Beauty Talk: Socialite’s Survival Guide to Beautiful Skin Continued

In the First Partof the Guide we were dealing with the-morning-after-symptoms: puffiness, eye bags, red blotches and irritation. This part is dedicated to tips on how you can get energy back into your skin and your body, boost your skin’s radiance and prepare your complexion for another night out.

ENERGY KICK

To get more energy into your under-slept and over-partied body, try drinking a Vitamin C rich fresh juice. Orange, kiwi, blackberry or mango juice will make you feel recharged. You can also take a Vitamin C supplement but be careful not to overdo it, so that you don’t end up with red eyes from allergy.

To energize your body Harper’s Bazar recommends to “oxygenate” it. Try Dr.Andrew Weil’s Stimulating Breath exercise “Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, keeping your mouth closed. Keep the breath short – three in-and-outs in one second – and noisy.” (Harper’s Bazar, Dec 07)

THE RADIANCE TEAM

Let’s revive your skin’s healthy complexion, give it a real wake up call. Here are some products you can consider for getting radiance and energy back into your skin.

Tonics:

La Mer Radiant Infusion – contains ionizing sea salts, marine extracts, and anti-oxidants. Energizes the skin, makes it look bright and refreshed, minimizes appearance of pores. My Experience: I enjoyed the light fluid texture and quick absorption of this product. Yes, you do see smoother and more radiant complexion immediately but results are better with continued use.

Fresh Lotus Water from Kenzoki – a fresh water mist has both soothing and stimulating properties. “Wakes up” dull tired skin and gives it radiance.

Serums and Moisturizers:

Prevent:

Midnight Secret from Guerlain was specially developed for those short nights. Guerlain calls this serum “oxygenating” and recommends applying a couple drops before you go to bed for your short after-party sleep. Guerlain promises that upon awakening your complexion will be bright and your skin will look “invigorated”.

Treat:

Sensai Silk 10 Seconds Awakening Essence from Kanebo gives you a brighter look, smoothes small lines, improves skin texture, provides extra protection from external stress.

Energizing Morning Cream from Clarins – “wakes up” your natural radiance, smoothes lines, moisturizes and is a good make-up base. Contains essential elements such as Zinc, Manganese, Magnesium, Calcium as well as natural extracts (Cashew, Ginseng, Hops, Jojoba) to protect from free radicals, stimulate and moisturize.

Masks:

Lancaster offers a Flash Mask and Scrub Range for an express beauty treatment with immediate effect. Consider Flash Nutrition or Flash Hydration Mask. The latter contains “refreshing Mediterranean algae”, squalane, shea butter and plankton extract. Lancaster promises “moisturized, plimped-up, smooth… radiant skin”.

Beauty in A Flash from Clarins gives your skin a rested smooth look, promotes radiant complexion. According to Clarins, “the ideal treatment before an evening out”. Contains Witch Hazel, Olive tree and Algae extracts. High on my priority list for the things to try out!

Express Flower Gel (hydrating, toning and firming mask) from Sisley contains a number of amazing ingredients such as Lily Flower and Iris Root extracts, Cabbage Rose water, Sesame Seed oil. The promise is a rested smooth look, moisturized skin and “an instant "lift"”

Garnier Stop Peel-off Vitamin C – gel mask with vitamin A and C. My Experience: This is one of my favorite beauty products. After application skin does look more radiant, smooth and bright. The only tricky thing is that it is a peel-off mask and it tends to stick and “hide”, so you might find a piece hanging from your eyebrow at a party.

Garnier Ultra Lift Mask –Cream-gel mask with Ginger Root extract, Soybean Protein, and Bitter Cherry extract. My Experience: This is another one of my favorites. Provides a lifting effect, smoothes and brightens your skin. I very often use it as a pre-party beauty treatment.

Force C Premium Instant Radiance Mask from Helena Rubenstein combines 3 forms of Vitamin C “to bring out radiance of dull, lackluster skin” in a flash. My Experience: I like the texture and the smell, the effect was good but not very prominent.

SHOW-TIME MINI-FACIAL

Makeup artist Lucia Pieroni resorts to a lymphatic-drainage minifacial to give catwalk models a radiant look just before the show. She recommends this facial for the morning but basically it is show-time prep facial. Here is how you do it: put moisturizer on your fingertips, “gently massage the pressure points along the tops of your brows, around the sockets, and across your cheeks. Fan out to the temples and work your way down your neck. Then repeat in circuit.” Takes minutes and gives you a brighter, more radiant and awake look. (Elle, US August 07)

DON'T FORGET PROTECTION

Make sure you apply a powerful antioxidant to protect your skin from smoke and stressful environmental factors at a bar or a club. There are several specially developed products you can consider. Clarins offers Expertise 3P Screen Mist which protects your skin against “Electromagnetic Waves & Urban Pollution”. You spray it over your skin after applying the usual skin care and makeup. The mist contains Rhodiola rosea, White tea and other extracts to build a protective barrier against “artificial electromagnetic waves”, “indoor and outdoor urban pollution.”

Another product with a similar idea is Ecological Compound from Sisley. It protects your skin “against environmental stresses (pollution, cigarette smoke, UV rays)”. In addition, it prepares your skin for the benefits of your usual skin care products, improves skin’s tone and suppleness.

CAMOUFLAGE TIREDNESS
If after all the efforts you still see signs of tiredness, you can strategically apply your makeup to erase the last traces of the night before. Here are some wonderful tricks featured in Elle (US July o7) and InStyle Magazine (US Dec 06):

Liven Up Your Complexion

* Add some color:
- apply a tiny bit of self-tanner to your face OR
- brush matte bronzing powder “over the high points of your face”
- avoid orangey shades (can reinforce sallowness) and shimmery powders (can look sweaty)
* Wear blush:
- go with warm colors, for example - peach or salmon cream blush.
*Erase the tired look and get an additional lifting effect:
-Makeup artist Jennifer Daranyi dusts Shu Uemura Peach 42 blush beneath the eyes and across the T-zone which “helps lift the area” (Elle, US July 07)
- Makeup artist Jo Strettell recommends “blending a luminizing concealer into the crease above the chin, between brows, on tear ducts, around nostrils and in the laugh lines above the mouth” to eliminate the shadows and get a rested look. (InStyle, US Dec 06)

“Open-up” Your Eyes:
* Get an arch:
- give your eyebrows a tweeze and a brush. Creating a nice arch will make you look more awake and bring attention to your eyes
* Curl:
- to get a brighter, more prominent and more open eye, curl your lashes as close to lash line as possible, then curl again in the middle. Recommended by makeup artist Troy Surratt (InStyle, US Dec 06)
* Offset redness:
- line inner eye rims with a light nude eye pencil to offset redness
* Go with warm colors:
- wear warm brown eye shadows to wake up your eyes
-“Avoid smoky eyes when you are tired,” recommends makeup artist William Murphy

Add Color Back to Lips:
- To disguise pale chapped lips apply gloss with plenty of pigment instead of a lipstick. “Bright pink is an instant pick-me-up.” recommends makeup artist Mally Roncal (InStyle, US Dec 06)

HELPERS IN YOUR PURSE

Help your skin to look fresh, radiant and smooth through the whole night out. Here are some products you can take to a party for a quick touch up.
Midnight Star from Guerlain. This product comes in small capsules. You can just slip one into your bag for an express beauty treatment. It also provides powerful protection against free radicals. Can be applied over makeup.
Super Aqua-Day Cooling Facial Stick from Guerlain can be applied over make up for a refreshed look and sensation
Moisture Surge Face Spray from Clinique refreshes and moisturizes
Vichy Thermal SPA Water Spray provides soothing and refreshing effect.

PARTY TIPS

So that you don’t have to deal with skin emergencies and headache in the morning follow a couple easy tips:

Try to keep to pure drinks. They cause a bit less problems than multi-coloured sugar and artificial flavors charged cocktails

If you cannot resist a cocktail, try to compromise by ordering one with real juice rich in powerful antioxidant Vitamin C to balance out a bit of the damage. Cranberry, pomegranate, lemon, orange juices are recommened

Follow up each drink with a glass of water to counteract the dehydrating effect of alcohol

Don’t indulge into sushi and soya sauce – salt will cause you to retain a lot of water resulting in puffiness next morning.

If you are a smoker, seeing people smoking at parties and clubs may drive you to reach into your purse for that nicotine shot more often than usual.Try to pace yourself as much as you can, take a breath and a sip of water and keep enjoying the night. Smoking is BAD news for skin!

Oh, and don’t forget that anti-aging advice Dr.Brandt once gave at LiveWith Regis and Kelly Show: “Don’t use straws to drink your liquids… The pursing activity, when you use a straw, will cause wrinkles around your mouth.” Well, I think if you drink so many cocktails that you are starting to develop wrinkles around your lips, you might need to start worrying about something else but straws!

Read First Part of the Guide for tips on how to deal with the-morning-after-symptoms: relieve puffiness, get rid of eye bags, red blotches and sooth irritation.