Archive for June, 2007

Top Skin Care Products

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

Healthy skin is the most important element of a great looking face. Skin care is important, even for men, and using the best skin care products can help improve the quality of your skin and help keep it looking younger and healthier as well. When looking for one of the best skin care products, you may want to find something that will not only leave your skin feeling clean, but moisturize the skin as well. Some of the best skin care products on the market are in the form of a face cleanser, lotion, or moisturizer. Moisturizing is a necessity. Again, the product with the least amount of chemical additives is the best. Always use a light moisturizer on your face after cleansing and shaving. Best Skin Care Products - Face Cleansers The next time you are at a drugstore, don’t forget to pick up Cetaphil, a product recommended by dermatologists. This item does not contain chemical or scents that create irritated skin. Best Skin Care Products - Face Cleansers. The scrub should be strong without being damaging. Stay away from scrubs that contain rough elements like ground bits of nut or seed extracts.

Healthy skin is young looking skin. There are preventative techniques that can promote the best skin possible and keep it looking its best longer. Some of the best skin care products for blemished skin includes the popular Neutrogena Pore-Refining Cleanser, which does not dry out the skin. There are many new skin care products using cutting-edge chemicals and ingredients on the market today. The fastest growing segment are those creams and lotions that offer anti-aging properties, and are designed to minimize the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, frown lines, and crow’s feet. Dove Sensitive Essential Day Lotion is light and void of scents or dyes. More men are beginning to become conscious of their need for men’s skin care products for their grooming needs. Men have approximately 15% oilier skin and significantly larger pores than women do. Men have very unique skin and they need to choose carefully when purchasing anything that claims to improve or enhance their appearance. Many men may just be using bar soap, or even worse, nothing at all to cleanse their face. It is important that a man properly cleanses his face to prevent excess oils from building up and causing unsightly skin problems. There are anti wrinkle and special cleansing skin care lotions and creams that are made to clean the unique skin of a man without drying it out and making it rough. Using regular soap can leave the skin too dry, so picking out a specific facial cleanser for men.

Top Skin Care Products Tips

1.Your skin is either normal, oily, dry or combination. Make sure that you know what your skin type is before you buy skin care products.

2.Even the oiliest of skin needs a daily moisturizer– just be sure to select a brand that is oil-free.

3.Look for products that contain SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 or more. Not only will your skin look great, but you’ll be protected from the sun’s damaging ultra violet rays.

4.Your skin is more than just your face, so don’t neglect the rest of your body. Moisturize your entire body and slough off dead skin cells regularly– you will look and feel refreshed and rejuvenated.

Wedding Makeup Tips Planning

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

1. Starting with concealer and foundation. Be careful about the colour foundation you choose. Whilst you should always go for a match as near as your skin, anything too pale will make you look washed out if you are wearing a white/ivory dress.

2. Whilst there are some lovely “shine” products available to give a dewy complexion, again be very careful where you use them.  If you are applying a highlighter, stick to brow bones, cheekbones and a dab in the middle of your lips.

3. Pending on what season you are getting married this will also have to be taken into account when planning your makeup. Avoid anything too shiny on your skin if you are getting married in the summer, stick to a coloured lip-gloss but don’t wear shine all-over.

4. Light formulas are better as you don’t want your makeup melting in the sun. Winter make up can be more dramatic although again it’s best to stick to a stronger look of your usual make up.

5. To make your lipstick last all day. First apply a lip primer to give your lips an even surface and rid of any flaky bits.  Then line your lips with your lip pencil (which should be the same shade as your lipstick).

6. Although foundation/concealer should be left to areas where you need it, i.e. around the nose then blended into the cheeks (you don’t want to put it everywhere otherwise it will look false), you can also apply to your eyes to give your eye shadow a good base and something to cling on to.

7. Eyebrows - have them professionally shaped before your big day and enhance them with a same colour eyebrow shade. Eyebrows frame your face and it can make a huge difference if you have the professionally shaped.

8. To make your eyes look bigger and whiter choose dark navy mascara. If you are dark skinned or have brown eyes then black is usually best. Brown mascara can make eyes look tired.

9. If you have small eyelids, apply a highlighter just in the center of the eyelid and a dark brown shade in the eyelid crease – this will lift your eyes. White/ivory eyeliner in the rim of your eyes also makes them appear brighter, however be careful.

10. For a natural flush apply a light natural pink shade onto the apples of your cheeks – don’t go to harsh.

Acne Scar Treatment

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

Acne is one of most common skin conditions in the world, afflicting 40 to 50 million Americans  Acne is a skin condition that affects up to 80% of people in their teens and twenties, and up to 5% of older adults. Most serious scarring is caused by the more severe forms of acne, with nodules more likely to leave permanent scars than other types of acne. While many people recover from acne without any permanent effects, some people are left with disfiguring acne scars. Severe, inflamed, cystic acne always leaves scars after healing, but in some people even superficially inflamed acne can result in scarring. There are some topical skin care products and medications that can improve mild scarring, but most acne scars are treated with a combination of surgical procedures and skin resurfacing. After an acne lesion has healed, it can leave a red or hyperpigmented mark on the skin. This is actually not a scar, but rather a post-inflammatory change. The redness or hyperpigmentation is seen as the skin goes through its healing and remodeling process, which takes approximately 6-12 months. If no more acne lesions develop in that area, the skin can heal normally. Any color change or skin defect still present after 1 year is considered to be a permanent defect or scar. Atrophic macules are usually fairly small when they occur on the face, but may be a centimeter or larger on the body. They are soft, often with a slightly wrinkled base, and may be bluish in appearance due to blood vessels lying just under the scar. Over time, these scars change from bluish to ivory white in color in white-skinned people, and become much less obvious.

Acne scars result from two types of tissue response to the inflammation of acne: (1) increased tissue formation, and (2) loss of tissue. Acne Scars Years after outgrowing adolescent acne. severe acne, which causes nodules — painful, pus-filled cysts or lumps — to appear under the skin. Scars caused by increased tissue formation are caused by a build up of collagen in the skin. Scarring frequently results from severe inflammatory nodulocystic acne that occurs deep in the skin. They are the visible reminders of injury and tissue repair. In the case of acne, the injury is caused by the body’s inflammatory response to sebum, bacteria and dead cells in the plugged sebaceous follicle. White blood cells and inflammatory molecules may remain at the site of an active acne lesion for days or even weeks. In people who are susceptible to scarring, the result may be an acne scar. When tissue suffers an injury, the body rushes its repair kit to the injury site. Among the elements of the repair kit are white blood cells and an array of inflammatory molecules that have the task of repairing tissue and fighting infection. Follicular macular atrophy is more likely to occur on the chest or back of a person with acne. These are small, white, soft lesions, often barely raised above the surface of the skin—somewhat like whiteheads that didn’t fully develop. This condition is sometimes also called “perifollicular elastolysis.” The lesions may persist for months to years.

A person may seek treatment for acne scars (1) as a procedure to remove or improve the scars, or (2) in conjunction with an overall program of skin rejuvenation. Mederma is helpful for treating newly healed wounds and resolving acne. Ice-pick scars and deep fibrotic scars are not treated effectively by chemical peels. Keloids are usually not treated by chemical peels. Repeated and/or deep peels may be necessary to improve deep or extensive scarring.Using tretinoin (Retin-A, Renova, Avita) speeds up the skin’s remodeling process and helps heal post-inflammatory changes. Picking at scabs should be avoided at all costs. Scabs form to protect the healing process that is going on underneath them. The newest form of treatment for acne scarring is called fractional laser therapy. This type of treatment works at a deeper level than laser resurfacing or dermabrasion. Laser Treatment-Lasers of various wavelength and intensity may be used to recontour scar tissue and reduce the redness of skin around healed acne lesions. The type of laser used is determined by the results that the laser treatment aims to accomplish. Chemical peels can improve small, depressed scars and some larger scars. Peeling may also be effective in treating any remaining acne by removing comedones (blackheads and whiteheads).