When shopping for beauty products, we tend to look for a few key words on a bottle's label -- namely ones that assure us the product we're about to use has been tested on humans, not animals. But beauty treatments involving live animals? That's a whole different story.
Really, who doesn't have "combination" skin? I'm not talking about T-zones or the amount of oil one's skin produces. I'm talking about the battalion of products the average woman needs to combat her myriad of skin problems. When you've got wrinkles, breakouts, age spots and chapped lips at the same time, it's hard not to pile on a slew of products aimed at fighting different skin issues. But according to New York City dermatologist Jeannette Graf, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Medical Center, the concoction of products we layer on our face may not be the best recipe for great skin -- in fact, it could be a recipe for disaster (kind of like the time you blew up the living room with your chemistry set).
When it comes to skin care, most of us fall into one of two camps. There are those of us who never change our routine, using the same ill-suited face wash and moisturizer from our high school days. Then there's the other group, who embrace treatments like Botox and acid peels before there's a wrinkle in sight.
If you're anything like me, you love your eight hours a night (okay, seven … on a good day), but you wish you could function with less. All that time spent horizontal just seems so, well, unproductive. If sleep came in capsule form, I'd take it.
It's one thing when a celebrity endorses a brand. They sign on for a year or two, and their eerily airbrushed photos appear in magazine ads. They tell us in the beauty press about their favorite lotion or whatever the product line might be, but when the contract ends, POOF. They move on to the next big deal and I'm left thinking, "Maybe she didn't like that lotion after all …"
Everyone and their mother lusts after iconic, high-end cosmetics. But just like snagging a one-of-a-kind vintage bag or a custom, hand-beaded frock, one of our favorite things in life (and at Total Beauty) is to discover awesome and unique handmade beauty products -- best kept secrets, if you will -- that will have all your friends asking, "Where on earth did you find this stuff? It's amazing."
I'm not ashamed to admit it: I love self-tanner. I work all summer to get the perfect glow, then fall comes around and my bronze tan suddenly makes me feel like George Hamilton. Unfortunately, you can't just snap your fingers and go back to the Snow White winter look when fall still calls for a little bare skin in skirts, short sleeves and, well, your face. Quit cold turkey and bad things happen. Skin starts to flake, color fades unevenly, and you're left with patchy spots that make you look like you have a skin disease. I had a feeling there had to be some sort of protocol for transitioning from a summer tan back to my natural color. To find out the process for weaning myself off of self-tanner, I spoke with Sophie Evans, a skin-finishing expert for St. Tropez.
Our Beauty Editor Dawn was smack dab in the middle of all the behind-the-scenes hustle and bustle, and amidst all the hairspray-fueled chaos, she noticed a handful of items everywhere she looked -- the essential products for hairstylists and makeup artists. Sure, the tables were overflowing with palettes, brushes, pins, and notes in every color, shape, and size imaginable, and yet, the majority of makeup artists and hairstylists had the same go-to's in their beauty arsenal.
Some beauty trends slap you in the face (think: nail art and alphabet creams). Others sneak up on you. A product here, a product there, next thing you know even Walmart is stocking the stuff.
Twerking, Beyonce's weave (or lack thereof), and Cara Delevingne's eyebrows are trending right now. You know what else is spreading through the digital world like a cute cat video? Face yoga.
School days mean it's time for a routine, especially when it comes to your skin. But what if the routine you swear by is actually ruining your skin? Wait until you see these sneaky ways your skin care habits are causing wrinkles, zits, and more
With the way things are going, in a few years you might find us expounding on ZZ creams and all the wonderful benefits of zinc and zeolite. But for now we're obsessed with another letter in the alphabet: The letter C, as in CC cream.
No matter what the labels may claim, not all makeup is made for year-round use. Just like you swap out your Hunter boots for sandals and J Brand jeans for maxi skirts, so must your beauty bag get a seasonal overhaul come summer.
Three hundred and thirty-six. That's the number of hours the average woman spends kissing in her lifetime. And sure, while Megan Fox blows the average for us norms, when we stumbled across this freaky fact, intrepid researchers here at the office thought: Hey, we like to kiss. Heck, we'd like to kiss a lot more. Who can help us with that?
There's something about getting a spa treatment that's transcendent. The entire ritual -- from the exhilarating moment you enter the sanctuary to the melancholy phase of checking out -- is indulgent and exhilarating. Especially when you're at a top-notch destination like the ones featured in this story. These award-winning spas are some of the best in the United States -- and for good reason. They're not only breathtaking to behold, but offer signature spa treatments steeped in either ancient methodologies, new wave thinkings or a combo of both -- all guaranteed to cure what ails you, and feel (mostly) heavenly in the process.
