Doesn’t it seem that Hollywood stars never age? Well, there’s a good reason for that … celebrities have the secret beauty products and cosmetic tricks most of us aren’t privy to. Knowing and utilizing just a few of these celebrity tricks can wipe years off your face and make you look and feel like your favorite star. The first secret is that skin care products don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.

Mascara is one of the best cosmetic weapons, in the anti-aging fight. In fact, celebrities like Heidi Klum claim mascara as one of their favorite beauty secrets of all. One of the most effective mascara’s on the market is Maybeline’s Great Lash Mascara, with stars like America Ferrara and Chandra Wilson being some of their biggest supporters. Longer, darker and thicker lashes open up the eyes, giving you a beauty product that helps uplift your look. A deep, rich and beautiful tan is a favorite of the stars as well.

While many of us don’t think of a tan as a skin care product, the safest ones are. Tanning is a favorite beauty product secret of celebrities like Mariah Carey and J-Lo, but you can look just as good as them, without breaking the bank at one of those fancy salons. Many cosmetic companies have natural looking bronzers and self-tanning creams that help us all look like a bronze goddess. One of my personal favorites is Natural Glow by Jergens. Simply apply on clean, dry skin and a healthy, natural tan is only moments away.

A bright, shiny smile is common in Hollywood today, and even the average joe can take advantage of this beauty product. Companies like Crest and Rembrandt sell several different forms of teeth whitening in grocery and drugstores around the country. Most of these products will run you around $20.

We can’t all be stars, but we can take advantage of their tricks of the trade. By choosing the right cosmetic and beauty products, we can look better, feel better and turn back the hands of time.

Natural skin care products are of more and more interest to people. Why? Because natural products are easier to get, less expensive and perceived to be better for our health. This type of skin care is so popular that many spas extol their virtues. But, let me tell you, most spas are insanely expensive. Not to mention the fact that we can all buy some of the best youth enhancing products right at our local grocery store. Why not grab a bag of natural ingredients and a handful of your girlfriends and create a day spa experience at your very own home.

One of my favorite things to do, when I treat myself to a homemade spa experience, is to buy some aroma candles. You don’t have to go to a specialty store, which charge an arm and a leg; more and more super markets are selling them now a day. Not only do aroma candles add a calming scent to the atmosphere, they also aid in everything from decreasing stress to helping control headaches. Set the mood by playing atmospheric music. It doesn’t have to be some new age mumbo jumbo, but it can be if that’s what floats your boat. You can put on a Van Halen cd, as long as it makes you happy and diverts your mind from all of life’s stresses. Homemade facials are always the centerpiece of my spa parties. They are cheap to make, easy to put together and edible to boot. Here are a few of my favorite recipes, to get you started.

Oily Skin Facial Mask
Ingredients
· 1 egg white
· 1 tsp lemon juice
Preparation
Mix the egg white and lemon juice and apply to skin. Leave on for 20 minutes and then rinse.

Dry Skin Facial Mask
Ingredients
· ½ avocado
· ¼ tsp honey
Preparation
Mash the avocado in a bowel, and then stir in the honey. Apply to skin and leave on for 10 minutes. Rinse face with a cool washcloth

Anti-Wrinkle Facial Mask
Ingredients
· Two or three slices of banana
· 1 tsp milk
Preparation
Mash up the banana slices, diluting the consistency with the milk. Apply on face and leave on for 15-20 minutes. Rinse with warm water and pat dry

My head is spinning right now. I just got back from my local make-up counter, and after spending an hour looking for an anti-wrinkle cream; I was more confused than ever. One of the great things about skin-care products is the fact that they are targeted to specific skin types. The problem is that I don’t know what my skin type is. Never one to sit back and give up, I came straight home and began to unearth the mystery of my skin type. It turns out that it’s a little more complicated than I thought.

I always thought people either had oily skin or dry. WRONG! There are actually five different skin types. Oh, and men. This information goes for you too. The five types of skin, I discovered are; normal, dry, oily, combination and sensitive. Let’s start off with the lucky ones, those with normal skin. It’s mostly characterized as having regular sized pores and a healthy amount of oil, which means there are no major problems with acne or discoloration. For those with dry skin, you have small pores and little to no oil on the face. Dry skin may, at times, be flaky, and experience redness, bumps and overall irritation. Oily skin causes just what it says, excess oil on the face. This causes clogging of the pores, which can lead to acne and blackheads. For those of you with combination skin, you can expect both oily and dry skin all on the same face. Combination skin is usually identified with a t-zone, which means the skin is oily on the forehead, nose and chin, while the cheeks experience dry skin. The last type of skin can be any of the aforementioned types. The issue here is that sensitive skin can be affected by a number of factors such as temperature, waxing and/or chemicals. So, there you have it, mystery solved. Buy Nexugen Skin Care Anti-Aging Skin Care System.

My hair is the barometer for how my day is going to be. Bad hair days put a damper on everything else that happens, and good hair days make me feel as if nothing can go wrong. This may seem drastic, but I bet a lot of you feel the same way. Come on, you can admit it; it’s just you and me here. Ok, I may be a bit extreme, but we can all agree that hair is a very important part of our look, which is why I make taking care of my hair a priority and you can too. It’s really very simple and doesn’t take any extra time out of your daily beauty regime, which is nor more than 15 minutes…right?

First of all, just like everything else in life, a healthy lifestyle can make all the difference. Yep, sorry girls there’s just no way of getting around it, a good diet and exercise regimen even helps the look of our hair. Beyond that, there are some outside influences that affect our hair as well. One of the biggest tips is to avoid products with alcohol, because it dries out our hair. Next, set your hair dryer on cool, as hot air can cause breakage, drying and damage. Use a hairbrush made up of natural animal hair, it’s much less damaging. If dry hair is your problem, try a hot oil treatment once a week. It will give you that youth enhancing healthy shine. Here’s one that took me by surprise, wash your hair with warm water, hot water strips your hair of its natural oils, leaving it dry and dull. And finally, don’t over wash your hair; a good rule of thumb is every other day for oily hair and 2-3 times a week for dry. Now that you know how to get that sexy, healthy hair, go out and shake it girl!

Gray hair is one of the most familiar signs of aging. It usually starts in late 30s and gradually increases the percentage on your scalp over the next few years. The loss of hair color is due to a gradual fall in melanin production in the hair bulb.
If you look at the hairs on a graying head you find a full range of color, from the normal shade through to white along each hair, and also from one hair to another. Usually people notice their first gray hairs near their temples. Then the grayness spreads to the crown, and later to the back of the head.

I’ve always found grey hair an attractive, distinguished look. In men that is. George Clooney anyone? For us women, we want to keep it the natural color for a long as possible. Recently there have been some excellent advancements in restorative methods for returning hair to its natural color for women as well as men.

I was recently presented with Retinex, a fancy sounding hair color restorative shampoo that uses a mixture of all natural ingredients instead of dyes and chemicals to treat graying hair.

According to the maker of Retinex, it is especially formulated to revive and replenish hair follicles at the cellular level, to restore premature white or gray hair to it’s original color. Using a combination of natural ingredients, Retinex effectively helps to inhibit the growth of premature white and gray hair. It strengthens hair pigment and revives melanin cells. Retinex restores natural hair color over time and results in thicker, healthier, natural locking hair.

Skin care products and anti-aging skin care are part of a multi million dollar a year industry and, in recent years, people have become increasingly interested in more natural skin care. But, most consumers have no idea what they are buying, what really works and what are just empty promises in a fancy jar. Adding to that confusion is the fact that there are a myriad of areas to look at, when speaking of youth enhancing ingredients. Some are interested in anti-wrinkle creams, and others are looking for a lift to sagging facial skin.

Then there are those who want the whole anti-aging package. Stopping the hands of time from stomping all over our face is a universal desire, and luckily one that can be achieved. Sometimes it feels as if one must be a chemist to understand the ingredients label of most skin care products. Perhaps the biggest frustration for most consumers is the fact that they don’t know what ingredient they need to target their particular issue. Well, if it is tighter skin you are looking for, DMAE is the ingredient you want. DMAE (Dimethylethanolamine), also known as Deanol, is an organic compound, which was previously studied as a memory enhancer, has now been found to serve as an anti-inflammatory.

If you’re anything like me, you think of exercise as something you do to stay in shape. But, I was blown away to find out that it has anti-aging benefits for my skin as well! And to think, when I bought my gym membership, I was just hoping to fit into my size 6 jeans again. Like most women, my bathroom counter is lined with all kinds of skin care products. One to moisturize, another to fight those fine lines and wrinkles, but I had no idea I could find the fountain of youth at the gym. Ok, well maybe it’s not the fountain of youth, but it turns out doctors now say a good work out is beneficial for just about all parts of your body, including one of the largest organs…our skin.

Health experts say regular exercise plays a key role in reducing breakouts, fighting the signs of aging and giving our skin that youth enhancing, healthy glow. Among the many benefits, “is increased circulation and delivery of nutrients to skin cells, whooshing away potentially damaging toxins,” according to Audrey Kunin, MD, a dermatologist and author of The DERMAdoctor Skinstruction Manual. One of the best side effects of exercise for our skin is its stress relieving benefits. You know how much better you feel after a good work out, especially after a long hard day, well it appears it affects our skin to. By reducing the output of testosterone related hormones such as DHEA and DHT, exercise can help control stress related acne. Oh, and let’s not forget ladies, we all know we exercise to help tighten those sagging muscles, well that goes for the ones in our face as well. So, the next time you cringe at doing those crunches just think of how much you’re doing to help tighten your top and your bottom!

How many times did your mother tell you to make sure and wash your face before you went to bed? If she’s anything like mine, it was a lot! My mother believed that a good skin care regime was crucial to holding back the hands of time, it turns out she was right…again. One of the most important anti aging products you can purchase is a really good cleanser, along with an exfoliation scrub and moisturizer. As far as how often you go through these 3-steps, the information is contradictory. Some people believe it should be done once in the morning and once at night, while others feel a splash of lukewarm water is enough in the morning. So, as is the case with so many things, this decision is up to you. My advice is if you have oilier skin, you may want to go through the steps twice a day, and if you have drier skin, once at night is probably enough. Before you begin your 3-step regimen, you need to know what your skin type is. That being said, most of us have normal/combination skin. So, on to the steps.

Step 1. Cleansing – The key here ladies is to stay away from bar soaps because they dry out the skin, which speeds up the aging process. Buy a good facial cleanser that contains water, oil and surfactants, but be careful with the oil content because too much can clog your pores. Another big tip; use lukewarm water, not hot and not cold, as they can cause broken capillaries

Step 2. Exfoliate – This step is more important than you may think, and most of us don’t do it enough. Remember this, a good exfoliate scrub sloughs off the first layer of skin, which is where our dead skin cells live, (yuk!) that dead skin is what gives you that doughy, dull complexion.

Step 3. Moisturize – I can’t say this enough, moisturizing is the biggie ladies. Remember, dry skin is one of the big causes of fine lines and wrinkles. There are great products out there that have amazing anti ageing ingredients such as collagen, vitamin E and alpha hydroxy. A little research to find the one that will target your specific needs will go a long way in preserving your youth enhancing efforts. So, it’s as easy as that. And, next time your mother tries to tell you what is good for you, remember she may just be right!

Summer is finally here!!! It’s time for bonfires, BBQ’s and turning that pasty winter skin into a deep, dark, delicious tan. There’s just one problem with this scenario, the sun can be our skin’s worst enemy. The sun can promote the development of fine lines and wrinkles and even worse, cause serious medical problems such as Cancer. However, that doesn’t mean fun in the sun has to be ruled out all together. I know I’m not giving up my weekends at the beach kicking back with my friends, are you? The mere thought of those weekends is what gets me through those cold and rainy winter months. So, I sought out ways to protect my skin from the ravages of the Ultraviolet (UV) rays that are at their peak during the summer time causing sun burn, and here’s what I found.

Being bound and determined to soak up everything that comes with summer, I found some simple tips, which are promoted by the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that will save the joys of summer for us all. To start out with, you can minimize skin damage by staying out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., as this is when the harsh UV rays are the strongest. I know, this can be pretty difficult, so if you are out and about during that time of day, try staying in the shade as much as possible. Why not buy one of those adorable sun umbrellas, you can relax in the fresh air, protect your skin and look fabulous all at the same time. While you’re at it, buy a good sun block (at least an SPF of 15), and chic pair of sunglasses. Most people don’t think about it but our eyes need protection from the sun as well. Now that you’re prepared, what are you waiting for, get to the beach before all the good spots are taken!