So, how do you achieve a desirable look without the heavy use of cosmetics and makeup? Our natural beauty tips and advice will help you do just that, and put you on the path to a beautiful, unaffected, you.

Practice a Healthy Lifestyle

Natural beauty is akin to an overall healthy appearance. Start with a better lifestyle. Your own attitudes and daily life reflects in how you look to others. Take care of your body and it will take care of you.

Eat a proper, well-balanced diet. Food that’s good for your body helps your internal organs function properly and shows on the outside as well. The trick is to read the labels carefully and eat healthy foods with minimal preservatives. Good nutrition is key to your outward appearance and longevity.

The best skin in the world will not overcome a flabby body. Get in good physical shape if you’ve been slacking off. Set some reasonable fitness goals to get your body fit and trim. Begin with short-term goals and set new ones once they’re achieved.

Skin Care Tips

Water plays a crucial role. For radiant skin, stay hydrated to keep your skin soft and supple. Seal in water externally after a shower by applying lotion to damp skin.

Look for all-natural, organic and herbal recipes for basic skin problems. Whether it’s dry skin or blemishes, you can target the areas that need it most, foregoing chemicals that can be irritating to your skin.

As you age, you’ll hit some bumps along the way. Care for your skin as you do your most prized possession and you’ll see the benefits quickly, as well as years from now.

Don’t want leathery skin? Lessen the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by reducing exposure to the sun’s dangerous rays. When enjoying outdoor activities, apply a sunscreen with SPF of at least 15 and re-applying when necessary.

Wearing Makeup, Naturally

If you wish to wear makeup, utilize only the best cosmetics brushes and beauty tools to enhance your finest features and cover flaws. This allows you to apply only the amount that is needed while blending in any excess color.

Apply a tinted moisturizer or sheer foundation with a damp sponge. Either one will allow your natural skin tone to show through while covering minor imperfections.

Creme or liquid blush blends more naturally than powder. Apply to the apple of your cheeks, outwards, into your hairline to prevent makeup lines.

Don’t want to overdo your eyes? You can now enhance your own eyelashes without adding clumps or colors. New, clear mascara is available to separate your lashes and give them luster and shine.

Reduce Stress

Stress is an unfortunate fact in today’s fast-paced lifestyle and often reflects in your skin and eyes. Make it routine to relax and pamper yourself, daily if possible. This will give you time to slow down and plan the following day.

Become aware of the facial expressions you often make when stressed-out. If you raise your eyebrows often, you could very well end up with permanent wrinkles on your forehead. If you squint because you don’t understand something, lines between your brows may become evident.

Don’t expect to live without facial expressions, they’re part of you. What you can do is be aware of those expressions you make when nobody is looking. Replace those with something else, such as fidgeting and ease up on your face.

Since nobody is perfect, we all have what we consider either minor or major flaws we’d rather not have. Surgery is not your only option to achieve the look you want. Makeup is indeed the best and cheapest way to camouflage imperfections and cover flaws.
Redness, Blotchiness, Spots

Foundation is the cure-all for evening out skin tone and hiding pimples. For extra smooth skin, start with clean, dry skin. Apply a light moisturizer such as Neutrogena anti-wrinkle cream which soaks up and dries quickly.

Apply a cream formula foundation evenly with a wet sponge. Yes, you can use your fingers, as long as they’re clean. This often helps the makeup look more natural. Blend in thoroughly. If needed, you can apply a second layer of foundation after the first dries. Set with loose translucent powder. If you use concealer for extra coverage on dark spots and blemishes, apply this after foundation, but before the powder.

Scars, Port Wine Stains, Birthmarks, Rosacea

Sometimes foundation doesn’t cover the flaw completely. There are many products on the market designed specifically to cover up scars and port wine birthmarks. Dermablend™ is a favorite and is not limited to your face. Whichever brand you choose, a waterproof formula is ideal, not only for a rainy day, but for hot and humid weather.

The trick is to choose the shade that is closest to your skin tone. If your skin is darker in the summer months, you may need to have a darker shade on hand. Don’t be reluctant to blend as this can be the best way to find the perfect shade.

Wide Nose

To make your nose look thinner, use dark, matte blush or bronzing powder on the sides to recede the areas. Adding white eye shadow will bring out the center further. To widen your nose, reverse the process.

Wide or round, Full Face

If you want to thin down and elongate a wide or round face, again utilize your dark blush or bronzing powder to shade the sides of your face and jaw line. Matte colors look more natural and play down fine lines and wrinkles.

To create the illusion of higher cheekbones, use a facial powder four shades darker then your natural skin tone and apply it just under the bone.

Natural Health Properties of Green Tea Extract

Green tea extracts are naturally rich in antioxidants, which protect against the harmful effects of free radicals in the body. Free radicals naturally occur in the body and can cause accelerated aging, cancers and heart disease. The antioxidants decrease the risk of free radical effects. Studies have shown that green tea can lower cholesterol; decrease chances for cancers, heart disease and aid arthritis sufferers. Sipping green tea daily can aid the body in over health prevention.

Diet and Weight Loss with Benefits

Green tea contains natural ingredients that both flush toxins from the body as well as raise the metabolic rate burning calories and fat at an increased rate. It also enhances fat oxidation while providing the body with more energy with less caffeine than other energy boosting beverages. Sipping green tea daily can help boost your energy levels and your mood while decreasing the fat production in the body.

How to Look Younger with Green Teas

Pollution, sun exposure, smoking and diet can all cause our skin to age at an accelerated rate. Wrinkles, sunspots and other signs of age can be treated with green tea. Many beauty product lines are realizing the benefits that the antioxidants in green tea have on the skin. It can be used as a natural exfoliant, a moisturizer and line reducer. Companies such as Garnier are using green leaf extracts in anti aging and sun treated skin lines. Another beauty tip for green tea use is for a healthy, beautiful smile. Green tea naturally has fluoride in it, which prevents cavities in the teeth.

How To Take Green Tea in Your Diet

Green tea is now widely sold in most grocery chains as well as local Asian market places. You can purchase 100 tea bags for less than $2.00. You can also find beauty products and vitamins containing green tea at most of your local drug stores. If you are interested in DIY beauty care there are books and websites that offer more detailed tips on green tea use. Tips can include facial spritzes and scrubs created from seeping fresh green tea leaves.

Scientists are still studying green tea powders, beverages and creams in search of additional benefits. Green tea is becoming a wide used product for numerous health and beauty purposes. It is affordable and effective in maintaining a healthier and richer quality of life. Perhaps this natural product is not the only one of it’s kind. We may find that our neighbors to the East have even more health benefits for us to discover. The next time you are looking for a way to boost your health, look for products containing green tea and try it for yourself.

Exploring calcium supplement benefits when so many calcium rich foods are available may appear somewhat redundant. Of course, if you consider that the average American diet enjoyed by both men and women is woefully deficient in nutrients and instead largely to blame for an increase in weight, cases of hypertension, and a plethora of other health problems, the wisdom of seeking out information and recommendations for calcium pills makes sense.

Many Safe Sources When it Comes to Calcium Supplements

Supplemental calcium is available as a serum infused tonic, a liquid filled caplet, and of course hard pills made up of magnesium, carbonate, and other trace minerals. The absorption of the latter is sometimes questioned, especially if there is no fortification with vitamin D which has been found to be instrumental in the bodily assimilation of these supplements.

History and information about calcium supplementation has overcome the old wives’ tales that had women somewhat hesitant about adding these products to their daily nutrition for fear to have it create a build-up in their arteries. Since the role of the supplement is to strengthen bones and teeth, the substance is one the body quickly uses and readily available scientific facts do not bear out that there are any adverse effects to your health if you take a calcium aid.

Take Calcium Products Correctly For the Biggest Nutrition Benefits

You might now be wondering: what is the right way to take these supplemented nutrients and have them help you stay healthy and keep your bones strong; interestingly, there are some little known mistakes that women make! For example, did you know that during an evaluation of the medical history of menopausal women it was discovered that taking calcium supplements too close to bone strengtheners will cause the former to not be absorbed?

Similarly, information is now available which showcases that calcium supplements need to be taken with food to permit for the proper acidic environment to allow for the maximum bodily absorption. While the packaging may inform you that taking the supplement with food is optional, this only refers to potential adverse health conditions. Calcium requires the presence of vitamin D as well as fat for optimal nutrient digestion, and this environment can only be offered when there is food in the stomach concurrently with the supplement.

Women who are uncertain about their calcium intake will do well to consult with their physicians immediately. Failure to do so will put them at serious risk for brittle bones and the danger of suffering one or more osteoporosis induced bone fractures.

Main Causes Of Cracked Lips

Chapped lips (medically known as cheilitis) are caused by several things. Most people are familiar with the fact if they lick their lips during cold or windy weather, they could become chapped. Most people stock up on Vaseline or lip balm during the winter months. Layering on a natural lip protectant before heading out into the extremities is a good way to prevent chapped lips.

Chapped lips can also be caused by excessive licking of the lips. There are thousands of people who have a habit of licking their lips multiple times throughout the day. This extreme licking routine can cause irritation of the skin on and around the mouth (including the lips).

Most people find themselves licking their lips more than needed because they feel as if their lips are constantly dry. Children are the most common offenders of this habit. The best way to counteract this type of habit and resulting chapping is by ensuring the lips are constantly moisturized. Therefore, you don’t feel as if you need to lick your lips throughout the day.

Moisturize Lips More Than Your Skin

One of the best ways to learn how to prevent chapped lips is by remembering to consistently moisturize your lips. Sure, you may spend a great deal of time applying lotion and cream to your face and body. However, you should not forget your lips. Beauty tips experts agree the skin on the lips is as sensitive as the skin on your eyes. It should be treated with care! Products from Chapstick or Burts Bees are often great choices in lip moisturization.

Finding a Remedy that Dry Lips Treatment that Works

Finding a treatment that works for your chapped lips can be a bit of a challenge. What works for some people, may not work well for others. While there’s not a technical cure for chapped lips, there are many remedies you can try at home. To soothe chapped lips, apply a thick lip balm. Many people choose to use plain Vaseline instead of trying to medicate with other lip treatments.

Any ointment with natural ingredients is ideal to help your lips heal with ease. While your lips are healing, be sure not to lick your lips or get excess saliva in mouth and lip area. As your lips are almost healed, you can take a toothbrush and softly brush it across your lips to remove all dead skin. Be careful when doing this, as you don’t want to cause further damage.

A Younger Look Is Top Priority

When it comes to skin care, most women focus on reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Although you might not be able to completely cover your already present wrinkles, there are a few things you can do to make them less noticeable. The most important thing to remember is to keep it light!

Fresh, clean skin always appears full of youth. While you might be tempted pile on concealer and foundation, be warned. Adding layers of makeup on top of these fine lines can be a mistake! Instead, choose a light weight oil free beauty products to give your skin a slight tint. It will give you just enough coverage, without caking in your wrinkle areas. Natural makeup with added moisture is most important when it comes to concealing fine lines. In addition, the extra moisture can help you prevent more lines from appearing in the future.

Hints for Using Concealer Under The Eyes

Another area of concern when trying to look more youthful is the under-eye area. The skin under your eyes is some of the most delicate skin on your body. Therefore, it can easily show wear and tear from stress and skin-abuse. To brighten up the eye area, consider using a small amount of concealer directly under your eye. This can help you with under-eye circles. Use a tint one-shade lighter than your foundation and blend it well. To apply the concealer (or any other product to this area of your face) be sure to use your ring finger and pat the product on. Your ring finger will apply the least amount of pressure. Other fingers can be too rough and actually damage the delicate skin in the area.

After applying the concealer and a light dusting of powder, use a light colored eye shadow all over your lid. Dab a bit of the shadow in the corner area of your eye (next to the bridge of your nose) and a bit under your bottom eye lashes as well. This will help your eyes look bright and youthful. Finish with a bit of mascara and you’re ready to go!

Secrets for Lips & Cheeks

Just because you’re aging doesn’t mean you should pile on the red lipstick! Sure, it may be appropriate in some instances but not for everyday wear. You may not be dealing with blemishes (like a teenager) but you may be dealing with a lipstick crisis! To look younger, choose a dewy lipstick-gloss combination. Most brands (such as Sephora, Clinique and Loreal) are all offering this type of lipstick. It gives you a hint of color, without going matte. The shiny or “dew” of this lip choice instantly adds youth to your face.

For the cheeks, stick with a natural and light blush. Mineral blushes are often fool-proof and natural in color. Apply a bit to the apples of your cheeks and go! Remember, it’s easier to start with a little bit of blush and add more rather than adding too much blush and trying to tone it down. A quick hint: If you add too much blush, use your powder to lightly dust the area, toning down the intensity of the color.

The Natural Way to a Younger Look

Overall, there’s no steadfast advice or answers when it comes to looking younger. While a facial or a microdermabrasion session might help you on a monthly basis, choosing the right makeup can help you daily! So, remember to keep it light and dewy for the youngest look possible.

Beauty Benefits of Vitamin C

On a beauty note, adding Vitamin C to your skin care routine can help you look great on many levels. The topical use of Vitamin C revitalizes your skin, allowing for improvement in the tone and texture! You will instantly look younger with smooth and silky skin on your face and body. It works to protect you against UVB rays and can help you combat sun damage, wrinkles and photodamage. These are some of the most common skin worries of women today.

Effective Topical Products with Vitamin C For Skin Care

Cosmetic gurus and their sources are taking note of the power behind Vitamin C and are adding it and its derivatives to many products on the market. Derivatives like ascorbyl palmitate and ascorbic acid are commonly used, because they are less irritating than Vitamin C itself. Those with sensitive skin can still reap the protection and natural benefits of Vitamin C, without any irritation.

Beneficial Vitamin C in Cosmetics

When you start your venture for Vitamin C induced skin care products, there are a few things to remember. First, remember there are many claims being made from various companies on their skin care products. To find the best products with Vitamin C, be sure to look at the color of the product. Those products with a yellow or brown tint should be avoided. Vitamin C often turns these colors when exposed to air and thus becomes ineffective in creating collagen and elastic.

Vitamin C Offers Cosmetic Benefits

Many women would rather sit through a chemical peel or a microdermabrasion session for skin care repair and conditioning. However, using a daily Vitamin C product can help you repair and prep your skin everyday. You can get products which include Vitamin C derivatives (L-ascorbic acid and others) for use at home. Therefore, you can continuously reap the benefits of Vitamin C, without heading to the spa.

Take your time perfume shopping before you buy a perfume fragrance.

Perfume shopping isn’t something you can do in a single day, because after a few sprays at the samples counter, the sensors in your nose shut off and either you can’t smell the perfumes you’re trying on, or they blend and create a perfume that doesn’t really exist. At that point, you may find yourself coming home with something that turns out to smelling completely different from the way it did in the store. The fragrance didn’t change during the car ride home: after a half-hour or so of not being exposed to fragrances, your nose just started working again!

Take lots of breaks when shopping for perfume. Whenever possible, start with lighter scents, so your nose won’t be overpowered early on. If you’re looking for something rich and heady, test one or two fragrances, wander off to shop for something else or grab a cup of coffee, and return in 20 minutes or more to try a couple more.

Read the perfume information before you buy.

You can sometimes find lighter scents by reading the descriptions on the packaging: packaging is often colored to reflect the overall tone of the scent, so that you will often find fruity scents in bright packages, rich, complex ones in deep reds or browns, and light florals in pastel colors. It’s not always a sure thing, though: some perfumes made for the ‘teens and ‘tweens are heavy with sweet, aqueous scents and florals, often boosted with high-potency citrus. You’ll find them in blues and greens, metallic-finished bottles and high-tech looking packages.

Clear your sense of smell.

Like all our senses, after being exposed to stimuli for awhile, our olfactory senses “habituate”, shutting down to pervasive or continuing aromas or odors. Sensors can be recalled to duty by “palate cleansing”, or by taking a break. Fragrance boutiques that specialize in scented oils often leave saucers of coffee beans around so you can get a little more mileage out of your scent sensors. In the way that a wine taster takes a bite or two of bread between tastings, sniffing the coffee beans refreshes your sense of smell and lets you sniff a few more scents before your nose gives out. If you aren’t sure what you’re looking for, you might save some time by talking to the salesperson about scents you like and asking for help finding a perfume that combines them.

One of the many problems of eyebrows is the fact that if they aren’t the right color, they can either dominate your face or disappear entirely. Their unfortunate (but necessary) proximity to your eyeballs makes it a pretty major no-no to just sweep the haircolor across each brow and hope it doesn’t drip into your eyes. That’s why the goddess of practical beauty created the eyebrow pencil, an unsatisfactory solution, but sometimes better than nothing if your eyebrows happen to be very pale.

Shaping Your Eyebrows: How to get the perfect arch shape

Shape is also crucial, and if your eyebrows are coarse, creating and maintaining the ideal shape is difficult because pulling out individual hairs can leave large gaps, or severely shorten the length of a brow if you happen to pull out the half-inch hair on the very end.

The perfect eyebrow starts above the inside corner of your eye (over the tear duct), and ends at the outside corner, above your eyelashes. Eyebrows should have an arch: in nature, it’s rarely where it should be, which is a frustrating commentary on standards of beauty. Ideally, the arch happens over the iris, the colored part of your eye. It should be gentle, so if you’re planning to reshape your arch, take it very, very slowly. Do a hair or two a day, and err on the side of caution. Hasty plucking can give you a surprised look that lasts for weeks.

How to Pluck Eyebrows with Tweezers: The Do’s and Don’ts

Many women pluck their eyebrows with tweezers. Some wax them, but wax is tricky because it’s hard to get an accurate shape. And some go to a hair removal salon to try “threading.” Although threading is newly popular in the United States, it is a centuries-old technique of hair removal practiced in India. The eyebrow experts say never, never to pluck your eyebrows from above, but always to pluck from the bottom of the brow. I say, if you have some wild or stray or bushy hairs growing above your brows, feel free to pluck them. I did it once, and nothing bad happened to me.

I read somewhere that it’s okay to trim your eyebrows. I think this is good if the single hairs are long and thick. You can pluck some hairs and trim the others, brushing them up, evening the ends (be careful not to trim too much!), then brushing them down checking again and again as you go along.

Fake ‘n’ Bake in a Bottle
Getting the right suntan in a bottle takes a little work, and it’s better to pay for the more upscale self tanner if it’s going to get you a smooth, even coat in a realistic color. This is no time to be cheap! But even the best sunless tanners can leave you a fake bake orange if you don’t apply them correctly, with stealth, patience and continuity. Most self tanning lotions or foams say to reapply every two or three days, because the effect wears off fast.

Removing Splotches and Orange Color Caused By Self Tanners
And that fading effect is what’s going to save you if you’re wondering how to remove an overdose of self tanner. If you’re lucky, it’s just your hands or hands and feet that have turned orange, maybe because you forgot to wear gloves when applying the lotion or because your feet got a few more coats than your legs. You can easily fix the sunless tanning orange by waiting a few days—as the outer layer of skin sheds off, the color will come with it. We’re all losing skin cells by the thousands each day, so if you can wait, you need do nothing else to get rid of your fake tan. But if the color is an issue because of an important event, tips on removing sunless tanner tend to recommend the use of baking soda. Put a nice blob of baking soda on a washcloth and gently rub it on damp skin. The baking soda exfoliates the skin, speeding up the loss of tanner, and it can be used on your body without the potential chemical complications that would come along with peroxide or bleach. Don’t rub yourself raw, even if you’re desperate to get the stuff off: give it a little rub, rinse off and wait a couple of hours before trying again.

Home Remedy to Fix Over Applying Sunless Tanner
Baking soda is a home remedy for so many ailments that it’s surprising they don’t sell it in five gallon containers. If you’ve used too much sunless tanner all over your body, you can dump several cups of baking soda into your bathtub and crawl in with it. Add water and soak. Basically, you’re softening the skin, making it easier for the outer layer to slough and using the whitening properties of baking soda to help provide a little gentle bleaching action. Take your loofah and gently scrub feet, ankles, elbows and other places where the tanning liquid may have collected and created splotches.

For orange or too-brown fingernails and hands or toenails and feet, you can apply a facial cream bleach for around ten minutes, but don’t try to use this stuff on other parts of your body: your skin will probably react to it in unpleasant ways.

To cover up sunless tanner on your face while it’s wearing off, try layering mineral makeup over it, applying to your neck as well. Use a tinted moisturizer in green or blue to try to counteract seriously orange skin, and add your makeup on top of that. Exfoliate gently at night with an oatmeal scrub and remind yourself that in a few days it will be like nothing happened at all.

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