Keeping skin flawless and beautiful for the festive times {Skin Care}

Everyone is busy in Christmas and New Year preparations. So, how to prepare to look good in the celebrations. Follow the following tips and enjoy the holidays:

• Drink adequate amount of water, no matter what. People tend to drink less water in winters but it affects the skin more adversely. The winter winds dehydrate the skin anyways. You have to hydrate yourself to keep in balance. If you fail to do it, your skin will look leathery with all the make up on and no suppleness.
• Sleep properly and adequately. Finish your beauty sleep for minimum 7 hours. Do not take any drinks two hours prior to sleep. 
• Cleanse your face every night, no matter what. Otherwise, your skin will look aged on next day. 
• Before the celebrations begin, get yourself an appointment at the saloon well in advance. Remember this is a rush hour season and be on time. Get yourself pampered and indulge in expenses. You would love the result. Get a hair cut and highlights if you wish. They will look great. 
• On the day of festivities, give yourself appropriate time to get ready. Do not rush through it.
• Include body scrub, bath oils, bath salts in your bath and soak for 15-20 minutes. Alternatively, you can pour 2-3cups of milk and 2-3 drops of any essential oil of your choice in your tub and soak. Scrub with wash cloth afterward gently.
• While soaking, you can also apply any fruit face mask if you want and tea bags on your eyes to relax them and make them look brighter. Banana, papaya, orange brings an instant glow on the face. Apple makes your skin look clean and bright. Any fruit will do the job because of the natural ingredients present in it. You can also include milk cream or vegetable oils suitable to your skin while mashing the fruits to moisturize. Prepare a fresh batch every time.
• Wash your hair before you go for a soak. Do not condition. While you soak, apply honey on your hair and cover with a shower cap. While you are showering, wash your hair well and use any tea or vinegar as last rinse. It gives instant shine to your hair. Let your hair air dry if not in hurry. 
• When you come out of the shower, apply some perfume on the skin. Dab perfume on warm areas of your body like armpits, cleavages, inner thighs. Moisturize your body. Apply perfume again on the same spots you applied earlier or as per your choice. You can apply talc and then again apply perfume. Last layer can be put on the clothes you wear. Ensure the floral smells and buy a natural perfume which is non-irritating to your skin. Applying perfume in layers and warm areas ensures it to stay longer.
• When your hair is damp, style your hair. You can use shine serums to increase the shine or other hair products of your choice. Use products in moderation so as to not let your hair weigh down. Less is good.
• Before applying make up, do not forget your sunscreen in case your are going out in day time.
• At night, a lip gloss and mascara is enough to give the effect.  
• For people who are not product junkies and like to go natural like me, 2-3 drops of any vegetable oil would be enough to bring shine to your hair. When your hair is damp, take oil into your palms and finger comb through your hair paying special attention to the ends. This will seal the moisturizer into your hair. While finger combing, gently untangle your hair so that you do not need to comb or brush it. Simple finger combing can give great style to your hair. Try it out. Definitely, it depends a lot on the hair texture too. Wavy hair is the best bet. Or, if you still prefer combing, use a wide tooth comb. Do not forget sunscreen in any case. To be ready for a night out, a lip gloss adds a smashing effect. Making up the eyes is no harm but the least you can do is to apply kohl. They give an instant lift to your eyes. Wash your eyes with lot of cold water before that to make them look brighter. Buy good products. Do not worry about expenses. Cheap products are often not good for the skin but, again, do not judge by the brands. Go for products which suit your skin.

Take care of your skin regularly and you do not need any special vanity case to prepare for a party. Proper nutrition is important in skin care. But, indulge during festivities. Do not starve yourself of the enjoyments.

Wish you all a Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Is your vision not 6/6? {Health}

So, this post is in general for everyone but people who are myopic or hypermetropic (I don't know if that's a term, someone correct me please!) should pay special attention to this post. So, remember I had told that I have got new specs for myself? I always get mine made from Lawrence and Mayo and would really recommend it to everyone unless you already know of a place better than that!!

Anyways, so these L&M guys also have an optician who checks out your power before ordering for one. So, I get mine tested from them since I have never found a single reliable eye doc in Hyderabad and I did get my vision tested in November by my regular doc. And, the opticians at L&M are great. I again digress!! So, this guy asked me how much time I spend on laptop?

And, my answer was literally almost all time since that was true. The number goes like 18 out of 24!! And, he was pretty distressed and told me that you should in fact go out a bit and roam around because its very necessary for eyes to be acclimatised to look at distant distances to preserve the vision. So, if you are also a researcher who loves to be cooped up in front of the system all time, go out and have a stroll and do some exercise outdoors.

In fact, I would say that initially looking at far away distances was difficult for me coz I felt as if everything was swimming after a mere 10mtrs. Yes, that's pretty bad but then my myopic vision is pretty bad and its getting worse, thanks to laptop!! But, I have started going out for walks since I have moved to the new place and I am feeling better day by day. And, my eyes also feel relaxed not having to stare into system all time. 

Grab a book and curl up in a bed. The weather is too awesome to miss out such a chance!!

How to choose right pair of glasses for your face?

I hope you liked this cartoon :D

So, you wear glasses??? I have been wearing them since around 18 years!!! Wow...sounds like a huge time and I do have a high power also. So, you can say that I have tried on a lot of spectacles from the big rounded ones which used to come in the 90's to the trendier ones which are coming now. 

A frame can make your look or make you look dowdy as well. So, always be careful when you choose your frame and make sure you take someone with you whose taste you well approve of or better, who has a better taste than you :D So, let me share some pointers in choosing the right frame. Ok, before starting, I want to say that since I have round face, I shall be referring to it in the post.

Your face shape

Of course, the most important. You want your glasses to flatter your face shape. Since, we are only talking of round face here, we will take that into consideration. But, I am sure that the pointers I am going to discuss will apply to all shapes. 

Always choose contrasting shape of glasses as compared to your face shape. That give an illusion of different face shape. 

For round face, a square or rectangular with sharp edges instead of blunt edges works really well.

Size of your face or features

The size of your frame should be consistent with the size of your face or your face will look very huge and fat. Also, the size should be consistent with the eye size. If you have small eyes, get a small frame where as for big eyes, make sure, the frame suits well. 

[Source: eyespyoptical.com]

Facial Features

A round face has more rounded features and very few angles or sharpness. So, you want to get a frame which gives an illusion of sharpness to the face. 

Make your features stand out. Get the frame which contrasts with the sharpness or roundedness of features on your face.

Similarly, you want your glasses to contrast with the face length. In a round face, the face is too full, using round frames would make it look even fuller and fat. Where as, getting sharp-edged rectangular or square frames or asymmetrical frames also look good as they highlight the facial features.

Proportions of the frame

You want to check out the width and depth of the frame as well. Proper proportions will highlight the face. 

For round face, a more wider frame with lesser depth is better. A complete square is a big no-no. Similarly, you don't want the arms of the glasses to be thin. Thicker arms draw attention to the upper part of the face. 

Summary of the post

So, before you are choosing your pair of glasses, check out the following:

• your face shape
• your features are rounded or sharp
• length of your face and the width
• length and width of the frame

Hope this helps you choose nice glasses for yourself next time :)

Foundation / Tinted Mositurizer - Blending Basics {Skin Care}

[Source:theknot.ninemsn.com.au]

I have been using tinted moisturisers (TM's) since last September and as a result, I have gone through various stages of difficulties in blending them into the skin. So, I thought I would put down certain things important to take care while blending. This is from an amateur perspective and I use just fingers to blend in. 

Smooth Skin

Smooth skin is very essential to begin with before doing the blending. Flaky skin is the worst thing which can happen to you so always make sure you exfoliate your face, neck and decolletege regularly to make sure that your tinted cream goes on smoothly and blends in your skin without leaving any patches and the whole of the exposed skin is in same shade. 

Amount of product

This point is very important. You should know how much is enough for your skin otherwise you can end up looking like a ghost. To make sure you don't overuse, dot your face with the tinted moisturiser and blend in. Add the moisturiser as and when needed. This way you don't generally end up over-using. 

Uneven Complexion

My forehead is almost a shade darker than my face and it always gets darker if I don't eat properly so whenever I apply TM's, I have to make sure, it has blended well with the darker shade of my skin otherwise it looks ghostly on that area. And, getting different shades for different parts of your skin is not exactly a viable option. So, take care to use less of the TM on the darker area and blend well.

Apply moisturiser

It moisturises your skin and provides a base for the foundation / TM to go on smoothly. So, it is always a good idea to apply a moisturiser and wait for 5-10 minutes before applying a TM to allow the moisturiser to dry up.  And, it also gives a dewy finish leaving your skin looking hydrated and radiant.

Use fingers deftly

If you use fingers to blend in, make sure they are clean first. Use your middle finger to do the blending. It always helps to dot the face with the TM. And, instead of rubbing the product, patting it works better. Doing the patting motion quickly helps in giving a smooth finish and avoids the pulling of the skin which happens when you tend to rub in the product.

Make sure you have time

I have always noticed that when I am pressed for time, I am never able to blend well. Either I over-use the product or don't use the fingers quickly enough to give a smooth finish. And, patting always takes more time than rubbing in.

So, hope this is helpful to you all. Do drop in your comments :)

Skin Care Essentials {Skin Care}

[Source:Google Images]

Last week, I discussed about how a man's skin differs from a woman. But, the skin care routine stays more or less the same for both the genders so let us discuss some points.

Good Cleanser

Using a good cleanser is very imperative to a clean skin. The cleanser should be mild and be able to clean out the dirt out of your pores. Using medicated cleansers presecribed by dermatologists is also an option.

Exfoliate

This is another carnal rule of skin care. You don’t want your pores to be clogged. So, exfoliate using gentle scrubbers which remove the dead skin easily and do not really tear the skin. Once a week is sufficient if you are using a really powerful scrubber but it can also be extended to twice a week depending on your usage of products and exposure to natural forces like pollution and sun.

Sun Protection

You don’t really want to look aged at any age, right? So, get a good sunscreen with adequate protection for yourself and slather it on before you venture out even if it is for 5 minutes or even for 2 minutes. Preferable, get a Zinc Oxide based sunscreen which is skin friendly and environment friendly too.

Wear Shades

Getting a good quality sun glasses which wrap around your eyes is a very good idea to protect your eyes from not only sun rays but also from letting the dirt and pollution inside the eyes. Don’t hitch to spend on a good quality shade.

Protect Hands

Hands again are important as they are continuously doing our work and come in contact with so many germs. So, it is our duty to keep them soft and healthy looking. Slather on a rich face moisturizer on your hands before you sleep. And, do not forget to use a moisturizer on hands after washing them every time.

Lip Care

Your lips are sensitive and do not have any sun protection. So, make sure you always slather on a good lip balm on your lips and it is even better if the lip balm comes with sun protection.

Facial Moisturizer

Again very important and easily ignored by many people, your skin needs a lot of moisture from outside as well. So, use a good moisturizer which suits your skin and keep it looking soft and healthy.

How do you take care of your skin? Pin It

Almond Oil for Eye Makeup {Reader's Tip}

This tip is submitted by Bharti of I Love Korean Drama. Check out her blog too. In the meanwhile, she says:

"Try using Almond oil as eye makeup remover. Will help to condition the lashes and help them to grow ^__^."

Submit your favorite tips here: http://perfectskincareforyou.blogspot.com/p/submit-beauty-tip.html.

And, don't forget to read other Reader's Tips:

Natural Bleach

Acne Remedy

Face Pack for glowing skin

Look young with makeup

Hair Growth Recipe

Tap the Toner

Masks on wet skin

New Footwear causing Blisters

Tomato for Vitamin C

Carrot and Bottle Guard Mask

Some Remedies for Dandruff

Best Facial Treatment

Fairness face packs with Pomegranate

Papaya for skin complexion

Homemade Cleanser for Eyes {DIY}

Ok, so it is a very common complaint with cleansers that they do not remove the eye makeup very effectively. Yeah, it really happens. So, I'll share what I do for that. Not that I apply eye makeup but removing sunscreen around the eyes or kajal also requires the same effort.

I use a mixture of almond oil and castor oil. Remember the Oil Cleansing Method in which castor oil is the main ingredient. Castor Oil has cleansing properties apart from its many beneficial effects so it is one of the major oils used for removing residue from the skin. But, using castor oil alone is not recommended for the skin as it is quiet thick and concentrated. So, it is better to mix it with a carrier oil. The reason we choose almond is that it is also effective for removing makeup and aids the growth of eyelashes. So, mix almond oil and castor oil in 3:1 ratio and store it in a glass bottle. 

To remove makeup, take a generous amount of the oil and massage the entire area around the eyes. Make sure you have enough oil that your skin glides along the skin coz you don't want to pull and tug at the skin around the eyes which is very thin and can lead to wrinkles and fine lines if disturbed too much. Massage for 5 minutes and remove the oil with cotton very gently without pulling on the skin. You can use face wipes too. And, then, wash off with a cleanser.

Caution: Do not use Coconut Oil as it makes the eyes sting badly. Almond oil or castor oil do not have any such reactions to the eyes.

Moisturizer Application Techniques {Skin Care}

Applying moisturizer properly is a very important part of the skin care ritual. The application technique affects the skin in the long run because of the regular movement of the skin which happens during the application. So, there are certain correct and wrong methods of application which we shall discuss for every part of the face and neck. 

• Circular Movements should be made with very light pressure applied on the skin


• Patting movement is also recommended but not very easy to get used to

For Eyes

Rubbing of the eyes is not recommend at all so only patting motion should be used to apply under-eye creams or any oil of choice. Circular Movement will cause movement of the thin skin around the eyes leading to early development of wrinkles. 

For Face

Short upward and outward strokes are recommended as very widely known. 

For Neck

Look at the ceiling while applying moisturizer on the neck and massage the neck in an upward stroke to prevent and smoothing of the neck lines. This does a double job - applies moisturizer evenly on the neck and stretches the skin of the neck as in the face exercise motion.

For Chest

Upward strokes and circular motion both are recommended for the chest and shoulder areas.

Bilberry Extract {Ingredient}

Bilberry Fruit (Source: Wikipedia)

Recently, my eye doc prescribed me supplements of anti-oxidants. I checked the composition of the supplements and the tablets contain Bilberry Extract.

What is a Bilberry Extract??

Bilberry extract is an extremely potent anti-oxidant extracted from the Bilberry fruit. 

"Bilberries are a rich source of anthocyanosides, a class of flavanoids recognized for their importance  in eye health. Bilberry anthocyanosides are potent antioxidants in the visual cells of the retina, and help in maintaining normal blood flow in the fine capillary blood vessels that nourish the eyes and other tissues, preventing disorders like macular degeneration, cataracts and glaucoma while improving vision in general". - Form the information leaflet provided with the tablets.

Benefits of Bilberry

• The major use for which I was prescribed this supplement was that Bilberry extract helps protect from 'Macular Degeneration' (loss of vision due to damage to retina) 
• It improves the night vision
• It is supposed to help with gastrointestinal disorders too
• As with every anti-oxidant, it helps protect from skin disorders and diseases

Eye Sight and Retina Detachment {Health}

Hi guys!!!

So, this post is about Retina Detachment. This is something very important for people who suffer from myopic (negative power) eyesight.

Retina Detachment means what the term states - the retina detaches from other layers of the eye and, as you can infer, it can lead to blindness and acute vision problems. This disorder stats at a very early age and takes a considerable time to spread and cause severe problems. Thus, it is very important to get your retina checked regularly for early diagnosis of any such disorder. This disorder starts with little pockets of holes in the retina which can be easily treated by laser treatment. So, go to a retina specialist if you have even an eye sight of -1. The doctor himself said that the holes in the retina can occur for anyone who has eye sight problems whether it is high or negligible.

So, how did I come across this. Well, I was recommended to a retina specialist by my regular eye doc. And, he told me I had three holes in my left eye retina so he did the laser treatment (Laser Photocoagulation) in which the eye vessels are fused or burned or something which I am not entirely clear off coz I really didn't ask the doc what he was doing. Well, this laser does hurt. It is a simple procedure which doesn't take more than 5 minutes for a single hole but when the laser is pointed in the eye, it hurts bad (not really bad but its a completely different feeling which I can't explain). This treatment is different from that of getting rid of the eye sight (in case you are confused among both). But, there are no after-effects yet. I had this procedure two weeks back. That day, I suffered with a bad pain in the eyebrow bone for which I had to take a combiflame when I realized I couldn't handle it (I like to avoid medicines). I was given eye drops course which was necessary to be put in the eyes for 4-5 times a day without fail. Thats it. Nothing else and no problem in vision or anything. But, yup, there is one thing - stay away from sunlight. Even after this long time, my eyes have started to hurt me if stay for more than an hour in strong sunlight. I think eyes will take a little time to get adjusted to the glare. But, nothing to worry about otherwise. 

So, don't forget to talk to your eye doc and ask about retina check up next time. And, yes, it is must that you visit an eye doc every six months or one year if you are under 40 but for people over 40, every six months is a must coz there is a high probability of cataract and glaucoma. 

Do not rub your Eyes

I have already done two posts on bad habits which lead to aging of our skin early. I felt I was kinda doing something silly but since I have started getting comments from you all, I feel these posts are not silly instead they do encourage everyone including me to change bad habits and give information to those who are not aware of the facts yet. So, thank you guys and keep the comments coming. And, now moving on today's bad habit which is prevalent among children generally and then gets carried on to adulthood.

Habit: Rubbing the eyes vigorously to subside irritation.

Results: Wrinkled skin and fine lines around the eyes. The reason for this is that the skin around the eyes is almost 10 times thinner than that of the face. So, consequently, it is much more sensitive to various products and various kinds of movements. Another consequence can also be drooping and wrinkling of the eyelids.

If you have read about the surgery of Botox, a neurotoxic protein by the name of botulinum toxin is injected in the forehead. This toxin paralyzes the muscles temporarily so that there is no movement in the muscles near the eyes or where ever it is injected by blocking the nerve impulses. When there is no movement in the muscles, there is no chance of formation of wrinkles and slowly the existing wrinkles also smooth out because of the lack of repeated movements. The effect of the toxin lasts up to 8 months and one has to take the injections regularly to keep up the effect.

So, even the surgery is doing the same thing. Blocking the movement of the muscles so that there is no repeated movement. This is exactly what I meant when I was writing my earlier post on facial expressions and even this post. But, I am not advocating Botox here because let me also tell you the down side of this procedure. Your face freezes and does not show any emotion which is not what you basically want. Just for the record, women who under go Botox surgeries have higher divorce rates as compared to women who do not. So, you can easily imagine how much trying to stay young costs a person. And, frankly, there is nothing wrong if some of your lines are visible. That makes you look real at least.

Remedy: Apply eye gels or under eye creams to smooth the wrinkles and fine lines. (This is not what I do personally) Apply almond oil or vitamin E oil at night on the skin around the eyes. In the morning, you would find that the eye area is smooth and soft. In some days, you will see lessening of the wrinkles and fine lines too but for that you need to be persistent in your efforts. A home remedy which I would like to suggest is a honey mask for your eyes. Apply a little amount of honey on your eye area (under eye, around the eye and eye lids) every day for 15 minutes and then remove with a cotton pad gently. Honey prevents wrinkles.

How to get rid of the habit?

Of course, stop rubbing the eyes. Stop your children from developing that habit too. It irritates the eye foremost even if you forget the wrinkles. Next step is if you feel irritation and have a strong desire to rub the eyes, close your eyes and gently massage them or splash cold water in them. Either would help reducing the irritation.

Why not to get a laser surgery done?

Eye Sight has increasingly and alarmingly become a very common ailment of the recent times thanks to the evolving technology which keeps us addicted to it. But, eye sight also depends on various other factors like your genes, reading habits and nutritional deficiencies.And, now, again thanks to technology, we have various innovative ways to avoid looking geek with huge glasses on our faces. Though, I would say some people look much better in specs than without. You just need to choose the right one for yourself. Contact lenses and Laser surgery have become much in demand these days. Both of the methods have their pros and cons.

I wanted to share with you an article which I came across. The article lists down various reasons for not getting a laser surgery done. Some of them are correct but some are just precautions. But, the most important point is the manipulation of the cornea done during the surgery. To speak in a layman language, cornea is a thin transparent covering over the black of the eyes. It increases or decreases in its thickness according to the eye sight. If you have negative vision, cornea gets thicker and viceversa. So, during the lasik surgery, the thickness of the cornea is manipulated according to the needs to restore the eye sight correctly. In this process, the cornea flap has lot of chances of getting damaged. And, moreover, there is a very high chance of getting back into the specs sooner or later after the operation. So, in case you are considering getting a lasik done, I would suggest you to go through this article and and then decide.

A request: Would welcome all your suggestions and comments whether they support or refute the article. And, in case, I have made a mistake, please feel free to guide me to the right knowledge. 

How to avoid wrinkles during sleep?

Don't we all love to sleep like Garfield????

A wrong sleeping posture has been attributed to the increasing premature wrinkles on our faces. This is for people who do not sleep flat on their backs. And, if I am not wrong, many of us actually fall under this category. Many people do not feel comfortable and get deep sleep if they sleep flat on their backs and since childhood, we get used to sleeping on our sides and on our stomachs. Personally, I feel there is nothing wrong with that but it is certainly true that sleeping in those postures creates folds on the skin which on a prolonged time develop into fine lines and then deep crevices in the skin. So, if you want to avoid that happening to your face, you should practice sleeping straight on your back. Or, you can find various other home remedies to get rid of wrinkles here.

Well, I am not very sure I would ever be able to follow this advice. So, I started searching out for alternatives. The simplest answer which I thought was to apply a little on oil around the eye area to prevent the skin from wrinkling. Yes, it is as simple as that. You can take a drop or two of coconut oil, castor oil, almond oil or vitamin E oil straight from the capsule and massage it gently into the skin around the eyes and also on your lashes. Take care not to let the oil enter your eyes. This way, you skin remains moisturized around the eyes and does not get wrinkles. And, applying the oils like coconut, castor, vitamin E and almond also makes sure that the already fine lines go away. And, the added benefit of massaging the eyelashes with oils is that it ensures better growth of eyelashes. Just remember to wash your hands properly before applying the oil. You can substitute the oils with any natural body butter you have. Shea or Cocoa butter will also do a good job. And, you can also go for milk cream or white butter which is the perfect home remedy for removing the tan and darkening around the eyes due to exposure to sun. But, sleeping on your back still remains the best way to keep the wrinkles at bay.

Eye Masks Recipes

We have so many masks for face and hair. So, why not have one for eyes which takes care of all the problems of eyes like dark circles, wrinkles and puffy eyes and cleans the eye area gently. 

Recipes:

• For Wrinkles: 1 Egg white, 1/2 tablespoon honey, 1 capsule Vitamin E oil / 1 tablespoon pure coconut oil
• For Dark Circles: 1 tablespoon spinach and lettuce juice, 1 tablespoon mint juice
• For Dark Circles: 1 tablespoon carrot juice, 1 tablespoon tomato juice, 1 tablespoon cucumber juice 
• For Puffy Eyes: 1 tablespoon raw potato juice, 1/2 teaspoon honey
• For Puffy Eyes: 1 tablespoon raw potato juice, 1 tablespoon cucumber juice

How to apply?

• You can either apply the mask directly to the skin around the eyes and on the eyelids with the cotton pad and stay at one place without moving a muscle on face till the mask dries off. Keep your eyes closed.
• Or, you can take a huge cotton pad and saturate it with the mask and put it on your eyes for around 20-30 minutes. Take a big size of cotton pad so that it covers your complete eye area. Stretch the cotton pad nicely on your eyes contours.
• A tip: When treating yourself of puffy eyes, you can dip the cotton pad in the mask and keep them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. After that, you can put it on your eyes. This would make the cotton pad act as a cold compress.
• Do not, under any condition, apply anything mildly acidic on the skin around the eyes. 

Eye Care: Home Remedies

Last time, I talked about eye care. Today, I would like to talk to you about some home remedies which can help us combat problems like dark circles, puffy eyes and wrinkles. 

Dark Circles. 

• Place chilled slices of cucumber or Apple on your eyes and relax for 10-15 minutes. Do this daily and you will see results in a week or two.
• Apply chilled tea bags or cotton balls to your eyes. They also work in same way.
• Place chilled inverted tea spoons on your eyes.
• Saturate cotton balls with chilled milk and place them on your eyes. Milk provides relief to your eyes, helps in lightening the color and cleanses the eye area gently.
• Apply herbal tea (green tea preferably) on your eye area with cotton balls. This would also clean your eyes. 

Puffy Eyes.

• Apply warm tea bags on your eyes.
• Put a slice of freshly cut fig on your eye bags and see them disappear magically.
• Slice of potato also works beautifully on puffy eyes.
• Cold compresses are good.

Wrinkles.

• Put a thin layer of egg white under your eyes to remove the wrinkles.
• Pure castor oil prevents formation of wrinkles.
• Massage pure coconut oil gently on the area having wrinkles at bed time.
• Mix turmeric with sugarcane juice and apply to prevent wrinkles and slow aging.
• Rub a slice of pineapple or green apple on your wrinkles. 
• Mix lemon juice with honey and apply several times a day to fade away wrinkles.

Other home remedies.

• Long eyelashes look gorgeous for any kind of eyes. They lend your eyes a grace and elegance. Try this to grow long eyelashes. 
• Beautify your eyes with these exercises. 
• Never forget sunscreen.  
• Cleaning your eyes is very important. Use honey to clean your eyes.

Eyes: Take Care of them to look young

In the anti-aging series till now, I have talked about the importance of sunscreen to fight early aging and the notion of aging prevalent among us. Today, I would like to talk about Eyes. As we all know, they are among the first parts of our body to betray our age, if not given proper attention. Eyes give us a lot of trouble like dark circles, puffy eyes, wrinkles, crows feet and what not and make our life miserable. So, we will discuss about how to go on tackling them and achieve beautiful and bright eyes. You may have tried products on products to get rid of these problems but I am sure not many of you might have really found anything satisfying.

Dark Circles. The skin around the eyes is very thin. And, it has lots of blood vessels underneath which gives the skin around the eyes a naturally darker look. This darkness can be enhanced by factors like improper sleep or sleeping positions, dryness in the skin, heredity and many more. 

• I have stressed so much on the importance of drinking water or proper sleep. Start doing it today and experience some betterment in a week. 
• While sleeping, keep your head at a higher elevation so that the blood circulation is less in the face. This way, there may be a color lightening around the eyes.
• Always splash your eyes nicely with cold water before sleeping and after waking up. This relaxes your eyes.
• For those people who have dark circles due to hereditary factors, you can follow these steps but a permanent solution is not guaranteed.

Puffy Eyes. They are caused by excess water content around the eye areas. To reduce that, again I would advise you to sleep with head at a higher elevation. Now, you can reduce puffy eyes by taking care of your diet too.

• Do not take excess of fluids at night, even water. Keep it to bare minimum.
• Reduce the salt intake. Excess of salt in the body means increased capacity of retaining water. So, try to keep your salt intake to a minimum and try to reduce it everyday. Do not worry about the taste of food. It takes your taste buds only 15 days to get adapted to the new taste.
• Reduce intake of sugar too.

Wrinkles. These are caused by dryness around the eyes or due to excess exposure to sun. They can also be taken care of through diet. You need a lot anti-oxidants in your body to fight the wrinkle causing free radicals. 

• Eat lots of green leafy vegetables, beans, olive oil, nuts and whole-grain bread.
• Reduce the intake of meat and processed foods.
• Also, reduce the intake of sugar. It is one of the causes of puffy eyes and pimples too.
• Always go in sun wearing a sunscreen with an SPF of 15-30. Reapply every 2 hours.
• Sleep on your back to avoid wrinkles. Sleeping on your sides puts pressure on your skin and creates wrinkles. Try a conscious effort to sleep on your back. I know it can be difficult for people who are used to curling up. But, its worth an effort.
• If you do not wear glasses, get a pair of sun glasses with UV protection. They should have side covering too. This would prevent the entry of UV radiation anywhere near your eyes.
• Do not squint. They are also causes of wrinkles.
• Apply moisturizer on sunscreen on your eye area with your ring finger in a quick gentle sweep. Do not massage.
• If you feel that having wrinkles is not bad, try stretching your skin to make them wrinkle free and have a look at your face. You do look younger. This would be your motivation to follow all the above mentioned points. 

How to protect your skin and hair during Holi? {Skin Care}

[Source:forum.santabanta.com]

Yes, finally, Holi is just a few days away and all are gearing up for the celebrations and festive cheers. But, the season of Holi brings with it the added risk of chemically synthesized colors which are extremely harmful for our skin and hair. So, you must take certain precautions before staring off with playing with colors. Not only should you take care of your face and hair, but do not forget your arms and your nails. 

Before playing:

• Wear a high factor water proof sunscreen on every part of your body which is exposed. Apply it in thick layers. You should ideally go for 2-3 layers applied at an interval of half or an hour each. This will protect you from prolonged sun exposure and do not forget that the colors might react with your skin and make it photo sensitive. Try to use a chemical sunscreen instead of a physical one as they are more effective and make sure sunscreen is the first thing you apply on your skin.
• After applying sunscreen, apply a thick layer of any oil like almond, olive, coconut or sesame oil (preferably castor oil as it is thick in texture) as they make a film on your skin and protect direct contact from colors. Sesame Oil also provides an added sun protection as it is a natural sun blocker.
• Do not forget to apply the sunscreen and oil to your arms and other parts of your body exposed. All the precautions apply to your feet as well. It will be beat if you are wearing socks. If not, apply oil and then, put a very thick coat of glycerin or honey to avoid slipping.
• You should take care of your nails too. So, apply a thick coat of any nail paint in the morning. And, do not forget to oil your cuticles. They get the worse effects.
• Oil your hair nicely concentrating on the roots and ends. And, after an hour, apply a thick coat of your hair conditioner to your hair. Prefer a leave-in instead of the regular after-shampoo hair conditioners.
• Apply a moisturizing lip paint coating it with a lip gloss.

After playing:

• First of all, wash all your skin with cold water. Do not use hot or lukewarm water. It takes more time to wash.
• Brush your teeth. I know you would have done it in the morning, but, nothing wrong in doing it again.
• Do not use a soap or cleanser to wash your skin. Use a homemade scrub mixed with milk and milk cream to wash your body.
• Now, use a herbal shampoo to wash your hair. After washing your hair, use an intensive conditioner or a deep conditioning treatment or you can apply honey on your hair and wash off after 30 minutes. 
• During your bath, clip your nails. The nail beds would have been ruined because of the color so make them grow nice and strong again. 
• Do a hand soak and a foot soak to relax your hands and feet during your bath. 
• Remove the lipstick and scrub your lips nicely.

And, now, you are back to being beautiful and gorgeous without ruining your skin and enjoying the festival of colors. Some precautions to be observed:

• Do not let the color go into your eyes. If you wear contacts, I would advise you to wear specs as they give a barrier between your eyes and color. If any color enters your eyes, wash them with cold water repeatedly.
• Do not let the color enter your mouth. Yes, it happened to me once. Someone attacked me from the back and it was liquid color. It went into my mouth. If it does, rinse your mouth thoroughly and brush your teeth then and there. 
• I would suggest you all to go for herbal colors available in the market instead of the synthetic colors.
  
  Wish you all a very Happy Holi. Pin It
  

Eyes too need cleaning {Health}

There is one ancient method used to clean the eyes which I would like to share. Put 1 drop of pure honey in each of the eyes. Caution: Eyes will sting badly for around 10-15 minutes. But, the procedure will clean your eyes and give the eyes a fresh look. This tip was told to me by one of my friend who does it occasionally. But, the after-effects were amazing. Eyes become really clean and bright.

But, before trying it, make sure you are using pure good grade honey. Do not use the commercial ones. They contain additives which might irritate the eyes. I would suggest using a good grade Manuka Honey. It is the best quality of honey available and has many skin and health related benefits.

Exercises for Healthy and Beautiful Eyes {Eye Care}

Hope you are all enjoying your vacation. Well, today I have something really useful to tell you all. Its about cleaning the eyes. We all know the importance of keeping our eyes dust-free and giving them time to relax. Morning eye exercises are most important to keep eyes in good condition. There are various exercises which you can do:

• Stare at a far away object without blinking your eyes till they begin to water. It will sting badly if you are a starter, but, you get used to it gradually. This is one of the best exercises to remove the toxins from eyes and also improves your self-confidence.

         Tip: Try holding the eyelids with your fingers if you are not able to stare without blinking.

• Close your eyes tightly and pull all your face muscles in a taut condition for 5 seconds. Relax. Rub your palms together to warm them and place them on your eyes for 5 seconds. Repeat the procedure 10 times. 
• Look towards extreme right and then extreme left without blinking and without moving the head. Just move the eye balls. Repeat 5 times. Blink several times. Look up and then down. Repeat 5 times. Blink. Look diagonally up on left and then, diagonally down on right. Repeat 5 times. Blink. Follow the same with diagonal right up and diagonal left down. Repeat 5 times. Blink. Finally, rotate your eyes, first, in clockwise and, then, in anti-clockwise direction. Blink several times. 

These exercises are enough to keep your eyes and the skin around it in good health. There are many others which you can try out. Do not forget to blink. Blinking keeps the eyes in watery condition and eliminates the toxins. The more you blink, better your eyes will look.

Growing Long Eyelashes {DIY}

Well, growing long eyelashes seem to be too difficult. Everyone wants beautiful eyes framed with long and lush eyelashes. Such eyelashes are not a natural gift to everyone but you need not despair. Some patience and regularity in your routine can help you achieve that task. To be frank, I do not know whether you can grow that thick eyelashes as you watch on the screens when you look at your favorite actress but definitely, you can make them better than their present condition. Apply castor oil every night. Be patient. The results would not be seen over night. Your eyelashes cycle completes in about two months so by end of two months, you can definitely see your eyelashes in a better shape.

And, before leaving, vaseline does no good for the eyelashes so please do not waste time using that remedy. It just makes your eyelashes wet and sticky and when they are wet, the eyelashes look longer so basically, what you see after applying vaseline is just an illusion and I'm not even sure whether you should actually apply vaseline to the delicate skin around the eyes.