Face

MissRo here! Now, everyone knows the benefits of Aloe Vera. If you don't, here's the low-down:
 

1. Pamper yourself to a soothing body rub. Slice aloe leaves lengthwise and use the inner sides as a biodegradable body scrub in the shower.
2. Treat burns from minor mishaps in the kitchen—from grease splatters or hot utensils.
3. For more major kitchen mishaps like a scald, mix some aloe gel and vitamin E oil into a little jar for a homemade burn healer.
4. Banish black and blue bruises by swapping on the good goo.
5. Soothe and heal sunburns the feel-good way. Aloe contains cooling properties similar to menthol.
6. Take the sting or itch out of insect bites.
7. Reduce tissue damage from frostbite.
8. Alleviate mysterious rashes.
9. Make feet baby soft with an exfoliating foot mask by mixing together a half cup of oatmeal, a half cup of corn meal, four tbsp. of aloe vera gel and a half cup of unscented body lotion.
10. Help heal herpes outbreaks.
11. Fight Athlete’s Foot.
12. Swab over blisters for quick relief.
13. Use as an antidote to allergic skin reactions.
14. Replace creams and lotions as a general moisturizer for dry skin. Aloe is fast absorbing!
15. Prevent pesky pimples and treat acne.
16. Soothe Psoriasis.
17. Prevent scarring and stretch marks.
18. Help rid of Rosacea.
19. Shrink warts.
20. Reverse signs of aging skin and wrinkles. Cleopatra did!
21. Help eliminate Eczema.
22. Brighten skin. Aloe can decrease pigmentation and dark spots.
23. Make skin new again with an exfoliating, organic sugar scrub by mixing together two tbsp. of aloe vera, 2 tbsp. of organic brown sugar and 1 tsp. of organic lemon juice.
24. For rougher patches mix together an organic salt skin scrub using two cups of sea salt, one cup of aloe vera, one cup of organic coconut oil and two tbsp. of local, organic honey.
25. Speed up hair growth by massaging aloe into the scalp, letting it sit for 30 minutes, and rinsing.
26. Reduce hair dandruff by mixing aloe vera juice with coconut milk and wheat germ oil. Massage into scalp and rinse.
27. Replace aloe with conditioner for silkier, smoother hair.
28. Remove eye makeup... and the list goes on!

(Source - 40 Amazing Uses for Aloe Vera!)

Well, how about using it as a face primer under your foundation?!

Hello, Eleni here! I have a confession to make: I love Chanel products. Every time Megan comes to my place she runs out of my bathroom screaming at me "when did you get this Chanel cream?", "Have enough Chanel already?", "Why aren't you using the products I gave you to review?", "Are you cheating on the other companies that love us?". It's usually at this point when I open the wine to distract her.

Honestly, I have at least 10 favorite brands that I use almost daily ("too-much-free-time-alert"), but Chanel is like my desert island item. I have a long lasting, loving, co-dependent relationship with the Chanel Hydramax Active Moisture Cream. I never want to be anywhere without it. Even if I take small breaks using other moisturizers, I always go back to it.

Maybe it's because it smells like soap, or maybe it's because due to its blue-ish color, every time I put it on, my skin tone looks more even and I glow. One morning I put it on right after washing my face and when I went back inside my boyfriend asked me how I managed to put my makeup on so fast.

Gigi here! My fear of having a wrinkled face or throat—a.k.a. my dreaded “Turkey Neck”—has its origins in childhood.  I am elated not to have crows’ feet or frown lines.  Unfortunately, three repugnant horizontal creases mar my neck, also inherited but unwanted (a mix of good and bad genes from both parents).
 
Rewind to third grade:  My mother had made me a beautiful dress with a white Peter Pan collar to wear on the day my Catholic school had pictures taken of the students.  I still recall wriggling around, attempting to push the pique fabric up to hide my imperfections.  What stopped me was a very impatient photographer who screamed, “Hey Red, quit playing around and stop squirming!”  The shade of my face replicated my hair color.
 
One year later, at age ten, I found myself standing in our silent lunch line in the cafeteria.  Talking was not permitted until we received our stew made from unknown animal parts or chicken with all of the trimmings, feathers included!  We were arranged alphabetically, and Gigi Sommers stood two people in front of her boyfriend and love, Tom Townsend (name changed to protect the love-struck).  It was my time to shine.  I undid the first button of my uniform blouse and seductively slid the strap of my plaid jumper slightly down my shoulder.  I stood in a model’s hesitation pose, being sure to hide my throat but still resemble Raquel Welch in “Barbarella” or Bridget Bardot in “And God Created Woman.”  I knew he was looking—I felt it.  And then my academic life as I knew it in this particular school came to a swift end.
 
Two girls at the beginning of the line were whispering, and our nun, with full, long taffeta habit and veil, decided to run and halt their words to spare them from the wrath of hell.  What she missed was my foot, toe pointed attractively.  In retrospect, the sound of the “whoosh” as the taffeta hit the tile was hysterical, but she thought that I had done it purposely.  I vaguely recall her screaming, “And you are supposed to be a nice girl!  I’ll make you a nice girl, Gigi Marie Sommers!” before she pummeled me into the ground, beating any and every part of my body until I fainted.  My parents had never hit us in any way, and I wound up transferred to a public school shortly thereafter.
 
My husband and I could purchase a summer home with the cash I’ve spent on serums and products for my wrinkle woes.  They seem to work initially, but I am always disappointed.  Since Meg has led us to Beauty Ticket and prices are ridiculously discounted, I’m considering it a discount/drugstore this week to share a product straight from Heaven itself—“Too Faced’s Extreme Wrinkle Filler” in a tube.   This is a multi-tasking miracle makeup primer.
 
The tube is clever, shaped like the barrel of an injection needle, with gradations as to quantity of product.  It claims to fill lines without the “ouch” of  Botox needles, and it works.  I am on my third tube, and the benefits! This is more viscous than a serum, with a light ecru appearance.  Unlike creams, there is absolutely no oily residue left behind to annoy or stain.  The unique formula is to be used under makeup where wrinkles are an issue, but I also find that applying over my entire face works as a foundation itself.  Wear is extended and greatly enhanced with a luminous appearance. Whether you wear makeup or not, this is a product that belongs in your vanity.  In my case, it remains in the top shelf—front and center—of my Sears Craftsmen professional huge red cart (meant for power tools and garage necessities but great housing for cosmetics), along with my divided bait and tackle boxes.  And some people feel I have a problematic fixation with makeup—how ridiculous!

Jeanasina here! Rumpelstiltskin was probably a good candidate for L'Oreal's new COLLAGEN Moisture Filler! I'm not sure, but if somebody back in storybook times named their child Rumpelstiltskin, it was probably because there was some seriously rumpled up skin on the child!

When you just read the word Rumpelstiltskin, for SURE, your immediate mind image was not pretty right?  The creature I envision was born with
saggy pockets of skin all over his face  - one nasty face indeed!  Well L'Oreal has come out with a new line of product called Collagen Moisture Filler!  I bet they have been testing it on the rumple guy himself!   His face could probably endure YEARS of testing! I have been watching their compelling ads on the television. As a matter of fact, every time this ad comes on the TV I have to stop and watch it! I know it is absolutely crazy of me to think that THIS time, THIS product will bring me back my lost Collagen! But honey, I start to believe!! I zero in on every sentence they are using to convince me that this stuff is going to WORK! YES LADIES!!! THIS TIME IT'S GONNA WORK! I'm hoping that, probably, after about three days of using this cream, my own friend's will barely be able to recognize me! It's going to work THIS TIME right?!

Ok, so this is going to be happening right now while you are reading this...it will almost be like you are here! Going into the bathroom now and going toward this miracle working, loose skin tightening MIRACLE in a purple container! Talk amongst yourselves until I get back. If you hear me yell or scream, it will ONLY be because I put this cream on my face and then turned and looked into the mirror and was YOUNG again...with FIRM skin again! THEN, and only THEN will I be screaming the brand name of this particular cream I'm about to try and saying YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO BUY THIS!

So...I'm back! I bet you hardly recognized me right? I bet you are just dying to ask me what I have done to my face! Does it look tight yet? You know, on the down side, IF this COLLAGEN really makes your skin get tight again (just watch the commercial!) Anyway...if this COLLAGEN really makes your skin get tight – WHAT IF something went haywire with one of the batches of COLLAGEN cream because the plant hired a diabolical potion maker who tampered with one of the batches of COLLAGEN and he didn't put any 'use by' date on it so maybe, just maybe THAT batch will OVERTIGHTEN your skin! How creepy would THAT be? I'm sure that's not going to happen to anybody any of us right?

MissRo here! So, I'm reading my favorite news site this morning, The Huffington Post, and in the Style section they highlight Bazaar magazine's September issue. Famed photographer Peter Lindbergh did a photoshoot with eight supermodels not wearing a stitch of makeup. The photos are beautiful, all in black and white. The models look like they all just got out of bed (if I looked like that when I got out of bed, life would be blissful). Their hair is a perfect, tousled, bed-head mess, they are wearing either white wife-beaters, tank tops, or long-sleeve t-shirts, and I don't think a hint of photoshop was used.

Within that same post, they entice you to also read a post by Verena von Pfetten's called "Less Is The New More: The Case For Taking Off Your Makeup". First, this post was written a year and a half ago??? Second, I disagree with what she has to say.