Category: ‘Acne’
Astara Blue Flame Purification Mask: The Smurfette Look Is Only Temporary
What: Astara
Blue Flame Purification Mask, $34.20
caught in a never-ending cycle of breaking out and spackling on tons of
concealer, which in turn spurs a new skin nightmare. But after just a few uses of this powerful mask,
I feel like the cycle might be broken. Creamy and clay-like (and blue, obviously) the mask spreads on quickly
and evenly and takes about 10 minutes to fully dry. It’s packed with powerhouse botanical
agents like tea tree oil to really detoxify and soothe problem skin.
Make sure you wipe off ALL
traces of blue around your hairline, or you’re bound to get a few strange looks.
(I’m speaking from experience,
yes.)
At-Home Light Therapy with the Baby Quasar
Years ago an aesthetician recommended I come in for some painless light treatments to help with my skin. I was on board until I heard the price. So when given the opportunity, I snatched up the Baby Quasar ($449). It's a photo rejuvenation (light therapy) tool you use at home, and while the price tag is hardly bargain basement, it's a fraction of the cost you'd pay for the professional treatment (which is essentially the same).
It is painless—and easy—though more time consuming than other beauty treatments. You divide the face into six sections, pass the light tool over each section for two minutes (a tone will sound) and then move on to the next. Once you've made one complete pass over the whole face, you start again. Treatments are recommended up to three times a week, and on alternate days, you can use the Baby Blue, a similar device that uses blue light to treat acne.
I've only been using the BabyQ twice a week, but within a few weeks, my rosacea has diminished, and the remaining dark spots on my cheeks are fading. It's too soon to see its effect on the lines around my eyes, but so far the overall improvement in my skin is a glowing (literally!) recommendation.
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Staycation Idea: Give Yourself A Weleda Facial
We aren’t going to pretend that working for SheFinds doesn’t have its perks. SheFindsBryn and I recently spent a relaxing day with natural skincare giant Weleda getting gorgeous skin that you can get at home. We can both attest: we were positively glowing for the rest of the day and are dying to pass this onto our beloved readers! Here is a step-by-step of how to give yourself the best facial of your life in the comfort of your own bathroom.
Weleda has three specific lines for different types of skin. I’m writing about the products in the Wild Rose line, which is good for rejuvenating and regenerating skin. If your skin is sensitive, use similar products in the Almond line and if you have combination skin, use the Iris line.
Step One: Grab yourself some cotton pads and place a little of the Almond Facial Oil ($3) on the pads. Press the pads gently down onto the eye and wipe downward, then take the pads and wipe from the inside of the eye inward to get rid of eye makeup.
Step Two: Place their Wild Rose Cleansing Lotion ($20) onto two more cotton pads. Starting at the center of your face, move the pads gently in a motion from the middle of the face outward, sweeping upwards around the cheeks and jawline. Repeat until pads are clean.
Step Three: Slather on a Wild Rose Intensive Facial Masque ($30), soak a towel in warm water with a few drops of their Lavender Relaxing Bath Milk ($20) and steam your gorgeous face with it. Repeat if necessary. Try to stay awake.
Step Four: Take the Wild Rose Facial Toner ($20) onto two pads and using the same motion as with the Cleansing Lotion. This is a very gentle toner and it won’t sting. We were surprised! Follow the toner with the Wild Rose Eye Cream ($25). Apply to the tips of your ring fingers and gently tap the cream into the area around the eyes. Results are immediate and we’re not kidding.
Final Step: The final step is to apply a cream. You have your choice: the Wild Rose Moisture Cream ($25) works beautifully under makeup for indoor activities, and the Wild Rose Day Cream ($25) is a great all-day wear cream that leaves a gorgeous complexion behind.
We were hooked and excited to pass this along to you. Trust us, this is eco-friendly beauty that is worthy of your bathroom countertop.
New Skincare Craze Vavelta Gives A Whole New Meaning To “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” – Be Warned
I’ve covered cutting off pinky toes to fit your shoes better and I’ve asked if you’d devein your hands, but this time I’m warning you, if you’re eating or playing with your toddler, stop now.
According to the Daily Mail UK, the new skincare craze that is sweeping England is a product called Vavelta. The treatment appears to rejuvenate and restructure older and/or damaged skin from the inside out by actually causing lower layers of cells in the skin to completely rejuvenate. It’s also supposed to be a permanent solution, unlike Botox. Even though a vial of the stuff can run you almost $1500, the women in the trial are showing life-altering results.
The kicker: the active ingredients are little cells called fibroblasts, which are derived from baby foreskins donated by mothers at some hospital in the U.S. after routine circumcisions. See, I told you to quit eating.
We’re not trying to judge, but don’t the ingredients kind of make you say, “Eww”? What ever happened to a good old fashioned chemical peel? This Boots No. 7 Glycolic Peel works like gangbusters and at $24 is slightly more wallet-friendly (and decidely less cringe-worthy).
We ask you – what is the line you’ll draw for skincare ingredients? Is this stuff just wrong or are we just too squeamish? Let us know in the comments section.
And peruse our Plastic Surgery at Home Guide for more ways to look good without going to the extreme.
Recession Proof Beauty: Wash Yourself (And Smell Good) For Less Than $10
Like the shampoos in our last Recession Proof Beauty post, body wash has one main job: to wash. After it's done it's duty, it slips away. Keep your money from slipping away with it.
For everyone: Dial Yogurt and Honey Nourishing Body Wash ($5.69) gets the job done. It cleanses without stripping the skin, has a pleasantly sweet (but not cloying) scent that's unlikely to offend, and it's easy to find at a reasonable price.
For dry skin sufferers: Olay Quench Body Wash ($8.79) cleans and moisturizes. If you've got dry skin (especially in winter), it's a great first layer to keep you from shriveling out of the shower. For the naturally supple and well-hydrated, you can probably skip lotion altogether.
For the flakey: Tone Sugar Glow Exfoliating Body Wash ($4.99) Tone always seemed like the redheaded stepchild of the drugstore aisle, but this stuff is actually good. Since “microbeads” haven't done squat to exfoliate my skin and salt scrubs are a little too involved for daily use, this is the perfect option for a routine morning scrub down.
For anyone with olfactory glands: Unlike the overpowering botanical blends out there, Dionis Virginia Hyacinth Body Wash ($8.95) smells like an honest-to-God flower. It makes you feel like you're showering in a garden, but doesn't cling to your skin for the rest of the day. It's gentle, and goats milk proteins and vitamins keep it from drying out your skin. The Rose scent is amazing, too.
Sonya Dakar’s Drying Potion Is The Best $25 I’ve Ever Spent On A Beauty Product. Really.
Thanks to a crazy travel schedule and a series of big, important meetings, my skin has been breaking out since circa 1994, when I was 13. I went to get a facial (for
Sonya Dakar’s Drying Potion is truly a miracle potion. It’s billed as “
After using it religiously for about a week, I can vouch for that. What started out as an ominous red mound at was a fast fading pink spot by . And just in case you don’t trust me, Allure named it the “Best Zit Cream”.
And check out our Beauty Bestsellers Guide for other Best Ofs you won't want to miss out on.
Face It, You Don’t Have Perfect Skin. So Fake It Already
While it might seem creepy to pine over the porcelain skin of Disney cartoon princesses (wow, that sounds insane actually saying it out loud), you have to admit, those fictitious ladies' complexions have no awkward tonal variances, redness, sallowness, undereye circles, or blemishes.
Sadly, no one has this kind of skin … in the real world that is.
However, there are ways to fake it. The beauty industry’s gaining ground on those fairyland vixens, and these products are true standouts.
Benefit’s Galactic Shield! ($20) – and yes, the exclamation point is part of the name – gives your blemishes the evil witch treatment with its concealing wand. The salicylic acid provides an extra pimple-shrinking punch.
Here’s a tip I never knew until recently – undereye circles vanish much more easily if you use pink concealer, and Everyday Minerals Pick-Me-Up Pink Concealer Powder ($2.50) makes circles sink back into the skin. Use a lighter hand with the application – a little goes a long way.
Green is red’s opposite on the color wheel, and Physicians Formula Powder Finish Concealer Stick covers localized redness better than Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak ($5.39).
Sallow (yellow) undertones transform magically into an alabaster-looking complexion with the lavender version of Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer ($38). (Yellow and lavender are color wheel opposites, so, like green with red, lavender cancels out yellow.)
Blusher Saves My Face — Even On Bad Skin Days
Mineral blushes are the best thing ever invented. Seriously. For someone like me, who has dry skin and periodically breaks out on her cheeks, they give a lovely, natural pop of color without the cakiness of typical powders or the irritating oiliness of crèmes.
Don’t get me wrong – on good skin days, I wear and love powders and crèmes. But on my tetchy skin days, only mineral blushes seem to do the trick.
One that I’ve just discovered is the Magic Mosaic Multi-Colored Custom Blush from Physicians Formula ($10.95). It’s hypoallergenic, fragrance and oil free, and best of all, it’s made up of little “petals” of color on a spectrum from light pink to berry rose. This means that I can mix the shades to my heart’s content, and adjust and deepen the color as summer approaches and my face tans (despite my SPF 50 sunscreen, of course).
And don’t forget a good blush brush! The Flirt! Brush Kit ($9.60) and the M.A.C 129 Powder/Blush Brush ($34) are two can’t-miss picks.
The Neutrogena Wave Can’t Clean Your Reputation, But It Will Clean Your Pores
Taking advice from the Disney girl who had nudie pics of herself leaked on the internet doesn't sound like the best idea. But you've got to respect Vanessa Hudgens – she handled a scandal with style and grace – and never got a pimple during that stressful time. Must be the Neutrogena Wave that she's endorsing for the skincare brand.
What: The Neutrogena Wave
What makes it the hottest new beauty gadget: The power cleanser has a gentle vibrating motion that massages tingly cleansing foam deep into pores to remove more dirt, oil and makeup for just $14.99. My skin has never felt so soft! The Wave is idiot-proof too. All you have to do is insert the battery, attach a foaming pad to the velco-like grippers, run the pad under luke-warm water, press the little button, and move in a circular motion on your face. Rinse your face after you're satisfied with the cleansing process and throw the pad away. It's that simple. If you've seen the commericial I have a little forewarning – the product does NOT lather the way it does on the commercial. It's just marketing. We all know your McDonald's hamburger is not as pretty when you unwrap it as when you see it on a commercial.
Savings: The package you see here comes with one cleanser, 14 cleansing pads, and 1 AAA battery to get you started. After you've used up the 14 pads you can buy refills with this coupon.
Get Yours: $14 at drugstore.com
Embarrassing Question: I’ve Got Pimples…But Not On My Face
Q: Sometimes I get painful (and gross) outbreaks of pimples on my butt. Why does this happen, and how can I get rid of them?
A: If you're talking about what I think you are, you'll be relieved to know that the blemishes on your behind probably aren't actually pimples–not in the technical sense. These red sores, which can be quite large and painful, but rarely deveop white heads, are not caused so much by bacteria under the skin as they are by outside bothers: the chaffing of tight pants, synthetic underwear, or sweaty clothing. Many people get this rash- or boil-like outbreak after many hours of sitting–at work, or on an airplane, or in a car–when the constant rubbing and pressure of pants can irritate your bum's pores. Others find that if they don't shower immediately after a workout, their sweaty underwear can clog their pores and cause more pimple-like problems.
There's really no "cure" for this situation–no zit cream especially made for bom-boms–but you can chase away your pimples faster, and prevent their appearance, by following these useful tips:
1) Exfoliate your derriere every day to make clogged pores less likely. It doesn't hurt to use an acne scrub, like Neutrogena Body Clear with blemish-battling salicyclic acid ($6.99) or L'Oreal Pure tZone ($6.99) with scrubalicious body beads.
2) Shower often, especially when you've been perspiring–even up to twice a day–to keep the area really clean and bacteria-free.
3) Do not use moisturizers or creams on the affected area.
4) Give your butt some room! Pantyhose, tight jeans, and control-top underwear don't allow any air in there. Choose instead cotton panties, sheer pantyhose, and skirts–they'll let air penetrate the region. And lest you think that cotton panties can't be cute, just remind yourself of Victoria's Secret's classic 5-for-$25 style:
Do you think that model has pimples on her tiny little bottom? Not a chance.
Once you learn the reasons for your breakouts–whether they come from sitting too much, from wearing too-tight jeans, or from not keeping the area clean enough–you'll know which of the above advice will best apply to you. Just remember: you're not alone!
Aveeno’s Cleansers and Moisturizers: Not Just For Chicken Pox Anymore
My first memory of an Aveeno product was as the one and only thing that made me stop scratching my chicken pox. I was three, and it was kind of gross but kind of wonderful that I was allowed to bathe in oatmeal. Nonetheless, it was a while before I gave the brand the credit it deserves: The products are reasonably priced but feel luxurious, and the trio I’ve been using has kept my sometimes-oily sometimes-dry skin clear and moisturized. And if I run into some poison sumac this summer, I trust that my oatmeal bath will be ready and waiting.
I’ve washed my face with Aveeno’s Clear Complexion Foaming Cleanser ($7.49) every morning for about a year; it has acne-fighting salicylic acid that staves off occasional breakouts but leaves skin feeling clean, not dry or tight.
I love the summer-evoking botanicals-and-sunscreen scent of the Positively Ageless Lifting & Firming Daily Moisturizer SPF 30 ($19.99) so much I’ve been using it as hand lotion as well as a face cream – the high SPF and creamy formula keep delicate hand and face skin soft and protected.
The Positively Ageless Lifting & Firming Night Cream ($19.99) is super-moisturizing – it seems to do something overnight that leaves skin more even and smoother. I'm not questioning.
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