WOMEN - 3 Tips to Heavenly Skin

by Rebekah Sager

When it comes to great-looking skin, there are quite literally hundreds of products, treatments, suggestions, and even old wives tales. You can buy Le Mer for a lot of dough, you can shoot your face up with Botox, you can peel, exfoliate, brush, mud, or massage your skin into beauty, but what we found was that when it comes to your skin, simple is the best and it may matter more what you eat than what you put onto your skin.

So, after weeding through Dermatologists, cosmetologists, and a plethora of lines, we’ve come up with a few ideas that won’t break the bank, but still give your skin its best shot to looking fresh, dewy, and flawless–and isn’t that what everyone is looking for?

1. Forget expensive lotions and potions to moisturize and replenish your skin. It turns out that honey (a natural humectant with antimicrobial properties) belongs in your bathroom vanity as well as in your tea. According to the National Honey Board, honey is pure, natural, and attracts and retains moisture. As an anti-irritant, honey is a preferred ingredient for those with sensitive skin and acne, and can be used to help manage breakouts while keeping your skin moisturized. Manufacturers have used honey in everything from hand lotions and moisturizers to bar soaps and bubble baths. Look for honey in store-bought beauty products or simply add a squeeze of honey to your moisturizer, shampoo or soap at home.

For some extra pampering, try whipping up a simple beauty recipe yourself.

Cucumber Honey Eye Nourisher (Makes 4 treatments)

• 1 Tbsp. aloe vera gel
• 2 tsp. cucumber, peeled with seeds removed
• 1/2 tsp. chamomile tea
• 1/2 tsp. honey

Directions: Steep chamomile tea in boiling water. Set aside to cool. In food processor or blender, combine cucumber, aloe vera and honey. Blend on low setting. Add chamomile tea. Blend until smooth. Apply gently under eyes using ring finger. Store in glass dish covered with plastic wrap in refrigerator for up to one week. Best applied chilled.

2.Turns out great skin is directly related to what you eat.  According to ZICO Coconut Water, and the registered dietician they work with, Erin Palinski, beautiful skin is all about good nutrition.

Palinski recommends these great nutritional tips to helping keep your skin youthful.

• Snacking on tart cherries because they’re rich in melatonin which may help to boost UV protection and promote cell growth.
• Stay hydrated with water or ZICO Coconut water. With the increase in heat and humidity, your body sweats more and if you are not replacing the fluids and electrolytes lost in sweat, your skin can look dull and dry.
• Reach for watermelon. It contains a high water content to help promote hydration and is rich in the nutrient lycopene, which helps to preserve and protect connective skin tissue helping skin to look smoother, tighter, and more youthful.
• Toss pomegranate seeds into your summer salad. They’re rich in antioxidants, decrease inflammation of the skin, and may reduce the ability of UVB rays to damage skin cells, helping to protect against skin cancer and premature aging.

3) “Cleansing is, in my opinion, the most important and transformative part of a skincare routine. It is literally the first step to heavenly skin, without it, heavenly skin may allude those seeking it. Those who cleanse thoroughly, in general, have brighter, smoother, healthier-looking skin,” says Suzanne LeRoux, president of the One Love Organics skincare line.

LeRoux recommends what she calls “double cleansing” because it thoroughly removes the daily dirt, dust, oxidized sebum, dead skin cells and residue from makeup, sunscreens and skincare. Sold in solid or firm in the tub/tube, they liquefy when rubbed between palms and massaged on to a dry face. You can find one of these amazing double cleansing skincare sets through One Love Organics.com

Bonus: Board-certified dermatologist at Mount Sinai school of medicine and author of Skin Rules: Trade Secrets From a Top New York Dermatologist, Dr. Debra Jaliman, says, “Exfoliate, exfoliate, exfoliate! That would give you the prettiest most glowing skin. I like sonic cleansing systems. My favorite is the Clarisonic because they have different brush heads for different skin types.

Jaliman goes on to say, to get your beauty rest. It’s important to sleep 7 to 9 hours per night because that’s when the skin repairs itself. Make certain not to sleep right on your face so you don’t wrinkle your face. If you do you may get sleep lines. If you must sleep on your side you can always get a beauty pillow or sleep on A satin pillowcase.