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

Inositol Vegetal Eye Cream

Today I would like to tell you about a wonderful product for eyes. Another look at Cosmopolitan.com “Celebs favorite beauty products” and we find a classic example of advice on how to waste money. Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Radiant Touch Concealer is being recommended to fight dark circles around eyes. This product does work well but it’s not an eye cream and you definitely need to apply a regular eye cream to moisturize, correct fine lines, etc. So if you follow this advice you will need 2 products and spend twice as much time and money to make your eyes shine.

Here is an easier and more beautiful solution: Inositol Végétal Line Smoothing Eye Cream by Yves Rocher . It moisturizes, reduce 1st signs of lines (according to YR gradation this cream is for age 25+) and the appearance of puffiness. On top of that it does the best job ever of hiding dark circles in your eye contour area. It is not a concealer, but when you squeeze out this cream out of the tube you immediately see the difference compared to other products: it has a light beige color (as a tinted moisturizer) and has a light pink shimmer. So when your skin absorbs it the beige color works almost like cover up AND those simmering particles reflect light in such a way that you simply don’t see the dark circles anymore!!! Plus you eyes look brighter! It is almost like a magic trick! This is one of the most amazing eye cream I have ever tried.

So to sum up: with Inositol Végétal Line Smoothing Eye Cream you eliminate 1 step in you beauty routine and save some money too: you buy 1 product instead of 2 and this product costs just 24 USD compared to 40 USD price tag of Yves Saint Laurent concealer!
How to save even more money: website offers the following discounts at the moment:

10% OFF all orders - DISCOUNT10 – expires 7/31/2009
Free shipping with orders over $25 - FREESHIPTODAY - expires 7/31/2009
$5 OFF orders over $25 - 5OFF25 – expires 7/31/2009
Yves Rocher also usually offers a surprise gift at checkout. I strongly suggest choosing a beauty item. Their jewelry, scarves and other non-cosmetics stuff is not as good as their cosmetics products.

Israel Beauty Secret - Part II

To continue on my previous story about Dead Sea beauty secrets ( http://beautymanual.blogspot.com/2009/05/israel-beauty-secret.html) I want to share with you another great find that I have recently discovered: Cleopatra's Choice website offers a variety of authentic Dead Sea products. The best part is that if you don’t know what product you need or have any sorts of doubts you can try 10 products for FREE!!! They kindly ask you to pay $4.99 for shipping but I think it’s fair enough.

Click on the link in the upper left hand corner of their main page and it will take you to the description of items they offer for FREE:
1. Mineral Lift Serum
2. Moisturizing Day Cream
3. Intensive Anti Wrinkle Cream
4. Night Renewal Cream
5. Purifying Mud Mask
6. Mineral Eye Gel
7. Mineral Hand Cream
8. Mineral Body Lotion
9. Shea Body Butter
10. Deep Pore Mineral Cleanser

I was pleasantly surprised that all these didn’t come in tiny trial-size pouches that you can hardly open, and when you do it’s only enough for 1 use. These come in nice little jars and I used their eye gel, for instance, for nearly a week, day and night; hand and face creams last for about 3 -4 days, and the only one product that is for 1 time use is the body lotion (the body is big and the jar is small – you do the math)

My absolute favorites were Mineral Eye Gel and Mineral Hand Cream. The eye gel was soothing and refreshing and the hand cream made my hands wonderfully soft!

So when you choose the product YOU like you can order it risk-free.

Also their bath salts (authentic 100% natural Dead Sea salts) are FANTASTIC and CUSTOM-MADE: first you choose from 70 different scents (or choose un-scented), then you choose any of 13 colors available and, finally, you choose any size from 5 to 2400 LB! I’ve never seen such a huge selection of salts which come with all the beauty and therapeutic benefits that Dead Sea has to offer. These also come in samples: 2 OZ = 0.99 USD. You can try any combination of scents and colors.

How to save even more:
1. FREE shipping on orders $49+
2. Use discount coupon “beauty10” to get 10% OFF
3. They send 3 FREE samples with every purchase!

Cat Eye and Perfect Pout

There are several dozens of ways to apply lip products and definitely millions of ways to apply eye makeup. If you were to try all shades and patterns it will take you a lifetime… So what’s left for all of us busy ladies to do? If I were to choose just 1 thing everyone should know about eyes and lips each that would be how to create a “cat” eye and a perfect pout. I specifically like the former because it suits all eye shapes and colors and makes you look irresistible.
My favorite makeup Guru, Lauren Luke, has created video tutorials on these specific topics, which are very comprehensive but at the same time quite easy to follow. Enjoy:

CAT EYE


PERFECT POUT

Top mascaras

One product is most important in my makeup routine – a mascara - and I spent years searching for the perfect one that would not be too wet or too dry, won’t smudge or leave clumps on my lashes, would give a excellent volume and length, etc. May be because I am so picky it was so hard to find the one that would be ideal in all respects.

It turns out I am not the only one searching. Recently I found the results of an interesting research done by Splendora.com in which they analyzed 50 different mascaras sold in drugstores and in department stores (the two groups were analyzed separately). The winners turned out to be:

It was a very thorough research judging by the description of the methodology and the depth of evaluation. There are only 2 things which I want to add to it on my behalf:

1. Beware of the Department Store category winners #3 YSL Volume Effect Faux Cils and #5 DiorShow. I tried the former one personally and it is AWFUL! It smudges after about 2 hours not matter what I do (and I don’t do much during the day except for sitting in the office). The latter one I researched on-line a lot and customer reviews are generally divided as follows: 70% love it, 30% hate it (and I mean really, really HATE it because of the clumps). This is an indication that it might not be as good after all.

2. I noticed that Splendora-reviewed mascaras fall into 2 categories: “under 10 USD” and “above 20 USD”. There are not many products reviews “in between” and that’s where my personal winner is - Clinique Naturally Glossy Mascara

Splendora did not review this mascara, in fact they did not review any product by Clinique (I wonder why…) This mascara turned out to be everything I was looking for (non-clumpy, don’t smudge for 8 hours+, looks great on my lashes), basically, it is department store quality but with close to a drugstore price tag. Isn’t THIS a perfect combination?

P.S. You can read the full story about the Splendora reaseach at http://www.splendora.com/best_mascaras/best_of_splendora_top_ten_mascaras

Best Mother's Day Gifts!

Mother’s Day has become one of my favorite holidays after I became a mom myself 1,5 years ago. I believe this is the day to give all your love and gratefulness to those ones who selflessly give you everything they have. It’s time to give back. Since becoming a mom I know that I spend less and less time and money on myself, so if you mother is like myself (and I am 99.9% sure she is) at least 1 day a year you should spend your resources on her. Every mom deserves to get a special treatment this day, to be pampered.

To help you out here is my choice of top Mother’s Day gifts for all budgets:

1. As I wrote on my blog earlier that the condition of your hair is not just a sign of beauty but a sign of your health. Healthy hair is very important and it is every woman’s pride. Kerastase products, which I described earlier (http://beautymanual.blogspot.com/2009/04/kerastase-hair-care-products.html) are great for all hair types but instead of just buying a regular shampoo and conditioner, maybe you should buy a special hair treatment for your mom. I am pretty certain she will not spend money on it herself and I am absolutely positive she will benefit from it immensely. Choose one depending on your mom’s hair type and/or issues (fine hair/fragile or damaged hair/ oily scalp, etc.) – choices are endless and they are specifically tailored to one’s needs:


How to save even more: Fragrance.net, where you can find these hair products, is having an great Mother's Day promotion now, see my previous post (http://beautymanual.blogspot.com/2009/04/beauty-stimulus-bill.html) You can also still use "cable" coupon for 15% OFF (I just checked) and it offers FREE shipping if you order $70+.

2. Woman’ eyes always give out her age and also suffer from tiredness, lack of sleep, environmental factors, etc. While moisturizes and line fillers are good for their purpose special eye treatments/masks will give you mom so much needed pampering. Here is a great example of a pampering set you can get, which will re-charge and re-energize her skin in minutes (it really does an amazing job):


How to save even more: this and other amazing sets on blissworld.com are now 10% on top of that the site offers 3 excellet promotions specifically in honor of Mother's Day:

Save $15 on gifts for mom at Bliss when you buy 1 body butter + 1 scrub + 1 shower gel (any scent!). Use code SAVE15. Offer ends 5.11.09.

Receive a free full sized blood orange+white pepper body butter ($35.00 value) with your order of $75 or more at BlissWorld.com! Offer ends 4.30.09.

Free gift for your big day: Free bliss eye mask sample ($14 value) + free shipping over $75. Enter code BIGDAY in shopping bag

3. Our hands also give out age and while they receive the harshest treatment from cold weather, water and chemicals (constant cleaning after babies, husbands and pets) they don’t receive as much care as face does, for instance. Your mom will be extremely grateful if you give her Mary Kay Satin Hands set. It includes Extra Emollient Cream, Scrub and Regular Hand Cream. Each of the products can be used separately but they do the best job ever if used together in 3 steps:

a. Generously apply Extra Emollient Cream and massage your hands
b. Wash the excess of the Extra Emollient Cream with Scrub, which will also scrub away dead cells (I use it as a cleaner instead of hand soap too)
c. Finish by applying the Hand Cream to moisturize and protect.

Just after 1 procedure you will notice a significant difference!


4. Many women have a secret dream of escaping to a spa for a day, but most of them don’t even get one free hour for themselves, let alone extra cash to spend on elaborate treatments. What is the solution? Bring a spa home to your mom! There are a lot of spa sets out there but I prefer Bliss brand produced by an actual spa, Bliss Spa in New York. These guys really know spa products because it’s their business. Bliss sets always get excellent reviews and below are some great ones on sale now:



How to save even more: these and other amazing sets are on sale now at blissworld.com - 10% OFF. And on top of that the site offers several special promotions in honor of Mother's Day:

Save $15 on gifts for mom at Bliss when you buy 1 body butter + 1 scrub + 1 shower gel (any scent!). Use code SAVE15. Offer ends 5.11.09.

Receive a free full sized blood orange+white pepper body butter ($35.00 value) with your order of $75 or more at BlissWorld.com! Offer ends 4.30.09.

Free gift for your big day: Free bliss eye mask sample ($14 value) + free shipping over $75. Enter code BIGDAY in shopping bag

5. Finally, if your mom is into fragrances – buy her an exquisite perfume. I often hear women (my mom including) talking about “good, old days” when they were young and a certain perfume they used that symbolized that special period in their lives. More often than not this perfume cannot be found in department stores anymore. However, there is a high chance you can find it on Fragrance.net I know I was searching for my mom’s favorite for years. Whenever I went to France I would go to the best and biggest beauty stores only to confirm time after time that this scent was not for sale anymore. And voila – a month ago I found it on Fragrance.net! You cannot really rely on fragrance reviews because tastes differ dramatically but one type of comment you can find consistently throughout the site: “I’ve search for ABC perfume forever and found it here. THANK YOU for doing such a great job!”



How to save even more: Fragrance.net offers a special Mother's Day promotion, see my previous post (http://beautymanual.blogspot.com/2009/04/beauty-stimulus-bill.html); you can use "cable" coupon for 15% off and shipping is always free if you order $70+

Plus you get discounts and free shipping on orders equal or more 70 USD!