Holiday Emergency Beauty Solutions

Dec. 7, 2012 - PRLog -- Let’s face it: Holiday cheer can wreak havoc on your skin. Between late night parties, stressful shopping, too many sweets, and toasting to the New Year, it’s no wonder so many of us end up with puffy eyes, unexpected breakouts, more pronounced wrinkles, and irritated skin.

This year, make your list and check it twice, because we’re going to nip your skin-care woes in the bud with our holiday emergency beauty solutions!

Problem: Puffy, tired-looking eyes.
Culprits: Salty foods, alcohol, and late-night holiday parties.
Solutions:
•   We all know it’s important to moderate your intake of alcohol, sodium, soda, and processed foods, but you also can mitigate the effects of overindulging by adding lots of “anti-inflammatory” foods to your diet, such as fruits, vegetables, salmon, and dry roasted nuts, and by drinking plenty of plain water.
•   Apply an extra dose of a well-formulated moisturizer loaded with antioxidants around your eyes to combat dryness. Dryness contributes to swelling, and makes your eye area appear more wrinkled and tired. Just remember: There's no need to purchase a product labeled “eye cream.” Slather on a brilliant, state-of-the-art moisturizer and you will see the difference overnight!
•   Sleep with your head slightly elevated to help prevent fluid retention in the eye area. In the morning, follow up with a soft fingertip massage around the puffy areas to help relieve this kind of swelling.
•   Use a gentle makeup remover at night to remove all traces of eye makeup. Makeup left on overnight can cause irritation, almost guaranteeing that you will wake up with puffy eyes.

Problem: Breakouts that would give Rudolph’s red nose a run for its money.
Culprits: Inflammation, hormones, and neglecting your normal skin-care routine.
Solutions:
•   Gentle cleansing is a vital first step. Use a mild, water-soluble cleanser to reduce oily skin and acne without making your skin feel dry and tight.
•   Exfoliate with beta hydroxy acid (BHA). BHA not only has potent anti-inflammatory properties to reduce redness, but also kills acne-causing bacteria and exfoliates, removing built-up dead skin cells on the surface of the skin as well as inside the pore. The clearer your pores, the less likely you are to break out.
•   Eliminate acne-causing bacteria. Benzoyl peroxide is considered the most effective over-the-counter choice for killing acne-causing bacteria. It penetrates into the pore to do its job of preventing inflammation and future breakouts.

Problem: Your wrinkles look more noticeable than ever!
Culprits: Wrinkles are caused primarily by sun damage, but stress, late nights, drinking, and sweets will make everything look worse, almost overnight.
Solutions:
•   Start with sunscreen. Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean there isn’t daylight, and daylight damages your skin if you’re not wearing sunscreen. The best defense against wrinkles is daily use of an effective, well-formulated sunscreen rated SPF 15 or higher, and higher is better.
•   Shed built-up layers of skin with a well-formulated AHA or BHA to truly improve the appearance of wrinkles, even out your skin tone, reduce brown spots, and create smoother skin overnight.
•   Be gentle with skin! The more you tug and pull at your skin, the more you break down its essential support structures, which can lead to increased wrinkling and sagging.
•   Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. A well-formulated, state-of-the-art moisturizer (serum, liquid, or gel textures if you have normal to oily or blemish-prone skin; creamy lotions and creams for drier skin) can go a long way toward improving your skin's texture, enhancing its radiance, and creating a smoother, more supple surface.

Problem: Red, irritated skin.
Culprit: Smooching with “Santa” (or anyone else with a beard), cold weather, sleeping in makeup, or using new skin-care products someone gave you (but you don’t know what’s in them).
Solutions:
•   Ask your kissing partner to shave. Unbeknownst to your significant other, stubble or a rough beard can cause a great deal of friction and irritation when it comes in contact with your skin. If he wants to meet up under the mistletoe, insist that he give up the scruff and shave!
•   Soothe skin with anti-irritants. Anti-irritant ingredients come in various forms, and Paula’s Choice Redness Relief Treatment is formulated to instantly reduce inflammation, redness, and irritation. It also works great as an aftershave to calm skin and prevent razor burn.
•   Help skin heal. When faced with redness it’s important to load up on gentle yet effective ingredients, including antioxidants, skin-repairing ingredients, and soothing agents. Paula’s Choice RESIST Anti-Aging Clear Skin Hydrator packs all of these into one formula, and helps reduce redness.
•   Don’t use new skin-care products unless you’ve checked out expert reviews! Visit Beautypedia on CosmeticsCop.com to make sure you aren’t hurting your skin with badly formulated products!

Have another holiday beauty emergency? Find more expert advice on CosmeticsCop.com, and say “ho, ho, ho” to your skin-care woes!