Beauty And The Blog

Posts Tagged ‘anti aging’

Image copyright Clarisonic

OK, so I have been bad.  I said I would be posting soon. Soon turned into months, but I never forgot about this new thing I wanted to tell you about. Something new I was trying, and loving, and making a part of my daily regimen

OK, ’nuff said.

It’s called the Clarisonic. It’s a little bundle of facial cleansing joy. No, really.

I can hear you now, “…great another gadget.  Just what I need, something else that plugs in sitting on my bathroom counter.”

Just. What. I. Need.

But seriously you do. As did I. If you have only one gadget sitting on your bathroom counter (well other than an electric toothbrush, and maybe a hair dryer…) this is the thing to have. Seriously.

If you get the impression that I am recommending it, spoiler alert: I am!

I have been using it myself since last December. I love it. I had read about, I had heard from customers about it. And I had been thinking of buying one. But so many expensive gadgets make all these empty promises and end up gathering dust with the Flowbee at the back of your bathroom cabinet. And the cost of some products, including the Clarisonic… well I stayed on the fence. Funny thing happened though. I won a sales contest at work and won one. So yes I use it daily, but it was a freebie.

Now that I have used it I see why it is so popular. And why dermatologists and estheticians are recommending it for home care. It works. Your skin is so clean is glows.

I started using the Clarisonic last Winter. I wasn’t unhappy with my skin, I like the products I was (and still am) using.  But what the heck, I had it, so I used it. Not that I wanted to add work load to my skin care routine, but I’d always cleansed my skin morning and evening without fail anyway. For maybe like fifteen seconds, manually. So now its sonic vibration (oddly familiar buzzing noise, hmm…)  oh yeah, for one minute of cleansing. A whole forty five seconds longer than usual.

Clarisonic claims to “cleanse your skin via a patented sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second.” Gently, so gently, it almost tickles. While your hand is guiding it’s little dance on your face, it is also “removing  twice as much dirt and oil plus six times more makeup as compared to manual cleansing.”

When your skin is that clean, believe me, it will glow.  But that’s not the only benefit. All those creams, lotions and potions we use to fight fine lines and wrinkles, you know the ones, I bet you’ve got a cabinet full, they will work better. Efficacy increases when there isn’t a mother lode of dirt, oil and leftover makeup sitting on the surface of your skin. As we all know, well cleansed and exfoliated skin is much more receptive to skin care treatment products.

I could go into the Clarisonic sales pitch but they aren’t paying me nor did they give me one in expectation of a good review. I wanted one, I got lucky and got a freebie. So no sales pitch, but here it is, the reality.

I use it twice a day. One minute each time. 20 seconds on the forehead, 20 seconds on the nose, upper lip and chin, 10 seconds on each cheek. It pauses when it’s time to move to the next area. Nice touch when you are still half asleep in the morning.

I have less break outs. I don’t usually get many. Now I get less. My skin feels smoother to the touch.  It looks smoother too. Fine lines seem diminished. My complexion looks healthier than ever.  That’s enough for me, I like it. I like it a lot.

Is the sonic vibration enough to stimulate an increase in collagen as Clarisonic suggests? I don’t know. I am more familiar with ingredients that penetrate the skin, such as peptides that stimulate the fibroblasts to imitate a younger skin and produce more collagen. Having said that, using the Clarisonic will allow peptide containing products to do a superior job for you. Remember, super clean exfoliated skin is more receptive to anti-aging ingredients.

Does my face look fuller, more collagen rich due to the use of the Clarisonic? I can’t tell. I’d like to think so, but probably not.

If you are wondering about any special cleansers you should use with a Clarisonic. No. And yes. Of course the company would love to see you use the cleanser they make. But they come right out and say it works with any skin care system.  So use what you like.

My Bottom line recommendation: get one of these, Now.

Okay, I know I have been MIA, haven’t posted in a while. Let’s just say I needed some thinking time, a break of sorts.

So, today something different, short and simple. But it does apply to anti-aging in a way. It’s about keeping current to maintain a youthful appearance. Trends come and go. I prefer more of a classic look. Stylish when I want or need to be but not really much of a slave to current trends as I may have been in the past.

Some trends are actually a good thing though. But these aren’t the ones about the latest ‘IT’ bag, wash on your jeans or platform shoes.

Anyway.. What I have to share with you right now is about a grooming trend. This is a good kind of trend to follow to stay modern and youthful, yet still be true to the mature and lovely lady you are (by mature I mean your years here on earth. I’ve been here a while but I sure don’t feel like it).

Look at your fingernails. Are they long? What shape do you file them to? Are they natural or long acrylic talons? Do they suit you, or do they make you look, eeeh gads, ‘dated’? Dated grooming ages your overall ‘look’. There does come a time when less is more, girlies. So an update would be anti-aging, right..?

I found this great little slide show thingie about fingernails and the grooming of them. I agree with what they have presented completely.

Want to check it out? You should, I’m not going to parrot it all back at you here, I’d rather you saw it the way I saw it.  OK?

Score A Perfect Set Of 10 With These 7 Essential Tips

The article linked to above is from womenshealthmag.com

Photo by MaraDamian

Is it possible to age gracefully? Or do we just accept every wrinkle, line or dark spot nature flings our way? Do you  fight it or ignore it?

And just what exactly is aging gracefully? I think it means different things to different women. For some of us it means full on acceptance because we are all meant to grow old. And for others it means fighting tooth and nail to still look 30 something.

For me, I look at two facts. I’m going to get older as long as I keep living. And with that comes the usual (dreaded by most) signs of aging.

So do I want to try to look a decade or so younger than I am? Or do I want to just let it flow, let go and look old?

No, I so totally don’t. Neither of those choices are at all acceptable to me. So there must be  a ‘gray area’ between the two. And that is where I find the answer to my own question. Read the rest of this entry »

If it is ‘natural’ skin care it is good for your skin, right? Did you say yes? Well, it isn’t always the case. Sometimes a ‘natural’ ingredient can be irritating or even damaging to the skin.

We all want to think that natural and/or organic are the best choices when addressing our skin care needs. But in some cases we can actually be doing more harm than good.

There is no factual or scientific proof that natural ingredients are better for our skin other than the claims being made by the manufacturers themselves or the media.

Claims are made by the manufacturers of skin care that contain synthetic ingredients as well. No matter what side of the fence the manufacturer sits on, they are going to make claims of wondrous results in an effort to get you and me to use their product. It’s just advertising and marketing that they hope we will all buy into.

But I want to talk about natural ingredients here. Because even though they are natural ingredients, some can cause skin sensitivities, irritation or allergies. Did you know that irritation and inflammation of the skin can cause the breakdown of collagen, impair the skins ability to heal and defend itself from environmental pollutants and damage? Yeah, not so good, huh? Read the rest of this entry »

This time I’m not going to tell you about some great anti-aging ingredient, what it does and why you should use it.  No, this time I have found something that is truly bizarre, if you ask me.

I was checking out some skin care info, you know, just surfing around to see what’s up. And I came across this article that seriously blew me away. I do know that there are some wild and wicked things in some of those potions and lotions we women use. But really now….

This article made me jump up and check out some labels, like real quick. And I am happy to say I found none of the things I just read about in the ingredient lists of my own skin care. I am a bit concerned about a lipstick or two. The tubes don’t have ingredients listed on them, that is on the box that you throw away. Hopefully there are no ground bugs in mine. If there are, well it hasn’t hurt me yet. I just don’t like thinking about it. So I won’t. Read the rest of this entry »