Dec. 20, 2005 - Dry, Itchy Scalp

If you have any open sores or patches of dry skin contact your doctor for a proper diagnoses. But if there are no patches or conditions then chances are you just need a good cleaning or moisturizing shampoo.

You should always change your shampoo to the present condition of your hair. If you have healthy shiny hair, you need a light-shampoo, if you use colour you might try a color seal shampoo. Every shampoo lines carries moisturising shampoo in all shapes, sizes and prices. Season, activity heat intensity, products used after your blow dry can make your hair dry. It’s quite simple to fix. A good moisturizing conditioner will help also.

Sometimes a hairspray or styling product may cause a little build up around the surface of your scalp. Look at the label and make sure your shampoo is a cleaning or cleating shampoo. Their purpose is to get rid of build-up and keep your hair clean allowing a conditioner to work. Sometimes if there’s too much build-up the conditioner you put at your scalp can’t reach down to the root where the root of the matter is. No pun intended.

The only caution when using a cleansing shampoo is that if you just had a dark or red colour it will fade it faster then a regular moisturizing shampoo. Ask your stylist what you can do to help that, they probably have the product that will fix both problems.

Dec. 15, 2005 - To have a nice make up....check this first!

Dark Circles?

No way! There is a huge range of products on the market for different tones and textures of concealer. Don’t be tempted to go two shades lighter than your natural color, as it will make the darkness of your skin more gray and muddy. And be careful not to lay it on too thick. Apart from the fact that it looks like you’re wearing too much makeup, it may also damage the delicate skin beneath your eyes. Remember, you want to tint the discoloration, not mask it.

Top tip - Have a good look at the actual color of your dark circles. If your darkness is gray, lightly apply a soft pink eye shadow to the circles before applying your foundation. If your darkness is more of a blue hue, use a light peach color first instead.

Powdering Up

Keep your powder application light by using loose powder and a big brush for application. Less is definitely more here. Make sure that you buy a good powder that will sink into your skin, rather than visibly lie of the top of it.

Top tip - before applying your powder, try blotting your foundation with a tissue. This will remove any excess oils, and help to stop you from getting ‘shiny’.

Dec. 5, 2005 - acne ....ugh.....better watch out girls...

I've found some good   tips for preventing ance and all those grosse stuffs may show off on your face !!!

Acne is a skin condition that affects individuals with oily skin especially children, teenagers and young adults. It is characterized by cysts or pimples such as blackheads and whiteheads. Acne results when skin oils accumulate below keratin plugs in the openings of the hair follicles and oil glands. These plugs get clogged with irritating secretions and bacteria.

Acne can be caused by any of the following:

• Increases in hormone levels during puberty, menstruation or pregnancy
• Taking medication such as birth control pills, anti depressant medication such as lithium or steroids

Acne can be treated or avoided in one or more of the following ways:

• washing often with a warm washcloth and soap several times a day. An abrasive soap or scrub is more effective than plain soap.
• Using medication containing benzoyl peroxide for mild acne
• Avoiding oily greases and creams on the skin
• Men should soften their beard before shaving and also not shave against the grain
• See a doctor about prescribing an antibiotic

Aug. 27, 2005 - Caring for your lips

The best lipsticks are long-lasting, perfectly colored and made with ingredients that enhance not only your look but the health of your lips as well. The best lip looks rely on knowing the best colors for your skin. Use these lip tips to keep your makeup beautiful and your lips smooth and soft.

Before adding lip color or gloss, calm your lips for smoother, long lasting color.
If your lips are chapped or dry, lipstick will go on unevenly and fade away fast. Tiny lines around the mouth can trap color, causing lipstick to "bleed"—never a good look! Use a soothing lip treatment or lip balm to moisturize and heal your lips, providing a smooth base for your lip color. Look for calming lip treatment with essential oil of sweet marjoram, lavender, and tarragon, which goes on with a warm tingle and promotes healing. With soft, beautiful lips, your lip color will look and feel better than ever!

Lipstick—a million colors to choose from!
One of the biggest makeup challenges is choosing the right lip color. Some women vary their lipstick in accordance with their wardrobe—a big no-no, since your lipstick is supposed to complement your skin tones! It's not hard to choose lipstick colors once you know one simple fact. All you need to know is whether your skin tones are "warm" or "cool". It's not about how dark or light you are, or even about your hair or eye color, but what the undertone of your skin is—is it bluish (cool) or yellowish (warm)?

So how can you tell if you aren't sure? Dig through your makeup bag and find just two shades of any kind of makeup—lip color, eye shadow or blush. Find one color that is orange or rust and another that is pink or lavender. Rub one color on the apple of your cheek and the other color on the apple of the other cheek and then compare. Does one look more "right" than the other? Does one look garish or just wrong? The color that works will show you your skin tone. If the orange color looks right, you have warm tones; if the pink color looks right, you are cool.

Warm Colors
Coral, Peachy, Russet, Rust, Amber, Brown, Brick Red, Melon, Salmon, Orange, Sandalwood, Red with yellow undertone, Taupe

Cool Colors
Pink, Raspberry, Cherry, Mulberry, Lavender, Plum, Rose, Strawberry, Crimson, Amethyst, Lilac, Red with blue undertone, Mauve

For Work to Dinner to Dancing: A Lip for All Reasons
Your daily lip color should be more muted than your night-time look, but we often dash from work to an evening out without returning home. With a small, portable lip palette, you can bring a daytime and a nighttime shade along with complementary lip pencils with no extra hassle—they fit into your purse! Take along a miniature compact with your daily shade, and add a second, more dramatic color alongside it. Or wear a gloss for day and add a lipstick for night. When you're getting ready for the evening, your glammed-up lip color will be right—and right where you need it.

Aug. 12, 2005 - Homemade Facial Masks

Dry Skin:

Mix 2 tablespoons honey with 2 teaspoons milk. Smooth over face and throat. Leave on for 10 minutes. Rinse off with warm water.

Oily Skin:

You will need:
1 egg white
6 drops witch hazel
6 drops lemon juice
Whisk the egg white until it's stiff, and then add the remaining ingredients. Gently apply the mixture to your face, avoiding your eyes. Leave to dry for 15 minutes or so. Rinse well with warm water.

Firming Mask:

Mash up a very ripe banana. Add just enough honey to make a soft pulp. Apply over face and hair. This is such a great firming mask that aging movie stars have been known to put it in the cups of their bras to make their breasts "perky."

Aug. 8, 2005 - How to apply blush

Blush warms with the heat of the body to a more intense hue, which is one reason to apply it very sparingly.

Step 1 - First, throw away the brush that comes in the compact; it's too stiff and small to create a natural look. Use a good blush brush.

Step 2 - Grin like a fool into the mirror, to see where the apple of your cheek appears.

Step 3 - Dip your blush brush into the powder, shake off the excess, and brush it lightly over the apple of the cheek, moving toward the ear, with short, up-and-down vertical movements.

Step 4 - Then blend it in with one soft horizontal stroke on top of the vertical strokes, and blot a tissu on top to remove the excess, or cover lightly with powder.

Step 5 - If you're feeling particularly washed out, you can brush a light stroke of blush across your forehead up by your hairline or just above the brows where the sun would hit your face. (But don't overdo it.)

If you use a cream or cheek gel, dap a tiny bit on the apply of each cheek and gently rub it in with your fingers. (It's best to start with too little and layer on more later.) Make sure to blend very, very well. Many makeup artists use a sponge or brush to apply cream blush, as well as foundation and powder to help blend it. Take a tiny bit on the tip of the brush or sponge and stroke upward gently.

May. 6, 2005 - Being Beautiful

Everybody wants to look beautiful and we all can. A few simple tips will help you change your looks and your lives – but remember you can be nothing without confidence – and yes, it is all about inner beauty at the end of the day!

Apr. 30, 2005 - Fitness Goals

Exercise is surprisingly enjoyable, good for the self-esteem and carries significant benefits for the quality of our lives and our health. Be it yoga, aerobics or walking, and no matter how little of it, it is important for both physical and mental health.

Exercise is a panacea for boredom, tension, anxiety and even PMS. Working up a sweat is natural and healthy, a vital requirement for a balanced, fulfilled life.

Exercise improves blood circulation, which helps in the reproduction of new cells, besides getting rid of all impurities to reveal radiant skin. But when you don’t exercise enough, the blood circulation is sluggish and the skin receives less oxygen. As a result, your skin may look dull and sallow, one that lacks lustre. In fact, it might even aggravate acne.

It might take some getting used to, but once you get started, your body and mind will get accustomed to the exertion and actually hunger for it.

Apr. 25, 2005 - Body Beautiful

The fact that we enjoyed perfect velvety skin in our teenage years is not reason enough to enjoy it throughout. Sun damage is cummulative and can be seen on our skin a decade or two later. The skin on our body needs the same kind of love and care as our face. Dull, coarse and lifeless skin is a result of a generally toxic lifestyle, and healthy eating, proper exercise and body brushing can make a dramatic difference. 

Apr. 23, 2005 - Bath Smart

Good grooming and basic beauty care begin in the bathroom. Bathing can be fun, not a chore and can make you feel fresh and glowing. Personal freshness is essential for everyone. The bacteria on the skin attacking the sweat when it reaches the surface of the skin cause body odor. Perspiration odor doesn’t start until about the age of 10, when the special apocrine glands develop. These are found mainly under the arms and between the legs.

Once a week, take time to have a lazy bath night, and turn it into a beauty treatment. Make the bath water soft and sweet smelling by adding some bubble bath, bath salts or bath oils. Alternatively, you can soften the water with a large spoonful or borax or powdered water softener.

Your bath won’t do you any good if you stay in it so long, as soaking will dry your skin, or if is too hot, as this too is very drying. Twenty minutes is the longest you should linger, and 38^o C(100 ^oF) is the highest temperature you should have the water. If you are not washing your hair, protect it with a shower cap, as the steam will make curly hair more frizzy or straight hair lank.

Apr. 22, 2005 - Tab's DO's & DON'T's for nail care:

Do not put your hands into any kind of washing up liquid
Think about a leftover bowl of a chicken casserole and what happens when you squirt one bit of detergent on that. Now consider what that's doing to the natural oils in your hands and the natural oils in the fingernails which is the only part holding the finger nails together. It's totally destructive!

It's dangerous to cut the cuticles of your nails
The cuticle is a natural seal where the skin bonds with the nail. If you open a cuticle up, you allow bacteria to have access straight into the blood system.

The cuticle solution
Cuticles should be removed with cuticle removing solution. Also, every time your hands are in the bath for a long time, rubbing the cuticle and moving it back removes the dead cells. They must be very soft to do that and be in the water for 15 minutes.

Beware of fast drying nail polishes
Fast drying nail polishes today have a high percentage isopropyl alcohol (IPA). This tends to make nails dry and crumble. Once the polish dries up it become brittle, flaky and begins to chip off. A nail polish that bonds really well is also the type that takes a while to dry. So it's a trade-off.

Be square!
People tend to point their fingernails when they're filing, which leads to filing away the sides of the nail. Because the sides is what gives the fingernail strength, pointed nails will tend to give you splits in the sides. Pointed nails break much easier. They should grow until there is at least an eighth of an inch of free edge before you start to point them. People started to wear their nails square (particularly in the USA) out of necessity because they needed the side wall of the nail to give it strength.

Every thing you touch
... is an emery board. If you have the slightest snag on the ends of your nails, it will cause your nails to rip. Every time you touch something, fingernails bend. Fingernails are meant to bend but every time you do, that snag will open up more and eventually turn into a split. How do you avoid this calamity? Use a very gentle file, never a metal file.

Best beauty tip in the world
Use a thick hand cream, smother your hands in it, wear cotton gloves, then rubber gloves and then do the washing up. The heat will melt the cream, releasing the natural oils and in two weeks even the roughest hands will look like a baby's bum. The transformation is amazing.

And it's a way to beat the household blues! It will make the fingernails grow too. The natural oils in the fingernails is what holds them together.

Apr. 19, 2005 - Vaseline: The Simplest Eye Makeup Remover

There are all sorts of eye makeup removers on the market but the best one I've found is Vaseline. I learned this trick in high school from Seventeen Magazine & I've been using it ever since. Why? Well, it's easy & it doesn't sting the eye. And it's cheap. Some beauty experts tout Vaseline is actually good for the skin around the eyes. (I don't really buy that -- the tender skin around my eyes doesn't seem better than average after years of Vaseline). Come back tomorow for another great tip using Vaseline.

Apr. 13, 2005 - Skin care

Give your skin a try! You'll feel much better!!!

Mar. 23, 2005 - 10 Beauty myths that you should know

Myth #1:   pores open and close. 
Your pores are not doors. Remember this and it will make your life more simple. A pore is an opening in the skin that allows sebum to flow to the surface in order to keep the skin supple and from cracking. They do not open, they do not close. If your pores are appearing larger it is most likely because dead skin cells have built up on the pore. This is why exfoliation is important. Exfoliation helps to buff away dead skin cells and keeps the pores looking smaller and cleaner. Now, I will tell you that picking and squeezing on your pores can stretch and scar them. So obviously this is a no-no. If you are prone to clogged pores it is necessary to use an acid based product to keep the pores clean on the surface. I prefer salicylic acids for this such as Joey's New York Clean Pores or Naturra Bisse's peels.
Also as an added myth breaker...those Band-Aid type strips that are supposed to clean your pores do not work. They clean off hair and skin, but cannot pull the wax and oil out of a pore. An acid simply helps to buff off the surface oil and skin build-up which prevents the appearance of blackheads.
 

Myth #2: you must use products from one line only. 
Yeah, I know who came up with this one as I have heard it many times from someone selling one line only. I promise you that your face will not explode, crack, quake, wither, or die if you combine products from different lines. My philosophy is that many lines make wonderful products but not every product from a particular line is fabulous. That is why it is important for you to find items that work for you and pick and choose from what is available to you. Just because you like MAC's powder for example doesn't mean that their entire skincare, makeup and hair line is for you. Don't put yourself in a box. There are too many wonderful products out there. And everyone's skin is different. Just because it works for someone else doesn't mean that it will work for you.
 

Myth #3:  skin needs to breath. 
Okay, let's all practice this one together. Your lungs breath, your skin holds your bones and guts together. Any questions? I know...this is an old one and the idea behind it isn't so bad. Yes it is nice to not put makeup on your face everyday. Not because makeup suffocates the skin. If this was true then we would get quite sick wearing makeup...if it really did cut off our skins oxygen. But makeup because it is a pigmented product can irritate or clog the skin. That is why your cleansing regiment is so important for you. Use good products and never sleep in makeup. That's it.
 

Myth #4: oily skin should be dried out. 
Oil production is very important for the maintenance of our skin. Most people are not nearly as oily as they think. (See #10.) If you are truly an oily skin it is very important to not dry out the skin but keep it balanced and clean. Hydration and oiliness are very separate. Just because your skin is oily doesn't mean that it needs no moisture. We put moisture on the skin to help it stay supple as it receives oil and water from the inside. If the skin is dehydrated we often begin producing more oil as our skin tries to compensate. This is the reason that many skins breakout. They have a dry flaky layer on the top surface and the oil that the skin produces gets trapped underneath and becomes infected. This is why it is so important to keep the outer layer of skin exfoliated and moisturized. 
Also, most oily skin cleansers are way to harsh and drying for the skin. The skin should never feel tight or dry or burn after washing. Also anything that burns or "cools" the skin is damaging it. Use those products on sunburns, your legs, or clean your tub with them...but do not put them on the face.
 

Myth #5: A light tan looks good. 
Do you know what I see when I look at a tan skin? Damage.  Your skin doesn't brown because it is happy about the sun exposure it is getting. It browns the same way that a piece of toast browns..because it is being cooked. If you are wearing a sunscreen of at least SPF 15 everyday you will still get a bit of color during the warm months of the year. This is inevitable. But if you are putting yourself out in the sun to darken your skin then you are asking to look like a Coach handbag in 10 years. For you young girls, those large freckles and spots you see on older women's skin...if you are tanning now then you already have them. They won't show up until your mid-20's to mid-30's but the damage has been done. Beautiful skin is about clarity and evenness and smoothness....NOT ABOUT COLOR AND DEPTH. (okay..I'll get off of the soap box now.)

Myth #6: Blue eyes should wear blue eyeshadow. 
I will make this one short and sweet. if you put a ruby in a red velvet box, what happens to the ruby? It disappears or at the least becomes less noticeable. The same applies to eyeshadow. contrast and compliment your eye color..don't match it.

Myth # 7: green cuts red. 
All right, I admit it...green does cut red. But so does yellow. And from a makeup perspective yellow is much more prevalent in the skin than green. What do you think looks more like healthy skin? Green toned skin or yellow toned skin? Yellow as a neutralizer is prettier, easier to work with and more real.

Myth #8: I can't wear red lipstick. 
I hear this one a lot and my answer is the same for any skin color. Anyone can wear red lipstick if you know what red to look for. The Marilyn Monroe red is best on light skin tones with light eyes. If you have a medium complexion you will look best in brown reds. I like warm brown reds for olive tones and cool brown reds and burgundies for darker and red toned skins. I also adore sheer reds for less strong makeup looks.

Myth #9: Shine in the t-zone equates oily skin. 
I admit that I get a little bit frustrated with all of the email I get about how oily people are. So let's cut to the chase. First of all the t-zone is the area across your nose and down your chin. Think of a lower case "t". Second oiliness or lack of it is judged by the cheeks. If your cheeks develop a shine within a couple of hours after applying makeup then yes you are oily. Shine in the t-zone indicates a normal skin. Dry skins know that they are dry and oily skins know that they are oily. Normal skins tend to think that they are oilier than they are. Check the cheeks to be sure.

Myth #10:  i have to wear products that are hypoallergenic. 
Don't we all. Okay I have to tell you that this is one of my big pet peeves. Many is the time I have sat in front of a client about to apply something only to have her lean away from me and announce that she is only able to wear products that are..."hypoallergenic." No kidding. 

Mar. 21, 2005 - True Beauty - by Chad A Booher

Mar. 19, 2005 - Welcome!!

This is my first post. Hope you enjoy my weblog.

Thanks, Eva