We Have a Winner for Dr.Perricone's Advanced Face Firming Activator

I'm happy to announce a winner of our recent contest who will receive Dr.Perricone's best-selling product - the Advanced Face Firming Activator. We had 150 participants eager to try this wonderful anti-aging treatment. The lucky winner was selected randomly.

Congratulations to the author of the comment #49 - Jessica Harding from Pennsylvania!

Thanks to everyone for participating! Keep tuned in for more fun contests and posts!

Beauty Tip: Make Sure your Sunblock Really Protects You

You are religiously wearing SPF all year round? But are you really sure you are protected from sun damage?

Here are some tips:

* Make sure your are protected from both UVA and UVB rays.
UVB (burning) has a wavelength range (in nanometers) of:
280-320
UVA (aging) has a wavelength range (in nanometers) of:
320-400
Read the label to find out what spectrum of UV rays a sunscreen blocks.

* Choose the right ingredient. Various sunscreen ingredients are capable of covering various spectrum of sunrays. Two ingredients that cover the widest spectrum used in sunscreen nowadays include Zinc Oxide (physical blocker) and Mexoryl (chemical blocker).
Many products combine several sunscreen ingredients to cover a wider range of sun spectrum.

* Apply sunscreen liberally and evenly. Studies show that the average person uses much less sunscreen than the amount needed to achieve the SPF shown on the label. Apply chemical sunscreens 15-30 minutes before sun exposure, physical sunscreens offer immediate protection.

* Keep reapplying your sunscreen. Certain sun screening ingredients, such as Avobensene for example, are not photo-stable and tend to break down after a certain time making your skin vulnerable to sun rays. Reapply every two hours. However if you are you are swimming or exercising reapply more often.

* Don’t forget your ears. Don't forget to apply sunscreen to areas that are commonly neglected, like the ears, hands, neck, and feet.

* Make use of SPF in your makeup. If you can’t reapply sunblock or your moisturizer during the day, use additional makeup such as foundation and powder with SPF and keep refreshing it

* Stay out of the sun. No sunscreen can block UV rays 100%. So make sure you are wearing hat with wide brims, long sleeves, sunglasses and don’t spend much time in the direct sun. Make sure to stay out of the sun during the ours of its highest activity (generally between 11 am and 3 pm)

Photo by Genosfear at Flickr.com

Beauty Fact: Stress Does Cause Gray Hair

Wondering what exactly causes gray strands in your hair? Researchers from UK’s Bradford University recently held a study and revealed that oxidative stress can cause hydrogen-peroxide build up in the hair bulb. This appears to be a cause for gray hair. Unbelievable as it may sound, hair simply gets bleached as it grows out of scalp.

Source: Marie Claire, July 2009

Beauty Talk: Stretch marks

Stretch mark is kind of a scar. It is formed through tearing of the dermis. Most of us have some kind of stretch marks, either from spurts of growth in puberty, gaining and losing weight, or pregnancy.

How do they happen? Experts say that stretch marks are actually caused not only by physical stretching of the skin but also by hormonal changes in the body. Stretch marks happen as deep as the dermis, the middle layer of the skin. They are caused by glucocorticoid hormones that disrupt normal way of forming of collagen and elastin resulting in less flexible skin and subsequently in dermal and epidermal tearing


Where do they happen?
Common places for stretch marks to occur include:
abdomen
breasts
upper arms
underarms
thighs
hips
buttocks.

Is it possible to prevent stretch marks? There is no enough scientific evidence in support of the fact that creams and lotions help to prevent streetch marks. However there are reassuring results in some studies that show that during pregnancy, for example, fewer streetch marks occur if you use a treatment versus no treatment at all.

To prevent stretchmakrs apply specially developed products that mosturize skin, make it more elastic and contain such ingredients for example as cocoa butter and Vitamin E. Some examples of such products include:
Carol’s Daughter Sexy Belly
Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter
Clarins Stretch Mark Control
Revitol Stretch Mark Cream
Decleor Perfect Sculpt Stretch Mark Restructuring Gel-Cream
RoC Maternity Anti-Stretch Mark Oil
Vichy Complete Action Anti-Stretch Mark Cream

Already have stretch marks and want to know how you can treat them? Read about various treatments available in my next post. In my future posts I will aslo share my personal experience with stretch marks during pregnancy.

Beauty Shopping: Anti-Cellulite Solution, New Discovery for Under Eye Circles

Today I had a rare chance to do some beauty shopping! So what was on my shopping list… I needed to restock on Estee Lauder Stress Relief Eye Mask. Nowadays, with a baby I need lots of stress relief solutions! Seriously, skin and especially skin around the eyes suffer most because of those sleepless nights. I still need to review those masks. They are great! I also decided to try out one of the products for body that came out this summer. I was choosing between Dior’s Svelte Reversal Body Contouring and Firming Concentrate and Clarins Lift-Minceur High Definition Body Lift.

I went for Clarins’ product for several reasons: like the ad :-) (who doesn’t want to have such a butt!), like the description better and the price, even though not a priority in this particular case, also played its role. And finally I also like that High Definition Body Lift had caffeine at the very beginning of ingredient list and had a very light texture.

I also planned to buy YSL Touche Eclat. Mine is already more than a year old and you are supposed to use it for only half a year! Sales girl suggested I try La Prairie Brightening Eye Treatment. I was like: C'mon what can be better than YSL Touche Eclat?? But of course I was curious to test it.


It comes just like YSL's concealer in a pen package with a brush. And I have to say I was VERY impressed. It sort of melted into my skin. It does provide coverage (medium), but does not crease or get into the lines. Excellent! The sales girl also kept saying that they have a package with a refil which in the end is a better price than YSL Touche Eclat. I decided to wear it for a while to test for allergic reaction and if everything is fine, get it next time I'm downtown.

Beauty Giveaway: Win Advanced Face Firming Activator

I am pleased to announce a new contest on Skin Care and Beauty Blog. Here is your chance to win Advanced Face Firming Activator from the famous Dr.Perricone!

If you have dull uneven skin, enlarged pores, lines and wrinkles, you may want to give this product a try. Dr.Perricone promises that Alpha Lipoic Acid and DMAE, the two main ingredients of Advanced Face Firming Activator will help to resurface your skin's texture, reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, and enlarged pores.

Advanced Face Firming Activator has high price tag of 120$ but you can get it for free by winning this giveaway!

Attention: This contest is for US residents only!

To participate, please make a comment to this post and let me know why you would like this product. You can also share if you have tried any other similar products that did or did not work for you.

Please leave your contact email so that folks from perriconemd.com can contact you and give you your prize!

Winner will be selected randomly in 15 days on 27 July.

PS: Check out www.perriconemd.com for more skin care products and skin cosmeceuticals

Beauty Review: Guerlain Meteorites Powder Pink Fresh

Packaging:
The powder box is made of cardboard which disappointed me at first. From the photos I saw online I was under impression the package will be incredibly beautiful – a combination of plastic or metal) with glass decorations. Well, it’s just carton. The only consolation is that it was inspired by Marie Antoinette and that such packaging is actually more eco friendly.


Shade:
Pink Fresh
It includes pearls of peach, light pink, dark pink (close to lavender), beige, gold, colors

Scent:
Meteorites Powder has quite strong sweet scent which most people like but not me. The good news (for me) is that it wears off almost immediately.


Stay-on Power:
It seems to last forever!

Texture and Finish:
Meteorites Powder comes in little multi-colored balls and is something between loose and pressed powder…
Gives glowy somewhat shimmery finish with a touch of color. The effect is buildable.

Experience:
I’ve been dreaming about this product for a long time and had to go through the agony of choice about the shade (read my Beauty Buy post) before I finally got it. It is one of the best investments in makeup I’ve made.

This magnificent powder makes your skin look glowing. It reflects and attracts light to the skin and makes it look simply gorgeous: supple, smooth, healthy and glowing.


Meteorites Powder comes with a puffy sponge which I don’t recommend to use. Not only it is inconvenient, the effect is worse and not so natural. I use my fluffy powder brush to apply Meteorites Powder. I just swirl the brush around the box and let it pick up enough powder. Be careful powder balls tend to stuck on brush bristles occasionally. Then I swipe it lightly all over my face. It has to be mentioned that from the very beginning I was concerned that Meteorites could be too shimmery for an all-over-face powder. However what I discovered after I played with it a couple times is that the effect of the glow is buildable. So if you give your face one or maximum two light swipes with your powder brush, it looks natural. However if you apply more, you will start seeing some color and more shimmer. That’s why I apply it once all over face and then several times on the apples of my cheeks and a finishing touch on the nose bridge. So Meteorites Powder in Pink Fresh can be used as a blush and believe me you do see the color. Some people when reviewing Meteorites say that Pink Fresh leaves almost no color on the skin, it is not completely true. I think it depends on your skin tone if the color is noticeable or not.

I also read in one of the reviews that Meteorites powder is good to use under your eyes to set the concealer. I tried it and think it looks good! Draws some light to the area.


Bottom Line:
Love the product. It is excellent quality, very versatile and allows to perfect the look of your skin. I would not recommend Meteorites Powder instead of a foundation or pressed powder as it is not made for covering skin flaws. But I would definitely recommend it to take your skin look to another level.

Price Tag:
$60-65

Less Beauty Blogging

Dear All, from now on I will be posting less frequently on my Skin Care and Beauty Blog. This is unfortunate but is due to a very happy event – birth of my son! It will be impossible for me to balance all the aspects of my life at the beginning of this new life chapter. As you imagine or probably know, motherhood is very demanding and time consuming! So I will need some time off :-) But instead of closing the blog for an indefinite time I decided to keep posting from time to time when I can afford a minute. Hopefully I can post weekly. I’m planning to get back to more frequent posting in several months. Please, stay subscribed, leave me a comment from time to time and I will do my best to respond.

Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part IV- How often should we exfoliate?

In our search for beauty we often forget that skin is a very complicated live organ and is not there to just please the eye. You may think exfoliation is beneficial for your skin and there can’t be too much of a good thing! But be careful: over-exfoliation and aggressive peeling, a strong recent trend among women, can lead to several very negative side-effects. Let’s remember that epidermis – the outer layer of skin - serves to protect the underlying layers and human organism on the whole from microbes and bacteria. It also helps to maintain balanced hydration and function of the skin as an organ. By aggressive exfoliation you can damage epidermis and make your skin vulnerable to invaders. This in its turn can trigger “inflammatory response” in the skin. Damaged epidermis will also cause increased transdermal water loss and result in dehydrated dry skin. In addition, your skin may respond to intensive exfoliation as to an injury and start producing more oil which will result in acne.

That’s why use this beauty treatment wisely. Follow experts’ recommendations to exfoliate 1-3 times a week depending on your skin type. Up to 3 times for oily and normal skin types and definitely, no more than one time for dry and sensitive skin.

Related Posts:
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part II - Mechanical Exfoliation
Beauty Talk: Exfoliation - Part I - Skin Exfoliation
Beauty Review: YSL Exfoliating Lip Balm
Beauty Review: Sisley Buff and Wash Gel
Beauty Review: Caress Evenly Gorgeous