Chic-Shuk Secrets

Dark circles under eyes usually are not necessarily a sign of exhaustion or serious illness, like most people tend to think. They can make you feel old, unhealthy and tired, and medically defined as round, uniform areas of pigmentation beneath each eye, which can affect both men and women.  What appear as shadows cast by puffy eyelids or hollows under your eyes, thinning skin and loss of fat and collagen, which make the reddish-blue blood vessels under your eyes more obvious, can be a result of many sakes:  Allergies, tiredness, part of aging (The loss of fat and collagen is common as you age), normal lifestyle factors (such as smoking and drinking alcohol or too many caffeinated sodas) and last but not least reason- unfortunately- heredity.  No matter what the cause is, you can still reduce the appearance of dark circles, and in some cases, you may be able to get rid of them altogether!

For prevention you should eat healthy, balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables, take daily vitamins supplement if necessary (especially vitamin K and B12), reduce sodium intake and drink plenty of water. If you are a smoker-  quit smoking! Smoking causes vascular (blood vessel) problems that can not only threaten your life, but also make your blood vessels appear more prominent and bluer beneath the skin. However, the most natural, easy way treating dark circles when appear is to apply cool tea bags, or cucumber slices over your eyes for about 10-15 minutes daily, keeping your eyes closed. It will reduce swelling, discoloration, and puffiness then refresh the appearance of skin around the eyes!

Many of us have sleeping problems and new researches suggests a natural healthy way that can help us sleep throughout the night. Even though conventional wisdom says you’re not supposed to eat right before you go to bed since supposedly it is to be the time all food goes to your waistline.  However according to several new researches bedtime snacks can actually help you sleep better especially if you have insomnia. Exploring the subject, I found a great Web-MD article which explains why bedtime snacks can indeed help you sleep. According to this article it is mostly about our metabolic hormones. If you don’t have enough Leptin, which is the hormone that signals satiety, your body could wake you up. However, the article says that you can’t snack on just anything, and certainly should not eat heavy meals since the digestive system slows down while you sleep, so eating too much can make you uncomfortable.

Choose your snacks wisely- most recommended by experts are light dairy, carbohydrate-rich snacks because it most likely increase the level of sleep-inducing tryptophan in the blood. Good choices include a small bowl of cereal and milk, a few oatmeal cookies, peanut butter toast, or a small muffin. Beware of foods containing caffeine, including less obvious choices such as certain sodas and chocolate.

On September 17 Th I wrote about the healthy cooking secret that has changed my weight watching lifestyle: Non-Fat Spray Oil. However, a few days ago, while getting my nails done at a local nail salon, I heard one of the ladies taking about that cooking spray oil, saying it can fasten the dry of nail polish!!  

I was surprised, however went home’ and of course- had to try that little beauty secret myself, and- Ladies and Ladies: GREAT RESULTS ! The nail polish got dry in seconds thanks to the oil spray, exactly as I was told!

Now I use my Cooking secret as my Nails Beauty secret!!! How fun!

I got this contraption as a birthday gift a few weeks ago, and was very surprised when realized it was an actual LIPS PLUMPER ! Shocked?! Apparently `Luscious Lips` acts like a vacuum that rushes fluids to the lips for a natural, fuller, plumper look, with no surgeries or stinging lip gloss required.  A very different way to plump your lips, I thought to myself, however admitted this was the best birthday gift Ever! A definitely must have product if you wish for celebrity style fuller lips while avoiding Botox cosmetics or other medical treatments. By the way- I found out it only cost $60 dollars, which I think is reasonable enough for its natural looking results!

Attention iPhone users and weight watchers supporters:

The amazing innovated iPhone has a new free application which certainly makes life a bit easier and can help you lose weight or at least watch what you eat and be aware of how many calories you eat during the day!  This IPhone application called `Lose It` which is the most complete and streamlined weight loss application available for the iPhone and would keep you on track by allowing to set your weight-loss goals, establish a “daily calorie budget” and then record your daily food intake and exercise. AMAZING!!! I LUV IT!!!

Thank you Apple!