Eyes Dark Circles

Who likes dark circles under the eyes? Hands up… anybody? Didn’t think so.

No body wants dark circles under the eyes and it is just so confusing with all these millions (okay hundreds) of products to ‘cure’ them, what do we use?

Before you go rush to the shops with your credit card to buy that miracle product, understand what the cause is and what you can do naturally.

Ranked Causes:
1: Lack of Sleep:
Probably the biggest cause of eyes dark circles. Not necessarily going out and having a late night but something may be stressing you out that doesn’t allow for you to relax and have a good deep sleep.

2: Diet:
Dark circles can appear if you have some sort of food allergy, try to identify what it could be (also you could take a RAST test that highlights allergies). Lack of water, vitamins and nutrients in your diet can also adversely affect dark circles

3: Genetics:
The bit that is out of our hands. This is caused by genetic hyper pigmentation where the under eye area may be suffering from a darker pigment than the surrounding area. More difficult to cure and well applied concealer is usually the solution

4: Ageing:
As we age the skin under the eye gets thinner and looses elasticity, therefore showing blood vessels

Tips:
•    Sleep: Try to get to the route of any stress and resolve. If on the other hand you are just a party animal, naughty naughty, just try to catch up on your beauty sleep
•    See a dietician: Identify whether or not your diet lacks any nutrients and vitamins that are needed
•    Drink plenty of water: 6-8 cups a day (helps on so many levels)
•    Massage your eyes (whilst closed and very gently) with cold fingers (run under cold tap)  to stimulate blood circulation and reduce toxic build up
•    Splash cold water onto the eye area regularly
•    Reduce the amount of time spent looking at your computer screen
•    A well applied eye concealer can help reduce the significance of eyes dark circles
•    The old cold cucumber slices on your eyes has stood the test of time and works in most cases

Hope this helps, and remember you must get to the route of the problem otherwise these creams and gels might reduce temporarily but make the problem worse over time.

I personally love splashing cold water onto the eyes just makes you feel fresh and awake.

Pretty

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Skin Acne

Okay we’ve all probably had our fair share of skin problems, spots, skin acne, red patches and the list goes on. According to leading health experts most of us don’t even know that we have skin problems until later on when they are much more visible and harder to treat.

Skin acne is a common problem.

1: Causes & Description:
•    Inflammation of skin because of infection
•    Sebum (oil) created by our glands joins forces with dead skin and blocks the hair follicles. This basically allows for oil to build up beneath our skin until spots erupt.
•    Normally occurs on the face, but can also occur on chest and back
•    Can be started due to: Stress; Bacteria; Excessive Scratching; Hormonal related

2: Skin Acne Treatments:
•    Dermatologist: (may need to be referred by Doctor) He / she may prescribe you with antibiotics that will reduce Acne. But remember that your body may become immune to the antibiotics and the acne that returns after may be stronger
•    Foods / vitamins containing vitamin A are known to reduce oil on the skin. There are also some medication that have high levels of Vitamin A (ask Dermatologist)

Home Remedies:
•    Cleanse face on a regular basis to take away any dead skin. There are special acne related cleansers around that are built specifically for the condition (examples include: Zeno)
•    Most likely to be stress related, so get to the route. Yoga can help and deep breathing exercises

If you do have skin acne, don’t let it get to you. In the majority of cases it is just a short term problem and if treated correctly can be reduced and wiped out.

Pretty

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Skin Tone

Making sure you know your skin tone before you go out and buy those must have beauty products is as important as knowing your shoe size before you buy some shoes.

What some of us do is to assume that we have a certain skin tone and go out and buy foundation only to realise that we may need to buy another as the last one didn’t match our skin.

Skin tones can be broken down into the following 6 types (use this list to identify your skin tone):

Skin Tone (6 Types):
1: Very Light:
•    Tanning: Likely burn / very rarely tans
•    Typical Likely Hair Colour: Red / Blonde
•    Typical Likely Eye Colour: Blue / Green / Grey

2: Light Skinned:
•    Tanning: Sometimes burns / rarely tans
•    Typical Likely Hair Colour: Light / Dark
•    Typical Likely Eye Colour: Blue / Green / Hazel / Brown / Grey

3: Light Intermediate:
•    Tanning: Sometimes burns / usually tans
•    Typical Likely Hair Colour: Brown
•    Typical Likely Eye Colour: Blue, Green, Hazel, Brown

4: Dark Intermediate
•    Tanning: Rarely burns / often tans
•    Typical Likely Hair Colour: Dark Brown
•    Typical Likely Eye Colour: Dark Brown

5: Dark / Brown
•    Tanning: Naturally brown skin
•    Typical Likely Hair Colour: Black – Brown
•    Typical Likely Eye Colour: Black – Brown

6: Dark / Black
•    Tanning: Naturally dark skin
•    Typical Likely Hair Colour: Black – Brown
•    Typical Likely Eye Colour: Black – Brown

Example of the famous orange foundation look: Woman has skin tone of dark intermediate, she then goes to the department store and buys foundation made for very light skin tone. Goes home applies it correctly only to realise that it makes her look orange or chalky, oh dear.

Once you have identified your skin tone there is less chance of you buying the wrong products for your skin, and when you apply the right foundation for your skin tone the difference is amazing.

Any good makeup counter will provide you with a colour spectrum to match your skin type (but doing your research before hand is always a bonus).

What is your skin tone?
Any questions or comments let me know below.

Pretty x

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