(Fir0002/Flagstaffotos) Why do I need to exfoliate? Your skin cells are constantly renewing themselves – your entire epidermis (outer skin layers) is replaced every 50 days. Millions of dead skin cells are shed each day from the topmost layer (the stratum corneum) in a natural process called desquamation. However, many things can interfere with this process, such as ageing, hormonal …
(You think you love your sleep? If you’re not Japanese – think again. The Japanese are HARDCORE SLEEPERS. Google images of “Japanese subway sleeping” for some pro-level public transport power-naps that most of us mere mortals can only aspire to.) I’ve been staying up til all hours recently for a number of reasons (Diablo, nail painting, thesis – in …
One of the things I hate the most about my body are my stretch marks. I have a lot around the sides of my bum from when I had my growth spurt in puberty. Every summer I’m paranoid about going to the beach in a bikini (yay swimming skirts!). So what can you do? Causes Although it’s not clear how …
Shellac and other hybrid gel nails give long-lasting nail colour that can be soaked off with acetone. You simply paint your nails using special gel polishes, then “cure” each layer under UV light. What’s in those special polishes, and how does the UV light change that? Plastic – it’s fantastic To understand gel nails, first we need to understand plastic! …
3268zauber Vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols) can be found in lots of foods (vegetables, nuts, oils (e.g. sunflower), seeds, wholegrains)… and lots of lotions! What’s it doing there? Well, vitamin E is actually one of THE most important antioxidants in our bodies! Oxygen is essential for life, but it’s also very reactive and, when it reacts with things it shouldn’t …
Q: What’s the difference between a whitehead and a blackhead? A: Your skin is covered in tiny sebaceous glands, which secrete sebum, a substance which moisturises your skin. When these get clogged with plugs of sebum and keratin, you break out and get whiteheads and blackheads, which are a type of acne that is not inflamed. A blackhead (open comedo) …
Q: Can Shellac (and other soak-off hybrid gels) damage your nails? A: Yes. Hybrid soak-off gels (e.g. Shellac, Gelish, Axxium) are less damaging than the old style long-lasting treatments which needed to be filed off for removal (often taking a chunk of your natural nail with it), but a recent study found that they still caused significant weakness, thinning and …
Clay is pretty amazing, isn’t it? You can make art with it, you can slap it on your skin, you can even eat it for digestive problems! I’m only going to talk about how great it is for your skin today, but I thought we should take a moment to appreciate how useful mud is, except when it gets on …