Top 10 Foods That Will Give You Great Skin - via Skincare Beauty Zone

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about food. Now, if you know me, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but the difference this time is I'm paying a lot more attention to foods that improve overall health and appearance. Call it vanity, getting older or becoming wiser but I've been contemplating  things like antioxidants, omega-3 / omega-6 ratios, healthy fats and vitamin packed foods that all benefit your skin.

I've been meaning to write a healthy-foods-for-beauty type post anyway, and I will, with my own twist, but I wanted to pass along this article I stumbled across from the Skincare Beauty Zone, because I thought it was direct and informing. Besides, these foods are great and I (try to) eat a lot of them frequently. C'mon! Dark chocolate? Pomegranates? Avocado? Salmon? Green tea? All very yummy. So read the article and let it inspire to you go shopping and before you know it, you'll have better skin than you used to!

Burt's Bees Pomegranate & Soy shampoo & conditioner product review

I had heard a lot of good things about Burt's Bees products when they first started gaining notoriety. They were being hyped everywhere! Celebrities were singing its praises, friends loved the way it smelled, magazines noted that they were environmentally friendly so I thought I would give some of their products a try.

I started with the shampoo and conditioner, which might not have been the right choice for me. I have very thick, curly, unruly hair, which is, more often than not, over-processed and damaged (actually, I chopped most of it off, so it's not as over-processed but it is very dry and sun-damaged). But no matter... I wanted to see what all the fuss was about so I decided to dive in. Here's what I think!

Mark's Daily Apple on how cutting out grains can help clear your skin

I wanted to pass along this post from Mark's Daily Apple (the site that I often reference when talking about my low glycemic index food intake and the Primal Blueprint). It talks about the correlation of grain intake (which causes inflammation), how grains can help cause acne and how changing what you put into your body can change what it puts out (but we already know this, right?). 

I followed the change that the Primal Blueprint suggests and I saw a dramatic improvement not only in my waistline but on my face once I started eliminating grains from my diet. It is not the exclusive way I got my skin to clear up (the acne.org regimen did most of the work), but was and still is an important part of it. And if you look like what I used to look like, you might want to consider giving it a try too!

Give it a read!

At-Home Pedicure Products

[me in O.P.I by Sephora Nail Colour in Hi Def]

It’s flip flop season! OK it’s unfair of me to write that because, well, in south Florida, EVERY season is flip flop season... But that makes it all the more important to take care of your tootsies!

I’ll be honest, I have gross feet. At least according to some people I know. Other people think they look like... feet! And feet are kinda gross to begin with, right? Well, not if I can help it.

I have been making more of an effort lately to have cute feet. I blame it on my first pedicure experience: I had just moved to Florida and I decided to, for the first time in my life, get a pedicure. Well, apparently my feet resembled something like a rotting carcass because you should have seen the horror on that poor woman’s face when she was scrubbing away at my heels. It was a mixture of fear, disgust and fury all in one little facial expression [In my defense, I had just moved to Florida 2 days before in the middle of the harsh NY winter and Manhattan is a pedestrian city = lots of walking! Plus, as a broke kid working 2 jobs, I just didn’t have money or time for a mani / pedi mmkay?] She then reprimanded me in her accented English by yelling “What happen to you feet! Why they look like this!” Embarrassing, yes - after all she did shame me for having nasty hooves, but you know what? She helped me see the light. So to that I say thank you, petite, angry woman at the nail salon. It is because of you that I never let my feet see the light of day without scrubbing, buffing and putting copious amounts of baby oil on them so the gleam as if they have been blessed by the baby Jesus himself.

If you’re like me and want to save yourself some embarrassment by going to the nail salon, try these at-home foot care products that helped make my puppies less cringe inducing:

I Don't Like Proactiv and Here's Why [Part 2]

[04/30/10 - with makeup]

Continued from Part 1:

In a span of 3 months my skin problem went from moderately bad to severe. And the severe result is not something I’d experienced even in puberty. Yes, I had always had bad skin (and I know “bad” is a relative term, but you see what I mean now by bad) but this time it was WORSE! To be 25 years old battling severe cystic acne was probably among the worse and most painful, -emotionally and physically- experiences of my life. And for those who think that this could have been brought on by stress? Again, I say bullshit. Yes, hormonal changes (i.e.: menstrual periods) had an affect on my skin, but the breakouts I’d get were minimal and were easily manageable. I could wait 4 days or, just use the Proactiv sulfur mask as a spot treatment, and boom! Problem solved. Not to mention another devastating and stressful event I had been through a few years prior to my Proactiv fall-out that took a further emotional toll on me, and my skin remained intact and unaffected. 

I Don't Like Proactiv and Here's Why [Part 1]

As I type this, I am watching an infomercial on QVC rolling my eyes and getting, unreasonably upset. Now I shouldn’t be so upset, but I have my reasons. Listening to the callers-in and QVC “hype-ers” talk about this product like its a miracle is, well, frustrating for me...

I’ll explain.
I was a faithful customer of Proactiv for 4 years. I grew up with terrible skin and battled it from ages 10 to, well, currently. Now when I say bad skin, I don’t mean typical pubescent breakouts, I had a face regularly littered with pimples (not zits) and it’s remaining dark acne scars for most of my teenage life and into my early 20’s, which is well, now (OK, fine, I’m in my mid 20’s now but whatev). I had seen the infomercials for Proactiv since I was 16 and always wanted to try it out, but didn’t have the means. I had tried everything I could think of at the time to try and get rid of my breakouts: from washing with this gentle cleanser to that harsh cleanser and using a home remedy instead to expensive over-the-counter products and they were always unsuccessful. But then I got older, and I got a job, moved away and was issued a credit card, so I decided to finally try Proactiv because everyone I knew had great things to say about it, family included and they all had great skin. So I with all the hope and prayers I could think of, I tried it and... it worked! I was so happy! It didn’t take too long for me to notice a change in my skin. My breakouts receded, and after a while (a long while; how long, I don’t remember) the scarring started to go away, tho it wasn’t permanent.

Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color review

Yesterday morning, I bought Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Fast Dry Nail Color in Brisk Blue. And, though this is not something I regularly do, I applied it while hard at work (my boss was out of town, OK?). Yes, a bit tacky (do the cool kids still say that?) but I couldn't help it! I mean, the color! Look at it!


But the review - lets get down to it.

10 THINGS to do to get great skin

[Image sauce]

It’s the beginning of the month and the 2nd half of the year! How are your New Year’s resolutions going? That bad, huh? Yeah, me too. I thought I’d try to re-instill my resolutions in a new series I’m calling 10 Things. 10 Things will focus on 10 good habits I will try to carry out every month for a whole month that will revolve around beauty, skincare and most likely, health care as well (since they tend to go hand in hand). Feel free to try them too, or make up your own 10 beauty related things!  [I stole this idea from the InStyle.com beauty segment called 10 Ways]    
                                 

10 Things to do to get better skin