10 Brilliant Beauty Resolutions

1. Repeat your greatest hits. 
You’ve got 608 pictures of yourself tagged on Facebook. It’s time to do some serious clicking and hunt for the photos in which you look the best. If you love the pics where your hair is tousled, make an effort to rock that look more often.

2. Clean your cell phone. 
Ever notice that the right side of your jaw has a few more bumps than you’d expect? That could be from all the bacteria on your cell phone. If you have an iPhone or a touch screen, it’s best to pick up a cleaning kit from a store like Best Buy. For other phones, you can get away with using a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol on a tissue and gently wiping down your phone.

3. Don’t buy moisturizer without SPF. 
Even in the winter. And while we’re on this topic: If you skip the protection because you want to look like you hail from Brazil, you’ll look like you’re 15 years older later. P.S.: Schedule that skin cancer screening, too.

4. Try a “beauty dare” once a month. 
It’s liberating and can help you revive your look, surprise your man, and unleash your inner beauty diva. Once every few weeks, be bold with some red lips or an elaborate hair piece or nail decals or…you get the point.

5. Upgrade your regimen. 
Maybe you’ve been using the same moisturizer since you were 17. That’s cute and all, but now that you’re 27, you probably need a new formula. Not to mention some eye cream. Set aside some time to figure out what you should be doing at your age, and then put your plan into motion.

6. Pay for your hair sins. 
We’d never tell you to part with your beloved hair straightener or stop the highlights, but you gotta pay penance for the damage you do to your tresses. Get regular trims, do weekly deep-conditioning treatments, and give your hair a break from the blow dryer whenever possible.

7. Go green. 
Trying to be eco-friendly with every product you use can be overwhelming. So just make it a point to switch one thing in early 2011. Then, whenever it’s time to make a new purchase, browse the eco-friendly beauty loot instead of automatically buying your regular products.

8. Put a cap on your bad habits. 
We all have our vices. But that doesn’t make them okay, especially if you want to look your best. Smoking leads to wrinkles, heavy drinking can dehydrate your skin…don’t make us lecture you.

9. Stop picking. 
Your cuticles. The mascara off your eyelashes. Your zits. Whatever it is you feel the itch to pick, keep your hands off it!

10. Get your beauty sleep. 
Like you need to hear this? But still, it’s worth repeating since restless nights can wreak havoc on your health and appearance. Try an eye mask if you have trouble shutting the world out.

There are tons more great beauty resolutions you can make, from washing your face every night to laying off the thick eyeliner. Tell us your beauty must-do’s for 2011!

 

Seasonal Beauty

Beware of spots

Spots are more common in spring than winter,as the skin begins to produce the oils it has been lacking over the dry winter months. Cleanse day and night and switch your moisturizer to a light formula.

Steam ahead

Once a week during the spring months treat your facial skin to at home herbal steam therapy using ayurvedic powders or homemade versions by steeping garden herbs in boiling water. This will help rejuvenate the skin’s natural detox process.

Prepare to bare

It’s not just the skin on your face which needs attention in spring. Most likely, your body has been covered up during winter months, so make sure you welcome it back with all over exfoliation and moisturization.

Beat the oil

The sun can increase the sebum production, causing your skin to look oily on occasion. When the oil combines with dirt and sweat, pores get clogged. In summer, you must be meticulous about your cleansing routine, morning and night, especially if you’re using sun blocking creams. If you really suffer from oily skin, avoid night-time moisturizers to you skin a break.

Get rich quick

Use a daily moisturizer to keep skin plumped up and well oiled during winter month when it can often become dry and dull. This will help retain a healthy glow. If possible, avoid AHAs, retinol products and strong exfoliators that strip away your skin in winter and look for enriching ingredients such as Vitamin E, amino acids, hyaluronic acid that will quench dry skin.

Take a walk on the mild side

If you enjoy the sun, go easy on spicy or very sour food like chilli, lime, and vinegar, which may increase skin’s reactivity to sunlight and cause irritation. Stick to milder food with high water content instead.

Devote time to decolletage

The skin on your chest and neck is almost as delicate as that on your face, but it’s easily forgotten in the autumn, when you are likely to start covering up more. Apply a moisturizer at night to your neck, ears and collarbone area, as well as your face to keep it toned.

Don’t be hot to trot

The thought of a long hot bath on a cold winter day can be appealing, but over exposure to hot water can dry skin out even more. Keeps bath and showers short, limit them to one per day and use warm, not hot water.

Play indoor bowls

To combat the drying effects of central heating, place houseplants in your home and office (and water or mist them frequently). For an instant humidifier in the bedroom, place a bowl of water near a radiator or heat source to keep moisture levels high in the room and aid respiration over night.

Go mild

Throw away soap, which can irritate drier skin, and switch to a milder, gentler cleanser for the face and the body. Instead of rubbing yourself dry, pat to remove excess moisture.

No time to chap

Chapped lips are often the most noticeable problem when it comes to dryness in winters. Use a highly moisturizing lip balm, which provides a protective barrier, preferably with SPF and vitamin E.

Scrub well

Exfoliate once  a week to remove dead skin cells and allow the skin to absorb extra moisture, which is lost from the skin’s lower layers during winter because of harsher, cooler temperatures. It will help your skin stay pink and glowing rather than grey and dull.

Stay beautiful

Beautiful skin in a month

Tips from the video:

1. Start by finding out your skin type
2. Adopt a daily skincare routine involving cleansing, toning and moisturising
3. Cleanse and tone twice everyday
4. Use sunscreen, exfoliant and antioxidant enriched everyday.
5. Visit your dermat for options like derm abrasion solutions for quick results.

Stay beautiful…

Time to re-introduce Dry Brushing

The practice of dry skin brushing may be old news to those who practice it as a part of their daily routine, but with all the skin care products and hypes out there,  its important to re-introduce a process that is not only a great way to maintain healthy skin, but also helps you to maintain a healthy body.

Dry skin brushing is one of the healthier self-help methods available to us today. Stimulation of the skin sets in motion natural healing pathways within your body. Additionally, it encourages nerve beds within its structure that in turn increases normal healing processes throughout the body.

The Benefits Of Dry Skin Brushing:

• Dry skin brushing helps to shed dead skin cells, which can help improve skin texture and cell renewal.

• Dry skin brushing increases circulation to skin, encouraging your body’s discharge of metabolic wastes, which greatly aids the lymphatic drainage of the entire body. When the body rids itself of toxins, it is able to run more efficiently in all areas.

• Dry skin brushing also helps to tighten the skin because it increases the flow of blood. Increasing the circulation to the skin can also help lessen the appearance of cellulite.

• Dry skin brushing stimulates the lymph canals to drain toxic mucoid matter into the colon, thereby purifying the entire system. This enables the lymph to perform its house-cleaning duties by keeping the blood and other vital tissues detoxified. After several days of dry brushing, you may notice the gelatinous mucoid material in your stools.

• Dry skin brushing helps with muscle tone and more even distribution of fat deposits.

• Dry skin brushing also rejuvenates the nervous system by stimulating nerve endings in the skin.

• Dry skin brushing helps your skin to absorb nutrients by eliminating clogged pores. Healthy, breathing skin contributes to overall body health.

• Individuals who sit at a computer screen all day long will particularly take pleasure in the benefits of skin brushing. People who have inactive lifestyles or jobs usually experience stiff and sore necks and shoulders that reach even into their arms and down their spines and into their lower backs. Increased blood flow begins entering the areas brushed and you will experience an increase in electromagnetic energy that permits you to feel energized and invigorated.

• LADIES—Cellulite is toxic. Cellulite is toxic materials that are accumulated in your body’s fat cells as they are unable to be eliminated. So, rather than liposuction surgery, how about utilizing the “dry skin brushing” techniques coupled with an alkaline diet program and a great exercising routine. It will break down the unwelcome toxic body deposits and send them scurrying out of your body through the elimination channels.

How to Get Started With Your Skin Brushing Regimen

1. Purchase a natural, NOT a synthetic, bristle brush. (vegetable bristle)

2. Purchase a brush with a long handle, so that you are able to reach all areas of your body. Best-case scenario would be one that had a removable head with a strap for your hand.

3. Skin brushing should be performed once a day, preferably first thing in the morning. If you are feeling ill, please do it twice a day until you feel better.

4. Skin brushing should be performed prior to your bath or shower and your body dry and naked.

5. Begin brushing your skin in long sweeping strokes starting from the bottom of your feet upwards, and from the hands towards the shoulders, and on the torso in an upward direction. Always brush towards the heart. Try and brush several times in each area, over-lapping as you go.

6. Avoid sensitive areas and anywhere the skin is broken

7. After brushing your skin, rinse off in the shower. Paavo Airola, author of Swedish Beauty Secrets, recommends alternating temperatures in the shower from hot to cold. This will further invigorate the skin and stimulate blood circulation, bring more blood to the outer layers of the skin.

8. After getting out of the shower, dry off vigorously and massage your skin with pure plant oil, such as almond, jojoba, sesame or coconut. We like to use a small amount of Euro Organic Oil which is a blend of sunflower, almond, apricot, avocado, and jojoba oils.

9. Don’t forget to clean your skin brush using soap and water once a week. After rinsing, dry your skin brush in an open, sunny spot to prevent mildew.8. After getting out of the shower, dry off vigorously and massage your skin with pure plant oil, such as almond, jojoba, sesame or coconut. We like to use a small amount of Euro Organic Oil which is a blend of sunflower, almond, apricot, avocado, and jojoba oils.7. After brushing your skin, rinse off in the shower. Paavo Airola, author of Swedish Beauty Secrets, recommends alternating temperatures in the shower from hot to cold. This will further invigorate the skin and stimulate blood circulation, bring more blood to the outer layers of the skin.

10. For a thorough lymphatic cleansing, perform skin brushing daily for a minimum of three months.

Caution: Do not brush on or over skin rashes, wounds, cuts, infections, poison oak or poison ivy.

Note: Any well designed program will take about 30 days to see and experience the changes. Please be patient and keep up the program!

Quick Tips

There is nothing like a quick tip..the kinds that do not take too much to remember but can do miracles for you and can turn out to be real saviors.

So here are a few quick tips for you, hoping you find them handy;

• To dry a freshly put nail enamel quickly, dip your fingers in ice water for two minutes after putting on the name enamel and then just get going!!

• For an instant glow, rub a piece of cut papaya skin on your face for 15 minutes. Let the papaya stay on your face for 10 minutes. Then rinse off with lukewarm water first and then cold water. Pat dry and feel the difference.

• A very effective home made face scrub is rice powder. grind rice powder and keep it in a small bottle. Twice a week, wet your face with luke warm water, take out half teaspoon of rice powder, mix it with rosewater(optional) and gently scrub your face in circular motions. Wash off first with lukewarm water and then with cold water. reveal a smooth layer of skin which is so great to touch.

• If your skin feels dry just before you have to step out and you have no intention of putting on a creamy body lotion, just massage your haor conditioner from your neck to toe in the shower and take bath with lukewarm or preferably cold water. Your body will be as hydrated as with a lotion.

• If your skin has few marks and imperfections which even your concealer cannot hide completely, try wearing a shade of warm pink in your lipstick. This distracts peoples attention from the imperfections and works for all shades of skin.

• When you are running short of time and your lips look a drab, just take a berry colour lip balm and smear it on your lips with your finger tips. This way it will stay longer on your lips and it needs less precision than a dark colour lipstick as far as application is concerned.

• Home Tan Remover: Mix milk,honey and lemon juice. Apply and leave for 15 mins. Works best for greasy and oily skin.

• Daily Face Cleanser: Mix plain yogurt, honey, turmeric & lime juice. Apply and massage for 2-3 mins. Wash off with cold water afterwards.

Quick Tips