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High-Tech
Moisturizers Do More than Just Hydrate Your Skin?
Article by Andrea Sercu
Like nearly every thing else, moisturizers have gone high-tech.
Today's manufacturers are packing moisturizers with a powerful wallop
of new ingredients that do more for the skin than merely moisturize. n
They can protect against the sun, fend against pollutants and indeed even
help turn back the hands of time.
AHAs Antiaging ingredients, namely alpha hydroxy acids, have gained major
recognition over the past 15 years. Some of the more effective AHA moisturizers
contain glycolic and lactic acids that work by speeding up the skin's
natural exfoliation process. As the newer, more youthful skin is brought
forth to the surface, fine lines are diminished and the skin is better
equipped to receive the moisturizer.
Vitamin C This is another powerful antiaging ingredient that's claimed
much attention of late. Also known as ascorbic acid, this water-soluble
vitamin acts as a powerful antioxidant that can prevent environmental,
cancer-causing factors from ravaging skin. Many experts believe vitamin
C reverses photoaging-wrinkles and age spots-and boosts the skin's own
natural collagen production to keep skin firm and elastic.
Sun Protection SPFs are one more important ingredient showing up in moisturizers
at an increasing rate. SPF moisturizers are one of the fastest-growing
moisturizers to hit the market, and many expect this trend to carry over
into foundations and other cosmetics. Even if you don't spend an inordinate
amount of time in the sun, you will still profit from a sunscreen for
incidental exposure.
There are a variety of oils, herbs and vitamins in moisturizers. Many
ingredients help stabilize or thicken ingredients, acting as an emulsifier
while others have real moisturizing properties.
If you have normal skin, you might try a light, water-based moisturizer.
Dry skin requires a richer, oil-based product with a humectant property,
such as urea. However, oily skin needs the lightest, noncomedogenic moisturizer
possible. In that case, look for a silicone, oil-free formula that allows
the pores to breathe. If you have combination skin, you may need more
than one moisturizer to treat different parts of your face.
Although many women mistakenly assume they have sensitive skin, only a
small percentage actually do. Nevertheless, sensitive skin is best served
by a product with as little fragrance and additives as possible. You may
want to spot-test the moisturizer to test its compatibility with your
skin. As a rule, all skin types fare best in the absence of irritating
ingredients such as lanolin, mineral oil and cocoa butter, so these elements
are best avoided.
Eyes and Lips
The incredibly thin layer of skin surrounding your eyes has fewer oil
glands and is more fragile than other parts of your body. Even if few
lines have yet to surface, a rich eye cream applied generously morning
and evening will help stave off any future wrinkles. This delicate region
should be treated with a cream that's richer than your normal face lotion
and one that contains nonirritating ingredients.
Like the eyes, your lips need continuous care too. Usually it's not until
extreme weather takes its toll that women break out the lip balm. But
you can smooth fine lines away and prevent chapped outbreaks if you moisturize
year-round.
Because the skin contains fewer melanin cells and burns easily, an SPF
ingredient is critical in lip moisturizing. Many lip glosses and lipsticks
double as extra-rich lip moisturizers to offer color as well as hydration.
Hands and Feet
Hands and feet may be less exposed than other body parts during the colder
months but you can't ignore them when it comes to moisturizing. Hands
tell a woman's age more than any body part-save for maybe the face and
neck-so it's important you pamper these extremities with rich moisturizing
treatments year-round. Grapeseed oil and vitamin A, C and E treatments
are wonderful for restoring lost hydration to the hands.
And after you've treated your hands, why not indulge in an at-home pedicure
with a steaming bath of oil-laced water? Then, spread a lavish supply
of a rich moisturizer on the feet and place in a plastic bag for 10 minutes
to let the skin fully absorb the moisturizer's nutrients.
Gentle ways to glowing skin
Apply moisturizer to damp skin immediately after cleaning your face. This
will replenish oils washed away and seal water deep into skin.
Select an alpha hydroxy acid moisturizer to reverse the signs of aging.
Massage moisturizers into your face and neck with upward strokes. Begin
by dotting the moisturizer under the eyes and across the cheek then blend
at the base of your neck. Using small circular motions, gently work the
cream up to the jawline. At the forehead, work the product toward your
hairline to help defy gravity's pull on the skin.
Wait 10 minutes between moisturizing and applying makeup to prevent your
makeup from "bleeding" and fading too quickly.
Disguise Your Skin’s
Discolorations & Keep Undereye Circles Undercover
By
Andrea Sercu
No matter how much sleep you get, undereye
circles always manage to make a sneak appearance at the wrong times. You’ve
tried layering on foundation, but that only seems to enhance the dark
circles.
And what about the yellow cast on your skin
or red blotchiness that seeps through your foundation after only a few
hours of wear? You’ve tried ignoring your skin’s undertones,
but they just glare back at you in the mirror. The trick is to get in
touch with your skin’s natural tones and take cover with camouflaging
concealers.
Undertones typically appear as ruddy (red),
sallow (yellow) and olive (green) discolorations. The can surface as subtle
hues or dominant colorations in the skin. Dark circles appear as
blue, gray, red, bluish/purple or brown circles under the eye where the
skin is at its thinnest.
According to San Francisco-based makeup
artist Debra Dietrich, undertones are largely a factor of your genes.
Your culture can influence whether you have a ruddy or sallow complexion.
East Indian and Hispanic women, for instance, often have darker circles
than women of English or Scottish descendants. And German women typically
have fair skin with ruddy undertones and blue circles in the corners of
their eyes. Even girls of this ancestry as young as 12 and 13 years old
will show some circles.
Application Tips
When applying cream-based concealers and
corrector products, always use a synthetic-bristled brush. A brush --
as opposed to using your fingers -- will blend the product and lay it
on as naturally as possible. The synthetic bristles release the cream-based
product better than natural bristles, which tend to cling to the product.
Here are some more application tips:
- If undereye concealers or tone correctors
seem too heavy, thin them with a little eye cream or moisturizer.
- Lay undereye correctors as close as possible
to the upper and lower lash line.
- Use small amounts of product to camouflage
undertones and circles without calling too much attention to the color
corrector itself.
- Only apply undereye correctors where
needed and don’t cover with foundation. Instead, blend the foundation
only up to the concealer line.
- Apply all concealing product in short,
small strokes using a pat/press motion and make sure all the seams are
blended well by viewing the final results under good light.
Conceal Like An Expert
You can get a good read on your individual
undertones by viewing your skin in natural sunlight with a mirror. Does
your skin tend to be red and blotchy or does it project more of a yellow
cast? If you tan easily or have darker skin, you probably have an olive
complexion and are more prone to dark, green-toned circles.
Correcting undertones and dark circles is
one of the biggest challenges in doing makeup. If you’re not an artist
familiar with the values on the color wheel, then this aspect of makeup
application can seem quite daunting. Ordinary skin-toned concealers often
aren’t enough to combat the red, yellow and green tones in your skin.
And, opaque concealers must be set with powder, which can make the skin
look crepey.
"It makes no sense using one beige
concealer to counteract all those various colored circles," says
Dietrich. Flesh-toned concealers are used to either lighten or darken
-- not cover up color, she says. The answer then is to counter color
with color using a neutralizing or corrector product that will smooth
on easily and blend into your skin under your foundation. Luckily, more
manufacturers are simplifying the task with easy-to-use products made
specifically for women like you.
If you’re having trouble finding the
right color concealer, follow this rule: for red-toned complexions, Dietrich
recommends using blue/green combinations or blue or green separately to
conceal the undertones.
You may have to play with the concealer
shades a little to find the one best suited for your skin type. These
same tones will also work on broken blood vessels or a slight sunburn.
Sallow complexions -- those with a yellow tendency -- do best by lilac/pink
concealers. A combination of peach and apricot works best on olive tones,
Dietrich says. And white or cream-toned concealers help diminish age spots
and uneven pigmentation.
Camouflaging Eye Circles
Makeup artist Debra Dietrich offers this
advice: for red circles, use yellow-hued products. Peach concealers will
lighten brown or bluish/purple circles, and a combination of peach and
yellow correctors will cancel blue or gray circles.
The Undertone and the Right Products
- If your undertone is ruddy (red), try
Physicians Formula Concealer Stick in Green.
- If your undertone is sallow (yellow),
try Revlon’s New Complexion Correct and Conceal Blemish Stick in
Yellow or Physicians Formula Color Corrective Bronzer in Mauve/Bronze.
- If you have olive (green) undertones
try Max Factor’s Erase Secret in White or Physicians Formula Concealer
Stick in White or Maybelline’s Cover Stick in White.
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