For the past 7 months, I have been using prescription strength Retin-A.

Retin-A , Renova and/or Generic Tretinoin Cream is an emollient and is much less harsh than what I tried as a teenager. I have read that every person over 30 can benefit from using Retin-A. That is unless you are pregnant.

After mentioning using Retin-A in a recent post, Marilyn made the comment:

“I used Retinoids in my 40’s – they are great – but insurance companies are extremely hesitant to cover the prescription products (Retin A comes to mind), which from my experience, give the best results. Stupid insurance companies.” (more…)

Just because you have dark skin doesn’t mean you don’t have to worry about protecting yourself from the potentially harmful rays of the sun.

As more people head outside for the warmer months, dermatologists and health experts are warning men and women that there is no such thing as being immune to skin cancer.

“Pigmentation doesn’t give you a free pass,” dermatologist Dr Charles E. Crutchfield III told CNN. “It doesn’t matter what color your skin is – everyone can get skin cancer.”

It seems that some people are not taking the warnings seriously, however.  A study by Consumer Reports found that only slightly more than one-quarter (27 percent) of people with darker skin applied sunscreen, compared with 64 percent of people with lighter complexions. (more…)

The other day, Rachelle the fabulous author of Fashionably Foodie and contributor to the Posh Mama site asked a question about starting on Retin-A at the post, “All About Retinoids:  Considering Retin-A.”

jen,
so i turned the big 3-0 this summer and i am ready to do something. (guess i need to adopt marilyn’s “Start aging, and shut up!” mantra still.)  i live in mexico and can buy retin a and renova over the counter. soooo- how do i use them?  like moisturizer, after cleansing?  instead of moisturizer or over it?  how much do i use?  and do you know if i use it while i’m nursing? (guess i could google it.) TIA!

hope your beans are delish~
rachelle

First and foremost, the beans I made using the recipe that Rachelle posted on the Posh Mama site were delish, and my family totally stuffed themselves last night.  I served them with rice and homemade Pico De Gallo, very yum!

Lucky you to get Retin-A OTC! And I am not a Doctor, so I can give you some advice, but would strongly recommend you work with a licensed Dermatologist.  I have heard that the lowest concentration is where you should start (.025%) or possibly .05%, and you should research the topic of using retinoids while nursing.  I surmise that some will say okay, and some will say nay.  I tend to side with how young is your baby and how often do you nurse?  Retin-A is simply a concentrated form of Vitamin A and a minimal amount is absorbed into your bloodstream. (more…)

Eye Treatments! Many of us cannot afford the $50+ eye cream and would prefer to be able to pick up a product from the drug store.  Here is my advice  for selecting an effective drug store brand eye cream.

1.  Read carefully through the product ingredient list. A good eye formula should have no strong fragrance or color, absorb quickly into your skin and contain beneficial ingredients like:

• Peptides. Only certain peptides are considered effective like Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 (Matrixyl), and copper peptides should not be combined with retinoids, AHA’s or Vitamin C (in a nutshell, they cancel eachother out).
  Antioxidants. Vitamin C, E, green tea
  Caffeine. As strange as it may seem, caffeine diminishes inflammation and fluid retention around the eye.
  Sodium Hyaluronate. highly effective moisturizer
  retinyl palmitate (vitamin A). Speeds up cell turnover rate and has anti-aging benefits.

For example, L’Oreal’s Advanced RevitaLift Eye Cream contains shea butter, caffeine, and Retinyl Palmitate. I would say this might be a promising formula, but you might not like the fact that it has a strong fragrance or added color.  Another product like “Yes to Carrots” Eye can C Cleary Now Eye Contour Cream has cucumber water, carrot oil, Retinyl Palmitate, and vitamin c, also contains fragrance, but seems to list more natural recognizable ingredients. Whenever you venture buying any product read the ingredients carefully and keep your receipt.Â

2.  Eye creams should never sting or cause your eyes to tear-up. Eye creams should soothe not irritate your eyes.

3.  Your eyes should feel moisturized, but not greasy.

4. Results take time. Most eye treatments will take consistent use for 6 to 8 weeks before you can start noticing improvements.

I recently noticed an ad for Garnier Nutritioniste’s Skin Renew “Anti-Puff Eye Roller” that contains caffeine, Vitamin b-5 and “exclusive skin nutrients.” This looks like it might hold some promise for the puffiness issues and I would be curious exactly how it works to diminish the dark undereye circles.  In the *small print you will read that results were seen “after 8 weeks of use.” The women at Megsmakeup.com recently gave this product mixed reviews at, “GARNIER NUTRITIONISTE SKIN RENEW ANTI-PUFF EYE ROLLER! DRUGSTORE DEAL THURSDAYS!” (more…)

This is a great tutorial on how to optimize your skincare regimen. 

Amp up products’ effectiveness by applying serums, creams and treatments in the right order.

 

Do antioxidant serums go before acne treatments? Eye cream before moisturizer? Does it matter? Read up to see what experts had to say about your morning and evening regimens.

View order

I have discovered another skincare contradiction.

Toners. I have been using them. I generally use a toner to remove excess makeup, and to take away that “tight feeling” I sometimes get after cleansing.

And after reading several books about pH, residue, and the skin’s protective barrier, I felt it was imperative I use them. Then I got another perspective from a new book called, “The Surgery-Free Makeover,” by Brandith Irwin, MD who puts a novel spin on toners:

“Toners are generally useless in my book. Though they’re meant to remove “residues,” I don’t think it’s a problem if a few molecules of a gentle cleanser get left behind on your skin after washing! They also supposedly restore the pH balance of your skin (your pH comes from the natural oils and sweat on your skin). But if you’re using a gentle cleanser, it shouldn’t much change the pH balance of your skin, because it’s not removing your natural oil. What’s more, studies have shown that your skin will replenish its natural pH balance in fifteen to thirty minutes after you wash it. If you love toners, it’s fine to use them, but they’re not really necessary.”

Now that’s a different attitude from what a skincare line will tell you!

Recently in a newsletter from Renee Rouleau skincare, they listed the reasons why toners are important in your daily skincare regimen:

1. THEY GIVE YOUR SKIN A DRINK OF MOISTURE
Make sure to use an alcohol-free toner. As long as it’s alcohol-free, toners will plump up and hydrate the skin with water. After cleansing, apply toner to Toning Cloth and wipe over the skin, making sure to leave it damp. Immediately follow with serum and/or moisturizer. By leaving it damp on the skin, your moisturizer will help to seal in all of the hydrating properties of the toner. *Remember: Skin cells are like fish. They need water to live. So toners are a perfect way to saturate your skin cells with nourishing moisture.

2. THEY REMOVE DRYING CHLORINES AND MINERALS FOUND IN TAP WATER
Many chemicals are put into tap water to destroy harmful bacteria. But, they can be very drying to the skin, so the use of toner after cleansing will remove impurities from the skin.

3. THEY BALANCE THE PH IN THE SKIN
If you use a bar of soap or foaming face wash that might dry out the skin due to their low pH balance, a toner will help counteract the dryness that could occur.

4. THEY CAN ENHANCE THE RESULTS OF YOUR SKIN CARE PROGRAM
Depending on the ingredients used in the toner, they can help calm, control oil, stimulate blood circulation, destroy acne-causing bacteria, provide anti-oxidant benefit and more.

5. THEY SUPPORT YOUR SKIN’S PROTECTIVE BARRIER
By supplying the skin with essential hydration and nutrients, you repair the skin’s protective barrier making it less sensitive and resistant to environmental damage.

Renee Rouleau isn’t the only skincare line that purports that using toners are beneficial in your skincare regimen. In a recent article by the Beauty Brains, they discuss the use of toners, and quote the Smartskincare.com on the subject:

“Toning is often touted as an essential step in a skin care routine. It is not. At least not always. The only exception is very oily skin. If you have oily skin and after cleansing it remains sticky or oily, you might benefit from applying toner after cleansing. Otherwise toning may do more harm than good.

Most toners contain alcohol and/or witch hazel. Both are drying and irritating, especially if you have dry or sensitive skin. If you still feel you need a toner, use a soothing toner free of alcohol or witch hazel, such as alcohol-free toner with chamomile.

You do not want to strip every last molecule of oil from your skin. Only grime, makeup and excess oil on the surface needs to be removed. The underlying thin coat of fresh sebum is best left undisturbed. Toners, especially alcohol-based ones, tend to strip everything off, leaving the skin dry and/or irritated.

Some experts argue that toners help close pores and tighten cell gaps after cleansing, thus reducing the penetration of impurities and environmental contaminants into the skin. Whether this is true is debatable. Even assuming it is, most people finish their skin care routine by applying skin care products with active ingredients, in which case you actually want as much penetration as possible. Preceding an active treatment with a toner that closes pores and tightens cell gaps may be counterproductive. After the active product has absorbed into your skin, you can close pores simply by cooling your face. The cold constricts blood vessels and closes pores, producing a toning effect. You can simply step outside if it is a cold time of the year or gently pat your skin with a cold pack (refrigerated but not frozen) for a few seconds. If you are not using any active products, you can tone after cleansing by wiping your face with a chip of frozen green tea. The cold from the ice helps close your pores; the caffeine and tannins in the tea help tighten skin and reduce puffiness; and green tea polyphenols may provide antioxidant benefits. But don’t overuse the cold – frequent excessive cooling may increase the risk of developing rosacea (stubborn skin redness).”

My conclusions?

I would have to agree with Dr. Irwin and The Beauty Brains, which is, if you love using toners or have oily skin, you can continue to use them. Like I said earlier, I do enjoy the relief from the “tight feeling” I get with using a toner product, but maybe I am using a cleanser that is too harsh for my skintype? In last weeks post, “Beauty Truth = Modern Jackass,” my friend Kate (who is a true beauty guru) swears by toners. She commented in response to my question, “Should you use a skin toner? Is it necessary, or just an extra superfluous step?” that, “I like toners. I’ve recently gotten into them. The extra step of exfoliation had done wonders, I look brighter and glowier and its great since you can’t use a gritty exfoliant every day.”

I also have felt that toners must be a fairly inexpensive product to make, because its main ingredients are water and Witch Hazel Extract (Hamamelis Virginiana), and the profit margin must be very high. I would think you could formulate a homemade toner fairly easily. Any ideas?

I just returned from a two day camping trip with the family.  Our campsite is one of the best camping destinations in America, and it is only 20 minutes away from our house!   Little Cottonwood Canyon is full of green vegetation, wildflowers, and wildlife (we even saw a moose).  The lower third of the canyon consists of of smooth steep faces of granite, some up to several hundred feet high.  The Little Cottonwood Creek runs right next to our campsite, and the sounds of the cascading water along with the cool breeze are incredibly relaxing!  

If you want to read about an interesting river rescue that took place while we were there, check out this news story:  http://www.kutv.com/content/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=12be9347-f8a1-48ea-9d74-e12e5934d6fe.   Luckily a young boy staying at our campground heard the man’s screams and got help.  This is a picture we took of the LifeFlight helicopter leaving the with the rescued fisherman.  How horrible for him to have his leg pinned all night under a boulder, and that water is so cold!

Right before this trip, I noticed that my skin was giving me some trouble, namely some breakout activity.  I am attributing this breakout to hormones, stress, and using a lot of new skincare in the last few weeks.  My skin can be pretty tempermental, and changing things around isn’t always a good thing.  Because of my self-appointed position of reviewing skincare items, about every three to four weeks, I will try something new.  You always hope that this transition will be smooth, but this isn’t always the case.  I would definitely characterize my skintype as sensitive, meaning, sensitive to breakouts. 

Needless to say, I switched things up a bit, started breaking out, and had this camping trip coming.  I decided it was time to give my skin a break.  A break from anything new, and my makeup routine.  Guess what?  I survived!  Two days using just the basics for my skincare (cleansing, toning, moisturizer), and sunscreen and insect repellent.  Although, I am scratching one bug bite on my leg right now, drats!

This morning, my skin is feeling stable, and on the mend.  I think that giving your skin a breather (on your off moments) is very good beauty advice.  Next time you get an opportunity for a few days away, consider giving your skin a break.  Just don’t forget your sunscreen!

Modern Jackass? According to Nancy Updike, a contributing editor for the NPR radio program “This American Life,” to be a Modern Jackass is to”talk expertly about something we don’t actually know anything about.” Modern Jackass is the term they created to describe an imaginary magazine devoted to such blathering.

Have you noticed this epidemic? I certainly have. We gather bits of information from magazines, the Internet, infomercials and blogs, and suddenly we believe we are an authority on the subject.  There is so much information to sort through, and how do we ever come to some form of truth or authority on any given subject? and particularly relevant to this site, the subject of beauty.

I find the amount of contradictions in the beauty world staggering. I read and try to compile and process a monumental amount of ever changing, new and improved material. And at the end of the day, I could possibly be the beauty editor for the next edition of “Modern Jackass.” While brainstorming, here are some of my first ideas for columns.

• Should you use a skin toner? Is it necessary, or just an extra superfluous step? (The word superfluous is itself superfluous!)
• Is it okay to use your fingers to apply cosmetics?
• Bad versus good silicones, or no silicones at all?
• Antioxidants: they are good for you when eaten but are they good to put them on your face?
• How does a great big peptide molecule get absorbed into my itty-bitty skin cells?
• Should I use tap water on my skin, or no water, or only purified non-chlorinated water?
• Does Botox get absorbed into our bodies and even scarier, our brainstem?
• Why did Courtney Love mess with her perfect lips?
• Which Foundation? Liquid, cream, power, matte, semi-matte, dewy, loose mineral, liquid mineral, liquid to powder, powder to liquid, tinted moisturizer, mousse, spray on, oil-based, oil-free, what did I miss?
• Skincare creams: In what order do you apply them?

If you have any real scientific information to answer any of these questions, feel free to comment.  Yes, I will even welcome any Modern Jackass speculation. Don’t get defensive, just be honest, we are all doing the best we can with our experience, research, personal preferences and our hope to appear 21 again. I would settle for 31.

One of the reasons I became a beauty blogger is because I hate the feeling of being intimidated and overwhelmed at the cosmetic counter.  My hope was to get familiar with how the industry works to overcome this fear.  And generally speaking, my experiences blogging have really helped.

I don’t go to the mall often.  I have a learned aversion to shopping malls, and as much as I want to see the pretty packages and tubes of cosmetics, mall shopping is torture to me.  Another problem I have is with confrontation.  With my own children and husband, confrontation comes naturally.  But, with someone who I perceive as having authority, confrontation is another thing.  I have a very difficult time expressing a strong opinion.  This is particularly true when I desire to communicate my discontent or negative feedback.  Generally, if I don’t like something, I will choose to avoid talking face-to-face with a real person about it.  I have “changing the subject when the tension gets high” down to an art. 

Recently, this trend has changed for me.  Now, when I meet people at the cosmetics counter, they have become my new allies in the quest for good beauty stuff.  Instant soul mates.  I usually ask them tons of questions and have a great time talking with them.  What product really stands out?  What is your favorite product?  Have you heard of this line?  Which line carries your favorite foundation?

And then there is today.  Today, I needed to shop at the mall.  I left my entire lot of children with my oldest and slipped out of the house!  Sweet childless freedom.  I casually strolled into the shopping mall. No stroller. No crowds. Just me in a big air conditioned space.  First I went shopping for some bare necessities, and casually stopped by the cosmetic counter at Dillards.  My Dillards experience proved to be so disappointing in comparison to the Sephora I visited last weekend in Vegas. 

I noticed a new line I hadn’t seen before.  I walk over and dabbed some of their serum on the back of my hand.  I thought to myself, ”Interesting consistency. Do I smell citrus?  Must have some alcohol in it too. Kind of reminds me of…”

Interruption!  

A cosmetic saleswoman with a bright white lab coat asked me if I needed assistance.  Another customer simultaneously asked the saleswoman about the Clarisonic Face Brush on display.  “As Mentioned on Oprah” the signs say around it.  The saleswoman gave the sales pitch for the Clarisonic Brush, quickly announcing, “This is the most amazing skincare item!”

When I responded, my troubles began.  I said, “Actually, I like it okay; I don’t think it is all they claim it to be.”

The saleswoman shot me a look of surprise, and then beamed daggers at me.  “Everyone here loves the Clarisonic; it helps our serums really sink in, instead of just staying on the surface.”

“Oh really.  Well, I am sure it does help exfoliate your skin.”

“If you tried this, you would really see how it makes a difference.”

“I have one of these, I used it for a while, and it is very nice.”

“What kind of brush did you use?”

“One for sensitive skin and the other for regular skin.”

“I meant to say, what kind of setting did you use on your Clarisonic brush? Low or high?”

“Gosh, I didn’t realize there were two different settings.”

“You must have had your brush on high!”

“Okay, thanks…” 

I wanted to stay and browse, but I didn’t want to keep this conversation going, and I felt about 3 feet tall.  Why on earth do I let a salesperson or any person make me feel this way!?   I made some kind of excuse and got out of there.

Does this ever happen to you?  I guess I need more beauty blogging therapy.

I love this classic Coppertone ad.  I used to have this picture on my favorite beach towel as a kid (and unfortunately hardly ever wore sunscreen)!  Don’t forget to wear your sunscreen (and maybe even a big sombrero) outside while attending all those fun Independence Day events.   We will be marching in our local neighborhood 4th of July parade early tomorrow morning.  Hooray for the Fourth!

And remember to check back at Mythbuster Beauty tomorrow to find out who won the Clinique “Safe is the New Sexy” Giveaway!

Have a safe and festive Fourth everyone!