How to keep yourself beautiful all the time

How many times have you heard such phrases like, "The beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder." or "The true beauty is inside your heart"..

Lets not contradict the wise words, however I do feel that certain amount of beauty lies in one's over all appearance. No matter how good in character a person is, if he/she is haggardly dressed, looks unhygienic or untidy; it really acts as a repellant.

Consequently, the same thing applies viceversa; nomatter how amazing your appearance is, or how expensive your dress is, a scowling face or rowdy manners are not an attractive feature.

Be it a man or a women, looking good amounts much for feeling good. There fore it is important that one should take care in dressing nicely as well as practicing healthy hygiene steps. Simple acts like washing your hair atleast twice a week or mantaining clean nails depicts good acts of hygiene & presents a pleasant image of an individual.

Tips for a glowing skin

The skin is most important part of an individual, no matter how unattractive you consider your features to be, if you have unblemished, clear skin it can make anyone look gorgoeus!! Follow the tips below to achieve an amazing skin that glows & shows off your beauty.

• Water is the essence of life, it is vital to include atleast 8-12 glasses of water in your daily routine. The proper intake helps to detox your system of any anti bodies thus ensuring a healthy inner system. Incorporating juices & plain water both is beneficial, however too many juices or fizzy drinks can actually be bad for you due to their high sugar content. Opt for fresh juices without any added sweetness, like nutrient rich carrots, beet, cucumber, oranges, apples etc. Or you can blend a few together to concoct a juicy beauty treat.
  
• Cleansing with milk or cream shows a major improvement in complexion as well as the quality of the skin. Just apply on face & massage in soft circular motions till the milk/cream is partially absorbed. Wipe off with cotton balls or a tissue paper. Splash some toner to close pores.


• Using a sunblock is essential if you want to acquire good skin. It also prevents wrinkles, pigmentation & risks for cancer or any other skin disease. Use a sunblock with SPF 15 or higher & apply 20 minutes before going out. Reapply if you wash your face or if staying longer in the sun. Wash off the lotion after the sun exposure & put on a light moisturizer to let your skin breathe.
  
• Always go for good quality & less amount of makeup, Make sure you remove it all before going to bed. Take special care in removing eye makeup as it might cause dark circles or wrinkles & frighteningly loss of eye lashes!
  
• Twice every week, rub a chilled slice of tomato over your skin, let the skin absorb its juice for atleast 15 minutes then wash off with plain water. This quick treatment ensures smooth glowing skin, reduces acne & improves complexion.
  

Pretty hands and feet

When you meet someone, the first greeting is usually by extending a hand for a warm handshake. If you come across a person with filthy nails and scally skin, you would never be tempted to shake his or hers hand. Therefore it is important to keep your hands and feet clean and fresh so as to avoid such embarassment. The task does not necessarily involve high class treatments or visits to an expensive saloon. Simply ashing your hands properly with soap and keeping them moisturized leaves the skin silky soft and wrinkle free. Clip and file your nails short. Buff them for the added oomph! a sparkly ring or a chunky bracelet or anklet would adorn your lovely skin brilliantly. Some easy tricks to keep yourself pampered and looking lovely are:

• Combine half a teaspoon of olive oil with grainy sugar, massage this all over your hands and feet. Reaching between the fingers/ toes and around your nail bed until the sugar dissloves. Wash with plain water and moisturize.
  
• If you are running late for an appointment or work, simply use your face scrub on your hands and wash off. This will leave your skin feeling soft and smooth in no time.


• Mix together a teaspoon of pure glycerine and few drops of lemon juice. Add in 2-3 drops of almond oil if you want and rub all over your arms and legs, especially targetting areas like elbows and knees. This is a daily treatment for amazing skin and improves comlexion as well. Leave on till it is absorbed naturally by the skin. However do not expose yourself to the sun while wearing this lotion as it might give you a sun burn!
  

Don't forget to smile!

These are just a few measures that you can incorporate in your life to improve your physical self. However it is vital to perk up your confidence and your self respect in order to truly reinvent your self and look good any time, any where. Each person has his or her favorite beauty routine, something that works best for them, so you need to observe what suits you most. Feeling good about oneself, unintentionally creates an aura of happiness and confidence. Don't forget that a sweet smile does more for your image than a hot expensive dress does! So stop fretting about the never ending troubles in your life and just learn to be more optimistic about yourself, this would make any woman or man look appealing and smart.

Honey for Skin Care

When you think of honey, what do you see in your mind? Do you see that little bear container filled with the amber syrup? Or, do you see the little girl on the jar of Sue Bee honey that I remember as a kid? Most people have some memory attached to honey. Honey however is proving to be worth so much more than a comfort food-memory maker.

The honey of most of our youths, the one we came to know and love, was a light amber color. Yet, like most things in our lives today, we have more choices available. Now we can find honey ranging from almost colorless to very dark, almost black. This wide range of color is dependent on what nectars the bees have available to forage.

Full of amazing properties, you may have heard that honey was found in the pyramids-preserved and edible. So it has an amazing shelf life! Beat that!

It is making its mark in the skin care, beauty, and healthcare industries. Not just those wanting organic and natural products, it is proving itself to be a valuable tool in the mainstream also.

Let's focus on skin to begin with. In the simplest terms, honey is a natural humectant. This is the ability to attract moisture and hold it. People with oily skin conditions especially find this helpful, moisture without oiliness.

Honey is a wonderful ingredient in facial masks and in other beauty products. Here are a few recipes to get you started and leave your skin feeling pampered and healthy.

Oatmeal and Honey Cleanser

Mix together:

1 tablespoon Honey

2 tablespoons Oatmeal (If you use Old Fashioned Oats, Whirr for a moment in coffee grinder or food processor

½ teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar (I like Bragg's Organic)

Optional: ½ teaspoon Oil (Sweet Almond, Emu, Jojoba, Rice Bran, Grapeseed, Olive, etc) this is really nice if your skin is dry. Omit if you have oily skin.

Mix together and massage gently over face. If you desire, leave on for 5 minutes or so. Rinse with warm water. For a really delicious experience, warm the mixture slightly prior to massaging on face.

Honey Blueberry Facial Mask

½ cup Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

½ cup Honey

½ cup Plain Yogurt

Rinse blueberries and place in blender or food processor. Add the honey and yogurt, blend until smooth. With fingertips and a light touch, smooth over face. Let remain for 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse with cool water and a damp cloth.

Here is one that is easy and leaves you feeling so silky.

Oatmeal Honey and Milk Bath

¼ cup Honey

¼ cup Buttermilk

¼ cup Oatmeal (ground for a bit in blender, food processor, or coffee grinder)

Just add to the bath and soak. If you like you can add another ¼ cup of a skin loving oil. Just take care as this will make the bath tremendously slippery. If you want to make it more luxuriant add a few drops of a skin safe essential oil like lavender. Cleopatra was a lover of honey and milk baths.

In the health care realm, honey is being tested on burns, pressure sores (aka decubitus ulcers), surgical incisions, acne, and more. It has had amazing results. Honey has been used for thousands of years in the treatment of wounds of all kinds. We are now showing scientific studies to back up what the ancients were putting into practice.

It seems the type of honey with the most antibacterial activity is Manuka Honey. This honey, from New Zealand, has an antibacterial activity referred to as "Unique Manuka Factor". You will sometimes see a "UMF" number on this honey. That means that it has been laboratory tested and assigned this number, assessing its potency. The higher the number, the higher the antibacterial activity.

Honey is being tested by placing it directly on wounds, or on the dressings for the wound. The results have been remarkable. It has even been effective against the pathogens MRSA (Methicillan Resistant Staph. Aureus) and VRE (Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci)-very nasty, tough bugs. It is also showing that it can reduce scarring and pain in burns.

Sweet in more ways than the obvious. Honey, it's not just for toast anymore.

Homemade Beauty Products: Masks & Scrubs

Easy To Make At Home

Herbal and natural beauty products are easy to make at home. Their cost, when compared to the commercial varieties are very inexpensive. Consider that a LUSH bath bomb runs about $5.00 plus shipping and you can make your own for less than $1.00.

They make great, frugal, and personal Christmas gifts when they are packaged creatively and added to a special basket. And, making natural cosmetics may turn into a work at home, money making opportunity for you as well. Hey, LUSH started somewhere, right?

Remember that these products are natural and most of them need to be stored in the refrigerator. With items like tea tree oil and lemon juice, test the product on a small area of your skin to make sure your skin is not sensitive to those products.

For a luxurious spa treatment warm the masks before using!

Natural Scrubs

Facial scrubs keep your skin looking radiant by sloughing off old, dead skin cells and keeping the pores clean. Since the skin on your face is delicate it is important that you keep harsh chemicals away from it and use products that are formulated to work with your type of skin.

Natural Scrub For Dry, Mature Skin:

1/2 c organic coconut oil

1 cup sugar

a drop of rose otto essential oil

You may want to let the coconut liquefy at room temperature for a while and then add the sugar. Allow to firm up. Use a tablespoon full and rub gently into your skin. Rinse with warm water.

Natural Scrub for Oily Skin

1/2 c almond oil

1/2 c sea salt

a squeeze of lemon juice

Mix until a paste forms. Rub gently on skin. Rinse well with warm water.

Body Scrub

1/4 C Brown Sugar

1 Tbs Dry Milk Powder

2 Tbs Oatmeal

1/2 tsp vanilla (just for scent)

1/4 c coconut oil

Mix into a paste. Use it to scrub your body to cookie scented smoothness.

Masks For Dry Skin

Masks are created to put on your face and then leave for a period of time. these are especially formulated to moisturize and protect dry skin.

Pumpkin Mask:

1/2 c pumpkin puree

1/4 c coconut oil, softened

2 Tbs honey

2 Tbs cream (optional)

Mix well. Spread on face and leave for 20 minutes. Wipe off with a warm, soft cloth.

Avocado Mask

warning: make this fresh each time..it discolors.

2 Tbs avocado mashed

1 Tbs coconut oil

1 tsp cream

Leave on face for 20-30 minutes. Wipe off with a warm , soft cloth.

Banana Buttermilk Mask

This one also discolors:

2 Tbs mashed banana

1 tsp honey

1 Tbs whole buttermilk

1 Tbs softened coconut oil

Mix together and spread on face. Leave on for 20-30 minutes, then rinse off with warm water.

Masks For Oily and Problem Skin

Strawberry Refreshing Mask

1/2 c strawberries mashed

1 tbs honey

1 -2 drops tea tree oil

Spread on face. After 20 minutes rinse with warm water.

Sage Rosemary Cleansing Mask

1 tsp dried sage crumbled

1 tsp dried rosemary crumbled

1/4 c french green clay powder

Mix together. When ready to use take a tablespoon or so of the powder and mix with enough water to make a thin paste and smooth over face. Let dry for 20 minutes. Rinse and dry.

Yogurt

2 Tbs plain yogurt

1 tsp lemon juice

Spread on face. Let dry for 20 minutes and rinse with warm water.

Natural Skin Care from your Kitchen

Most of the women spend a fortune on beauty. We try just about anything to make us more beautiful. But these beauty products are either expensive or not effective. When we are tired of all the over-the-counter beauty products that promises us an instant effect which by the way didn’t happen most of the time, here are some of the easy, no-fuss solutions to some of the beauty problems that you may have:


Hair & Scalp

• Dandruff – Use tomato juice in your hair, it soothes dry, itchy scalp by removing the scales and replaces its pH balance.


• Dry Hair – Mayonnaise works well as a deep conditioning treatment mask. Mayonnaise has egg yolks that supply the hair with protein, vinegar that normalizes the pH balance of your hair, and vegetable oils that lubricate hair follicles.


• Dull Hair – Pure fruit juices bring back life and color into your hair. Pure lemon juice brings out the shine and enhances the highlights in all hair types. Cranberry juice brings out the highlights in dark brown hair.

Eyes

• Dark under eye circles / eye puffiness – Apply ice cubes, cold water, tea, wet tea bags, milk or slices of either cucumber or potatoes over your eyes. Let it stay for about 10 minutes to allow the delicate tissues under your eyes to tighten and shrink to normal.


• Tired eyes – Saturate a huge piece of cotton with cold milk, place it over your eyes and relax for 15 minutes. Rinse afterwards. Or you can use an ice cube, composes of water and chamomile tea. To make this, fill an ice tray w/ water halfway then pour up chamomile tea to make up the other half. Freeze. Then just rub around your eyes when your eyes feel tired.

Face & Skin

• Wrinkles and lines – Smooth wrinkles and lines on your forehead by applying cooking oil or olive oil on them. Oil contains fatty acids similar to the composition of the skin fat and therefore complements the skin.
  
• Low surface blackheads – exfoliate using cornmeal, oatmeal or sea salt.
  
• Deep-seated blackheads – Put on a facial mask that is made up of some mixture of 2 tbsp cornmeal, 2 tbsp sesame oil and 5 tbsp of plain yogurt. Apply this on your face for seven consecutive days.
  
• Dry facial skin – Make a cornmeal scrub by mixing two teaspoons of cornmeal with just enough honey to make a paste. Using your fingertips, apply the concoction on your face with circular motion. Rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water. This will lift up dead skin cells and give way to new, fresh, and rosy skin.
  
• Flaky skin – Just rub either avocado or lemon on affected areas and let it stay for 15 minutes. You can also use egg yolk for this purpose.
  
  

The beauty from fruit

Olive oil

Over history olives have been a symbol of peace, (remember the olive branch held by the dove in its beek), its oil a symbol of rich and healthy cuisine, and a symbol of meditteranean lifestyle. Well, now I urge you to consider olive oil as a symbol of beauty. How do you think that is? Let's see:

• Olive oil is known for its contributions to our overall health: Keeping olive oil in our daily diet is a must since it helps prevent intestinal cancer, it balances high blood pressure, helps prevent aging, it is also good for the kidneys problems, gastrites, ulser and neural system.
  
• This oil brings liveliness to the skin when applied: The skin gains elasticity and smoothness. Also reduces stretch marks. Mix 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 & 1/2 cups of milk and add to bath water. This application saves you from applying any moisturizer after your bath.
  
• Soothes and enlivens aching feet, and is also beneficial for dry and sore skin on feet: mix 1 cup of milk with 3 tablespoons of oilive oil. put your feet in this mixture and wait for 10 minutes. Then wash your feet.


• After shaving men can apply olive oil to the shaved areas: Apply a teaspoonful of olive oil wait for 5 minutes then rinse.


• Can be used as ointment for chapped and dry lips: Add a few drops of apple vinegar to a teaspoonful of olive oil and apply to your lips
  
• Prevents hair loss, dandruff and gives a natural shine to hair: Mix 1 taplespoon of almond oil with 1 taplespoon of olive oil and and egg yolk. Apply to hair and massage. Wrap up with stretch film and wait for half an hour and then rinse. Apply once every two weeks.
  
• It's good for strengthening the nails, also adds a polished touch: Put your fingers in a bowl of luke warm olive oil with a few drops of lemon juice. Wait for 5 minutes then wash. Apply once a week.
  
• Soothes sun burns, and can be used as aftersun lotion: Mix 1 taplespoon of olive oil with 2 taplespoons of yoghurt. Apply to skin and wait for 15 minutes, then wipe with moist towel.

Lemon Oil

We already know about lemons in the kitchen, with its sour taste combined with olive oil, it makes the perfect salad dressing, and it is good for colds because it is a known source for vitamin C. Lemon oil is extracted from the fruit's rind and like the fruit itself has a sharp sour taste and is very acidic.

It helps heal fevers, soar throats, stomach burns, kidney stones, urinal problems and can be used for insect bites as antiseptic. It also helps clean the skin and is good for acne treatment since it helps balance the oil on skin surface. To use internally put a few drops of lemon oil into a small cup of warm water and add some honey for sweetening . Wash your mouth 3 times a day. You can also massage your skin with this mixture.

• Let your skin shine with this treatment mask: Mix orange, apricot and lemon oils with equal amounts of your wish and put in a bottle. Pour 1 teaspoon of this mixture onto a cotton ball and apply to face and neck. Wait for 30 minutes then wash with warm water.


• Use it in your bath water: Add a few drops and inhale the relieving odour. It calms you down and gives liveliness.


• Get rid of your selulites: Mix sesame, lemon, orange and rosemary oil with equal amounts and apply where needed.
  
• It gives your nails the perfect shine: Mix lemon oil with olive oil similar to as I explained in olive oil section, and apply to your nails. Wait for 5 minutes then wash.
  
• If you have spots on your skin: Mix 15 drops of lemon oil with an egg white and apply to cleansed skin. Wait for half an hour then rinse. You can do this 2-3 times a week.


• If you have oily hair it can balance the tone and give your hair a shine: After you wash your hair add a few drops of lemon oil to 2 lt. of water and apply to your hair.
  
• Helps acne treatment: add 4 drops of lemon oil to a tablespoon of honey and apply to skin, wait for 15 minutes then wash. you can apply this mask 1-2 times a week.

Note: Because it is very acidic don't use it on its own, always mix it with almond oil or apricot oil.

Cocoa Oil

This magical pod is the source to many wonderful things in life like chocolate, hot chocolate, chocalte pudding, chocolate cake etc. (I guess I got carried away :)) This miracle pod is also the source of cocoa oil. Cocoa oil is obtained from the liquid distillation of the cocoa seed which is very rich with oil, and it has a lovely odour as you can guess.

This oil when eaten helps clear the body of toxines, is good for kidney infections, is a good appetizer and It gives strength. Externally it is very helpful with skin problems such as stretch marks and getting a quick longlasting tan. For internal problems add a few drops of cocoa oil and a sugar cube to a small cup of water and take 2-3 times a day.

• Yeees, its wonderful for bronzing: Mix it with carrot oil and walnut oil, or you can use cocoa oil by istself. Apply before sun bath, and you'll see that it is a perfect moiturizer and even if your skin is very white you will get a super longlasting tan. Beware not to sunbath during the noon hours when the sun's position is high. Depending on where you are, approximately between 10 AM and 4 PM are not good hours to be under the sun.
  
• For getting long and healthy lookin' eyelashes: Mix cocoa oil with castor oil and apply to your eyelashes from root to end before bed. Apply for 15 days and you'll see the difference. You can use an old mascara container. Wash it up and pour the mixture into the container, it will be easier to apply to your eyelashes.


• Do you have stretch marks? This treatment will help: Mix cocoa oil with gliserine oil or almond oil and linseed oil and apply daily to skin. It will smoothen the appearance of your stretchmarks.