14 Days to Gorgeous Skin

Beauty

14 Days to Gorgeous Skin

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You’ve tried it all—bought the “miracle” creams, submitted to treatments, scrubbed and buffed—and you’ve come to the conclusion that smooth, unblemished skin is a rare gift bestowed by the gods only on supermodels. We’re here to restore your faith! You can kick-start a gorgeous new complexion in a mere two weeks, all by introducing simple tweaks to your daily routine. We talked to derms and other skin-care geniuses to develop these gentle, effective plans tailored to your particular challenge. Get glowing!

ACNE
You may find unexpected pimples popping up more and more as you get older. aging, hormones, stress, clogged pores and even genetics can make you break out. Grrreat!

Your Action Plan
Day 1 Don’t touch that bump! Picking delays healing. to cover spots, gently dab on a creamy concealer with your ring finger. Try RMS Beauty “Un” Cover-up ($36, rmsbeauty.com).
Day 2 Take a look at your diet and—don’t hate us—cut out unnecessary carbs and processe d sugars, which can cause zit-triggering inflammation.
Day 3 Now that you’ve stopped poking at your face, wash at night with a cleanser containing antiseptic and anti-inflammatory sulfur or exfoliating salicylic acid, like Neutrogena Naturals Acne Cream Cleanser ($8, neutrogena.com). In the mornings, rather than suds up again, just rinse with water (pimple-fighting cleansers can aggravate skin if used too frequently) and dry with a paper towel—cloth towels can harbor bacteria.
Day 4 Add an oil-free lotion with calming chamomile, panthenol, niacinamide, green tea or aloe vera to your a.m. routine. the softeners counteract dryness from the acne-fighting ingredients in the rest of your regimen. We like Alba Botanica Natural Hawaiian Oil Free Moisturizer ($20, albabotanica.com).
Day 5 to 11 Every other night, apply a pea-size drop of a serum with vitamin A (aka retinol or retinyl palmitate) all over your face. This may irritate at first, but it unclogs pores and fights wrinkles. Try derma E Refining Vitamin A and Green Tea Moisturizer ($21, dermae.com). On alternating nights, spot-treat with tea tree oil, salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. Try The Body Shop Tea Tree Blemish Gel ($11, thebodyshop-usa.com).
Day 12 Start using your vitamin A product nightly and skip the spot treatment.
Day 13 To keep skin clear, eat dark greens and take at least 150 milligrams of fish oil every day. Omegas stimulate your lymphatic system to ditch skin-congesting toxins. We like Nordic Naturals Kenai Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil ($22 for 90 softgels, nordicnaturals.com).
Day 14 Dry out any new zits that appear with a dab of a clay-base d mask like Aubrey Organics Clarifying therapy Clay Mask ($13, aubrey-organics.com).

Your Shopping List
Creamy concealer
Cleanser with sulfur or salicylic acid
Oil-free moisturizer
Serum with vitamin A
Spot treatment with tea tree oil, salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide
Fish oil capsules
Clay mask

Fast Fix
To heal pimples stat, head to the doc’s office for a chemical peel (one with lactic, glycolic or trichloroacetic acids will prevent future breakouts too) or a cortisone shot. You should be pimple-free in two days—but your skin will flake (a lot!) after day four if you opt for the peel.

DRY SKIN

 

You frequently contend with rough patches that can become itchy, red and bothersome.

 

Your Action Plan
Day 1 Stop using gel face washes, scrubs and toners, which can be harsh on sensitive skin. instead, cl eanse with a cream or an oil formula, like Nourish Organic Moisturizing Cream Organic Face Cleanser ($14, nourishorganic.com), or just rinse with water.
Day 2 Take lukewarm showers (scorching water removes skin’s natural oils).
Day 3 In the a.m., reach for a cream (lotions are too light) with repairing shea butter, hyaluronic acid or ceramides after face washing, while skin is damp. We like DHC Ceramide Cream ($38, dhccare.com). at night, pat on a face oil with argan or sweet almond, like Boots Botanics Organic Facial Oil ($9, Target), to retain moisture as you sleep.
Day 4 To soothe sensitive skin, mash an avocado with dollops of plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey. Apply as a mask and wait 5 to 10 minutes before rinsing. The fruit has nourishing fatty acids, while the yogurt combats flakes and honey hydrates.
Day 5 to 8 Sleep with a cool-mist humidifier, which helps skin drink up moisture.
Day 9 Load up on vitamin E, which helps protect from drying environmental damage; almonds are a good source.
Day 10 A silicone primer seals in your face cream’s humectants (which draw moisture to skin). Apply Tarte Cosmetics Clean Slate Poreless 12-Hr Perfecting Primer ($30, sephora.com) over it.
Day 11 to 13 Pre-lotion, apply an antioxidant serum with resveratrol or green tea to improve texture. (Wait until you’re redness-free to avoid irritation.) Try Caudalíe Pulpe Vitaminée Regenerating Concentrate ($44, caudalie-usa.com) or June Jacobs Green Tea Serum ($52, junejacobs.com).
Day 14 Once a week, use a moisturizing mask. Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration treatment Mask ($18, drugstores) is mild enough for sensitive skin.

Your Shopping List
Cream or oil cleanser
Cream with hyaluronic acid, shea butter or ceramides
Facial oil with argan or sweet almond
Cool-mist humidifier
Silicone makeup primer
Serum with resveratrol or green tea
Softening mask

Fast Fix
Dryness is one of the few skin-care issues with no immediate in-office remedy. A dermatologist can apply a moisturizing mask (similar to what you’d buy at a store), but you’ll do most of the work at home.

DARK CIRCLES

 

Your coworkers ask if you’re tired even after you slept eight solid hours.

Your Action Plan
Day 1 There are a whole mess of possible reasons for your dark shadows. That’s why it’s important to first rule out the two you can take care of easily: number one, are you drinking? Keep it to th e occasional glass of wine; alcohol creates puffiness. Two, have your contact lenses been bothering you or do you have seasonal allergies? All that eye rubbing might be the culprit, so talk to a doctor to get ocular issues under control.
Day 2 It’s a lot to ask, but cut your intake of coffee and tea. High levels of caffeine can overload the liver, which then has a hard time flushing out your system, leading to poorer circulation and boom—dark circles!
Day 3 to 14 Most undereye circles are caused by a combination of hyperpigmentation, hollowness and puffiness. To address each of those, use this threefold plan: In the morning, tap on an eye cream with brightening mica. We like Origins A Perfect World for Eyes ($35, origins.com) because it also contains vitamin A, which helps to exfoliate away uneven skin tone. At night, dab on a thicker eye cream boasting plumping humectants, like hyaluro nic acid and glycerin; try Olay Age Defying Classic Eye Gel ($10, drugstores). To get rid of puffiness, apply cold compresses of cucumbers or tea bags whenever possible. The cool touch helps to constrict blood vessels and reduce swelling.

Your Shopping List
Eye cream with mica
Eye cream with hyaluronic acid or glycerin

Fast Fix
A hyaluronic-acid filler immediately plumps the area (smoothing sunken areas under your eyes and reducing the appearance of dark shadows). If your problem is extra pigment and not hollowness, a laser treatment like Fraxel can help, but it’ll take three to four days for the redness to fade.

WRINKLES

 

 

What everyone told you would happen one day has finally happened. Wrinkles, fine lines and crow’s feet are all beginning to make an appearance.

Your Action Plan
Day 1 to 10 You’ve hear d it before, but we’ll say it again: the most effective treatment for wrinkles, hands down, is retinol (vitamin A). It’s proven to smooth fine lines and wrinkles and even out dark spots. But it takes at least 30 days—the time required for cells to regenerate—to show its first anti-aging results. Apply a pea-size amount of a serum with the powerful ingredient every other night for the first 10 days. after that, move up to nightly. We like the moisturizing formula of Garnier Ultra-Lift 2-in-1 Wrinkle Reducer Serum+Moisturizer ($17, drugstores). Thirty minutes after the retinol, work in a thick, no-bells-or-whistles night cream to prevent flakiness. Try the new super-rich Yes to Carrots Fragrance Free intense Hydration Night Cream ($13, yestocarrots.com). Wash only at night using a milk cleanser, like Weleda Gentle Cleansing Milk ($20, weleda.com), which won’t strip ski n of essential moisture.
Day 11 The initial irritation that retinol causes should be fading by now, which means you’re able to handle the addition of a serum with vitamin C or green tea every morning. The potent antioxidant ingredients protect skin from free radicals (environmental particles that speed aging). Our favorite: JASÖN C-Effects Hyper-C Serum ($37, jason-personalcare.com).
Day 12 Fact: radiant skin makes you look younger. Trade in your foundation for a sheer, illuminating tinted moisturizer, like Laura Mercier tinted Moisturizer-Illuminating SPF 20 ($43, lauramercier.com).
Day 13 Watch how you sleep. If you’re always pressing the left side of your face on your pillow, that side will get more wrinkles. Make an effort to sleep on your back.
Day 14 You should be fully accustomed to the retinol, so you can add in an a.m. cream with exfoliating glycolic acid. Try Dermadoctor Litmus Test pH Correcting & Renewing Glycolic Acid Facial Moisturizer ($52, dermadoctor.com). Apply the glycolic first and, after a few minutes, layer on the antioxidant serum.

Your Shopping List
Retinol serum
Gentle night cream
Milk cleanser
Serum with vitamin C or green tea
Illuminating tinted moisturizer
Serum with glycolic acid

Fast Fix
What’s better than an over-the-counter retinol? A prescription retinoid! A dermatologist can recommend one—there are several varieties and concentrations, including Retin-A and Tazorac. They will still take about four weeks to show results, but their effects will be significantly more noticeable. If you want something quicker, there’s always Botox and hyaluronic-acid fillers, but do know that their wrinkle-smoothin g effects fade after about three months.

3 habits that help any problem—and make good skin look great.

 

 

1 Eat Your Water. Yep, eat! You still need to drink up, but sticking to a healthy diet of vegetables and fruit will hydrate your skin from the inside, while also feeding it nutrients. To reap the benefits, add more watermelon, cucumber, tomatoes, zucchini and carrots to your plate.
2 Use Sunscreen Faithfully. Slathering on SPF all year round, even when it’s rainy or overcast, is the only guaranteed way to prevent a slew of skin problems. Need convincing? A recent study in the Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research Journal showed that broad-spectrum sunscreen (SPF 30 or higher) almost completely blocks damaging UV rays, which means it’s highly effective in the fight against skin cancer. Choose a formula with physical blockers, like zinc oxide and titanium dio xide, and apply a nickel-size amount (no less!) all over your face, neck and chest.
3 Hit The Hay Earlier. Growth hormones are released during non-REM sleep (what’s believed to be the most refreshing and restorative period of sleep, when your heart rate and blood pressure decrease, allowing your body to fully rest), research in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews found. The more of those hormones you have, the more youthful skin looks. Zzzz!

 

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