Free shipping with code FREESHIP | Free Travel Beauty Bag with Purchase of $200 | Free Samples with Every Order

...

Free shipping with code FREESHIP | Free Travel Beauty Bag with Purchase of $200 | Free Samples with Every Order

The best beauty products from around the globe

Monthly Archives : September 2014

Makeup and Foundation Tips From MB York

makeup liquid foundation

Foundation Information: Wear It Well

Maybe you’ve been going light on makeup and foundation over the warmer summer months, as we have, but as we transition into fall weather here are some great tips from M.B. York on getting your foundation and eye makeup just right.

—————

To Wear Or Not To Wear?

Foundation is one of the most important steps of makeup application (after my Beauty Ammo Kit – more on that in a bit). Getting the color right is crucial. If you are trusting the wrong lighting, wrong salesperson, or wrong formula, there is a lot of room for error. In my 20 years of custom blending foundations, here is what I’ve found:

Many formulas are too yellow. One way to correct this is add a small amount of fuchsia toner to a foundation. Ideally, you want an equal amount of pink and yellow in your skin, and I often have to “de-orange” women’s foundation.

Most women don’t want to look too pale, and there can be added issues like rosacea or freckles, on top of fair skin. Do you go lighter like the base, darker like the freckles or somewhere in between?  Most women want some color in their skin, and look best with a slightly darker formula.

I prefer an oil-free liquid formula: They are easiest to apply and look most natural.

How To Apply

Another mistake women make is blending foundation in their fingers. It ends up looking and feeling too heavy on the skin, and if the color isn’t perfect to begin with, it will sit on top of the skin. It’s best to use a sponge to blend foundation in. You want to get the coverage you need while looking like you have nothing on. Dot the foundation formula on your nose, forehead, chin and on each cheek, and then blend it all in with the sponge. The right color liquid foundation, correctly applied with a sponge, is the secret to beautiful skin. When your skin looks great, you can get away with wearing a lot less make up. One more secret? My Beauty Ammo Kit.

Beauty Ammo Kit: Your Eye Area Arsenal

My 3 step Beauty Ammo Kit is all you need for a flawless eye area. Here’s why:

Most eye creams just absorb into your skin. If you follow with concealer, powder or foundation, the makeup collects in the fine lines and actually makes your wrinkles more pronounced.

  • Step 1 of the Beauty Ammo Kit, Collagen Eye Mask, is a thick, rich base that stays on all day. It contains collagen and shea butter to provide serious hydration.
  • Step 2, Line Putty, goes right on top of the Collagen Eye Mask, and fills in fine lines while it soothes skin with chamomile and witch hazel.
  • Step 3 is my Dual Action Concealer. Once you have the rich base provided by steps 1 and 2, you can use a lot more concealer to get the coverage you need without worrying about it caking, creasing and making fine lines look worse. You can also use the concealer on your eyelid as a great base for your eye shadow.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Travel Beauty Blog for more tips on getting great-looking skin.

————–

M.B. York’s Beauty Ammo kit is really as fabulous as it sounds. We have many clients spanning 25 – 92 (no joke) that swear by this simple regimen, not to mention a list of celebrities that go on and on.

For more makeup tips from M.B. York, click here.

Tags: , , , ,

No comments

Q & A With Lavido founder, Ido Magal

lavido ido magal

In anticipation of our Meet the Ingredients event this Sunday, we sat down with Lavido founder, Ido Magal, to discuss the genesis of his skin care line, Lavido.

What spurred your passion for natural skin care?

Ido: My passion for natural skincare began very early and is tied to scents. My first memorable experience with scent was that of jasmine and neroli blossom at my uncle’s citrus farm. These plants can be found all over the Galilee.

How did Lavido come to be?

Ido: Again I have to say scents. One of my first experiences with scents was my father’s after shave lotion. It was a strong smelling lotion, and at a very early age I made the connection between products with scent and my favorite natural scents. Much later, when I started studying aromatherapy and herbal and Chinese medicine in college, all my formative and college experiences coalesced, and eventually became Lavido’s first product, a baby cream for my family.

Do you have a favorite ingredient, or is there a superstar ingredient that you include in many different formulations?

Ido: I think from my line it’s pretty obvious my favorite ingredient is pomegranate – the seeds, skin, juice, everything. I began working with pomegranate 10 years ago when it was a very fresh, new material for skincare here in Israel. In fact, the oil was being studied for its anti-cancer properties at the Technion at the time. Long story short, I received some samples of the oil, enlisted my family as my first test group, read everything I could find, and Lavido’s Pomegranate series was the result.

This is an exciting time for natural and organic skin care. What differentiates Lavido from other natural/organic skin care lines that are coming on the scene?

Ido: When it comes to the natural market, a major value that differentiates Lavido is that we are bringing the best of the conventional cosmetic market to the natural, organic market. So we combine high concentrations of the best raw, organic plant-based ingredients with much needed safety and efficacy standards from the conventional market, including clinical and dermatology testing. Another property unique to Lavido is our use of volcanic thermal springs and purified waters from the Sea of Galilee. Besides providing the livelihood of inhabitants around it for millennia, the Sea of Galilee’s mineral rich thermal springs have been used for just as long to support healing and health.

What anti-aging or other advice would you give about skin care?

Ido: My anti-aging advice sounds simple, but this path is not often enough taken in our modern world. Some basic rules: get the right amount of sleep and water. Use as many natural ingredients as possible for anything that goes in and on your body. Invite aromatherapy into your life – it’s truly effective when it comes to de-stressing the mind and calming the body. Finally, I am a big proponent of all things pomegranate for both internal and external use.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

No comments

Using Broadband Light to Banish Brown Spots

broadband light to banish brown spots

Wear sunscreen. “Sunspots” (gasp!), “age spots”, or even worse, “liver spots” are flat, non-raised, brown spots or freckles that develop on the skin after prolonged exposure to direct ultraviolet (or UV) rays. In med-speak, they’re called “solar lentigines”. Contrary to the common-speak, people of all ages are susceptible to these spots, and those with lighter skin tend to develop them more frequently. The most common areas to develop brown spots are those exposed to the sun most often, the face, chest, and hands.

How to Banish Brown Spots

The good news is that there is a fairly simple and relatively painless way to banish these brown spots. Summertime, when most people have their greatest sun exposure, is usually the time that we accumulate these brown spots, so I generally recommend that people wait until the fall (right around now) for removal. There are various topical treatment that have been recommended for these pigmented spots, but the quickest and most effective treatment is BBL (broadband light) treatment. BBL is FDA cleared for the treatment of benign pigmented lesions, among other conditions.

The light energy delivered by the BBL will be absorbed by the unwanted melanin responsible for pigmented lesions in the upper layers of the skin. Over the next few days to two weeks, the pigmented lesions will darken and fall off. Typically, three sessions, spaced two weeks apart are required for most effective removal of brown spots. The procedure takes about 15-20 minutes, and feels like the snapping of a rubber band on the skin. Most patients only find the treatment mildly uncomfortable. BBL treatment for brown spots requires no real downtime. There is occasionally slight redness of the skin, but when this occurs, it generally subsides in the few hours following your treatment. You can use moisturizer or cover-up on the face immediately following the procedure.

Anti-aging Anyone?

An added bonus of the treatment is that as the light energy of the BBL gently heats the upper layers of your skin, it stimulates your skin cells to regenerate new collagen, leading to increased skin firmness, smoother skin texture, and a more even color to your skin surface. Most patients can notice positive changes even after their very first session, though the results are cumulative. In my office, I offer a BBL treatment called “Forever Young BBL”, which is a special type of BBL treatment that can help you greatly improve your skin appearance and health. In fact, scientific evidence from a long-term Stanford University study demonstrates regular maintenance treatments using Forever Young BBL functionally rejuvenates skin and delays skin aging. Studies include patients treated 10+ years ago.

What Are Your Brown Spots Telling You?

Brown spots from the sun, or solar lentigines, are benign, but they do indicate excessive sun exposure, a risk factor for the development of skin cancers. Additionally, they will return with repeated sun exposure. So, ladies and gentlemen, wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.

For more information, or to schedule an appointment, visit Dr. Liotta’s website or call (212) 288-2222.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

2 comments

Hot Off The Presses

travel beauty in the news

Though we keep saying we’ve got the best beauty and men’s grooming products from around the globe, you certainly don’t have to take our word for it. Here is some of the recent press Travel Beauty (and our amazing products) has received from all over the world wide web and beyond. And this is just a taste! Visit our press page to see what Huffington Post, Town & Country, Pop Sugar Beauty and others have said about Travel Beauty.

  • We helped Elle compile 10 Editor-Approved Beauty Products To Try Now.

Want to try out some of these amazing products in person? If you’re in the NYC area, be sure to visit our month-long pop-up apothecary at International Playground, 463 Broome Street, from September 22nd through October 23rd.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

4 comments

Minimizing Static Hair & Hat Hair

minimizing static hair hat hair

Three amazing phenomena of hair (and I could name many!) are its electrical properties, insulation potential and ability to change shape with the addition of heat and/or water. Sadly, however, these also mean the occurrence of static flyaways and horrendously frustrating hat hair. No one is immune, but from my many years of experience, both personally and from helping my clients, I have accumulated useful methods of minimizing their occurrence.

Static Hair

Hair is trybo-electric i.e. it generates electricity from rubbing or friction. In this way, strands can accumulate electricity over a period of time and eventually fly away from one another; similar to what happens when you try to push two magnets of the same charge together. The amount of charge your hair generates will depend on how clean your hair is, if it is wet or dry and also the climate around you. For instance, dry air and higher altitudes usually worsen it. The best way to reduce static is to keep your hair clean and to use a leave-in lightweight conditioning styling cream that clings to the hair shaft, reducing friction between the hairs and therefore the build-up of electricity. I in fact formulated both my Preen Cream (for finer hair) and Smooth Cream (for coarser hair) with this in mind, and they reduce fly-aways as well as add shine. Using an anti-static comb or brush will also go a long way in preventing rogue wisps.

Hat Hair

Hats cause your scalp to sweat, and the resulting moisture causes the hair underneath to change shape and then set in place. Depending on the shape and size of your hat, your hair’s natural form, and just how hot your head gets, this dishevelment can range from a few kinks to a full-blown bad hair day. Add static electricity to the mix and you have an even bigger issue. To deal with the fly-aways, use the methods I described above. Sadly, hat hair is never 100% avoidable, but there are some very good products you can use to quickly re-shape you hair into a more pleasing style. Carry around a good quality dry shampoo in your handbag and, when hat hair strikes, economically spray into your roots, leave for a few minutes and then brush through. This will remove excess moisture and will also re-vitalise body. I make one called One More Day that, as well as all the aforementioned benefits, soothes the scalp of itching. You can also use a weatherproof hairspray or froth such as Daily Damage Defence before wearing a hat to minimize frizz.

Alternatively, and my daughter likes to do this, go for the Audrey Hepburn look and simply place your hair into a smooth bun, then set and add gloss with a finishing serum, such as Minimizer.

General Advice

In both cases, keeping your hair in good condition will improve how it fares during the winter. Hair that is snapping and damaged will always appear frizzier as the shorter, broken strands will stick out in varying places.  Once a week, use a pre-shampoo conditioner, such as Elasticizer, and apply a post-shampoo conditioner for your hair texture every time you shampoo.

Tags: , , , , , ,

No comments