My Beauty Space : Product Reviews, Tips and Experiences

Today is my day off.  And what did I do as far as my little self indulgent beauty treatment? Why, I exfoliated of course, which I try to do once a  week.  It doesn’t always work out that way, especially if we’re travelling on the weekend, but this week it did get to work out. 

I used my home microdermabrasion product, which is on and off my face in about one minute since you don’t want to over do it with these microderm products or you may over irritate your skin or remove TOO MANY dead skin cells, which can leave your face wide open to damaging environmental factors such as UV rays and pollution.

After I gently exfoliated, I decided to forego that typical second step since I’d be getting in the sauna and didn’t want my skin to be too exposed, which is the light acid peel I do on my face after the microderm.  This usually leaves your skin looking red and irritated, but it looks really smooth and radiant a few days later, like you have new skin - because you do!

After gently patting my skin dry and rinsing it with ice cold water to seal the pores shut again, I got on my sauna clothes which consist of shorts and a tank top - yes, even in the winter that’s what you have to wear in a sauna, and went downstairs to the basement where we keep our infrared sauna.  I baked in it for about 45 minutes, reading a good book, and then fell asleep (yes, more pampering) for a bit before waking up feeling refreshed and relaxed. 

My skin was a bit pink when I got out, but it looked healthy and felt really smooth and almost wrinkle free.  They say that infrared saunas help increase the circulation in your skin, but there is also speculation that the deep heating of the infrared heat helps to regenerate collagen production again.  Not sure how much validity there is to that, but I do know that the thermage technique is supposed to regenerate collagen using deep heating too, so who knows. 

Dermal fillers are, for the most part, a fairly safe and risk averted procedure to have, but as with any other slightly invasive cosmetic procedure (I don’t put this one in the invasive category since no one is taking a scalpel to you), there is some level of risk involved, especially if you happen to have some sort of unexpected allergy to the materials that are being injected or some other unexpected adverse reaction to the procedure itself.

I recently saw an article that was somewhat startling where the headline read that the FDA had received a rash of complaints and adverse reaction reports on dermal fillers, although they were not specifically named by brand, and the number was startling as well, in the nine hundreds, however upon further examination I saw that (as with many headlines in the news), the headline overblew the real story.

What they were talking about is complaints that were received by the FDA in the entire last six years that dermal fillers have been in use popularly.  When you break it up by six years, this is still of course not insignificant, but it puts that seemingly big number of people with reports of bad reactions in a little more perspective since it’s not that much out of the realm of possiblity that these were somewhat of a “fluke” and not the expected outcome.

Apparently people getting dermal fillers, which are injected materials under the skin which help to fill out wrinkles on the face and plump the lips, nasolabial folds and other areas that have lost their definition with time and age, have had a whole range of bad reactions from bad swelling to anaphlactic shock and severe allergic reactions. 

Also, some reports of facial paralysis were received, although these were pretty few and far between and were definitely considered a rare outcome of injection with dermal fillers.  Makes you want to find some good wrinkle and anti aging products like the Revitol vitamin and beneficial acids line that you don’t have to get injections for, but if you were looking to do it, I wouldn’t say to use this as a deterrent, it’s still a safe procedure statistically speaking. 

The most commonly used dermal fillers today are Juvederm, Restylane, and Perlane, and they have all been tested for reasonable safety by their makers and approved by the FDA for cosmetic injection use to be used across the US on people who are looking to get their faces that youthful, plumper look for a few months at a time. 

This was definitely an interesting story, and certainly conjures up some funny pictures in one’s mind.  Heck, you almost feel sorry for the guy until you hear he’s been involved in cocaine trafficking and is involved in a mafia crime family, which means he’s full of shadiness.  An Italian man was arrested immediately after he had woken up from his anesthesia following his liposuction surgery recently in Italy.  It doesn’t really specify why they didn’t nab the guy before his cosmetic surgery, but it may have been because they had just gotten the necessary warrants for his arrest.

So, although he woke up with a significant portion of his body fat gone, he has to probably go to jail for a very long time, not sure what kind of trade off that is.  The man was a part of a larger syndicate called the ‘ndragheta mafia family, and had been trafficking drugs which they obviously had plenty of evidence for, enough to arrest him right after his liposuction.  At least he looks good for his soon to be prison friends I suppose!

If you are a woman who is no longer a teenager and you’re concerned about how to find a pair of jeans that will fit well and flatter your present shape, look into trying on some of the Not Your Daughter’s Jeans.
Not Your daughter’s Jeans were designed with the middle aged women in mind for proportion and to fit and complement your figure and minimiize the appearance of the usual problem areas for the typical female figure. Not Your Daughter’s Jeans are made with 4% spandex in them compared to the usual amount of 1 to 2% in other jeans.  This fabric blend allows them to stretch more and hold their shape better than other jeans.  They are constructed with a cross stitch in the front to hold the tummy in and the back pockets are sewn closer together to make your rear area look smaller.
When asked about the area of their figure that most women are unhappy with, most will respond that it is their belly.   Not Your Daughter’s Jeans feature a special line of Tummy Tuck jeans to address this problem area specifically.   The Not Your Daughter’s Jeans work by flattening your tummy, lifting your butt and let you wear one size smaller.
Not Your Daughter’s Jeans slim your figure without a stuffed or binding feeling.  These jeans are soft and comfortable while flattering your figure.  Not Your Daughter’s Jeans come in a wide variety of styles.  They have petite sizes, boot cut, slim leg, tab fronttrouser styles, capris and many more.  For the jean’s colors, they feature classic overdyes, black and premium fall pallette overdye and indigo.
Prices range from approximately $90.00 to about $120.00 for the jeans.  If the fit is flattering and the comfort is there, it could be worth investing in a few pairs.  Jeans are worn for everyday casual use and they can be dressed up or down for different occasions.  Each pair of jeans has specific washing instructions that are usually to machine wash in cold water and to tumble dry on a low setting.

A beautiful smile really does add so much to a person’s face when they are happy.  Actually, I think everyone’s smile is beautiful, simply because it means you have some personality and are a happy person!  But not everyone is so happy with their own smile, as evidenced by a new treatment with the botulism based Botox, which is supposed to help reduce the “gum” factor in smiles for patients who feel too much of their gums shows when they smile, making them self conscious about something they should feel free to share with the world when they’re expressing happiness or joy.

A cosmetic dentists provided the overview fo the treatment on a video I watched, and it’s basically using Botox as a way to help relax the muscles that pull back too much when a person smiles, reducing the amount of “gumminess” in a person’s smile, but still allowing them to freely and openly smile without feeling self conscious about it.  Just when I thought I’d heard of every beauty treatment!

I have to admit I got squeamish while watching the video, because they showed the needle being inserted way up by the corner of the nose (who knew your smile muscles were up that high?), and it didnt’ look like a very pleasant experience.  After all, who does like having needles plunged into their face, even if they don’t go very deep?

The Botox treatment for a better smile runs around $300, and of course that probably depends on the demographics where you’re getting it done.  It’ll be more expensive in say, Beverly Hills than it would be here in the Cleveland Ohio area most likely.  Honestly, I saw a before and after picture of the patient’s smile, and it did make a difference in how high her smile went in the corners of her mouth, but I thought her smile looked much better and more genuine before, but that’s just my opnion and the patient did seem happy with her results, which is of course, all that matter!

I’m a huge fan of brown eyeliner. In fact, that’s what I usually use most every day for work, because it’s more subtle and less “severe”. Black is usually reserved for nights out on the town (which by the way I rarely seem to do any more!), or when I’m going for a more dramatic effect for an event of some sort that I know there will be low lighting at. However, I do make one exception for wearing black eyeliner or a coal color during the day, and that is if I’m going to mix up some blues or purples for my eyeshadow.

With the ever worsening economy and consumer sentiment in the “save” mode, it’s no wonder that areas where discretionary spending rule the mindset of getting something or getting something done, are suffering right now.  Cosmetic surgery certainly doesn’t fall in the category of a necessity, so it makes sense that these elective and often very pricey procedures are being ignored or put off for now as people worry about whether their jobs may be in jeopardy over the next year or so.

Layoffs are expected to start coming in waves for many companies as the US enters what many are saying is a prolonged and deep economic recession.  Recessions typically mean that citizens stop spending money on things, especially things that are not a vital necessity to sustain their life and comfort.  Cosmetic surgeries that typically cost thousands of dollars, such as nose jobs, breast enhancement augmentations and liposuction surgeries are being opted out, but there has actually been an increase in the less expensive alternatives.

By less expensive alternatives, I mean botox or injectable fillers such as restylane and juvederm in lieu of procedures like facelifts, mini facelifts and other highly expensive facial treatments such as thermage and other procedures that cost thousands as opposed to hundreds of dollars.

Things have gotten so dire that groups of plastic surgeons whose business is suffering have gotten together in town hall style meetings to try to come together and solve this crisis with creative marketing and brain storming.  A lot of people will see the prices of cosmetic surgery procedures go down, and lots of specials run in their areas, while some who live in more affluent areas where people can almost always afford the more expensive surgeries may not see any decrease at all in prices.  It all depends on demographics really. 

If you’ve been thinking about getting a procedure done, now may be the time to get a reduced price on one of them, but of course you should only think about it if you already have the money saved, since the economic future right
now is so uncertain. 

Women are still lining up for laser hair removal at the numerous hair removal centers that seemed to have popped up in the last five or so years, but what’s a little worriesome is all the bad reviews I’ve seen on this very expensive, and often very painful, treatment.  Sure, I’d love to never have to worry about shaving for the rest of my life either, just like most other women, and I hate the fact that we have to be subjected to shaving all of our body hair off except for the places it’s considered “ok” for a woman to have body hair. 

who made up the rule now that we also have to shave our bikini area?  Not that I like the look of the seventies “down there” area, mind you, but I’m kind of mad that the new trend is just adding more to our already burdensome grooming duties every day as women.  Laser hair removal became very popular probably about ten years ago.  You practically can’t read a beauty magazine or look online at any beauty related website without seeing refernces to it because it is such a popular process.

However, doing a full course of laser hair removal will cost you a pretty penny. Some women with thick and plentiful body hair who choose a whole body treatment go for several months usually in shifts to get the hair zapped, and can spend up to ten thousand dollars!  I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that kind of money laying around, so lots of women are skimping on other things just to get this done, or they are lucky enough to be in the upper economic echelon that can afford this sort of stuff without jeopardizing the mortgage.

There are some great alternatives to laer hair removal though.  They cost a fraction of the price, and also dramatically cut down on shave time.  In fact, my favorite permanent hair removal product, Ultra Hair Away, can even cut your shaving down to virtually never when it’s used over a period of time because it damages the root and your hair actually begins to die on it’s own after a while.  Of course it instantly starts to work the first time you use it, and you’ll have weeks of shave free legs, or whatever other body part you want to remove hair from. 

There are also some great epilators, which are little devices that you glide over your legs as if you are shaving and it actually pulls the hairs out mechanically, but with minimal discomfort if you use them as directed and pull the skin tight when you are doing each area.  I actually like the permanent hair removal cream better because it is painless, and unfortunately the epilators are good, but they are very time consuming to use in my opinion. 

While the situation with this economy is probably the most dire most of us will see in our lifetimes, we will come back from this, but it is going to take a lot of time.  While we will come back from it, this economy leaves many people seeking reasonable alternatives to expensive cosmetic procedures. 

This economy does mean for many of us that we need to make cutbacks on things that are not a necessity or things that could be put off without too much hassle of inconvenience.  One of the items that falls in the “not a necessity” category is, you guessed it, one of the burgeoning markets over the past ten years, plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures. 

According to most plastic surgeons, the past month or two have brought dramatic decreases in their business, especially when it comes to the more expensive procedures that range in the thousands of dollars category, such as breast augmentations and liposuction, both of which are costly because of the anesthesia and actual complicated surgery that is involved. 

Conversely, other specialists that mostly do less expensive procedures such as facial fillers, Botox, and other more temporary, but less invasive procedures that do not involve surgery and thousands of dollars, may have actually seen a slight boost in their sales.  In other words, lots of patients who may have otherwise been planning to get a facelift, mini facelift, or some other anti wrinkle facial procedure requiring surgery may have opted instead for the less expensive, less invasive procedure to save money for the time being.

The quest for other alternatives that may be less expensive to these common and very popular surgeries has led many women to look for alternatives to breast implants, face lifts, tummy tucks, liposuction and the like.  However, even those areas of opportunity or women and men have seen dips with the faltering economy. 

They’re finding that there are some great nonsurgical ways to look and feel fantastic and to improve their bodies as well as their self esteem, which is a great thing since surgery isn’t for everybody and doesn’t necessarily always accomplish what they patient wants.

Facelifts may be the way to go for some, but often times they do not have the desired outcome and look unnatural.  I’ve seen a few women in the public eye who have gotten them and looked good, like Madonna and maybe Janice Dickinson would fit in that category, but for the most part facelifts just make the person look like they got a facelift. 

There’s no need for that any more with the abundance of cosmetic dermal fillers like juvederm and restylane, not to mention a bevy of at home products that can be used to blast away wrinkles and the fine lines and spots that go with aging. Such products for anti aging and wrinkles I’m referring to are the at home soft light lasers, microdermabrasion systems, chemical peels that are available in the same strength as a dermatologist office (just use caution), and other home treatments that provide a world of difference when it comes to looking younger. 

There are also ways to enhance the breasts without surgery, such as natural breast enhancement products, vacuum devices that stimulate growth, and a variety of creams and lotions, heck, even hypnosis for breast enhancement, that have worked for women seeking to enhance this part of their body. 

When it comes to cellulite, areas where spot reduction is needed, and body contouring, there are a ton of body wraps that can be used at home, cellulite treatments that work with massage to contour fatty areas, and even special shorts one can wear that reduce specific areas of the body through compression.

So you see, if you are one of the people who has put off that plastic surgery or that “dream procedure” you’ve been hoping for all these years, take heart that you can improve your appearance without surgery, and for a lot less money.