Hot time! Summer in the city! Or country. Or burbs. Whatever and wherever, it's important that you look pretty and nothing screams Hollywood glam like good healthy beauty habits.
Seriously, the stars focus on health above all else and the beauty just comes along like a nice side dish.
Here are a few golden beauty rules to get ready for the hot weather months:
- GET FRUITY: You want to turbo-load your blueberry intake because those little babies are amazing when it comes to keeping your skin healthy and clear. But also add raspberries to your diet as a way to help jump start your weight loss plan. Melons are another great way to get ready for summer because they're a food that hydrates your system without many calories and no bloat.
- GET READY TO BLOCK: "I never leave the house without some sort of sun block, even on a cloudy day," says pop icon Olivia Newton-John. It's great advice. Make sure you're stocked up on block. One warning: Just because your foundation has a 15 SPF in it…it's not enough.
- GIVE UP THE DIET SODA: Frankly, in my 30 years of covering Hollywood, I have NEVER seen any of the A-list actresses ever order a diet soda and I've had lunches with everyone from Madonna to Michelle Pfeiffer to Sharon Stone. Ease your way off soda by treating yourself like an addict. Cut down at first and then just say no. By the way, your skin will thank you, too. How do you know? If you're a heavy soda drinker, prepare to detox (and spend some time in the bathroom) while giving up your habit. You'll also have so much more energy because the chemicals in the diet soda might be making you sluggish.
- TRICK YOURSELF INTO EXERCISING: I love how Helen Mirren approaches exercise. "I don't say, 'Oh, I have to go slog through an hour at the gym, but instead say I'll walk fast for ten minutes. That gets me going and once I'm going I always go much longer."
- NAIL IT: Your winter savaged nails might be crying, "What about me?" Well, it's time to get tough with them, so they're summer pretty. First, remember that your nails need oil and we strip away that oil in the tub, shower or while doing dishes. First fix it tip: Keep a small bottle of vitamin E oil by your kitchen sink. When you're done doing the dishes take the oil and run it over both hands and all your nails. Second fix: Find a polish that includes the ingredient biotin, which will make even the most stubborn nails grow. Third fix: Ask your doc if you can take a biotic supplement for hair and nail growth or prenatal vitamins sold over the counter, which does the same trick.
- USE YOUR FRIDGE FOR A QUICK FACIAL: Want an amazing skin softener that will leave you dewy gor-ge-ous without spending $100 at a spa. Buy plain white yogurt (with no sweeteners or fruit) and label it FACIAL. This is to make sure your husband doesn't eat your skin care treatment. Several times a week, smear your face with about half a cup of white yogurt and leave it on for half an hour while you relax. You can also slather up your neck and chest area. This is a great moisturizing mask for pennies. Add a teaspoon of honey to the yogurt for extra moisture. Add some half a mashed peach for a skin brightening vitamin C treatment.
- LET YOUR FACE BREATHE. Pick a day, any day, and forget your heavier makeup like foundation. You can still wear some eye-shadow, mascara and lip-gloss. But skin care experts insist that your face will thank you for a little break now and then from all that gunk and goop. "The first thing I always do after shooting is immediately go in the bathroom and take off the makeup even if it looks great," Michelle Pfeiffer told me. "The last thing you need is for makeup to really settle into your pores for the next 12 hours."
- CLEAN OUT YOUR BATHROOM: PART I: You've heard it before, but it bears repeating: If it's a liquid or gel based cosmetic over six months old dump it. If it's mascara over three or four months old say goodbye or risk an eye infection especially if you're a pumper. (By this I mean someone who takes the wand in and out of the tube several times during one ap. Stop doing this. You're introducing air, which breeds bacteria.) So, just toss the old stuff including what's lurking in your shower or on the side of your tub. On the positive side: More shelf space for new stuff!
- CLEAN OUT YOUR BATHROOM: PART II: This is for your mental health. Go to Target or The Container Store and buy a few small bins. Now, go through all that makeup and if you haven't touched it in a month and it's still good (see above) store it. It's amazing to get all that clutter out of your main makeup drawer. Now, you'll see what you're really using and have such a pleasant time not surfing through eight old Mac glosses you sort of hate to find the one good Dior one.
- DE-STRESS: Ask Jada Pinkett Smith her best beauty tip and it's a very healthy one for anyone to embrace including us midlifers with our own partners. "Sex with Will Smith," she tells me. Enough said.
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