Beauty Buffet: The Daily Special

Secret Ingredient: Sugar

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 18:00:22 +0000

Natural turbinado raw sugar exfoliates and rejuvenates dry, dull skin. Raw sugar contains sugar cane juice that contains important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron to make your skin healthy, vibrant and glowing. Sugar is a natural and inexpensive way to include alpha-hydroxy acids in your skincare program. It produces glycolic acid, an alpha hydroxy acid, which is included in many skincare product lines.

Find it in: Fresh, Brown Sugar Sugarbath Body Polish, $65.

Cool or Warm Skin Tone?

Cheri Tracy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:19:22 +0000

Color is a powerful creative tool that can revitalize, restore, inspire and enhance your look.

Take the guesswork out of finding the perfect colors for you! When selecting everything from foundation to blush to lip color and any all-over face color, you need to know if you should purchase cool or warm colors.

This is based on the undertone of your skin. Look at the underside of your arm. If your veins appear bluish you are cool toned, if they appear greenish you are warm toned. Confused? Read on...

Why is this important?

With the correct colors:

Your skin tone will appear radiant and glowing
Your eyes will appear brighter and clearer
Your hair will reflect highlights
You will hear fabulous compliments, such as "You look great"!

With the wrong colors:

Your skin tone will appear tired and drained
Your eyes may appear shadowed, dark circles
Even your teeth can appear with a slight yellow hue
You will hear comments, such as "You look tired”

Cool Tones

Cool, jewel tones in serene blues, fresh greens, pinks, purples, blue-greens, magentas, and blue-based reds.
Your perfect foundation is either neutral or pink based.
You look better in pure white than ivory.
Your are ihn good company! Cool celebrities include: Demi Moore, Courtney Cox, Sandra Bullock, Terri Hatcher, Kirstin Davis, Keira Knightley, Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Hudson, Liv Tyler, Alexis Bledel, Megan Fox, Jennifer Connelly, Shania Twain, Brooke Shields Sophia Bush, Penelope Cruz, Candace Bergen, Heather Locklear, Britney Spears, Sarah Jessica Parker, Christy Brinkley, Reese Witherspoon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Aniston, Ellen Pompano.

Warm Tones

Earth tones in stunning shades of yellows, oranges, browns, yellowish greens and orange-based reds.
Your perfect foundation is either neutral or yellow based
You tend to look beeter in ivory than pure white
Your are in good company! Warm celebrities include: Nicole Kidman, Meg Ryan, Cameron Diaz, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reba McIntyre, Julianne Hough, Sarah Ferguson, Marcia Cross, Calista Flockhart, Rebecca Romjin, Tara Reid, Renee Zellweger, Ellen Degeneres, Jillian Anderson, Amanda Bynes, Becki Newton, Nicole Richie, Kristen Johnston.

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The basic “map” for color theory is known as the color wheel. The color wheel is a circular arrangement of the spectrum that illustrates the relationship between colors.

If you were to divide the color wheel into 2 halves, you would have warm and cool colors on each half. Warm colors have a cozier feeling and make a welcoming statement in a room. Cool colors evoke a more tranquil mood within a space.

Monochromatic
Monochromatic means one color. This scheme is easiest to understand and the simplest to work with. It consists of one color and its different values. To bring depth to your eyes, try three shades of color. To bring more interest, add pops of other color to your face using either lipstick or blush.

Analogous
The analogous color scheme is similar in feeling to the monochromatic where you choose a color and the two colors on the color wheel adjacent to it on either side. Stay within similar values on either end of the color you have selected.

Complementary
A complementary scheme uses two colors directly across from each other on the color wheel, such as, green and red. This scheme creates a contrast that can be vibrant and exciting or soothing and relaxing depending on what value of the colors you use. With this scheme it works best to allow one color to be the dominant so that the colors don’t compete with each other.

Triadic
This scheme uses a combination of any three colors that are an equal distance from each other on the color wheel. It can be a lively environment so it’s best to let one color dominate and to use toned down versions of the other two colors.

Secret Ingredient: Kaolin

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:00:45 +0000

Kaolin is a natural, absorbent clay originally obtained from Kaoling Hill in Kiangsi Province, SE China. It is a soft powder that is known to absorb oil and unclog pores, removing deep-down dirt and grime. Also known as bentonite.

Find it in: Jack Black, Deep Detox Clay Mask/Spot Treatment, $25.

Secret Ingredient: Sea Buckthorn

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:00:12 +0000

Naturally replete with vitamins A & E, carotenoids and palmitoleic acid to protect skin from free radicals, and support skin cell repair from sun and environmental damage. Skin appears healthier, smoother and more youthful.

Find it in: Dr. Hauschka, Shampoo with Apricot and Sea Buckthorn, $20.

Secret Ingredient: Rose

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:00:48 +0000

The voluptuous Romans of the later Empire made lavish use of the blossoms of the Rose. Horace enjoins their unsparing use at banquets, when they were used not only as a means of decoration, but also to strew the floors, and even in winter the luxurious Romans expected to have petals of roses floating in their Falernian wine. Roman brides and bridegrooms were crowned with roses, so too were the images of Cupid and Venus and Bacchus. Roses were scattered at feasts of Flora and Hymen, in the paths of victors, or beneath their chariot-wheels, or adorned the prows of their war-vessels. Nor did the self-indulgent Romans disdain to wear rose garlands at their feasts, as a preventive against drunkenness. To them, the Rose was a sign of pleasure, the companion of mirth and wine.

Rose Extract, derived from various rose species, is known for its tonic and deodorant properties. It also has skin soothing, and aroma therapeutic (relaxing) benefits and is used as a fragrance. Rose Extract also aids in exfoliating.

Find it in: The Art of Shaving, Ingrown Hair Night Cream, Rose Absolute, $30.

Secret Ingredient: Solar Sea Salt

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:00:20 +0000

Today salt is universally available, but historically this was not the case. In the past, salt was used as a method of food preservation, flavoring agent, in pottery, religious rituals, and for medicinal and nutritional properties. It has served as money at various times and places, been the objective of major explorations, and it has caused bitter warfare. Salt was used around the world by many different cultures, including the ancient Romans, Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks. Documents have even been recovered in China from 2,700 BC that discuss over 40 types of salt and their extraction methods, which are very similar to the processes still used.

Presently, salt comes either from salt mines or from the sea. Most of today's salt is mined from large deposits left by dried salt lakes throughout the world. However, the most prized solar sea salt comes from the Pacific ocean and is naturally dried by the sun and wind. There is nothing more soothing, satisfying, and luxurious as a therapeutic soak with sea salt.

Find it in: Farmaesthetics, Solar Salt Mineral Bath, $17.50

Secret Ingredient: Sesame Oil

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:00:19 +0000

Sesame Oil, which is a refined moisturizing oil derived from Sesame Seeds, has the same emollient properties as other nut and vegetable oils and is commonly used as a carrier oil for skin care products. Absorbs easily and softens the skin.

Find it in: Rene Furterer, Protective Summer Oil, $23.

Secret Ingredient: Cocoa Butter

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:00:39 +0000

Cocoa Butter is a yellowy fat expressed from the roasted seeds of the cocoa plant. It is solid at room temperature but melts at body temperature. It softens and lubricates skin and is used in a variety of skin care formulations.

Find it in: Alba Botanica, Hawaiian Cocoa Butter Hand & Body Lotion

Making Art

Cheri Tracy — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:19:10 +0000

This arrive in my inox today from Seth Godin. I'm a huge fan-- and I thought it was so brilliant, I'm reposting it here for all my subscribers to enjoy.

Making art

My definition of art contains three elements:

Art is made by a human being.
Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording... but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we we're doing when we do our best work.

Secret Ingredient: Papaya

Cheri Tracy — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:00:24 +0000

The Papaya symbolizes the eternal beauty of womanhood as well as desire. A favorite of the tropics, the fleshy fruit has a cantaloupe-like flavor when ripe. Papain is a papaya enzyme with the ability to gently dissolve dry skin or hair. It is used as an exfoliant in face masques as its protein digesting properties allow it to dissolve necrotic (dead) skin cells. The most potent form of papain exists in green unripened papaya and is also an excellent free-radical scavenger and topical cellular renewal agent.

Find it in: Molton Brown, Papain Daily Facial Wash, $29.