How to Have Great Looking Skin

How to Have Great Looking Skin

• Genes
• Inner nutrition - what we eat and drink
• Exercise
• General health and well-being
• Emotional health, and
• Outer nutrition - how we take care of our skin

While we can't alter our genes, we can improve our skin by making the necessary adjustments in the areas we can influence. Read on to discover the basic components of a healthy outer nutritional plan for your skin.
If you seriously want great skin the very first thing to do and wear a hat and good quality sunscreen when out in the sunshine. Having said that, let's move on to understand the next three basic foundations to great skin.
If you want your skin to look and feel great, careful cleansing is very important. This should be done first thing in the morning and last thing at night to remove pore-clogging dirt. Don't cleanse enough and you could find yourself prone to spots. Cleanse to often and you could be stripping away essential oils and be susceptible to dry skin or even eczema. Understanding your skin type (normal, dry or oily) and using a cleanser to match is the best foundation for great looking skin. Remember to rinse your face with warm water after using a cleanser, as any residue will continue to work on the skin if not completely removed.
Our grandmother's used soap and water…isn't that good enough? Soap is not very good at removing makeup because it does not contain enough oils to dissolve the staying power that most cosmetics have today. Remember the 'tight' feeling after your have washed your fact with soap? Soap can be very drying on your skin and may wash away essential oils. Another reason not to use soap is that it is not matched to the natural balance of our skin. Soap is generally alkaline, whilst skin is naturally acidic.
The second step to great outer nutrition for your skin is to tone. Toners are designed to remove any last traces of cleanser, while also helping to tighten and refine pores and prevent the build-up of dead skin cells. After toning your skin should fee and look revitalised and refreshed, and ready to be moisturised. Again you will need to apply a toner that matches your skin type.
The third foundation step is to apply moisturiser to help restore the moisture loss caused by the drying effects of sunlight, central heating, wind, cold and pollution. A good daytime moisturiser would contain a sunscreen and will be easily absorbed into the skin. At night you should use a richer, more nourishing cream, as this is when your skin more readily absorbs moisture.
Despite the plethora of products on the market and the myriad of additives…. the most important ingredient of any moisturiser is water! If water is just splashed on the skin it will not say there. Moisturisers are basically oil and water emulsions which contain a humectant (a substance added to another to make it moist), which attracts water and helps 'fix' it in the upper layers of the skin.
Moisture that is lost firm the skin needs to be replaced quickly so that the surface of the skin is kept both soft and smooth. The living cells in the layers need water so that they will not shrivel up and die. A moisturiser can protect the skin by providing a varier between the skin and the external environment. It also prevents the loss of moisture from the deeper layers of the skin.
Should people who have oily skin use a moisturiser? Moisturisers are particularly recommended for people with dry skin but everyone can benefit from using a moisturiser. You simply need to ensure that you choose the correct moisturiser for your skin type. People with oily skin should choose a moisturiser that hydrates their skin whilst helping absorb any excess oil.

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6 Tips to Maintain a Sexy Tan

6 Tips to Maintain a Sexy Tan

Every summer you start to hunt for that Tahiti glow. Threats like the increased solar activity, the radiation or the cancer, none of these can stop you from knowing how good a tan looks on you. The guys know it, the other women know it, it's just too sexy not to aim at it. But you don't have enough time, there are so many projects in development for this summer, and your family calls you for that reunion too, and your friends want you to the concerts with them, so what do you do? Suddenly you think to yourself: "I could have a good tan in just a couple of days." And you take a few days off and land on the beach, stay 4-6 hours per day in the sun (you know it's too much but you have your 60 SPF sunscreen with you, so how bad can it be?). If you're lucky you might get a tan instead of sunburn, but it won't last too much, and if you're thinking to use those expensive self-tanning products, you won't get the same natural color, not even the same shade, why do you think it's called a fake bake? I've never trusted tanning products anyway so I don't recommend it either.

To build and maintain a sexy tan you need to follow a few simple rules. My tips worked on me and my friends also. These work on different kinds of skin from highly sensitive white (that's me) to natural tanned.

1. Prepare yourself - This is before you even consider taking your clothes off to offer your body to the almighty Sun. Exfoliate! You need to be precise because otherwise all those dead skin cells will make your tan uneven (not cool). A good exfoliation is twice more important if you have a bright sensitive skin, so go for it.

2. Tan all layers of the skin - If you stay more than 3 hours straight in the sun and manage to avoid sunburn then you'll get a tan only for the top layer of your skin. That's superficial tanning and it will fade quickly into the initial color of your skin. Stay at most 2 hours per day tanning and do it for more then 4 days in a row (I recommend 7-10 days). This is great news; it means you actually have to take a full vacation if you want that sexy tan (it's about time).

3. Stay away from the light...after 12 p.m. - At noon the sun rays become too powerful so you have to stop your tanning session. This has to be the oldest tip on tanning. You've probably heard it from grandma too, but it remains as important as it was before so always use it to your advantage or you'll get perfect sexy sunburn. Start tanning at about 9:30 or 10 a.m. and finish at 11:30 - 12. You can do a rep of tanning later at 5 p.m. but this is optional.

4. Gentle shower - You just got up from the beach and you're going to shower in your room. The water just started to pour but the phone rings (God, you hate that don't you?). It's your friends calling you to join them quickly for a new juicy gossip at this beach bar serving the greatest Margarita ever. You're on a rush now and you have to finish your showering fast. No matter how bad you want to teleport to your friends, treat your skin with care, because it can easily get bruised after two hours of direct sun exposure.

5. Hydrated Skin - A healthy skin is a hydrated skin. Use a moisturizer and make sure you drink plenty of water (or gossip cocktails...) because it's still the hottest season of the year. This is a great way of maintaining your tan.

6. Patience - It's a virtue. The tan you want will build up slowly. To maintain it once you're back from the vacation without artificial methods just keep getting in the sun naked from time to time, so don't miss those bikini or pool parties.

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