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Showing posts with label Face Mask. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Face Mask. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

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:
Neutrogena Visibly Firm Eye Cream
Neutrogena Visibly Firm Night Cream
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

Friday, July 31, 2009

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!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Russian Beauty Secrets

Due to my profession and my love for new experiences I have been travelling a lot around the world. If I put together all countries where I lived, studied, worked and just had vacation they will add up to 30 (and still counting). What I have learned from my roaming around the Globe is that every country and every nation has its own peculiar traditions and views about many issues from cooking to beauty. Some of them really perform miracles but they are not well-known in other parts of the world.

I would like to share with you all these beauty tips and secrets that I uncovered. The most valuable ones are those that go back ages and ages in history and are tested by generations of people . Since a lot of them date back to B.C. era they are based on natural products and often enough you can find these products in your kitchen and garden.

I will start my Beauty Expedition Around the World from my native country – Russia. In Russia we consider milk products to hold secrets to all your beauty needs, especially face and hair. Russian milk products are more natural than in the U.S. and Western Europe and we use a lot of sour milk products for beauty purposes. Our milk becomes sour after about 3 days (as it SHOULD in natural circumstances if it is not specially treated at the milk factory). Certain products made from sour milk have loads of benefits for your hair and skin.

Sour cream and cottage cheese: Russian women use these products to create home-made face masks that hydrate skin, make it firm and relieve the irritation of sensitive skin.

Here is an easy face mask recipe: 2 tea spoons of cottage cheese + 1 egg yolk. Mix well till smooth. Apply to the face and leave for 15 minutes.

Sour milk or as we call it in Russian “prostokvasha”(only use milk that came directly from the farm) and plain kefir (it looks and feels like plain liquid yogurt): our ancestors used these products to wash their hair. Milk products not only nourish the hair, but give it strength, shine, silkiness and also may prevent dandruff.

Modern beauty industry uses the power of milk in some of its products. My favorite products incorporating milk proteins and lipids are H2O Plus Milk line. They have excellent products for body, hands and hair. They are, probably, as close as it gets to natural milk in the modern world. Another Plus is that they are affordable (all products are under $20):
H2O Plus Milk Body Lotion H2O Plus Milk Shampoo


How to save even more: I like shopping at Skinstore.com.
SkinStore.com Free Shipping - No Minimums

They have several fantastic promotions going on right now:
1. Save 20% on your purchase: code MDAY20 (expires May 4, 2009)
2. Save 10% EVERY DAY: code SSM18447 (NO expiration)
3. FREE shipment on orders $49+ (NO expiration)
4. They send you FREE product samples with every shipment

Friday, April 17, 2009

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!”

FragranceNet.com

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!
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