Hints for Avoiding Orange Skin

Ooompas are the orange-skinned dancing and singing employees from the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Unfortunately, everywhere I look, I see Ooompa doppelgangers. While the young women I see are not exactly singing and dancing everywhere they go, their skin is strangely orange-colored.

Usually, the Ooompa wanna-bes are teenagers or in their early 20's who have yet to realize that the color of the foundation or spray-on tanning lotion that they apply to their skin actually makes a difference. Often, their natural beauty is covered up with thick, glommy orange foundation, which is probably not their intent.

Most of us are taught early on to look for the correct foundation for our skin type, but aren't necessarily taught how to select the appropriate foundation color. As a general rule of thumb, no one should be wearing orange-toned anything on their skin, and if you are fair-complexioned, you have to take extra care when choosing the colors for your foundations and self-tanners. According to this site, yellow-based foundation colors look best on most skin colors, while pink-based foundation colors look best on those with pale complexions. The idea is to test and match the skin color in the store on your jaw-line. I think that the key point that most young people miss is that foundation should actually match your skin tone by blending in. 

 

You might think that darkening your skin with foundation greatly enhances your beauty, but chances are, it will just call attention to the fact that you are either wearing too much make-up or that you failed to match your skin tone. If you wear foundation, the color you choose for your skin is important.

This article gives information about the right way to use self-tanning products. Of course, going the professional route is always the best option, but given the hard facts of this economy, that might not always be possible. The most important recommendation for self-tanning is attempting to go just one shade darker than your own skin tone. Again, the reason for this is that it won't look natural. We don't need any more Ooompa Look-a-Likes out and about than their already are. The truth is that young skin, with the exception of pimples, is much more forgiving than older skin, so those in their 20's probably don't need as much make-up to begin with.

I Love the Babyliss Pro

If flat-irons were Quidditich broom sticks, the Babyliss Pro would definitely be the flat-iron equivalent of the Nimbus 2000. In a tiny way, the Babyliss Pro has actually changed my life by giving me the confidence in my ability to style my hair on my own.

A few weeks ago, I went into a store specializing in beauty products in desperate need of a new flat iron. I hadn’t purchased one in over ten years and had blamed my inability to straighten my hair on my own ineptitude until a friend let me in on a little secret- my old flat iron sucked ass.

The Babyliss Pro was not my first choice- I wanted something cheaper and bought a cheaper model which fortunately malfunctioned a couple of weeks later. I went into the shop to exchange my flat iron for another one. I asked for a recommendation from the beauty experts at the store and was given the best advice I’ve received lately- go for the Bablyliss Pro, which currently comes with two irons for the price of one.

The woman stocking the shelves yelled out that I was going to be blown away by my new purchase and for once, I couldn’t wait to get home to style my unruly hair. I can’t emphasize enough how much I liked the Babyliss Pro. It was like a miracle. I was able to straighten my hair in minutes and my kinks and cowlicks had finally met their match. The iron heated up quickly and did its job almost without my help.

The Babyliss Pro is titanium and comes with a DVD full of helpful styling tips. According to both my hairdresser and my DVD, flat irons are the new preferred method for both curling your hair and straightening your hair. The Babyliss I have is curved, which is supposed to make it more versatile in terms of the number of hairstyles it make. My hair is not quite right for some of the styles given in the DVD, but if I had a different hair cut, I would definitely try out some new do’s.

Although I am on a tight budget, I justified the higher expense for the iron because it has a four year warranty and because it will save me money on getting my hair done for weddings and other events when I need my hair to look better.

ELLE Magazine Says Freckles are In



If you are worried about the freckles on your face distracting from your natural beauty, don’t. According to ELLE magazine and their Make-Up and Skin-Care writer, fair faces and freckles are definitely IN. As a matter of fact, freckles are so in that one make-up artist is actually freckling models’ faces with eyebrow pencil.

Miyako Okamoto is a Shiseido make-up artist who believes that adding freckles adds “a fresh, youthful image.” She sprinkles the freckles around the cheeks and the bridge of the models’ noses for a “healthy look”.

While this trend may be temporary, it might give those who frequent the tanning beds on a regular basis pause for thought and a way for them to avoid the artificial lights so they can maintain their “fresh, youthful image”. It also is much more palatable to my eye than the “smoky eyes” look which has been making young and hot runway models look as if they were brutalized before their fashion shows for quite some time now.

That said, I am uncertain how rampant the freckle fad actually is or if it extends past this particular make-up artist.

Pic Thru Flickr 

e³°°°'s photostream

Cost-Saving Beauty Advice from Beautiful Women

Times are tough and maintaining beauty through beauty products, salon visits and the like has not gotten any cheaper, but as women we are still expected to look our best. I recently asked some advice from “beauty experts” I know about how to look good while saving money. Here are a few of their tips:



Chauntal’s advice:

  • Vitamin E works well for scars/marks and once in awhile I use it for my lips at night.
  • I use Aloe Vera baby oil (Johnson & Johnson) in the shower a few times a week. A cheap way to keep your skin smooth.
  • I once had my teeth cleaned at a dental school for half the price and the dentist came around and checked every single tooth to make sure that they were cleaned well by the student.
  • Here's a tip for coupons: go to the Proctor & Gamble website and they will mail you your choice of coupons! www.pgeverydaysolutions.com.


Alyssa’s advice:

  • Always wear SPF on your face it will save you money in the long run when you don't have to purchase anti-aging creams!!!
  • If you're in a hurry and hate doing makeup a quick 2 minute fix is moisturizer, bronzer, mascara, and lip gloss.
  • I go a couple of times a year to beauty schools for facials. In Portland at the Aveda Institute the 60 minute facial is $20! I have found that the beauty schools give horrible manicures and pedicures because they're usually least favorite rotation that the students are required to do.


Karen’s advice:

  • I like to visit the local beauty school for lower-cost pampering. No way would I let them cut or color my hair, but they do great manicures and pedicures on the cheap and they are trying really hard to impress their teachers so they take their time and do a good job. I bet a lot of people don't know you can get actual appointments at beauty schools. They need to practice on someone!


Tatum’s Advice:

  • Mix 2 parts moisturizing lotion with 1 part of your favorite liquid foundation to get nice coverage, but nothing that appears caked on. Perfect for the summer time.


Kari’s Advice:

  • Aquaphor Healing Ointment... I don't understand the difference between it and Vaseline,but it works way, way better for dry skin, burns, chapped lips, diaper rash, excema, and a myriad of other skin issues. Put it on your lips before bed and wake up with a soft, supple kisser... put it on before going out in the morning and you have shine to rival the priciest gloss. Excellence in a tube (or tub)!


Elizabeth’s Advice:

  • Use shampoo to wash your face! It won't over dry your skin and is better than any face wash out there. I've been doing this since college and am happy with my skin.
  • Toilet Seat Covers make great paper to blot your skin when you're out on the town. Rip off a piece and blot it on your skin and it will remove oil (that makes your skin shiny) and make you feel fresh. They sell really expensive blotting papers at Nordstrom that are made from the same material.
  • Target Up-and Up brand makes a great makeup remover for much less than name brands.

 

Connie's Advice:

  • A lost cost beauty tip that dermatologists highly recommend is Vaseline as a moisturizer. I can attest to its extraordinary abilities - I used it when I was pregnant on my expanding, flaky, dry and itchy belly. To this day it is a great makeup remover.
  • Another cheap fave - mix olive/vegetable oil and granulated sugar for a soothing hands/foot exfoliant.
  • Toothpaste (not gel type) is a good zit zapper!

 

Christina's Advice:

  • Walmart Equate version of Cetaphil is AWESOME and half the price.

 

Enhancing Your Hair Color the Natural Way

Although heading to the salon for a pedicure, manicure, facial, and full-on clip and color can make you feel and look absolutely marvelous, it’s nice to be able to take care of your hair and beauty needs at home, without the use of chemicals or a Visa. I would say that 50% of the women I know color their hair at least a little bit, whether to hide the gray, add a hint of blonde, get some deeper undertones, or to get a little more Va-va-va-voom from their natural red-hair.

Between salon visits, there are a few ways to give your hair a little help in the color department without taking out a second mortgage on your home for the “processing” or using chemical treatments on your hair.

Brunettes:

Brunettes have a couple of alternatives for brunettes to use when  naturally enhancing their hair color. One way (aside from using henna) is the use of coffee.

  • First, brew yourself up a pot of triple-strength coffee. (I don’t advise drinking any of it unless you want to feel very agitated about your hair and your morning.) Let the coffee cool. Wash but do not condition your hair.
  • After shampooing your hair, rinse your hair repeatedly with the cooled coffee, and then with clear water.


Red-Heads:

Interestingly enough, the best combination for red-heads to enhance their hair color is probably the healthiest drink you could ever imagine.

  • Mix together 1/2 cup of beet juice and 1/2 cup of carrot juice.
  • After washing your hair, pour the “delicious” juice over your head, cover your hair with plastic and either sit under a dryer using medium heat or sit in the sun for one hour.


Blondes:

The best way for blondes or light-haired brunettes to give themselves more “natural” blonde highlights is using lemon juice. 

  • Wash your hair and then spray it with spritzer containing a mixture of lemon juice and water- the sites that I read advised using  roughly two parts water and one part lemon juice because lemon juice is acidic and can dry out your hair.  Too dry hair is most likely what you are trying to avoid in the first place by using natural ingredients instead of chemicals.


Henna:

The use of Henna can color your hair many different shades, depending on the combination of mixtures that you use. A thorough definition of Henna can be found here.  It should be noted that Henna (like packaged hair dyes for blondes) cannot be used without bleaching your hair first to dye your hair to a lighter blonde.

Exfoliating Coffee Face & Body Scrub

For today’s beauty project, I chose to make an exfoliating body scrub out of coffee grounds. Coffee is a secret ingredient used in many spas throughout the world, and after making my Coffee Body Scrub and using it to exfoliate with in the shower, I can definitely see the allure.

First, I brewed some organic coffee for myself, and two cups later, was awake enough to get started on “my creation”. I saved the coffee grounds and put them into a bowl. I added about a table spoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of vanilla, some brown sugar and a little bit of cinnamon to make the scent a little spicier. I then added sea salt, which is also used to exfoliate the skin.

 Because I hadn’t used a specific exfoliant in a long time, I spent a long time scrubbing my skin, using my hands to spread the coffee mixture over my body. When I was finished, my skin felt about 1,000 times softer, and some small bumps I had on my arms had miraculously disappeared. I also used a tad of the mixture to wash my face, and again, was unbelievably surprised with the results that I got.

In addition to smoother skin, some believe that applying coffee grounds to the skin can actually reduce cellulite by somehow redistributing fat cells. Another claim is that coffee can prevent or even make varicose veins go away for good. I’m not sure about either of these claims, but since making a Coffee Body Scrub isn’t too labor intensive and doesn’t cost any money, it’s always worth a shot, right?


Before I began, I failed to account for a couple of things. First, I used quite a bit of the scrub because it was costing me basically nothing, and the coffee grounds did not wash out of the shower as well as they should have. Second, I am not sure that my coffee to vanilla ratio was enough- I felt like I smelt a little bit more like a burnt coffee bean than a vanilla bean (if you know what I mean.), so I would definitely recommend testing a little bit on your arms before you decide that you want to smell like coffee grounds all day.

I did, however, find this site, which lists several alternative uses for your coffee grounds in the morning. I am a little skeptical about some of the uses, including as a self-tanning mixture, and as a way to lose 5-10 inches “all over your body in an hour”,  but most are seem pretty useful.  

Pic from Creative Commons here.

Save Money by Making Your Own Masque

I can’t afford a facial, a chemical peel, or any other professional exfoliating skin care to give my skin up a leg up, so I’ve decided to try a few “home skin remedies”. For the sake of full disclosure, I will tell you that I found some recipes on the net, substituted many ingredients and make absolutely no claims whatsoever about how effective my “skin-care treatments” are.

Let me know if they work, and who knows- maybe I’ll have my own natural skin-care line in a few years, but don’t count on it.



For the first Masque, I tried a strange mixture of Yoghurt, Honey, and Quinoa. (Most recipes I saw called for Oatmeal and not Quinoa, but I went out on a limb and made a substitution without consulting a single skin care expert or the Internet.)

I mixed everything up carefully and tried to figure out the portions on my own. Soon after, I grabbed a handful of the goopy miracle Masque and gently put it on my face. There was a slight problem with my mixture, though. Maybe I didn’t have enough Quinoa (as it was the most expensive ingredient I was trying to save it for actual cooking), maybe it was too much Yoghurt (which was of course organic), or maybe something was wrong with the honey.


Upon careful consideration as I tried to avoid the Masque from dripping down my face, I decided to change the honey and added some Honey Bear brand honey, which of course reminded me of my childhood.


I scooped more of the Masque up to put on my face, and spread some more on. The Honey Bear Honey did its magic and the new mixture started to dry on my face. 



As I was home alone, I started to get antsy waiting for the results of my beauty project. Would my pores open (or close) or whatever it is they are supposed to do? Would the skin on my face become more supple and soft? I waited about ten minutes for the results to come in.


I turned the faucet on hot and used hot water to scrape off the Quinoa, Honey, and Yoghurt Masque from my skin.

What was the verdict? (I'm too shy to put my face on this page, so you'll have to take my word for how the Masque went.)

I can’t say definitively that the Masque was life-changing or that my skin became instantly more vibrant, but it did feel softer. For those wanting to try to make this Masque, I would recommend more Quinoa, more honey, and less Yoghurt. The mixture totally depends on how thick your honey is. And, of course, you can always do it the old-fashioned way with Oatmeal instead of Quinoa.

Flat Iron Vending Machines Hit NYC

I thought I had seen and heard of every kind of vending machine imaginable. Tampon machines galore in the United States for those awkward moments when Auntie Flo comes early, dildo machines in Asia in so-called “Love Motels” so that amorous and illicit couples can have a little more fun, and of course, the now infamous “soiled panty” machines in Japan.

Now, according to Cosmo magazine, who is arguably one of the ultimate sources for young women everywhere about beauty, New York City actually has a pay-per-use system for “Flat Irons” in restrooms. Think of the possibilities- no more frizzy hair days when in the hot summer weather. No need to get ready before you go out- you can get ready in the restaurant or bar while you wait for your date to arrive- flat irons in restrooms means that for the $2 charge, your hair can look as good as you want it to. (Provided of course that straight hair is your goal).

Of course, there are some things to consider- the $2 charge only gets you 2 minutes of use and you don’t know what kind of icky hair has been on the flat iron already, so bear these in mind.










http://www.cosmopolitan.com/hairstyles-beauty/beauty-blog/

Redheads Have More Sex (And Other Facts)

My red hair was the bane of my existence throughout my entire childhood. Classmates would tease me about my “orange” hair (it’s exactly the color of a penny, really; not new or old but in-between), and strangers would rub it for “good luck.” One particularly awful moment occurred when Ronald McDonald singled me out during a parade—I was four or five—and shouted, “Look, red hair, like me!” He blew me a kiss and mortified me, a very shy and easily-embarrassed kid.

Today I find it funny about all the different quirks, facts, and legends that surround redheads. I love my hair color now and wouldn’t change it for the world, and every time a stranger comments that it’s lucky, or that it makes me strong, or whatever, I have to grin and wonder where the heck they heard such a thing.

So I decided to look up a bunch of different theories, facts, and folklore surrounding red hair. Some of it’s funny, some of it’s just plain ridiculous; enjoy!

Red hair is an actual genetic mutation; we can say we’re mutants! A single gene, the MC1R (melanocortin 1 receptor), is responsible for our red hair.

It supposedly affects 1 to 4 percent of the population. (Upon hearing this, my husband asked, “Then why do I see redheads everywhere?” I immediately responded, “Bottles,” though I thought, “Wishful thinking!”)

In European lore, red hair was considered the mark of a witch.

The highest concentration of redheaded people occurs in Scotland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Australia. While a whopping 13% of the population has red hair in Scotland, only 2% of Americans have naturally red hair.

While it’s considered to be bad luck to have red hair in France, in Denmark it’s considered to be an honor. Some people teach redheads to wear green in order to “tone their hair down.” And I thought it was because green made our hair look even redder!

Two studies suggest that redheads have more sex.

Redheads are more likely to get skin cancer, sunburns, and wrinkling due to sun exposure.

30% of women who dye their hair dye it red.

Redheads are harder to sedate, requiring up to 20% more anesthesia than the average patient. Before I knew this, I could at least attest to it personally; in both dental work and in surgeries I’ve felt my operations and have had additional injections to anesthetize my body.

Redheads tend to lose their hair later in life than non-redheads, and do not turn gray; instead, their hair turns white. Redheads also have the fewest amount of hairs on their heads than any other hair color.

Is Your Sunscreen Actually Harmful?

Using sunscreen is supposed to be the best thing for you to prevent skin cancer and premature aging, but over the past two or three years, there has been a lot of negative information coming out about sunscreen. Mostly, the information says that like other products full of chemicals that you smear across your face, sunscreen is actually bad for you.

Problems that can occur include bad skin irritations such as skin dryness and acne to the very serious problem of cancer. Of course, it’s dependent on your own skin’s sensitivities and which chemicals the sunscreens have.


To avoid skin dryness: stay away from sunscreen with alcohol and isopropyl as they can really dry out your skin fast.
 
If you get acne easily: avoid sunscreens with mineral oil, liquidum paraffinum, paraffin oil, paraffin wax and petrolatum as these ingredients have a tendency to exacerbate any acne problems that you might already have and might even cause breakouts.

Some ingredients have been linked to liver  and kidney cancer including: TEA, DEA, and MEA.

An environmental watchdog group did an investigation as to which sunscreens were the most effective at preventing harmful rays while avoiding nasty chemicals and found that of most of the popular brands including Neutrogena and Banana Boat did not pass their tests. For a complete list of products which met their rigorous standards, check this link out. If your skin is sensitive or acne-prone, and you want to avoid sunscreens with minerals, check out their list of mineral-free alternatives.

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