There was a time when I thought that luxurious creams were the privilege of only the rich; but hey, look at me, I am a housewife with a modest income, and yet I use BB cream. This is one of the trendiest beauty creams in America. My skin feels extra soft and smooth, all thanks to the cream.

Know what? This cream has helped me get rid of that cakey look, which was my major concern with foundation. If you ask me personally, I hate makeup. Yet, I had to slather my face every day to hide blemishes and lines. It was a waste of time and I always wished for a “magic” cream that hid my blemishes, moisturized my skin, rendered anti aging effect, and offered sun protection – all this in a single slather. My friends used to call this a fairy tale dream.

Today, I have Hydroxatone BB cream in my hands. The dream has come true! I recommend this cream to all my friends and to all women out there who spend hours applying makeup just to hide facial imperfections.

It’s time to go makeup-free, girls. Get a BB cream and experience true liberation. This is from my personal experience that the cream is truly a wonder product to have in your bag. Look at its jar – it’s so attractive! This increases the aesthetic value of your bag too.

Today, when I visit my local beauty store, I laugh. There was a time when I frantically searched for the right foundation shade. God knows how many stores I visited trying to find the right makeup for my skin. This, when a nice BB cream was just a few clicks away online all this time!

In a book by Sue Dolan titled “Naturally Sensational: Rejuvenating Skin Care Recipes” free radicals are regarded as one of the top culprits for rapid aging. Free radicals are highly-charged molecules of oxygen that cause wrinkles, fine lines, and age spots. These radicals are produced by exposure of skin to environmental pollution, cigarette smoke, a diet full of junk food, excess alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyle, high level of stress, and the sun.

Yet another top enemy of the skin is the sun. A certain amount of sunlight is essential for the skin to synthesize Vitamin D; but that’s the morning sun you need. Sunlight after 10 in the morning to 5 in the evening is loaded with ultraviolet A and B rays. Exposure of skin to the sun during this time deteriorates its quality and makes it age faster.

The third enemy of the skin is sugar in its refined form. Those white, sparkling crystals of sweetness are actually poisons in disguise for your skin. They accelerate the process of glycation that age skin faster. That is the reason dermatologists recommend cutting down the intake of sugary and starchy foods. Processed food, too, contain lots of bad carbs that contribute to choking of the skin.

People usually say that aging makes them less attractive. The truth is that the beauty of your skin is in your hands. Taking care of a few little things in your lifestyle go a long way in keeping your skin youthful and glowing for decades.

Sleeping Beauty slept for 100 years and woke up with a fresh, flawless skin. How did she manage, without even washing her face once for that long? Well, those are stuff fairy tales are made of. Yet, one thing is true - sound sleep of 8 hours every night makes you a beauty. You wake up feeling fresh in the mind and glowing in the face.

Recently, science has come up with an interesting discovery. A study released in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology states that people who slept on copper-fiber pillows at night woke up with fresher skin. Copper is a durable metal that gets absorbed in the skin and regulates the production of skin proteins.

In a study, participants aged between 30 and 60 slept on copper-fiber pillows for 8 weeks. The result - they got improved skin quality, with minimized crow’s feet and smoother faces. No side effects were reported.

Pillow plays an important role in your facial beauty. If copper is not your thing, at least try to use your regular pillow in a better and more useful manner.

Avoid sleeping on your side with your face sunk into the pillow. It contributes to loosening the skin and forming creases. One of the most beautiful ways to sleep is to lie on your back, with a pillow supporting your neck and head.

If you don’t like sagging skin, you probably also don’t like sagging mattresses. Get a firm, comfortable bed to sleep on that gives you a restful night’s sleep. Remember, when you are happy and relaxed in your mind, it shows on the face.

People often squint their eyes when they work on their computers or when they are reading boards from a distance. Habitual squinting leads to development of frown lines between brows. If you need to squint to read, you might require glasses. Check your eyesight before it becomes the culprit for wrinkle formation.

Another probable cause that you may have never imagined is your sleep position. Soft, fluffy pillows cause wrinkles is unheard of; but how you sleep on them may contribute to wrinkle formation, according to an article in Women’s Day magazine.

With time, your skin loses some elasticity. When you sleep on your side with your face pressed against the soft pillow, it creates folds in your skin. Due to the decrease in elasticity, your skin is unable to spring back in its original position to smoothen the fold. They stay and, in due course, form fine lines and wrinkles.

Dermatologists advise people to sleep on the back most of the time. It has double benefit – this sleep position not only contributes to wrinkle prevention, but also keeps your body in natural alignment, preventing pains in the back and the neck.

According to scientists, gravity and habitual facial expressions play a substantial role in forming fine lines and wrinkles on the face. Creams like Am Pm Wrinkle Complex, which work both day and night, and exclusive Intensive Night Repair creams are great beauty tools to keep wrinkles at bay or to fight the existing ones.

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Harsh winter winds make your face dry and dull. Exfoliation is one of the best ways to restore the glow of face. It clears off dead and flaky skin from the surface, bringing out fresh skin and making your complexion brighter.

The tricky part of exfoliation in winter lies in its frequency. Skin experts suggest exfoliating one or two times a week.

One thing that you must be careful about is skin irritation. Sometimes, irritation may cause dullness and flakiness of skin. In this condition, skin requires extra moisturization, not a scrub session. Never exfoliate irritated skin; you may worsen skin condition. Simply moisturize.

How do you tell the difference between skin that is dull and dry due to irritation and that due to accumulation of dead cells?

Irritation, generally, accompanies with some redness. On the other hand, skin screaming for exfoliation will be plain dull.

It is important to choose a good exfoliating product. Don’t settle for a mediocre exfoliator. Many women skip the important step of exfoliation and start applying makeup on a surface covered with dead cells. You cannot achieve natural, fresh glow without clean skin.

Fresh skin provides a good base for makeup. Natural glow is more attractive than coating your skin with layers of foundation and tons of blushers to achieve the rosiness.

Avoid those harsh scrubs that leave your skin ‘tortured.’ Try microdermabrasion cream. Its reviews are amazing. It offers gentle, yet effective exfoliation, leaving your skin hydrated, clean, and fresh with a lovely glow.

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Buying anti aging skin products is a knee-jerk reaction to the first sightings of fine lines and wrinkles on the facial skin to most people. However, if you don’t really try and understand the reasons for those signs of aging and just buy the first visible anti wrinkle product among the dozens arranged on the cosmetic store shelves, you are on the wrong track. Knowing the reasons why wrinkles and fine lines appear on your skin can help you make the right choice of anti aging products.

As you age, you will be besieged with skin care concerns like fine lines, wrinkles, age spots, sun spots and sagging skin that lose its elasticity and tone steadily. It happens because your body produces less collagen and natural hydration decreases. Genetic aging leads to less production of skin-firming collagen. The lines and wrinkles make their first appearance around your eyes because the skin here is weaker and thinner. Using an anti aging cream that contains proven ingredients and minimizes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles can gradually help you maintain your youthful looks.

Skin remains firm when it’s hydrated. It means you need a skin moisturizer that takes care of your dry, aging skin by keeping it well hydrated. Products that contain anti-aging peptides, SPF factors and brings about reduction of deep wrinkles. Hydroxatone AM PM is popular among women because it is a comprehensive anti wrinkle cream with long lasting benefits. It can make your skin look flawless and youthful naturally.

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Your skincare needs change as your grow from your teens to your 20s and beyond and so do the products you use to fight a variety of skin issues along the way.  Cheap makeup items are almost always part of the experimental teen years. No amount of money seems more to spend on looking your best in your early 20s as you splash copious amounts of cosmetics in a bid to look better than others in your class.  As you age, the tendency is to use skincare products with natural ingredients. Buying makeup or skincare products just because they make you look pretty, went out of style a few years ago.

Skincare products with natural and proven ingredients can make you look your best even after the obvious signs of aging have made their presence felt on your skin. Ordinary anti aging creams can sometimes spring a nasty surprise on you as they may contain ingredients that may affect your skin and health adversely, especially when used for longer terms. Choosing skin care products with proven ingredients can help you deal with the symptoms of an aging skin better.

For instance, if you are using advanced skin formulations such as Hydroxatone AM PM, you are sure to benefit from long-lasting effects of its natural ingredients. It also keeps you protected from the adverse effects that harsh, chemical ingredients inflict on your skin when used for prolonged periods. Supplementing your skin regimen with intake of fresh greens and fruits that enhance the appearance of your skin can help in achieving the desired results faster.

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Skin experts are a lucky lot. They have access to some of the best creams and lotions for beauty. They can reap the benefits of the latest serums in the market and advanced anti aging treatments.

However, with such a vast choice of beauty products, how do experts choose the best from them?

• Here are some tips and advices straight from skin experts’ desks…
• Skin over 40, even after 30 in some people, tends to get drier. You must not breathe without slathering a good amount of moisturizer on your face!
• Use a gentle milky cleanser that preserves the essential oils of the skin while removing makeup and dirt. Such cleansers keep skin hydrated. You will feel your skin getting softer and smoother. You also feel freshness after using this product.
• Sunscreen is the lifeline of skin at any age. Today’s wrinkle creams come with in-built sunscreen, removing the need to buy a separate SPF lotion. You must not even think of stepping out in the sun without shielding your skin with sun protection factor.
• Exfoliation can save your face, literally. This process becomes more important after the 30’s, as skin starts losing its natural ability to shed dead cells. As a result, a layer of dead cells begin to accumulate on the surface, making skin appear dull and unattractive. Exfoliation with a microdermabrasion cream removes dead cell layer and brings out fresh and glowing skin. It renders complete skin rejuvenation.

Skin care requires no degree in cosmetology. Just a few simple tips can help you stay beautiful and radiant for years.

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You can build your muscles and get flat abs in the gym, but how would you get a firm and glowing face? How can you prevent the skin around your eyes from sagging?

Is there a gym for this?

Skin around eyes is the thinnest in your body. This makes it most vulnerable to aging effects. As you grow older, collagen level declines and skin loses its firmness. As a result, it starts to sag. Those nasty “eye bags” are a result of fluid retention in the loose skin around your eyes.

Experts’ Tips

• One of the ways to reduce eye bags is to sleep in an upright position. Stack pillows for support to your shoulders, neck, and head to prevent fluid retention.
• If you still get eye bags in the morning, place cool cucumber slices or gel pack or a cold washcloth over your eyes to decrease the puffiness.
• The best way to deal with eye bags is to increase the firmness of the skin around your eyes. This is not an overnight job. You need to use under eye creams or serums that are especially designed to work on this delicate area. They nourish the skin and keep it healthy, hydrated, and taut.

Similarly, if you wish to keep your entire face firm and hydrated, you must moisturize it every night before hitting the bed. Night creams are exclusively designed to work in the dark hours, helping your skin to heal itself and facilitate the natural skin cell renewal process. That’s why, while using these creams, you wake up with a fresh and radiant face in the morning.

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Instead of chomping on a pizza, why not gorge on blueberries, nuts, and seeds? They are powerhouses of antioxidants. According to the US Department of Agriculture, blueberries possess about 40 per cent more antioxidants than Vitamin C and strawberries. They also boost collagen production in skin.

Tip: Toss a handful of blueberries in your morning smoothie or sprinkle a few over your breakfast cereal. Get power packed for the day.

Want to reduce wrinkles naturally? Munch on a handful of flaxseed or walnuts to get the benefit of linoleic acid in them that keeps the skin firm and moisturized. Sunflower seeds and almonds are rich in Vitamin E, the favorite vitamin of good skin.

Want smooth skin naturally? Eat fresh, raw tomatoes every day. They are loaded with lycopene, an antioxidant responsible for smooth, young skin. It also keeps your heart healthy and averts certain cancers.

Tip: Slice fresh tomatoes and toss them in a salad. You can add cucumbers, beet roots, and carrots to multiply the benefits. Cucumbers soothe the skin, while carrots contain beta-carotene for radiant skin.

Love oils? Then switch to good ones. Olive oil is great for skin and hair health. It is rich in oleic acid, which is a fatty acid that maintains the fluidity of cell membranes and keeps the skin soft and firm. The oil is loaded with polyphenols and Vitamin E that protect skin from aging.

Tip: Sprinkle a few drops of olive oil on salads for a crunchy, tasty, and healthy dish. Before grilling fish or chicken, lightly brush some olive oil on them.

Apart from this, include lots of beans, lentils, chickpeas, and tofu in your diet to help in skin cell renewal process and let your skin heal itself.

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Recent studies show that prolonged over-moisturizing of lips thwarts their ability to self-moisturize. Products used for moisturizing lips may block skin cells and stop secretion of natural moisturizing factors (called NMF) from the lips, irritating them further and making them drier.

Don’t Use These on Your Lips

You must avoid applying certain ingredients on the lips. They include camphor, phenol, and menthol. They may render a cooling effect on the lips; but these ingredients are known irritants of lips. They dry out the lips and make you use more balm, creating a vicious cycle and harming your pout in the long run.

Stay away from those fragrant balms too since they may trigger allergic reactions and increase dryness. Salicylic acid is also good for the lips. Although it removes dead skin cells from the surface, there is a risk of lip irritation.

Thumb Rule

Apply lip balms or moisturizers only when needed. If your lips are well hydrated naturally, you need no products. Chapped lips require lip balm. Once they are treated, you can stop using it.

For extremely dry lips, choose a balm rich in petrolatum. According to skin experts, this is one of the best ingredients for lips. Nowadays, you can get moisturizing lipsticks and glosses. Check their ingredients since they are basically cosmetic products.

Many women love their lip ‘plumpers’. They cause a substance that irritates lips mildly and causes slight swelling, leading to a plump pout. You can also buy lip products that contain collagen-boosting ingredients.

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Serums are the trendiest items on the anti aging scene. They sound like some magical formula that will give you flawless face in one use. Actually, they are a special formulation containing smaller molecules than those present in creams and lotions. This quality allows the ingredients of serums to penetrate deeply into the skin.

And that’s why serums are considered as perfect for anti aging or acne treatment. They ensure efficient absorption of ingredients and effective working. Serums are lighter, and so can be a good option in case your skin breaks out when using a cream.

Serums are formulated to treat various skin problems, one of them being the signs of aging. It is a product for serious working, not a simple moisturizer you use routinely. That’s why dermatologists recommend serums for treating severe skin problems.

You can use them in addition to your regular creams or as a replacement. Primarily, they are meant to transport nutrients or medication compounds directly into the skin for faster healing. In other words, a serum molecule reaches where a cream molecule cannot.

If you are fighting aging signs on your face and feel your anti aging cream is not as efficient as it should be, switch over to a serum. Consult your dermatologist before changing your treatment plan.

Currently, one of the popular serums making headlines for its wonderful working is the Intensive Youth Serum. It is designed to reduce fine lines, wrinkles, and photo-aging spots on the face.

Breast cancer attacks 1 in every 8 women. Many of you may know somebody who has had gone through this trauma. It could be a close friend or relative. According to statistics, this is the second-leading cancer that kills women in the United States of America. The first is lung cancer.

Celebrities are serious about this issue. They take the fight against this cancer with as much determination as they can. In the world of showbiz, you can find many survivors of breast cancers, or even role models who inspire other ladies to fight their condition. You may also find celebrities honoring a family member who has fought this type of cancer.

The message from the celebrities is clear: it is up to each one of us to continue looking for a cure for breast cancer. Currently, about 20 Hollywood stars are engaged into spreading awareness about breast cancer. You can also be the one to make people aware of this disease; and it is not just women who should know about breast cancer, men should too.

Thanks to techniques like screening or mammogram, it is possible to detect this malicious disease in time. This requires proper information about its signs and when you must consult a doctor. This simple awareness goes a long way in saving the lives of millions of women; some of them might be aspiring artists, ambitious ladies, girls with high dreams, or even women at the peak of their career.

Don’t let a bunch of rapidly-growing obnoxious cells bring your life to a standstill.

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Your skin battles with environmental pollution, stress, harsh weather conditions, and even toxins in the house. Do you know even minerals present in tap water can snatch away the luster of hair? Pollutants dry out the skin.

Reading this may want you to crawl inside a plastic bubble, free of all pollution. Alas, this isn’t possible. What is possible is to alter your diet and your skin care regime a bit to detoxify your skin and hair.

Although it is not established that fasting or popping those costly detox pills beautifies your skin, your diet certainly affects your skin. Recent scientific evidence shows that the way you eat and what you eat maintains the beauty of your face, including its firmness, acne level, spots, and others.

One of the biggest culprits that break down collagen and elastin in the skin is refined sugar. It triggers glycation, which is a process that destroys skin’s youthfulness and firmness, according to dermatologists.

Studies show that eating more alkaline-forming foods like pears, almonds, lemons, apples, parsley, and kale improves the quality of hair and skin. In case of higher acidity levels in the body, which happens due to unbalanced diet, alkaline minerals like magnesium, potassium, and calcium responsible for strong bones, hair, and teeth leach out.

No matter how superior your beauty products are, they won’t render the desired effect unless you get your diet right. Your skin and hair get their actual nutrition from within the body. Creams fortified with vitamins and other nourishing substances only work as supplements, not substitutes for real food.

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A survey conducted recently reveals about 30 percent women continue to use makeup products they chose 10 years back! Then they complain of not getting the desired look. The products and the technique of applying makeup in your 20’s differ from those in your 40’s.

In the 20’s, your makeup focuses on bringing out the natural glow of the face and flatter your young, taut skin. In the 40’s, your glow fades a bit and your skin is not that taut and young. You need makeup tricks that create an illusion of flawlessness, hiding those blemishes, fine lines, and dark circles.

Foundation Flaws

Women think that slathering dollops of foundation on the face will give them porcelain skin. Instead, it will make wrinkles appear more prominent. This is because the excess foundation has nowhere to go but settle in the creases, exaggerating them. Besides, foundation is famous for creating a cakey, plastic-like face.

Mascara that Runs

Using a mascara from your 20-something years may not suit you at 40. Stronger formulas may dry out your eyelashes, which get more fragile and thinner as you age.

Eye Shadow That Glitters Is Not Always Good

One of the toughest makeup tools for women to ditch is frosty eye shadow. In your 40’s, the eyelids lose some of their tautness. So it is time to say goodbye to glitter, as shimmer shadows settle into crinkles, creating an odd look. Welcome matte shadows to your makeup box. There are flattering and shades like soft peaches, grays, and lavenders that work on every skin tone.

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