Skin Food: Anti-Aging

It is important to to use a few specific products to help your skin stay healthy and radiant. Yet, these products alone aren’t enough to preserve your looks. Why not? Because once we pass our teens and 20s, our skin starts losing collagen (which keeps skin firm) and elastic tissue (which keeps it supple). The result: thinner skin, frown lines, and wrinkles. To fight these effects, you’ve got to feed your skin what it needs to build healthy collagen and elastic tissue. Here’s how to slow the signs of aging:

EAT PLENTY OF PROTEIN. Collagen is a protein, so all proteins (like chicken, lean meats, and soy) will help keep your skin strong and flexible.

DON’T YO-YO DIET. When you starve yourself, you deprive your body of the building blocks of collagen and your skin ages faster.

CUT BACK ON SUGAR. Sugar breaks down healthy tissue and interferes with your body’s ability to make new collagen, leaving your skin thinner and weaker. If you have a sweet tooth, try having just a spoonful of dessert, not the whole thing, and avoid high fructose corn syrup (found in soda, salad dressings and many sweet cereals).

LOAD UP ON VEGETABLES. Studies show that those who eat lots of colored vegetables have fewer wrinkles, especially crows feet around the eyes. So instead of rice, potatoes or pasta, have spinach, squash or green beans next to your chicken, fish, tofu or steak.

info: thebeautydepartment

7 Spring Makeup Trends & Skin care tips to try

• Fresh Faced: Before you consider any product change, get your skin in the best condition by exfoliating and using a face mask. Exfoliating your entire body two to three times per week as well and use a weekly face mask depending on your skin's needs. Our favorite exfoliator right now is Beautisol's Go Slough Yourself. It will blast away the last remnants of dry winter skin.

• Ditch the Heavy Foundation: We love a creamy foundation for winter, but change it out for a tinted moisturizer for spring and summer. No need to buy a new product; make your own by mixing your current liquid or cream foundation with your moisturizer.

• Enhance Your Eyes: This spring is all about small pops of color, and your eyelids are the perfect place for that pop. Orange, pinks, blues, and greens - pick your favorite and go for color this spring. We're also seeing an increase of the strong brow look (not to be confused with unkempt brows) and eyeliner pulled out into a cat-eye look. We're personally admiring those two looks from afar, but if you're bold enough, this is the time to find your inner kitty.

• Sporty Cheeks: Sporty-flushed cheeks are hot this spring. And lucky for you, you don't have to be a runner to get the look. Pick a creamy pink or peach blush like Laura Mercier's Innocent Peach this spring. Put on your favorite pair of yoga pants and let everyone think you just came out of the gym. We won't tell.

• Lucious Lips: There is a lip trend for everyone this spring. Glossy or matte - take your pick. Glossy pink is hot, hot, hot, and so easy everyone to wear. We are loving Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Cream Lip Polish for just about every skin tone. But if you want matte lips, try a nude or light pink such as Nars Madere.

• Hint of Glow: Don't dig out the self-tanner just yet. Using an illuminating bronzer like Josie Maran's Argan Illuminizer will give your face the illusion of inner glow without the fakeness of an early tan. Apply in moderation to the areas of your face that naturally hit the sun, plus your collarbone and your bare shoulders for a natural radiance.

• The Most Important Step: Sunscreen! We hope you've been wearing a facial sunscreen all winter long, but in case you haven't, start now. A mineral sunscreen like Clarins UV Plus Dayscreen is so light it's is almost invisible. The sun is responsible for most of your aging signs so apply after your foundation and again as needed throughout the day.

Credit: http://voices.yahoo.com/7-spring-makeup-trends-skin-care-tips-try-11051270.html?cat=69

What are some of your Spring beauty tips?

xoxo, Lilly