It’s Not Too Late - 5 Things You Still Can Do To Look Your Best This Holiday Season
It’s not too late…to whip it…whip it into shape!”…ah, so sang DEVO when I was growing up and the same refrain applies today in early December. It’s not too late to look your best for the holiday season. Here are 5 things you can still do that will make a big beauty impact this month…
1. Fill Those Wrinkles WITHOUT the Procedure
Obviously the best wrinkle is the one you never get, but we all do get dynamic wrinkles from making expressions, which if not treated can also become static wrinkles - ones that are always there. So once a wrinkle “sticks” what are your options? Well, until recently the only option to treat them has really been injectables. Botox and Fillers. But now we have Acute Care.
Some of you have read about this product before. I bring it up in this article however, because the Acute Care patches really can act as a pre-event quick fix for those crow’s feet, nasty “11’s”, the “parentheses”, and those friggin’ lines above your upper lip.
The patches deliver hyaluronic acid, which holds 1000 times its weight in moisture, right into the wrinkle. Gluten free, latex free, preservative free, AND the biggy…wait for it….PAIN FREE. When you wear the patches overnight, you see results the next day. But you also see results overtime as you were the patches 10 times in one month. They really are the “holy grail” of skincare…you receive early benefits from use up front, as well as cumulative benefits over time, aka “long term residual results”.
So fill those wrinkles overnight and over time. Get started right now - you will look better and better as each holiday party passes! It’s the only way to pull a real “Benjamin Button” - you might not even be allowed to stay up past midnight on the 31st!
2. Make it a WHITE Holiday Season
At home teeth whiteners are surprisingly effective and you can get great results in just a matter of weeks. Many formulas are highly effective on tobacco, coffee & tea, tetracycline, and various other teeth stains. And studies have found that toothpastes that bind to stains or abrasive substances that scrub them off, whitened no better than standard formulas. Similarly, laser treatments at the dentist office have not scored that much higher in effectiveness in this area, yet are much more expensive.
There are many options on the market, but the one I have recently tried and liked is called Smile Brilliant. I like this product for several reasons:
- You actually get molds that you send back to the company, who then creates custom trays that fit your teeth. The process is simple and I was extremely impressed with my trays. It may take a bit longer in the beginning because of having to wait for the trays, but they are worth it. Your results are so much better because the gel is held directly against your teeth, because the trays are custom vs those “wrestler” teeth protector trays some companies use or worse, the strips. You can really get gel into yellow nooks and crannies with these trays – the product even comes with a little brush that I use to get gel into the cracks before putting my trays in.
- The company sends you both whitening gel, as well as a desensitizing gel, which is applied after the whitening gel. I liked this because I have sensitive teeth and the desensitizing gel really worked.
- The product itself worked very well. I saw my already fairly white teeth, still turn several shades whiter and I was really able to get at some of the yellowed areas between my teeth.
In any case, white teeth can really make a difference in your smile and your confidence. It’s something that you can do now and be showing those pearly whites at all the holiday parties and into the New Year. If you choose to check out the Smile Brilliant line, use MAFANLO at checkout and save.
3. Grow Gorgeous Lashes and Brows
I frequently get asked if the lash growers and brow growers work. My answer: they certainly do and that category is now at multiple-hundred million dollars in sales to prove it. Women aren’t dumb. We wouldn’t keep buying a product if it didn’t provide results. There are many, many offerings on the market from prescription only: Latisse to those on sale at Costco.
Again, why suggest this in an article about getting ready for the holidays? Well, my friends, your lashes and brow hairs are on a 4 - 8 week cycle, so you can start to see results in this area in just a couple of weeks, depending on wear your hairs are in the cycle.
I use a brand called Revitalash, that offers both a lash grower (Nouriche) as well as a brow grower (Revitabrow). Typically the formulas contain proteins that stimulate hair growth if there is a follicle intact as well as moisturizer and strengthen the lashes and brows. For those of you who don’t like to wear false lashes to events, long natural lashes with well applied mascara may just be the solution you’ve been “longing” for…
4. Get Your Holiday Glow On
I’ve got one word for you when it comes to glowing skin: exfoliation! It’s so key!! There are all types of exfoliators out there, but one thing is for sure, if you exfoliate your skin on your face and body before you go out, your skin will look much healthier and radiate. You see, it’s removing all the dead skin cells that is so important. Some of those dead skin cells want to hold on for “dear life” even though they are no longer living cells. ARGH!
You can use a machine to exfoliate. High end spas and dermatologists offer exfoliating facials using expensive machines, but you can also purchase at home machines to do it too. From the Clarisonic (which I liken more to a “sweep” - sort of a light exfoliation) to Rodan and Fields Macro Exfoliator (now that’s a vacuum!), with a whole wide range in-between, there is no reason you can’t find something on the market to use immediately before going out on the town. I myself use the RF Macroexfoliator as many of you know. And so does my boyfriend. He’s really a “let’s get this done” kind of guy and appreciates the fact that in just five minutes he can remove a week’s worth of dead skin on his face.
There are also exfoliators that come in the form of lotions and potions. Exfoliating gels, bars, and scrubs are a huge cosmetic category. Word of caution here…exfoliators made for the body are generally TOO STRONG for the face. You could end up with very red and irritated skin if you don’t heed that warning. My favorite cream based exfoliator for the face is Rodan and Fields Microdermabrasion Paste. I love the texture - it’s high-glide and oil-free offering gentle exfoliation with no environmentally hazardous micro-beads. Smells good and leaves my facial skin and decolletage looking great…not red. For the body, I like the LaLicious Body Souffle Scrubs which are sugar cane and oil based. However, because the ingredients are whipped together, there is NO separation of the products in the container!
Finally, there are many cloths and mits on the market that also exfoliate. I like the mits that fit over your hand like a glove because I find that the hand movements are natural that way…as if you were smoothing on lotion for example. I also like the Supracor line of bath mits which are naturally antifungal and antibacterial. This is important if you are going to leave a mitt in the shower and/or share it with others. You want to make sure that no bacteria grows on it, which can be a real problem with loofahs that are shared and/or used for too long a time (they expire people!)
5. Shape Up
And finally, we come to one more thing you can do now that will have a big impact on your holiday look: shape your brows. I have done many blog posts on this tip, here and here and here! So if you don’t know I’m into brows by now, then you probably haven’t even read this far. Ha ha! Anyways, if you need a little help shaping those good old framers for the holidays, come see me. A quick brow appointment is only $25 and I’ll shape those babies right up and show you how you can touch them up throughout the season too. Email me for an appointment.
