Beauty Blog
Spa Expert's Tips for Glowing Skin
Hydrate Skin with Cold Pressed Oils: At the new Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach, Spa & Recreation Manager Allie Arguelles recommends massaging Aromatherapy Associates Hydrating Nourishing Face Oil or cold-pressed apricot or coconut oil in small circles from forehead to chin.
Humidify Your Way to Brighter Skin: At Windsor Court Spa, Spa Director Sharla Martin recommends investing in a good humidifier to keep skin hydrated especially during bitter-cold winter days. To get rid of unwanted dry, flaky skin, she recommends exfoliating with a sugar and oil-based exfoliant.
Coffee Scrub for a Bright Complexion: At Well & Being at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princes, Whitney Mullins, a dual massage therapist and esthetician, recommends guests sip on a cup of coffee to keep skin merry and bright. Coffee has many natural skin benefits, including reducing inflammation, reducing cellulite, gently exfoliating while brightening the skin and reducing puffiness, as well as packing the skin with antioxidants.
Use Oxygen to Revive Tired Winter Skin: At The Spa at Red Rock by Well & Being, intentional living specialist Emily Heim recommends travelers revive dull winter skin with Dr. Lancer’s 3-Step “Method,” which includes, The Method: Polish, The Method: Cleanse and The Method: Nourish.
Get a Glow with an Overnight Mask: At Guerlain Spa at The Plaza Hotel, lead esthetician Alina Cimpoeru recommends sleeping with the Guerlain Orchidée Impériale Mask, which leaves skin hydrated, plump and bright.
Use IntraCeuticals to Heal Winter-Ravaged Skin: At Well & Being at The Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas at Las Colinas, lead esthetician Melissa Miller advises guests to purchase IntraCeuticals Oxygen Therapy products formulated for home use to maintain stunning skin throughout the snowy season.
Call on Mother Nature: At Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort & Spa’s Group Spa and Wellness Director Sienna Creasy recommends an exfoliating treatment to get rid of dry skin. Beginning with a triple threat combination of Blue Mountain Coffee to tone, sea salt that detoxifies and golden-brown sugar to soften. Shea butter and local annatto oil provide a warm glow naturally from the color of the seed’s skin which is an orange-red.
Ban Dry Skin with Avocado Honey Mask: At Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino Michelle Arce, marketing director for Zen Spa Retreat, says that avocado and honey have powerful antioxidant and moisturizing properties to ban tricky rough patches and keep skin healthy and smooth during winter. Apply the following mask 2-3 times a week: mash 1/2 avocado and add 2 tablespoons of honey and apply generously on your face and neck. Let it dry for 10-15 minutes and then rinse with water.
Brighten Complexion with Coconut Oil: At Los Sueños Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort at Sibö Rainforest, Spa & Retreat, Nicole Courrau, spa manager says that a good body scrub eliminates the accumulation of dead skin cells and brings back that healthy glow in the winter. To maximize results, scrub with a body brush in circular movements then apply coconut oil which provides deep hydration and promotes the removal of dead cells to brighten a dull complexion.
Refresh Lips with Sugar and Honey Treatment: At Costa Rica Marriott Hotel San Jose César Sánchez, spa manager for Kuö Spa, deals with chapped lips by mixing sugar with honey is a great moisturizer that helps heal them quickly. Mix two teaspoons of sugar with one teaspoon of honey and rub the paste gently on the face to loosen the dead skin cells. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wash off with lukewarm water.
Light Therapy to Sooth and Rejuvenate: At JW Marriott Grand Rapids, guests cure the winter blues with Light Therapy treatments. During the session, lay with the Light Therapy lamp over the face with a soothing eye mask and massage. According to spa manager Caitlin McClelland, using an illuminating palette can provide a summer-inspired, dewy look.
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LabGrab Eye Renewal for Puffiness and Fine Lines
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Silk Therapeutics for LabGrab. All opinions are my own.
Do you have fine lines or under eye puffiness? Lack of a decent amount of sleep will often cause me to get puffy bags under my eyes, and well, my age is showing with fine lines and crow's feet on a regular basis. If you are a regular reader, you know I love the New England-based Silk Therapeutics brand and have reviewed a few of their products (Silk Therapeutics Nurture ++ Moisturizer, Purely Smooth Daily Minimizing Complex, and Silk Renewing Peel.) If you are not already familiar with this great skin care brand, they use minimal ingredients and activated liquid silk in all of their products. Silk protein is what firms and smoothes skin and gives its healthy appearance. Pure liquid silk does the job of a number ingredients and this is why their products can be ultra-effective without a laundry list of fillers. As with most brands, there are a lot of great ideas for other products put forth and formulations that tried and tested. However, most of the time, only one of those products make it to market. It's not to say that the other product ideas or formulations weren't good, it's always just a matter of which one is the best of the best at the time and money to get it from the lab to you. As a beauty brand owner myself, I can't begin to tell you how true this is. I would surely love to launch many items at once, but just to put ONE out costs a considerable amount of money and that's not a pricetag I want to pass onto you, and neither do they. But I love the idea Silk Therapeutics came up with to problem solve this which gave birth to a new line called LabGrab. LabGrab is a skin care line with the same innovative formulations of pure liquid silk, made in limited edition batches at affordable prices. It's no frills naming (the formulator's initials, internal formulation number and intended purpose of the product) with the product in lab glass. While EC-018 may not sound sexy, your skin won't know any better. I had the opportunity to try their Cream - Eye Renewal prior to launch. It's an unscented eye treatment comprised of liquid silk, silk micro-capsules, caffeine, and botanicals. The texture has a whipped consistency - it is lightweight and airy. It's not at all greasy and doesn't feel like it sits atop your skin. It's incredibly concentrated and you only need to use a tiny amount. And by tiny, I mean less than pea-sized for both eyes. I've used it every day for a few weeks now and it looks like I've barely touched my jar. Also - the skin around my eyes looks great! My crow's feet have softened and there's no under-eye puffiness. Now, I know that I won't see miracles only having used it for a short period of time, however, I am beginning to see results and I know with consistent use, the overall results will improve. I'm really excited about the launch of LabGrab and I hope you'll check out the products for yourself! Any questions? Let me know in the comments! Subscribe to A Girl’s Gotta Spa! beauty blog. Watch our reviews on YouTube, see our pins on Pinterest and check us out on Instagram. Got a Kindle? We’re on Kindle too!Try This Face Mask for Acne Prone Skin
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Vitamin C Skin Treatments
Age spots caused by sun damage, scars, dark brown spots (for whatever reason) - all of the things we wish to fade away in order to regain a near-perfect canvas. Having done EVERYTHING wrong to my skin in my younger days, from using the tanning booth to rarely using sunscreen, to picking at my blemishes and never taking off my makeup before bed...to just not taking care of my skin in general, I'm now paying the price.
Note to beauty girls piling on the makeup with contouring, baking, highlighting, over-doing it on your brows, skipping the sunscreen, etc etc. - you will one day regret how you treated your skin during this trend of makeup excess. TRUST.
But I digress.
If you don't have the time or budget for cosmetic treatments to help undo skin damage, then your best bet (aside from being smart about skin care going forward) is to use Vitamin C skin treatments to brighten your skin and fade hyperpigmentation.
The thing is, just any Vitamin C treatment won't do. When searching for the perfect Vitamin C product, you need two things: a stable form of Vitamin C and a high concentration of it (i.e. not the last thing listed on the label so that the brand can make claims.)
A stable form of Vitamin C is the most potent - if your Vitamin C is brown, then it is oxidized and not stable, therefore ineffective. It's also important to note that some Vitamin C treatments do give a stinging sensation. Everyone's skin reacts differently and I've found that some products sting (briefly) while I feel absolutely nothing from others. I can only think that this is due to the other ingredients in the product that may help to counteract the stinging.
So what has worked for me? Paula's Choice Resist Vitamin C Spot Treatment, InviCible Scars and emerginC Vitamin C Serum.
Paula's Choice Vitamin C Spot Treatment: 25% Vitamin C, the highest I have ever used. It does sting, but goes away within seconds. There's no fragrance to it and it says it works on all skin types. It is a white lotion, that feels "dry." Unless you've tried it, it's difficult to explain. It doesn't feel like a typical creamy lotion, which isn't a bad thing, but worth noting. It absorbs quicky and there is no greasy feeling. It's the smallest tube of the 3 mentioned (15ml) at a high price point ($55.)
InviCible Scars: 17% Vitamin C and it did not sting. It has no scent to it and is also meant for all skin types. This is a silky, white lotion which is partly due to the silicone (one of the best treatments for scars) and skin-softening ingredients like aloe, sunflower and safflower seed oil. I've used this on my face for dark spots, but I have also used it in the past for my burn scar. Using a small amount, it does not feel greasy and I found that it absorbs well. (28ml for $28.99)
emerginC Vitamin C Serum: 12% Vitamin C and it did not sting (they also have a 20% version.) My immediate thought when applying this serum is that it is perfect for combination skin, as it is a liquid gel serum. It does have a slight orange scent to it, but it fades once absorbed into your skin. There is no greasy feeling and I like that it came in a large bottle (30ml for $83.)
While most stable Vitamin C products come in dark or concealed tubes/bottles, this one is in a clear bottle, so you *must* keep it in a dark place or it will become unstable.
Another thing to keep in mind, fading dark spots and scarring takes time. There is no quick fix. This is skin damage and takes consistent use over a period of time to see a difference - typically 12 weeks. Your best bet is to take a before picture of yourself and at the 12 week mark take another in order to note progress.
You must always wear broad spectrum sunscreen forever. And ever. Vitamin C causes photosensitivity, so if you aren't protecting your face when wearing these products, then you really are voiding their benefits. Once you have faded the pigmentation, you'll still need to wear sunscreen, as UV rays can re-darken the area (and no it won't fade like your tan will.)