babyassface

Why I use kitchen hand cream, on my body in the bathroom.

I think it’s really interesting that Cucina built an entire business out of making soaps and hand creams, specifically designed for kitchen use. Most companies would have branched out and started making eyebrow shampoo by now. But the fact that they can grow, without having to do that, is a testament to how good and addictive this stuff is.

Cucina Regenerating Hand Cream is made with cold pressed olive oil. It’s designed to deeply moisturize hands dried out from frequent washing. It also contains olive leaf extract, which stimulates the skin and helps heal minor cuts and burns.

(Minor cuts and burns? Sounds like me after making a bagel in the morning.)

Cucina hand cream absorbs really quickly and leaves no greasy residue, only super silky, soft skin behind. 

Being the rebel that I am, I decided this stuff was too good to reserve for hand use only. Before I knew it, my hand application was working its way up my arm, then down my torso, to my feet.  I knew I would soon end up in my kitchen, naked, doing dishes, covered in hand cream. So I decided to ignore the fact that “Cucina” was Italian for “kitchen”  and made it my bathroom, body moisturizer.

It has a light scent that doesn’t last too long, but is very uplifting. All the scents smelled nice, but I went for the Sanguinelli Orange and Fennel. 

 

This stuff isn’t cheap, but its packaging is lovely and classy and will make you feel like the only reason you’re standing over the sink doing dishes is because the maid called in sick (yet again).

I wish Cucina would start a new line called “bagno” (bathroom in Italian) specifically for bathroom use, so when people see Cucina in my bathroom, they don't picture me getting arrested for peeing in kitchens all over Italy.

Are exfoliating and moisturizing bad for your skin?

The latest skincare news has me feeling hopeless, frustrated and a little bit hungry. (OK, maybe the hunger isn’t related.)

BellaSugar interviewed dermatologist Dr. Zein Obagi of ZO Skin Health, who claims, “Moisturizers, when used daily as part of a skin care program, will accelerate aging and wrinkling of the skin, as they reduce cellular activity, causing the cells to become lazy...” 

www.primped.com.au spoke with Dr. Maes, Senior VP of Research and Development for Estee Lauder. He says we’re born with a specific number of cell divisions in our lives and if we force our skin cells to turn over too fast (aka too much exfoliating, dermabrasion, peels) by the time we’re 55, we’ll have reached the end of our cell division allotment and our cells will be sluggish, and our skin will be thin and worn out.

Cut to me on my 55th birthday taking some time to stop and smell the roses.

So let me get this straight, I shouldn’t exfoliate and I shouldn’t moisturize. (Guess, that’ll free up a lot of room in my bathroom, so I can finally buy toilet paper in bulk.)

It goes without saying that these doctors are hocking products along with their theories. Dr. Maes, says what we should be doing is slowing down our cells turnover rate, so we don’t go through cells so quickly. 

There are two new products out there that claim to do just that. One of which is Clinique’s Youth Surge.

I like that it’s SPF 15 and texturally, it’s the nicest face cream I’ve every felt- very light, silky and not at all synthetic feeling. My face immediately looked lighter, brighter, more even toned, less haggard and somehow surged with youth. (I’m not kidding).


Does this stuff work really well?  Yes.  Does it work really well because it slows down your cells deterioration? If you happen to be applying it while in a cryogenic freezer visiting Walt Disney’s head- maybe.  

All I want to know is, if I slow down my cells deterioration, can I exfoliate again?

It's sold at Sephora, so you can just ask a salesperson there for a free sample. Got to love Sephora.

You can only take one skincare product to a desert island. Is this it?

I really want to like Balm Balm Rose Germanium Face Balm. It’s 100% natural, 100% organic and has great ingredients like shea butter, calendula, bees wax and jojoba oil. (It’s for all skin types and not as greasy as it sounds). I love the name Balm Balm (probably because it sounds like bon bons) and I admire the fact that this little balm is so ambitious.

Here’s how it can be used: on the face, lips, cuticles, hands, feet, elbows, and even on disheveled eyebrows. It’s like the skincare version of Leonardo da Vinci (who was a philosopher, inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician and painter).

I threw Balm Balm in my purse to see just how useful it would be throughout the day. I was about to go into an interview and noticed my eyelids were looking like eyelid jerky (wrinkly and dehydrated), the Balm Balm made them immediately look better. It helped my cuticles look less like I’d been trying to tunnel out of prison, using only my fingernails. It helped my chapped lips (but only for an hour). And by the end of the day, when my eyebrows started looking like fuzzy caterpillars, that were trying to crawl off my face, the Balm Balm helped them fall back in line. (Apparently, I decompose quickly throughout the day.) So, yes, I guess it was a helpful, little skincare item to have in my bag.

But while it does do a lot, it doesn’t do anything really well. Turns out rather than being the da Vinci of skincare products, it’s more like the Hugh Jackman (actor, singer, dancer, bad Oscar host) of skincare products.

Thank you Barbara for not forcing Mickey Rourke to do this to you as well. 

So if you’re traveling and want to pack light, or if you always like to be prepared, or if you’re going to be on Survivor and can only bring one item, this might be just the product for you.

I love the idea of a uni-product that does it all. Does anyone have one they think works really well?  

Is it time for a "skin fast"?

When I was reading “The Japanese Skincare Revolution”, the author, one of Japan’s most revered beauty advisors, revealed that her ultimate skincare technique is something she calls “skin fasting”. 

In all her years as an esthetician, she’s found that “the skin condition of those who use too many products is far worse than that of those who use nothing at all.” I…can’t … breath….paper… bag… someone.

Thankfully, before passing out from suddenly losing all meaning in my life, I read on to the book’s next paragraph. Turns out, she doesn’t mean we should never use products. She just believes that we should take one day a week off and do nothing other than rinse our skin. 

If this is how this woman rinses her face, I'd hate to see what her bathroom looks like.

As much as I love products, I totally agree with Chizu. I personally believe that by constantly cleaning and moisturizing our skin, it loses it’s own inherent ability to take care of itself. (Kind of like what spell check has done to my spelling.)

I took Chizu Saeki’s advice and put my skin on a fast for 24 hours. At first, I practically had to smash a bottle over my head and knock myself out to prevent my hands from applying moisturizer to my dry skin.  But somehow I got through the 24 hours and the next morning when I awoke, my skin looked fresher, (and unless I imagined it - younger). Apparently, it had released its own natural oils, and moisturized itself quite nicely. Supposedly, oily skin will regulate itself as well.

Since I don’t want my skin to atrophy and become the equivalent of a couch potato, who eats bon-bons and watches TV all day, I’m going to try to stick with the skin fasting on Sundays.

Maybe with all the extra time I save from not applying products that day, I’ll try to cure cancer.

What do you think?  Is skin fasting something you’d try?

Saran Wrap- a Japanese skincare secret?

I just received a book called “The Japanese Skincare Revolution- How to Have the Most Beautiful Skin of Your Life- At Any Age”, by Chizu Saeki. 

Saeki is “a practicing esthetician and Japan’s most revered beauty advisor” and this book is the distillation of her most essential techniques. 

There are lots of cool things in it, like face massage techniques, quick fix spa secrets, as well as methods to diagnose your skincare needs.

I love this random tidbit. Hold a mirror above your head and look up. This is what your face looked like 5 years ago. Hold the mirror below your face and look down. This is what you’re going to look like 5 years from now. (Ahhh! Please God, no.)

Thankfully, I’m short, so I often look up at others, so they get my 5 years ago face. (So take that tall, leggy people.)

The following was my favorite tip. It involves using Saran Wrap to create a facial sauna.

 

Why is this photo on a stock photo website????

I improvised on her method a bit. Here’s my version. I applied face cream. Put a piece of Saran Wrap over my face. Poked holes where my mouth and nose were. (I didn’t poke holes where my eyes were, because I was afraid I would poke my eyes out and I could see through the plastic anyway.) 

I wore the mask while blow drying my hair, to maximize the sauna effect. 

15 minutes later, I peeled the plastic off. 

It took a few minutes for the excess moisture to evaporate, but once it did, I had a little, post-sauna, healthy, detoxed, dewy complexion going on.

I swear I looked a few years younger (and it wasn't just a hallucination, from having just cooked my face in Saran Wrap).

The youthful look lasted all day. The guy at the pizza place even called me “Miss”, which never happens any more. 

I could be wearing pigtails and skipping down the street, sucking a lollipop and people would still call me "ma'am", so this was a big deal for me. 

So from now on, I'm blow drying my hair with Saran Wrap over my face. (Never thought I would utter those words.) Now I’m wondering if I can do a full body sauna with dry cleaning bags. (Joke. I know they’re not a toy.)  

Don't forget to check out the book.

do you need a gladiator-strength face cream?

Fresh Crème Ancienne is a $135/oz facial cream that was originally developed in the 2nd century to help heal gladiator wounds. Let’s see. I don’t have much disposable income.

I wasn’t stabbed by a sword, attacked by a tiger and I’m not experiencing chaffing from a metal vest.  Do I really need this cream?

I’ve heard good things about it and it’s the only skincare product, that has such a complex back-story that I’m surprised Hollywood hasn’t tried to turn it into a movie.

Besides being derived from the recipe for the world’s first emulsion-based cream and helping gladiators, it's presently produced by monks (in small batches, by hand) in a European monastery. 

Fresh says they did this because “monasteries have been the keepers and protectors of knowledge throughout history” and “without them, the original recipe for this balm would not exist today”.

This is like "The Da Vinci Code" of skincare products. 

Yes, I do think this is just a big marketing ploy, but damn it’s an entertaining one.

So, does this cream (sorry crème) live up to all the brouhaha?

I applied the crème at night. This stuff is the consistency of lip balm, not exactly a luxurious feeling (but I suppose gladiators didn’t care about that). When I woke up in the AM, my skin did look good.  It appeared to be more plump, nicely hydrated, smooth, and my complexion looked clear and milky. 

I applied it again the next morning. It was a cold, dry day. By the time I got back to my apartment, a couple of hours later, my skin felt dry and my makeup looked a bit flakey. 

This cream reminds me of BeeCeutical's Queen for a Day Cream (except I actually liked BeeCeutical's a lot better and it was a lot cheaper).

So if you have some disposable income and want a facial cream that works nicely, most of the time, and has all the elements of an exciting Dan Brown novel, you can get a free “deluxe” sample (and by "deluxe", they mean by Lilliputians standards) at a Fresh store, while they last.

From the looks of it, they don’t give the monks spatulas and they have to smear the crème in there with their fingers.

Putting this sheet over my face made my face look much better.

The Origins Make a Difference Skin Rejuvenating Sheet Mask is not only frighteningly good, it’s also just plain frightening. When I unfolded it out of the packaging, I immediately thought of Jason from Friday the 13th. And when I put it on my face, I kept scaring the crap out of myself every time I walked past a reflective surface. 

Whatever you do, don’t go outside at night to trim the bushes with a machete, while wearing this mask, or the police will come a knockin. 

These 100% organic cotton sheet masks are drenched in lots of moisturizer. (One of the ingredients is the Rose of Jericho -a "resurrection" plant that can survive and thrive after decades of drought.)

After I removed this super cooling, refreshing mask from my face, a coating of moisturizer remained on my skin. I massaged it in a bit and let the rest soak in gradually. Once it absorbed in, my skin felt amazing- velvety soft, smooth, refreshed, super-duper hydrated, and the fine lines were gone. Plus, unlike most masks that I’ve tried, this one left my skin feeling amazing for 48 hrs. 

This winter my face has been exposed to freezing temperatures, low humidity, excessively drying indoor heating systems- conditions usually reserved for torture testing car batteries. This mask helped rectify all that. Not since that flume ride in jr. high has my skin feel this hydrated.    

This mask isn't cheap. It’s $36 for 6 masks, but if you have dry, dehydrated, weathered or “mature” skin, this mask is worth every penny.

I also tried the Origins Make a Difference Skin moisturizing cream and didn’t think it moisturized very well, so the mask and the moisturizer aren’t interchangeable by any means.   

Anyone else ever try these masks?

dry, winter skin has met its match

It’s so cold in NYC, that when I pour boiling water into a “room temperature” (aka freezing) tea cup, what looks like dry ice smoke, starts spewing out of the top of it. I half expect an 80's hair band to emerge from the cloud and start yelling, “ Are you ready to rock?”

Yes, it’s that cold.

It’s so cold that even dogs are wearing hoodies inside.

Thanks to the fact that I end my showers with a 60-second blast of cold water, my torso and limb epidermis are doing OK.

But the parts of my body that are exposed to the elements, my hands and face, look like they’ve just crawled out from under an avalanche.

(Random tip: If you ever get buried in an avalanche, clear some room in front of your face and spit.  Gravity will take the saliva down, so you know to dig the other way, to get up and out.)

But, I digress (into the plot of “Aspen Extreme”). So, I’ve been reading reviews of Weleda Skin Food on Amazon. Pretty much everyone, gave it 5 out of 5 stars, claiming that for dry skin, there’s nothing better.

It’s made with extracts of Viola, Chamomile and Calendula (soothes skin), and it’s free of synthetic fragrances, colors and preservatives. 

I applied Weleda Skin Food to ½ my face. It wasn’t greasy or of a pore-clogging consistency. I then dressed in as many layers as I could muster (while still being able to move my limbs) and ventured out into the cold, to run some errands. 

When I returned to my apartment, I looked in the mirror. The Skin Food side of my face had a nice healthy glow and was still nicely hydrated (like I’d actually been drinking the 8 glasses of water a day, I swore I would). The other side of my face, looked dull and dry. 

You can use Skin Food on the face, body or anywhere that’s rough and dry, like the elbows, feet or hands.

So, if you too are somewhere shivering right now, and your skin feels like it’s starting to develop freezer-burn, you might want to check out Weleda Skin Food.

I have to go put on something with a hood now.    

I’ve never tried any other Weleda products.  Are any of them worth checking out?

Feel free to use the Google "search the web" box to the right, to help track it down at the cheapest price.

the other burt's bees

When I saw BeeCeuticals Organic line of products at Whole Foods, my first thought was that it was a bad, cross-marketing promotion with the Jerry Seinfeld Bee Movie. (Not to be an instigator, but someone should be suing someone, because those bees look an awful lot a like.)

 

It's creeping me out that all animated bees are suddenly starting to look like Seinfeld.

My second thought was, “using honey, that's Burt’s Bees' idea”.  Then I realized how ridiculous that was.  Honey is an amazing skincare product and the more products out there touting its benefits the better.   

So I kind of feel like plugging this product, because I really liked it and I always like to root for the underdog (and in my spare time instigate lawsuits). 

The ingredients are really nice: Japanese Green Tea, Organic Grape Seed Extract, Shea Butter for ultra-moisture, Jojoba to replace the skin’s natural wax esters, Macadamia Seed Oil for the fatty acids, Organic Chamomile to soothe, and Organic Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme,  because apparently their fans of Simon and Garfunkel, Evening Primrose Oil to soften, Royal Jelly to nourish, Propolis to heal, Vitamins A, C and E and of course organic honey (a humectant that helps attract and retain moisture).

This moisturizer is rich and light at the same time.  It’s not greasy-feeling at all, but keeps skin protected from the cold, dry winter air. I love that their claim: “designed to mimic and strengthen the protective lipid barriers of the skin” is exactly how I would describe it (except I’d use 3rd grader words).   

This cream is almost like an ever-so-thin layer of wax.  Like how some apples have that waxy coating to keep them from dehydrating and looking old. This kind of does that for your face (although on a much more subtle level).

I feel like wearing BeeCeutical's Queen for a Day Cream, I could climb Everest without losing my nose to frostbite. If that’s not a rave review, I don’t know what is.    

   

 

They probably think that bee is cute, but it's going to give me nightmares.

Has anyone else ever tried this brand?

If you want, you can use the Google "search the web" box to the right to find out where it's sold.

the curious case of Eve Lom TLC moisturizer

This cold weather has my skin looking dry and more “mature” than usual.

Know what skin care companies?  I know “mature” is supposed to be a euphemism for “old”, but I don’t like it.  It’s kind of like describing someone as having a  “great personality”.  So from now on, I’m going to use the word “sophisticated” instead of “mature” and I expect you to recall all of your products, re-label them and do the same. 

Which brings me, via the scenic route, to Eve Lom TLC.  This PM moisturizer worked miracles on my dry, sophisticated-looking winter skin.

When I first applied this cream, it was so thick, I was afraid that it would migrate under my nostrils and suffocate me, while I slept, but it didn’t.  And when I awoke, not only had it all absorbed, but I looked years younger.

Seriously, I felt like I’d aged backwards overnight. Like I was in the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.

I’m sorry. I know this movie is supposed to be good, but that has to be one of the dumbest movie titles ever.  It sounds like a kids book, where a button, named Benjamin, falls off someone’s coat and then spends the rest of the tale trying to find his way back to his owner.

It should have been called “The Curious Case of Why the Hell You Would Name a Movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. 

Or “The Curious Case of Why, If You’re Going to Age Brad Pitt Backwards, You Wouldn’t Go All the Way Back to His Thelma and Louise Days?”

But anyway, my point was, this cream made me look years younger. It left my skin with fewer wrinkles, plump, lush and as hydrated as a Sara Lee Pound Cake (the low fat, non-greasy one).  

So if winter has your skin feeling dry and “sophisticated”, with “a great personality”, do yourself a favor and check out Eve Lom TLC. It’s not cheap, but so worth it.

Doesn’t it look like a delicious dessert topping?  Note to self, don’t write blog when hungry.

Eve Lom is a British brand.  It’s available at Space NK’s flagship store here in NYC. And according to BellaSugar, Space NK stores within a store, have recently popped up at select Bloomindale's.

Feel free to use the "search the web" box to the right, to track it down.