Beauty Buzz

As you age your skin changes.  From adorable baby chubbiness to puberty’s unwanted acne, your skin, especially that which covers your face, is a map that gives information about your age, or life>  As you age however your skin type changes.  It can develop problems where there were none in your younger days, or miraculously overnight become void of blackheads that have plagued your entire adult life.  Strangely enough however, although many women see the changes happening when they look in the mirror, it’s not common that they would instantly think that the changes would require a change in their skincare routine – and in particular the kinds of products that they use.

With Christmas approaching take advantage of one of the free consultations that many of the cosmetic companies offer in larger department stores.  Most of these are without obligation because they work on the principle that you’ll be tempted to buy the products once they’ve showed you how wonderful they are!  Book a time when you’re not in a rush, and when you don’t need to wear a lot of make-up so that you can have bare (or almost bare if you’re not quite brave enough to go ‘all the way’) facial skin and the skincare specialist can see your skin in its natural state.

The specialist should clean your face with some kind of cleansing product and then assess the kind of skin you have, noting any issues that you may need to consider – such as enlarged pores or even darker skin under your eyes.  They will then advise you on what kind of products are best suited for your skin type.  Ask them any questions about your skincare routine that you may have, and ask for advice on such things as the amount of times you should use specific products such as masks etc.  You have this expert at your disposal for the short time they are trying to convert you into a shopper of their products, so use it to glean all the information about your skin type that you can!   Once you’re done, the specialist should give you a list of the products that they recommend for your particular type of skin – and there’s the ideal thing to hand a bewildered partner who’s looking for the perfect Christmas gift for you and will otherwise end up buying you yet another pair of house slippers in the wrong size!

Share This

Hands and feet need extra attention during the cold winter months.  Feet often spend long periods of time inside fur-lined boots or frozen cold in shoes that look fabulous but would reveal blue toes if they were taken off.  Hands are often entombed in tight leather gloves, or smothered in wool or fleecy ones – or left bare completely so that they can grip shopping bag handles or the hands of small children.  None of this is particular healthy for the skin and so you need to take additional care of your hands and feet when you are doing your usual face skincare routine each evening.

Use a good hand cream on your hands.  This should be allowed to sink through the skin and then rub a little additional on so that it can work through the night as you sleep to replenish the skin.  Every couple of weeks use a face mask – leaving it on as you would on your face – to give a little additional nourishment to your hands and keep them soft.  If your finances allow for it, try to find time to have a manicure every 4-6 weeks so that your nails and cuticles are kept in tip-top condition, and if your finances don’t allow, then treat yourself to a self-manicure every few weeks to keep your nails healthy.

Feet either seem to be one of two extremes in the winter months – extremely hot or extremely cold.  You may not be able to do anything about the extremes whilst you’re out and about, but indoors you should try to ensure that you don’t wear outdoor shoes that will make your feet sweat when they aren’t in the lower temperatures outside, and when outdoors, ensure that you wear shoes that are weather appropriate where possible.  On a daily basis once you’re ready to climb into bed, massage your feet with a good thick cream that will soften the skin and help your feet to recover from the stresses of the day.  Once the cream is applied, put a pair of socks on top of it to stop it losing its effectiveness by being rubbed off onto your bed linen.  The socks will also keep your feet cozy through the night and stop them becoming cold if they escape from under the duvet!

The winter season is harsh on your skin, so make sure you find a few additional minutes each to keep your hands and feet in a healthy state and they’ll remain as soft as they are in the summer months.

Share This

Are you bothered by the appearance of wrinkles on your face?  Do you find that your “laughter lines” are becoming a little too visible, and that even your hands are taking on a more creased look?  So before you start booking yourself in for botox, consider it could be simply a matter of hydration.

The body needs a good amount of water each day in order to keep its organs running healthily.  What many people don’t realize is that the skin is actually the body’s largest organ.  This means that it also needs water.  When you work in an area that’s air conditioned, where the air quality isn’t good, or where you subject your skin to a lot of sunshine, then you are dehydrating your skin and this encourages wrinkles to appear. 

One of the most simple things you can to in order to counteract the effect that your environment has on your skin is to use a hydrating cream.  There’s a huge range to choose from and they vary in price from budget drugstore own brands up to designer creations costing a fortune.  What you pay for your cream doesn’t matter as much as how regularly you use it.   Ensure that you use the cream in the morning before you start your day, and then at night before you go to bed.  Using it as a moisturizer beneath your make-up is ideal.  You should also stop using any toner that has is of an astringent nature – this will dry out your skin and stop the moisturizer working as well as it would otherwise.

Even if your cream states that it’s a face cream, if you have a problem of wrinkles on your hands, try rubbing the cream into your hands every night for a week and see if there’s  a difference.  You should also stop using any soap products that contain astringents as they will work against the effects of the cream! 

Remember that water is your body’s friend and that your skin gets just as thirsty for it as your throat.  Using a specially formulated hydration cream can stop that happening and keep the wrinkles at bay that little bit longer!

Share This

Most of us, eventually, bored with regular shaving experiment with waxing. While painful to begin with, like many things in life most women become accustomed to the tender process and prefer it to spending the time shaving more regularly. Some woman now attend clinics to have laser hair removal done, which has a long lasting effect. Whilst this is proven, it is expensive.

Looking for an in between I bought a No!No!, a hair removal system that reduce hair density and do a similar job to going to a clinic. At first I was very pleased – it instantly ‘burnt’ off my hair leaving my skin smooth and hair free. However, within a few days the hair had returned with its usual speed, and I quickly realised that this was no better than shaving! I should have saved my money and bought a razor.

What I was looking for was something that would remove hair long term, leaving a minimal amount of maintenance time. I’ve finally found it in Tria.

Where No!No! failed to deliver Tria has come through for me. It is a home laser system that has sold widely in Japan, but has only recently been brought into this country. I bought it early on, and I haven’t looked back. Using a specially designed laser that reacts to the darkened pigments of the hair follicles, your lighter skin is completely safe and unaffected. While more expensive than the No!No! – I am happy spending more money on something that works rather than less money on a device that does nothing.

You can buy the Tria laser hair removal system more cheaply directly over the internet at the moment, before it is available in the shops.

Share This

One of the major reason for under eye circles is lack of good sleep. But sufficient sleep is not the only guarantee that you will not have under eye circles. Vitamin K can be a additional defense against the under eye circles.

Vitamin K is found in leafy green vegetables such as spinach & lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, & Brussels sprouts, wheat bran, cereals, some fruits like kiwifruit and bananas, cow milk and other dairy products, eggs, soybeans and other soy products.

So opt for good eating habits, increase the intake of your vitamin K and get rid of annoying eye circles.

There are other benefits of going for Vitamin K like increasing the integrity of bones that are helpful for old age people.

Share This