Beautiful In Your Skin

Pampering Yourself

A lot of females are concerned about their bodies and they have a right to do so. I, for one, have scoured lots of websites that give lots of good tips on how to go about treating your body right. First, MSN Women Central was very helpful for me. In fact, all that is here was gotten directly from either an MSN Women Central article, LifeTime TV, The Knot or Order Beauty. Visit Order Beauty for more beauty and health tips. Check out these tips from Order Beauty on how to make those expensive creams from scratch in your own kitchen and to learn about how best to treat yourself! Don’t forget to know what these cosmetic ingredients do for your skin. Check out the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for a breakdown of more cosmetic ingredients and the INCI (International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients) page. Animal rights activists may want to check out this list of ingredients that are and may be from animals.

[ nails| foods | skin | cosmetic ingredients]

Taking Good Care of Your nails

These tips are from Irene Duarte, manicure maven at the Vidal Sassoon salon in New York City.

  1. Start getting weekly manicures. If the price for the pros proves too steep, get a professional manicure just once a month, and do your own nails during the three weeks in between.
  2. Drink a mixture of orange juice and Knox gelatin once a week to help strengthen nails. For best results, adopt this beauty ritual at least one month before your wedding day or other big event.
  3. Use a nail-building base under your polish.
  4. If you’re a nail biter, coat your nails with polish that tastes so bitter it stops you from nibbling. Use if for at least two months before a major event. (PS: I used to be a nail biter and I purchased Orly’s No Nailbite Polish. It works because I don’t get the urge to bite my nails any more and they are growing nicely (edit: returned to nailbiting. 🙁 ).
  5. Protect your nails from harsh chemicals by wearing rubber gloves when doing dishes and other household chores.
  6. Steer clear of dish soap. Soak hands instead in warm water made sudsy with your favorite shampoo.
  7. Apply a heavy dose of hand cream at bedtime to prevent dry, cracking skin. Then, cover with cotton gloves to enhance efficacy while you doze.
  8. Ward off chips and splits by buffing nails nightly with a smoothing block.
  9. Top nails off three times a week with a strengthening polish, such as Nailtiques #2. I am an ex-nail biter and my nail specialist recommended NailTek (intensive) for me because my nails were too thin and flaky.
  10. And finally, protect your nails by using the end of a pencil to dial the phone. Put your mom and all your best friends on speed dial!

5 Foods For Better Health

Nutritionist Bonnie Taub-Dix found five foods that will help prevent disease and make us look and feel great. These tips come courtesy of Lifetime Television Network. These tips are also a Lifetime feature.

Soy:
Soy is fantastic food for our health. It lowers cholesterol, and it reduces the incidence of osteoporosis as well as breast cancer and heart disease. Staving off osteoporosis is of particular importance because so many women are at risk for it. Soy is not just tofu; you can find it in soy nuts – which are a great snack food and good for sprinkling on salads – or in soy burgers – which you can buy already prepared. To enjoy soy burgers, just heat them up; they are great with a slice of melted Swiss and some lettuce and tomato on a whole-grain bun. Most supermarkets carry both of these products.
Salad:
Certain salad ingredients are going to do more for your body than others. For instance, using leafy greens (such as romaine or spinach) as your base rather than iceberg lettuce is going to increase your intake of folic acid. Folic acid is extremely important for pregnant women in their childbearing years. If your include carrots in that salad, you’re getting a powerful anti-oxidant that reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer. Broccoli should also make an appearance. It is a great source of calcium as well as vitamin C. Of course, it’s not a salad without a tomato, and in tomatoes, you’ll find another powerful anti-oxidant that reduces the risk of prostate cancer. Lycopene is also present in tomatoes. It becomes more potent, however, when it is consumed in the form of cooked tomato products, such as stewed tomatoes or fresh tomato sauce.
Fish:
Fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are extremely good for the body. They decrease the incidence of heart disease and breast cancer. When selecting a fresh piece of fish at the market, you want to look for a firm fillet that has a healthy sheen to it and that doesn’t smell “fishy.” Fish is very easy to prepare. The best way to maintain the omega-3 fatty acids is to poach the fish. Season it with a little bit of dill and some freshly ground pepper, maybe a little bit of coarse salt; you’ll need only about one minute per inch of thickness for cooking time. Very easy, very tasty and great for you!
Bread:
Whole grain bread provides us with fiber, and fiber has been shown again and again to reduce the risk of colon cancer. Shoot for 30 grams per day.
Blueberries:
Blueberries are practically a dessert item, so it’s fun to be able to include them as part of a healthy diet. And it’s easy to convince the kids to eat them as well. Much like cranberries, they are used to reduce the incidence of urinary tract infections. Blueberries are also a powerful anti-oxidant, reducing the risk of many cancers as well as things such as memory loss.

6 Steps to beautiful skin

These tips are from Hollee Actman Becker from TheKnot.com. Perfect skin is probably the most highly desired element of beauty – and for many people, it’s also the most elusive. “If you were born with lovely skin, consider yourself lucky,” says makeup artist Bobbi Brown. “For the rest of us, the quest for a good complexion often proves frustration, as so much of what affects our skin is completely out of our control.” Factors affecting the skin include: genetics (we can’t control the genetics), stress (can trigger break outs in oily or difficult skin), smoking and sunbathing (both can age the skin considerably), etc.

Clean and Clear:
Start by cleansing dry or sensitive skin with a gentle, non-stripping gel cleanser. If you have oily, acne-prone skin, find a gentle gel formula that’s made specifically for your skin type, and follow with a non-alcoholic toner. Those containing alpha-hydroxy acids (AHAs) work especially well to help smooth the skin’s texture. I’m currently using Noxzema’s Triple Clean and I absolutely love it because it’s medicated with Triclosan and still clears the pores et al.
Scrub-a-dub-dub:
On days when you really need to exfoliate, use a gentle, grainy scrub (skip this step if you’ve got sensitive skin). If you’ve got oily skin, you’ll want to exfoliate twice weekly, concentrating on blackhead prone areas like the nose and chin.
Do the Dew:
If your skin is dry, use a rich moisturizer that absorbs completely into your skin. At night, use an even heavier moisturizing cream. And if you have any extremely dry spots, apply an AHA lotion all over your face and a richer hydrating cream on those areas. Remember, notes brown, you don’t have to treat your whole face in the same way. Oilier skin types should opt for either gel, oil-free moisturizer or mattefying cream. Before applying your makeup, take a minute to brush your hair or teeth while your moisturizer absorbs.
Look, Ma, no hands:
Without even realizing it, you may be wiping away makeup and adding oil and dirt particles to your skin to boot. Try to keep your hands away from your face during the day. Catch yourself if you pull on your eyelashes or rub your chin. “Habits like these are difficult to change,” says Brown, “but both your make up and general comportment will benefit if you stop.”
Take It Off:
At the end of the day, start your cleansing process all over again. Brown recommends using a no-oily eye makeup remover on a clean cotton pad to wipe away mascara, liner and shadow. “Oily removers can aggravate eyes and cause makeup to travel all over your face, making it more difficult to wash off,” she explains. Then dip a Q-tip into the remover and run it gently over your eyelashes to eliminate any residual mascara.
When to go pro:
“When things get serious and you can’t handle a skincare problem on your own,” says Brown, “don’ waste your time and money at the cosmetic counter – seek professional help.’ Glycolic peels or an exolift treatment (in which a liquid polymer is applied to the skin with tape,, taking dirt and grime with it when the tape is removed) are two excellent in-office dermatology processes for troubled skin.

Cosmetic Ingredients

On a serious note, you need to know what you are feeding your skin. This list is just documenting a few of the ingredients in what these companies churn out as skin care products. Generally, for the health of your skin, these products work well.
[+] BHA [Butylated Hydroxyanisole]: is a preservative and antioxidant that preserves fats and oils. Check out this page for some side effects of taking BHA. Visit this page for some chemical stuff on BHA.
[+] Candelilla wax: a natural wax from the Candella plant which is added to mild cosmetics for the body. According to CedarVale Natural Health, it is used in emollients to protect the skin against moisture loss, and to harden other waxes. It is mainly used in lipsticks, solid fragrances, cosmetics, polishes, lubricants, candle compositions and liquid powders to give them body.
[+] Dimethicone: an oil of silicone that keeps a product foaming and forms a protective layer between your skin and the outside environment. Check out Sci-Toys for a brief blurb on Dimethicone.
[+] Disodium EDTA: chelating agent that is capable of removing trace metals and improving performance of a product in hard matter. EDTA stands for ethylenediamine tetratic acid. Check out Crème de Vie for some more information and hit up Household Products database for a list of some products containing this substance.
[+] Formaldehyde: used in small quantities as a killer of microbes; It is a natural emollient and humectant i.e. attracter of moisture. We all know this is an air pollutant according to the EPA. However, see National Safety Council for more on its uses.
[+] Propylene glycol: a solution of humerant used widely in cosmetics. Also inhibits molds. Check out ATSDR (Agency for Toxic Substances and disease registry) for more information.
[+] PEG 100 stearate: an emulsifier from natural stearic acid. It’s found in products like those here and see EWG for some potential dangers of using this product.
[+] Lecithin: a component of human skin used as a thickening agent. It’s a Phospholipid and a fat emulsifier. Check out Natural Ways for more about Lecithin.
[+] Titanium oxide: a mineral used as a covering agent. Also used as a sunscreen. Visit Aroma Leigh for the more on use of this type of mineral.
[+] Laneth: a derivative of natural lanolin which is used as an emollient and emulsifier. See EWG’s report on laneth.
[+] simethicone: an anti-foaming oil from silicone. Read what EWG has to say about it. It also provides gloss and protection.
[+] Quanternium 15: a preservative used for long shelf life, developed especially for use in personal care industry. Visit this government site about this household product or check out the EWG report on quaternium 15.
[+] menthol: used for centuries by men as a cooling agent. It is a derivative from many oils
[+] propylene glycol isostearate: lubricant and emollient used in its ability to make a product silky. View the EWG report and check out what the Cosmetics Cop has to say.
[+] propyl paraben: often used with menthyl paraben as a complimentary preservative according to Proctor & Gamble. Check out what the OSHA and the NIH has to say. It is a non toxic derivative of berries.
[+] imidazolidinyl: used as a preservative for long shelf life, developed especially for use in personal care industry. The NIH and EWG give information on where it’s found. See some important information on it from the New Zealand dermatological society.
[+] iron oxides: used since ancient times to provide skin tones for make up. A mineral pigment
[+] kaolin: a mineral clay used to improve covering ability, give bulk, provide ‘slip,’ and absorb oil secreted by the skin.
[+] lanolin: a naturally produced substance from the oil glands of sheep. It is used in many types of cosmetics. Similar to skin and hair fat
[+] sulfonated castor oil: soothing and effective in acne and blemish preparation. This is oil of castor bean treated with sulfur to increase effectiveness and water solubility
[+] methyl paraben: a non-toxic derivative of benzoic acid which occurs naturally in some berries. It is effective against many fungi, bacteria and used widely in cosmetics as a preservative. By the way, Skin Doctor has more skin ingredients you can search on the net for.