7 Simple Things That Help Your Skin Look Fabulous

There is no better time than now to refresh your skin and get it looking gorgeous. I always think that mid-winter is when our skin looks its absolute worst, so lets have a look at 7 simple things you can do to help your skin look fabulous.

7 Simple things That Make Your Skin Look Fabulous.

Get More Sleep

I so envy JLo. Not for the career or the money or the clothes. I envy her because she gets 8 to 10 hours sleep per night. 
How do you even do that?? As a single mom I get 5, which is really bad on so many levels. 

One of the best things you can do for your skin is get ample sleep each night. Ample being a good 8 hours.

Additional sleep (like JLo apparently gets) makes your skin look even lovelier.

Drink More Water

We all already know about drinking more water, but plenty of us still don't drink enough. You need to drink eight 8 ounce glasses of water per day just for good health. Doing just that will make a difference to your skin, adding a couple more glasses will improve your skin's clarity and texture hugely.

Be Pillowcase Pretty

There are 2 significant things you can do in pillowcase-land to significantly benefit your skin.

The first is to invest in a silk pillowcase. 

Sleeping on silk stops (or at least reduces) waking up with creases pressed into your skin. (Sleep creases have been likened to ironing wrinkles into your skin.) Irritated skin feels soothed after a night on silk, possibly due to the lack of friction associated with regular cotton pillow cases. 

You'll see noticeably less puffiness when you wake up, and after a few days your skin will feel softer too.

The other thing you need to do is change your pillowcase out every few days. Sleeping on dirty pillowcases can contribute to acne and skin irritation, and can prolong the healing process.

Clean The Right Way

Make sure you are using the right cleanser for your skin type, and be gentle with your skin. Don't rub and scrub it, instead massage cleanser into your skin and gently rinse it away with a warm washcloth.

Typically foaming/wash style cleansers are better for oiler skins while cleansing milks are lovely for a drier complexion. 
I love oil cleansers for all skins. Try Malin and Goetz Facial Cleansing Oil, suitable for all akin types.

Only Exfoliate Gently

Try an enzyme mask instead of a scrub exfoliator. Scrubs tend to rough up the baby skin underneath, keeping you in the cycle of irritated or roughed up skin.

If you do go the scrub route, use one with super fine grains and use it gently.

Add An Oil

Adding a facial oil into your skin care regime will keep your skin soft and supple and give it the most gorgeous glow. Look for an oil with a dry finish if you are worried about looking shiny.

I've been using Tatcha Camellia Beauty Oil for a while now. This dry finish oil gives your skin luscious nourishment and makes your skin both look and feel amazing.
It is also a fantastic skin rescue product, if you are feeling any dryness or irritation from the cold weather. 

Clean Your Phone (And Your Glasses!)

Keeping your cell phone and your glasses clean is nearly as important and cleansing your skin. 

5 Myths About Skincare products Busted!

This is a great post from Beautiful With Brains about the nonsense we get spun regarding skincare. As part of the new Year New You Skin Care series, you need to read this before you buy or make your buying decisions about skincare products.

5 Myths About Skincare Products Busted!

We all know how important it is to take good care of our skin, but there is such an overwhelming amount of products on the market that just makes it harder to choose the best ones to suit our needs. So, we read the labels, hoping that they’d help us to make the right choice, but can we really trust all the claims they make? And what about the common beliefs that we should choose expensive and natural products because they supposedly work better? Is that true? Read on to find out:

1. Hypoallergenic products are safer and better for sensitive skin

Hypoallergenic is a word that implies that a product is gentler and less likely to cause irritations and allergic reactions and so it is better for those with sensitive skin. But as I’ve already discussed in a previous post, hypoallergenic is just a marketing tool. The term is not regulated in any way, there aren’t restrictions on what ingredients can and cannot be used in products labelled this way and companies don’t have to prove that these products don’t contain allergens. This means that cosmetic companies can just put the word hypoallergenic on every product they want, even those that contain irritating ingredients. But by reading the ingredient lists, you can easily avoid products with ingredients that you know will cause irritations, allergic and even breakouts to your skin.

2. “Dermatologically tested” products are safer and more reliable

The term “dermatologically tested” is another marketing tool. It means that the product has been tested on skin and nothing more. They don’t tell you on whose skin and on how many people the product has been tested, how the testes were performed, by what dermatologist they were performed, or what the results were. And although we like to think that when a doctor endorses a product they have people’s best interests at heart, some dermatologists may recommend a particular product simply because he/she was paid to do so (obviously not all dermatologist do this, but sometimes it can happen).

3. You should use skincare products targeted to your age group

We are often told that we need to use skincare products targeted to our age group, ie teenagers should buy products targeted to teens, women over 50s those for mature skin etc, but that’s just nonsense. While it is true, for instance, that mature skin can be dryer and develop skin conditions associated with age, that doesn’t mean that all women over 50 will experience that. There are lots of mature women who have oily skin prone to breakouts for instance and the richer moisturizers targeted to this age group certainly wouldn’t help them. More simply, everyone’s skin, no matter how old you are, is different and has different needs. You should use products that are designed to treat any skin concern YOU may have, regardless of the age group they are targeted to.

4. Natural ingredients are better and safer than synthetic ones

There seems to be a general belief that anything that’s found in nature is automatically good while ingredients made in a lab must necessarily be bad for the skin. That is not true! There is absolutely no factual evidence nor scientific proof to support the claim that natural ingredients are safer and more effective. In fact, often the opposite is true. There are lots of natural substances that are bad for you such as poison ivy for instance. In addition, natural ingredients may be harder to preserve and so more prone to bacteria contamination. The truth is that cosmetic companies can’t put toxic ingredients in their products. That’s illegal. As for their effectiveness, there are simply some natural ingredients that work well and others that don’t, just like there are some synthetic ingredients that work well and others that don’t. You should use products that contain ingredients that work well for your skin and its concerns, regardless of their origin.

5. Expensive skincare products work better than inexpensive ones

The effectiveness of a product depends on its formula, not its price. There are expensive products that are well-formulated, just like there are others who promise to treat wrinkles or other concerns but simply have a very basic formula that doesn’t do much apart from hydrating skin, and even those that contain irritating or comedogenic ingredients. And the same can be said for drugstore skincare products. In addition, sometimes high-end and drugstore brands are owned by the same company. So when new ingredients are discovered, the expensive brand will release products with it first and then usually, months later, a drugstore version will follow suit so you can have the same benefits at a more affordable price. By learning to read ingredient lists you will be able to tell what products, regardless of the brand, are better-formulated and so avoid spending money on those that just don’t work.

Check out more posts from Beautiful With Brains here

Its Time To Clean Out Your Skincare Wardrobe

There's no time like the beginning of a new year to re-evaluate everything in your life, including your skincare.

Whether you are a skincare minimalist, or like me, a total skin care junkie, its time to take stock of what you have, decide what needs to go, and figure out what you need to invest in.

Some of my friends can do this in less than 2 seconds - they have a cleanser and a moisturizer, and that's it.
I recently spent an entire evening doing mine. It was ridiculous and fabulous. Ridiculously fabulous.

Admittedly I have not only my current skincare supply, but also my travel skincare (my travel bag is always packed and ready to go), my pro makeup kit supplies, my on hold products, products sent to me to write about, and things I just haven't been able to part with.
I'm a borderline skincare hoarder.

To start the purge and move in to the new year:

1. Get all your skincare products out and in one place.

2. Throw out anything old, anything you haven't used in the past year, anything that doesn't work for you anymore.

I am terrible at keeping the last little bits of products I adore. If they haven't gone bad, use them up this month, otherwise trash them.

3. Eliminate anything that has gone bad or no longer works for your skin.
A sidenote here: you will find that anyone who stands to benefit from you throwing out products, as in they can sell you more, will tell you everything expires in a few months and tell you to throw them out. 

4. Inventory what you have so you can make a list of what you need.
(Tomorrow we will look at how to build a skincare wardrobe)

How To tell If Skincare Products Have Gone Bad

Most skincare products have an estimated shelf life of one year after they have been opened. The fewer preservatives they contain, the shorter their lifespan. I have had plenty of products last much longer, but if not stored correctly or handled properly skincare products can go bad much more quickly.
They've probably gone bad if:
1. They look funny. If something looks odd I'm not going to risk putting it on my face.
2. They have separated.
A skincare product that has separated (unless it is designed to) has probably gone bad.
3. The texture has changed. Something creamy that is now runny, products thickening etc.
4. They have visible signs of spores or other growths. 
(You'd be amazed at how often people show me their creams and potions and I see bacteria growing in or on them!)
5. They smell. If it doesn't smell right, toss it.

Active ingredients like retinols and glycolics can actually get more potent as their bases degrde, separate or evaporate.

How To Store Your Skincare Products

Store your skincare products the same way as you should store your perfumes: unless the directions say otherwise, keep them in a cool dark cupboard, away from heat, and out of direct sunlight.
I keep some of my eyes masks and eye gels in the refridgerator, but that is largely because they feel nice when they go on cold.