Your skin needs extra care during the winter, because your circulation is decreased by harsh, cold winter weather. You also don’t perspire as much, and believe it or not, perspiration helps keep your skin from drying out. In winter time, you absolutely must hydrate and revitalize your skin.

Exfoliate: Exfoliation gently removes layers of old dead skin which accumulate during winter. When you exfoliate, you stimulate the production of new skin cells and your circulation, which can revitalize a dull complexion. Always use a mild exfoliator that contain natural abrasives like fine oatmeal, tea tree bark, ground rice and pumice. Don’t exfoliate more than every second or third day, or you’ll dry out your skin more, and making more dead skin cells.

Moisturize: Always apply moisturizer in spring season to replace the natural protective oily surface layer to the skin. Use it after cleansing and toning as well as after exposure to the sun, bathing or showering. Use light moisturizer as the weather is warm you sweat more and heavy moisturizers tend to clog the pores. So there is no need of heavy moisturizers that you required in the winter. You can use heavy moisturizers by mixing with plain or rose water. Premature skin aging and other types of skin damage are prevented by the use of moisturizer. According to Yahoo, after you finish bathing, take an absorbent towel and blot your skin dry. Rubbing your skin can cause irritation and inflammation after exfoliation.

Apply Sunscreen: Yes, you need sunscreen in the winter, even if it doesn’t seem sunny. Always apply sunscreen when you go outside to protect your skin, because UV damage occurs even during cloudy or gray winter days. Use a daily sunscreen with a minimum of SPF 15 before applying your makeup. A moisturizer with sunscreen, like Olay Total Effects, is perfect for winter weather. As an added bonus, it gives you just a touch of sunless tanning, so winter white is only something you wear, not something you are.

Stay Hydrated: Drink lots of water as hydration helps your skin stay moist and beautiful. You’ll heal your dry skin from the inside out by drinking lots of water. Drinking lots of water will help keep your skin looking great during those cold winter months.

Do you change up your skin care during the winter months? What do you do differently? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a comment here on the blog.

American Crew is a maker of quality hair and skin care products for men. They’re one of the best, no doubt about it. Did you know that you could save 10% right now on American Crew hair products? Use code AC10 at checkout. It’s a great deal on great products.

Here are a few of the bestselling American Crew hair products:

American Crew Thickening Shampoo –

* American Crew Thickening Shampoo has natural ingredients which cleans and thickens hair
* Provides gentle effective cleansing.
* Gentle cleansers remove impurities without weighing hair down.

American Crew Fiber Mold Cream -

* American Crew Fiber Mold Cream lets you mold and sculpt hair into any style.
* Provides unsurpassed hold, definition, and increased fullness.
* Helps thicken hair, adding texture, fullness, and body to thin or limp hair.
* Fiber provides a pliable hold, giving hair a natural, clean finish with little shine.
* Excellent for use with any hair texture. Whether you have curly or straight hair, fine or coarse hair, American Crew Fiber Mold Cream gives you control.

American Crew Classic Stimulating Conditioner –

American Crew Classic Stimulating Conditioner detangles and gives hair a silky smooth feel. Panama bark extract helps reduce oily texture while rosemary, thyme, peppermint and menthol tone and nourish, leaving the scalp wonderfully healthy.

The Essentials Travel Kit from American Crew –

Classic American Crew Essentials Travel Kit, formulated with peppermint, soothing aloe and many other luxurious ingredients, it’s all you need for your shower and shave while on the road. Contains five 1.7oz size products. Take it on vacation, overnight visits, or day trips, and all your hair care and shave care needs are covered.

*Shampoo: American Crew Daily Moisturizing Shampoo is recommended for every day use on normal to dry hair. Formulated with hydrolyzed wheat protein, quillaja, rosemary, sage extract and rice bran oil which will moisturize and condition the hair without weighing it down. This Daily Moisturizing Shampoo soothes and replenishes, leaving the scalp feeling healthy and refreshed.

*Conditioner: American Crew’s Daily Conditioner instantly detangles your hair and creates a silky smooth feel. Panama Bark Extract helps reduce oil, while Rosemary, Thyme, Peppermint and Menthol, tone and invigorate to leave your scalp with a fresh, healthy feel.

*Classic Body Wash: A refreshing shower gel that nourishes and protects the skin. Tea tree oil provides superior cleansing without over-drying the dermis. Aloe vera plus vitamins A & E work to maintain moisture and improve overall skin quality.

*Precision Shave Gel: Gives you a close shave without irritation. Follow with the post-shave lotion in this kit for a smooth, silky shave.

*Post-Shave Cooling Lotion is a moisturizing shave relief. This dual action formula works as a lightweight moisturizer and calming aftershave. Active minerals help restore skin balance and inhibit inflammation.

Do you use American Crew products, or does your significant other? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a comment here on the blog. And don’t forget to use promo code AC10 for 10% off!

If you’re heading back to school – either high school or college – you want your skin to look its very best. You’ll start the school year fresh-faced and glowing when you follow this very simple regimen.

Wash your face twice a day with a gentle cleanser. Using harsh cleansers that strip all the oils from your face actually make your oil glands produce more oil. Harsh cleansers or exfoliants can also irritate any bumps or acne you have, making them look worse.

Do you have acne? Treat it with a spot treatment for acne. Check the ingredient list and make sure it contains salicylic acid in no higher concentration than 2%. A higher concentration can make your skin red, can cause peeling, and will make your acne look worse, not better.

Does your skin get shiny throughout the day? Having your skin produce a lot of oil might be a pain, but it’s actually not a bad thing. The oil your skin produces contains Vitamin E, which acts as a barrier on your skin. If the shine is too much for you, use oil sheets to remove oil without smudging your makeup.

It might seem counter intuitive, but you need a daily moisturizer. Choose a light daily moisturizer with an SPF that won’t clog your pores. Your skin needs sun protection, and a light daily moisturizer will keep your skin looking dewy and healthy.

If you need to cover dark eye circles or acne spots, use a concealer. Green tinted concealers will camouflage redness, which works well on acne spots. Yellow tinted concealers work well on under eye circles. Dot on concealer sparingly, then use foundation over the concealer to make spots and circles disappear.

Do you have any back to school skin care tips? What’s your daily regimen like? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a comment her on the blog.

Are you so busy taking care of everyone else that you don’t have time to take care of yourself? It’s a common problem with women – the ‘Superwoman Syndrome’. If you put everyone’s needs at the top of the list and let yours go to the bottom, you might be setting yourself up for a fall.

In order to lead a balanced life, you need to take care of yourself, along with everyone else. Your needs are just as important, and you should remember that.

Schedule some time alone. You need time to yourself, so pencil it into the schedule. I used to have ‘Mommy time’ between 8 and 9 each night. You were not allowed to disturb me unless there was an emergency – and I defined emergencies pretty thoroughly. I usually used that time to unwind and read a book, but you can use it however you choose.

Buy something for yourself that makes you feel pretty and pampered. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Get some pretty red nail polish and give yourself a pedicure.

Get that anti aging face cream you’ve been dying to try.

Or go all out and get a gift basket of beauty products – goodies that only you are allowed to use.

Learn how to say no. No matter how strong you are, you can’t do everything. It’s not possible – there’s no such thing as Superwoman. Prioritize, and if you don’t have time, say no.

Ask for help when you need it. Again, you can’t do everything alone. There’s no shame in asking for help when you need it. Ask someone from your support system – mother, friend, sister, etc. – to help you if you’re overwhelmed. You might be surprised how much help will come.

Go out once in a while. You need a night of fun occasionally. Go out on the town with your SO or your friends, and have a good time. Take in a movie, go dancing, or spend a day at the spa. You’ll feel like a new woman.

Get plenty of exercise and eat healthy. Healthy eating habits and exercise can go a long way toward making you stronger. You need to be strong with the hectic, fast-paced life you lead. The better you feel, the easier your life will seem. You’ll look better, too – stress takes its toll on us all.

Do you have any tips for treating yourself like a queen? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a comment here on the blog.

We all want to keep our skin dewy, taut, and young looking. We don’t want to turn back time – well, maybe we do a little – we just want to age gracefully, with as little sun damage and wrinkles as possible. I don’t like that botox ‘frozen’ look that a lot of people sport when trying to cover up the signs of aging. I prefer natural looking skin. Luckily, there are lots of things you can do to keep your skin looking its best.

If you’re over 20, you should be wearing daily moisturizer. A daily moisturizer with a sunscreen is best, though you can put it on separately. I prefer, however, to combine the two and save myself a step. I like Neutrogena Healthy Skin. It softens and smooths your skin, and keeps you safe from sun damage. Here’s a bonus: Use code NEUT75 at checkout and you’ll get this great daily moisturizer with sunscreen for only $8.99.

If you’re over 30 and you’re starting to see a few fine lines, you should add a daily skin serum to your beauty routine. You’ll knock out those lines around your mouth, and you’ll improve the overall health of your skin. That means less sagging, more collagen production, and better looking skin that appears much younger than its age. I like Olay Regenerist products. Olay Regenerist made the number one spot on Consumer Reports best skin care list. That’s really something, because they tested products that cost 5 times as much as the Olay line.

If you’re over 40 – unless you have oily skin – you should be using an anti aging night cream as well. I use Olay Regenerist Micro Sculpting Cream. Yes, I know it’s not traditionally used as a night cream, but I like it better that way. It firms sagging skin and moisturizes very well. My skin is dewy and hydrated when I wake up in the morning, and I swear the skin around my jawline seems tighter.

You can keep your skin younger looking and fight off the signs of aging much longer than you might think. Skin care has a great deal to do with that. These three products – daily moisturizer with sunscreen, daily skin serum, and and anti aging night cream – can go a long way toward keeping your skin in optimum condition.

What’s your daily beauty regimen like? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message here on the blog.

Do you wear a daily moisturizer with sunscreen? If you don’t, you should be. Protecting the delicate skin of your face, neck, and chest from the damaging rays of the sun is a must in the fight against aging skin.

When it comes to a daily moisturizer, expensive isn’t always better. A recent study in Consumer Reports studied the effect of face creams, and here is what they had to say.

Consumer Reports magazine recently tested popular face creams to see how well they fought wrinkles.

“There was no correlation between effectiveness and price,” Sandroff said.

The best advice, the report concluded, is to prevent wrinkles before they begin. Stay out of the sun, and protect your skin while you are there. That means using a daily moisturizer, and using sunscreen religiously.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin is a great alternative to expensive creams that don’t work. It’s one of my favorites. It’s a multi vitamin facial treatment with alpha hydroxy. It softens and smooths rough, uneven skin and visibly reduces the appearance of fine lines. It also contains an SPF of 15, to keep the sun from damaging your skin.

And it’s on sale right now! Use code NEUT75 at checkout to make the price go down to an amazing $8.99! How’s that for a bargain? You get skin protecting ingredients, and you get a great price.

Do you use a daily moisturizer with sunscreen? What is your favorite? Let me know on twitter, facebook, or leave me a comment here on the blog.

Skin that is fine and poreless looks better – and smoother – and we’re always looking for ways to minimize pores. Can you really shrink your pores?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. You can, however, make your pores appear smaller, which is practically the same thing.

When pores get clogged with dirt and dead skin, they look larger. They can also enlarge. One of the best things you can do to make your pores look smaller is exfoliate. You want a gentle exfoliating cleanser to help you do this. You want a non-irritating light buffing cleanser that clears away dull and damaged skin. Use every day to give yourself a mini facial and keep your pores clean.

Using a cleanser with antioxidants also helps your pores look smaller. Befine does double duty with its exfoliating cleanser: Not only is it a gentle way to cleanse your pores of dull, dead skin and debris, it contains antioxidants that keep the dirt in our pores from darkening and making them appear larger. It’s a great product that nourishes and protects your skin while making it look fantastic.

If this still doesn’t make your skin look poreless, try using a makeup primer. It keeps your makeup from sinking into your pores, and makes your skin appear smooth. There are lots of great ones on the market. If you want a very inexpensive version, aloe vera gel is great. It’s gentle, and it works very well on delicate skin.

Wait about five minutes after putting on moisturizers or sunscreen. Apply a very thin layer of primer, and wait for it to dry. Again, about 5 minutes is good. Then apply your makeup as normal. Your foundation will stay on longer, and it won’t sink into your pores.

Do you worry about enlarged pores? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a comment here on the blog.

Are expensive skin care products really worth the money? According to skin care specialist Leslie Baumann, M.D., the answer is no.

In a nutshell, beauty behemoths … have deep pockets, so they have more resources to research, develop and test their products.

Smaller boutique brands, on the other hand, conduct their research and development on a much smaller scale. While they may create their formulations in smaller batches and with more rare or expensive raw materials, these costs are passed along to the consumer. But does this mean these products are more effective? Not always—and they seldom have the independent clinical studies to back their claims because clinical studies cost a lot of money. It is important to look for the words “clinically tested” on the packaging to know that the actual formulations have been studied.

One of the brands Dr. Baumann recommends is Olay. Olay makes a great line of inexpensive skin care products, and she calls them fantastic options that won’t break the bank. Olay skin care products have been tested and re-tested, and time after time their products come out on top. I couldn’t function without my Olay Total Effects. It gives me the total anti-aging power of a moisturizer fused with vitamins and anti-oxidants. It’s also color and fragrance-free, dermatologically tested, and won’t clog my pores. It’s oil free, and it absorbs quickly. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the best daily moisturizer on the market.

Do you use Olay products? If you don’t, you certainly should. Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message here on the blog.

Is the skin on your hands rough? Do you work in an office and handle paper all day? How about a job that requires you to wash your hands a lot, or overdo the hand sanitizer? All these things can cause the skin of your hands to roughen. Water, paper, and hand sanitizer are all culprits in the rough skin game. Your hands don’t have many oil glands, so it’s easy for the skin there to get dried out.

So, how do you make your hands softer and keep your skin moisturized? Forget the whole wearing gloves to bed with hand lotion thing; it’s hot and uncomfortable and unless your skin is so dry it’s cracking, it’s unnecessary.

First, exfoliate the skin on your hands. Do this about once a week, or it will have the opposite effect and dry your hands out more. For a natural exfoliant with ingredients that come right from your cabinet, mix a 1/2 cup of sugar with about two tablespoons of honey. Rub all over your hands standing over the sink, then wash off with warm water.

While your skin is still slightly wet – but not dripping – slather on the rich hand lotion to hydrate your skin. Put on lotion every day, not just after exfoliating. After your shower or bath is best, because your skin is warm and damp and the lotion penetrates your skin more easily. Whenever your hands feel dry, rub on the lotion.

Have you ever tried a paraffin treatment? Get your hands dipped in wax the next time you go to get your nails done at a salon. It’s a relatively inexpensive procedure, and it makes your hand super soft.

What do you do to keep your hands soft and supple? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message here on the blog.

What’s the difference between a daily moisturizer and a night moisturizer? Do you need both, or can you make do with just one for daytime?

That depends. What kind of skin type do you have, and what age are you? If you have normal or oily skin and you’re under 40, you’re probably not going to need a night cream. Night creams are usually thicker than a daily moisturizer, and almost all of them contain oil. If you have dry skin, no matter your age, you should be using one. Some lightening creams or night moisturizers have ingredients that can make your skin sun sensitive, so don’t wear them during the day. If they’re specified as a night moisturizer, they’re not going to contain any SPF, so keep that in mind, too.

If you have oily or normal skin, you’re going to want a light moisturizer that won’t break you out. Olay Total Effects is a great one to use. I know – it doesn’t sound like a light moisturizer. It is, however. It won’t break you out, and it’s very, very good for your skin. I’ve been using it for years, and my daughter (who is in her twenties) uses it as well. It has nourishing moisturizers, enhances tone, and is fortified with vitamins and minerals. It also contains an SPF, so your skin is protected from the harmful rays of the sun.

If you have dry skin – or you’re over 40 – a night moisturizer is always a good idea. I like Olay Regenerist Night Recovery Cream. In a survey, Olay performed just as well as creams that cost 10 times as much. That’s a good thing – it works, and it saves you money. It regenerates your skin as you sleep and you wake up to supple, soft, hydrated skin. I’m an Olay fan – you don’t realize how well it works until you run out for a couple of days. Let’s just say that I don’t run out of my Olay anymore and leave it at that….

Do you use a daily moisturizer? How about a night cream? Let me know your favorites on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message here on the blog.