with both products for those of us that are a little pickier about how the applicators are, like me. Mac also had some great fall colors for the eyes, with their notorious rich hues for those that like to dare to wear the darker, more dramatic colors in the winter time, which allows for those darker, richer tones.
I received this question from a reader about aging skin and what is best to use for certain characteristics that are common in women’s aging skin. Read on!
Question : I AM 75 YEARS OLD. I DO NOT HAVE MANY FINE WRINLKES BUT, MY FACE DOES HAVE MANY SMALL BROKEN BLOOD VESSELS, DEEP “MARIONETTE” LINES ON THE SIDES OF MY NOSE AND MOUTH AND BAGS UNDER MY EYES. WHAT PRODUCT DO YOU RECCOMMEND THAT ISN’T GOING TO COST MY WHOLE SS CHECK AND WILL SHOW ME IMPROVEMENT, CONSIDERING MY AGE, RELATIVELY QUICKLY?
THANK YOU,
XXXXXX
Answer :
Hello XXXX. Well, there are a few products that I love, but one of the ones I really like that won’t break the bank and has vitamin C, DMAE and also alpha lipoic acid, some of the heaviest hitters in the anti aging and wrinkle fighting market, is a serum that is made by a company called Source Naturals.
It’s called Skin Eternal serum, and it’ll run you about $15, but since it is a serum, it will seem to go fairly quickly so if you’re looking for something to last longer with similar results, take a look at the
Revitol line which offers both creams and serums, for slightly higher prices, but with the ingredients that I believe really work to enhance the skin’s elasticity and soften lines and folds, as well as to help camouflage imperfections such as broken capillaries and uneven tone.
You may also want to consider looking into home chemical peels which consist of either glycolic acid or a combination of glycolic and lactic acid, which I find to be remarkably smoothing to my face (I’m 34, but have crows feet that have formed from sun damage and have noticed that doing these peels weekly has softened my lines noticeably after about four weeks of consistent use).
You will want to find out from vendors which type of peel would be best for you though, as I am not totally familiar with what works for delicate skin. Good luck in your search!
I just had a funny conversation with a friend at work about hair, you know as women do all the time when they are trying to decide what to do with their hair, whether it’s how to do it for a special event, getting it colored or styled a different way, or getting a dramatically different hair cut or going really short for example.
We were laughing because it seems like it’s so much easier to make the decision for others than it is for yourself. She wanted to go much shorter, but said every time she tried she couldn’t go through with it. I totally get that. The shortest I ever had my hair was just above shoulder length and while I liked it at first, I missed my longer hair a few weeks later because it just felt like “home” to me since I’d had long hair my entire life. I guess long hair just makes me feel more feminine and when I had shorter hair for some reason I felt like I had to wear more makeup (silly I know) so that I would look more womanly.
There are some women that just look fantastic with short hair, and actually don’t look as good with longer hair. I’d say Rihanna, the pop singer, and Halle Berry are perfect examples of this, although both would still be undeniably gorgeous with long hair (and Halle currently has long hair). But they have such great bone structure and symmetry to their face that the shorter hair cut shows it off much more, while longer hair would hide this symmetry and chiseled feature.
Now, let’s talk about color. Color may be even more individually defnining than your haircut, so coloring is a really tough thing to go out on a limb with and be brave and daring fashionably speaking. The wildest I ever got was when I died my hair a light reddish blond-brown and cut if off to my shoulders. I felt like I looked “cooler” and more hip, but I didn’t feel like “me”. I guess it depends what your agenda is with your hair style, cut and color, but you should always keep it real and not too far out of your comfort zone if you don’t want weeks of regret. We’ve all gotten bad haircuts and know how long they take to grow out!
