I recently had a somewhat rude awakening when my colleagues began the trend of calling me “old lady.”  Nice colleagues, huh?  I had to wonder how I got to this point; where was I exactly when this aging process snuck up on me and these fine lines around my eyes and neck began to form?  I am reminded of this horrible flash advertisement for some anti-aging cream scam, where this grimace-inducing corpse of a face magically transformed into a beautiful, “rejuvenated” woman.  Yeah, you know the one.   It was when my young twenty-something colleague (the one that calls me “ma’am”) lamented to me that she was already seeing wrinkles around her eyes that I recalled the wisdom I discovered a few years later than I should have:  start young.  That is to say, you can never be too young to start your anti-aging regimen.  While I wouldn’t rush to put Prevage on your toddler anytime soon, preventive care should start in your late teens to early 20’s.

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I can’t say enough about the concept of “smart makeup.”  With the tireless innovations of the beauty industry, they’ve brilliantly thought up makeup that is infused with the goodness of the technology in those SPF, anti-aging and firming creams – and it just keeps getting better.  I’ll be sporadically (I always think of “Clueless” when I say that word) posting reviews on these products.  The latest thing to cross my radar is Anastasia’s Illumin8 With Youthful Synergy Complex Eye Shadow Palette.

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With the economy going through one heck of a rough patch, many of us may feel the need to cut back on our “spendy” beauty treatments.  I hear you loud and clear on this one.  Fortunately, just because your budget is sub-par, it doesn’t mean the quality of your products have to be as well.  It’s a naughty trick the beauty industry has played on consumers, leading us to believe that the greater the price, the greater the quality.  It simply isn’t true.   Read more…

If you’re like me in the winter, nothing seems to alleviate the dry skin brought on by the bitter cold and hard water—a nasty combination.  I have a body cream and lotion collection to rival that of your local CVS.  Frustratingly, these products either leave me feeling greasy, sitting only on the top layers of my skin (and making things like hairs and lint actually stick to my skin), or they sink into the deep layers of my skin, only to leave the outermost layers parched an hour later.  Even my favorite products don’t seem to make the full cut in the winter.  And then, I came across a truly innovative product by Vaseline.  Read more…

Just as we change our wardrobes for the different seasons, it shouldn’t be any different when it comes to skin care.  Winter weather is less than delightful on our fragile skin, and we need to take extra steps to keep it looking healthy and hydrated.  Here are 10 tips to include in your winter skin regimen:

Dry winter air can be brutal on a woman’s skin. Think of it as a multi-layer cake covered by a single sheet of food wrap to keep it fresh. When something threatens that protective covering, your skin, like a cake, can become dry and stale.  Read more…

It is no secret that in the world of beauty, anti-aging skin care products are cash cows for cosmetic companies.  Often, these companies rake in the dough by selling their products with the aid of catchy marketing and a plethora of hyperbole, rather than real results.  Companies are competing to find that new “breakthrough” ingredient that gets the beauty industry buzzing. In 2009, plant stem cells began generating tons of interest, taking the industry by storm.

Stem cells are able to differentiate into any type of cell, which means treatments developed with stem cell technology have the potential to repair extensive tissue damage.  However, human and animal stem cell research and usage is highly controversial and is often subject to government regulation – in the US, it’s banned from commercial use.  As a result, perfectly legal plant stem cell technology became the attractive alternative for cosmetic use.

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