Working out your body but not your face?

Work Your Face Honey!

Many of us workout our bodies religiously everyday not to just lose weight but to be healthier and look and feel our best. I hate to break it to you but your face has MUSCLES! YES! Just like the rest of the muscles in your body that you work out to look your best, your face also needs a workout to stay tight. 

In our late 20's is when we start to lose muscle mass. Losing muscle mass means replacing it with fat and saggy skin. Working out your facial muscles is the best way to prevent sagging and wrinkles. By building a better muscular structure the face will look more plump and younger. 

There is one CATCH! Facial exercises have to become part of your daily routine in order to see results! You will feel facial muscles that did not even know existed!

I am going to leave you with these thoughts and will post a video next week to show you some of my favorite facial exercises.  

!!Stay Tuned and Silky Smooth!!

ICE ICE BABY!!

Who here has heard about rubbing ice cubes all over your skin especially face as a treatment? Well when I first heard about this type of facial I thought to myself.. Well, it might be helpful for a few minutes but I did not ever think it would have long term benefits. 

I have been doing this for two weeks now and let me tell you, not only it feels great but it actually works. I do it every morning but some people recommend morning and evening. The rubbing of ice on the face promotes more circulation and as a result collagen production which means less apparent wrinkles. I have also heard from some of my friends that ICE is supposed to sculpt your face by killing fat cells. 

Bags under eyes? no problem!!! Icing your face will take care of that too.. it will make your face and skin look more dewy and fresh. SO go ahead and try it and see for yourself. 

!!!Have a great rest of your Wednesday!!!

Why you may not be able to clear your adult acne!!!

Growing up I was advantaged and blessed with good skin which I am thankful to my mother for. I hit puberty and unlike most teenagers, never suffered from acne. You may be beginning to wonder.. OK what is the point of this blog? Is she bragging?????

The answer is NO. I am not bragging about my lack of acne through my teens, I am here to tell you that right when I hit the age of 23 I developed a severe form of acne on my cheeks and side burn area. I was devastated; hey, I was not used to these ugly bumps on my face and I was starting to feel very self conscious. I tried everything on my skin and they would not leave for the life of me!

I started reading about adult acne and I discovered that it may be more due to hormonal imbalance and is very common in women between the ages of 21 and mid 30s. I was happy to have found a root of the issue and now that I knew what the cause was I could be in search of a solution.

Considering I like the natural route, the solution of taking birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy to fix this imbalance was out of question. I spoke to a "mask guru" and she mentioned since I don't like to go the chemical route of correcting my imbalance I can just follow some steps for a few months and the acne should be gone:

1. Our skin loves routine-- so don't expect to try something on your skin for two days and expect results. 
2. Reduce your level of stress and get adequate amount of sleep-- you may think this is bogus but I have to tell you my skin a week before finals and a week after finals is completely different. I almost look like a different person.
3. Most people say don't drink coffee-- Beware, it is not the coffee that promotes breakouts, it is the sugary lattes and "starbucks" drinks we have ten of to stay energized.
4. Nourish your skin with masks made at home with natural products.
5. If your finances allow make sure to get facials-- because during most facials, they do extractions and this will clean your pores of the dirt and usually apply antibiotic treatment after extractions to prevent future breakouts.
6. Use rose water as your toner everyday as many times as you want. Rose water has healing and calming properties in addition to helping with the redness. 

Skin LOVES routine; pick a regimen and stick to it till the acne starts to disappear. Make sure you get enough sleep because it is essential for a beautiful skin.

In flight skin care the natural way!

For those of my followers that like to stay more natural and not like commercial products then I have come up with some alternatives to the water masks!

1. Make a travel size rose water spritzer. Rose water can be purchased at most grocery stores and the bottle and can be purchased at target. Rose water is supposed to hydrate and has a very calming effect on skin. so with the dry cabin air and potential irritation, it is a great tool.
2. Black Current is a great ingredient for hydration. Cecilia Wong has a black current serum which is made with all natural ingredients and is a great alternative.

Hope you guys enjoy!

TGIF

Flight and Skin Care Must!

With arrival of summer and school being out many families and people start to travel. Growing up I used to travel a lot and it was always hard on my skin. The fact that you don't get that great of a sleep combined with the altitude and the dry air of the cabin can all be stressful for any skin. This is especially important if you take long flights internationally because you are spending more time in this condition. 

Wake up and arrive with dewy skin by just following a few steps:

1. DO NOT drink alcohol when you are that high in altitude. Alcohol already dehydrates body and skin. Now add that on top of the dry cabin air....
2. Make sure to keep hydrated. (I love our planet earth and refuse to buy bottled water but when on a fight you want to avoid drinking tap water and make sure it is bottled water.)
3. before taking a nap make sure to use a WATER SLEEPING MASK to keep skin hydrated and dewy. I really like two products:
1. Laneige water sleeping mask because it is clear and no one can tell that you have anything on your face.
2. OR Water-Full hydrogel mask by DR. JART+ (This is a sheet mask and is available at Sephora in single pouches.

!!!!!HAPPY THURSDAY EVERYONE!!!!!

What you do in private shows on your skin!

Have you ever heard of the phrase "what ever you put in your body in public shows in public"? Well this phrase is also relevant when in comes to your skin. It is not only affected by what you put into your body but also how you take care of it when no one is there to look. 

When you come home from a night out do you wash your face? NO REALLY? DO YOU? be honest with yourself.... If you are not washing your face before you go to bed then the results will show in the morning or in the days coming. 

Research shows that just washing your face alone can help maintain a healthy and youthful skin. This is because regardless of make up, you are washing all the dirt that has accumulated throughout the day before going to bed. 

HAPPY MONDAY!

Perfect "Lip Plumper" made in your kitchen!

The perfect lip plumper is hard to find. Most products available are either too expensive or they don’t work. Would you be excited for me to tell you that you can make your own lip plumper with whatever you have in your kitchen?

Here is the ingredient:

1 Tbsp of Vaseline

¼ Tsp ground cinnamon

¼ Tsp of cayenne pepper

Mix the above ingredients, apply to the lips and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Don’t be alarmed by the tingling or burning sensation.

GREEN JUICING SKIN BENEFITS!

With all the hype and craze about juicing it only makes you wonder what the benefits of juicing may be and if there are any real benefits for our skin. Whatever you put in your body would show on your skin and more effective than what you put on your skin. Regardless of how much money you spend on skin care products you will never be able to correct and reverse the damages caused to the skin due to fast food and junk food. Eating right and healthy which consists of mostly fruits and vegetables is the best thing you can do for your skin.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins A, E, B complex, and C as well as beta-carotene, silica, and zinc. These vitamins and nutrients are essential in maintaining a healthy and youthful skin. I know many people I speak to have a hard time eating vegetables and this new juicing craze is the best alternative to ingesting raw vegetables.

There are so many recipes out there and basically whatever fruits and vegetables you like can be put together when juicing. My most favorite recipe when juicing is basically the green juice and there is no specific ingredient that you must put into the juice. Here is a sample recipe for a delicious green juice.

Romaine leaves

Celery stalks

Green apples (Adds sweetness to your juice)

Spinach

Kale

1 small bunch of parsley

Lemon (peeled)

1 Squash

Small piece of ginger (Depending on how spicy you like your juice)

Dark and leafy greens tend to be very rich in chlorophyll, silicon and B vitamins. Chlorophyll is known to be a great antioxidant and reduces oxidative damage on the body. Parsley is a great ingredient to promote digestive enzyme production and also helps cleans the kidneys, liver and urinary tract. Ginger is great for digestion, but also gives the juice a nice taste and complements the lemon.

Have a great tuesday!

Tannaz.farahani.blogspot.com

What is your favorite skin care product and why do you love it?

Happy Monday everyone,

Please share with me and my readers what your favorite skin care product is and why do you love it.. Looking forward to read about everyone's favorites.

Have a great monday!

Breakouts in the past couple of weeks? I will tell you why!

Have you noticed more breakouts in the past couple of weeks? 

Have you maybe thought that it may be due to the change of season? when you read this you might laugh but don't stop reading just yet....

wondered why change of season from winter to spring may induce and promote more breakouts? During the winter time due to the cold and dry air, it can leave our skin with some dead skin buildup and if you are not one to exfoliate then that might be the reason why you may have been getting more breakouts in the past 2 weeks with the change of season. Also, when the temperatures starts to go up from cold to warm, your skin will produce more oil and with all that dead skin build up... you can imagine what will happen! If not then let me tell you.. it will cause major clogged pores and hence increasing breakouts!!!!

Solution? EXFOLIATE. I like to use exfoliating products with some grains in their or you can just use a exfoliating glove from the pharmacy with some face wash. I like to exfoliate twice a day if I can but you have to be careful if you have dry skin because it could make it worse and so try to stick with once daily. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Bee Venom!

Hello to all of my lovely friends and followers,

Due to my love and appreciation for the eastern world skin care, I wanted talk about some ingredients that they use in their products and we might think is outrageous. Bee Venom and Snail Slime are some of the out of the ordinary ingredients used in the eastern world skin care market.

Bee venom skincare products can be considered a non invasive form of Botox. For some of us like myself who are afraid of getting botox injections then I believe it wouldn't be too bad to try these bee venom products. They are supposed to relax the facial muscles after application and reduce fine lines. In addition, they fool the body by making the body's defense to think that the face has been stung by a bee and body directs the circulation towards to areas hence promoting more collagen and elastin production.

Here is a product that has attracted a ton of attention and is being used many celebrities and even the royal family.

Korean Skin Regimen! Part 2!

Hello to all of my amazing friends and followers,

As I previously promised I have put together a step by step kin regimen that is behind the flawless Korean Woman's skin. 

Step 1: Cleansing oil

This step is meant to mainly remove make up and and take the dirt off that has accumulated during the day. It is gentle yet very effective. The oily part of the cleanser allows for an easier removal of all types of make up from regular ones to water proof ones. 

Step 2: Foaming Cleanser

This step is more of a traditional western cleansing that we are used to. We tend to like that foaming soapy feeling and we are under the perception that it works better. This step can target a deeper pore cleansing which is essential to prevent breakouts and dirt accumulation in the pore which may lead to pores looking larger and skin looking unrefined. 

Step 3: Toner 

When we hear toner in the western world, we immediately think something that cleans the skin more and strips moisture and has astringent powers. For those of you who don't know the meaning of ASTRINGENT, its main purpose is to shrink the pores and give skin a more smooth appearance. A typical toner in the Korean woman's regimen basically means to replace the moisture that had been stripped during the cleansing steps.

I personally use rose water for this step. Rose water really works wonders for the body. After cleansing I spray my face with a ton of rose water and wipe it off with a cotton ball which further cleanses my face and adds a ton of moisture to my skin. In addition, rose water has a powerful calming and soothing effect on the skin. 

Products

From this step forward they usually start applying all of the skin care product that target each person's needs. one need focus on getting rid of acne and the other needs a more anti aging focused product. 

Step 1: Serum

As you guys already know my favorite serum is the Pevonia that I posted previously.

Step 2: Eye cream

This is something that e are also used to in the western world which is intended to add a ton of moisture as well as target puffs and fine lines.

Step 3: Spot treatment

Treating spots could mean, treating acne or treating fine lines. Whatever it may be that you need to secifically target, this is the time to apply.

Step 4: Emulsion

Korean women tend to apply an emulsion before applying the actually cream.

Step 5: Cream

Step 6: SUN SCREEN SUN SCREEN 

This step is very essential in every skin care regimen. Everyone should apply sunscreen to the face, neck, and hands. Do not forget your hands because the older you get the hands are what gives your age away regardless of what a flawless face you have. 

Happy Friday!

Korean Skin Care Regimen!

Hello everyone,

Today I want to talk about the beautiful women of Korea and their flawless skin. Did you think they have such flawless skin exclusively due genetics or diet? Well let me their beautiful skin does not come naturally. Just as we care for our teeth and we workout an we eat healthy, our skin needs care. 

Unfortunately, most women in the western countries spend up to thousands of dollars on make up to cover up issues with their skin. Isn't the purpose of make up to enhance the beauty and don't they usually say that beautiful skin doesn't need covering up? Well... This is the strategy used by the Korean women. They spend a lot of money on ensuring the health of their skin rather than covering it up. 
In the western world a typical skincare regimen includes 3-4 steps and you might be surprised to hear that Korean women's skin care regimen has something around 10 steps on average.  

Tomorrow, I will post regarding their skincare regimen and what they typically focus on when caring for their precious skin. 

STAY TUNED!!!

Puffy eye but don't wanna spend money?

Puffy and dark circles around eyes seem to be a big issue that constantly comes up in conversations I have with people.

There are many products out there that range in price which may or may not work. Do you know what most of these products have in common? well one ingredient that you can find in your own kitchen, Caffeine. If you don't want to spend money on a range of products that may or may not work why don't you try using a tea bag? Yes! You heard right a tea bag! 

If you are like me and love your daily cup of tea and use tea bags well you are about to discover something new about your "left over" tea bags. Think twice before throwing your used tea bags out because you may need them to remedy your puffy eyes. YESSSSS! Lay down for about ten minutes and set your used and cooled tea bags one on each eye and just take a moment to yourself. Once you take them off, wash your face and you should see eyes that look well rested. 

The caffeine in these tea bags help with the puffiness around the eyes and you did not spend any extra money on it plus it encouraged you to take a minute relax and close your eyes.

Stay Silky Smooth everyone!

SKII

If you are like me and many other individuals in today's world then you'd understand how frustrating under eye problems can be. I am in school so I tend to not get as much sleep or at least not as regularly. I found a product that great at targeting these issues. 

SKII is a product that has an eye mask which is called "Signs".

This mask is infused with Pitera, Vitamin B3, B5 and Vitamin E. Pitera is a moisturizing essence that maintains a healthy balance of water and sebum in the skin to allow optimum cell renewal of the skin. All of these components combined work together in this mask to target issues such as dark circles and fine lines around the eye as well as keeping it hydrated. I have to mention that the only down side of this product is that it is a bit expensive and worth every penny.

Happy Wednesday!

Pevonia Trio!

Hello to my lovely followers and hope you guys are having a wonderful spring day.
As I previously promised, here is the Pevonia products that I paired up with the "Spa Teen" cleanser. After washing my face with the Spa Teen cleanser, I used the LIGNE LAVANDOU serum which is a soothing propolis concentrate. I used a couple of pumps each use for all over my face which dries immediately. I would like mention that although I referred to it as a serum, it is not greasy like most serums I have used. I follow up with the LIGNE FONDAMENTALE which is the combination balancing skin cream. This cream is very light gets absorbed immediately and does not leave your skin feeling heavy and greasy. 


As you may have noticed I prefer products that are not greasy and get absorbed quickly. I just do not like the heavy greasy feeling on my skin and so far all of the products that I have posted tend to follow that. This trio helped me achieve a more radiant skin in just a few days. 

Happy Monday!

Pevonia BOTANICA Cleanser.

Our skin loves routine and an essential part of the daily skin care routine is cleansing. The "Spa Teen" collection, a branch of the Pevonia skin care line, is one of the best facial scrubs I have tried. Although it may say Teen, it works just as great on adult skin.

In my last post I spoke about a very common frustrating issue, adult acne. This product is great for adult acne and blemishes and just by using this scrub for 5 days I started getting compliments on how bright and glowy my skin looked. In a sense it made my skin more fair by maybe half a shade which is a great outcome of using powerful exfoliators. 

I would also like to talk about the amazing smell of the Pevonia products. They smell very fresh and earthy which is a great scent to wake up by in the morning and relaxing enough to use before bedtime. 

Tomorrow I will post the best products to pair this cleanser with to avoid dry skin and to maximize the benefits. 

                                                                         

Happy Sunday!

Are you suffering from adult acne?

If you are like me then you know how it feels to get zits and blemishes every now and then. Wait, weren't these things supposed to be over when you get older?
Every now and then closer to that time of the month I used to get these zits in random spots on my face and I don't know about you but annoys the heck out of me. From my knowledge of skin care, I knew that Salicylic acid works against acne and I was searching for a product that has this ingredient. I came across a product by "Bliss" that I decided to try and that was it; I never have to try another product for this issue again. 

Bliss - Steep clean mattifying toner pads

These soaked pads have changed my life and won my battle against hormones. I no longer get these ugly zits and no longer have to cover my skin up. I use these pads once in the morning after washing my face and once at night before going to bed everyday and have not had any zits ever since. Make sure if you decide to get this, to get the one for very oily skin because what that means is that it is more concentrated hence the effect on these zits will be more.

Do not forget to use a moisturizer after the a couple of minutes of using this product to avoid drying of your skin.

Happy saturday everyone and have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Persian New Year!!!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday afternoon. Today all of my Persian/Iranian family and friends are celebrating the Persian New Year! In honor of this beautiful day and the Iranian tradition I wanted to talk about the amazing wonders of Saffron for skin!

Yes! SAFFRON!!!! Did you only think it was only used in food? 

Our skin becomes more dull and loses its youthful glow as we age!  Well, Saffron is here to rescue you from dull skin. Saffron can be used in masks to lighten and give your skin the glow and radiance back.

In addition, Saffron can be used to remedy acne and blemishes as well as dry skin. A mixture of saffron in Rose Water can be used as a toner.

Hope everyone has a happy Wednesday and a very happy New Year!

BIODERMA

Are you looking for that perfect make-up remover? 

If you didn't know, now you know it! BIODERMA SENSIBIO H2O is one of the best make up removers I have ever tried. It is not greasy and works fast! It feels like water and cleans like a magic wand. 

Have you ever wiped your eye makeup off and lost many lashes? "Why in the world did I ever put eye make up on" was my exact thought before trying BIODERMA! One of my best friends Nadia Introduced this product to me who is a great make up enthusiast. She Just moved here from Iran and had bought this product in iran and I was sad that I may not find it here but thanks to amazon I was able to get my hands on it and to my surprise the product this amazing was very fairly priced!

Here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=bioderma+sensibio+h2o+500ml&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=26603955685&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1783718905568908334&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4fsym4c5bt_b

Fun night shooting some photos

It has been a few days since my last post. I am just trying to balance school and preparing for the blog which can be difficult. I know I will eventually get the hang of it. Two nights ago with the help of my dear friend Faye we took some amazing pictures for you guys and I will post them as soon as possible but for now here is a pre-shoot preparation picture :).

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Hello

Hello everyone, 
My name is Tannaz and I am still fairly new to this blogging. I have always been interested in learning new ways and tricks to help skin healthy. In my blog I am going to post my new skin care findings and post results on how effective they may be. 

Love your skin and it will show!

HAPPY MONDAY!!!