Beauty Talk: What Retinoids Can Do For Your Skin

Retinoids, a form of Vitamin A, are used in more and more skin care products to address various skin issues. How do they work? Retinoids interact with retinoic acid receptors in skin cells. This way they can affect such processes as cell growth and turnover, synthesis of proteins including collagen and elastin etc.

So what can retinoid do for your skin?

Eliminate wrinkles:
Up till now retionoids are admittedly the only topical treatment that shows dramatic improvements in treating wrinkles. But retionoids work miracles on not very deep lines. To erase or minimize deeper wrinkles you will need some help from fillers.

Even out skin texture:
With years skin thickens and develops rough dead areas. Retinol can help you to smooth out your stratum corneum – skin’s outer layer.

Treat dark circles:
Retionoids stimulate collagen production and help to thicken skin over blood vessels. This way they can minimize appearance of dark circles.

Diminish dullness:
With age skin cells turnover slows down resulting in loss of healthy skin color and glow. Speed it up with retinol treatment and get your glow back!

Fight Blackheads and Whiteheads:
By helping to remove dead skin cells retinols will help to clear up your complexion.

Minimize pores:
Retinoids can help to reduce oil and clean out pores.

Don't forget that retinoids increase sun sensitivity and can have some side-effects such as redness, dryness, itching, and burning.

Beauty Find: The Face Trainer - Miracle Beauty Mask?

Think there is no way other than surgery and injections to fight wrinkles and sagging? Think again! I came across a mention of the FaceTrainer developed by no!no! in the last issue of Marie Claire. To me a stretchy mask that covers your head and face looked more like a torture device than a beauty gadget. It really caught my attention and I looked it up. So how does it work? Using patented technology The FaceTrainer mask “turns simple facial movements into a total resistance training workout” . What it means is that you just wear this mask for 10 minutes every day and do usual facial exercises recommended in a user’s manual.
The miracle mask comes at a high price of 200$ but no!no! is not afraid to run your expectations high as well. They promise that in 30 days The FaceTrainer mask will reduce sagging by 71% and wrinkles by 42%! The Face Trainer is the only device of its kind registered with FDA. Pretty impressing, isn’t it?

The only thing I would recommend is to make sure your boyfriend/husband doesn’t see you doing those exercises. ;-)

Makeup Tip: Brighter, Bigger Eyes

Here are a couple easy tips on how to brighten up your eyes and make them look bigger.

Apply concealer on the side of your nose by the inner corner of the eye to cover up darkness. Use concealer or highlighter
like YSL Touche Eclat
on your dark circles as well but keep to the inner corner-mid eye area to avoid exaggerating of fine lines. This will illuminate the eye area.

Apply highlighter or light (silver, white, light gold, light beige) shadow in the inner corner of the eye on upper eyelid and just a touch on the lower eyelids.

Offset redness and open up your eyes by lining inner eye rims with a light nude eye pencil. I use Shiseido The Makeup Corrector Pencil It makes such a huge difference, trust me!

Curl your lashes and finish with a black mascara. When applying focus on the middle of your upper and lower eye lashes. This way your eyes will look much bigger.

More makeup tricks:
Anti-Aging Makeup Tips

Beauty Shopping: La Prairie Light Fantastic Cellular Concealing Brightening Eye Treatment

With a 2 month old baby my under eye circles are darker than usual. When I get a rare chance to go out, I spend most of my prep time camouflaging signs of sleep deprivation around the eyes... Naturally, concealers are crucial in my makeup routine these days! As I’ve mentioned in my previous post I had to restock on long-ago-expired YSL Touche Eclat... which admittedly is a genius product and works miracles with under-eye darkness… When I went to shopping to get my new YSL Touche Eclat I was introduced by a sales girl to La Prairie Light Fantastic Treatment…


After some consideration and testing I’ve made up my mind to choose La Prarie’s concealer over YSL’s Touch Eclat and to give it a try! One of the reasons except from desire to try something new, was a slightly better price. La Prairie Light Fantastic comes with a refill at a better price than Touche Eclat.
So my very first impression is that in comparison to YSL La Prarie’s concealer is more creamy and has less pigment.
I will test it for a longer time and will make a review on its concealing abilities and stay-on power.

Beauty Tip: Don't Drink, Don't Smoke, Stay Away From Sweets

No matter how often people talk about beauty being superficial, it is simply not true. Skin’s beauty is not just about the creams and makeup we layer on it, most of it comes from within. That’s why it is so important how well you take care of your body.


Smoking is a well known enemy of skin. It destroys collagen and elastin, causes broken capillaries and oxygen deficiency in your skin. Did you know that one puff of a cigarette creates over 100 times more free radicals than a UV dose enough to get a suntan? So if you want to have young looking healthy skin longer, quit now!


Moving on to all things sweet. Life without chocolate would be unbearable. But what you should know is that sweets can actually accelerate aging. When sugar gets into our blood, it turns into glucose and binds with protein or lipid molecules. This process is called glycation. Unfortunately, glycation directly impacts such vital proteins in our skin as collagen and elastin. As a result skin becomes stiff and loses its elasticity which leads to the formation of wrinkles. Solution is as simple as that – do not indulge into sweets and simple carbohydrates.


Alcohol is not very often mentioned among skin damaging factors. However it is a known fact that more than one glass of alcohol increases inflammation in the bloodstream. Inflammation means quicker aging. So make sure to count your glasses!

Beauty Review: POND’S Wet Cleansing Towelettes

We all know that cleansing is one of the most crucial steps in skin care routine. If you don’t do it or do it wrong, your skin won’t get all the beneficial hydration and anti-aging ingredients from your moisturizer, your pores will be plugged and acne causing bacteria will be breading inside of them. I currently prefer the “water method” to cleanse my skin. But there are times in life when you need to clean makeup off your skin real quick and easy! Like, after a looong night out when you are dropping dead from tiredness… Or, for example, after a tiring flight on a busy stuffy plane… or just after a hard day of work and an hour of commuting. That’s when cleansing towelettes come in handy. I was recently trying out Pond's wet towelettes . These have just appeared in stores. There are three types to choose from: Original Clean, Microdermabrasion and Age Defying. So my sister and I tried out Original Clean and this review sums up both of our opinions.

Product: POND’S Wet Cleansing Towelettes – Original Clean
Promise:
More effective at removing make-up than any other leading towelette

Product profile in Short:
- Contains Triple Tea Antioxidant Complex, Vitamin E and Chamomile
- Luxuriously quilted cloths with a unique diamond texture allows for a deep clean without leaving any residue behind

Close-up on Active Ingredients:
Water
Hexylene Glycol
Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile) Flower Extract
Tocopheryl Acetate (Vit. E)
Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract
Cyclopia Intermedia (Honeybush) Leaf Extract
Polysorbate 20
Sodium Lauroamphoactate,
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
Benzyl Alcohol
Xylityl GlucosideAnhydroxylitol
Xylitol
Fragrance
…………
…………
I was pleasantly surprised with the ingredient list. I really did not expect to see all these antioxidants among the first ingredients on the list. One could call these towelttes not just cleansing but toning as well. I wish there was no fragrance added though as it does increase a risk for an allergic reaction for those with sensitive skin like me.

Experience:

Texture: extremely soft towelette, quilted, nicely soaked
Smell: fresh, a bit on the sweet side but very subtle. I liked it.

As mentioned above, I was testing this product together with my sister. Pond’s towelettes are very well soaked and the texture of the cloth is soft and cushy. They remove foundation, powder and mascara very nicely. However next morning after a night at a disco, my sister remarked that if you use a full face of makeup, it definitely takes an extra effort to get it clean. As for day-to-day use, after I removed my daily load of makeup from the face including the eye area, my skin felt very clean and soft a tiny bit tight but not dry. My sister and I have mixed skin. Hers is much oilier than mine though. We both agreed that one towelette is enough to remove makeup from both eyes and face. And we both liked how the skin feels after using Pond’s wet towelettes. However while I felt some tightness afterwards, my sister didn’t. Finally, to my surprise the towelettes do seem to be suitable for my medium sensitive skin and they do remove water resistant mascara just as promised.

Price tag:
5$
Bottom Line:
I think Ponds towelettes are great for a quick clean on the go or when traveling.

Makeup Tip: Foundation Exaggerates your Fine Lines?

Instead of creating and even the tone of your skin, some foundation can actually emphasize fine lines by sinking the line creases, especially when you smile, speak or frown.

To solve this problem, choose moisturizing and illuminating liquid foundations. There are also special anti-aging foundations available that help to smooth and firm skin. Such products contain silicones or special waxes that “fill in” lines and wrinkles and just smooth them out. Check out Helen Rubinstein Face Sculptor Make-up, Chanel Lift Lumiere Firming and Smoothing Liquid Makeup and Instant Smooth Foundation by Clarins

You may also want to use silicone based makeup primers under your foundation such as, Top Secrets by YSL, Smashbox Photo Finish Primer, Sephora make up primer, Bare Escentuals bareVitamins Prime Time

Another way to minimize appearance of fine is to apply a wrinkle filler before you apply your foundation. Check out Good Skin Labs Tri-Aktiline Instant Deep Wrinkle Filler, Olay Wrinkle Fill and Seal and Dior Capture R 60/80 Filler

Beauty Talk: Stretch Marks - Treatment

If you already have stretch marks, the good news is they are treatable. The bad news is they do not disappear completely.

Stretch marks need to be treated while they are still fresh and red in color. This means taking measures during first few weeks or months of their occurance. If stretch marks are not fresh, already turned white or silver, and if they went very deep into dermis, no treatment will remove them completely. However, you can still minimize their unsighty appearance and at least fade them.

To treat stretchmarks at home, use topical products containing ingredients that stimulate collagen production and thicken skin. Several ingredients to look for include retinoids (should not be used by pregnant women!), Vitamin C and glycolic acids.

A couple examples of the products that can help against existing stretch marks include
ProCyte Striae Stretch Mark Crème
Stri-Vectin Intensive Concentrate for Existing Stretch Marks
Triderma MD’s Scar Reliever
Lierac Gamme Phytolastil Anti-Stretch Mark Solution
RoC Retinol Anti-Stretch Mark Serum.

Professional treatments availbale at the doctor office are lasers like the Pulse Dye and Nd. They can thicken the skin and take away redness. But get ready, it will hurt your wallet. The cost can range from $250 to 500 per treatment. Note, the use of a pulsed dye laser was shown to increase pigmentation in darker skinned individuals with repeated treatments. CO2 resurfacing lasers are also used to treat old stretch marks and can blend them in. The price tag is higher and is $900-3’000 per treatment.
Another treatment reducing visibility of stretch marks to consider is Dermabrasion. This treatment will be most effective if the scar is raised above the skin’s surface.

You did everything possible but the stretch marks are still visible? Camouflage them! Best way to make stretch marks a secret is a self-tanner. There is also special makeup developed to cover tattoos and port-wine stains. Check out Smart Cover Makeup Line, Tattoo Camo, Joe Blasco's Tattoo Covers etc.