Beauty & Crown

The very thought of having to bathe in winters can make many of us cringe in our beds. It is a ritual that most of us think we could do without. But, the fact is that bathing in winters can be lots of fun, if you have the right ingredients to make it a wonderful experience. Here are some exotic recipes to pamper your skin crazy.

For Soft Skin
- Pour two tablespoons of honey and five tablespoons of almond oil in your hot water bath. It will make your skin nice and soft and moisturize it enough so that you don’t need to moisturize it further.
- Take one cup each of strawberries and cream, two cups of warm water and a few drops of almond oil. Pour them in a pan and blend them well with a spatula or an electric blender to form a soft creamy liquid. Add it to your warm water bath, and enjoy the experience.
- Take one and a half cups of milk powder, three tablespoons of oatmeal, a vitamin E capsule, two table spoons of cornflower. Mix all the ingredients with the help of a blender, and store it in a jar. Take a small amount of the mixed ingredients and add it to your bath for that heavenly experience.
- Take 50 grams of milk powder, fresh rose petals, a handful of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves, and ten drops of essential rose oil, and add them all to your hot water bath. What a refreshing bath it will make for you skin.

Rejuvenating Your Skin
- Take one cup of magnesium sulfate and add it to your bath. Add another few drops of geranium oil and soak in your bath for 15 to 20 minutes. This bath is most useful just before retiring to bed. It helps detoxify the body and slimming it.
- Here is one recipe for wrinkled and dry skin. Take one cup of olive oil, one cup of sea salt. Add a few drops of sandalwood and lavender oil. Scrub your elbows, knees, knuckles, and butt with it for about five minutes. Next, dive into your hot water bath leaving it on.
- When you come home tired from office, take four to five chamomile tea bags and put them in boiled water for about 20 minutes. Add some milk to the concoction, and pour it in your bath water for a rejuvenating experience. 

I have a skin that oozes oil like you’ve seen water oozing from a thin membrane. It can be so embarrassing for a girl carrying a face that shines brightly second only to the sun. Makeup just doesn’t stay on my skin. It smudges badly. I had tried everything under the sun until I literally accidentally came across Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets. I slipped in a store knocking a small display counter on my way down, and the product fell right into my lap. That’s sheer luck. I was like, hey! It’s a godsend. Let me try it out. When I used Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets for the first time, it felt so soft on my skin. It kind of swept the oil and my skin looked and felt so neat. After a few days of using the sheets, I felt a distinct reduction in the shine on my face. I started using makeup again without smudging it. It works wonders over my makeup. They have made the size just right, as it fits into my small bag nicely. Leading an active life, I have to cope with sweat and oil, and Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Sheets are super absorbents. I would recommend the guys this product without any hesitation.

Women who cross over to the wrong side of youth after pampering their skin with all kinds of beauty treatments do feel the way I do. I had a skin to die for – well, this is a compliment I often used to receive. Alas! Not any more (until 10 months back). I tried everything under the sun to bring back the youthfulness of the days gone by, but nothing worked. As expected, there was nothing I could do except to accept my fate. A friend of mine suggested I use Guerlain’s Success Model. It said on the tube that it was a smoothing mask. Reluctantly, I picked up the product. By the time I could squeeze the last bit of cream, there was a marked feel about my facial skin. I bought another tube, and ever since I am hooked to the Success Model. My skin now feels revitalized, smoother and firmer. I feel more confident meeting people now, thanks to Guerlain. People now come to me and ask about the secret of my youthful skin. And, I spill it out without a second thought.  

The simple trick to great makeup is to keep it subtle and looking as natural as you can. Makeup is meant to compliment your natural beauty and enhance it. Garish makeup has a negative effect on your personality. By the time it is evening, your makeup will look a bit jaded and rundown. And, if you have a romantic evening coming up, your confidence will be low. Here are some quickfix suggestions to liven up the way you look.

When doing a makeup job, always use lighter layers. That is the key. Keep a few rice papers or blotting papers handy. To look fresh again for the evening use the blotting paper on your makeup you did in the morning. It will remove the oily build up very gently. Since blotting papers have small amounts of powder, they will help remove the excess sheen caused by the oil. Use the rice paper or blotting paper the whole day long to remove any oil buildup on facial skin.

Working the whole day at office can make you appear a bit jaded. As a result you may have to confront dark circles under your eyes. A concealer can work wonders in these circumstances. Pick a shade lighter than your own skin tone and gently dab it on the affected area. If you have spots, blemishes or dark circles, apply yellow or green concealer before adding a layer of your normal concealer. Yellow conceals dark circles, while green covers the redness of blemishes.

Next, you may work on your foundation, touching it up with a light shade. A thick layer tends to accentuate the fine lines and kills the naturalness of the skin. Use a dual wet-and-dry foundation for the touchup job. For larger coverup area use wet, and for a smaller area use dry.

To give a fillip to your eye makeup, use a darker shade. To make it last long and give an enhanced effect, dampen the shadow brush and then apply the shadow. Upon drying, blend the shadow with a dry brush. You may even highlight the brow bone to add intensity to the eyes. Take some shimmer powder or crayon and apply it to the brow bone while blending it. Liquid eyeliners too add to the beauty of the eyes. Blacks are conventional, but a different shade can add some variety of sorts. Starting right next to the lashes move the brush in the outer direction. Thinner the line, longer will the lashes appear.  For the eyebrows use a subtle dark shade to go along with the dark eye makeup.

You are now ready to put the house on fire with your makeup and light up your evening.

Your make-up is as good as the brush you use to do the job. So, be just as choosy about the brush as you are about the cosmetic products you use. The size and shape of brushes are designed to give a smooth application, helping achieve the right make-up.

It is important to keep make-up brushes clean. This helps keep bacteria growth at bay and prevent product build up. Brushes with previous buildup can never give that perfect makeup. It helps to clean your brush after every use with warm water and mild detergent, and air dry on a clean towel.

If you have a job that involves extensive traveling, and need professional quality makeup, try the Face Secrets makeup artist’s brush set. A magnetic enclosure carries five travel size brushes set in a convenient pack. You can make do with a deluxe powder brush, eye contour brush, angled blusher, small shading brush, and a brow groomer. Brush-cleaning towelettes are provided to keep the brushes clean.

Once you cross the 30-year age barrier, you could develop a worrying habit each time you look into the mirror. The youthfulness of your facial skin suddenly starts slipping into the past, leaving you to exclaim, “Hey, what’s happening!” This happens unfailingly with every young woman. But, did you know that you could keep looking young using makeup the right way? All you need to do is make some changes in the way you use makeup. A little trick is to replace your favorite lipstick shades with glossies of the same shades. Your lips will start appearing fresher and youthful. If you wear matte shadows, it is time to say goodbye to them. How about using some metallic stuff with some glitter to make your eyelids look younger? Take your pick from any of the products from, Fresh, Chanel, Sisley or Dior.

Having taken care of your luscious lips and sparkling eyes, let’s see what changes can your foundation undergo. Skin starts losing some color with age. Darker shades in your foundation only accentuate the aged look. Lighter shade foundation makes you look years younger. The coverage too needs to lighten with growing age. Since they enter into the lines, they look even deeper adding a few years to your age. To prevent the foundation from cracking use a lighter coat and lighter shade.

The next best thing is to use light-diffusing foundation and powder. These little reflective particles illuminate the skin adding a touch of radiance to it. As the diffusers settle into the pores, the skin appears soft and smooth.

Try out these small variants to make a world of difference to the way you look.

When you are on the wrong side of thirty, your priorities shift to making your skin look young. There are ways you can keep your skin from losing its radiance. Here are some products that will help attract compliments to your skin.

You may apply Clarin’s Flash Beauty Balm under the make-up. It works as an astringent tightening the skin and evening out the pores. Try Lauder’s Idealist that you can use along with your moisturizer to smooth the pores, and make your make-up appear smooth. You can gauge its efficacy by the fact that it won the New Woman’s Beauty Award for the Most Innovative Product of the Year in the year it was launched. It was also honored with Best New Product of the Year award.

If you have those telltale bags under your eyes, LaPrairie’s Caviar Eye Mask can do the trick for you. Using cold spoons over the eyelids to tighten them is an age-old technique your grandma used to apply.  The effect does not last too long, but it works in emergencies. Some desperate measures to reduce puffiness include applying a thin film of hemorrhoid cream under the eyes for about 15 minutes, and removing it with the help of eye make-up remover.

Roberto Cavalli’s fashion show at Milan was disrupted by five anti-fur troopers, who captured the catwalk for a brief moment to splash their message across. Before being removed by the security staff, who were late to react thinking the whole act to be a part of the show, the protestors displayed posters saying, “Cavalli = cruelty”. Earlier too, three of the members of the animal rights group PETA had disrupted the Burberry fashion show yelling “Burberry fur shame”.

PETA has regularly been at loggerheads with the fashion world since the 1990s. The animal rights organization has been targeting Cavalli for using animal fur in most of his collections despite claiming to be an animal lover. The Milan fashion week had no fur outfits on display by the models, but according to PETA Vice-President Dan Mathews, Cavalli had been using fur in his other collections. The demand for fur has been on the rise with consumers looking for exclusive clothing. Designers have been catering to the demand for luxury fabrics recently.

When we talk about cleaning ears, the first thought that comes to mind is cotton swabs. Did you know that cotton swabs could push the earwax further into the ear and cause more problems as the wax accumulates and solidifies? Ear candling is a practical solution to cleaning your ears sans the risk of ear blockage. The very idea of ear candling can raise doubts and fear, but it honestly works without causing harm.

Ear candling was in vogue thousands of years back in Egypt. It has continued as an effective way of keeping ears clear of excessive wax ever since. Small six-inch long candles that taper at the lower end are inserted into the ear and lighted at the other end. The heat travels along the candle and melts the wax. The melted wax draws out through the air tunnel. The entire process takes no more than 15 minutes.

Ear candling needs to be handled by an expert. You will be made to lie down on one side while the expert places a candle in the ear and lights it. Initially, you might feel nothing happening, but soon may experience some pressure when the built-up wax starts melting, creating a vacuum.  All this while you are under supervision. At the end of the session, the expert removes the candle and breaks it open to show the wax that has been extracted from the ear.

After the other ear is done too, you will experience a feeling of lightness and increased sensitivity to sound, as your ear channels are clear of blockages. People suffering from frequent bouts of sneezing and ear infections might find ear waxing helpful in ridding them of the condition. Healthy people too may have their ears cleaned through ear candling twice a year. You will find a number of spas offering this service at a reasonable price.

Eyebrows are a very important feature of your face. A few hair plucked in excess can give you a very scary look. Enthusiastic pluckers end up messing their entire eyebrow. Here are some practical tips to making your eyebrows an attractive feature of your face.

· Using an old toothbrush brush your brows in the upward direction. Level them off at the top. Any hair that extends beyond the top line may be clipped.
· Before plucking, make sure that the inner edge of the eyebrow is in line with the inner corner of the eye. Pluck all hair lying between the two eyebrows.
· To determine the outer edge of the brow extend an imaginary line from the under-eye in continuity until it meets the eyebrow. Make the arc as close to the shape of the upper eye line.
· Apply some ice across the brow before plucking to subdue any pain associated with the process.
· Work on the best eyebrow first, using it as a guide to shape the other brow.
· Pluck one hair at a time pulling in the direction of growth in one smooth motion. Begin from the under side of the brow moving outwards.
· Do not do much with hair on top of the line. Work on them only if they are too ugly. If you are to remove some hair, remove them little by little, watching carefully the progress in the mirror.

If you are not so sure how to approach plucking your eyebrows, do not risk making a mess of it. Visit a beauty salon and get the job done.