Easy ways to be sexy for Valentine's Day

Maximize Your Lashes
1. Start by curling your lashes. Gently pinch lashes at the roots and then move along the length, making pulse-like squeezes as you go.

2. Apply mascara by wiggling the wand back and forth at the roots to deposit as much of it as possible before pulling the wand straight up.

3. To make lashes look long and separated, apply three coats of mascara—but comb through the mascara while it's still wet with a clean, dry spooley brush.

Get Smooth Lips
1. Exfoliate: Slather on a lip balm with a touch of alphy hydroxy acid.

2. Moisturize: Apply a creamy balm containing petrolatum, shea butter, hyaluronic acid, dimethicone, or ceramides.Avoid waxy formulas (their ingredients may not penetrate) as well as anything heavily flavored or fragranced (which can make chapping even worse).

3. Add color: Try a tinted balm .

Refresh Your Complexion
Exfoliate once or twice a week with an at-home peel containing glycolic, alpha hydroxy, or salicylic acid.Your skin will look shinier and more taut.

For normal skin: Use a one-step salicylic or glycolic acid peel.

For oily or combination skin: Choose peels meant to be used every day.

For sensitive skin: Use a gentle peel no more than once a week.


Apply Fragrance Like a Pro
Spritz fragrance on your pulse points, which give off heat and release the scent: your wrists, inner elbows, temples, neck hollow, behind the ears, and behind the knees. Apply no more than two drops of perfume, three sprays of eau de parfum, and four hits of eau de toilette. And since, over time, you become desensitized to the smell of a fragrance, resist the urge to pile it on, and stick to the amount you used when you first wore the fragrance.

Get Your Smoothest Shave Ever
Choose a razor with five blades.Once you're in the shower or bath, wait three minutes for warm water to soften hair. Instead of soap (it clogs your razor), use a shaving cream or gel (it creates a smooth barrier between your skin and the blades). In a pinch, hair conditioner or a creamy body wash can work.

For legs: Start above the ankle and work upward in six-inch sections. Rinse the razor between each stroke. To get your knees and ankles, pull the skin taut with one hand and glide the razor with the other.

For underarms: Shave at different angles, since the hair grows every which way. Move the blade upward, then down, then across, rinsing it clean and relathering between strokes.

For the bikini line: Avoid irritation by angling the blade in the direction of hair growth and gently shaving with the grain.


Give Yourself a Flush
Don't underestimate how good blush can make you look. A cream formula looks the most natural, goes on sheer, and is easy to blend. To find your best shade, gently pinch your cheeks and match the blush to the color you get.


Try a Scented Body Oil
For smooth, glowing skin all over, switch from your normal lotion and apply a lightly fragranced body oil.

Keep It Lightweight
In the winter, when skin tends to be dry and dull, less foundation is definitely more.Your face will look much more awake if you can still see your skin, a creamy formula with light-reflecting particles is recommended.Apply it with your fingers, so it can melt into the skin.


Get a Great Wax
There is nothing romantic about getting a bikini wax.Here's how to make the best of it:

Book it: Your hair has to be long enough—about a quarter-inch—for wax to work. Book your appointment accordingly, about every two to four weeks.

Prep your skin: For the closest wax, exfoliate with a body wash containing salicylic acid before your appointment, but don't apply any lotion.

Manage the pain: Pop two Advil an hour before your wax. Ask the waxer to tackle small areas at a time. And if you get red bumps afterward, apply aloe lotion or hydrocortisone cream.

Don't Forget Your Cleavage
The skin on your chest and cleavage has few oil glands and is more susceptible to brown spots. It also happens to be more sensitive, so while your favorite anti-aging cream will work, use it here just twice a week. Plan on showing a little skin? Sweep an illuminating body powder.

Dandruff

The main causes of dandruff are impairment of general health, development of a toxic condition mainly due to taking of wrong foods, constipation, and a low vitality due to infectious diseases.Other factors contributing to this disorder are emotional tension, harsh shampoos, exposure to cold, and general exhaustion.

The use of fenugreek seeds is one of the most important remedies in the treatment of dandruff. Two tablespoons of these seeds should be soaked overnight in water and ground into a fine paste in the morning. This paste should be applied all over the scalp and left for half an hour. The hair should then be washed thoroughly with soap-nut (ritha) solution or acacia concinna.

Diet plays an important role in the treatment of dandruff. To begin with, the patient should resort to an all-fruit diet for about five days and take three meals a day of juicy fruits.

Avoid citrus fruits, bananas, tinned fruits

After the all-fruit diet, the patient can gradually adopt a well-balanced diet, with emphasis on raw foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. Further short periods of an all-fruit diet for three days or so may be necessary at monthly intervals till the skin's condition improves.

The foremost consideration in the treatment of this disorder is to keep the hair and scalp clean so as to minimise the accumulation of dead cells.

The hair should be brushed daily to improve the circulation and remove any flakiness. The most effective way to brush the hair is to bend forward from the waist with the head down towards the ground, and brush from the nape of the neck towards the top of the head. The scalp should also be thoroughly massaged everyday, using one's finger tips and working systematically over the head. This should be done just before or after brushing the hair. Like brushing, this stimulates the circulation, dislodges dirt and dandruff, and encourages hair growth. Exposure of the head to the rays of the sun is also a useful measure in the treatment of dandruff.

7 Steps to Younger-Looking Skin

It’s never too late to reverse the effects of aging. Start now!

Cleanse up at night
Clear away the day’s debris

Dirt, bacteria, and makeup left on overnight can irritate skin, clog pores, and trigger breakouts. Remove this top layer of grime with a gentle face wash which also allows anti-agers to penetrate deeper for better results. Because oil production dips with hormonal changes in your 40s, cleansing twice daily can dry out your complexion and make wrinkles look more pronounced. To refresh skin in the morning, splash with lukewarm water.

Be UV-obsessed
Skin damage can happen at any time of year

Even 10 minutes of daily exposure to UVA "aging" rays can cause changes that lead to wrinkles and sunspots in as few as 12 weeks. If your moisturizer isn't formulated with a built-in broad-spectrum SPF 30 sunscreen, be sure to apply one daily to block both UVA and UVB rays.

Manage stress
They’re called frown lines for a reason!

Emotional upheavals can make your skin look 5 years older than your chronological age.Constant anxiety increases the stress hormone cortisol, which causes inflammation that breaks down collagen. It also triggers a chain of responses that can lead to facial redness and acne flare-ups. To quell inflammation, eat antioxidant-rich foods such as berries, oranges, and asparagus. When you're feeling tense, Wechsler recommends a few minutes of deep breathing (inhale through your nose, hold for 3 counts, and release through your mouth).

Use a retinoid
If you apply just one topical anti-ager, make it this
Research shows that these vitamin-A derivatives speed cell turnover and collagen growth to smooth fine lines and wrinkles and fade brown spots. Prescription-strength retinoids such as Renova provide the fastest results--you'll start to see changes in about a month. To help skin acclimate to any redness and peeling, apply just a pea-size drop to your face every third night, building up to nightly usage. Milder OTC versions (look for retinol) are gentler, although it can take up to 3 months to see noticeable results.

Update your routine
Refresh the products you use — and your complexion

Altering even one thing in your regimen every 6 to 12 months jump-starts more impressive improvements in tone and texture.When you apply products consistently, your skin slides into maintenance mode after about a year. To keep it primed for rejuvenation, substitute a cream that contains alpha hydroxy acids for your prescription retinoid twice a week to boost the benefits.

Eat omega-3s
They make you smart, they make you beautiful, what’s to lose?

These "good fats" in foods such as salmon, flaxseed, and almonds boost hydration, which keeps skin supple and firm. The same isn't true of the saturated fat in dairy products and meats, which increase free-radical damage that makes skin more susceptible to aging. Limit saturated fat intake to about 17 g daily.

Exercise regularly
Here’s a little extra motivation to burn calories

Studies find that women who work out regularly have firmer skin than similar non-exercisers. The reason: Exercise infuses skin with oxygen and nutrients needed for collagen production. To keep your skin toned, make time for at least three 30-minute heart-pumping workouts per week.