Some people have eyelashes so long, that they could probably set a hurricane blowing through distant islands on the other side of the world when they blink. Long, lush eyelashes are great, and they can really open up a person’s eyes, but genetics tends to be a bit of a crapshoot in that department, and for those of us who pulled the short lashes card out of the genetic lottery, worry not! Lush lashes aren’t impossible.

If you want dramatically longer lashes, false eyelashes and eyelash extensions are available just about anywhere. There are even products like Talika lipocils that claim to actually lengthen your eyelashes by nourishing them.

If you would prefer a subtler effect, all you need to do is use a little mascara and a bit of eye makeup; and don’t forget to pick out the best eyelash curler for you and your lashes. A little curl to the lashes can actually go a long way.

The great thing about false eyelashes, or falsies, is that you don’t necessarily have to go to a salon to apply them. They can come in all sorts of designs and colors, and if you want extra-flashy peepers, falsies are the way to go.

You can buy false eyelashes in most beauty stores or drugstores, although if you want special kinds of falsies; sets with feathers and sequins, brightly colored ones, or even ones made to look like parts of a spider web, you may have to dig around online or in specialty stores.

To apply false eyelashes, you usually have to use adhesive to stick them to your lash line. Most falsies come in a kit, and have their own adhesive. Some brands don’t come with them though, but there are a lot of reliable cosmetic adhesives for false eyelashes you can try. For more realistic lashes, the individual strands are usually different lengths, and you can use a pair of small scissors to trim them before applying them.

To stick your falsies on, you usually have to apply the adhesive to the false eyelashes’ lashband and wait a bit, so that the adhesive isn’t runny when you stick them on. Don’t touch the band when you put a false eyelash on; hold it by the hairs, starting from the out corner of your eye and working inward. Place it as close to your actual lash line as possible, making sure that they are firmly affixed as you go along. Try to avoid squeezing your eyes shut too tightly before the glue has dried completely. Afterwards, if you want even more natural-looking lashes, you can curl and apply a bit of mascara.

With false eyelashes, you only have to stick one whole piece onto each eye, but with eyelash extensions, synthetic fibers are applied to individual lashes to make them look longer and more full. This can take a lot of time and effort, but the effect is usually much more natural, and eyelash extensions normally last for a while longer. You can wear eyelash extensions while sleeping, and even while swimming or showering, and they come in all kind of colors and lengths.

Usually, attaching eyelash extensions can take up to two hours, with around thirty to eighty lashes for each eye, but because they’re bonded to each individual lash, the effect, while dramatic, is also a lot more realistic.

If you don’t want to use falsies or go through the trouble of applying extensions, curling your lashes can be a great way to open up your eyes and make your lashes look fuller. Of course, to get the best kind of effect, you have to use the best eyelash curler.

An eyelash curler usually looks like a funky pair of scissors or tweezers, normally made of plastic or metal. It’s a good idea to get eyelash curlers with pads that could be removed, since the pads on eyelash curlers usually need to be replaced once every two months. Some brands of eyelash curlers actually have built-in pad refills, so for easy pad replacement.

To accomplish a nice, natural-looking curled effect that stays, it’s best to heat your eyelash curlers a little bit. Doing this can make a really big difference in how your eyes look, but be warned that it poses a higher risk of injury than regular eyelash curling.

To do this, the best eyelash curlers for the job are usually metal ones, since metal conducts heat much better than plastic does. You can heat up your eyelash curlers using a blow dryer. Or, for only a small amount of money more, you can get a heated eyelash curler that heats the pads on its own. Usually, these handy little gadgets are battery powered, but there are some that you can recharge or attach to an AC or DC adaptor.

A warm eyelash curler ensures that your lashes will conform to their new shape more easily, and stay that way for longer, but you will have to be careful and make sure that the curlers aren’t too hot; you wouldn’t want to burn your eyelids, after all.

Whatever method you want to use to make your eyelashes seem longer and thicker; whether it be using false eyelashes, eyelash extensions, or finding the best eyelash curler, it’s a great idea to supplement the look with a little eyeliner and mascara. After all, when applied correctly, a little makeup can actually go a pretty long way.

Tags: Makeup, Miscellaneous by admin
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There are a lot of different ways for people to express themselves. Of course, not everybody has the time and resources to create a giant marble statue or write a series of novels. For most people, self-expression can be a matter as simple as putting on a particular kind of shirt, or wearing an interesting hat. For some people, self-assertion can go a little further than simply accessorizing and can be a little more… permanent.

Part of the appeal of body art like tattoos and body piercings, is that they can declare a person’s sense of identity and point of view, even when they’re going au natural. Between these two forms of body art, more people tend to do body piercing than tattoos though; especially since piercings are usually easy to do than tattoos.

As far as the question of how to take care of body piercing is concerned, barring infections or any other kinds of problems, it’s usually pretty easy. The body piercing side effects, on the other hand, can range from completely negligible, to excruciatingly painful. Of course, these depend on where the piercing will be located.

If you’re willing to take the pain that can come with piercing and the subsequent healing process, you can have piercings just about anywhere in the body. You can even have your genitals pierced; if that’s the way you want to express yourself.

Not very many people in Westernized societies are inclined to do this, but those who do often claim that the pierced erm… areas enjoy enhanced sensitivity and that the sexual experience is improved.

Uh. OK.

It might be worth it for some people, but for a lot of others, the unbelievable pain that, say, a Prince Albert or an Isabella might involve, simply doesn’t have enough of a payoff to make up for the horror of having your sensitive bits get stabbed through with a needle or a piercing gun. And that doesn’t even take into account the recovery periods that these piercings require.

On the issue of how to take care of body piercings in these places, a Prince Albert, which is a piercing through the head of a man’s… man-bits, has a healing period of two to four weeks. The Isabella piercing, which goes through the shaft of a woman’s clitoris, has one that is two to three months long.

Of course, there are a lot of other, less sensitive places to get piercings.

The most common and socially acceptable places for people –women in particular- to get piercings are on the lower lobes of the ears. These spots are pretty easy to take care of, and since ear lobes are mostly fatty tissue with hardly any nerve endings anyway, they hardly hurt at all, once the deed has been done. Other common places to get body piercings are on the nostril, the lip, belly button, and eyebrows.

Regardless of where you want to puncture that hole in your anatomy, once the deed is done, you will have to watch out for body piercing side effects, like the swelling that might initially happen during the healing process.

When you get pierced, usually, to make sure that the hole created by the needle or gun keeps, a piece of jewelry is placed there to make sure that the piercing keeps. This piece of jewelry is normally a stud or a barbell, which you may have to get replaced every now and then, especially if the area around the piercing swells too much.

Once your piercing starts healing, a white or yellowish discharge might show up on your jewelry. If there isn’t too much pain or swelling, you don’t have to worry; this is a normal part of the healing process. If there’s a lot of pain, and the area swells up a lot though, you might have an infection on your hands, and when this happens, it’s a good idea to get it checked by a doctor.

To keep infections and other problems, like blood-transmitted diseases, from happening, make sure that you get pierced by a professional who uses sterile instruments and practices good hygiene. You’ll also want to make sure that your piercing heals properly by keeping it clean with soap and water (never alcohol or hydrogen peroxide; these may kill germs, but they dry out the skin and slow down the healing process, too) and taking zinc and iron supplements, which will help your body heal more quickly.

Wherever you get your piercing; be it as innocuous as pierced ear lobes to something as radical as an Isabella, you will still always have to be careful so that you won’t have to suffer through body piercing side effects like infection, excessive swelling, or allergic reactions. You will have to learn how to take care of body piercings.

Tags: Miscellaneous by admin
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Dry scalp is really, really annoying. Hair care’s important but I’ve taken to caring for where my hair grows out of – my scalp. Dry scalp treatments vary, but I have a particular liking for natural treatments, Natural dry scalp shampoo would be my preference. It just doesn’t seem right to add more chemicals to my head when it’s already irritated and crusty and itchy.

While it isn’t dandruff, it makes the same snowy flakes and whatever people think of it, it’s awkward. Sometimes people think that you just don’t care for hygiene or that you’re living in a hovel. Either way, seems like a good idea to make sure that you don’t make the situation any worse than you could.

Cold climates can cause dry scalp a lot more than in most other climates. Combing and brushing send a fun little cascade down on the shoulders, just out of the corner of their eyes. Like I said before, you need to check out whether it’s dandruff or really is dry scalp, to figure out what treatments you should take on.

Some natural dry scalp treatment involves simply drinking a lot of water to make sure that you’re well hydrated. Aside from the obvious health benefits of making sure you’ve got the right amount of water in your body.

Olive oil, aside sounding like Popeye’s better half, also does wonders for the scalp. Aside from helping out your scalp, it also does wonders for hair. Once a week is fine – no need to make it a sort of miracle dry scalp shampoo. Just let the olive oil sit in for a few minutes and make sure to rinse it out with warm water.

Coconut oil is another dry scalp treatment option. Changing to a milder shampoo can be another good idea. Stronger shampoos might be able to give you that warm, soft lather that you really want after a tough day or before on, but it just isn’t worth it for me if I end up with a dry scalp that I just want to attack with a rake. Dry scalp treatment can also occur by removing the triggers if it’s not a consistent condition – this can be anything from a brand of hair spray or gel. Try a week changing out your hair’s routine and you may find out what’s missing.

A good hair day can seal a deal which would have been tenuous beforehand. Looking respectable and as if you cared for a meeting or for how you looked for a person makes them feel important. Part of that is making sure you’re not trailing Christmas behind you.

It’s not the end of world to develop dry scalp. Just make sure that it’s what you actually have before you invest in treatments or services to take care of it. If you’re going to look for dry scalp treatment, try to look for a natural one. Same for dry scalp shampoo. No sense putting in more chemical stuff that may make things worse, after all.

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Nothing says beauty-pampering like kicking your heels back with a cold glass of lemonade, a good book, and a nice, skin-enriching face mask. There are a lot of facial mask products available on the market, but if you want to save a little bit of money, creating a homemade facial mask is as easy as finding a facial mask recipe, and setting aside a few minutes to create the mixture.

You could use a lot of different ingredients, and you can find most of them in your kitchen. With an open mind and a few moments of your time, making something like an oatmeal facial mask or even a kitty litter facial mask, can cost you absolutely nothing.

The Infamous Kitty Litter Facial

The thought of smearing your face with the same stuff the cat does its business in might be a little tough to swallow at first, but as it turns out, pure clay varieties of kitty litter are made from bentonite – the same kind of clay used for facial masks in high-priced spas.

Bentonite clay is great for all skin types and is full of nutrients and minerals that both exfoliate, hydrate, and nourish the skin. If you’re going to buy this stuff at beauty stores though, it’s likely to cost a bit of a pretty penny.

When you make your very own kitty litter facial mask though, you’re pretty much guaranteed the same effect, at a tiny fraction of the cost. This homemade facial mask recipe is one of the easiest kinds to make; all you need to do is take a few tablespoons of kitty litter (make sure you buy one that lists pure clay as it’s only ingredient) , mix it with a little water (if you want, you can steep some rose petals or green teabags in the water first, for a little extra nourishing power), and some olive oil (or whatever essential oil you’d prefer to use), apply it to your face, leave it on for ten to fifteen minutes, and then wash it off.

If you’re feeling creative, you can combine this mix with other ingredients as well; aloe vera, for example, gives this particular kind of facial mask the added benefit of soothing the skin from sunburn or windburn.

Of course, I’ll have to assume that the unused stuff would be used rather than the stuff that Puss already went potty in. After all, pee might have cleansing ammonia in it, and poop might have all kinds of nutrients, but let’s be honest, putting that on your face is still really, really gross.

If you want a quick spa experience without having to break the bank or even get out of the house, a kitty litter facial mask may be just the kind of facial mask for you.

For those of you who are still a little squeamish about using cat litter, there are a lot of other kinds of facial mask recipes to try.

Oatmeal Mask Recipe

One of the most common ingredients to use to make a homemade facial mask is oatmeal. Oatmeal is great for any skin type; it exfoliates and cleanses the skin naturally and gently, while the properties in the oatmeal itself restores the skin’s moisture balance and soothes irritations and redness.

One oatmeal facial mask recipe that’s great for any skin type is one that only needs a tablespoon of oatmeal or oatmeal powder, an egg white, and a few drops of lemon oil. All you need to do mix all of these ingredients together, adjusting the proportions to your needs, and then spreading the whole thing on your face.

Keep the mask on until the mixture is completely dry; this usually takes around twenty minutes to an hour. Afterwards, just rinse it all off, and enjoy the softness and smoothness of your skin.

There are a lot of other facial mask recipes you can try, and most of the ingredients can usually be found in the kitchen. In fact, sometimes, if you still have a bit of facial mask mixture left over after having applied it to your face, it could serve as a delicious and healthy snack, like this banana-yogurt-honey mixture.

For this particular facial mask recipe, all you need is half a banana, a couple of tablespoons of yogurt, and one tablespoon of honey. Mash the banana into a paste using a fork (or whatever else you might have on hand) and mix in the honey and the yogurt.

Apply it to your face and leave the mixture on for around fifteen minutes to half an hour. Afterwards, simply wipe it off with a washcloth or rinse it all off with some cool water. This recipe not only rejuvenates, moisturizes, and softens the skin; it’s literally good enough to eat!

There are a lot of facial mask recipes like this, and whether it’s an oatmeal facial mask, a kitty litter facial mask, or even a banana one, rest easy in the fact that they’re really simple to make. Skincare doesn’t always have to make a person break the bank; creating a homemade facial mask can be as simple as looking into the fridge.

Tags: Natural Beauty, Skin by admin
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A lot of the time, a blush can bring out a healthy glow in a person’s skin, making them look younger and, depending on the reason for that blush, happier. This may look nice for a few minutes, but if you’ve got that blush permanently, you might have a small problem on your hands.

If the skin on your face is always red, you could have a condition known as rosacea. There are a lot of different causes of this disease, but they aren’t as clear as we’d like them to be.

Since it is far more likely for people of northwestern European descent to get rosacea, it is believed that a tendency for rosacea could be hereditary. In fact, in earlier days, rosacea was once known as the “curse of the Celts.” You might think that there isn’t much wrong with having a permanently red face; and if you’re not too particular about these kinds of things, it really isn’t that big a deal.

However, rosacea doesn’t just end at red skin. A person with rosacea is also prone to getting rosacea breakouts, where red pustules or papules appear on the skin. On the question of how to get rid of rosacea, there is no single catch-all cure.

There are a lot of different kinds of rosacea and the treatments for rosacea usually vary from type to type. This condition usually doesn’t directly threaten a person’s life, but because it alters a person’s appearance, it can affect their quality of life and how they feel about themselves.

In the more advanced stages of this particular disease, a person could get rhinophyma. Rhinophyma is actually a benign tumor that grows slowly on the tip of a person’s nose and is caused by the increase in size of the tiny glands in the skin that secretes oil. When it occurs, someone’s nose turns red, large, and bulbous, and it really doesn’t look very pretty.

One great way to avoid this is to catch your rosacea at a relatively early stage and to have it treated immediately.

Treatment and maintenance for rosacea can often be a lifelong matter, but sometimes, if a person is really lucky, their rosacea can permanently go into remission or resolve itself over the course of the treatment. Even if it is possible to get rid of rosacea though, most of the time, all that rosacea treatment can do is arrest the development of the disease.

Aside from heredity, another one of the possible causes of rosacea is neurological. This means that the problem might not actually be with the skin per se, but with the neurons that control whether or not the skin becomes inflamed. In rosacea, some scientists believe that sensory neurons are hypersensitive, which leads to the flushing and increased blood flow to the skin surface that characterize one of the most obvious aspects of this condition.

There actually isn’t any solid information on what the exact cause of rosacea is, but there are a lot of things that can trigger rosacea breakouts. These breakouts are usually what make rosacea such a chore of a disease to deal with.

Every now and then, depending on the presence and frequency of the triggers as well as the type of rosacea a person has, breakouts can occur.

When people have rosacea breakouts, the skins on their faces can turn even redder, grow thicker, get pustules or bumps, or even get irritated and gritty eyes from the swelling. Some also say that they experience a tearing or burning sensation on the skin of their face, especially around the eyes.

These symptoms can be very troubling, especially since they can make a person look different and feel uncomfortable in their own skin.

However, there are treatments and procedures that can help a person keep their rosacea breakouts under control. There is no surefire answer to how to get rid of rosacea, but there are a lot of different ways to manage the symptoms at least, and usually, these ways can vary wildly from case to case.

Treatment for rosacea usually has to be especially tailored by a doctor to fit the individual case. There are a lot of different medications and topical creams that a person can apply, for example, so that they can deal with the bumps and the redness.

For flare-ups and maybe for initial treatments, some doctors and dermatologists also prescribe antibiotics that a person can take orally. Once rosacea breakouts are under control though, usually, all that a person has to do to make sure that they stay in remission from their symptoms is apply specially formulated creams to their skin.

Whatever measures you might want to take to keep your rosacea under control, all you need to do is remember that this kind of condition can require a bit of maintenance. One of the most obvious aspects of this is to try and avoid the causes of rosacea and rosacea breakouts as much as possible. How to get rid of rosacea entirely and quickly though, is still a matter that’s up for debate, so if you find anything that claims to help you get rid of it right away, take it with a grain of salt.

Tags: Hair, Skin by admin
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Dark circles under eyes and lines around mouths are often signs of stress, and they can age a person’s face by decades. Nothing says “I haven’t had any sleep last night and I’m having a bad week, so stay the **** out of my way!” like undereye circles and a mean look.

But stress and fatigue aren’t the only causes of undereye darkness.
There are a lot of different reasons why people get dark circles under eyes.

If you’re one of those people who still have eye bags or what some might call “raccoon attacks” even after a relatively relaxing work week and lots of good sleep for example, your undereye circles problem might actually be hereditary.

For almost everybody, the skin is thinnest on and around the eyelids. This skin is called periorbital skin, and for some people the skin is so thin, it’s almost translucent. This means that blood passing through the veins near the surface of the skin in this area will usually give it a slightly darker –even bluish- tint.

Eye-rubbing, a habit that a person can develop especially if they have asthma, allergies, or any kind of condition that might make their eyes itch, can also create undereye circles. When you rub or scratch the skin around your eyes, more blood rushes to that area, and because the skin there is so thin, it can look pretty obvious.

If you have hay fever for example, you might get undereye darkness that comes and goes with the hay fever season. So if you want to look fresh, even through the allergy season, keep your antihistamines handy, and keep your hands off your eyes!

Certain medications that make blood vessels dilate and increase the flow of blood under the skin can make undereye darkness quite evident, especially if you’re one of those people who have naturally pale skin.

Other medical conditions, like anemia, can also cause dark circles under eyes. Iron deficiency, a very common kind of anemia, can make skin look much paler. This often makes the veins and discolored skin under a person’s eyes stand out even more.

Aside from being an indicator for a possible iron deficiency, dark circles under a person’s eyes can be a sign of other kinds of medical problems, like vitamin B6 deficiency, dehydration, bad circulation, or simply age.

Still, even though this is a fairly common problem that a lot of people have to deal with permanently, not everybody has to worry about undereye darkness all the time. Some get them only when they’re really tired.

Fatigue can make a person’s skin grow pale, which makes the blood under the thin skin of the area around the eyes really visible.
Whatever the cause of discoloration under a person’s eyes though, unless you’re trying to go for a very specific kind of look, it’s not really something desirable to have.

I had a long night last night, and I have to deal with unsightly undereye darkness right now. After coming home late from work last night, I got call from one of my friends asking if I could meet up with her for a few drinks and a little commiseration. She had broken up with her boyfriend, and she wanted someone to talk to.

As a friend, I knew that I couldn’t refuse, even after a having worked overtime that night. Five hours and half a bottle of tequila later, I finally staggered into bed. Two hours later, I oozed out of bed so that I could drag myself back to work. When I looked at myself in the mirror that morning, I was horrified by what I saw.

I looked like death warmed over. My skin was pale, my eyes were bloodshot, and I had undereye circles so dark, it looked as if I’d painted them on. I looked like I had aged at least ten years! I still had a long commute ahead of me, and if I wanted to look presentable, I knew that I had to get rid of my “raccoon attack” first, at least.

One of the best ways to get rid of dark circles under eyes in a pinch is to cover them up with makeup. Try using concealer with yellow or warm peach tones. Usually, the undereye circles are blue, purple or brownish in color, and using a warm-colored concealer will cancel out those colors, regardless of your skin tone. For a more seamless effect that will also ensure that your concealer won’t rub off or fade too quickly, lightly dust the area with translucent powder.

If you have a little more time to get rid of your undereye darkness though, you can try and soothe the skin and reduce the discoloration by regularly placing slices of cucumber or damp, refrigerated tea bags over your eyes. The soothing effects of both tea and cucumber can really help make dark circles under your eyes disappear.

Tags: Health For Beauty, Makeup, Miscellaneous, Skin by admin
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Fun’s fun and being flaky can give your character some definition or uniqueness, but dandruff’s just not cool. I don’t like it and it’s just awkward to be dusting some snow on a first date’s meal. Dandruff home remedies can be found everywhere, with dandruff care shampoos being sold up the wazoo.

I once heard someone call it scurf and that doesn’t sound really appealing either. Actually, it’s pretty normal to have some flakes – I mean, dandruff is basically dead skin and we’ve got a lot of dead skin coming off every day. Too much though, can be a problem.

Dandruff doesn’t really cause any health concerns, though it could be the sign of something else, but nothing too nasty. It could cause some awkwardness on a first day though and it’s definitely awkward if there’s soup involved. “Ooh, are those flakes cracker bits?” Not a good question. It’s also a sign of head lice, another connotation no one really wants.

There are a lot of causes for dandruff, ranging from just the wrong shampoo or even to dandruff care treatments, but people are more concerned with how to treat it – which is why dandruff home remedies are so common.

Lime’s a good and naturals solution to your own personal Christmas generator. I like to use a teaspoon of the stuff when I rinse it off. It usually turns out great – it doubles as both dandruff care and leaves my hair looking fabulous. Aloe vera is another natural way of treating your snow woes – rub some on to your scalp. Not your hair, but straight to your scalp. Leave it on for at least 10 minutes then use a really mild shampoo. Olive oil can also beat dandruff into submission.

Warm coconut oil and castor oil also works wonders – twice a week is fine, everyday might be too much. Also smells great – well, the coconut oil, not the castor oil, though if that’s your thing there’s really nothing wrong with that. Even vegetables have gotten into the act. Boiling them, tops and roots, and massaging the water that you boiled them in into your hair. If you’re going to use this method, be sure to use white beets. I’ve read and found that they work best.

Lathering your hair twice is another way of cleaning out the scalp. It’s thorough and can clean out the oil and dead skin. Treat the second lather as a conditioner – leave it on. Five minutes is best as it’ll give the shampoo time to get its groove on.

Using more than one method isn’t exactly suggested – overdoing the job might lead to more skin trouble than you’re really willing to deal with. Also consider if it’s a consistent condition or just one of those days – a random bad hair day probably isn’t worth all the effort.

Don’t overcomplicate it – if switching shampoos does the trick, then just switch shampoos. It’s just cheap that way. Dandruff home remedies work if they’re the right one for you. If a dandruff care method doesn’t work for you – try it another one. With so many options around, one’s bound to work for you.

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