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Positively Beautiful
by Carmindy
How to Erase a Hangover
We have all been there: Blurry red eyes, dark circles, greyish complexion and a pounding headache. All in the name of fun! But it was worth it, wasn't it? Now it's time to face the music because you need to get up, pull it together and get your sorry butt to work. Here are some fast fixes to make it look like you went to bed at 8pm and drank nothing but herbal tea.
First thing you want to do is take a shower and blast yourself with a bit of cold water. It may be brutal, but it will shock your system and wake you up. After drying off, moisturize your face and body to replenish your skin and reinstate that hydration. Get out the eye drops and eliminate the tell tale signs of the party last night and then apply a luminizing face primer. Blend on foundation and dab Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy Fast Fix Concealer All Over Brightener under your eyes. This fast fix concealer will immediately wake up your eyes and brighten up your entire face.
Line your upper lashline with a navy blue eyeliner to make the white of your eyes look whiter. The color will also draw attention away from your not-so-fresh face. Sweep on a champagne highlighter across your lids, on top of cheekbones and on the inner corners of the eyes. Apply black mascara to top lashes only then swirl on a pop of bright cream blush to the apples of your cheeks. This is a quick way to freshen your look in a flash. Slick on a pink gloss and voila. Fresh as a daisy! Now drink tons of water, take two Advil and swear you will never drink again!
The Perils of Parabens
I'm sure you have seen a lot of beauty products on the market being advertised as paraben-free, but many women don't really have any idea what parabens actually are. They are a chemical preservative found in everything from shampoos to makeup and are used to keep products from going bad by preventing the growth of bacteria.
There is a debate about the safety of parabens because there are many conflicting studies, some of which link this additive to breast cancer. The chemical is thought to mimic estrogen, which plays a role in the development of this type of disease. They are also thought to disrupt the immune system, so many women who may be pregnant or who already have children may want to avoid using paraben products.
There are also many studies claiming in their defense that the low levels used in products have no harmful effect at all on the body and can't be proven to cause anything. I decided to go totally paraben-free when I created Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy, because if you can avoid a potential threat, do it! There are plenty of safe ingredients that will do the same job as parabens and keep your products from going bad. This way you can be worry-free and look totally fabulous. A few other great paraben-free products on the market are Bare Escentuals, Josie Maran and Korres. Check out Korres' Lip Butter, pictured at left.
Crack Packets: Eboost
They say beauty starts from within and I tend to agree, especially when it comes to the age-fighting properties of ingested antioxidants. By eating well and applying cosmetics enriched with antioxidants, we encourage our skin from both sides to stay line-free, firm and fabulous. That's why I infused my entire line of Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy with such ingredients as pomegranate, vitamin A and E and aloe.
I always love a quick fix, and really with our crazy busy lives who doesn't? So I will share with you my little beauty secret about what I like to call my crack packets. I call them this because I can never get enough and covet them like an addict. They are called EBoost and are little packets of antioxidant powders that you throw into your water bottle throughout the day and guzzle on the go. They are totally natural and give you energy, immunity, focus and contain powerful antioxidants like grapeseed, green tea and vitamin c, that will help keep your skin radiant.
We may not always eat perfectly and many of us don't like taking handfuls of horse pills every morning, so this effervescent bubbly goodness is a surefire way to get the goods easily. I find drinking a few of these a day even helps curb my appetite. Taking care of your yourself and being happy is the best beauty advice I can give, so to start your healthy addiction visit eboost.com.
Melt It Off
One thing I openly admit is that I can be impatient, especially when it comes to taking my makeup off. I am religious about the process but I like it to wash off it a flash so I can begin my nightly face cream ritual, which is a soothing process for me.
I know I may be weird, but I'm a beauty product dork and going through my steps of serums and creams at night makes me happy, the taking off the makeup part, not so much. That is why I am singing to the mountaintops about the new Rodial A-List Cleanser.
This stuff melts off makeup in an instant; it's kind of crazy actually how well it works. I was really blown away the first time I used it. You simply massage on a pump of this slippery gel-like formula and then wipe it away with a damp warm muslin cloth, cotton square or washcloth. I tried it washing it off with just water and it worked perfectly that way, too.
I have a magnifying mirror that I always look into after testing a new cleanser and almost always there is residue left behind. When I use this cleanser, not a speck was left on my skin. It was magically clean. Another bonus is that it contains Pomegranate Ellagic Tannin, which boasts natural anti-aging, firming and collagen boosting properties, so your skin is cleansed and infused with good stuff at the same time.
Rodial A-List Cleanser also helps fade age spots and hyperpigmentation, which has been the bane of my existence for years. So for me, this stuff is totally worth the sticker shock of $59. A great way to make this product last and get more bang for your buck is to cleanse your face with your normal cleaner and just use a hint of this special sauce to erase stubborn eye makeup. You can find it at spacenk.com.
My Redbook Photo Shoot
There is just nothing more fun then working with a fantastic group of friends and sharing beauty tips and tricks to help empower each other. That was the scene at a recent photo shoot I did for Redbook magazine at Shoot Digital Studios in NYC.
The story will appear in the magazine's January issue and is all about feature focus and playing up your best assets. I truly believe that using makeup to enhance your natural beauty and your best features instead of using it to change what you don't like about yourself is more powerful. It helps you embrace your uniqueness and shine with confidence. I took 4 real women and showcased their best features with my Sally Hansen Natural Beauty Inspired By Carmindy line.
One gorgeous girl had beautiful lips so I applied a wonderful shade of adobe lipstick to compliment her mocha skin. Another beauty had lovely blue eyes so I gave her a shimmering brown soft smoky eye with a pale lip. For our brow gal, we groomed her into fabulousness and kept the rest of her makeup subdued and our cheek chick was shown how to highlight, bronze and blush her way to glory.
I got to get all dressed up too, which was a blast! We had a great iPod play list so yes, there was dancing!
Check it out when it hits stands in a few months.