Skin Perfection

Hello Great Friends! I've been quite busy lately and very much apologize for my lack of posts on madison muse.  It is one of the things I love to do for so long and unfortunately took a back seat to my very demanding job! Will do my best to be better.

One subject, I love to research is skin care.  I found how lack of sleep can ruin a complexion and stress wears on your face like a old leather jacket.  If we can remember to smile more, it  shows up as pretty, confident and happy.

Clarisonic Brush is a Great tool.  I use with a good cleanser such as Borghese or Clinque

Your skin  actually feels so much smoother! 

More advice from professionals:

If you want to spend less time fussing over your skin, your goal should be to have the healthiest skin possible. The easiest way to keep your skin healthy is to eat right and stay hydrated. That means drinking at least eight ounces of water a day and eating foods that are anti-inflammatory and contain lots of anti-oxidants,  "Also, low glycemic index foods such as salads, bright red and green vegetables, omega 3 rich wild salmon, avocados, olive oil, and blueberries are great for your complexion." Your skin is a projection of what is going on internally. Translation: If you're overdoing it on the junk food, your skin will be the first to tattle on you.

Large Pores:   Who doesn't want a poreless, even-toned complexion

?So when New York Dermatologist Eric Schweiger suggested I try Laser Genesis as a way to get it, I was all ears. "It stimulates collagen production to decrease redness, improve the texture of the skin, and shrink the appearance of pores and wrinkles," he said, before adding that it's practically painless, not to mention safe for every skin type. I couldn't make an appointment fast enough. 

What it's like:
There was no pain — just a bit of warmth when the laser hit my skin. After the treatment, the dermatologist applied a cooling, aloe vera sheet mask to my face, followed by a soothing moisturizer. It's also fast — I was in and out in 20 minutes. (Just before leaving, I did pop into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't too red to be seen in public. You could barely tell I had had anything done — there was just a little redness.) 

The results:
When I woke up the next morning, my pores looked more refined and my red marks were less inflamed. And the results got better over time: My skin looked less oily, and more even, each day. 

The fine print:
Like most light treatments, you'll need four to six sessions in order to see a major difference. Schweiger recommends spacing the treatments two weeks apart, starting at least six months before your wedding. Price varies depending upon the dermatologist, but he charges $400 per treatment and offers a special buy-five-get-one-free package.

  Style errors to make you look older!

 Get some great rest and no stress!

Drink lots of water!  Eat plenty of veggies

                                                    

Beautiful Skin Tips

                                               

Happy Weekend Mates!  Hope you had a good nights sleep and ready for a great day.  Remember  it's spring ahead tonight, so change your clocks.   Today I am giving myself a home facial before heading  out to shop.   In my research for good skin I found some interesting  facts.  Of course  sharing  with my readers is my favorite thing to do.   Check out the video at the bottom for easy  home skin scrub!

 Here is the link to past skin posts for great skin!    Essential foods for beautiful skin

Smooth Skin,  Skin your best accessory!      Hope you have a joyous day!

This post is from Elle Magazine: On Skin

Ready for some eye-opening news? According to a recent study by the University of Göttingen in Germany, the appearance of the skin on a woman's hands, chest, and arms has a huge impact on her perceived age. The 240 participants of the P&G-sponsored study judged women with dull, dry skin to be older than their actual age, and those with smooth, radiant skin to be up to 10 years younger. But here's the kicker: Those delicate areas are especially prone to visible signs of aging, such as sun damage, and a disparity between the conditions of the face and body can exaggerate the overall appearance of aging. So while it's important to put our best face forward, it's time to go full steam ahead with whole-body beauty routines, too. What does this mean? Daily sun protection and moisturization, of course, as well as looking for products that go beyond the basics and fight dullness, dryness, and lack of elasticity on all fronts. Thankfully, advances in skin care are making it as easy as one, two, three....

1. RUB IT IN
Hydrated skin not only looks great (glowing, healthy, and even-toned), but it's stronger, more resilient, and better equipped to fend off irritation. Moisturizers contain two skin-saving components: Humectants, such as glycerin and hyaluronic acid, draw water from the air into the skin; and emollients, such as mineral oil and dimethicone, strengthen the lipid barrier, holding in moisture. To keep skin supple post-shower, use a body wash that contains hydrating ingredients, such as jojoba butter, or try an inshower body lotion.

2. CALM DOWN
If skin's lipid barrier is compromised and irritants slip through, the resulting inflammatory response
leads to redness, itching, and overall discomfort. Prevent this by using fragrance-free lotions with niacinamide, a skin-strengthening and protecting derivative of vitamin B3. To calm skin quickly, spot-treat
areas of concern with capillary-constricting cold compresses, which draw redness away from skin's surface, or pop OTC antihistamine, which blocks the same chemical that produces allergy symptoms.

3. SNACK SMART
Your diet doesn't just affect your waistline— it can also save your skin: Green tea's main freeradical-
fighting polyphenol EGCG not only protects collagen, it could help prevent skin cancer; wild salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which aid skin's barrier-repair function; sweet potatoes are chock-full of antioxidant beta-carotene (synthesized as fine-linefighter vitamin A); blueberries' antioxidant content protects precious cells inside and out; and spinach's antioxidant lutein helps preserve your vision (less squinting equals fewer wrinkles).

4. HIT THE SACK
While you're fast asleep, your body is busy releasing hormones that boost cell turnover. Take advantage of this nightly skin-renewal window by applying age-fighting actives such as beta hydroxy acid and retinoids, both potent (but sunsensitizing) exfoliating wrinkle-erasers. It may sound tacky, but trade up to satin sheets if you want to realize your dream of sag-free skin: Over time, rubbing and reduced circulation caused by tossing and turning in rougher sheets can create more friction and break down collagen, leading to wrinkles.

5. BRUSH IT OFF
Dead skin cells? Yuck! Keep skin smooth and boost radiance with cell-sloughing exfoliation. A physical exfoliant, such as a scrub, a body wash with gentle beads, or a razor (when shaving, of course), buffs away debris, while alpha or beta hydroxy acids dissolve the bonds between cells, so the old cells easily wash away, revealing soft, glowing skin.

6. FIRM UP
Though age and sun damage can cause skin to lose elasticity over time, fighting back is getting easier:
Recent research shows that maintaining a healthy, moisturized epidermis will help prevent the breakdown of the skin's collagen and elastin infrastructure. Look for creams containing barrier-strengthening palmitoyl peptides and niacinamide, as well as caffeine, which can tighten skin on both the face and the body (see ya, cellulite!) by revving up circulation and hydration.

7. ERASE WRINKLES 
The best way to banish wrinkles before they begin is to develop good habits, such as vetoing sunbathing and cigarettes, which trigger free radicals that damage DNA in cells. Regular application of retinol- or niacinamide-laced creams from head to toe will help thicken skin and boost collagen synthesis, and it's also important to keep hydrated with hyaluronicacid- rich moisturizers—if skin is thirsty, fine lines will be
more apparent. Ready to bring out the big guns? Inoffice procedures such as Thermage can rebuild collagen
from the inside out.

8. GET EVEN
Don't neglect skin below the neck: Brown spots on the chest and on the backs of the hands are red flags of aging just as much as when they appear on the face. Fade them away with products containing melanin-reducing niacinamide, glucosamine, and vitamin C, or visit the derm for an intense pulsed light treatment (IPL), which can quell overactive melanocytes, the pigment-producing cells in skin.

9. BRIGHTEN UP
Glowing skin can make you feel sexier and look a few pounds thinner, but avoid harmful rays. Selftanners add sun-free radiance to light-tomedium skin tones and reduce ashiness in darker tones. The active ingredient, DHA, reacts with the outer layer of skin cells, turning them brown. Scared of streaks? Use a daily lotion with a low dose of DHA for a gradual, subtle glow, or try a body wash or lotion with shimmer.

10. LOOK AHEAD
Protect your skin for a beautiful future. A full-on solar defense starts with broad-spectrum sunscreen that guards against both UVB and UVA rays by using a mix of physical blockers (titanium dioxide and zinc oxide) and chemical blockers (avobenzone/Parsol 1789). Make sunscreen the first step in your regimen; applying it to bare skin binds it to cells, boosting its efficacy.

Winter Skin Care

Hey Madison friends! Hope your week is going well!

With the cold weather coming on, you need to take action now to breathe life into your looks. Here's what the experts suggest.

Winter weather affects your skin in several ways. Dry skin is the most common result of seasonal weathering. Cold winter air lacks humidity and dries up natural oils in your skin, causing it to lose its moisture [source: Casey]. Bitter winter winds also cause chapping and windburn. This leads to rough, cracked skin that can feel tight and uncomfortable. The obvious solution might seem to be to getting in out of the cold, but during the winter months, indoor heating systems dry inside air, too. Instead of finding relief indoors, you're likely to suffer an extra dose of the drying effect.

1)  Try not to take too many hot baths in the winter. 

When cold weather reigns outside, you might be tempted to soak in a hot bath, but this will cause irritated skin more harm than good. Hot water strips the oils from your skin, and if you have dry skin, you want to add as much moisture as possible. You don't need to eliminate bath time altogether, but to help your dry skin heal, you should keep your showers and baths short and use lukewarm instead of hot water.

2)  When washing your face, let water dry naturally on your skin  instead of rubbing , try patting and pressing cream onto your face.

3)  Continue to drink lots of water

4)  Use eye moisturizer during the day.  

5)  Steam showers are wonderful for your skin. Keep door closed
let skin absorb the steam as long as possible! 

6)  Eat healthy foods and plenty of salads to feed your skin

7) Don't forget to  especially moisturize your hands, neck and decollete.  

Pay close attention to your eyes

Give eyes a wake-up call by placing a tiny bit of satin white or ivory eye shadow under your brow bone and another very small dab just above your lash line in the middle of your lid.

"This will catch the light and give the illusion of brightness," says Brigitte Reiss-Andersen, a New York–based makeup artist.

Camouflage dark circles with concealer.

Beautiful Skin Your Best Accessory

Secrets to beautiful skin our most delicate accessory is rather simple. It's easy! Start  with a  healthy diet .  Get lots of fruits and vegetables, especially the leafy green ones. Healthy, beautiful, glowing skin starts from the inside. Junk, greasy foods are going to make you feel less vibrant inside and will show on the outside as well. Give your body the good stuff it needs!

Dr Oz says: Do you ever wonder why people from certain countries, like those in the Mediterranean have such radiant skin? The secret is in their diet, rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats. So here are some skin-loving foods that I recommend you get more of to get that same glow. Avocados, eggs, legumes, and nuts, all contain biotin, a vitamin that helps prevent dry skin. Eat Salmon for it’s wrinkle-fighting omega threes and antioxidants. And drink green tea. It contains polyphenals that protect against damage from the Sun.And try pomegranates. They are loaded with antioxidants. This ancient fruit stimulates Collagen production.Eat these super-foods for younger and healthier skin, and try to improve your health overall, because health is beautiful.YOU: Being Beautiful: The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty

Sweating is great for your skin! Our skin acts as our third kidney, detoxifying our bodies. When we  workout, run or exert ourselves, not only do we sweat to cool our bodies, we also increase blood flow, which releases toxins. Sweating is something you need to do regularly-not just because of the cardiovascular and fat burning  benefits of exercise, but also,for the body cleansing function.Healthy Skin Diet

How important is water . Make sure you get plenty of water every day -- six or more eight ounce glasses of water. Your body is made up of mostly water. The more you drink, the more hydrated your skin will be. Hydrated skin is healthy skin. Water also fills you up when you have cravings . Try drinking a full glass of water to hold you over until meal time.

Wear sunscreen . Not just during the summer. Not just when you're going to the beach. Every day that you will be outside or near a window. Sun damage leads to premature aging. Wrinkles, lines,  that oh-so-special leathery look... and the threat of skin cancer. Don't forget the backs of your hands, the back of your neck, and your chest -- three places that tend to show signs of age quickly.

Bobbi Brown Beauty Rules

1. Stop smoking. It is bad for you inside and out, and can lead to heart disease and several forms of cancer.Use the right kind of soap, especially on your face. Knowing your skin type, will help you pick the appropriate products. Your skin may be normal, dry, oily, or a combination of the three.Talk to a skin care expert  about your skin-care routine. They may be able to point you towards quality products that are right for your type of skin.Eating for Beauty
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3. Feed Your Skin, Starve Your Wrinkles: Eat Your Way to Firmer, More Beautiful Skin with the 100 Best Anti-Aging Foods

1. Don't abuse your skin. Don't bake in the sun for eight hours a day all summer. Don't expose your skin to high winds and other harsh conditions.Perform a full-body  exfoliation at least once per season. You can make your own exfoliating scrub by mixing coarse grain salt with oil (even olive oil from the kitchen will work) and rubbing it all over your body. Use a commercial exfoliating scrub for your face; the skin there is more delicate.Think about a deep cleansing mask or facial to jump start your new skin care routine.Don't agonize over every flaw. Look in the mirror every day and tell yourself that you are beautiful!Feed Your Face: Younger, Smoother Skin and a Beautiful Body in 28 Delicious Days

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