Facial Exercises

Image by mod as hell via FlickrFacial exercises promote a smooth and wrinkle free skin. As facial muscles loose firmness, the facial exercise helps in toning the facial muscles. Facial exercise is an inexpensive way for you to strengthen facial muscles and increase tone for a more youthful appearance.


1. Eyes: Sit with your eyes closed and relaxed. While keeping your eyes closed, look down and look up as far as possible. Repeat this face exercise for ten to fifteen times.

Sit straight with your eyes closed and relaxed. Lift your eyebrows and stretch your eyelids down as far as possible by keeping your eyes closed. Keep in this position for a count of ten, relax and repeat it for ten times.


2, Forehead: Place your index fingers just above your eyes and pull down your eyes while raising your eyebrows. This facial exercise firms your forehead. Repeat this exercise for ten times.

3. Lips: Suck on your finger as hard as possible and slowly remove it. Repeat this facial exercise for ten times. This face exercise firms your lips.

4. Cheeks: Take your three center fingers and place them on the cheeks and push them down. At the same time, raise your cheeks by smiling as hard as you can. Keep your head back when you are performing this workout.

5. Double chin: sit straight in a chair and tilt your head back and look at the ceiling. Keep your lips closed and relaxed. Make your lips round, count up to twenty and relax and bring your head back to the normal position.

6. Neck: Sit straight and tilt your head back looking at the ceiling. Keep your lips closed and relaxed. Move your lower lip over your top lip as far as possible and keep for a count of ten. Relax and repeat for ten times.

Remember that facial exercise is about skin, not muscles. You don't want to stretch or damage the connective tissues beneath you skin. Do exercises gently, and don't worry if you forget to do them occasionally. As long as you do your exercises every other day, wrinkles will slowly smooth away.

No anti-aging regimen would be complete without a balanced diet containing adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables, use of an effective sunscreen, and some moderate exercise for the total body. Discuss all exercise and diet plans with your doctor.

Resources: Fitness Health Zone, Best Skin care world,Living Strong

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Getting soft kissable lips

Winter plays havoc on your lips the cold weather brings chapped, cracked and sad lips that can even be a bit painful if not treated in time.


Drink lots of water, water helps the skin get rid of all the toxic materials. Water also hydrates the body and the effect shows on the skin. This prevents the drying and chapping of the lips.

And something we do without even noticing is licking our lips, avoid licking your lips at all cost. Though licking your lips is a quick fix to moisten your lips, in the long term it actually causes more harm than good by rubbing away the remaining moisture.


Brush your lips: You can do this by using a soft toothbrush (not the one you brush your teeth with) to gently brush your lips in small circular motions.  By doing this you are exfoliating your lips and removing the dead skin cells.
Apply a sugar scrub: Mix a little sugar with a few drops of water in your palm or a small bowl until it forms a paste.  Gently apply this to your lips in small circular motions using your fingertips.  After a minute or so rinse it off.

Use butter or honey:  Take a small amount of butter or honey (only pure honey) and apply it gently with your finger in tiny rotations.  Leave it on for one or two minutes and wipe it clean with a soft towel or tissue.  You could repeat this if required.  Butter will give your lips a natural sheen while honey will add to the plumpness of your lips.

I was not aware of this until my makeup artist shared with me that before applying my lipstick it is good to get in the habit to apply lip balm before applying lipstick: Never apply lipstick directly on the lips.lipsticks contain chemicals that causes harm to the lips leaving them dry and discolored. Plus this helps get the lips ready for your lip liner to help make the color stay longer.

At night, smooth on Vaseline or petroleum jelly for extra hydration and moisture. Vaseline is available worldwide and is very budget-friendly. Rub a layer into your lips in circular motions.

Finally even if you have a BFF (Best Friend Forever) never ever share your lip balms with anyone and throw out any lip balms that you have had for more than a year, as they can store bacteria. 

Here are some products you can look into, but please make sure you are not allergic to any of

these products before you purchase them.

Softlips Lip Balm Protectant Value Pack, SPF 20, Vanilla

Softlips Vanilla Liptint in Serene SPF 20 with Bonus Lip Balm

Softlips Lip Protectant with SPF 20 Strawberry .07oz.

Softlips Pure 100% Natural Lip Polish

Burt's Bees Nourishing Lip Balm with Mango Butter

Beeswax Lip Balm

Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil

Medicated Lip Balm

Resources Back & Brown

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Getting soft elbows

Image by Wombatunderground1 via Flickr

If you have ever felt your elbows and screamed because they felt like steel wool pads, then yes you have rough and dry elbows here are some tips to help with the rough spot, wash your elbows with an exfoliating product daily to remove the dead skin cells.

Moisturize your elbows two to three times a day. Use moisturizing products that contain aloe vera, vitamin E and alpha hydroxy, you can apply olive oil or coconut oil for extra moisture. Warm up a small amount of oil and apply it directly to your elbows and rub it on.

Exfoliate to get rid of the dead skin cells

Take a sturdy body brush and apply soap to it. Next, wet your elbows, take the body brush, and brush each elbow in gentle but firm circular movements for about ten minutes or you can simply rub the rough and flaking skin with an exfoliating sponge,either a natural fibre loofah or a massage glove. Rinse well and dry with a soft towel.

Hand creams are usually more oily than body lotions and are  an excellent option for softening elbows. You can apply the cream once a day, but twice, three or even four times would  even better. 



You’ll need a daily treatment for your rough elbows

If the problem persists, visit a dermatologist. Since there is a possibility that ashy elbows can be caused by a skin condition like psoriasis or eczema.

Related articles

• How to Use a Skin Exfoliant (everydayhealth.com)
• Morning Beauty Tips (webmd.com)
• Expert Answers to Your Exfoliation Questions (webmd.com)