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

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):



How to save even more: I like shopping at Skinstore.com.

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

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!

Kerastase hair care products

Let’s talk about your hair today. Now that the winter is over in the Northern hemisphere and we took our hats off we want our hair to look gorgeous. It is important to understand that wonderful hair is not just an indicator of beauty it is an indicator of your health.

My top pick in hair care products is Kerastase brand. Year after year Kerastase products win “Best in Beauty Buys” award from InStyle magazine, including 2009. They have products for all types of hair and all types of problems your hair might encounter. People who created these products really worked hard to create shampoos, conditioners and treatments specifically for your needs. They don’t just have products for “Dry Hair”, for instance, they have products for “Dry, rebellions hair”, “Normal to slightly dry hair”, “Dry, sensitized hair” and “Very dry hair”.

My love affair with Kerastase began long time ago when a friend of mine used to work for L’Oreal (Kerastase is one of L’Oreal’s superior brands). He gave me a Kerastase shampoo and conditioner as a gift and I am extremely grateful to him for that. But for that occasion I wouldn’t have never discovered the best products for my hair, ever: you cannot easily find Kerstase in your local store, depending on the country/city where you live you can either purchase it in hair saloons or on-line. When I lived in UK I found Kerastase in beauty parlors, in the U.S. I never saw it in places where I do my haircuts (may be it’s just Illinois issue). So I decided to skip the trouble and use the good old Internet.

Over the time I used various Kerastase products (I don’t just rely on commentaries in beauty magazines): for sun exposed hair, for colored hair and for normal weak thin hair. ALL of them did an excellent job. I cannot recommend which specific product you should use, it all depends on your hair type/issues, but I am sure everyone will be able to find a perfect match for oneself in Kerastase’s extensive line of products.

How to save on this brand: buy on Fragrance.net (image links in this post will take you directly to Kerastase on Fragrance.net). Current coupon code: "cable" - 15% OFF any purchase. If this expires, register on the website itself and they will send you 10% OFF coupon via e-mail. In addition, if you buy 70 USD+ wirth of products the shipment is FREE.