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How to Get Rid of Lip and Mouth Wrinkles

18 Mar

Wrinkles on the lips and upper mouth area are often the first signs of aging on the face and can appear as early as the 20’s. Women tend to get lip & mouth wrinkles more often than men due to the fact that our skin is thinner. While lip wrinkles can happen to anyone, they are accelerated by repeated movement, sun exposure, smoking and genetics.

How to Prevent Mouth and Lip Wrinkles

Women in your twenties and thirties, listen up! Now is the time to focus on PREVENTING mouth wrinkles. To prevent them from forming, diligently follow these tips:

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3 Easy Tricks to Get Rid of Blackheads

28 Feb

First things first – what are blackheads, anyway?

Blackheads are the starting phase of acne- they occur when oil is lodged in the pore, but not yet exposed to bacteria that turns it into a pimple. In short, blackheads are pimples waiting to happen.

Blackheads are caused when hormones in the skin cause stimulation of the oil glands (sebaceous glands), which leads to excess oil to be produced in the pore. This excess oil gets trapped within the pore leading to a ball of accumulated oil. When this oil it comes in contact with air, it becomes black in color.

Those with oily skin and those who apply a lot of makeup and don’t wash the skin thoroughly are more likely to suffer from blackheads.

How to get rid of blackheads

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How to Quickly Heal Dry or Peeling Skin

11 Feb

The winter months can wreak havoc on the skin…this is due to both internal and external factors at play:

  • External factors: Low humidity during winter enhances the drying effect on the skin. Exposure to dry wind, cold water or drying soaps further increases skin dryness.
  • Internal factors: When the skin becomes cold, the blood vessels supplying the skin become constricted. This reduces blood flow to the skin and sweat glands and oil producing glands in the body. When the water content of the skin diminishes both inside and outside, the skin cells become shrunken and dry. This produces flaking of the superficial skin cells. This irritates the nerves beneath and produces itching. In addition, most people do not feel as thirsty during winter, so do not drink enough water. This produces low volume of the circulating blood causing dehydration, another cause for skin dryness.


    • Here are 7 simple tips for healing extremely dry or peeling skin quickly.

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    Ask Melanie: Should I use the Clarisonic Brush?

    2 Feb

    Recently I’ve been dealing with an intriguing skin mystery. Many of my clients have been coming in to see me with dry, peeling, almost-raw skin. They all tell me they’ve been moisturizing, but still, their skin is unbelievably dry. After some digging, I found out the one factor all these people had in common: they were using the Clarisonic brush.

    If you haven’t heard of the Clarisonic brush, it’s a handheld electronic facial brush (see photo above) that “uses a patented sonic frequency of more than 300 movements per second to gently, yet thoroughly remove 6X more makeup and 2X more dirt and oil than cleansing with your hands alone.” Sounds great, right?

    Wrong. What they don’t mention is how unbelievably harsh this can be on your skin, especially when you use it the recommended two times a day, every day. From what i’ve seen in nearly a dozen clients, the bristles are so harsh that using the brush actually severaly irritates the skin and causses dryness, redness and stripping of the skin. Given this, I would strongly advise not using this product.

    The over-dryness caused by the Clarisonic brush is acutally linked to a larger issue of over-exfoliation in the winter. In the dry winter months, it is essential that you modify your exfoliation routine to avoid over drying the skin. Here are some guidelines:

    • Use an Exfoliating Cleanser no more than 2 times a week in the evenings. Apply the product in very gentle circular motions and rince by splashing warm water on your face 7-10 times (not by wiping it off with a wet wash cloth). Follow by spraying on an alcohol-free toner.
    • Use a chemical exfoliant like Reveal 10 2-3 times a week maximum, also in the evenings. Follow by applying a highly emollient moisturizer like Supermoist, Night Cream or Hydro Gel.

    Our Favorite Quick Tips for All Skin Concerns

    26 Jan

    Valentine’s Day is coming up, and we at Vasseur want to make sure that you take the time to love your skin too! Here are some of our favorite skin care tips for the most common skin concerns.

    • Large pores- The best way to minimize the appearance of large pores? Exfoliate. This reduces how deep the pore indents into the skin resulting in a smaller-pored look. In winter months, be careful not to over exfoliate; we recommend using an exfoliating cleanser no more than two times per week and using chemical exfoliants like Reveal 10 every other day.
    • Oily skin- All oily skin needs a moisturizer—no matter what. Did you know that not using moisturizer will actually make your skin more oily? When your skin doesn’t have the proper water levels, the dehydration causes the skin to produce oil giving you oilier skin. We recommend using our Day 25 Cream, which will give your skin both moisture and sun protection.

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    The Difference Good Skin Makes

    18 Jan

    Here’s a beauty secret that most people take for granted: going from ok skin to great skin can take your beauty and confidence to a whole new level. You may be thinking “It’s just skin – I can put on makeup to cover it up – what difference does it really make?” Well, let me demonstrate this powerful beauty tip with some real-life examples of celebrities who went from “meh” to “wow!” primarily by improving their skin.

    Leighton Meester (star of the CW’s Gossip Girl)

    The “Before” Problems:

    • Rosacea
    • Oily skin
    • Mild acne
    • Uneven skin tone

    If Leighton was my client, this is what I would have given her to achieve these results.

    • Service:
      • A pore detox facial to clean out the bacteria from her pores and give me a fresh face to work with
    • Products:
      • ALA with Azelaic Acid to use in the AM and PM to combat the rosacea and reduce inflammation
      • Benzoclear 5 to clear up her acne
      • Reveal 10 to reduce the surface oil and to improve/even out her overall skin tone
      • Day Glow cream for daily moisture, sun protection and a subtle glow

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    11 Ways to Look Younger and Healthier in 2011

    13 Jan

    1. Whiten your teeth. Teeth whitening is one of the fastest ways to brighten your look and an affordable way to look younger and healthier. Teeth whitening is fast, and what used to cost hundreds of dollars, can now be done professionally for between $129-$200 or at home for as little as $20.

    2. Update your hair style. Have you had the same hairstyle for more than 5 years? It s easy to fall into the hair rut – you find a cut that looks good on you and you don t give it another thought, pretty much EVER. It s worth the investment to go to what I call a “hair artist”. That is someone who stays current on new trends and who is gifted in creating a look that is unique to you and your features, hair texture and skin tone. How do you find a “hair artist” near you? Ask someone you know (or see on the street) who has a great cut who they go to or go on Yelp to find a stylist in your area with phenomenal reviews.

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    6 Skin Care Tips for Your Flight

    3 Dec

    Traveling by air this holiday season? Whether you know it or not, airplane travel can wreak havoc on your skin. This is due to the fact that airplane cabins have very low humidity, which cause skin to get extremely dehydrated. The dry air looks for moisture where it can get it and that means robbing it right from your skin! But not only will dry skin become drier, oily skin will get oilier. When the skin has no water, it attempts to compensate for the dehydration by producing more oil—which is the last thing that oily skin needs.

    GET YOUR SKIN FLIGHT-READY

    #1 Use a skin serum
    Since the cabin of airplanes have low humidity, you must load your skin up with as much hydration and protection as possible. Apply a serum to deliver moisture deep within the layers of the skin while providing a seal to help the skin retain its moisture. We recommend our rejuvenating Green Tea Serum.

    # 2 Make sure apply sunscreen over skin serum
    Did you know that when you are in an airplane, you’re closer to the sun so UV damage is at its greatest? The windows on an airplane don’t filter out damaging UV rays, so even though you are not in direct sunlight, you are still exposed to the harmful rays. And we all know, UV rays = skin aging and wrinkles. Wear a minimum of SPF 25 on the face, neck and sides of the neck; foundation makeup containing SPF is not enough. The sunscreen must be built into your moisturizer, like our Day 25 Cream.

    CARING FOR YOUR SKIN WHILE ON THE PLANE

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    The Fastest Way To Clear A Zit

    4 Nov

    Don’t you hate it how blemishes always seem to pop up at the absolute worst times – like before a big date or presentation at work? This inconvenient phenomenon occurs because stress triggers an inflammatory response in the body, which in turn can cause zits to flare up. Today’s post is my simple but extremely effective method to get rid of a zit quickly -  in as little as 1 hour. The next time you have an unwelcome blemish pop up, try this method.

    Step One: Clean it. Cleanse the area and thoroughly wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap.

    Step Two: Ice it. Next, ice the blemish for a full three minutes. Icing the blemish will reduce the inflammation, redness and swelling and increase the absorption of treatment products.  We created a convenient mini cold compress tool for this called the Ice Zit. If you don’t have an Ice Zit, grab an ice cube from your freezer.

    Step Three: Treat it. Now apply a dab of Benzoclear (benzol peroxide) followed by Kiss Zit Goodbye. Benzoclear will oxenegate the area and kill the infection and Kiss Zit Goodbye will penetrate deeply to pull out the remaining impurities lingering beneath the surface. Kiss Zit Goodbye is truly the strongest blemish treatment product on the market, and the only one that contains the powerhouse combination of mandelic acid, azelaic acid, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, zinc, and our trademarked vassoclear. Its one of the best products i’ve ever created (my clients call it “the miracle worker”). Leave the Kiss Zit Goodbye on for 15-20 minutes.

    Repeat steps two and three several times until the blemish is substantially or completely gone. With a blemish that is just beneath the surface and has not fully formed, this method will prevent it from popping up. For fully-formed white heads or cysts, you may need to repeat the process 4-5 times before you see a dramatic change.

    So next time you get a zit, just remember: cleanse it, ice it and treat it. Happy zit zapping!

    Maximize Your Skin Care’s Effectiveness: Refrigerate It!

    25 Oct

    It goes without saying that you need to avoid exposing your skin care to direct sunlight or extreme hot or cold. But, did you know that refrigerating your skin care will keep it fresh longer?

    Our cells respond better to ingredients that are enzymatically alive, and refrigerating products helps to keep them living and fresh longer. As an added bonus, cooler products will give your anti-aging products more of a lifting effect, and will help acne products penetrate your skin deeper and decrease skin redness. Refrigeration also speeds up the time it takes products to penetrate the skin: a room-temperature product can take one to two hours to work versus only 10 minutes when it’s been in the fridge.

    I’m aware that it may not be practical or convenient to refrigerate all of your skin care products, and for that reason,  I recommend refrigerating more expensive products like serums or firming creams to get more bang for your buck. If you use Vasseur products, I recommend refrigerating ALA, DMAE, Idebenone, Benzoclear and Serums in particular. Another idea: get a cute mini-cooler or fridge to put in your bathroom to stock your skin care.

    Want more skin care tips? Like Vasseur Skincare on facebook and get a skin care tip of the day!

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