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Nail Care Essentials for Perfectly Polished Nails

Posted by SoKiss&Makeup on April 10th, 2009
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If you want healthier nails or are simply looking for the perfect pedicure or a manicure, here are some must-follow tips:

1. Massage Vaseline into your cuticles once a week. This helps feed the new nail and encourages nail growth. A great time to do this is right before bedtime.

2. Buff your nails! This also helps your nails to grow because it improves circulation. It also helps keep the nail bed smooth. Just don’t go overboard..! Buffing too much can weaken the nail.

3. Stick to one direction when filing your nails. Filing in a back and forth manner places stress on the structure of your nail plate and will actually cause nail breakage down the road. Always carefully file in one direction.

photo credit: Jacklyn DL

4. To get a few extra applications out of your favorite nail polish, try adding a tiny bit of nail polish remover to the bottle. Make sure the polish and remover are mixed well before applying. You won’t want to try this until that bottle of nail color is almost ready to throw out.

5. Instead of shaking your bottle of nail polish to even out the color, gently roll it back and forth across a table or in the palm of your hand. This prevents air bubbles from forming inside the bottle - and prevents them from ending up on your nails. You want your nail polish to go on smoothly.

6. When it comes to application, you should always apply the following: a base coat, two coats of color and a final top coat. The base coat protects your nail and helps the polish to last longer. It also prevents your nail from yellowing. Two coats ensures even coverage and the top coat adds shine and helps your manicure or pedicure to last as long as possible.

7. Finally, you should always let your nails dry for about an hour before wearing shoes. The polish may be dry to the touch after just 5 minutes or so, but make sure to only wear sandals or flip flops for the first hour to prevent marks and scuffs in your new polish.

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Tags: manicure, nail care, nail color, nail polish, pedicure

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Posted by SoKiss&Makeup on February 14th, 2009
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Happy Valentine’s Day to all of our gorgeous readers! xoxo!

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Tags: Holidays, Valentine's Day

Seven Tips for Kissable Lips

Posted by SoKiss&Makeup on February 5th, 2009
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With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, here are a few tips to get ultra soft, smooth, kissable lips:

• Apply Vaseline to your lips each night before bedtime. You may have another lip balm product you will want to use instead, but if not, good old Vaseline works wonders.
• Keep an extra toothbrush handy and use it to lightly brush the surface of your lips each day to remove dead or dry skin. You will want to do this just as your Vaseline or other moisturizer is wearing off so that the dry skin comes off smoothly and easily. If you wait until your lips are already dry, it won’t do much good!
• Always use a water-resistant lip balm with SPF protection (yes, even in the winter… and especially while skiing or snowboarding). The skin on your lips is ultra thin and delicate. Since you don’t need to “tan” your lips, too much sun exposure will cause your lips to burn, chap, or worse. This can make applying any type of lip color a nightmare. A protective lip balm will prevent damage and soften your lips all at the same time.
• Use a lip liner that is close to your natural lip color. You don’t want to use one that’s too dark - your lip liner is there to help keep your lip color in place and make it last longer, not to create a distracting line around your mouth.

photo credit: Phoney Nickle
• When applying lipstick, blot your lipstick with a tissue after applying each layer. This will give your base lip color extra staying power.
• February is a perfect time to try fun, flirty shades in pink, red or berry. Once you’ve finalized your clothing choices, choose a shade that compliments your coloring and goes well with your outfit.
• After applying your lipstick, finish off your look with a soft, shiny lipgloss. But be sure not to go overboard on the gloss - too much can take your lips from gorgeous to gooey. Also, by layering and blotting your lipstick as mentioned in the above step, you won’t have to touch up your lipstick during the evening, which usually requires precision - and a mirror. Glosses are lighter and easier to apply, so you can quickly and easily touch up the shine if needed.

These tips will give you a perfect pout and help your lip color last much longer - throughout your entire Valentine’s Day date, perhaps?

xoxo!

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Tags: lipgloss, lips, lipstick, Makeup Tips

Protect Your Lips

Posted by SoKiss&Makeup on January 24th, 2009
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We all know the importance of protecting our skin against overexposure to the sun. But did you know that your lips are at a much greater risk of developing skin cancer than the rest of your skin? The skin on your lips is paper thin and extremely delicate, which makes them extra vulnerable to the sun’s harmful rays.

Skin cancer of the lips accounts for 10 percent of all skin cancer cases. Over 3,500 new cases of skin cancer of the lips are diagnosed each year. Whether you’re skiing and snowboarding this winter, laying out next summer, or just cruising around town anytime of year, here are a few things you can do to help you keep your lips protected:

Choose your lipgloss carefully - Because of it’s shiny, reflective nature, some dermatologists claim that applying lipgloss and then going in the sun is the equivalent of taking a magnifying glass and focusing the concentrated sun rays directly on your lips. Wow. I’m a lipgloss junkie and I’ve never realized how harmful some lip products could be. If you’re going to wear lipgloss, choose one that has a high level of SPF included in its formula.

Use a high SPF Chapstick or lip balm - If your absolute favorite lipgloss doesn’t have SPF in it, you MUST find a chapstick or baselayer lip balm that has it so that you can wear the protective product underneath. Look for an SPF level on the label, or for ingredients like titanium dioxide or zinc oxide (sunscreens that will provide the protection your lips need). We would recommend wearing a lip balm with at least SPF 30 underneath all your lip colors at all times. The bonus: these products will keep your lips extra moisturized too!

Opt for a lipstick instead - Since lipsticks have more pigment than lipglosses, using one will provide you with better sun protection. Matte lipsticks especially have an advantage over glosses because they are less reflective and have the most coverage of lipstick formulas.

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Tags: chapstick, lip balm, lipgloss, lips, lipstick, skin cancer

Quick Makeup for the Gym

Posted by SoKiss&Makeup on January 7th, 2009
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With New Year’s Resolutions in full swing, the gyms are packed with people determined to stick to their new fitness goals. Since so many of us decide we want to improve our fitness, lose weight or simply work out more, here are some quick makeup tips to help you stick with your 2009 New Year’s fitness resolutions. You can pull off this look in less than five minutes - so that you can you can get on your way and and get going. And we all know that getting out the door is half the battle!

• Instead of your regular foundation, use a tinted moisturizer or light foundation (like MAC’s Studio Fix). These types of products can be applied more quickly than a full-on primer, foundation and powder routine. They will also allow your skin to breathe while you are working up a sweat. You can skip blush as well as bronzer because your workout will naturally give you some added color.

photo credit: Jazz Defo
• Choose a neutral eyeshadow color with some subtle shimmer that is close to your natural skin tone. Apply the shadow from your lash line to your crease and then blend up towards your brow bone. This will give you a natural dewy glow that’s perfect for a quick workout look.
• Use a flat, angled brush to apply a light or dark brown eyeshadow to your lash line as an eyeliner. Follow up with a coat of mascara in brown or black-brown. This will give your eyes a soft, natural look that’s not too harsh for the gym.
• Finally, apply a little Chapstick to keep your lips soft and then apply a neutral pink or beige lipgloss on top to complete your look.

I’ve found that I feel more motivated when I feel put together (no matter where I go). I also tend to feel more positive about my workouts when I feel good inside and out… this five minute makeup routine can help you feel more like working out so that you can stick with your goals.. and make 2009 all you hoped it would be!

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Tags: chapstick, eyeliner, eyeshadow, fitness, gym, lipgloss, Makeup Tips, natural beauty, natural makeup, neutral makeup, workouts