Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I know that many of us will be spending time outdoors at some point this summer. Here are a few must-have products to toss into your purse or beach bag before having fun in the sun:
1. Hat and Sunglasses
The best way to protect your skin from sunburn and wrinkles is to physically shade yourself from the sun with a hat (whether it is a wide-brimmed one, baseball cap, or visor) as well as sunglasses. Sunglasses help protect your eyes from cataracts caused by intense sunlight and the delicate skin around your eyes from sun damage or wrinkling from squinting in the sun. Make sure that your sunglasses have a little sticker that says UV protection when you purchase them. The bigger the sunglasses = the more skin that is shaded and protected. And don't forget to slather on the sunscreen as well!
2. Murad Essential-C Sun Balm Broad Spectrum SPF 35 PA+++
The biggest issue with using SPF products generally is that people do
not reapply them often enough
for them to be effective for a long period
of time. For those times when you want an easy, mess-free reapplication, or for those days when you find yourself sitting outside at a restaurant or park without the proper sun protection, the Murad Sun Balm can save the day. It is a non-sticky, non-greasy sunscreen stick that is gentle enough to be used on the face or body. The formula simply glides onto skin and has a pleasant citrus smell. There are a few sunscreen sticks currently on the market, but I prefer the Murad one for a few reasons. First, most of the other sticks contain oxybenzone and/or BHT, but the Murad one does not. Second, the Murad balm contains vitamins A, C, and E to provide antioxidant protection and broccoli extract to support the skin's natural defense against UV damage.
3. BITE Beauty BB for Lips ($24 at Sephora)
As we know, sun protection in the summer is super important, but we often forget about our lips. Our lips contain skin cells that can certainly burn, so make sure that you're wearing some type of lip balm or lip color that contains SPF. The Bite Beauty BB for Lips is a great option. First, BITE Beauty makes some really nice naturally formulated lip products that are free of lead as well as toxins like parabens. Like a BB cream for your skin, the BB for Lips works to repair, replenish, prime, and protect, and hydrate lips, while providing a natural, sheer coverage that looks beautiful in the sun. It is available in 5 shades - Tawny (dusty pink) is my personal favorite.
4. bareMinerals SPF 30 Natural Sunscreen ($28 on beauty.com)
I always try and keep some of the bareMinerals SPF 30 powder in my bag. Whether you need quick sun protection for unforeseen outdoor activities or are hesitant to apply SPF over your makeup, this mineral powder is the perfect solution. With a portable design, the powder conveniently dispenses into the brush, which is ideal for on-the-go application and touch-ups. For makeup wearers, it blends perfectly into makeup without disturbing it. For non-makeup wearers, it is a moisturizing powder formula, so it feels much less greasy and chemical-like than a traditional sunscreen lotion. Plus, this product offers a very sheer level of coverage to enhance your natural glow. The mineral formula contains effective physical sunblock protection against the sun and allows for a super light-weight feel that does not irritate sensitive skin.
5. Vichy Thermal Spa Water ($14 at Ulta)
On a hot day, when your face is sweating or your makeup feels as if it is going to melt right off, simply spritz with some Vichy Thermal Spa Water. First, it will help, soothe, cool, and calm skin as well as help remove sweat. It will also help set your makeup to keep it in tact for the rest of the day. Lastly, the light hydration will help re-energize and refresh your skin. Most importantly, on a hot summer day, it just feels great. Evian makes a similar product, but I prefer the Vichy one because I feel that the mist is finer and the bottle provides a fuller spray.
Hope this posts helps. What are your must-have beach bag products this summer?
We often hear the terms toner and astringent used interchangeably. But do they mean the same thing? Which one is best for you?
Well...
The two products are in fact very similar. They both refine/tighten pores and help remove excess oil, dirt, makeup, and residue. There are a few slight differences though:
Astringents often have antiseptic properties that help clean bacteria from skin's surface and unclogs pores. In addition, they generally have an alcohol content that mattifies oil. Thus, astringents are ideal for younger women, oily skin types, and blemish-prone skin. Natural astringents include witch hazel and cucumber.
Product recommendations:
Toners tend to be alcohol-free and more gentle than astringents. They are often better for balancing and softening skin. For example, aloe and rosewater are natural toners. Women with mature skin, combination/normal/dry skin types, or sensitive skin should choose a toner rather than an astringent.
Product recommendations
- Caudalie Beauty Elixir ($18 at Sephora) for mature skin. Like all Caudalie products, this elixir has grapes for powerful antioxidant protection against aging. With nourishing essential oils, it is a part toner, part serum that leaves skin feeling moisturized.
- Origins United State Balancing Tonic for combination skin. This product keeps the skin's pH balance in check...reducing excess shine in the T-zone and softening dry areas of the face.
- Murad Hydrating Toner ($27 at Sephora) for dry skin. The toner helps restore hydration to the skin with lecithin to keep skin supple. And vitamins C and E provide antioxidant protection.
- Korres Pomegranate Toner ($20 at Sephora) for normal skin. Pomegranate extract is a natural nutrient-rich ingredient that will condition and rejuvenate your skin to reveal a radiant glow.
- Avene Gentle Toner ($20 on dermstore.com) for sensitive skin is formulated with softening and soothing spring water. This toner is hypoallergenic and so gentle that it is suitable for even the most sensitive skin types.
Should you be using a toner or astringent? Yes! Most toners and astringents say to use them day and night. You should definitely be using one at night after cleansing and before treatments and moisturizers to clean up anything your cleanser may have left behind. Also, tightening your pores will keep dirt and toxins out as well as make your complexion look and feel smooth and refreshed. I like to use a cotton ball to help sweep away residue and toxins from my skin, but you can totally spritz toner/astringent if you prefer (though it may not clean your skin as thoroughly). Whether or not you use it in the morning is up to you...it's not as big of a deal if you don't because it's not as essential for your skin to be squeaky clean. Using an astringent in the morning will help reduce oil during the day if you tend to get shiny. And tightening your pores in the morning can improve the appearance of your skin throughout the day. Personally, I use a moisturizing toner in the mornings more for its smoothing and softening effects so that my makeup holds better during the day.
Do you use a toner or an astringent?
Hope everyone had a wonderful 2013! It was certainly a great year for the beauty industry. Some really innovative cosmetics launched in 2013. Here are some of my some of my favorite hot and healthy new products from this year:
1. DERMAdoctor DD Cream 15-Benefits-In-1 Dermatologically Defining BB Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 30 ($38 at Sephora)
DD creams have been getting more and more beauty buzz everyday. If you were impressed by the multi-tasking abilities of BB and CC creams, you'll love DD creams. They combine the best of both worlds...the anti-aging qualities of BB creams with the color correction of CC creams. And of course, they still have the protection, hydration, and coverage of both products. I think we'll be seeing tons of DD displays at Sephora and Ulta pretty soon, but the first major DD to hit the market is made by DERMAdoctor and launched a few months ago. It provides good coverage and has mineral-derived SPF (always a plus!).
2. Murad Essential-C Sun Balm Broad Spectrum SPF 35 PA+++ ($25 at Sephora)
The first rule in skincare is sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen! Unlike traditional drugstore sunscreen sticks, the Murad Sun Balm is really light-weight and non-greasy. It also contains vitamin C, which provides antioxidant protection against the sun and evens skin tone as you're wearing it. Plus, the vitamin C gives the balm a refreshing citrus smell, rather than the heavy sunscreen smell that you find with a lot of drugstore sunscreen sticks. For days on the beach, stick to sun products that are lotions with physical sunblocks for optimal protection against the sun. However, the Murad Sun Balm's convenient size and application makes it great for throwing in your purse...perfect for retouching your sunscreen on a sunny day or applying sunscreen on the go.
3. Philosophy Total Matteness Oil-Free Mattefying Pore Eraser ($40 at Sephora)
One way to make skin look firmer and more even is by minimizing pores. In addition to your toner, the Philosophy Pore Eraser can help! Natural bamboo extracts help mattify excess oil, and lentil seed extract helps refine pores. Overall, it's tough to find a good mattifying product that isn't necessarily geared for those with acne, but the Pore Eraser seems to do the trick. Additionally, this product is unique from other oily-skin treatments because it does not dry out skin and will even leave it soft to the touch.
4. Ole Henriksen Perfect Truth CC Eye Creme Broad Spectrum SPF 15 ($26 at Sephora)
Most CC products available are for your face, but Ole Henriksen makes a CC creme for your eyes too. Like a typical eye creme, it works to firm, hydrate, brighten, and depuff. It also contains SPF and pigments to provide coverage around the eye area, making it ideal for day wear. In fact, every woman should be wearing an eye cream - morning and night - in order to most effectively protect the delicate eye area. And a little under eye concealer goes a long way, making your entire complexion appear more even, awake, and radiant. Definitely a daily makeup must! So, now you can combine applying your eye creme and your under eye concealer into one, easy step.
5. Boscia Konjac Cleansing Sponge ($18 at Sephora)
It's not only about what cleanser you use to wash your face, but also how you wash your face. Clarisonic brushes have gotten popular recently, but sometimes they are a little too harsh to use every day. Instead, try pumping your face wash onto Boscia's new cleansing sponge. It is super soft and gentle enough to use daily, even around the eye area. At the same time, it provides very mild exfoliation. Infused with Japanese konjac root, this sponge will help detoxify, soften, and brighten as it cleanses. Much more effective than your average drugstore sponge!
Those are some of my favorite things from 2013. I'm super excited to see the products to come in 2014. Happy New Year everyone!
There are tons of environmental factors and behaviors that theoretically can age us. But which ones really do age us and why?
A few case studies have revealed evidence for several behaviors that are thought to expedite the onset of signs of aging. Check it out:
Culprit #1: Not washing your face
Evidence: A woman didn't wash her face for 30 days (left: before, right: after). A dermatologist estimated that it aged her skin by about 10 years.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2380419/What-sleeping-make-does-skin-Our-shocking-experiment-exposes-happens.html
Why? Aside from allowing for skin irritation and acne-forming oil and bacteria to develop on her skin, not washing her makeup off every night definitely contributed to the aging process. Your skin needs a certain amount of oxygen and moisture to repair and regenerate properly when you sleep, which is tough to do with makeup sitting on your skin. In addition, pollutants and free radicals in the air get on our skin from simply walking around outside every day. You need to cleanse your face to not only remove oil, germs, and makeup, but also to remove free radicals, which accelerate the skin aging process.
Solution: Wash your face each night before you go to bed. If you have oily/combination skin, try a gel-based cleanser like the Boscia Detoxifying Black Mask ($28 at Sephora). For normal or dryer skin types, try a creamier formula like the Jurlique Rose Moisture Plus with Antioxidant Complex Moisturizing Cleanser ($22 on amazon.com).
Culprit #2: Sun Exposure
Evidence: A 69-year-old man, who spent 28 years as a truck driver, had much more pronounced signs of aging on the left side of his face, which had been exposed to the sun as he was driving, than the right side of this face.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57446898-10391704/trucker-accumulates-skin-damage-on-left-side-of-his-face-after-28-years-on-the-road/
Why? The UV radiation that is emitted from the sun is extremely hot and so powerful that it can penetrate glass (like car windows). Our bodies in general were not made to be able to tolerate this heat for prolonged periods of time. For example, in addition to feeling tired or dehydrated, the sun can play a part in the formation of cataracts. While exposure to short-term, intense sunlight (like at the beach) can burn us, prolonged and consistent exposure to any sunlight can help in the formation of both sunspots and wrinkles.
Solution: Wear a heavy, physical sunblock like the Lavanila Laboratories The Healthy Sunscreen SPF 40 Face Cream ($28 at Sephora) during your days at the beach. Don't forget that the sun is out every day, so it's important to apply a moisturizer with SPF like the bareMinerals Advanced Protection SPF 20 Moisturizer ($30 at Sephora) every morning. And for those times, you end up exposing yourself to more sunlight than you intended (driving on a sunny day), whip the Murad Essential-C Sun Balm Broad Spectrum SPF 35 ($25 at Sephora) out of purse and quickly glide the stick formula over your skin.
Culprit #3: Not Moisturizing Adequately
Evidence: A woman's wrinkles diminished and skin tone evened around the eye area after using an eye cream for a few weeks (absolutely no retouching involved!).
Why? First, your skin needs hydration to retain a natural moisture balance that allows it to appear healthy and undergo processes such as cell regeneration. So when you moisturize, you are allowing your skin to function at its best. Moisturizing also makes your skin more supple and elastic, which can make it more resilient to stretching when you rub it, laugh, etc. Specifically, the skin around the eye area is particularly fragile and thin, so wrinkles can really easily develop there. Lines around the eye and lip can get further exaggerated as we laugh and smile. Eye and lip creams, in particular, can provide a better level of hydration and richer nutrients to prevent wrinkles in this area.
Solution: Moisturize both day and night, so your skin is hydrated 24/7. While your daily moisturizer should be a little lighter and contain SPF, your evening moisturizer should be a little bit heavier because your skin loses moisture as you sleep. Additionally, your evening moisturizer should be packed with nutrients to best assist your skin in the rejuvenation process that occurs during your slumber. For your eye and lip areas, try a more heavy duty product like the Caudalie Pulpe Vitaminee Eye and Lip Cream ($49 at Sephora).
Culprit #4: Smoking
Evidence: The picture below shows identical twin sisters. The one of the left is a non-smoker, and the one of the right has been smoking for 29 years.
Why? As many of us know, smoking is detrimental to your overall health. The damage that it does to your organs and systems will be reflected in your skin through sagging around the eyes and nose and discoloration of certain areas of the face. In addition, facial gestures during smoking can lead to wrinkles around the mouth and chin areas faster than you would hope.
Solution: Stop smoking!
Culprit #5: Dehydration
Evidence: A woman, who was drinking less than the recommended water intake, began to drink 3 liters of water per day. Just 4 weeks later, her skin looked noticeably healthier and more youthful.
Why? Afterall, our bodies are composed of about 70% water, which is vital to our functioning. In terms of skincare, water helps flush out toxins that make us more prone to blemishes. The natural glow and reduced appearance of wrinkles in the right-hand photo can be explained by the fact that water helps maintain the moisture balance that keeps skin soft, making our skin more supple and elastic.
Solution: It is recommended that we drink at least 8 cups of water per day. Many of us don't actually keep track of how much water we're drinking. So to make sure that you're drinking enough, set aside at least 4 pint-sized water bottles each morning to finish by the end of the day.
In addition, there are a few correlates with aging that haven't been proved with concrete photos like the ones mentioned above. However, there are scientific explanations for them.
Culprit #6: Poor Diet
Explanation: Like the rest of your organs, your skin needs vitamins and nutrients. The foods that are good for your skin are the foods that are good for you in general. Eating tons of fruits and vegetables will help protect your skin and the rest of your body with antioxidants. Specifically, foods like oranges that contain vitamin C can promote skin cell turnover, and foods like turmeric, a part of the ginger family, work to brighten your complexion. Working to incorporate them into your diet as well as into your skincare products can bring on a multi-pronged attacked against aging.
Solution: Sometimes, it can be hard or unappealing to eat these foods in place of others or as snacks in addition to regular meals. The easiest way to work skin-healthy ingredients into your diet is by subtly adding them to your meals. If you're cooking pasta, simply throw in some extra green veggies, add some turmeric powder to your sauce, or squeeze a citrus fruit into your drink.
Culprit #7: Lack of Exercise
Explanation: Mild to moderate aerobic exercise (super rigorous exercise can put a lot of pressure on your skin) can help prevent wrinkle formation by helping maintain a healthy balance of moisture and oil to keep your skin supple and elastic. It also promotes circulation and stimulates new cell growth, which give your complexion a nice, natural glow. Sweating while you work out can help flush your skin of toxins...just remember to cleanse afterwards to prevent acne and odor.
Solution: Exercise doesn't have to mean buying a gym membership or finding an extra hour in the day to jog. Simply take the long walking route to work in the morning or swap the elevator for the stairs :)
Culprit #8: Not Enough Sleep
Explanation: In general, the PM is a night for your body to regroup and recharge for the next day. As a part of this process, your skin is regenerating skin and drying to recover from the damage of the day. If you're not getting efficient and enough sleep, you're denying your skin this opportunity.
Solution: It's definitely hard to squeeze more hours of sleep in with our busy schedules. So, instead try to work on getting quality sleep. Soothing pre-bed routines such as a taking warm bath, drinking herbal tea, or reading a good book can help calm the mind and prepare your body for optimal sleep mode. Also, remember to avoid caffeine in the evenings and staring a at computer screen too late at night (the stimulating lights keep you awake).
Lastly, there is one proposed correlation with aging that has received rather mixed results:
Culprit #9: Pulling
Theory: Some people speculate that consistent stretching on the skin can promote wrinkles. For example, we often hear that it is best to sleep on your back with a silk pillowcase to prevent crease lines and tugging that occurs when your face is on a pillow. There really hasn't been any "evidence" or scientific explanation for this assertion (because it's pretty tough to measure), though many hypothesize that the link exists. In my opinion, it makes sense that constant pulling can stretch the skin, and it's better to avoid it just in case.
Solution: Only use gentle, upward motions when massaging your face or applying products. In addition, use your ring finger to apply cream around delicate areas like the eyes and lips. Your ring finger gives you the least amount of control, so you exert less pressure on it when you smooth cream into your skin. As for pillow wrinkles, you can try a silk pillowcase. The Pond's Institute even recently came out with an Illuminage Skin Rejuvenating Pillowcase with Copper Oxide ($60 at Bergdorf Goodman). Copper is a mineral that helps reduce the appearance of wrinkles and is embedded in the fibers of this
pillowcase. Not to mention that it's super soft too. If anyone tries it, let me know what you think!
The takeaways? There are multiple factors that contribute to aging, though we don't necessarily know which ones contribute more. The best way to prevent wrinkles and sunspots is to approach the aging process holistically, paying extra attention to "proven" causes of aging like sun exposure and proper skincare. Just remember that fighting aging is about good wrinkle creams AND good general health behaviors.
**All product recommendations are healthy!
