The Best DIY Beauty Booster: Self-Confidence!

Have you ever looked in the mirror after a killer work out and felt incredibly sexy despite the sweat pearling down your face? How about the feeling you get after receiving an unexpected compliment on your new hair cut? It feels amazing.
Makeup and skincare can surely pull their weight at making us feel and look great, yet confidence can be one of the best beauty accessories. Here are some non-makeup ways to get your inner-glow on:

• Shoulders Back, Chin Up! Good posture is the key to elegance, grace and strength, not to mention it will make you look slimmer in seconds. Roll back your shoulders, suck in that tummy and look dead-ahead - you'll feel and see an immediate difference.

• Break a Sweat. Exercise is proven to boost confidence, reduce stress and help maintain weight. Now why did you skip last night's Zumba class again?

• Play with Color. According to a study at the Nottingham Trent University in England, "after coloring their hair, women were much more likely to ask for a raise, challenge their boss, or put their foot down when confronted by a coworker."

• Don't Overanalyze Every.Little.Thing. Women are known to read into every emotion, every decision, every word. Take charge of a situation and be determined, don't mull over every consequence - you will feel empowered and capable.

How do you up your confidence? Do you have a winning outfit that never lets you down? Do you have a personal confidence mantra? Let us know!

3 Steps To A More Radiant Complexion With Microabrasion

The key to healthy, beautiful skin lies within exfoliation. It is vital to strip the skin of dead cells in order to reveal a more youthful complexion. In order to help clarify the way to go about beautifying the skin, Lilia Tourmaine, the in-house aesthetician at Phyto Universe, has offered up a 3-step treatment plan. She recommends following these steps twice a week to help rejuvenate the skin.

STEP 1: EXFOLIATE

After wetting the face and neck with water, use circular movements to apply LIERAC Paris Microabrasion to the area. This helps to remove dead skin cells and improve the skin's texture and radiance. It also sets the skin up to better absorb further product.

STEP 2: REJUVENATE



Rinse the skin completely and pat dry. Follow with LIERAC Paris Concentré Mésolift Radiance Serum which adds essential vitamins and minerals to rejuvinate dull or tired complexions.


STEP 3: HYDRATE



According to the particular skin conern, apply a moisturizer to the exfoliated areas. This serves to hydrate and reintroduce important nutrients.


It's sometimes easy to forget about our skin's need for exfoliation, but hopefully these steps were a bit helpful. How often do you generally exfoliate?

LIERAC Paris: A Leader In Anti-Cellulite Research

Cellulite isn't the most glamorous issue to deal with, but fortunately no one has to suffer alone. A gender-specific condition affecting 90% of women, cellulite results from fat storage occuring in the hypodermis (the deepest skin layer), along with water retention and aging of the connective tissue. When there is an imbalance between the processes of fat storage and release, and fat cells increase in volume. As a result, collagen fibers form rigid capsules over the fat cells, causing skin to adopt the characteristic dimpled look - not so pretty!


Lucky for us girls, LIERAC has long studied how cellulite comes to be, as well as how to treat the condition. In 2004, the brand released Ultra-Body Lift 10, a concentrate that directly targets cellulite and water retention. LIERAC introduced Active Caffeine (a 10% concentration) into the product's formula. The caffeine works along with phospholipids to reduce the accumulation of fat. In addition, Ultra-Body Lift 10 contains licorice, an ingredient rich in flavonoids that has anti-water retention and anti-toxin properties. Together these ingredients magically work to recontour the appearance of the skin, reducing unsighlty dimples and aiding drainage for a more comfortable feel.

Apaisance: Redness Relief For Seasonal Allergies

Spring brings warm, sunny weather and beautiful flowers, but, for many, one unfortunate corollary of this season is allergies. And they can be bad!! A lot of individuals find themselves battling with red, runny, itchy noses and eyes. As pollen starts causing discomfort, enter LIERAC Apaisance onto the scene!

Apaisance is a creamy emulsion that works to moisturize and soothe skin that is prone to redness and broken capillaries. Its unique formula contains green reflecting pigments that target and camouflage red areas directly, essentially acting to conceal those "problem" spots (i.e. around the nose and cheeks). The cream is suitable for even the most sensitive skin, too - it helps reduce any apparent inflammation.

Clinical results have shown:

88% Reported immediate and significant anti-redness results

79% Reported the diminished appearance of broken capillaries

50% Reported Immediate reduction of inflammation

*Study of 30 people, ages 24-76, over the course of 4 weeks

Don't suffer this season!

When Lip Gloss Just Isn’t Enough

By Andrea Arterbery


The one body part that I’m always sure to take care of (besides my hair (yes, I realize that it’s not really a body part, but I consider it to be one since it’s attached to the rest of me) and skin) are my lips. So, I find it slightly appalling that there are women in walking around here in New York with super dry lips and simply coating them with a gooey layer of lip gloss. Gross!


Now, don’t get me wrong, I love lip gloss just as much as the next girl, but I think it’s important to prep your lips before applying any type of gloss, lipstick or stain. Besides plain old Vaseline petroleum jelly, one of my favorite products to prep my lips with is the Lierac Coherence Lip Cream. Don’t be fooled by the name! Not only does it provide a little bit of plumping action and diminish wrinkles, but it’s the best base you can use on your lips in this harsh cold weather to keep them moisturized. You can also wear it plain and not worry about it leaving any type of weird, sticky residue behind. Wishing lovely lips to you all!

Scrub A Dub Or Rub?

By Andrea Arterbery

I have a small confession to make: I’m obsessed with face washes. Anything that’s soapy and can be used to clean my face, I need to try now, stat. Lately, I’ve developed an interest in gentle, cream-based cleansers. There’s just something about the Lierac Lait Demaquillant Douceur that makes me feel super sophisticated when I use it. (It could be because it’s French and we all know how classy French women are! Oui, Oui.) I also have a thing about scrubs. Something about the way the little pieces of texture feel on my hands when I wash my face just rock my world. However, it wasn’t until I became a beauty editor and started to attend millions of skin events that I found out that not all face washes are created equal; and the same can be said about face scrubs. Did you know that the small textured pieces within the actual face wash of the scrub can actually cause little tears on the surface of your skin? It may not sound like a big deal now when you’re fairly young and fabulous (such as moi), but it definitely catches up with you once you get older. (Hello, skin craters? No thanks!) And, since I just know that you’ve been reading my weekly posts on this blog, you should know by now that not all face washes are created equal and that it’s best to figure out your skin type before you start to use. Which leads me to the main question at hand: when do you use a scrub and when do you use a face wash? I can honestly say for myself that I use face wash at least once a day (since I tend to wear makeup daily) and a scrub once a week. (Usually towards the end of the week because I like to start the week with a clean slate of skin; kind of like how you would use a clarifying shampoo for your hair). Tell us: when do you use face scrubs and how many times a day do you wash your face and why?

Quest For Complexion Perfection

BY ANDREA ARTERBERY

I’d like to say that I have perfect skin; that is until I entered my mid-twenties. Who knew that I’d develop blocked pores (hello blackheads!), an oily t-zone (hence the huge zits that sometimes spontaneously develop on my nose overnight) and the beginnings of sagging eyelids (which I didn’t even notice that I had until after attending a beauty editor event a couple of months ago! Ew.) And, of course, the list could go on and on because, after all, I am my own worst enemy when it comes to finding my flaws and imperfections. Now, there are those that are reading this that may be thinking “Mid twenties?! Just wait until you get to (insert way older age here)!” However, I can honestly say that I’m not a psycho crazy person when it comes to caring for my semi-perfect skin. I certainly don’t plan on having multiple plastic surgeries in the hopes of creating a “new” perfect me (like faux celebrity Heidi Klum). With that said, I’d like to know what are some of the craziest, off the wall things that you’ve done in your quest to achieve perfect skin? Mine would definitely have to be the time I used hemorrhoid cream around my eyes to prevent crow’s feet (a tip that I received from a former beauty pageant queen). Let us know! We’d love to read your stories.