Yes to Carrots is having a $2 on EVERYTHING Sale! Get your code here!

If you've never tried a product from the Yes to... brand, I really urge you to go to their website (http://www.yestocarrots.com/) and have a look-see at their goodies! Their products are totally natural and I know most of us are all about being beautiful and healthy at the same time. This is a wonderful opportunity to give this brand a whirl since they've decided to re-do their Cyber Monday sale because the website traffic was so insane many people didn't manage to put their orders through.

To get your $2 on ANY PRODUCTS (max. 2 of each product can be ordered) click here

My absolute favorite line is their Yes to blueberries line which is actually for mature skin but I figure you can never really start early enough trying to prevent wrinkles, so even though I'm in my late 20's, I use it! I also absolutely LOVE the scent!

Here is a handy chart to find out which of their product line (or lines) is best suited for your skin beautifying needs! Though I do have to tell you that the wipes that they make in every line are phenomenal so you can't go wrong with any of them!

Luvocracy: Pinterest + Shopping in One

You may have heard the name fluttering about the past few months, but what is it? Luvocracy is essentially the same thing as Pinterest but far better in the sense that it lets you purchase what you want directly through clicking on a photo of the item "luv'ed". I'll admit it took me a little while to get on the bandwagon, but it's such a useful tool! I think it would be great for holiday shopping and really has the added functionally (but not yet the population) lacking in Pinterest.

Now an interesting thing that I noticed is when I was looking through the website but did not have an account it was only showing me beauty posts from on poster (Ingrid Nielson aka MissGlamorazzi on YouTube) but then once I signed up for an account, it showed me plenty of other users, so I suppose they're just not sharing other user's login names unless you are also a user, which makes sense for privacy reasons. 

My only qualm with this is that at first, the site seems barren so some people might be reluctant to sign up since they do not see a variety of posts from multiple users. However, let me reassure you that once you sign up, other posts become available! I was so relieved to see that the website is indeed populated with like-minded individuals that I can share my love of makeup, fashion and home decor with!

On Luvocracy, it's retailers and users who benefit from the shopping setup. It's simple, rewards come in the form of money off pending purchases or royalty checks. You can earn rewards when you refer friends or when they make purchases, you earn 2% of all referral purchases but this only lasts for your 1st year of membership. However, if someone buys something you recommended by pinning it yourself, you earn 2% of those purchases and this is permanent. But for every degree removed you are from the person who generates the sale, your royalty is halved. So if I refer something and someone else refers it after me and then it is purchased from that person, I will make 1% rather than 2%.

So these added perks are something to consider because you can essentially be pinning items while you're at work, on-the-go, or as a full-time job. Luvocracy really takes out the middle man which most affiliate programs make you deal with and increases the transparency of how you make money and what amount of money it will be.

The best part is you can even download a simple button for your browser and as you're looking through things you may like, just click it at add it to our collections! You even start out with a $10.00 shopping credit!

You can find my profile here: http://www.luvocracy.com/lethalglam

Maybelline Baby Lips, Napoleon Perdis and Skincare

Recently I stopped in a few stores and picked up a few essentials for my trip, but I also came across some new products that I was really curious to try out. I'll do a quick rundown, photos and review of each if you're curious about whether or not you should spend your money on these products. I do recommend that if you are traveling, it's the perfect time to try out new moisturizers, facial cleansers, etc. since I doubt most of us want to carry around all those liquid/cream products. Don't mind the hair ties, a girl's always gotta have some knotted hair-ties that look as good in your hair as they do on your wrist (I keep these in all my purses, in my makeup bag, in the bathroom - you never know when you'll have an up-do emergency)! I'm also uber-obsessed with the Yes to Blueberries Facial Cleansing Cloths, I picked them up for $5.99 and I think the scent is absolutely delightful. I was hooked on these when I got them in my Birchbox for the month of September.

NP Set at Target

"NP" Napoleon Perdis Eyeshadow Palette in Dublin - this is a green eyeshadow trio (comes in other colors as well) with nice pigmentation and flecks of shimmer. There are no huge chunks of glitter, but the shades are definitely far from matte. The tones remind me of olive-khaki and would be perfect for the fall. The texture is smooth and creamy. You can find these at Target, they retail for $20, but I got mine on sale for $5.06 because apparently someone had opened it but it was not swatched when I purchased it.

My favorite color is the one in the center as it brings the brightest pop,
the flanking colors are much more muted and neutral

Swatches are smooth, silver to golden flecks of sparkle can be seen
Color on the left swatches as a lighter version to right-most color
Swatched in daylight by a window on overcast day

I don't think that the NP Set colors are so extremely unique that they should be purchased for $20, as I know that Urban Decay has many dupes of the flanking colors in their Naked palettes. I do think that the center color is unique in this Dublin palette and I'm definitely glad I picked it up discounted because it's a set that is nice to have and I will use it. I wish the packaging was a little more high end for the price-point of these sets. It really reminds me of the ELF essentials collection packaging. The applicator is also totally useless as the sponge would pick up the color from your palette but not deposit it onto your eyelid properly. Definitely use a brush you already own to do your eyeshadow with this palette as with any other. You can purchase your set here.


Maybelline Baby Lips - These lip balms have intrigued me for a long time because I've seen them on YouTube as many of the gurus have had them on their "must haves". I only got one in "Peach Kiss" so my review isn't going to be as exhaustive here. I was pretty let down by these because when you apply them they literally feel like vaseline, but I will say that they have a much more pleasant smell. In terms of pigmentation, it's extremely light and when I apply it to my lips, it doesn't even appear as though there's product on them. It's fine for an everyday lip balm, especially since the price is low, but it's definitely not more spectacular than any other lip balm for moisturizing. I find that the product sits atop of my lips and doesn't sink in to moisturize. I'm sure over time I might pick up a darker color just to see if the pigmentation improves, but for now, I found this swatch of the collection, keep in mind this person is lightly pigmented and these colors going over an already-present lip color will be a lot less noticeable.

This blog has a breakdown of the specifics of each color, check it out if you want more info

POND'S Rejuveness Anti-Wrinkle Cream and Clarant B3 Dark Spot Correcting Cream - 

First of all, I absolutely love the scent of POND'S products. My absolute favorite so far is the Clarant B3 scent (in the rose tub) because it reminds me of cherry blossoms. I bought these in the small size of 1.75oz in the "travel section" of Target. They're the perfect trial size as they were only around $1. They're filled up generously to the top and it's going to take me weeks to go through these. Both of these creams absorb very easily into the skin and leave your face feeling very moisturized and soft. I apply both creams, with a wait of about 10 minutes in between to let the first one sink into my skin morning and evening (this is especially important if you use makeup wipes which typically contain alcohol and will dry out your skin). You really can't go wrong with these, the formula reminds me a little bit of the Nivea Light Repairing Night Cream, which is my favorite night cream/moisturizer. 

Jergen's Ultra Healing Extra Dry Skin Moisturizer - This is a thicker formula moisturizer that is more saturated with oils because it takes my skin a much longer time to absorb. However, I would recommend this over the POND'S formula for dry to very dry skin and I apply it if I'm having a particularly dry skin day (this is for use on your body, it does not specify that it should be used on the face). It can feel a little greasy and the scent is not as pleasant. Again, if you want to try this out, pick it up at the travel section of a store near you and then commit to the larger size if you are pleased.

DIY Color-Blocking Clutch by Lauren Conrad

Hello to all of my wonderful and loyal fans. I've been away on hiatus for very long now because I started a new job and I wanted to give it everything I had and, frankly, I was way too tired to do any blogging.

Now that I've settled in, I wanted to welcome you all back by showing you this Color-blocking DIY Clutch video by Lauren Conrad's Crafty Creations. To my surprise, I found this browsing the web and it spurred a revival in my interest in arts & crafts once more!!

I'm so thankful that many of you have stuck around and this blog has gotten infinitely more popular than when I left it 3 months ago. I'm going to be picking up with the posts again and hope you will stay tuned for more wonderful beauty, craft and lifestyle ideas from yours truly.

- Alex

Natural Easter Egg Dye

Are you sick of letting chemicals get too close to your food and does it upset you when you read in the media that a substance once deemed safe is now a health risk? Here's a simple way to spruce up your Easter eggs while making sure you don't contaminate your food supply with dye. You might think this is an impractical idea because it's so much more inexpensive to buy coloring kit for $2 at the store and the egg shell doesn't technically touch the egg whites inside. Unfortunately, in my experience, when you're cracking your eggs open to eat them, the color will bleed inside to the egg and end up in your food, not to mention that you will be carrying it on your hands while you're eating.

Healthy vegetables and spices, which can reduce your chances of cancer and heart disease as well as a myriad of other health problems, can make gorgeous natural Easter egg dyes. For each color you want to use, simmer 2 quarts of water and 1/4 cup of white vinegar with the dye ingredient for at least half of an hour. This is a much more time consuming process but the longer you let the ingredient summer, the more intense of a hue you will achieve. Drain the liquid when you deem the color to your liking and allow to cool to room temperature before using.

Red: 1 cup red onion skins (saved from 2-3 onions), 1/2 cup strawberries

Deep blue: 1 head of cabbage
Purple: 2.5 cups blueberries
Magenta: 1 large beet (diced)
Orange: 4 tablespoons ground paprika, 1/2 cup carrot ends
Yellow: 4 tablespoons ground turmeric, 2 lemon skins
Brown: 2 tea bags or 1/2 cup coffee
Light Green: 2 cups of spinach


When you're finished making your color, place each one into a jar or bowl (preferably one that you don't mind getting stained, don't use your fine china for this process) and dip your hard-boiled eggs into each color, letting it sit for at least 10 minutes for a lighter hue. To achieve a more saturated hue of the color, make sure that you let the egg sit inside the dye for longer.

These eggs aren't going to be as bright as unnatural chemically dyed eggs but the trade off for the time it took for you to achieve natural dye and slightly less vibrant color is health. That is definitely a trade off I'm willing to make!

Hairstyles for your age: your 20's and 30's

Everyone knows that certain hairstyles look great when you're young but not necessarily as you grow older. We find ourselves looking at others, at times, in shock and awe with what they've done with their hair. The most important consideration at any age is to find a hairstyle that flatters the shape of your face and to take into account the texture of your hair. Coarse hair lends itself better to wearing long hairstyles while short, fine hair should be worn shorter in a layered haircut to achieve fullness and body. Let's be honest, though, under the age of 20, you can basically get away with the biggest hair atrocities and still look good because of that youthful vibrancy!

Find out what you can get away with in your age group

Your 20's: You can try out all kinds of cuts and styles, many opt for the romantic and pretty long hair styles, but others either want to look younger or older so they get shorter haircuts (whether you look younger or older really depends on the style and the competency of your hairdresser). Beware of getting short cuts that are not ideal for your face shape and age, you don't want to end up looking like a cartoon with a boyish mushroom cut. Highlights and lowlights are always a great way to achieve dimension with any haircut, so consider getting them in a tone matching the full color of your hair.

Make sure to always choose a look that fits your age and latest trends. It's important to consider your career since you are most likely establishing what it will in your 20's. If you're more into the arts you can probably get away with some funky colors and fun styles, but if you're in a conservative profession you should steer clear of anything that might be construed as rebellious. 

You should experiment with length and color because this is the time that you can, later on maybe your hair won't grow as beautifully long and your face may not lend itself to trying all sorts of dye colors. In your 20's your hair will grow faster and thicker than any other time in your life, so make sure you take care of it and take advantage of it!

Your 30's: During these years, you're probably beginning a family or working your way up in your career (if you're lucky, then both) and you can still get away with quite a few styles but you should pick one that fits your lifestyle. If you're busy and need to take care of a baby as well as go to work and look professional, maybe shoulder-length hair is the choice for you so that you can style it more easily than longer hair since there is less of it and  you can throw it up into a ponytail when you're at home. It's simple to curl or flat-iron when you want to look professional or go out on a date with your hubby! Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't be sultry, if you want long hair then by all means achieve that long hair, just make sure to take care of it so you don't end up with ratty looking hair.

 Don't be afraid to try new haircuts or go short with your hair, some people just naturally look better with short hair, especially if you have beautiful facial features, they will be highly accentuated without all that hair in the way. If you're starting to have significant amounts of gray hair you can start coloring your hair pretty regularly, or you can ask your stylist to hand-paint the couple of strands of gray that you have in a tone that matches your hair, so that you don't have to color fully. Another great way to camouflage gray hair is to color it with a color of mascara that matches your natural hair (they make mascara in tons of shades now).

Surviving painful neck spasms

I don't know if any of you have gone through this but I recently have been experiencing an onset of horrible neck spasms that include my trapezius, sternocleidomastroid and scalene muscles. It's a horrible experience to have to go through and I'm pretty convinced it's from a pulled tendon/ligament because it has taken me through the Christmas break and refuses to let up even a little bit. I've been using muscular rub, two different kinds of cervical collars, taking cyclobenzaprine as a muscle relaxant and diclofenac to reduce swelling. I've been to the doctor and she has advised me not to massage the area or see a massage therapist because rubbing the strained muscle will only cause it to spasm harder. So seeing as nothing is helping, I decided I would cover the ways to prevent muscle strains from happening, specifically in your neck because they take up to 6 months to get rid of and are extremely debilitating.

People who sleep on their stomachs, including myself, are very prone to this kind of a strain because in order to lay that way you must turn your head an extreme amount, this is also an injury common to those who have been in a car wreck. However, it can just happen on its own, during a workout, afterwards, or maybe during a brisk turn of the head because something caught your attention. Using a pillow that's too flat or thick can cause this type of strain but so can being around an air conditioner or an open window (in my case, I was outside on the rooftop patio on a chilly day after a work out when I felt the pull). If this happens to you, you can expect pain, stiffness, loss of range of motion, feeling like there is a hard bulge in your neck and numbness (because the sprain and spasms can pull on your blood vessels and nerves). My doctor suggested not working out again until the spasm is gone completely because you can end up tearing ligaments. Alternating ice or moist heat is said to make the pain go away, but it really only relieves the outside layers (such as your skin) and the pain will quickly return. Even taking oral medication hasn't proven too successful, aside from making me drowsy and forcing me to fall asleep and forget about the pain. The most practical improvement has been while wearing my neck collar because it supports my head and the muscles in my neck and back don't have to work to hold it up (they do this without you willing them to).

It's important to do a series of neck stretches whether you're sitting at a computer all day hunched over or going to the gym.

Using lip pencils as eyeliner

If you find that the formulation of a lip pencil is similar to your eyeliner, you can substitute your lipliner (given that it is in a neutral shade and not some bright red or pink unless you're going for a punk look) as an eyeliner. If the chosen color is too red, you will end up looking rather sickly unless you pair it with a brown or black shade closer to the whites of your eyes.

MAC lip pencils, such as Chestnut or Cork, can be very neutral and lend themselves to doing double duty as eye and lip liners quite well. They are creamy but hard enough so that they won't fall off your waterline (just above your lower eyelashes).

I came across this quirky idea when I walked into a MAC store and was looking for a lighter-toned eye pencil that was neutral and not bronze, but was different enough from Teddy and Coffee, which I already own. 'Lo and behold I see Cork and I didn't even realize that it was a lip pencil at first, but I purchased it regardless because it seems to be made of the same minerals and chemicals as their eye pencils and it was such a beautiful color.

MAC's Lip liner in 'Cork'

Normally, I would err on the side of caution when it comes to using products that are intended for one part of your body on another part of your body, specifically the eyes. However, this is a rare exception, because MAC is a well renowned company with amazing quality products and make-up products for your face tend to have the same ingredients in them regardless of whether they are for your cheeks, eyes, lips, or all over your face.

Many makeup companies make all-over color sticks which can be applied anywhere you'd like. If you think you will be irritated by it because your eyes are sensitive, simply apply the color on the area outside of your eyelashes and that should be protective enough so that you won't have any adverse effects.

Try to steer clear of anything that's waterproof or a 'stain' for your lips because these might stain your eyelid and could make it look diseased. If you invest your time and money into good makeup and are careful about what you're doing, this is a substitute that can be made easily using the right products, obviously don't put anything from the dollar-store or unknown brands on your eyes.

Also, make sure that the lip pencil that you are using isn't too pointed and hard because you can harm the sensitive skin of your eyes, go for a creamier, smooth consistency pencil. Always try these out on your hand and other parts of your body before you attempt to put them near the delicate skin around your eyes. Lip pencils are also very good for filling-in your eyebrows, so you really don't have to be limited by specific products in your color selection process.

Q-Tips: a double-edged fuzzy sword of eardrum doom

Q-tips are useful for so many things: cleaning in between your keyboard keys, touching up your eyeliner, cleaning excess nail polish off your fingers, and for most of us, and most importantly, cleaning inside our ears. If this sounds about right to you, you should be alarmed. Here's a little Q-tip history for everyone, in 1926, these 'Quality-tips' were named 'Baby Gays' according to their website. Obviously, as time went on, people realized what a ridiculous name that was and changed it to just 'Q-tips'. Imagine what a marketing nightmare it would have been to leave the original name in our present-day society. Would cotton swabs, by any other name, have been as popular? Apparently not, because we use the name-brand as the genericized trademark for an entire category of cotton swabs now.




Did you know that Q-tips were never intended to be used inside the ear? Many ear, nose and throat doctors (also known as otolaryngologists) are furious at their patients because the majority of people do use Q-tips inside the ear as unintended. There is a big warning label on every package of cotton swabs that says not to insert the tip into your ear. If you must use it on your ears, only use it on your outer ear, or the external cartilage. Why is it that we've never been told this by our parents or grandparents? That's because, apparently, we've been doing this wrong for almost a century and what's worse is that we have been passing on this terrible habit to our offspring. We use it to get all that yellow gunk, also known as earwax, out of our ears and to get water out after we shower, and we tell ourselves it's so that we don't become ill when we go outside in the cold after a hot shower. This solution is doing us more harm than good. If you want to use something to clean out your ear, use the corner of a washcloth or your towel.

You may be asking yourself what all the fuss is about, what's the harm in using these little cotton buds in your ear? Well, the problem arises when you blindly start to push it into your ear, and we all do this because we can't see what's going on inside our ear canal. Oftentimes, people rupture their eardrum by pushing the swab inside too deeply. Our earwax is an important part of our physiology because it is the protection provided for our inner ear to keep water out and keep bacterial infections at bay. Removing all of our earwax can prove very detrimental to our health in the long-run. When using cotton swabs, you are actually technically pushing much of the wax deeper into your ear canal, helping to create a painful plug. If you find that your ears are itchy and you need to relieve yourself by pushing something in there, try and control yourself and abstain from doing so because the more you scratch, the more you will itch and eventually just break the skin.

So keep your Q-tips around for cleaning your computer, video game cartridges, fans, or anything other than your poor ears. If you find that you have an ear blockage that is bothering you, gently pour warm water into your ear slowly but constantly with something like a Nettie pot and this will soften up the wax and allow it to slosh out. If you want to dry out your ears, use a towel or your hair dryer and hold it a safe distance away (your ear should not become overbearingly hot).

The pros and cons of teeth whitening kits

For those of us who have somewhat yellowish or off-color teeth, teeth whitening kits might be a consideration. It is a simple option, available at any nearby Wal-Mart or drug store that doesn't require a whole lot of patience or visiting your dentist. Many times, the effects of the options readily available to us are quite astounding and help to brighten our smiles and overall presence in a room.

Kits that you can use in your home will work for changing your smile anywhere from three to eleven shades of color. Whether it be in gel form, whitening trays, toothpaste or strips, each of these works in a very similar way and is much less invasive than what your dentist can do with laser teeth whitening procedures (and far less costly).  However, like anything else you're using, you have to think about whether or not you should, if there are more pros and cons out of it for you, or you could do some serious harm to your smile.

A simple solution is tooth whitening paste because it requires very little effort, it's really just about brushing your teeth as you do as always, merely replacing your current toothpaste with whitening toothpaste such as Crest 3D White. The price-point is just right, costing just a little bit more than regular toothpaste (by about a dollar or two), and there is no associated pain or adverse effects. If you have severe discoloration, you won't see much improvement, if any, from these toothpastes, but they have been proven not to affect the health of your enamel, so you don't risk anything from trying it out.


No matter what you are doing, if you're using a medicated or chemical agent, you should always follow the instruction precisely. Have a timer with you when you are whitening your teeth and make sure you do not leave the strips or trays on longer than the instructions say to or you can ruin the enamel coating that protects your teeth naturally. Some people can experience tooth sensitivity where anything that touches their teeth causes extreme pain and awful sensation. Obviously, if you have used teeth whitening methods and this happens, stop immediately and visit your dentist or use Sensodyne toothpaste. You should not be using tooth whitening kits if you have receding gums, sensitive teeth and gums in general, or are allergic to peroxide (active ingredient in tooth whitening kits), but you should discuss it with your dentist before you go ahead and attempt doing so on your own. It is also important to note what kind of teeth you have because brownish-tinted and grayish-tinted teeth do not bleach well and if you have obvious fillings, bleaching will do nothing for their color but make them stand out even more in comparison to the rest of your newly-whitened teeth.

An easy way to make sure your teeth are white is to follow a proper diet heavily infused with fruits, vegetables, and drinking plenty of water. If you drink red wine, pop, caffeinated drinks, or colored drinks, you will diminish the whitening result fairly quickly. It almost goes without writing that if you smoke cigarettes, you should quit for a myriad of reasons, one of them being that they stain your teeth permanently and whitening kits won't do anything for you.

You may have other, associated issues causing your teeth to change color, for example, if you suffer from Bruxism (tooth grinding) you will wear away the bottoms of your teeth and inside the chipped areas  you will see yellowness. You should go see your dentist if this is the case for you so that they will provide you with a custom mouth-guard to be worn at nighttime when you cannot control your jaw's motions.

"The Doctors" - Variety Show Review

For years now, I have been bombarded with strange tidbits of information regarding the daytime show "The Doctors" which airs all over North America on CBS. This show is a monster-baby of the long-running, recently ended "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Dr. Phil". I caved after many years of avoidance, and due to utter lack of willpower to find the remote and change the channel, and watched my very first episode today in its entirety.

The main host seems to be Dr. Travis Stork, who is a bootleg version of a Brad Pitt-esque leading man. There are numerous other co-hosts, I think I counted up to five of them, each of which has a different 'specialty'. One is a plastic surgeon, who obviously thinks that the solution to every problem is going under the knife for one of supposedly "simple" procedures (of which they never explain the full spectrum of side-effects). Another doctor who seems to be the most genuine of the bunch is an OB-GYN who speaks in a more matter-of-fact way. On top of that they even have Jillian Michaels who is a fitness-guru, constantly sporting her spanx, as if she doesn't go anywhere in regular clothing. Now that I think about it, none of them ever seem to be wearing regular clothes, the doctors are usually wearing lab-coats or scrubs, except for the plastic surgeon who dresses like a mob boss. These so-called doctors are extremely hard to trust because of their appearance, they are so overly made-up that you cannot see a pore on their skin and they don't come across as having a shred of humanity. They are cold, concrete and downright seem like they don't care at all about the information they're dispelling or the people on the show. Also, can you trust a host who first came into notoriety through participating as a love interest on "The Bachelor" TV series? That's a rhetorical question because you can't.

This show has the makings of a reality soap-opera with a Gray's Anatomy fragmented plot. Basically each segment is a story about how one viewer or another has a medical issue and these doctors/hosts either defer to colleague or attempt to diagnose these very simple and obvious cases themselves. The majority of the information that is given on this show is extremely diluted for the audience and does not inform the public in a proper and intelligent way. Rather, after you've finished watching an episode you wonder if you've learned anything at all. You're definitely better off reading the Wikipedia article on a disease, or better yet, visit your doctor!

From the episode I watched, what I retained as information was that if you're unhappy with the way your face is sagging you should have plastic surgery, albeit you may even want to consider not even going under for the procedure (that's a disgusting thought, isn't it?). I also learned that if you have cankles, where there is no clear definition between your calf and your ankle, you should have liposuction to remove it or make your calf muscles bigger by bouncing up and down with really heavy dumbbells. What kind of advice is this? Am I dreaming? How can they actually be advising people to have plastic surgery when they haven't explored any other options? Why not focus on diet, water retention and sodium intake, why not focus on skin-care through natural means? This show exhibits little to no common sense.

Even if there's any shred of truth in this show, it is counter-balanced by the absolute recklessness of advising an entire demographic of what I assume to be mostly stay-at-home moms that they can be better looking and healthier through very little actual inconvenience by performing surgeries. Now I know a thing or two about surgeries, and if there's one piece of advice I can impart on my appreciated fellow readers, it is not to take any surgery lightly. The risks of secondary infection, scarring, drug addiction and a myriad of other factors are so large that I can assure you, you are much better off trying to diet and control your insignificant aesthetic problems naturally. Nobody needs a panel of uppity doctors to yell at them through the TV screen with sob-stories of people who have let their problems go on too long without ever visiting a real doctor. This show is one paternity test away from being Jerry Springer or The Maury Show.

Getting Thicker and Fuller Eyelashes

As we age, we inevitably lose a lot of our youthful allure, and along with this comes the thinning out of eyelashes. In a society that covets beauty and eyelashes that touch the sky, most women are highly concerned with keeping the drapes of your eyes beautiful. Eyelash loss can occur from aging because your lashes will shorten and wear at the ends and grow more sparsely, appearing thinner. Some people have allergic reactions or trichotrillomania where they inadvertently pull out their eyelashes because it feels good to them. Allergic reactions can be to various chemicals in the makeup you're wearing (specifically in mascara, eye pencils and eye shadows). One way to avoid makeup reactions is that Sometimes we have to be conscious of the fact that even the creams and cleansers we are using to keep ourselves looking 'young' may be causing hair loss due to allergy. Certain medical conditions, such as the reaction to chemotherapy for cancer treatment, alopecia (systemic hair loss due to autoimmune condition whereby the immune system attacks the host) and hypothyroidism can result in losing your eyelashes and all over the body.

Obviously if you are playing with your eyelashes, try to keep that down to a minimum or do not touch your eyes at all, if it can be helped. If there are products that you suspect are inhibiting the growth of your lashes, stop from using them. Make sure to stop using your mascara after every 3 months, replace it immediately. If you use the same exact one every day, you will probably want to replace it every month even if the bottle is not finished because there are contaminants on the brush and you don't want to be passing bacteria. You never, ever want to share your makeup with anybody under any conditions because eye infections and other diseases are highly transferable this way. If you suspect that you have a serious medical condition and that is why your eyelashes are falling out, make sure you visit your doctor and do a thorough investigation.

How to fake longer lashes

There are some beauty tips and tricks to use if you quickly want your lashes to look longer and fuller. Make sure you use a lengthening mascara with false fibers and volume that will add to what you naturally have. Apply your eye liner very close to the base of your lashes to give the appearance of fullness and to frame your eyes. You could place false lashes on your eyes if you feel comfortable with it, and if not, you can visit a cosmetologist to do it for you.

What can you do aside from wearing false eyelashes on a daily basis or tons of coats of mascara? These options are much more difficult and unnatural-looking than just having naturally beautiful eyelashes. So let's review the options for how to grow our own eyelashes more plentifully.

Natural remedies
First you may want to try applying Vaseline on your lash line while you're sleeping as the petroleum jelly may promote moisture in the environment and increase lash growth. Olive oil and vitamin E oil can have the same effect, just make sure you don't get it into your eye during application. Remember to remove anything you apply to your eyelashes at night during the morning before you apply your makeup. Brushing your lashes with a designated lash comb can improve circulation and promote hair growth, so do this as often as possible if you know that you do not have a rash or skin problem. Improving what you eat  and your overall nutrition can affect your body's vitamin balance which will promote hair growth. A deficiency can lead to thinning of hair all over your body and not just your lashes.

Getting Rid of Redness - How to Lighten Your Skin Naturally

Do you have an uneven skin-tone? Perhaps your capillaries are overactive and there are reddish spots on your skin where your circulation can be seen too close to the surface of the skin. Or maybe you're unhappy with your freckles and dark spots that you're gaining with age. Skin tone is constantly varying with time and environmental conditions, it never remains as light as it used to be. The worst skin damager is the sun, although you may love your darker complexion, you ought to think about the consequences of weather-beaten effects on your skin cells. However, there are ways to lighten your skin naturally, seeing as those expensive beauty regenerating creams tend to be filled with unhealthy chemicals and do not show the results they promise. You should always be using sunscreen in your daily routine (even in the winter) because it's the easiest way to keep your skin's youth, most moisturizers can be found with at least SPF 15-30.

Natural exfoliation - do this once a week

1. 2 tbsp brown sugar (+ 2 tbsp oatmeal if you choose) and mix with 1/4 cup milk
2. stir until pasty consistency
3. scrub your face gently
4. rinse with water
5. apply moisturizer so your skin doesn't dry out from treatment

Lighten your skin - do this as often as you'd like

1. take 2 egg whites and an equal amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice and mix together
2. heat mixture in a pan and put it inside jar
3. let mixture cool until room temperature and apply to skin
4. rinse after 15 minutes with water

Another method of lightening - you can do this 3x a day if you want

1. take 1/2 cup tomato juice and 1/2 cup oatmeal and mix together
2. place mixture on your skin
3. rinse off with water after 20 minutes

Drinking lots of water regularly helps maintain your hydration level and make sure you eat many fruits and vegetables in your pursuit of lighter skin. If you wish you can rub your face with lemon juice, milk, or papaya as all of these have natural whitening properties. Be extremely wary of skin lightening treatments you can purchase as many of these are not FDA approved for such usage and increase cell turnover (how fast your skin's cells are killed and replaced) which can lead to detrimental effects such as the pigment going underneath the outermost layer of your skin and possible skin cancer-promoting mechanisms. The chemical whitening solutions that can be found in stores also have a high possibility of causing an allergic reaction on your skin.

Is tattooing your makeup safe?

Lately, I have seen more and more people, mostly women, with recently-inked faces to mimic makeup such as eyeliner, lipliner and to fill in permanent eyebrows. It's no wonder that people choose to go that route, getting a tattoo is certainly less expensive than purchasing all of that makeup for years on end. However, it is a permanent application of something you may not always like or want on your face, and that should make you think long and hard before choosing to do it in the first place. Fads and makeup styles change and the last thing anybody would want is to look outdated and out of place. Also, when we age, our skin sags and our pores shrivel up in an irregular manner, so your makeup is bound to look abnormally placed and droopy, making for what I am sure to be a horrific scene. Our facial structure and composition is changing all the time and you cannot expect to put something static on your face and expect it to always look the same when you are constantly morphing.

There is a problem with the tattoo industry in general, unless you go to a place that you know without a shadow of a doubt practices perfect hygiene, you're likely to run into problems. The hygiene practices of many tattoo parlors is sub-par because there is no federal regulation (in the United States) that holds them to a specific standard of cleanliness. These rules are regulated on a state-by-state basis, with some being far too relaxed on these establishments. Infectious diseases (such as hepatitis, staphylococcus infections, and AIDS) can be spread through the use of instruments that are not completely sterilized and shops are likely to skimp on these cleanliness requirements to save money (or out of sheer incompetence at times).

It is also important to remember that you may be allergic to tattoo inks and your face will react in a different way than the rest of your body. You can have a tattoo done on your arm that does not get infected, but that same tattoo on your face could trigger a nasty rash or infection because the skin is far softer and more sensitive. Factors such as this can create intense and irreparable damage to your face. This is especially true if you ever want to remove a tattoo, because even though there are laser removal technologies, they are not perfect and it is impossible to remove a tattoo without some scarring (and it's expensive, too). Some inks used in tattoos are a health risk in and of themselves, regardless of contamination, because they can not go through a Magnetic Resonance Instrument because the metals in the pigments will be pulled out with the electromagnet of the medical imaging machine. So if you have a medical condition, your doctors will not be able to put you through medical imaging techniques that could potentially save your life and help in diagnosis and surgery.

Another point to consider is that if you do get this cosmetic procedure done, you will end up looking as though you always have makeup on and when you do, in fact, want to look special, you will no longer be able to make yourself up to be more attractive than you normally are. I know that my husband appreciates the effort I put into my appearance on special occasions, but if those occasions weren't rare, would he even notice anymore? I suspect, that like most things, people would just become accustomed to your face being completely made up all the time and you wouldn't get the attention that you seek from your makeup (clearly you must want attention if you're getting yourself tattooed to be beautiful, right?). I don't believe that we are robots, and we probably shouldn't always look the same way. I also can't imagine how incredibly painful it would be to have someone put fine-tipped needles in your face repeatedly, it would take someone with high pain tolerance to undergo such a procedure willingly!

Manscaping: Manly eyebrow grooming

It’s important to know how to shape your eyebrows before you delve straight into it because they frame your face and you can make yourself look a lot better or worse. My pet peeve is men who over-tweeze their eyebrows and end up looking like angry women with severe arches and thinned out brows. Since men are spending more time grooming themselves nowadays and are looking to control the wild hairs and unibrow for a clean look, I decided to post this guide. Look at your brows and decide whether you want a complete redo of your brow area or if you’re just looking to control the shape slightly. If you’re looking for a dramatic change, less is more, and I’m not going to go into using hair removal waxing kits to do this (because I don’t assume you’re masochists). Most men I know want to do this with as little hassle and pain as possible so that’s how I’m going to explain it. 

Wash your brows with warm water and some soap or facial cleanser before you do anything at all because it will moisten the hair follicles and open up your pores, causing you to feel far less pain when tweezing. If you have a small pair of scissors or an electric razor you can cut hairs that don’t look like they belong.

Shape your eyebrows by using a razor and shaving cream if you have tons of unibrow hair but make sure to go slowly because these tools are large so you have a higher chance of creating errors (don’t worry, your hair will grow back faster than you want it to). I suggest attempting to use the tweezer or electric razor as you’ll get more control out of them. The inner corner of your eyebrows should start in a straight line above the left or ride end of the tip of your nose (depending on which eyebrow you’re doing). So if you want to begin tweezing your right eyebrow, you want to take a pencil and measure upwards from the right side of the tip of your nose and make sure it begins in a straight line from there.

If you’re looking to trim up your eyebrows you can brush or push your brows upwards and trim what comes up out of the regular brow shape, and do the same with the hair pointing downwards. Just be careful not to poke yourself in the eye when doing this. Sometimes that’s all it takes to make your brows look defined and not unruly.

The key here is to use your discretion, some people look good with unibrows, no I’m not talking extremely dense ones, but a little shadow of hair can be attractive, and so can thicker eyebrows on men. Usually men have thicker eyebrows to balance out larger features like noses or eyes and to look more masculine, remember that Mother Nature knows what she’s doing.