It’s that time of the week, again! This week’s beauty tip is an oooold beauty tip that I read ages ago from a magazine. You probably already know it and it’s such an amazing tip.
For super smooth feet (after a long day walking, or a long night in heels) rub on your favorite body lotion. I’d recommend something really moisturizing, like the Body Shop’s Body Butter or Vaseline. Coat your feet with a thick layer of the lotion, put on a pair of socks, and go to bed.
In the morning, your feet will be as smooth as a baby’s bottom – I can vouch that this tip definitely works, I’ve done it a million times and would highly recommend it! The socks allow your skin to really ‘drink’ in the moisture. Also a great tip to accompany my other post, How to: Make High Heels More Comfortable.
And there we have it! Moisturizer + Socks + Beauty Sleep= Soft Feet. Who knew?! (And speaking of feet, here’s how to pretty your toenails with an at-home pedicure.)
What about you – have you heard this tip before? Do you do this tip for soft feet, too? 
Featured in pretty much every great publication – from Oprah’s O Magazine to Elle, and named a top serum in “the best of the best” by Harper’s Bazaar UK, you can be sure I expected a lot from iS Clinical’s Active Serum.
I was lucky enough to be given a sample of Active Serum by Dr. Karen Soh at my recent trip to her office after experiencing my first laser treatment. She recommended this product and said it’s amazing, and as an anti-aging expert, I had to believe her.
Said to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, hyper-pigmentation and acne, this serum also smoothes and softens the skin texture, as well as provide both long-term results. I also became really excited to try it out after doing research and looking at their their amazing before and after images.
I’ve been using this (almost) every night for the past few weeks, and I am really impressed. I never really thought too much about serum – to me, my beloved moisturizer is enough. However, I really do like the idea of a serum as an extra skin care step.
Though I can’t really vouch their long term results (unless you’d like a review years later!), but from the last few weeks my skin has felt ridiculously soft, and it gives an instant ‘glow’ and ‘lift’ to the skin. No breakouts at all, and I’m extremely happy with this product – I will definitely check out Active Serum once this vial is done and have already recommended it to my Mom. I’m a little scared that this will cost a lot though, but during the past few weeks I’ve hardly used the vial – though 2 drops every night is recommended, one drop for me is enough to rub over my whole face, so it may just be worth the price; you’re hardly using any product!
To put it simply, I would recommend this product. It gives such a youthful ‘lift’. I can’t really explain it; it just seems to ‘wake’ my skin up. I’m really glad Dr. Soh recommended this to me and gave me a sample (thank you!), because I wouldn’t have tried this product any other day, since I have no clue on what’s good in the anti-aging world. If you’re on the lookout for a great anti-aging serum (or a serum that improves your skin and it’s ‘youth’), do try Active Serum out. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
Do you use serums? Do you feel they are necessary to your skin care regimen?
Vitamin C doesn’t only cure the common cold – it has many, many skincare and health benefits that we need to know about! Whether it’s a skin care product with Vitamin C as an ingredient or consuming citrus fruits or a vitamins, Vitamin C has many, many benefits:
- It can lighten superficial pigmentation like freckles and melasma.
- It can also suppress melasma production.
- It stimulates collage production and a fantastic anti-aging product.
- Prevents premature wrinkling and scaring.
- Get rid of the free radicals that can damage your skin.
- Vitamin C skincare products can help you repair and prep your skin everyday.
- Exfoliates and cleanses.
- Boosts your immunity system.
- Improves sun damage on skin.
Where can you find Vitamin C products? When I had a facial at Marios Badescu, one of the products used on me was their Vitamin C Serum, which is fantastic, I recommend it! Other brands that carry Vitamin C products are The Body Shop, MD Skincare and John Masters Organics.
As for consuming Vitamin C, fruits that have large amounts of Vitamin C are grapefruit, kiwis, oranges, strawberries, tomatoes and watermelons. Also, I wrote about the many benefits of drinking a glass of lemon water that has exceptional amounts of Vitamin C and health benefits.
What do you think? Would you incorporate Vitamin C into your health and skincare regimens? And if you do already, I’d love to hear!
Oh, you dear Aussies. First you bless the world with those beautiful surfer boys beaches, then Vegemite, and now you are actively promoting better body image in the media with fantastic, realistic magazine covers. Can you do no wrong?!
The february issue of Marie Claire Australia is worth celebrating over. Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Australia, and then Miss Universe 2004, has been brave enough to appear butt nekkid on the cover, without any retouching.
Looking good, Miss Universe.
I’m so glad that two powerful, prominent Australian women dare to do this. First it was Sarah Murdoch un-retouched on the cover of Women’s Weekly, wrinkle-happy, and now Miss Hawkins’ body is 100% photographed and printed, with no retoucher in-between. (Remember all the multitudes of retouching steps an image goes through, first?)
Miss Hawkins commented on this cover, saying, “I would have been worried about what people thought, whether it was the right decision – a thousand different things… But over the past year and a half I’ve grown into myself, and I’m more confident and comfortable within the modelling industry. I did it for the experience… It felt quite sensual and sexy. I felt empowered.”
Take it from the beauty queen and model – it’s all about confidence, ladies.
If I had to be nit-picky, though, I’d say Jennifer’s face seems to have been retouched, but from what I can tell, her body looks 100% natural – which I can’t complain, it’s a good start. I’m also well aware that the argument may come up that her body fits the “thin and tall” mould so it “doesn’t count” but like I say over and over again, no matter what size you are, we are all human and all have insecurities. It’s a wonderful start and I hope this begins something in other publications.
What do you think of this cover? Would you still be attracted to magazine covers and images if they looked “less than perfect”?
One of the greatest beauty way to relax is to give yourself a pedicure in the comfort of your own home. (Here are more beauty ways to relax and de-stress.)
(Sure, getting a professional pedicure is even more relaxing, but I would’nt want you to spend money on extravagant pedicures – unless it’s for a special occasion – when you can do it just as well at home.)
So here are my tips on giving yourself a great at-home pedicure. It may not be exactly what the “professionals” do but it works for me, and hopefully it will help you out.
As always, if you have any other suggestions or ideas, do add them into the comments.
What you need:
- nail polish: base coat polish, nail color, top coat
- conditioning oil
- cuticle stick (optional, a nail file will do fine as well)
- a nail file
- a tub
- warm water
- foot scrub
- towel
What to do:
1. Start with completely bare nails. Grab a bowl large enough for both your feet and fill it half with milk and half with warm water. Place your feet in and allow it to soak for 10 minutes or so.
2. Drop conditioning oil on your cuticles and massage gently, allowing your cuticles to become even more softer. Gently use whatever tool you prefer (a nail file with a curved edge does the trick for me) and gently push back your cuticles. Clip off anything that is hanging off, if not, gently pushing them back will be fine. Not having any cuticles can lead to infections!
3. File your nails so that the edges are smooth, and also to the ’shape’ you want them. I normally do my toenails in a square shape, which is fairly easy to do: just file straight across! If you like your toenails to be more rounded, start filing as if you were filing them straight, then go back to the outer corners and file them into the center in a circular, ’round’ motion.
4. Soak your foot in a little tub, to create your very own foot bath. This could be simple warm water in the tub, or you can add a cup of milk to smooth your skin as well.
Remember: keep the water lukewarm in case of any spills, so no accidents happen. Still, be careful when handling the warm water and don’t fill it up too much – just enough water that goes under your ankles is fine.
5. Apply a foot scrub (you can make this DIY scrub recipe and use it for your feet) and then wash it in your foot bath. Let soak for as long as you like, but the recommended time is no more than 15 minutes.
6. After your foot scrub, dry your feet with a towel. Grab your nailpolishes – base coat, nail polish, and top coat – and find a quiet spot that also helps you reach your feet easily. What I normally do is sit on my couch and put my feet on the coffee table. Easy access!
7. Apply your base coat. Allow to dry for at least 7 minutes. (If you have a super quick drying formula though, it could take less time.)
8. Apply two coats of the nail polish color, with a 10 minutes interval from the first coat to the second. If you’re like me and only like deep dark colors on your toenails, wait at least 15 minutes.
9. Next, apply your top coat and then leave your nails again for at least 7 minutes.
10. Last but not least, once your nails are completely dry, apply moisturizer all over your feet.
I personally like to give myself a pedicure when I’m watching a DVD and have snacks all around me, because there are quite a few waiting intervals and the movie will help the waiting time pass much faster. Also, I like to multitask. Do you do pedicures at home?
A collection of a few of the beautiful things I found this week!
Have a great weekend! 
Image: Unknown
Perhaps it is a bit ridiculous to make such a big deal about a change in haircut, but … well, I will now add to that ridiculousness because it gave me an idea for a discussion post.
Reality TV star Kate Gosselin, and mother of eight (how good does she look?!) endured 20 hours of hair extensions to get her new hair, and long gone are the days of that famous spiky ‘do. She really does look like a new woman, no? What do you think about her transformation?
Anyway, I brought it up because I wanted to ask if you had done the same: Are you doing anything to your ‘look’ now that it’s 2010? Did anyone go for a “new-year-new-you” makeover? I’ve been toying with the idea of starting the new year by getting a digital perm to transform my straight hair to big curly waves, but I haven’t taken the plunge yet!
This beauty tip of the week is something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember, and yes, once again it’s a tip I learnt from my mom. (Why don’t I just hand this blog over to her?!)
To refresh your memory from all that Xmas feasts and New Year’s partying, the previous tips she’s given us is making your own nose strips, and how lemon juice is great for natural highlights.
This week’s beauty tip is so simple to do I will write it as a haiku:
Lord, please give me hair
So shiny it catches light
Cold water, my friend
Hmm… That was a total failure. But basically, to get naturally shiny hair, one tip is to rinse your hair in cold water after you’ve washed it. Cold water as a final rinse after washing will seal your hair’s follicle, allowing it to reflect more light and putting those hair-flicking Pantene models to shame.
Have you heard of this beauty tip before, and have you tried it out? I would love to hear your thoughts and theories on it.
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