What can the right foods do for your skin?

Do you ever have those days when you look in the mirror and notice that you have a line here or a wrinkle there? Does you reflection look a tad bit different than your high school photos? Of course so! Everybody ages, but here is the thing. Not everyone ages the same way. While men age with a certain charm, most women feel that aging leaves them looking older and less attractive. That is certainly not the case, but it can still feel depressing. The way that you age may have a lot to do with what you are consuming in your every day life routines. Eating certain foods can ultimately help you age better.

Tips for eating better foods for your skin.

Consume more water everyday. This is one of the most important things you can do for your skin. Not only will the water help hydrate your skin but water can also help rid your skin of unwanted toxins. You should be drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water a day.

Stop boozing it up. If you are concerned about your skin, and you have a nightly cocktail or even just a fun-filled alcohol weekend, you really need to reconsider that. Alcohol can age your skin drastically. Not to mention, consuming alcohol drys out your skin almost as much as a day in the sun.

Eat more green veggies. Vegetables can make all the difference to your skin. While the normal person consumes less than half of the average daily serving for vegetables, you should be counting that percentage for your skin. By eating more green vegetables such as lettuce, cabbage, greens, and broccoli you could be rolling back the clock on your skin. The roughage in these foods helps clean on your body and helps restore essential nutrients to your skin.

Cut out sugar and soda. Sugar is bad for your body all the way around, including your skin. Sugars in foods can cause breakouts, hormonal changes and all kinds of other wacky issues. By just cutting out candy, sugar and sodas you could see instantly glowing skin within a week.

Try to limit carbs. Carbohydrates are bad for skin simply because they contain extra sugars. While the sugars in carbs is not as bad as well say a Snickers, it's still causing your skin to be vulnerable to hormonal changes in the body that could cause breakouts.

Top 5 Ways To Make Your Finger Nails Grow Faster

Want your nails to grow longer, faster?

Want to know how you can get your nails to grow out faster and longer? Natural long nails are much prettier and fashionable than fake nails. Sure, it's nice to get a manicure once in awhile, but it's best to let your nails naturally grow out by themselves.

Many women seems to have a problem letting their nails grow out and they end up cutting the off, biting them down or just ruining the nails they do have by getting artificial nails. This article will explain the top 5 ways to get your nails to grow faster and longer naturally.

5 Tips on how to grow your nails longer and faster!

Eat More Protein to Grow Nails

Protein is essential to the growth of your bones and your finger nails. Ultimately, your nails are just a brittle part of your bone that extends outward and externally onto your body. So by eating more protein enriched foods, you can make your nails grow faster and help your nails grow longer.

Grow Nails By Using Proper Nail Polish

Many women want to grow nails out, but seem to have a problem with nails breaking. You need to wear a protective coat of a high quality nail polish to keep nails from breaking off. Try using Sally Hanson's nail polish. Your nails will grow out faster and longer by using the right type of nail polish. Most protective nail polish also has vitamins and nutrients that will help make your nails stronger and help nails grow out.

Massage Your Nail Bed to Grow Nails

Many women don't realize that nails grow out much like hair does. If you brush your hair a lot, your hair will grow. The same rule applies to your nails. If you want to grow your nails out, you should massage the beds of your nails right at the cuticle to stimulate nail growth. It's best to do this 3 times a week to see nails grow out in a timely matter.

Help Grow Out Nails By Not Using Them As a Tool

Too many women use their nails as a tool instead of keeping them safe. Try not to use your nails to pick, pop, wedge, open, pry or any another action that a tool would be used for. Women that have naturally long nails will tell you that the only way for them to grow out is to leave them alone and let them be! Be very aware of breaking nails off if you want your nails to keep growing.

Keep Basic Grooming Supplies With You to Help Grow Nails

Another common mistake women make when they are trying to let their nails grow out, is that they don't have the proper supplies to treat them with. Carry a nail file and clippers in your purse. If you have snagged nail, file it away or clip if off before it breaks off or your pull the broken nail off. It's a painful experience, and this simple trick have massively help to keep nails growing.

How To Get Rid Of Acne Naturally - Simple Home Remedies To Cure Acne

Acne is something that most people deal with on a consistent basis. It's annoying and embarassing. Big brand name acne solutions don't always work, most of the time, these big brand name acne solutions just make the acne worse. Instead of paying tons of money for wasted products and false claims of clear skin, you should try the more natural approach. Homemade natural solutions to acne seem to be on the rise. It's less expensive and less harmful to your skin. Natural acne solutions are organic and cheaper than brand name acne products that promise results.

Natural Remedies To Rid Yourself Of Acne

Drink plenty of water. The first step you can take to fight acne is to throw away soda drinks and juices. They are full of unwanted sugars that are bad for your skin. Instead of grabbing a Pepsi, next time grab a glass of water. Or better yet, carry a water bottle with you where ever you go. Drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water per day helps rid your body of unwanted toxins. This helps your skin as well as the rest of your body. Clear skin starts with clear liquids.

Carrots and lettuce are good for your skin. Yes, in more ways than one. You can consume these foods in your daily diet, but you can also make homemade facial mask and homemade facial treatments with these foods. Slice open a half of lettuce and chop up half a carrot - put them in the blender. Apply the ground up ingredeints to your skin and sit for 5 minutes. You will instantly see better skin!

Don't touch your face with dirty hands! Yes, your mother was right! Wash your hands before ever touching your face. Not only do you save yourself from germs but you also save your skin from dirt. And also, never squeeze or pick at your pimples while your practicing not touching your face. Just remember, hands away from face at all times.

Manage your stress levels. Nothing breaks your skin out worse than stress, and that's a fact. The more that you worry, you more your hormone levels bounce up and down. When that happens, acne can appear within hours of a worry-session. Try to stay calm and remember that everything happens for a reason and some things you cannot change. Your mind and your skin will thank you later.

Mix up some Baking Soda and Water. Baking soda is good for more than baking, I'll tell ya that! Next time you sense a break out coming, mix up a tablespoon of Baking Soda and about 2 teaspoons of water. Mix up and apply to your skin. This helps soak up oils and cleanse the skin. You won't see blackheads or pimples the next day.

You can find all kinds of natural remedies online and throughout the web searching for natual acne treatments. Just don't get caught up in the advertising of these big companies and products that promse huge results with acne only to drain your money. Stick with the natural remedies to help promote a green enviroment and to help rid your skin of harmful chemicals.

A Few Organic Beauty Recipes Tips - Simple Natural Beauty Remedies

Tired of spending money on expensive products that do not work?  Tired of not getting results with brands that promise good things?  It's understandable.  In today's world, beauty products promise so much that it is unrealistic that the products do everything that it is advertised to do.  In fact, most beauty products claim to have 'exclusive' and 'extensive' ingredients in their products when really, the best beauty supplies and treatments comes from natural organic household items and food that you use everyday.

Olive oil is one of the best organic beauty products ever made. Why?  It's good for your hair, skin, nails, and even for your body!  There are so many different uses for olive oil.  The most well known uses for olive oil, and beauty is hair and nail treatments.

• Heat up a cup of olive oil in the microwave for about a minute and then distribute through your hair and comb through it.  Avoid getting it direct on the roots to the hair.  It's best to leave it on damaged dry parts of the hair, usually at the ends.  You can leave it on for an hour or even sleep with it in your hair all night.  Wash it out, and dry as normal.  Not only will it make your hair shiny wonderfully but it repairs and restores the natural moisture in your hair.
• Using olive as a nail strengthener is another great trick to natural beauty.  Soak clean nails in a half cup of warm water along with two Tablespoons of olive oil and let them soak for 20 minutes.  Nails instantly soak up the moisture and help strengthen the nail as well as give cuticles the moisture they need to be healthy.

Lighten hair with lemon juice! Lemon juice has the natural chemical proprieties of skin, and hair lightens without the added produced chemicals products have.

•  Mix a 1/2 cup of water together with 1/2 cup of lemon juice, apply it to your hair and sit outside in the sun for a hour.  This will naturally lighten your hair without the harsh chemicals of bleach or hair color.

Vinegar makes hair shine and not only will it make it shine but it will get the chlorine out of your blonde hair!

•  Add two tablespoons of vinegar to your normal shampoo and wash hair.  This will instantly make hair shine just like in commercials.
• To get rid of green hair caused from chlorine, mix vinegar and water together in a bowl.  Dip parts of hair that is green into the mix and let it soak for two minutes at a time.  Rub the mixture through your hair and instantly the chlorine will come out of blonde hair.

How To Make Your Lips Look Bigger and Fuller Naturally

Natural ways to create full lips without expensive procedures.

Are you searching for ways to have full lips without the cost of expensive lip injections? Well great! This article will inform you on how to get full lips naturally in no time. Big lucious lips are just what every woman wants and every man wants to kiss, but it's difficult to achieve such perfection on a budget. This tips are easily inexpensive ways to create full lips with little to no money for cosmetics.

Prep your lips to get ready to create a full lip.

One of the smartest and fasters way to get bigger lips is to exfoliate your lips at least twice a week. This will get the dead skin off of your lips and help new skin cells generate. You can use Vaseline and tooth brush. Rub Vaseline on your lips and use a toothbrush (not too hard of a bristle) and scrubs your lips gently to get rid of dry skin. Not only will this help in the long run, but this will instantly plump your lips, giving you the appearance of bigger lips.

Use different lip shade to create full lips.

If you are a big fan of lip stick or lip gloss, you can use this to your advantage. You can apply different shades of lip color to actually make your lips look bigger and fuller. You always use a shade TWO SHADES DARKER on the BOTTOM LIP than THE TOP . Use a LIGHTER SHADE for your TOP LIP. You can also apply lip gloss, but not too much. A little bit goes a long way. This will ultimately give you an appearance of full lips. This is a great trick to use if you are heading out for a night in town or if you have a special date.

Get full lips in seconds by sucking on your lip.

While this technique only works for a short time, it's a quick fix if you want to appear to have full lips for a photo or quick picture. If you are in need of bigger fuller lips but have nothing available in your hands to help, you can always suck your lips to give an appearance of bigger lips in no time. All you need to do is gently suck on your lower and upper lips for about 20 seconds. The effect will only last about 10 to 15 minutes but hey, it works.

Add a bit of Cayenne Pepper to your lip gloss for full lips.

Another way to get bigger lips in no time is to add some cayenne pepper to your lip gloss. This is a very simple way to create full lips in seconds flat.Add aboout a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to a tube of lip gloss, shake and apply. Apply to your lips and instantly you will feel a tingle that plumps your lips without the costs of an expensive lip plumper. It works the same as brand name products. The effect lasts about 20 minutes and you will have to re-apply the lip gloss.

All of the techniques mentioned above will give you full lips for a short time. These techniques are not meant to be long-term effects for fuller lips. All these tips are safe, simple and natural ways to get bigger lips without the hassle of cosmetic surgery or the cost of expensive cosmetics.

Some Tips For Oily Skin Care

Oily skin can cause a multitude of facial skin problems including: blackheads, whiteheads, acne, acne scars, pimples and even skin dryness. If oily skin comes natural to your skin, then don't fret!  There are plenty of things to do to lessen and even prevent oily skin from ever forming.

Cleanse your face nightly with the right facial cleaner.  Yes, sleeping with dirt and grim on the facial skin overnight is a big mistake and will lead to more oily problem skin.  Cleansing your face at night with the right pH balanced formula will help dissolve dirt and balance out the moisture on the face.  When sleeping at night, the body is still at work and will still produce more oil.  When you cleanse your face with the right cleanser, it will balance out the natural oils in the skin as well as prevent more oil from forming.

Avoid more oil by using less oil. Pretty simple? Right, well many women believe the opposite.  There is a myth that if oily skin has more moisture treatments that the skin will somehow magically improve over night.  This is not true.  While one should never use products with alcohol or other chemicals that will dry the skin out, it's not good to pour more oil into the skin.  Look for products with a water-based formula instead of oil-based.

Relax and eat healthy.  Stress can cause more oil to produce in the skin.  By relaxing and taking it easy, women are ultimately helping their skin.  It's also important to drink the proper amount of water to keep skin hydrated.  When skin gets dehydrated, it produces oil to make up for the lack of water the body is receiving.  Also, avoid sugary greasy foods that will produce more oil in the skin.  A healthy balanced diet of the right vitamins and nutrients will ultimately keep skin radiant and glowing but not oily.

Photo credit: ladyzona.com

How To Re-Use and Save the Life Of Your Makeup and Cosmetics

Cosmetics and makeup can be pricey and essential to every woman. Preserving your makeup and cosmetics can save you lots of money as well as piece of mind. So, every woman has a stash of makeup that they never use, but still keep just in case. Here are some ways to stretch your make up and use it to it's full potential in world of higher prices.

Lipstick
It can last up to two years before you need to throw it out. When you get down to the bottom of the tube, instead of throwing it out -- scrape the bottom of the tube and store it in a container for later. It's still perfectly fine to use. Best way to scrape, you ask? The end of a Q-tip. Remove the cotton from the tip, and start scraping away.

Lip Gloss
Same rules apply to lip gloss. It can last up to 2 years. It's a lot harder to scrape out of a tube than lipstick is. You can make your very OWN lip gloss by simply using a little Vaseline and take some of your left over lipstick that you saved and mix it together. Heat it up in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Wait for it to cool, and instantly you made your own shade of lip gloss.

Pressed Face Powder
Usually the shelf life of pressed powder is about a year. Once you get down to the nitty gritty and there isn't much left. Normally, it will start to crack and fall apart. Instead of throwing it out and buying a new one -- dump the left overs into a container and use it as loose powder.

Foundation
It really depends on the formulation, however most last around 8 months before getting icky. There isn't much you can do to save it, however you can use the foundation that has dried slightly on the edges.
If your using a tube foundation or stick, you can scrape using a Q-tip as I suggested with lipstick.

Blush
Blush usually can be used up to a year. It depends on what type you use. Powder, or cream. You can use either method as I suggested for lipstick if it's a cream or for pressed powder if it's a powder form of blush. You can make your own shade by blending left overs together.

Mascara
It can only last up to 6 months and then it needs to be tossed. There isn't much you can do the stretch mascara. However, most companies will tell you to toss it every 3 months, when in reality it can last up to 6 months perfectly fine. Some tips to help keep it longer are:

• Don't pump your brush into the tube. The air that gets trapped can cause it to dry out sooner.
• If it does get clumpy and dried out -- Try running a few drops of HOT water into the tube. A little goes a LONG way.

I hope with these few tips, it will help some save money, and use the products they already have. In today's world, prices of make up can get exhausting to keep up with. Hope you enjoyed!

TIPS AND TRICKS:

• Look through all of your make up. If you see something you haven't used in awhile -- try mixing and blending into small container to get a shade you want.
• Remember that you can't ALWAYS save everything, but you can try. :)
• f you notice a funky smell, or discoloration -- PLEASE toss it out.

Photo courtesy of foxylicious.co.nz

How To Apply Perfect Eye Makeup - Eye Makeup for Any Eye Shape

Applying eye makeup is a tricky thing for many women. Makeup was essentially made to help women strengthen the already natural beauty of their face and to make features more prominent. With that being said, there certain ways that woman can apply eye makeup to get the desired effect that is perfect for her eye shape in a few simple steps.

For close-set eyes:
If a woman's eyes are close-set together, then the desired to goal is to make her eyes seem a bit wider. It's not impossible to make this happen but really quite easy. Apply eyeliner to the upper part of the lash line, a third of the way in. Stop there, and smudge gently. After that, take a lighter eyeliner (such as light blue, green, or even white) and line the inside corner of the upper and lower lids. This creates a lighting effect that creates the appearance of space widened in between the eyes.

For small eyes:
For a woman with smaller eyes, she may want to make her eyes appear bigger and more awake. In this case, she will need to draw a dark line that gradually thickens towards the outer upper eye lid. After that, use a lighter shade of eyeliner (such as white, gold or silver) on the lower lash line.This creates the appearance that eyes are bigger and more awake.

For deep-set eyes:
For a woman with deep-set eyes, she may want to make her eyes seem fuller and rounder. Start with lining the upper lash line with a shimmery light eyeliner (such as silver, white, or gold) and smudge gently. After that, line the lower lash line with a neutral or light gray eyeliner. This creates the illusion of a less heavy eye lid.

For drooping eyes:
Women with drooping eyes make want to make their eyes appear lighter, bigger, and rounder without creating too much attention. In this case, simply line the upper lash line very close to the lashes a third of the way in. After that, sweep the liner in a fluid movement out toward the outer edge of the upper lash.

These tricks may take practice, but after a few applications it's amazing how much a woman can transform her eyes and play up the best features of her face.

Image courtesy of marcusmcfly.com

How to Clean Your Hair Brushes Properly

The whole point of washing your hair, is to clean it. What's the point if you hair brush is dirty? Hair brushes can get really dirty, even if your hair isn't dirty. The build up of hair spray, gels, and other hairstyling products leave residue on hair brush bristles. So just when you think you have washed your hair, you are actually brushing dirt and build up back into your hair strands. There are simple ways to clean your hair brush without much effort. Try a few of these and make sure your hair stays squeaky clean as well as your styling products for the best hair possible!

Pick out the excess hair first. Grab a wide-tooth comb and comb through your hair brush to get rid of the extra hair out. This will get rid of stray hairs, nasty dandruff and extra dead skin lying around on the hair brush bed.

BRISTLE BRUSHES - A.K.A - DRY HAIR BRUSH:
Wash your hair brush in the sink with warm water and shampoo. Add about a tablespoon of your favorite shampoo and run a sink full of warm water.

Use a wide-tooth comb or old tooth brush to gentle scrub the bristles and base of your brush. Let it soak for about 30 minutes. Let it air dry.

This is the simplest and easy way to wash out your dirty brushes. Make sure your handle is plastic or rubber first. If it's wood, letting it soak in water will warp it.

PLASTIC BRISTLE BRUSHES - A.K.A - WET HAIR BRUSH:

There are many ways to clean plastic bristles since they don't hard as much dirty as easily. Soak it the sink with a mixture of one part ammonia to four parts water or a solution of one part vinegar to four parts water.

Use warm water, if you don’t want to put vinegar or ammonia in your sink, you can soak your brush in a bucket or other portable container.

Let your brush soak in the solution for about 10 minutes. After it's done soaking, rinse it off with warm water. You don’t want the vinegar or ammonia ending up in your hair.

Photo courtesy of  -- down---to---earth.blogspot.com

Avoid Dangerous Chemicals In Cosmetics and Makeup Products

Beauty cosmetics can be a wonderful addition to your beauty routine and though they are always in high-demand, there are some harmful, very dangerous products out there. It's hard to know what to look for and most of the time companies never warn consumers of the dangers that might come along with some of this "brilliant" products. So here is the skinny on some of the most harmful products out there.

I'm not trying to scare anyone away from beauty products and cosmetics, however I think everyone should be informed about some the dangerous and harmful chemicals that are put into them without our knowledge.

First off, one of the most common harmful products that cause many side effects are: . SYNTHETIC PERFUME (AKA. "GENERIC" Perfumes). Why are they harmful? All generic perfumes contain phthalates, which can disrupt hormones, increase the risk of certain cancers, cause infertility and allergic reactions including sinus irritation, skin rashes, and break outs. They also contain parabens (possible carcinogen, hormone disruption) and dioxins (carcinogens).

Skin LIGHTENERS: Contain hydroquinone, a known carcinogen. This are NEVER a good idea to use. It can also cause reactions to skin causes permanent scars, and burns.

Chemical Hair Straighteners & Relaxers: Contain placenta (high in hormones, alters sexual development in young girls). So, please use with caution. They have also been known to burn hair at the root, and cause a multitude of rashes and sores on the scalp.

Anti-Aging Creams: Not all of them are harmful, however some contain lactic, glycolic, AHA and BHA acids, which can cause skin irritation, photosensitivity, and some are also carcinogenic. While it's suppose to help block and fight UVA rays, some of them attractive and make you more sensitive to the sun light.

Breathe! Just because some products contain these things doesn't mean it's TOTALLY toxic to your well being. I believe, it's important for everyone to know what they are getting before they buy it. The best way to prevent all toxic products is to start cutting back and using "natural" and "organic" cosmetic beauty products.