My Beauty Space : Product Reviews, Tips and Experiences

My mom asked for a home microdermabrasion kit for Christmas, to replace the one she had that finally ran out (those things last forever, if you’ve never used on before), and it made me think about also getting her some of the Revitol skin care products that are made for fighting wrinkles and other signs of aging, such as age spots, coloring, sagging skin and skin tone since she has an interest in keeping her skin healthy and radiant well into her fifties and her sixties, and seventies, and beyond!

These days, we not only have some great cosmetic procedures that are minimally invasive to use in our arsenal against the ravages of aging and the environment and our lifestyle choices on our skin, but we also have perfect conditions for the innovation and creation of new skin care products that are of a clinical quality. 

They use high grade vitamins, minerals and acids that used to only be reserved for the types of skin care products that cost hundreds of dollars just for one tube or bottle, and they used to be harder to come by since we hadn’t yet really experienced the full access that the internet offers us today to a wide range of products, giving the consumer the ultimate end-say and power in the types and range of products they can buy with their money. 

What I like about the Revitol line of skin care products is that they use these high grade ingredients, and yet they are still reasonably priced, so you don’t have to be wealthy to be able to afford the best in skin care.  Some of the ingredients I speak of that I favor for their extreme abilities to reverse the signs of aging and also to help fend off new signs of aging, are vitamin C, Alpha lipoic acid, hyaluronic acid, DMAE, and a host of other firming, anti sag and color enhancing ingredients. 

Even using one of these ingredients alone can make a dramatic difference in your skin, but using them in tandem is like putting those wrinkles in a small barrel and shooting them, it’s easy pickins. 

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. 

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.  

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. 

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 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?