29.8.13

Anti Aging Snap – Put Spring Back In Your Skin


Being actively linked with the aesthetic industry I am constantly researching beauty/skincare innovations and miracle concoctions -- What works, what’s mere smoke-‘n-mirrors and what’re chemical-beauty-nightmares you need to dodge.

Dill is the miracle green herb that has me intrigued for quiet sometime now. The more I research this lush bloom of a plant the bigger fan I am becoming. Here’s why dill is truly a wonderful plant as it has almost all vitamins and minerals that exist in nature: phosphorus, calcium, potassium, iron, folic acid, and vitamin A to name a few. Multiple studies have highlighted its antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, carminative, aromatic, and galactagogue properties. A study conducted by Cenizo et al. back in 2006, brought Dill’s elastogenesis promoting potential in skin plumping to light and since then beauty enthusiasts have added it to their must-use list to look young and fresh.

Aging Under The Microscope: As, you age the collagen and elastin tissues of our body (particularly, skin) stop replenishing. It’s important that you should get acquainted with elastin: The often-neglected cohort of collagen responsible for making young skin snap back when pinched, a key quality of firmness. Unfortunately, we stop making elastin around the time we hit puberty. But there is a silver lining to this cloudy news: Research has shown us we can always make more of it, especially by using natural antiaging ingredients like, dill extract.

You can reap the antioxidant and antiaging benefits of dill by adding it to your diet (btw Russians truly know the importance of this miraculous herb as almost every dish includes chopped dill) or you can slather your skin with topical skincare infused with dill and take advantage of it’s miraculous anti-aging effects.

Over The Counter Products Packed With Dill

·      Aveeno Ageless Vitality line
·      Kinerase Restructure Firming Cream
·      Prevage Day Intensive Anti-Aging Moisture Cream SPF 30
·      Astalift

·      Yonka Stimulastine Nuit

·      NOURISH Stress Repair Night Cream | Roc® Skincare

·      Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Eye Cream

·      Olay Professional Pro-X Intensive Firming Treatment Kit 

·      Nuxe Aroma Vaillance Enrichie Nourishing Deep Wrinkle Cream


13.8.13

Let's Talk Healthy Locks



Hair is always tricky: too short, too long, too frizzy, too flat, or simply not French enough add in dictation from the seasonal in-trends - super-straight sleek take your flatiron out right this minute or wear the sign I am with the band and you feel it’s a curl loosing battle you can never win. Fear not I am not trying to make you shave your mane off it’s actually a back to basics tress care intervention. Develop these seven daily hair care healthy habits and you can conquer braids, buns, gravity-defying volume or super swishy glam waves -- Simple Does It.

Break Bad Habits - Stress, smoking, and bad eating habits can make your hair dull and prone to breakage.

Practice Healthy: Eat healthy, splurge on veggies and drink plenty of water. Get enough sleep.

Avoid Breakage - Your hair is its most fragile when wet, so avoid excessive brushing or combing until it's most dry.

Heat Wave - Avoid using the hottest setting on your hair dryer, as it can be damaging to your strands, especially if you're pairing it with another hot tool, like a flat iron.

Animal Instinct - Use a natural-bristle brush, it is softer and more flexible, which means less damage to your hair.

Fight Frizz - After conditioning, rinse your hair with cold water. This helps to seal the cuticle, making it harder for moisture to enter the hair follicle, which can cause frizz.

Straight Talk - If you straighten your hair, start with an anti-frizz serum to create a moisture barrier and add a heat protectant to prevent your strands from being damaged while styling.

Say No To Alcohol - Avoid hair styling products (gel, mouse, hair spray) with alcohol content to prevent hair from drying. Also avoid heat protectants, products with fragrance, parabens and salt sprays.

Pump Up the Volume - Spritz a volumizing spray at your roots when your hair is dry, then flip your hair over and blow-dry. Finally, gently smooth out any stray strands with a brush.

8.8.13

Eid Boon - Lips To Love


Beautiful, soft and plump lips are a universal beauty hallmark and are desired by women no matter what ethnic background they hail from. You admire luscious lips featured on magazine covers, on beauty-campaign billboards, and on the faces of your favorite celebs (yes, Angelina bless your famous kissers, we're still talking about you) and think secretly to yourself why can’t I have them perfect puckers? - Who says you can't have them too?
Ladies let me be the bearer of the smoldering smackers good news - there are ways to plump up, protect, and enhance your lips even if you feel you were genetically cheated at birth.

First Do No Harm - Understanding Causes Of Lip Damage & Aging

Your lifestyle choices and aging process result in constant wear and tear of the delicate lip area, which translates into dehydration, and loss of collagen/elastin, thus making your kissers appear wrinkled, shriveled and shrunken over time. You’ll notice your lips are the first to indicate your body is trying to fight off an illness, stress or disease. Lips are also the first to show signs of unhealthy, destructive lifestyle with warning signs like dryness, chapping, and discoloration.

Bear in mind, beautiful healthy lips should be smooth and supple with very few lines and they should always have a healthy natural color (regardless of your age).

Natural aging plays a part in the thinning of lips and the formation of these lines, but so do sun damage, dehydration and cigarette smoke.  Some of these factors you can control, and some you can't.

One common cause of lip lines is, unfortunately, using your lips! Every time you purse your lips to drink through a straw or whistle a tune, you create folds in the skin. Over time, the repetition of this pursing motion can result in permanent creases and lines around your mouth. This is the main reason that people who smoke cigarettes tend to see lip lines develop sooner and more noticeably than nonsmokers. When you add in the fact that smoking has a drying effect on skin and is known to accelerate the formation of wrinkles and loss of skin tone, it becomes clear that smoking is a major factor in the formation of lip aging.

Volume loss with time is another reason for lip thinning and deepening lip lines with aging. As you get older, your skin loses collagen and elastin -- the components of skin that give it a full and smooth appearance. In addition, facial fat, which accounts for some of your lips' plumpness, is also lost naturally as you age. Both thinning of skin and fat loss over time result in lips loosing their youthful puckered shape.

Understand The Sad Realities Of Lip Product Formulations 
As women, we have been conditioned to believe anything creamy is also moisturizing. As far as lip products are concerned, nothing could be further from the truth. When lip products that contain wax, wax derivatives, and petroleum-by products (all recognized for their ability to repel moisture) are regularly applied to the lip surface over an extended period of time, the innate ability of your lips to keep their tissues hydrated naturally, is compromised, and eventually ceases to function at all.

Over time, this prolonged state of dehydration results in the loss of lip volume, vertical lines on the lip surface, the onset of lines along the upper and lower lip lines, and the dreaded and feared lines which extend above the lip and can also extend below the lips.

Aside from giving up smoking and to stop using wrong lip products, it sounds like there's little you can do to avoid lip aging and deterioration. But, there are several things you can do to rejuvenate your lips and here are some valid options.

A Little Help From Your Dermatologist - Fillers For Fuller Lips

One straightforward way to plump up and add volume to lips is by injecting dermal fillers into them, hence making them appear more pleasantly contoured and fuller. This procedure has been very popular among Hollywood stars for years now and is no longer a secret behind their out-of-this-world-sexy-pouts.  Word of advice for plumping needle fans- while opting for fillers to enhance the lips the goal should always be to replace what Mother Nature gave you and gravity took away and not to create a stuffed trout pout (sorry Meg Rayan not a flattering look).

Hyaluronic acid (HA) is one of the most popular dermal filler that is used to replace the enhance lip volume, it also helps in tightening and smoothing skin. Usually a filler injection treatment with HA lasts up to 3-6 months after which you’re up for a reinjection session at your discretion.

Another option to rejuvenate lips is to have fat injected into your lips. Fat is usually taken from one part of your body (such as the stomach), treated and re-injected to add volume and reduce lip lines. A word of warning though, fat injections can lead to lumping or uneven results, so talk to your dermatologist weighing the risks versus the benefits.



If injectable fillers sound painful and too much of a commitment, don’t loose hope there are other simpler over the counter options. AminoGenesis™ “Lips to Love” is a natural non-invasive lip augmentation system; that helps to restore and augment the lips at the same time.

The Proof Of The Pudding - Amino acids are the heart of the AminoGenesis™ formula. They are the actual building blocks of proteins like collagen and elastin, which are necessary for healthy and beautiful skin & lips. As you age you start to lose these essential amino acids (meaning the body can’t replace them on it’s own and needs supply from an outside source), collagen and elastin production stops and your skin begins to malfunction, resulting in wrinkles and discoloration.

AminoGenesis™ uses17 purified; plant derived amino acids necessary to make your skin & lips healthy and youthful looking. These amino acids are then carefully blended to match the optimum composition of collagen, giving your skin and lips all they needs to become healthy and radiant looking.  A perfect pout at a fraction of filler price!

The miraculous oligopeptide formula present in “Lips to Love” penetrates into the delicate skin of lips instantly, increasing volume while deeply hydrating lips for a plumper, sexier pout that lasts all day long. The application wand comes built in with a unique 3-speed vibrating system that helps in facilitating blood circulation to the lip area and also indirectly aids in product penetration for maximum results.  

Why I Like “Lips-To-Love”?
·      It increases lip volume instantly upon application (filler like effect)
·      Results are very natural looking and not over the top crazy
·      It hydrates and softens lips as it plumps them (conditioning and skincare)
·      It reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles revealing smooth looking smackers
·      It provides true lips rejuvenation as the vital amino acids at its core help to rebuild and restructure your skin’s collagen and elastin fibers
·      Brownie point- it also helps in restoring natural lip color due to it’s skin healing properties with amino acids
·      And, most importantly - No side effects

Beautistas now you have all the info on how to preserve and enhance your pout in the best ways possible – Eid is the perfect time to dab on a little lip color, pucker up and flaunt your kissers and dazzle everyone with your new found beauty secrets. 

Wish You A Lip Smacking Blissful Eid!!