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.

Deodorant exposé: harmful chemicals on your skin

There is a big difference between deodorant and its subgroup antiperspirant, because of the function of the latter, there are chemicals inside of it that stop your body from producing and releasing sweat. Antiperspirants affect your sweat glands and are classified as a drug, they have even higher concentrations and more types of chemicals inside of them than deodorants. Bottles of deodorant have misleading advertising that leads consumers to believe the health and beauty products they are purchasing are safe and will improve their odor. It will shock you to find out that many of these antiperspirants and deodorants can cause cancer and allergic reactions with extended usage. Yet if you think about it, most of us will use these products on an extended basis, if you use deodorant every day of your life for the approximately sixty or so years that you'll be concerned about your body odor.

Many deodorants use a combination of many, not just one, toxic chemicals, including (but not limited to) aluminum, propylene glycol, TEA/DEA/MEA, FD&C colors, talc, and parabens. These can be causes or catalysts for breast cancer, numerous allergies, and even Alzheimer's disease and associated neurpathies. Research is indecisive about whether or not there is merely a correlation as to the heightened incidence of these diseases in users or if they are the direct cause. Regardless of which of these scenarios proves to be real, both point towards the detrimental effects caused by the toxins in deodorants. 

Talc

Talc is a mineral that is used in many products throughout the beauty industry to absorb moisture and add color to products. It is a well known carcinogen because it has asbestos-like fibers found inside as impurities. It is important to note that although society is incredibly outraged with building code regulations of the past not controlling asbestos levels, we are actively consuming beauty products in which the asbestos content is not regulated. Since this asbestos concern looms in the concentration of talc, there is no safe way for a consumer to check the concentration of asbestos in talc products. You are better off staying away from it rather than risking the usage of this irritant and carcinogen. Inhaling these fibers can cause lung cancer, an asbestos-specific restrictive lung disease, and myriad of other lung-related disorders.

Colors

The chemical colors used in the food, drug and cosmetics industry which are so-called "approved" for mass marketing by the Food and Drug Administration are classified as FD&C. It is important to note that these are entirely man-made and synthetic, they are not naturally occurring colorants even though your beauty products and deodorants might suggest that they are. The 'green apple' or 'fruit fusion' flavors you are smelling and the colors you are seeing were mimicked in a lab to look and smell exactly like those you would find in nature. These often cause allergic reactions in people (some people are allergic to a particular dye) and have long been suspected as being carcinogenic because they are derived from strange substances such as coal tar.

TEA/DEA/MEA

These chemicals are solvents used in beauty and makeup products such as shampoos, conditioners, and skin creams because of their ability to cleanse. The function of a cleanser comes from their ability to adjust acidity and they are used to create salts which are then parlayed into cleansers. DEA comes from coconuts and can be found in pesticides. Long-term health effects are allergic reactions, immune-system damage, and liver/kidney tumors. This is just an example of one of their effects but they are all damaging and detrimental to human and animal health.

Propylene Glycol

If the name of this toxin is familiar to you it's probably because you've come across it in your everyday life in the form we're used to: anti-freeze. This chemical keeps substances from becoming dry and is therefore categorized as a humectant. The beauty industry has included it in deodorants for profits because it would stop their products from being adversely affected by temperature changes. There's a laundry list of diseases it can cause such as kidney/liver damage, neurological disturbances, skin rashes, and depression. It's no surprise that inhaling what you would put in your car can so adversely affect your body.

Parabens

These synthetic chemicals, found in almost every single deodorant out on the market (unless they are marked otherwise), can seep through the sensitive armpit's pores and increase the risk of breast cancer. This is known because the concentration of parabens is found to be higher than normal in many tumors found in breasts. The chemical nature of parabens is that they are copycats of estrogen and have similar functions in the body. If you are a woman, it is bad to be intaking more estrogen than your body requires as this is associated with higher breast cancer risk, and if you are a man you can be adversely affected by this estrogen as well because it will offset the hormonal estrogen to testosterone balance. You can spot these in your deodorant if you see names that end in -paraben (such as butylparaben, propylbaraben, and many more) and are used as preservatives widely in the beauty industry so that the products don't expire quickly. 

It is important that we are educated about these substances and do not actively purchase products that we know are poisoning us in time. If we allow the cosmetics and so-called health industry to release products with these chemicals which become fast-selling profit-boosters, they will never cease to release toxic waste under the guise of self-improvement. So go green and seek deodorants that aren't full of all of these chemicals to put on your sensitive armpits, after all, if you don't have your health you can never be beautiful.  Stick to brands like Crystal naturally fresh deodorant and pay more for your deodorant so you're not forced to be smearing your 'pits with a chemistry lab.

Tarte for True Blood eyeshadow palette review

If you know me you know that I have a very profound love affair with eyeshadow palettes, whether they be Urban Decay, Estee Lauder, Tokidoki, or any other brand under the sun. Just the concept of so many brilliant color combinations with endless customization and room for individuality makes me a giddy girl. I've never purchased anything else from Tarte so I didn't know the quality of their products beforehand, this review is going to be completely unbiased, I don't have stock in the company and I'm not a long-term lover of their products. Truth be told, I bought the Tarte for True Blood palette because it had beautiful shades that I wanted for my wedding day and I'm a huge fan of HBO's hit True Blood!!!

First glamoured impressions
I was thrilled with the packaging, the cutesy miniature drawer that slides out to reveal a miniature mascara, eye primer and black eye liner (which is remarkably amazing and slides on as smooth and easily as butter) and the fact that you're getting 17 eyeshadows for $52. While the mascara and primer are nothing to write home about, they're great filler bonuses that are much appreciated, the company could have just given 17 eyeshadows and not included that adorable drawer with its perks.


Upon further fanged inspection
The colors that you find in this palette are anything but the radical tones you would expect from this goth-inspired packaging. The pigments are surprisingly neutral and very blendable, they are silky in texture and very smooth on the skin. Some have matte finishes, others have a mild sheen, and a few even have sparkles inside!

I have swatched the shadows so you can get a clear view of the color payoff on the skin of my hand, but keep in mind that this is without a primer or base and the photos were taken with a flash on because the lighting was poor. Therefore, the colors are far less saturated in reality. I particularly love the most neutral shades from the top two rows of the first swatch set (such as Fairy, The Light, Dusk, Dawn, and Waitress). 'The True Death' is a medium silver tone that is one of the most accomplished shades of gray I've seen in any makeup line.

The true death-verdict
I would recommend this palette to anyone who is considering starting an eyeshadow collection because it covers a lot of the basics (neutrals, blacks, matte.shimmer... you get base, highlight as well as contour shades). You also won't be making too many mistakes because the formula is very forgiving and easily blendable. If you are a collector, then definitely do not miss out on this limited-edition beauty. It has made me consider Tarte as one of the makeup brands to watch.

How to pop your pimple the right away

This is a controversial topic because you are definitely not supposed to be popping your own pimples, but we still can't help ourselves and I know that my readers do it because I can't help myself, either. It's human nature to touch things we're not supposed to. So I'm going to discuss with you the proper method for doing so, and I feel as though I've gained important insight after much research on the topic. What you will need: a magnifying mirror (so you can get a good look at what you're doing, I prefer 5-10x magnifying), a kleenex, antiseptic wash, cleanser, and your fingers (or someone else's fingers if you can convince someone to do this for you).


For an enflamed zit on the surface of the skin

This is the wrong way to pop your pimples

First, you want to sterilize the area you're about to abuse. Use rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad, makeup cleanser or sanitizer wipes and let it dry. You don't want to do this on top of makeup or on dirty skin because you will just be creating an opportunity for bacteria to re-enter your pore and create more of a pustule than you had in the first place. Afterwards, you should gently exfoliate the skin around and on top of your pimple to gently move the dead skin cells and prepare the area before you go in to extract. You should wrap tissues around your fingers like tiny little finger-mitts because you don't want the bacteria from under your finger nails (and trust me, there is a lot in there) to work its way into the pimple. Pimples are basically havens for dead skin cells, sebum and white blood cells, which to the naked eye just look like the filthy pus we associate with them. Place your index fingers, which should be wrapped in kleenex by now, on either side of your pimple and wiggle the skin towards the pimple and in the opposite direction, pulling away from it. The skin will tear just enough for the pimple to come out, and if not, I just apply a little pressure towards the middle and it comes out completely. Try not to pinch so hard that blood comes out because you will be more likely to develop a scar.Dermatologists suggest that you use benzoyl peroxide as a pimple zapper, but I have first-hand experience with the solution and if you have sensitive skin, it will quickly burn, so I recommend staying away from it unless you have already used it and know that your skin will not be adversely affected.

What to do with your blackheads

Proper method of zit removal

Follow the exact same cleansing and exfoliating techniques mentioned above, also be sure to do a proper finger preparation. Using your bare fingers and nails to press skin together is the absolute worst thing you can be doing for your face because you will break the skin, alter your pore, perhaps even creating a scar, and not necessarily removing the blackhead. The proper way to do it is to place your fingers on either side of the clogged pore and gently pulling the skin apart (away from the blackhead in either direction) and then gently rolling your fingers back together. This will coerce the blackhead to raise itself to the surface, and only then can you gently push your fingers together and extract it on your kleenex. Continue doing this for all of the blackheads you want to remove. Since you have brought bacteria onto the surface of your skin, you will want to use an antiseptic wash or rubbing alcohol to clean the area after you are done.

For those big painful nodules stuck inside the skin
You will either have to wait these out and conceal them with antibacterial concealer, or you will  have to visit a dermatologist to have them zapped. However, there is another method that might work for you. If you take a damp cloth or towel which is warm to hot in temperature, you can place it above the pustule and rub it on top until you see some movement. This make take quite a few minutes or until the next day, but eventually it will come to the surface. Some say that wet and warm green tea bags work in much the same fashion, so you can experiment with them if the towel method isn't working for you. Once the pustule has formed a white head you can use the steps outlined in the first paragraph of this article.

There are old wives' tales about using toothpaste or baking sode to dry out the pimple, but you should stay away from these substances because your skin will release even more oils from the abuse these chemicals cause (and you'll get an even worse break-out). If you've tried everything you can and you simply can't get it out, don't attempt to gouge your fingers into your skin because the abrasive and harsh actions will be painful and unsightly. If you are suffering from acne, you will NOT want to use any of these methods because the reason you're getting pimples isn't as simple as a little dirt trapped inside your pores and you should see a dermatologist rather than cause yourself harm. If a pimple is not ready to go, then don't force it, just cover it up and move on with your day. At the end of the day, it's just a pimple, we all get them all the time, nobody's going to judge you. Own it!

Vitamins to keep you looking and feeling beautiful

Vitamins for a beautiful lifestyle
There are vitamins that protect the skin against damage from the UV rays of the sun and skin cancer and can reduce wrinkles from aging and sun damage. These are antioxidants that eliminate free radicals which are the leading cause of wrinkles. They speed up your metabolic repair systems and inhibit the production of more free radicals and reduce the rate of further aging. You may be wondering how to get these vitamins, well we easily ingest them in our every day diets, and if you do not, you should consider increasing the amount of antioxidant-rich foods you consume.

Vitamins C, E and Selenium are crucial to your skin's repair systems and can be found in creams but they are in very small quantities, so you should supplement them in your diet, either as pills or directly from the food source. Vitamin D is needed to protect your bones and joints but it is also a potent anti-oxidant, and enhances the absorption of vitamins A and C. It can reduce the chances of developing dry and flakey skin, and ultimately protects against psoriasis (painful, itchy dry reddish skin which can happen anywhere on your body especially during cold weather). Some people swear by the effectiveness of Coenzyme Q-10 and it is a matter of scientific fact that it reduces the appearance of wrinkles, but you should speak to a doctor before consuming it because it increases the rate at which your cells reproduce, which can be negative if your cells are reproducing incorrectly (such as in cancerous cells).

B-vitamins are necessary for your entire body and you should eat foods rich in these vitamins such as eggs, enriched grain products and greens leafy vegetables. You will want to stock up on these because prolonged lack of them can cause dry skin which can promote redness and itchiness which will make it difficult for you to wear makeup. This issue is very personal to me, as I have lack B-12, and the major effects of this deficiency are that the body does not produce enough red blood cells, which slows down the skin's healing, circulation and not enough oxygen is provided to tissues which need it the most (such as the brain which requires it for healthy function). I find myself feeling lethargic, confused, dizzy and it eventually can destroy your nerve endings, resulting in numbness in your fingers and similar symptoms. Although we are often over-concerned with our appearances, it should be noted that vitamin-consumption should be taken even more seriously when it comes to personal well-being and health. If you suffer from various ailments and disorders it is even more important to maintain your body's ideal vitamin concentrations because they will help you maintain a level of health that would otherwise probably rapidly degrade.

You can achieve softer and smoother skin from consuming green tea and chocolate, that's right ladies, so stock up on hot cocoa that is high in flavinoids and or have a daily bite of  dark chocolate. There are also many vegetable-based extracts which have positive effects when consumed or rubbed topically onto your skin. So claims that your mother/grandmother makes about eating foods with tomato paste, rosemary, pomegranates and grape seeds are true. It may very well be that a combination of all of these in your diet can do nothing but help your skin and internal organs. The key to living healthy is everything in moderation, it is never a good idea to completely cut out one food group or another, as you will find that each provides benefits and is wholly important to your skin's hydration balance, elasticity (resistance to stretch marks), hormonal balance (which controls your sabaceous glands, which in turn control your skin's oil production - too much or too little causes acne).

If you stay away from foods that are very high in saturated fats and trans-fats you will be helping your heart stay healthy, but make sure not to cut out essential fatty acids because they help move vitamins A, D, E and K throughout your body's tissues to where they are needed most. Essentially, if you're not consuming omega-3's and essential fatty acids, you will not be receiving the benefits of the fat-soluble vitamins you have in your diet. Fat is essential to maintaining healthy skin as it helps you have younger-looking supple skin by making it glossy and firm. This is because omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids help make the cell membrane stronger and actively eliminate toxins in cells. It makes your skin (the dermal layer) release elastic fibers, which are nature's collagen, and as we all know these will remove wrinkles on your skin.

Here is a useful list of vitamins and their natural sources:

• Omega-3 -> Salmon and other cold-water fish, olive oil, walnuts
• Vitamin B-2 -> Eggs, milk, enriched grain products
• Vitamin B-6 -> Chicken, halibut, nuts, turkey, pork, spinach, baked potatoes
• Vitamin B-12 -> Clams, enriched cereals, liver, caviar, lobster, beef, cheese
• Vitamin C -> Oranges, lemons, bell peppers, guava, fresh thyme and parsley, broccoli
• Vitamin D -> Milk, fish oil, catfish, herring, orange juice, soymilk
• Vitamin E -> Sunflower seeds, paprika, whole grains, almonds, peanuts, pine nuts
• Flavinoids -> chocolate, hot cocoa, green tea extract
• Selenium -> turkey, shrimp, snapper, cod, tuna, brazil nuts

Giving your Lips a Nude Color

After purchasing the Lady Gaga Viva Glam nude lipstick from MAC Cosmetics, I nonchalantly applied it to my lips one morning, and to my dismay, it looked like nude powder had crackled all over my mouth. Clearly, this was not the way to apply nude lipstick. So I investigated how to achieve that perfect neutral pout you see on TV's and in magazines. This entry will showcase the steps required for you to achieve that pretty nude lip.

Exfoliate and Moisturize 
If you don't want your lips to look like they've been dehydrating out in the Sahara Desert, you have to remove that dry, flakey and crackled skin. Remember, as the weather gets colder your lips will become more dull in pigmentation and lose a lot of their youthful glow due to your capillaries constricting. To combat the dryness and pigment loss there is a very simple solution that does not require you going out and purchasing lip treatments for more money than you would want to spend. Use a pinch of brown sugar in approximately a table spoon of olive oil, mix them together, and rub the solution you have created onto your lips. The natural sugar beads will work as an exfoliant and you only need to leave this mixture on your lips for about a minute and scrub it off with your fingers, massaging back and forth to blend in the olive oil, which will act as a moisturizing agent. After rinsing your lips, apply a lip balm that you find to be highly moisturizing, I use the Blistex lip balms.

Contouring your lips
This step is optional but I suggest that if you don't want your lipstick to blend in entirely with your skin-tone, that you define your lips. You can do this by choosing a lip-liner that is a few shades darker than your skin-tone, but preferably still a neutral. Be way of going too dark because you don't want it to look obvious that you have lipliner on, that's never an attractive look. You should line your lips with the liner and then color in your lips with it in order to give them a continuous color. For a natural-looking blend, you will want to tilt your lip pencil to the side rather than draw with the point. Applying a lip-liner will also help improve the staying power of your lipstick and lipgloss and reduce the chance of the colors feathering at the edges.

Erase your natural lip pigment
To reduce the saturation of your own natural lip color, you will want to use a concealer and dab it onto your lips so that you can apply your nude lipstick on top. Remember not to use any concealer that is cream-based because it will cake on your lips and make them crackle, but stick to liquid concealers that have a wand in the tube for easy application. I've found that you can also use liquid foundation and it will work quite well but may not have as long of staying power as concealer. So that your lip products don't stick directly to the concealer, you will want to use a lip balm for moisturizing next.

Applying your lipstick and gloss
Technically you could just leave your lips nude colored with the concealer, but I prefer to add my own shade on top. Use the nude lipstick of your choice and gently push it into your lips, making sure not to smear too hard over your concealer and lip balm. Take a napkin and press it in between your lips to dab off any excessive lipstick after your application. When you're satisfied with the way it looks, you can decide whether you want a matte or glossy finish. Apply lipgloss to finish off the look in a glossy way or stop before this step to leave the lips matte. You can get interesting looks by applying lipglosses with various finishes (opaque, shimmery sheen, or translucent).

Happy experimenting!

NYX lipgloss set product review

Perusing shops, trying not to buy anything, you occasionally come across a deal that is so great, it boggles the mind. I was walking around Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington and meandered into the hipster paradise that is Urban Outfitters. After wandering around mindlessly, not finding anything that would flatter me or anything that piqued my interest, I found myself drifting towards the makeup/jewelry section. I came across the NYX The Naturals lipgloss set for $10, and it just so works out that there are 10 lipglosses in this set. That brings your whopping per item price to $1, so you really can't find any better than that. What's more impressive is that these lipglosses are made by an established brand, and a pretty successful one at that, even for a girl who likes her MAC and Urban Decay products. There is another one in this collection that is called 'Love's Anthem' but the color combination didn't attract me, there were some strongly pigmented lip shades - namely maroon red, purple and yellow and I wasn't feeling adventurous.

I pulled the magical colored tubes out of their boxy confines and I had a revelation of a complete collection of natural tones that would make anybody warm and fuzzy inside. These shadows are so muted in tone that you can wear them anywhere, their appropriateness stems from how well these colors were chosen, they work with all skin tones, lip shades, and serve to complement your lipstick or lip-liner, if you so choose to wear one or the other. Personally, I'm a lipgloss girl myself, I prefer the natural, no-fuss look and I don't care enough to re-apply after eating or drinking. The negative aspect of this set, if you can even call it that, is that the shades of lipgloss don't have names, so you couldn't buy separate ones if you ran out of a particular one and really needed another. The texture is slightly sticky so you feel like they are on your lips, the taste has a hint of mint, which works as a refreshing tingle on your lips, and can help give you that 'beestung' pouty look.

As you can see in the swatches I did on my hand (I went in the same order as the colors so you can easily correlate the tube with the color payoff) these colors are truly neutral. There are various shades of pink, beige, plum, apricot and coral. Some of these lipglosses are shimmery (3, 9, and 10), others are opaque (1, 4, 5, 7, 8), and the rest are fairly translucent. The color payoff is highest among the opaque shades, while the sparkle-flecked ones are a close second. It was delightful when I realized that these inexpensive lipglosses had various finishes to them because that gives for a much more versatile collection. This was a fantastic purchase and as far as I can tell thus far, the shades have a usual lasting power that can be found in most lipglosses across the board. So if you're in need of some inexpensive lipglosses that will keep you happy and aren't just the usual drugstore brand, opt for the NYX lipgloss set! I've never seen this set around before, so get 'em while you can!