Skin exfoliation : a must do to look your best for your wedding

August 17, 2015April 24, 2023

It is a no brainer if you want to look your best you need to do some skin exfoliation. you probably do it regurlarly, but among the clients I met, many of them don’t really exfoliate their skin regurlarly. But one of the best tips I can give to my clients is to exfoliate so make up will be even easier…. So I guess I wanted to write that post as a little reminder.

Did you know that the ancient Egyptians practiced exfoliation, and in the Middle Ages wine was mixed with tartaric acid as the active agent to exfoliate the skin ?

Exfoliation was common in Asia hundreds of years ago, and today exfoliation is always part of a facial.

Removing the oldest, dead skin cells on your skin’s outmost surface is exfoliation, and is a very important part of facials and body treatments. When done properly exfoliation leaves the skin looking fresh and feeling smooth.

As your skin ages, cell turnover slows down, and dead skin cells tend to cause dull and unattractive skin.

Exfoliating your face and body on a weekly basis helps rid of the skin of the top dead layers of skin. Moisturizers and serums better penetrate the skin, and exfoliation helps get rid of scars, wrinkles, and some pigmentation disorders.

Use exfoliation at least once a week so facial products like moisturizers can penetrate to the lower layers of the skin. Exfoliation is achieved through microdermabrasion, chemical peels, mechanical means, or lasers.

The Best Tools for Exfoliation

Forget the advertisements that tell you to use a fluffy nylon scrubby. It is pretty useless. Your skin will love you if you use a washcloth on your face and body when exfoliating.
Try using a dry brush. Make sure the brush is used on your entire face and body before showering and keep it dry outside the shower. Use exfoliating gloves; they are awesome. Use them as skin scrub gloves as you shower or bathe. A natural bristled brush is available in the cosmetic section of most stores. Start with your legs ad move slowly up your body. Brush in a circular motion. Why not add some salt, coffee or sugar on your brush for a complete exfoliating experience. they are great to gently exfoliate your skin.
Use exfoliation scrubs that contain beads, sugar, salt or a natural exfoliating products on a washcloth or loofah and rinse off with warm water. Avoid hot water on your skin especially after exfoliating. Exfoliate every five to seven days and you will see an awesome change in your completion.
The best tool ever for exfoliation at home is a microdermabrasion machine, this is a pretty recent skin-care technique that can give you an almost “instant facelift”, or an “instant glow”. It is a very nice alternative to costlier spa facials, and much nicer than a chemical peel.

A microdermabrasion machine uses a diamond tip to buff away the surface layer of skin, which is sucked by a vacuum feature.

We believe it is a definite must have to keep a healthy and glowy skin.

Our clients often ask us what we recommend. Unfortunately we haven’t had the time to test several machines available on the market so we cannot answer the question, but we found an excellent article from the beauty blog that we already talked about previously in a post. They list in this article the best at home machines. Check their article about microdermabrasion machines here.

Please note that we can also add some microdermabrasion sessions to our wedding packages for additional costs.

Yet, be extra careful with the delicate skin on your face. It is easy to get carried away and exfoliate too much or too hard. Remember to protect your skin after exfoliating.

Why we don’t usually get on well with mother-in-laws?

August 17, 2015April 24, 2023

It is often near the wedding time that Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships can become very complicated. In fact let’s be honest, it can be a bit difficult from the get go…

It could start out rough especially during the first few months of the couple. It’s basically a woman-to-woman problem but if left unresolved for a long period of time, it has the potential to turn into a family problem which nobody really wants, and you certainly don’t want it to ruin your wedding….

Don’t worry if you’re experiencing this problem right now because it’s more common than you think. Only a handful of women get along well with their mother-in-laws with no problems from day 1 until present so don’t stress over it that much.

It is a big deal but we assure you that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

So you can better understand the situation you’re in, here are a few reasons why we don’t really get along well with our mother in laws.

We’ll be adding in some tips that you can follow to foster a better relationship with her (because you have to) too:

Reason #1: She is a lioness protecting her position in the pride.

You’re the new comer and she does feel a little threatened that may take her place somehow. No mother-in-law will admit to this, of course, but think of it this way. She may not say it but she sees herself as someone who you can look up to, someone who you can go to for advice and someone whose advice you will always heed. While that isn’t a bad thing, sometimes mother-in-laws take it to the next level.

Solution #1: Accept her help and her opinion.

From time to time, try to ask for your mother-in-law’s help and for her opinion. But, you have to make sure that she knows her boundaries too.

How do you do that? By talking or communicating.

Ask her opinion about your wedding dress, invite her to your wedding make up consultation ? Seek her help to organize the wedding to ease your stress.

And later, ask her what decorations would be appropriate for your child’s 1^st birthday, ask her what wall paper color looks best in your living room and ask her to teach you her secret meatloaf recipe.

Afterwards, make sure that she knows that she’s appreciated for her help and her presence.

Reason #2: She doesn’t believe in the same things.

There are certain topics that are too hot to handle, especially during a family dinner or a family gathering.

Three at the top of the list would have to be money, religion and politics. The battle begins once someone makes a negative comment about someone else’s beliefs and, the bad news is, it could escalate and leave a few battle scars.

Solution #2: It’s ok to view things differently.

The keyword here is acceptance. As long as your mother-in-laws beliefs don’t cross the morality boundary, then just let it go and accept the fact that people will differ in opinions sometimes.

Trust us when we say that this is a bullet that you absolutely must dodge. Just walk away from it if nobody is willing to.

Reason #3: You’re a new mom and she’s seasoned.

Parenting style – this also has to be at the top most of the list of reasons why mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws don’t get along well.

Comments similar to, “You should have taught your son to [insert whatever here]” are not appreciated and can sometimes come off as rude or insensitive. A lot of women have gone through this before and there’s a proper way to handle this situation:

Solution #3: Don’t take it the wrong way.

Most of the time daughter-in-laws think that when her new mother mentions anything about her children, it is a direct attack on her parenting style – she is judged, she is criticized and she is deemed unworthy to be a mother.

If you agree with this then you have to check yourself again. The solution does not rest on you taking the offense nor the defense. Most of the time, your mother-in-law did not mean anything by what she said. Thicken your skin a little bit.

Bottom Line for the Relationship to Work

The thing is, you both have to expect that there will be changes in their lives – you both have to make room for each other because that’s also what marriage is about: not just the union of two people but a union of two families.

Clear communication, acceptance, knowing limitations and a hint of being thick-skinned are needed for the relationship to work, not just for one side but, for both yourself and your new mom for the sake of your couple and your beloved ;

Last minute Body Wraps for the Wedding Dress that Won’t Fit

August 10, 2015April 24, 2023

ok question time : What do you do if you tried on your wedding dress again, a few days before the wedding, and you found out that it wouldn’t fit?

Your choices are:

A: Go on a crash diet for the remaining days until the wedding.
B: Exercise until you lose the weight.
C: Try body wraps to get a few inches off of your measurements.

What would your choice be?

Well, A is obviously a bad idea as crash diets are bad for your health. B could be a good option but you wouldn’t want to tire yourself too much right before the wedding and exercise might not give you the instant results you need.

The most logical answer has to be C: to try out homemade body wraps using natural ingredients so your body can lose a bit of water and be detoxified in the process.

What are Body Wraps?

BODY WRAP :

A type of beauty treatment involving the application of skin-cleansing ingredients to the body, which is then wrapped in hot towels. (source: Google)

This is basically what body wrapping is. You use certain ingredients on your skin and then wrap your body up using towels, plastic wrap or bandages. It has a number of benefits including skin cleansing, as mentioned, body detoxification and, in our case, losing a few inches on the body part that was wrapped.

Why Body Wrapping?

Come to think of it, there are plenty of other options for you to lose the extra inches. You could go to a beauty clinic and get other treatments but they’re more expensive. You could also go to the spa and o sauna as well as other body tightening services. Hhhhmmm…they’re probably going to wrap your body anyway.

I guess what we’re saying is, body wrapping is the cheaper option since you may have to wrap your body not just once. Granted that you do have to put extra effort in for applying your skin mixture and wrapping your whole body up but you can always ask for help from friends and family (Note: In this case, have your maid of honor’s number on speed dial).

We came up with great DIY recipes after finding this awesome beauty article about homemade body wraps which basically inspired us. They also have a tumblr blog in case you are more on this platform: my awesome beauty posts.

At home body wraps are pretty easy to make, and are definitely cheaper. Yet, it can be messy if you are not organized, so we recommend you to do it in your bathroom to make things much easier….to clean afterwards ?

2 Effective Body Wrapping Recipes

Now on to the best part! When you do body wrapping, there are 2 main ingredients your body wrapping recipes need to have: seaweed and/or Bentonite clay because both have been known to be effective in detoxifying the body, solving certain skin issues and, of course the result we want, helping trim down wrapped body areas.

Bentonite Clay Body Wrapping Recipe

What you’ll need:

1 cup of Bentonite clay
1/4 cup sea salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cups water
Enough plastic wrap
Enough bandages to fit your problem area(s)

Directions:

Boil water in a big enough pan and add sea salt until it is dissolves.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir. You can add some more water to get a paste-like consistency.
Let the mixture cool for a bit and then apply it on your problem areas.
Wrap the area you applied the mixture to with plastic wrap.
Tighten your skin using bandages.
Watch TV or read a book for an hour.
Remove everything and rinse.

Seaweed Body Wrapping Recipe

What you’ll need:

1/4 cup of dried or powdered seaweed
Enough water to make a thick paste out of the powdered seaweed
Enough plastic wrap

Instructions:

In a big enough bowl, mix all of the ingredients together to make a smooth paste (no need or heating).
Once you have the consistency you want, take the paste and spread it all over your body.
Take your plastic wrap and wrap the areas where you just applied your seaweed paste to.
Get your plastic and wraps yourself with it. Don’t be afraid to get messy but if you’re particular about this sort of thing, you can get in the tub and do steps #2 until #4.
Let the mud dry.
Once it does, rinse the mud off with warm water.
Pat your skin dry and apply your moisturizer.

How’s your wrap?

We hope the two very simple recipes can help you fit into your beautiful wedding dress. It probably might but if it doesn’t, don’t hesitate to repeat the process after 24-48 hours. Who knows, the recipes might even give you glowing skin that you absolutely should have on your special day and your honey moon ? just saying…..

Wedding Makeup Tips for Your Special Day

August 7, 2015April 24, 2023

On your special day, the person doing your makeup is going to have a very important job to do. He or she has to make you the most beautiful you’ve ever been, ready to walk down the aisle, not to mention that he or she also needs to make your “most beautiful look” last for hours. It’s a pretty big job to do which is why it’s also the hardest.

The pressure is on but to ease it a little bit, we’ve gathered a few wedding makeup tips that you can remind your makeup person of. If you’re doing your own makeup, great! These tips will make it easier for you to achieve the perfect bridal look.

Wedding Makeup Tip #1: Less is More.

Simplicity is the key to any wedding makeup look because the idea is to bring out your best features and enhance them. There’s no need for over the top colors or over the top enhancements. Your motto should be less is more:

Choose neutral colors that bring out your eyes.
Tight-line your eyes instead of creating a bold wing.

(Tight line – applying eyeliner as close as possible to the lash line.)

Stick to peachy or bright pink colors for your cheeks and lips.

Wedding Makeup Tip #2: Waterproof.

Is it really necessary to waterproof your makeup even if your wedding venue is indoors? Absolutely. You’re still going to sweating, possibly crying, kissing, hugging, dancing and so on so it has to be waterproof or budge proof.

Use waterproof makeup products – waterproof eyeliner, waterproof mascara and etc.
Do not skip face primers
Use tint whenever possible – lip tints are a great idea.
Go for oil-free makeup products.

Wedding Makeup Tip #3: Never forget the trial.

If you do have a person doing your makeup, you absolutely have to book a trial run with him or her and, then, get your photo taken with and without flash once the trial makeup is done.

Doing the trial makeup will put your mind to ease since you’re going to see what you’re makeup is going to be like on your wedding day. This also presents you with a chance to give your makeup person some feedback on the makeup look he or she has done during your trial.

Be honest with your makeup person and let him or her know what you want and what you don’t want.

Now, let’s talk about taking photos with and without flash. Aside from seeing what you’re going to look like on your wedding day, you should also see what you’re going to look like in photos. Some foundation colors don’t appear the same way in photos as they reflect light differently. The same goes with highlighters, bronzers and blushes.

Wedding Makeup Tip #4: Hide and conceal.

The main thing that you should be focusing on is having perfect, glowing skin on your wedding day. It may be difficult to achieve when you don’t have great skin to start with but a combination of a good concealer and a full coverage foundation will do the trick.

Your skin has to look flawless during your wedding day so blend out your concealer and foundation with a sponge.
Apply just the right amount of both concealer and foundation. If both have great coverage, you don’t even have to apply much to get the result you want.

Wedding Makeup Tip #5: It’s YOUR day.

Don’t forget that it’s YOUR special day so whatever you say goes. If you want purple eye shadow, go for it. If you want darker lips, go ahead.

Why not? As long as you’re comfortable with your choices and as long as sure that it’s what you want then let your makeup person know.

Other Recommendations

Aside from the tips that we’ve already mentioned, don’t forget to work on your skin and your brows weeks before the wedding.

This means waxing, plucking, and facials have to be done early so any redness or irritation can be dealt with days or even weeks before the wedding.

Beauty treatments are also great for de-stressing so make sure that that you have enough of it or at least you have to make sure that you de-stress every once in a while as it will take a toll on your skin.

How to Choose your Makeup Artist for your Wedding Day

August 2, 2015April 24, 2023

“The big day”, “Day-W”, “My wedding day”, however you want to call it, it will be one of the most important days in your life. It’ll be your next big adventure, your new chapter and your new beginning. This is why, as the bride and the center of attention on the coming special day, you have to look good. Scratch that!

You have to look your best with your wedding dress and one way for you to do this is by choosing the best bridal makeup artist. It has to be a major to-do on your bridal checklist.

Because choosing the best bridal makeup artist is as important as everything else you have to do, we know that it is added pressure so have we figured that we’d give you two scenarios.

So is there an Easy and Stress Free Way to Choose your Makeup Artist for your Wedding Day ?

Choose the scenario that best represents your current availability:

Easy, Breezy Bride to Be

Wow, you have enough time in your hands. You probably have a wedding planner or you probably have a group of people helping you plan your wedding! Great! Since you’re mostly free to do this task by yourself, here’s what you should remember when choosing a professional bridal makeup artist:

You have to get along well with the makeup artist.
You have to be familiar with the bridal makeup artist’s past work.
You have to research others’ reviews on the artist’s work.
The artist has to understand the preferences you have with your makeup.
The artist’s rate has to be within your budget.

With all of these 5 in mind, you can start following these 5 steps:

Identify how much your budget is. Hiring a professional makeup artist for your wedding day may be costly but remember that you still have options. First thing, though, is you have to know how much you’re willing to pay for the makeup services.
Research different bridal makeup artists in your area. Make a list of bridal makeup artists in your area who are within your budget. List about 3-5 that you can choose from. If you don’t find an artist who’s within your budget, you have to decide if you want to compromise. Remember that this is a sort of an investment on your part.
Call the makeup artists, visit their websites and research reviews on them. Get as much information as you can on what the artist is like, how he/she works and if you’re getting your money’s worth with the services offered. Filter your list according to your preferences.
Schedule a trial. A trial makeup is like a preview of what you’re going to look like on your wedding day. Once you’ve zeroed in on who you want to do your makeup, schedule a trial makeup run.
Book with a contract. When you’re happy with the artist’s work, book them right away as they may have other engagements to consider. On top of booking them, you have to make them sign an agreement contract so both parties, this means you and the bridal makeup artist, understand what needs to be done. You can draw your own guidelines on the contract and you can review it with the artist so both of you agree on the terms.

Busy, Lively Bride to Be

Ok. If you’re on this scenario you’re probably DIY-ing your own wedding and you, for sure, have a mountain of tasks to do. The best thing to do is designate searching for the best bridal makeup artist to your maid of honor. Here are a few things that you need to be clear about:

Since your maid of honor knows your personality, make sure that she knows what you’d like in a makeup artist – funny, light, accommodating and so on.
Tell your maid of honor what your budget is on hiring a makeup artist for your wedding so she knows the price range your comfortable with.
Make her compile links to the artists’ portfolio in a list.
Allow her to organize this list from the lowest priced to the highest priced artist.

You and your maid of honor have to be on the same page. You’re best friends so it’s most likely that you are, meaning that you don’t have to put in effort to explain things deeper. Once you’ve taken into account the 4 items above. You can move on to these:

Check her list and do your research. You can do extra research on things that you need further clarification in. Once you’re done, eliminate choices on your list.
Let your maid of honor do the scheduling for the trial. By this time, you should already have your top choice. Let your bff call the makeup artist to schedule a trial makeup run. She should let you know when the artist is available and she should be in charge of allowing the schedules to meet.
Let your maid of honor draft up a contract. It’s highly likely that you’re going to be doing this with her but you can also hand her notes to organize. The contract should clearly state what needs to be done on what day. Approve the contract and get it ready when you book the professional bridal makeup artist.
Book right away. Now that you have your contract ready, book the makeup artist of your choice and wait for your big day to come.

The Bride Should be awesome

This guide should make choosing a makeup artist on your wedding day easy and stress free. Remember that you need to be awesome on your special day so: do this to-do as early as you can and communicate what you want clearly.

Wedding stress : how to deal with it

July 25, 2015April 24, 2023

I know that the Fall season is coming up and that means a lot of good cable television is on the horizon, but it also means that a lot of wedding invitations will soon be in your mailbox.

I guess you’re getting married yourself. It can be extremely stressful when you know that you’ve found “the one” and you’ve agreed to devote your life to him or her, beginning with that ceremonial wedding.

That’s where it all starts, doesn’t it? It’s not the first time you meet, it’s not the first date, and it’s not the first kiss. Those are just the trials, to see if you can even manage the threshold.

When you make it to the altar, you know that you’ve passed those trials. You went on the dates, you bought the flowers, and you remembered the anniversaries. You’ve earned the right to happiness by spending your life with the man or woman you’ve decided to be with. So again, I ask you, why is it so stressful?

Nevermind the why.

I get it. It’s totally there, standing right before all of us. It’s a big commitment, and it’s ideally something you only do once your whole life.

Avoiding stressful moments in the planning stages of your wedding and the wedding itself are the key traits that accompany starting your new life off smoothly.

You’re never not going to stress about the commitment or the wedding night, so what can you do to make the entire process that much smoother?

Eliminate unnecessary stress, of course.

How do you do that? Well, that in and of itself is another process entirely.

I consider wasteful stress being such as having two people that don’t get along sitting at the same table in your reception’s seating arrangement. Try to avoid that. Put those two at complete opposite ends of the room and let them continue fighting it out over Facebook at another time.

Another thing to consider is your wedding party. That’s the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the maid of honor, the best man, and you and your spouse, of course.

Who are all of these people? Are they longtime acquaintances or are they people you trust your life with?

If you answered yes to the first one but anything other than yes to the second one, then maybe you should reconsider those particular people.

The people closest to you and your spouses’ hearts will likely not betray you on your wedding day. Give them all the tasks to help with the process. They agreed to be in the wedding, now make them part of the wedding.

The less you have to do, the less stress that comes when that moment comes for you and your partner to each say, “I do.”

Also, don’t forget to talk to your spouse about the stress you’re having.

Chances are, he or she is going through the same thoughts and feelings you are.

If you’re nervous about the wedding night, you can certainly open up to them about that too.

Or talk to your friends. Just talk to anybody who will listen.

Almost everybody can relate in some capacity, because love is the universal language .

Tips to choose your wedding dress

July 21, 2015April 24, 2023

So your big day has been set and before you know it, you’ll finally be hitched to the man of your dreams! You’ve got your bridesmaids set, the catering is still a mess but it’ll work out, and the photographer has great reviews on Yelp. It looks as if everything is lining up just right. But wait, you forgot about the dress! Or more than likely, you’re trying to set the dress aside until later. It can be such a headache to find the right dress, who has the time?

Not exactly. Try breathing in, breathing out; you’ve got this! Your perfect wedding dress is out there. You just have to know how to find it.

Set a specific budget.

Wedding dresses can skyrocket the entire wedding budget with the slide of your credit card, so be careful! Dresses can cost thousands and thousands of dollars, but that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank. Consider Googling the best deals. For example, if you’re getting married in the summer, there may be a summertime sale at your local bridal shop. By doing your research ahead of time, you’ll be able to narrow down your options as far as which shops you and your gal pals will be hitting up throughout the day.

Speaking of research…

Check out your dress options ahead of time.

You’re never going to find your one true dress by flipping through bridal magazines; not really. You have to see the dress in person before you can make such critical life decisions, right? But what you will want is to have an idea of what type of dress you’re going for. Do you like the lacey look, or are you more of an all-silk kind of gal? Would you rather have short, puffed-up sleeves or do you find the long sleeved dress to more engaging and appealing to the eye?

Colors, shades and shapes can be determined here too. Check out bridal magazines, websites, and blogs. Make a collage if you have the time. The more time you spend preparing yourself for the big shopping day, the less fumbling through racks.

Don’t be afraid to shop around.

When you find “the one,” you’ll know it, right? Well, maybe. You shouldn’t be afraid to jot down a note in your smartphone on when and where you found the dress you loved most, and then hitting up a couple more shops just to be sure. This ensures that you aren’t missing out on an even better deal.

Don’t listen to that pushy salesman when he tells you to buy that dress now or it might be gone. He works on commission and therefore he cannot be trusted.

Gather the troops! But not all of the troops.

We cannot stress this enough: Do not invite along everyone in your wedding party for your big shopping day.

No matter what you do or how well you prepare, you’re going to be looking at a lot of dresses, and not two single people will ever agree on which one you should wear. You should most definitely eliminate as many voices in your head as possible by inviting just one or two very trustworthy and reliable gal pals. Make sure their opinion means the world to you and that you don’t tell your mother-in-law you didn’t invite her.

Altar Ego Makeup

Makeup & Beauty services for weddings

Author: Lisa