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.

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.

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.

Do you have dry skin? Have you been using expensive soaps and body washes in the shower to try and correct this problem? If so, you might be shocked to learn that an inexpensive, off the shelf product is rated better for dry skin than more expensive alternatives.

That’s according to Dr Laura Baumann, skin care specialist, who has this to say about buying expensive soaps and body washes in her article Mass vs Boutique Brands : …but you’ll be shocked to learn that Dove is a much better choice for your skin since it deposits fatty acids on the skin that leave it soft.

Dove soap. That’s right. That old faithful you’ve been using for years is better for your skin than even the $125 dollar a bar soap that her clients use. (And who pays $125 for a bar of soap, anyway? Is that not the most ridiculous waste of money you’ve ever heard?)

If you want to soften and moisturize your skin, use Dove soap. I’ve been using it since I was a child, and though I strayed once in a while, I always went back to good old Dove. Why should I pay lots of money for a soap that promised to make my skin soft and smooth when I could get better moisturizing and skin softening with Dove?

I use the Dove soap for sensitive skin, which is hypoallergenic and fragrance free. It leaves my skin feeling as smooth as silk.

So I’m taking the advice of skin care professionals and crossing that expensive body wash off my list. From how on, I’m never going to stray. I’m going to use my Dove soap, and my skin will thank me for it.

Do you use Dove soap? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message 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.

Do you have complexion problems? Makeup can be hard to apply when you don’t know how to make it look good. Here are some common complexion problems, and tips on how to correct them.

Do you have a sallow or olive complexion? You want to warm it up, and take away the yellow tones. Use a pinkish primer before you put on foundation. To warm up a sallow complexion, start with a pink-based primer, focusing along your forehead and cheeks. Then, blend on a foundation that matches your natural skin tone.

Do you have a red or ruddy complexion? Redness is usually concentrated around and on the nose and cheeks. Use an illuminating foundation on those areas. Blend the areas and fill in the outer edges of your face with your regular foundation.

If your face is paler than the rest of your body, you can even it out with a self tanner. Jergen’s Daily Glow Face Moisturizer is perfect for this. It will tan you gradually while giving you the daily moisturizer you need. It also comes in tanning for your specific skin tone, which is great. You don’t want to get your face darker than the rest of your body. If you need to even your face out immediately, brush on a little bronzer. Don’t go overboard – hit the high points of your face. Cheeks, nose, and jaw line dusted with bronzer give you the illusion of a tan. All over bronzer on your face just makes you look too made up.

Is your complexion dull? This quick trick can give your face a glow you won’t believe. It will exfoliate gently, and make your skin soft. Dab Pepto Bismol on your face with a cotton ball, skipping the eye area. Leave it on for three minutes, then wash it off. The ingredients in the product are the same as in a lot of exfoliating peels, but with an added ingredient that makes it gentler. Don’t do this more than once a week, and don’t leave it on for longer than three minutes. Your skin will be unbelievably pretty. Try it!

Do you have any skin care tips? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a comment 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.

Anyone can get stretch marks. Your age doesn’t matter. You get them from over exercising, weight changes that occur rapidly, or even from growing too quickly. Pregnancy is the culprit, often times.

There are two kinds of stretch marks – new ones that appear red, and older ones that look white. When the redness fades, stretch marks turn whitish.

Are there any treatments or products available that can completely remove stretch marks?

Unfortunately, the answer is no – but it’s a qualified no. even costly laser treatments you get at a dermatologist office will not guarantee that your stretch marks fade completely. They’ll be minimized and they’ll look better – but it might take more than one treatment to do even that. With a price tag running in the hundreds per visit, not many people can afford treatment.

You can make stretch marks look better and fade faster by using over the counter creams and moisturizers, and it won’t cost you a fraction what laser treatments cost. Cocoa butter cream moisturizers improve skin elasticity and help reduce the appearance of stretch marks. While it won’t make them go away, you might be surprised at the difference it makes.

Cocoa butter is wonderful for the skin, even if you don’t have stretch marks. Just apply it daily to dry skin areas. You’ll have soft, supple, beautiful skin with no dry patches and no ‘ashy’ skin, and your stretch marks will start to look better.

Do you use cocoa butter lotions and creams to moisturize your skin? What do you think of them? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message here on the blog.

We all want our skin to be firm, smooth, and glowing. How can we get that? With a combination of a good diet and the right skin creams, your skin can look better than it ever has.

Good nutrition is the building block for healthy skin. When your diet is right, you’ll feel better…and you’ll look better. Vitamins and minerals found in food can protect your skin and help it look its best. You need lots of fruits and vegetables – and the following tips will tell you why.

Vitamin A invigorates skin by increasing cell turnover. Put simply, that means new skin cells rise to the top faster, making your skin fresh and glowing. Eat carrots. Don’t like orange vegetables? Try a salad made of romaine lettuce, which contains all your daily requirement of Vitamin A.

Vitamin C helps keep your skin smooth and firm. High intakes of Vitamin C mean fewer wrinkles. Citrus fruits and strawberries are good sources.

Lutein increases protection against UV damage that can lead to fine lines and brown spots. It also makes your skin firmer, and keeps it better hydrated. Eat an egg a day.

Vitamin E increases immune system function, which helps keep skin cancer at bay. As an antioxidant, vitamin E can protect against UV radiation and other free radicals. Your skin will be firmer and smoother. Eat nuts for lots of Vitamin E. Just a handful a day will do the trick.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids keep skin moist and elastic. Salmon, walnuts, and flax seeds are excellent sources.

Whole grains contain a lot of antioxidants, which are great for skin health. Eat oatmeal, whole grain cereals, and whole wheat bread. Your skin will thank you.

Now that you know how to feed your skin from the inside, let’s concentrate on the outside. No matter what age you are, you should be wearing a moisturizer with sunscreen. It keeps UV damage from prematurely wrinkling your skin and giving you brown spots. You should also moisturize your face, every day, no matter what type of skin you have. Even if your skin is oily, a moisturizer for oily skin will keep your skin healthy.

Do you use moisturizer daily? Let me know on twitter, Facebook, or leave me a message here on the blog.