Beauty and Fashion Tech -

The New Science of Perfect Skin by Daniel Yarosh, PH.D.

Daniel Yarosh, Ph.D. is a thirty-year veteran of the beauty business who comes from the development end of the industry. Among his accomplishments are the invention of new ingredients for brands such as Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Shiseido. Now he has an excellent book out, The New Science of Perfect Skin: Understanding Skin Care Myths and Miracles For Radiant Skin at Any Age, along with an accompanying skin care line, Remergent, from his laboratory, AGI Dermatics.

I will cover the Remergent line in a few weeks. For now, I want to focus on what I think is one of the best beauty books to come along in a great while—at least as far as skin care and anti-aging is concerned. The book provides a thorough and accurate overview of everything a person needs to know about skin, from protecting it, to treating its problems.

From the get go, Yaraosh tells it like it is, with early chapters on “Cutting Through the Hype,” and a glossary of product ingredients. He then painstakingly breaks down cosmetic products into chapters with explanations of what to avoid and why, and what to focus on for the best results. Each chapter includes specific product recommendations by brand across various levels of cost. Yarosh also provides a wealth of information on skin cancer and sun care, along with antioxidants and wrinkle treatments, including descriptions of various lasers and injections. The book also contains skin care regimes for men and children. Throughout the book, Yarosh does a nice job of recommending products that will do double duty by addressing multiple skin conditions at once—something I am quite a fan of.

Overall, The New Science of Perfect Skin is a book with a great deal of information, written for the everyday consumer. Wonderfully informative, to the point, and easy to read, it is a book that you can pick up, understand, and learn from without any specific scientific background. If you do have some background, you will find it to be a well informed and handy reference tool.

I recommend The New Science of Perfect Skin for any person who is concerned about skin care and who seeks to separate the products that have the most chance of success from those that are unlikely to work. Isn’t that most of us?

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Book Reviews, Skin Care | No Comments

Removing Calluses with the Ped Egg

I love my Ped Egg! I seriously think that every callused foot on the planet deserves one!

When I first read about the Ped Egg at Bionic Beauty I wanted to try it. As I mentioned recently, I’m hard on my feet and the callus battle is constant for me. I have had success with various files and tools, but nothing has worked as well for me as the Ped Egg.

The Ped Egg is a little plastic egg with a foot file inside. This is not a callus razor, but is more than a sandpaper or pumice type of file. It generally is similar to a metal foot file, with a cheese grater look to it. Designed to be gentle, you can run it over your smooth skin without a scratch, but on calluses it grates and files them away, and it does so very quickly. The dead skin shavings are collected inside the egg, so there is also less mess. Fine grain file pads are also available for creating a smooth finish.

When I used the Ped Egg, I removed most of a fairly large heel callus in a matter of minutes. I had been doing some preparation using Glycolic Acid from AB Skin Care and some foot cream (read previous article), which also had softened things up a bit. I did find that if I held the egg tilted, too much that the dead skin would fall out, so to keep the skin in the egg where it belongs don’t tilt your egg too much! I finished off my feet with the file pad, added some moisturizing cream, and my feet were ready for a new pair of summer sandals!

The Ped Egg is available at PedEgg.com and other online sources, such as at Drugstore.com.

Shop for the Ped Egg

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Foot Care, Skin Care | 3 Comments

New Tech Spinning Mascara: Spinlash

When I first heard of SpinLash Mascara I was a bit skeptical. How could a spinning brush possibly be easy to use and not create a mess? I kept envisioning little specks of mascara being flung onto the mirror, or worse, my face! I also have to say that if you browse the blogs on this one, you will see mixed reactions. Some people are not really keen on this product. But when I tried one, I loved the thing!

SpinLash is a battery operated rotating mascara brush. It comes with its own adequate mascara, but it really shines when used with your favorite brand. It doesn’t really “spin” in the sense of fast rotation. Instead, it very slowly rotates, so all those fears of flying mascara can be erased. The bristles of the brush are quite fine and rubbery, something that I think works particularly well. The result for me using SpinLash was very evenly applied mascara and lashes with great definition.

One downside is that SpinLash doesn’t appear to have a replaceable battery, so when it dies, a new purchase is required. But I suppose that unless religiously cleaned, it would be ready to be replaced by then anyway.

Spinlash retails at around $15 and can be found in various drugstores, big box retailers, and online.

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Mascara | No Comments

DIY Mineral Makeup Kits From Bramble Berry

Here is fun item for the do it yourselfer, mineral makeup lover, or craft maven: Make Your Own Mineral Makeup Kits from Bramble and Berry. I spent a morning playing with the neutral and metallics kit and had a lot of fun. I also got some decent eye shadow from the process.

Below are some of the items before I got started (I supplied the larger measuring spoons and larger baggie). The entire kit contains: Titanium Dioxide, Dry Flo, Kaolin Clay, Sericite Mica, Super Pearly White, and the following pigments: Gold Sparkle, Bronze, Honeyed Beige, Sparkle Copper, Cappucino, Heavy Metal Gold, Vintage Grey, Patina Sheen, & Luster Black Mica. There are also 2 eyeshadow brushes, 5 mini measuring scoops, and 10 black containers to fill with your creations.

The kit contains all that you need to custom blend mineral foundation in varying levels of coverage and a variety of eye shadow shades. It also includes a booklet with recipes for various shades and well written instructions. I decided to make a light, medium and dark brown.

To get started, I followed the directions for a matte base and then added color from the included pigments according to recommendations in the book. It is fairly easy to increase or decrease shimmer by changing the mix of the base. The kit also contained a light brown sample. I didn’t end up matching that, but I liked what I got. My attempt at light was more of a neutral beige and my medium and dark turned out to be differing shades of taupe. Then I decided to make a darker brown/gray by adding a bunch of the darkest pigment. Mixing is pretty easy. Simply measure into a ziplock baggie, seal it, and shake! However, for mineral foundation, using a food processor or coffee blender to thoroughly mix the makeup is recommended.

Below are my finished eye shadows, the one on the far left is the light brown sample that came with the kit:

Here are skin swatches in the same order:

Oh, and I made a mess. Clutzy people like me probably should be more careful with shimmery loose powders! Fortunately it also was very easy to clean up.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this kit and I liked the results. It would be a great gift or something fun for your inner do it yourselfer. There is also a kit for vivid eye shadow shades.

Bramble and Berry actually specializes in soap making supplies, so if you have an interest in that, also take a look at the rest of their site. In addition, they have a lip balm kit, that I just might have to try for Girl Gloss!

Comparison Shop for Mineral Makeup

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Eyeshadow, Holiday Gifts, Mineral Makeup | 15 Comments

FDA Approval of La Roche-Posay Anthelios 40 Sunscreen

A favorite sunscreen of many melasma sufferers just got stronger for those in the US (stronger versions have already been available in Europe). The FDA has approved Anthelios 40 sunscreen.

This version of the already approved Anthelios contains Mexoryl SX with titanium dioxide, avobenzone, and octocrylene for broad spectrum protection, and has been specifically safety-tested for those with the photosensitive skin disorder, Polymorphous Light Eruption (PMLE) (Read the press release).

What I particularly like about this version is the addition of titanium dioxide. I had been using the Lancome version, UV Expert, (Read Review) over Anthelios because the Lancome product has a physical blocker. For those who want the most protection, the addition of a physical blocker adds a level of durability to any sunscreen, because it will not degrade when exposed to sunlight. Unfortunately even the the best chemical sunscreens will degrade some, although Mexoryl is known for being one of the more stable sunscreens currently available.

I also like that Anthelios is generally available at CVS stores for a bit less cost than the Lancome version. Anytime that I can save a trip to the mall and save a bit of money, I am happy!

One item of note: both Anthelios and Lancome UV expert have caused some acne for me in the past. It was not severe, but I tend to use something else when my skin is acting up. Obviously since I haven’t tried it, I don’t know about the new version.

Anthelios 40 will be available in late spring.

Shop for Anthelios Sunscreen

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Sunscreens | No Comments

Contest: Watch a Video and Win New Body Products from Whole Foods Market

New from Whole Foods Market is the Premium Body Care Standard and labeling seal of approval.

To provide education about the standard, Whole Foods has created a video cast and asked me to to spread the word. They would love to hear what readers of Beauty and Fashion Tech think. In the process, you can win a Zia Moisturizing Cleanser and Zia Nourishing Creme from Whole Foods Market.

To be entered to win, watch the new whole body videocast, then leave feedback about the video and new Premium Body Care standard in the “comments” section, with “http://www.beautyandfashiontech.com” in the “website” field on the comment form.

Remember that you must leave a comment and enter the Beauty and Fashion Tech link to be entered in the promotion.

Whole Foods will announce the winner on April 1! So go watch the video (it is pretty interesting) and give Whole Foods some meaningful feedback!