Shopping Scandal

Using sunscreen and moisturizing your skin are the most important steps in keeping a healthy skin that looks beautiful and young. Check out my post about Consumer Reports best sunscreen products! For many years, I worked long hours (many times over 12 hours a day!) and had irregular working hours. One day I looked in the mirror and I noticed that my skin was taking a toll for all that abuse. My skin was dry and lines started showing at the frown area. I tried several drugstore products that gave me partial results and left me unsatisfied.I didn't really look any better after a few minutes. I needed something "industrial strength"! Yes, that's a figure of speech, but that's how I felt.  I should have made it a habit earlier, in my early 20s, but late is better than never! Then one day I ran into Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion and, though I was skeptical of the name, I had heard good things about Clinique, so I tried it at the counter......

Have you noticed how babies and children have very smooth, translucent, moist skin? As we age and accumulate sun damage on our skin, we not only develop lines and wrinkles, but we also get dark blotches and loose the translucency of the skin...that alabaster look of young skin. Sun exposure and hormonal changes - both during pregnancy and menopause or  with the use of oral contraceptives, all conjure to speed up the aging process and look. Retinol, a form of vitamin A, has long been known and used to make your skin more youthful and beautiful and a favorite of skin doctors. Retinol and its prescription form called tretinoin increase the turnover of cells, letting new cells replace older ones. It also increases the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid by your skin. All of this results in an increase in elasticity of you skin, less wrinkles and a naturally moisturized skin....hence the more youthful look. Retinol has been in my beauty bag for years and I saw my...

Ahhhh summer....lovely and cheery! And sunny! And because it's sunny and lovely we go out to the beach, do more sports and stay outside longer. Hence the need for a good sunscreen. It's also a chance to learn that the sun is there even in the cold days of winter, in the light reflected by snow and that sunscreens should be a part of our beauty and health routines all year long! The question is...what is a good sunscreen? Consumer Reports just published the ratings for the best sunscreens are and I'm giving you a list of the top 7 sunscreens below! It is no news that excessive exposure to sunlight is a double-edged sword.  While we need it to keep our circadian rhythms (that which tells you it's time to sleep and time to wake up) and vitamin D, it definitely is a risk factor for skin cancers of all types including the aggressive melanoma. It also promotes the development of ugly looking solar keratosis and skin dark spots and speeds up skin aging. Remember that...