Eye Wash. I see so many women cleansing their eyelids and eye area with their facial cleanser. Often times, the cleanser is not formulated for the delicate eye area. It may even lead to eye irritation. Also, chances are if you're applying cleanser there you will remove the cleanser with a damp wash cloth and that leads to more pulling and stretching of the already thin skin in the eye area.
Use eye makeup remover on a cotton ball or pre-moistened cloth instead.

Makeover for My Tree. I added this face to my tree to give it some personality. It blends in pretty nicely and adds a whimsical touch to my front yard.

Here are the supplies needed to give your trees a makeover.

The Particulars of a Pampering Pedicure

It's sandal season! Time to get those feet ready for the warmer weather ahead. If you plan on making a trip to a salon for a pedicure, here are some things you should know.
An infection caused by Mycobacterium smegmatis, a rapidly replicating bacterium that responds poorly to medication, is a possibility when you go to get a pedicure. It starts out as a red, swollen toe or looking almost like a bug bite and then gets swollen and turns blue or purple. You're looking at a long course of antibiotics and possibly even surgery to correct the scarring that can occur. One of the most serious mycobacterium infections called fortitum may cause boils on the legs.
While severe infections from a manicure or pedicure are rare, you wouldn't even want to risk getting a minor infection from having a pedicure done. Athlete's foot, toenail fungus and even warts are other potential pedicure dangers, not to mention allergic reactions, loss of a nail, and the spread of staph infections or viruses and, in extreme cases, HIV and hepatitis. A fungus can take hold of your toenail, multiply and cause the nail to grow up to 1/2 inch thick. It's very ugly, it can cause a lot of foot problems. If you're a diabetic, it may lead to infections and even toe amputations.
Some nail technicians recommend finding a salon that does not use whirlpool tubs or any other foot bath that involves plumbing, because the bacteria can sit in the pipes and there's no good way to clean them efficiently and effectively. Chairs specially designed for pedicures have foot baths attached with individual filtering systems. The filters can become clogged with hair, skin and toenails, making an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. The swirling waters then spread the bacteria.
Here are helpful tips for finding a reputable salon to perform a pedicure on you.
Make sure the establishment has a license. It should be prominently displayed in the front reception area. Your cosmetologist should also have a license posted at his or her station.
Leave if the salon appears even the slightest bit dirty. Take a peek at the towels and the instruments and look to see if workers are washing their hands between treatments. Sniff the air, and if you sense a strong odor, that's a bad sign.
Ask questions. How does the salon disinfect its instruments? The cosmetic industry is not required to use sophisticated and expensive machines to ensure a medical level of sterilization. Are disposable items that cannot be sanitized (like emery boards, nail buffers, toe separators, orange sticks, etc.) thrown away immediately after their use?
Cutiekit, Your Professional Manicure Pedicare Tool Kit
Bring your own manicure and pedicure equipment, towels (and disposable foot tub liner, if possible) with you to ensure the supplies will not be used on anyone else. Many people have a set of their own dental tools when they go to the dentist, so having your very own pedicure kit only makes sense. You can find two pedicure kits that I recommend at my website.

Ensure that the person performing the pedicure knows your cuticles are not to be clipped or cut. They are important in that they keep bacteria from getting under the nail bed, and if there's a chance you could be cut and bleed, it could lead to serious infections. In addition, razors, scrapers or graters for calluses must never be used.
Try to relax and enjoy. Just remember to keep on your toes and tread carefully when going for a pedicure.

Katrina Price, also known as the Skin Care Teacher is a ten-year veteran of the skin care and beauty industry. Valuable information can be found at her website http://www.skincareteacher.com and her blog, updated almost daily at http://skincareteacher.blogspot.com

One Mold You Don't Want to Fit. Mold is not good for your health. If you live in NJ, DE or PA, you can give Mold Managers in NJ a call to help eradicate any mold issues you have in your home. Mold can lead to skin rashes along with numerous other health problems. Just run an internet search for "mold dangers" and you'll see what I mean.

The Eyelashes Have It. If they don't, call eyelash transplant artist Dr. Alan Bauman of Boca Raton, FL. He can help you find someone in your area who can perform eyelash transplants. It's a great idea if the eyelashes have been lost to cancer or burns. You may suffer mild infection and bruising, and your eyelashes will fall out and need to be re-transplanted but other than that, and the $3,000 per eye price tag, you'll have a great set of long, luxurious eyelashes.

What happens is that hair follicles get harvested from your scalp, and sown in one by one to your eyelid. They will grow like the hair on your head, so they need to be trimmed, curled and maybe even dyed.

This surgery has become very popular recently. Dr. Baumann said he's seen a 300% increase in the number of eyelash transplant operations being performed, and he's busy training doctors all over the country to perform the surgery.

Keep those Pearly Whites White. Being in business for myself, I have to find my own Dental Insurance, Health Insurance and Life Insurance. I rarely get sick and I avoid doctors like the plague. I have had ongoing problems with my teeth since I was very young. It started right after my adult teeth grew in. I fell off my bike and knocked out my brand new teeth.
That led to braces, retainers, bridgework, and the like. Luckily that's all behind me now, but it pays to take care of your teeth.

Sunscreen or Sunshield?

I think the term Sunshield is better, because the lotions will help shield you from the damaging effects of the sun.
Now that spring time is here with warmer weather and we're all getting back into the great outdoors, please remember to apply at least an SPF 15 to keep from getting sunburns and skin cancer.

Drugs are Bad for Your Skin. Have you seen the pictures of meth addicts? If you look at a set of pictures taken over time, it's very frightening. It doesn't take that long for the irreversible damage to appear, either. For addicts, you've GOT to quit and get into drug rehab so you can get better. If you've tried other places with no success, please try Stone Hawk in Michigan. They have two very picturesque locations in the state and their success rate is over 76% which is great! Much higher than the 12-step program grads and other alternative methods.

Cough-ee, Anyone? This year for our Anniversary, the gift my husband and I exchanged was a wonderful hacking cough. The kind where you cough and it feels like your brain will plop out through your forehead unless you hold it back. The kind where you cough so much your upper back aches. It's been such a joy, and I'm glad we were able to share in the magic together. Buy stock in Ricola now because I'm suckin' 'em down by the case. That and chopped garlic mixed in applesauce (to kill the taste) and bring me back to health.

Run for Your Health. I've always been health conscious and recently I have taken up running. I want to be able to get to the point where I can keep up easily with my husband when he goes jogging around the neighborhood. There's nothing worse than running a few yards and then gasping for breath. I'm sure my dogs would enjoy the exercise as well.
My sister is a great source of inspiration for me. She has competed in a few marathons and half marathons in Virginia and San Diego and she's in great shape. The Wirefly National Marathon is coming up soon in my area. It's their 2nd annual run and takes place on Saturday, March 24th. I won't be able to attend this year, however. There's already so much happening on that day! I already had to choose between a fundraiser, a training seminar, a Second Chance Prom or watching my hubby win another dirtbike race and I chose the fundraising event. It's not political, though. Gotta help out those Scouts! I won't be ready for the marathon this year anyway, I have a lot of training ahead of me yet.

This year's race is taking a new course which from what I understand will allow the runners to see more monuments and historical items rather than running through boring areas. As it stands now, the weather is predicted to be sunny with a high of 64. That's subject to change of course but it sounds like perfect running weather to me.

There's an Expo the day before the marathon at the DC Armory from 11:00am to 9:00pm where sports-related vendors will have displays set up. I may go and check that out and pick up some new gear.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what Wirefly is about, it's Wirefly Mobile and their website offers cellphones, service plan comparison, ringtones and accessories.

Lip Clinic Recap. I think the Lip Clinic presentation on Saturday morning went fairly well. We had a good turnout - about 70 women. We did the Lipstick Personality Profile which is a fun thing to do, it shows how the way you wear down your tube of lipstick by using it (slanted, pointed, rounded, flat) tells much about your personality. I gave some lip care tips and taught them how to apply lipstick using lip liner as a base so that it would last a long time and not wear off so easily. I also stressed the importance of sun protection for lips. Everyone got a free sample of a neutral lipstick shade. All in all, I hope it was a fun and informative speech.

Revlon Sugar Sugar Lip Topping. I saw a TV commercial for this product this morning and was intrigued by it.

I wonder if women who wear it will have people thinking they've just eaten a powdered sugar donut and neglected to wipe their lips off? To combat that, I suppose one of the other colors can be utilized. These Limited Edition Lip toppings come in Snowflake, Peri-Twinkle, Lemon Drop and Pixie Plum. Hurry! Sprinkled Pink is already sold out.

Skin Burns and Treatment. I remember hearing to apply butter on affected areas if you burn yourself in the kitchen. Turns out that's not the best thing to do after all. Click here for first aid for burns to the skin. Burns from steam, splattered oil and grease, and hot pots and pans are really painful, so be careful while cooking.
For sunburns, click here for first aid and treatment info. Of course the best way to treat sunburns is not to get them at all. Stay out of those tanning beds too! I know, I know, they are very relaxing and it's so soothing to lay in there and listen to tunes. It's such a disappointment when the bed shuts off letting you know the session is over. I tanned in a bed for maybe a year or so and then gave it up. It's far too dangerous and now I opt for the tan in a can or fake and bake. Those products have come a long way and will NOT leave you looking orange or overcooked. Click here to learn how to prevent sunburns, which can often lead to skin cancer.

Support Local Bands. Years ago I did a lot of rock journalism and photography. I paid a visit to the famous Sunset Strip in Hollywood and saw all these bands out on the sidewalks, handing out flyers and pressing the flesh. I figured right then and there that I would do what I could to help local bands, as a lot of the ones I saw in the clubs could give some of the well-known national acts a real run for their money.
I didn't deal a whole lot with Reggae Bands because we concentrated on more of the hard rock and metal artists.
I was on support teams for Alice in Chains (Rest In Peace, Layne Staley!) as well as Firehouse and Slaughter. All three bands saw a great degree of success and that made me proud. In fact, I remember seeing Alice in Chains at a local club with a capacity of maybe 350, and then a month later they were on a national tour and I had a photo pass to shoot them at the San Diego Sports Arena. That was a fabulous experience!
If you believe in your local unsigned bands, then help and support them. You never know...

Fine Lines around Mouth. To help combat fine lines in the skin around your mouth area, skip the drinking straws and stick to a regular cup. Also, if you're a smoker, kick that habit. Pursing your lips to smoke or sip from a straw will cause those fine lines.

Review My Blog.
If you're not a fan of blog ads you can still earn money, increase traffic and interest in your site through PayPerPost's brand new Review My Post program. It will pay you every time someone signs up and reviews a post on your blog. How simple is that?!

The Review My Post program is open to all bloggers. Like I said before, it's great for bloggers who aren't interested in having sponsored posts on their blog. All that's needed is to simply add this badge at the end of the post.
It will bring in some easy money AND help build traffic to your blog - no additional effort required.

This new program is just exploding! Come join up and blog about my blog.

Just as I described above, you’ll have to register with PayPerPost in order to review one of my posts. I think the PPP staff have to accept your blog into the system so the rules I listed above will still apply, but they've said that they'll approve new blogs for the Review My Post program quickly, so you won’t have to wait too long to review my post and make some quick and easy money. Looks like the initial review will pay you $7.50!

Valentine's Day. So how did you do? I'm just glad all the sappy diamond jewelry and dating site commercials have stopped airing on T.V. Not to mention the goofy singing stuffed animals that are your gift with purchase of greeting cards. I'm glad it will be a whole year before we have to look at that stuff again.
I received the usual kisses, candy, card and cuddling. It is a very romantic holiday after all.

Skin Care Blogging. In addition to writing about skin care, makeovers and glamour, I like to make money blogging about a few other things that are close to my heart and topics I'm interested in, such as health and fitness. I do this with PayPerPost. They offer for sale to companies write-ups in blogs about their product or service and only charge them a 35% service fee. Bloggers get to write about things they like and the brand new segmentation system they're offering awards bloggers with high traffic blogs. You could make $1000 for a single sponsored post!

PayPerPost makes sense for both high traffic and lower traffic bloggers alike. Mine is a Google PR4, but it was a O up until last month (January) and I just started blogging in July. Plus, if you run a search on MSN.com, you'll see my blog right there on top if you search for skin care expert or skin care and glamour. It's pretty cool! It's just ahead of even GLAMOUR magazine. Wow! Now I'm working on obtaining those same results on the Yahoo!, Ask and Google search engines.

Why not earn some cash for blogging? You'll be blogging either way, so you might as well be making money with it. It's painless and fun.

Wrap-Around Sunglasses. It's important to wear sunglasses that wrap around because they cover the temple area and help to minimize fine lines and crow's feet in the outside corners of your eyes. Here are some examples:

Skin Donations for Burn Patients.
It seems that contrary to popular belief, folds of skin removed from former morbidly obese patients cannot be used for patients in burn units who are in need of replacement skin tissue. Unfortunately, the skin has lost all of it's elasticity, is too thin, has poor circulation and is overstretched.
Healthy skin tissue that can help burn patients is easily obtained from recently expired cadavers, and through modern science, skin can even be regenerated.
Click here to learn more about how you can become a tissue donor.