Beauty And The Blog

Are you using a night treatment that includes the active ingredient retinol? Or the prescription strength form Retin-A? And are you using a leave on chemical exfoliant (cream, lotion, liquid or gel) to remove the layer of dead skin cells on your face (so that awesome retinol, a cell communicating ingredient, can really penetrate the skin)? Would you happen to be applying them both in the evening?

Retinol and Retin-A do their best work at night. While your body is at rest and in repair/rejuvenate mode. Used during the day these products can cause reactions in the skin from the sun, such as redness and burning. They can also be neutralized by sun exposure. So you aren’t really doing yourself any favors by using these ingredients during the day..

But if you are using an AHA or BHA product in the evening along with your retinol or Retin-A, you may not be getting the benefits you think you are. Read the rest of this entry »

When you look for anti-aging products, what do you look for? It’s important to know the components of a good anti-aging product, whether it is a serum or a moisturizer.  If you have read any of my earlier posts you already know that I am not all that enthusiastic about cleansers that contain anti-aging ingredients, why pay the extra money for something that is on your skin such a short time and rinsed away? Active ingredients need to stay on your skin a while to do their work. And that just doesn’t happen with a cleanser. Off it all goes down the drain….

So, 5 things. 5 things that are not negotiable when it comes to ingredients in your anti-aging routine. This is important stuff, because each of these 5 things does a different job. And we need all those jobs done to maintain the complexion we all strive for. Read the rest of this entry »

Change… happens all the time. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes not. And sometimes you can make a not so good change, well, good. It all depends on your perspective. But change can never be avoided. Change is one of the things life is made of. My own life has been full of change lately. So, why not add just one more thing to the mix?

From the time I started this blog, September 2009, I have been doing two things. I wanted to provide good solid advice and information on anti-aging and skin care. Sharing with you the information and knowledge that my training and years of work in Esthetics has provided me. And I think I have been doing pretty well at that, at least I hope I have. Read the rest of this entry »

By now most of you know that vitamin C is an antioxidant and a great anti-aging ingredient. It pops up in products and formulations of all types. Personally I feel C does it’s best work in serums. Facial washes contain C but I am of the belief that a facial wash isn’t on your skin long enough to allow the vitamin C to do much of anything, you rinse it off, right? So, maybe you want to rethink how you are applying vitamin C.

As I said, my favorite is in a serum. But many moisturizers contain vitamin C as well. The most important thing to remember about vitamin C when making your choice is packaging. Yes, that might be a really pretty jar to put on your vanity but, what about the light and oxygen it is exposed to every single time you use it? The vitamin C can degrade and/or lose potency in as little as a week. And that is money not well spent. Degraded vitamin C won’t do a thing for anti-aging your face. Sorry, but true. So look for pump bottles and tubes…. OK? Read the rest of this entry »

Nu Skin Future Serum… hmm. What’s in it? Where did it come from? Been wondering about that? You probably already know that it contains the proprietary ingredient ageLOC. That is the same active found in the ageLOC Galvanic Facial Gels used with the Galvanic Home Spa.

But what else? I found some great information regarding that. And I am going to share it with you, so here you go….

The technology is licensed to Nu Skin; skin serum on the market

• Deseret News

BYU research has identified a naturally occurring compound that improves skin health, and the university has licensed the technology to Provo-based Nu Skin Enterprises, the $1.3 billion global anti-aging personal care and nutritional products company.

The anti-aging skin product that features the BYU ingredient was launched in October as part of the company’s ageLOC(TM) skin care line. Nu Skin sold $28 million of ageLOC skin care products in the last quarter of 2009.

The little-known molecule, called equol, is derived from plants such as soybeans. Its benefits for skin grew out of earlier work by BYU Professor Edwin Lephart who was testing various compounds from plants for possible impacts on human health. Equol stood out. Read the rest of this entry »