iTalkBeauty

So You Want A Beauty Blog

Carol Clifton — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:19:14 +0000

Are you pondering picking up your pen and immersing yourself in your very own beauty blog? Your thoughts generate insightful, sometimes random as well as useful ideas daily that have convinced you to share them with the masses. What better place could you choose to publish your best stuff than in your very own blog. I get that! So it’s time to put your efforts towards harnessing who you are and what you want to talk about in order to choose just the right domain name. That domain will become your new identity as well as set the stage for your branding.

Not so Quick! Last night I was giving thought to my beauty blog’s name, Italkbeauty. How limiting is the word beauty? Is it at all? In the beginning stages of planning out my blog “Beauty” in my minds eye was limited to primarily women, cosmetics, product reviews, beauty tips, etcetera. After awhile my thoughts evolved regarding my blog and I realized that beauty encompasses many different areas not limited to just women looking beautiful or finding more items to assist them in becoming more beautiful. Interesting thought and highly liberating! In that moment, I realized that I did not necessarily need to ditch my original identity but that instead I would have the ability to embrace other meaningful topics while maintaining my original intention of focusing on Beauty. (more…)

How to Make Your Teeth Appear Whiter…the Natural Way.

Carol Clifton — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:00:09 +0000

When it comes to your teeth appearing white, aging is not your friend.
To prove that point, the next time you go out take a look around and observe that most people have either a grayish cast or a yellow undertone to the color of there teeth. The gray and yellow only intensify in appearance with age and are very unwanted when striving for the end result of a beaming smile. When I was in college my mother told me to wear a blue based pink lipstick because the lipstick color would neutralize the yellow in my teeth thus making them appear whiter.

Try a few of the following tips to achieve whiter teeth in a natural healthy way.

1. Blend a mixture of Baking soda with a dash of lemon juice and salt as toothpaste. Be careful to use only a small amount of lemon juice due to the acid that can be harmful to the enamel on your teeth. The salt will act as a stain remover on your teeth. Less is more when trying the tip.

2. Eat Strawberries! Did you know that strawberries contain natural bleaching agents? You may want to mash the strawberry and add a small amount to your toothpaste. This genuinely does the trick but you must use caution because strawberries not only contain acid as well as seeds. You may want to consider using a Water Pick after applying this mixture to remove any acid residue as well as imbedded seeds.

(more…)

How to Achieve Perfect Eyebrows

Carol Clifton — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:57:25 +0000

Have you ever wondered why the big fuss about eyebrows? Are eyebrows really so important? …INDEED! Eyebrows are the frame to your face. Beautifully shaped eyebrows have the ability to allure and engage eye contact in almost a mesmerizing fashion. Your eyebrows are critical for those around you to read your expression without uttering a single word from your lips. Umm! Intriguing thought! You can bet that the 1st step to perfect brows is to purchase the necessary tools to insure lovely coiffed eyebrows every morning.

Run out and buy a good eyebrow brush, tweezers, eyebrow color (if needed) and cheap hair gel.

2. Put your new tools in your favorite Cosmetic Bag. Never leave town without them.

3. Use a light hand when you tweezing your brows. The current glam look is a fuller eyebrow. You can always pluck more but you will have to pay dearly to buy more eyebrows. The best line to follow is your own natural brow line. Take an eyebrow pencil, eyeliner pencil or if all else fails an ink pen. Start at the inner corner of your eye and draw a straight line up to your brow. Do not extend your brows much beyond the outer edge of your eye where it begins to taper down which will look as thought it is on a slight diagonal. Create your arch at with the highest part at the outer most edge of your pupil.

(more…)

How To Apply Self Tanner Flawlessly

Carol Clifton — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:32:41 +0000

Have you ever heard that it is all in the application?

It’s true in every aspect of applying your own self tanner!

Tips and tricks are a must.

Find out below how to prepare yourself to become a glowing beauty for this summer season….

Right out of a bottle!

Sunless tanning is the only safe way to tan.

1. Exfoliate or maybe not! It aggravates me when vendors hawk there expensive body exfoliators when it can be a completely unnecessary process before self tanning. No dry skin? No need to exfoliate. If you have rough, dry skin then purchase an inexpensive exfoliators as any will take care of your dry skin problem areas that need to be prepped for self tanning.

2. Shave you legs prior to applying your self tanner. Some say that shaving your legs can create sensitivity to self tanners. If you tend to have sensitive skin, then proceed with a bit of caution. Most women will not have a sensitivity problem with the self tanner application process right after you shave.

(more…)

Why Use Sunless Self Tanners?

Carol Clifton — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:55:22 +0000

Skin Cancer is growing at an alarming rate. There are approximately 1.3 million new cases diagnosed each year. We are all aware by now as to the primary cause of the increase in skin cancer in our population. The SUN….those Ultraviolet (UV) rays that are so damaging and detrimental to our skin. The great news for sun worshipers like myself is that we have a viable safe alternative method available at our fingertips to maintain a healthy tan looking skin.

They are called Sunless Self tanners and are generally offered in lotions, sprays and creams.

I could go on forever as to my reviews of self tanners as I have used so many in search of my top favorite. Today, I will focus on the reasons why you should consider using self tanners opposed the natural SUN (beautiful but really harmful) or tanning beds.

Here are just a few reasons why you should use Sunless Self Tanner:

1. Many fair individuals have spent there lives being burned by the sun because they have no ability to tan. Sunless Self tanners will tan any individual…That’s amazing to me.

2. The effects of a Sunless Self tanner is only temporary. In my case of having tried so many different self tanners, I can share with you that you will be thrilled that you do not have a long term commitment with some.

(more…)

Quit Smoking And Now a Weight Gain?

Carol Clifton — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:53:17 +0000

You can imagine that sometimes a girl needs to keep it real to stay away from the couch in the psychiatrists‘ office.
Today is that day for me.
No, I am not necessarily being funny as quitting smoking and gaining weight is critical stuff. Why you ask? Because last week I came to the realization that I have gained 15lbs. since I quit smoking the last quarter of 2007…Yep! That has been some slow and steady weight gain that is exclusively attributed to giving up up smoking.

My original plan to control my weight was to use hootia lollipops. Those hootia pops worked well athough I couldn’t keep it up and found that in social situations they looked downright silly.

This morning, I had my assessment with my NEW trainer, Michelle. Today, I am smiling and feeling hopeful that these 15 pounds will depart very soon from my being. I will offer up more about that later in this article.

Encouragement for my continued success with not smoking comes daily from those around that don’t smoke, continue to smoke and even strangers that may smoke or not. If anyone of those people would guarantee me that I would not get lung cancer or worse yet emphysema then I would start again ASAP. For me, cigarettes were like a best friend that only listened and a constant and consistent reward system for just about anything I would choose …Um…I woke up this morning! guess I’ll have a cigarette, Um…I just took a long brisk walk so I reward myself with a cigarette. Need I go any further? Those of you that smoke or have smoked (and loved it) in your past will certainly understand that aspect of smoking.

(more…)

How To Make the Red In Your Skin Appear to Disappear

Carol Clifton — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:28:25 +0000

Have you ever noticed a woman that appeared to have incredibly blushing over the top red cheeks? So much so that you were certain that she had no idea what she looked like when she walked out of her house that morning? Or she must have forgotten to look in the mirror. In most cases, those women were not actually adding color to their cheeks but instead they have a menacing red skin condition that is ever present. This is in no way just a pretty blushing red as the woman in the picture but more to the side of a dull, lifeless ruddy red…

Not too pretty and OH so un-wanted.

It is necessary prior to reading this article that you know in fact you may have a skin condition called Rosacea. This skin condition can be very problematic and in many cases require the care of a Dermatologist to keep it in control and in check. You will notice that Rosacea will generally affect the nose, cheeks and forehead and in some extreme cases your eyes. Those of you that know you have Rosacea are aware that it is much more menacing than just a red, ruddy skin. On the brighter side, I have seen wonderful cammouflage techniques that can reduce the appearance of red in your skin even if it is Rosacea…It’s worth a try.

(more…)

Contact Lenses That Make Your Eyes Appear Whiter

Carol Clifton — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:46:40 +0000

As I continue to be in search of the “Brightest White Eyes”, I came across a product that will knock your socks off. I never considered that I would be writing a review on contact lenses. Meet Equinox Allure Contacts by Marietta Vision .
Check our the BEFORE & AFTER Below:

You may think that it sounds to good to be true! When you apply these highly unique contact lenses, instantaneously you notice yours eyes appearing much enhanced & whiter. These types of contact lenses are actually referred to as a Cosmetic enhancement lenses. The “Allure” contacts have a very natural looking black rim called a “Blacklimbal Ring” on the outer most edge of the lenses. (more…)

How To Apply Blush Perfect Everytime

Carol Clifton — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:16:18 +0000

Blush is a the best way to accent and enhance your cheekbones. Depending on the look you want to achieve you may want to consider using blush as a highlighter or to contour and in some cases both.

The easiest way to find & identify where you should apply your blush is to actually suck in your cheeks. You should be able to locate what looks like a natural hollowing. The hollow area is where you will apply a deeper color such as a deeper foundation color, light brown or an actual bronzer. You will want to use a brush or a sponge, make a shape that resembles a half moon up to you temple.
Now it is time to smile! (more…)

How to Choose the Right Foundation Color

Carol Clifton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:06:50 +0000

Many women of various ages have difficulty in choosing the correct foundation color for their skin tone. Have you ever noticed a woman that appears to look slightly orange or even pink? Oh! And have you ever seen a woman whose neck is a completely different color than her face? These types of problems generally occur when a woman does not understand the concept of her underlying skin tone.

Before you head off to Walgreen’s to grab a foundation, make certain you know which one of the following basic skin tones is your very own. Foundations at the Chain Drug Stores or Mass Merchandisers such as Target are wonderful places to purchase foundations as long as you know your exact shade. Most packaging in these stores is not conducive to choosing an appropriate color for your skin tone.

The Basic skin tones are Warm, Cool and Neutral. Those skin tones are fairly self explanatory although I will go into a little further detail to make it easy for you to determine which your skin tone is. When you think of warm you should gravitate towards gold, golden yellows, bronzes, burnt oranges. At this point….Try holding up an article of clothing in one of the warm toned shades to see if it enhances your natural beauty. In some cases you will actually see yellow, or an orange red in your skin tone which is a dead on clue that you are warm toned. My personal feeling is that it is much easier to spot a true cooled toned girl. Oftentimes you will see the blue or blue green skin tones thru very thin skin on a cool toned face. Think Silver, Blue and very rosey blue pinks. You will also want to look for veins near the skins service that are that same blue or blue green skin tone. Now on to the Best…Neutral. Do you look great in Pure Beige? You lucky girl when it comes to color cosmetics and clothes! You will only need to be careful to purchase a truly beige foundation.

(more…)