Best Skin Care and Beauty Books

I just wanted to share with you my favorite skin care and beauty books. Check them out!

Get Leon's Anti-aging Beauty Secrets

Make Your Own Natural/Organic Skincare Recipes to Get Rid Of Wrinkles, Age-spots, Crows Feet, Saggy & Dull Skin. Diy Anti-ageing Recipes, Ayurvedic Anti-ageing Skin Care Secrets, Anti-Wrinkle Recipes.

Get your copy of the great Natural Beauty Book

The Natural Beauty Book is filled with wonderful ways to treat your skin, hair and nails. Think of it as a complete home spa experience in a book. It features more than 60 simple recipes, for everything from bath salts and facial masks to tub infusions and hair rinses, all made using easy-to-find ingredients from your kitchen cupboard. Attached to the book is a complete personal home spa kit, including a facial loofah, a nail brush, a pumice stone and vials of fragrant essential oils. The book clearly explains exactly how to use everything you get.

Get your copy of Naturally Skinsational

Featured on The Morning Program! See Video of the eBook's Quick And Easy Diy Natural Anti-Aging Skin Care Recipes Formulated with The Powerful Rejuvenation Properties Of Common Organic Ingredients. Loaded With Skinsational Tips For Younger, Beautiful Skin

Get your copy of Making Faces

Customer review: Kevin Acoin's book Making Faces is exquisite! As a makeup artist familiar with Kevin's work, I thought this book was going to be just a book filled with trade secrets and inside tips.Once I opened to the 3rd or 4th page, I realised how wrong I was.Not only did I find information that was useful beyond anything I learned in Beauty school, it was full of probably the most beautiful collection of photographs I have ever seen.

Get your copy of The Handcrafters Companion

You Too Can Learn The 'Secrets' Professional Spa Owners Use To Create Luscious Bath Bombs, Soothing Creams and Aromatic Fragrance Products"


"The Handcrafter's Companion is your comprehensive, step-by-step guide to creating your own spa-quality products, for fun and profit!"

Tips and Techniques for Perfect Eyebrows

In an earlier post I talked about eye shadow techniques for different eye shapes, i.e. close-set eyes, wide-set eyes, hooded eyes, etc. Another very important factor to enhance your overall look is properly shaping your eyebrows. I am sure you have all seen women with unnatural looking eyebrows, they are either too thick or too thin, has either no arch or an arch that is too pronounced or is harshly penciled in. A well defined and nicely shaped eyebrow can essentially give your eyes a lift and frame the eyes.


First and foremost consider whether you eyes are close-set or wide-set. This determination will give you a beginning point for your eyebrows. If you are not sure of your eye position here is a general rule: the space between the eyes should be one eye length. If the space between your eyes measures less than 3/4 of an eye length then they are close set. If the length is more than 1 1/14 times the length of your eye then they are wide set.

Below is a diagram on how to properly shape your eyebrows. Note that the beginning of the eyebrow begins a little past the tear duct, the peak of the arch begins just past the iris and the end of the eyebrow ends at the outer corner of the eye. So grab a ruler or whatever and sketch a straight line from the outside corner of the nostril up to the inside corner of your eye. Next, measure a straight line from the outside corner of your nostril to the outside corner of your eye; this is the shortest measurement that your eyebrow should be. Finally measure a straight line from the outside corner of your nostril through the outside corner of the iris; this will be the peak of your arch. Also note that the arch should fall at the back third of the eye.

Other tips to create the perfect eyebrows are: 

Selecting the right color is essential for a natural look. Blondes should choose one or two shades lighter than their brow hair. Brunettes should choose one to two shades darker than their brow hair. Redheads consider the same color family. Think of Christina Hendricks, although not a true redhead, her eyebrows are in the same color family of her hair.

Avoid over-tweezing above the brow. Granted a few stray hairs is fine to remove but over tweezing will result in an unnatural look.

Work with the hair that is there and fill in where sparse rather than draw on eyebrows. Eyebrows should be softly shaded with the appropriate natural color. If using an eye brow pencil, start with light strokes between the brow hairs. Start at the beginning of the brow and work outward. If penciling doesn't look natural, consider a powder.

Follow the natural contour of your eyebrow and shape and tweeze to define the look.

Do not over pluck the eyebrows into a thin line.

Do not pencil in no more than 1/4 inch where there is no hair, any more than that only accentuates that there is no hair there.

Never shave your eyebrows as this will give you a 5:00 shadow, much like men get on their face.

Eye Brow tools:

There are a number of tools to help you get the perfect eyebrows and below are a few recommendations:

Tweezers - a good pair of tweezers are a necessity. The difference between a good pair and inferior pair is the control you will have. Good tweezers can pick out one hair at a time and will maintain its shape and point for a very long time.

Revlon Tweezers - under $6.00! and has good reviews

Eye brow pencil or shadows - if your eyebrow hair is sparse the right colored pencil and/or shadow can define your eyebrows into a work of art.

NYX Automatic Eyebrow Pencil features an advanced formula, self-sharpening tip and built in brush to smoothly style and groom the brows only $3.99

Eye brow gels - For thicker eyebrows an eye brow gel will keep eye brow hairs in place.
Maybelline Brow Styling Gel - CLEAR, only $4.19

Eye brow brushes - Brushes are used to blend and soften the eyebrow pencil or shadow for a natural look. If you not ready to invest in an eyebrow brush, use an old toothbrush. You can even spray a little hair spray on the toothbrush to keep unruly hairs in place.

Eyebrow stencils - these are handy if you are unsure of shaping your eyebrows on your own. What is nice about stencils is that you can try various shapes before you actually start tweezing.
Ardell Brow Perfection Stencils, only $2.49

I hope you found these tips handy to create perfect eyebrows.

Carol Belanger, author of 300+ Skin Care Recipes
For wonderful homemade skin care recipes, including body scrubs, facial peels and masks, etc., visit Complete Skin Care Therapy


Oh yeah, my favorite skin care store is Skin Energizer - get 15% off on great products!

Enhance the Shape of your Eyes with these Eye Shadow Techniques

Identifying the shape of your eyes will allow you to use specific makeup technique to bring out their full beauty. There are several shapes of eyes and below I have outlined a few common shapes and the makeup applications to enhance their natural beauty.

Close-set eyes - As the term applies the eyes are set close together. To give the illusion of more width between the eyes draws a pencil line just above the natural crease about a quarter of the way out from the inner eye. Then apply a dark shadow and blend. Apply a highlighter just below the outer corner of the lower lashes. You can also add a light color for the inner corners, if you like. This technique sets the focus on the outside of the eyes thus giving the illusion of more width between the eyes.

Wide-set eyes- are when the eyes have a generous amount of space between the eyes. To minimum width there are a few options. You can apply a bit of bronzer on the ridge of the nose. You can also use an eyebrow pencil to extend the eyebrows a bit. Dark colored eye shadow should be uniformly placed in the inner corners of the eyes and lighter or medium toned shadows on the rest of the lid and under the brow. This technique sets the focus on the inside of the eye thus giving the illusion of less space between the eyes.

Small eyes - There are several techniques to give the illusion of larger eyes. First and foremost pluck your eyebrows thinner so your eyes will appear bigger. Your overall eye shadow colors should be light and shimmery. Use a highlighter in the inner corners and under the brow bone. Never apply dark or thick liners to the inside rim of the eyes. Finally, curl your lashes for the final finish.

Almond shaped eyes - are the most common eye shape and have an upswept lift at the outer corner. They can go from smoky eyes to a light and natural look. For those with almond eyes it is just a matter of your own creativity and the right colors for skin tone.

Deep-set eyes - are set back thus the area from the base of the lashes to the brow bone seem to be hidden. To bring eyes forward use light shadows over the entire eye lid to the brow. Add a dot of highlighter on the inner corners of the eye. Use a contour color just above the crease and blend upward.

Prominent eyes - are set forward and dominate the facial features. The goal with the proper makeup application is to minimize their appearance. Start with darker shades of eye shadow over the entire eyelid. Apply a lighter color, highlighter, along the brow line. Apply eyeliner along the top lid and smudge. Also apply a pencil line in the crease of the eye and blend. On the lower lash line draw a line on the outer corner and smudge. Prominent eyes do well with a smoky look and dark colors thus minimizing their appearance.

Asian Eyes - these eyes in general are spaced wide apart and have minimal eyelid space. In order to bring the eyes forward use a light color over the eye and blend. towards the nose. Apply a thick smoky line along upper eyelashes,thick enough so that it can be seen when eyes are open. Draw a thinner line under the lower eyelashes. Line your eyebrows with brown eye shadow or brow pencil. Apply two or three coats of mascara for the finished look.

Hooded Eyes - with hooded eyes the natural crease in the eyelid is not apparent. To enhance your eyes apply highlighter at the brow bone. Apply a darker shade on the crease and hooded area. Finally draw a very thin line along the top lashes and smudge.

Ageing eyes - need soft contouring. As we age, our eyes begin to appear smaller because the eyelids start to sag. This is the time to consider a eye shadow primer to smooth the skin. For eye color consider a matte cream based product in soft toned shadows like olive or mossy greens, light browns or grays and apply to the outer corner of the eyelid extending it up. Also consider a light silver to brighten the eye area. Apply eye liner close to the upper lashes and drawing it thicker along the outer edges. For the finishing touch apply a light coat of mascara. Heavy coats of mascara and dark color all too often look unnatural.

For great products for your cosmetics and skin care needs check out the sites listed below:

Skin Energizer - Get15% off
Philosophy - Get gorgeous
Amazon Beauty

For more skin care articles, beauty tips, and skin care recipes visit Complete Skin Care Therapy

Pictures are curtesey of   Make it Colorfull
and from the book Makes Faces

They're here - Fall's 2010 Eye shadow Palettes'

The weather has cooled down here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and that started me thinking about what the fall color trend would be. So I set out on my search engines and low and behold it is one of my favorite colors. From what I gathered it is purple and all of its spectrums along with smoky charcoal and grey tones. Stunning shades of mauve, orchid, plum, violet, lavender and eggplant along with seductive grey are surfacing in eye shadows and lip color. What a nice change from the brown and berries we see every fall.

So without further ado, below are some eye shadow palettes from top makeup manufacturers. While these may be a bit pricey, you can match up the colors with your favorite manufacturer.
 
Stila's Fall 2010 Collection - A six color palette consisting of Chiffon - shimmery peach, Flamingo - shimmery fuchsia, Pacific - metallic navy blue, Luster - metallic warm alloy, Poetic - shimmery mauve, and coal - cool metallic emerald. These jewel toned shades can be worn wet or dry to create countless looks.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dior Fall 2010 5-Color Eye Shadow Palettes - Here you will find sensual shades of mauve, deep purple and smoky charcoal and grey.

 Dior 5-Colour Eye shadow in Misty Mauve #844 (except Sephora) ($58.00)

Dior 5-Colour Designer Eye shadow in Pink Design #808 ($58.00)

 

Guerlain Eye Shadow for Fall 2010 – a luxurious, elegant and exquisite product in amazing packaging.

While not everyone can afford these prices, these palettes should give you some idea on what to look for this upcoming Fall season.

Consider these sites for the best deals for your new Fall Colors!

Cleopatra's Choice  Shop Skin Care and Cosmetics from The Dead Sea! Bath Salts, Body Mud, Soaps, Anti Wrinkle and much more! Get 10% off with coupon code "beauty10". Free Samples with Every Order!
Clepatra's Choice is also doing a raffle for a $200 gift basket, how nice!



Skin Energizer - great products and 15% off!



For easy, eco-friendly skin care recipes, visit Complete Skin Care Therapy

The Safe Cosmetics Act Introduced in House of Representative H.R.5786.IH

On July 21, 2010, Representatives Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., introduced the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 (H.R.5786), which gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority to ensure that personal care products are free of harmful ingredients.


On average most Americans use about 10 personal care products each day. We douse our bodies with shampoo, deodorant, baby powder and a whole slew of skin care products. A majority of these products expose us to at least 100 different chemicals of which many have been linked to adverse health effects like cancer, birth defects and learning disabilities, just to name a few.

Currently there is no regulation on personal care products. Under The Food Drug and Cosmetics act of 1938 they can not require cosmetics companies to conduct safety reviews or product recalls. For instance the FDA could not recall a particular skin whitening cream because they were found to contain illegal levels of toxic mercury. A unregulated cosmetics industry has ignored the information about the toxicity of their products and potential hazards.

"Most people assume the FDA regulates cosmetics the same way it does food and drugs to ensure they are safe. In reality, cosmetics are one of the least-regulated consumer products on the market today," said Janet Nudelman, program director of the Breast Cancer Fund. "When there are cancer-causing chemicals in baby shampoo and mercury in skin cream, you know the regulatory system is broken," she added

The proposed bill would require cosmetics companies to provide significantly more information to the FDA than is currently required. This would include details of the ingredients, safety data assessments and full company and product details. In addition, the bill calls on the FDA to set up a database for cosmetics ingredients classing them into three categories - prohibited ingredients, restricted ingredients and ingredients that are safe without limits.

It is in my opinion a good bill, and although I am not really for more government regulation, the skin care product industry has fully taken advantage of the consumer and has ignored the safety of the consumer.

I do hope you take the time to support this bill. Contact your U.S. Representative and let them know that you support the Safe Cosmetics Act. Congress needs to know that this issue is important to constituents!

Next time you need a great facial, toner, or exfoliate, consider a homemade skin care recipe.  They are eco-friendly, inexpensive, and no harmful chemicals. Visit Complete Skin Care Therapy for some recipes.

How to Get Rid of Spider Veins

Many women are bothered with telangiectasia. You know those small clusters of veins showing through the skin, commonly known as spider veins. They are dilated and broken capillaries that lie just beneath skin, and usually appear on the backs of knees, cheeks, nose, thighs, calves and ankles. While this condition is not life threatening, it does have a cosmetic concern. Varicose veins, on the other hand, are large and more obvious. They are darker in color and bludgeon out of the skin. Additionally, they are sometimes painful and are generally associated with a circulatory disorder.

Causes of spider veins are attributed to a number of factors. They are more common as you age, they are genetic, if your family member(s) have spider veins, chances are you will get them too; and finally, they develop on people who stand for a long time. While these may not be the only factors they seem to be the most common causes.

Preventing Spider Veins

Relieve pressure by avoiding standing or sitting for long periods of time. While this may seem impossible at a desk job, consider taking the stairs or getting up to talk to your co-worker instead of sending an email. Also avoid crossing your legs while seated as this cuts off blood flow.

Keeps the blood circulating; running or walking promotes good circulation and strengthens the legs.

Support Hosiery - nylons have come a long way and support hosiery is not what it used to be. Support hose promotes circulation and provide a light compression.


Reducing the appearance or eliminating spider veins

There are three treatments available for spider veins they are: Sclerotherapy, laser or a topical cream. Sclerotherapy is an injection of a solution administered into the vein thus forcing it to collapse.

A DIY treatment is a lotion or cream enriched with Vitamin K. The use of Vitamin K to promote the healing of skin is well documented, dating back to the early 1930's. When applied to the skin, this vitamin reportedly helps support healthy circulation of the capillaries and veins directly under the skin's surface. Additionally it is helpful for bruising and dark circles under the eyes. Vitamin K has been used for years by leading surgeons and dermatologists during surgeries to promote healing. While vitamin K creams were once only available through your doctor, they are now available through various beauty outlets.

 Medik8 Red Alert - professional strength clears spider veins, treats vericose veins, bruises! 8% vitamin K serum - highest of any spider vein treatment.


Clears and reduces spider veins
vericose veins treatment
vitamin k cream for bruises
reduces redness & rosacea
clears leg veins / thread veins
Professional strength anti-redness
8% vitamin K serum - highest of any spider vein treatment
Europe's best selling spider vein cream



Get your hosiery at Tightsplease.com