Mexico and California Beauty Secrets

Ancient Aztec, Mayan and Inca believed that the avocado fed the skin from without as well as within. Avocado is a treasury of vitamins, minerals and natural oils: Vitamins A, C, E, iron, potassium, niacin, pantothenic acid and its natural emollients. Up to this day avocado plays an important part of everyday life of people who live on the territory where Aztec and Maya had their kingdoms – Mexico is by far the biggest producer of this vegetable in the world. Southern California that boarders with Mexico is also famous for its avocados.

Avocado skin care is completely relevant to today's trend toward the use of natural organic substances. California Avocado Commission* came up with a number of interesting avocado beauty recopies which includes ingredients that can easily be found in most fridges and cupboards:

How To Use An Avocado For Beauty Care
The avocado you use should be fully ripe. How do you know when the avocado is ripe? Hold it in the palm of your hand and gently press it with your fingers. A ripe fruit will yield to your touch. It will open easily, peel evenly and reveal its glorious green-gold interior.
When the beauty formula calls for MASHED, PUREED, or MACERATED pulp the procedure is quite simple. Peel your avocado (or one-half) and remove the pit. Your avocado can now be PUREED, MASHED, or MACERATED by any of these methods: the fork, the blender, the potato ricer, the food processor or the sieve.

The avocado like any other organic matter, is perishable. Some of the formulas are designed for ONE TIME USE, and should be made up freshly for each treatment. Others may be refrigerated up to 48 hours.

To prevent the avocado or its mixture with other ingredients from darkening while stored in your refrigerator, place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the avocado mixture so as not to expose the mixture to air. The usual method of adding lemon or lime juice for this purpose may be too harsh for skins which are dry or sensitive.

Avocado Facial Cleanser
Beat the yolk of an egg until it is light and frothy, add a half cup of milk and the mashed half of a ripe peeled avocado. A blender is handy here, but if you don't have one, beat the mixture with a fork until you have a thin cream or lotion-like consistency. Apply on squares of cotton as you would any other cleanser. You may also use this deep cleanser after ordinary soap and water, if your skin is normal. It's quite effective against pollution and grime. Therefore, it's a very pure method of keeping your complexion free of pollutants which can interfere with normal skin function.

California Avocado Moisturizer
The inside of the avocado peel is actually valuable. The precious oil hidden away in the peel of the avocado is also a wonderful facial moisturizer. To be technical, the oil contains a humectant, a substance that holds moisture. Using gentle upward strokes, lightly massage your face with the inside of the peel. Let the oil residue remain on your skin for about 15 minutes. At that time you may either leave the oil on your skin and go to sleep or, if you intend to put on make-up, wash your face gently with three or four rinses of tepid water and pat dry. The oil will be invisible but it is there, ready to hold your foundation or powder in place for hours.

Aztec Mystery Eye Treatment
Nobody really knows WHY this is so effective on under-eye puffiness, but it IS. The procedure is very simple: peel an avocado, remove the pit, and slice a half into quarter-inch crescents. Lie down, secure a few slices under each eye, and rest for about 20 minutes. The result is corrective magic!

Santa Barbara's Dry Skin Masque
Beat the yolk of an egg until it is light and frothy, then add the mashed pulp of a half avocado, blending it well (you may use a blender at this point). Cleanse your face thoroughly before using this masque (or any masque). Spread the avocado mixture over the face and neck evenly; relax on a slant board or bed for about 20 minutes. Remove with clear tepid water and a face cloth, followed by a rinse of cold water or a mild skin lotion. The result should be a marked improvement in skin texture, and all-around revitalizing.

Santa Monica's Oily Skin Masque
Put the white of an egg, a teaspoon of lemon juice, and the mashed pulp of a half avocado into a blender. In seconds, you should have a lovely green mixture. Wash your face and neck thoroughly, then apply masque evenly on those areas. Relax for 20 minutes; remove with tepid water and a face cloth. Follow with cold astringent or skin tonic.

If you don’t want to spend time and effort on these recipes there are many commercially produced beauty products that capitalize on the benefits of avocado which you can use instead. For instance, the following Neutrogena creams contain avocado oil:


Both are moisturizing creams that improves skin's elasticity for firmer, smoother, younger-looking skin. Both are consistantly highly ranked by consumers and each cost under 20 USD!

How to save even more:
, where you can get these wonderful products has several fantastic promotions going on right now:
1. Save 10% EVERY DAY: code SSM18447 (NO expiration)
2. FREE shipment on orders $49+ (NO expiration)
3. They send you FREE product samples with every shipment
4. You can join Skinstore rewards program for FREE and earn1 point for each 1 USD spent (excluding tax and shipment). Each 300 points earn you a 30 USD Rewards Certificate!

*You can read the full article about avocado beauty secrets by California Avocado Commission at http://www.pioneerthinking.com/avocadobeauty.html

Lancome Hydra Intense Mask

Today I will tell you about my ultimate time saver in the world of beauty - Lancome Hydra Intense Hydrating Gel Mask. Everyone knows that masks are quite important for your skin - they promise a whole range of benefits depending on the type: nourishing, moisturizing, firming, purifying, detoxifying, lifting, etc. They are a great addition to your daily beauty routine. I would love to try them all but applying the mask, waiting for it to work and then cleaning the face is usually 15 to 30 minutes procedure and most of the days I just don’t have half an hour to spend for self-indulgence.

That’s why I love Lancome Hydra Intense Hydrating Gel Mask with Natural Water Captors Because it is a LEAVE IN mask. It takes a minute to apply in the evening and that’s all. The mask works all night and makes my face incredibly soft and velvety smooth. Then you wash your face in the morning as usual. You can even go out with it because it is transparent and applies like a moisturizing face gel and absorbs by your skin very quickly. It is 100% invisible. Just don’t apply any cream or make up on top of it. It substitutes the night cream and really work wonders!

World of Perfume

To me navigating the ocean of various perfumes and eaus de toilettes is the most difficult thing in the world of Beauty. There are thousands (if not millions) of scents which are hard to describe in words and they don’t have specific benefits to distinguish one from the other.

Also, preferences are very subjective and it’s practically impossible to give advice on choosing one over the other – everybody has her/his own preference.

However, I recently found a very helpful resource put together by a fellow blogger – Perfume Posse, http://perfumeposse.com There are tons of information related to fragrances in this blog. If you are a beginner, the best place to start is Perfume 101 section followed by Perfume 201. Both ladies and gentlemen can learn a lot from this site.

Dior Addict

Last week I wrote about shelf life of various make up products (http://beautymanual.blogspot.com/2009/06makeup-shelf-life.html) and I mentioned in this post that though the shelf life of a lipstick is about 8 months but good brands live much longer. I did not invent this, I heard it from a make-up artist and I also have a leaving proof of that – Christian Dior Addict Lipstick. I have one of these for 5 years now (!) - it is one of my favorites and I only use it for special occasions that’s why it lasted that long.

Needless to say that Dior Addict comes in multiple wonderful colors and wears nicely but I mostly love it because it is of really good quality: in 5 years it didn’t change its original color, texture, smell or performance. It doesn’t cause any irritation or allergic reaction though it is very old. To me this is an indication of high quality ingredients that were used to create it.

This is the longest living lipstick that I ever owned. Most of the time when I buy a lipstick in a summer shade it doesn’t even last till next summer. There were dozens of lipsticks I threw out which were just barely used. But this one is a keeper. It is a bit expensive but in the long run you are saving money with it since you are not going to need a new one every year. It may even last another 5 years, we’ll see!

Greek Beauty Secret

July is the best month to go to Greece and that’s where I am taking you today. Greek beauty secrets go back centuries B.C. and looking at the picture and statues of all their goddesses you can see that they knew a thing or two about beauty. Greeks believe that their main secret of beauty AND longevity is olive oil. They sometimes call it “elixir of life” and with good reason: olive oil offers a lot of benefits for your hair, skin and nails. And the best thing about it is that it is 100% natural!

Olive Oil for Hair
Olive oil can be used as a deep conditioning hair treatment. It's great to use on damaged, colored or over processed hair and can really improve your hairs condition. To treat your hair to this deep conditioning simply massage olive oil on your scalp and through your hair. Leave it on your hair for around half an hour after covering your hair with a shower cap, cling film or plastic bag. Shampoo and style as normal.

Olive Oil for the Face
If you've been overexposed to the elements – sun, wind or cold temperatures – or whenever your skin seems extra dry simply massage a small amount of olive oil into your face and neck, using small circular motions.

Olive Oil for the Body
A simple but effective natural scrub can be made by mixing some olive oil with sugar and salt. It will leave your skin feeling silky soft.

Olive Oil for Cuticles & Nails
As a treat for your finger nails and cuticles soak them in a small bowl of warmed olive oil. Leave for just a few minutes to keep your nails in better condition and your cuticles softened pre-manicure.

Olive Oil for Hands & Feet
Anytime your hands feel particularly dry and in need of some tender loving care massage some olive oil into them before bed, put on white cotton gloves, and sleep with them on. Do the same with your feet, wearing socks to bed.

Olive Oil for Lips
A wonderful natural remedy for soothing dry, chapped lips is to dab them with a little olive oil. This is actually my personal routine when I am out of my regular lip balm.

Olive Oil as a Makeup Remover
Olive oil makes a great make up remover and is brilliant at removing even stubborn mascara.
You can read more information about olive oil and its benefits as well as Greece here: http://www.completely-crete.com/olive-oil-beauty-tips.html

Several European cosmetic companies produce excellent products with benefits of olive oil. One of them, Korres, based in Athens, Greece (surprise-surprise) creates products with a high concentration of quality natural botanicals while keeping harsh chemicals to a minimum and thus, it received a “Natural” classification from several beauty retailers.
Korres Olive and Rye Night Cream Korres Olive and Rye Night Cream This intense night is cream rich in vegetable oils that firm and restructure mature skin. Thanks to a special formulation technique, the cream gradually releases beneficial oily components and nourishes the skin all night long, increasing its elasticity and cohesion.



Korres Juniper and Olive Tree Shampoo is performing wonders for normal and dry hair. Olive oil ingredient in particular has great moisturizing and emollient properties and regenerates dull hair.

Another company that appreciates the benefits of what an olive can give us is L’Occitane. Based in France (Mediterranean region as well as Greece) where people have been growing olive trees for ages it also offers excellent products based on this ingredient:

LOccitane Olive Harvest Olive Face Scrub Mud

This Face Scrub Mud uses the exfoliating properties of crushed Olive pits to gently remove dead cells and balance the skin. Green clay absorbs excess oil as Shea Butter soothes, softens and protects the skin.
Another thing that I like about these products is that they are relatively inexpensive but in any case no one likes to pay full price so here is how to save even more:
, where you can get all these wonderful products has several fantastic promotions going on right now:
1. Save 20% IN JULY: code JULY20
2. Save 10% EVERY DAY: code SSM18447 (NO expiration, codes 1 and 2 cannot be combined, unfortunately)
3. FREE shipment on orders $49+ (NO expiration)
4. They send you FREE product samples with every shipment
5. You can join Skinstore rewards program for FREE and earn1 point for each 1 USD spent (excluding tax and shipment). Each 300 points earn you a 30 USD Rewards Certificate!

P.S. The photo on the top is from www.completely-crete.com

After sun skin care

The summer is in its prime and it’s getting hotter and sunnier (if it’s possible) everyday. I hope you use some type of sunblock when you go out (if not, please, read my article posted a couple of weeks ago: tp://beautymanual.blogspot.com/2009/06/summer-has-finally-arrived-in-northern.html– for your own benefit!)

But even if I use a sunblock and stay in the sun for a long time I still have a feeling of discomfort because my skin is tight and dry after sun exposure (I bet your is too) I always use a special after sun moisturizer (not my regular body lotion) on such occasion. Another benefit of an after sun moisturizer is that it helps to keep your tan for longer.

There are a lot of different brands available but I personally like Hawaiian Tropic Aloe Vera. It is very inexpensive (less than $10 for 16 OZ bottle) and it does a great job – my skin feels drenched in moisture after using it.

If you forgot sunblock and stayed a long time in the sun, Hawaiian Tropic can help too but with a different product: Hawaiian Tropic I.C.E. Reliefwhich helps to kill the pain of a sunburn. It gives an instantaneous cooling and calming sensation that lasts for a while.

Hawaiian Tropic products were tested by me under Midwestern, Floridian and Caribbean sun on multiple occasions and they never failed to perform.

Makeup shelf life

Whether you like Dior or Covergirl or any other brand of cosmetic products you need to know the following guidelines about their shelf life to avoid any problems with skin, infections, etc.:

1. Mascara’s shelf life is 4-6 month and you should be especially careful with anything that goes close to your eye. An eye infection is a nasty thing you want to avoid by all means.

2. Eyeliner: if it’s a pencil its shelf life is 1 year and since you always sharpen it you always renew the tip and delete any bacteria on it. But if an oily substance is leaking out of it – throw it away immediately. Liquid eyeliners “live” much less, about 6 months, because microbes can easily breed inside the bottle.

3. Lipstick: on average its shelf life is 8 months but good brands live much longer. If your lipstick started to stick to your lips – don’t use it anymore

4. Powder eye shades and blushes are usually good for up to 2 years, liquid – up to a year.

5. Concealers and compacts are good for 1 year too but pay attention to their smell and consistency. If something changes for the worth – throw them away

6. Brushes: if made of natural hair, they can live forever if you take care of them properly: wash them once a week with warm water and regular soap and let them dry well.

If you want your favorite cosmetic products live longer there is one rule of thumb: decrease sun, heat and humidity exposure!