Boots Botanics Clay Mask Sucks Out Summertime Skin Problems

Clay mask. Every woman should have a tube or jar in her beautiful skin repertoire, especially during the hot, searing days of summer. And today, we are looking at Boots Botanics Conditioning Clay Mask. And you can pick up it up at Target for $8.99.

Why a clay mask? Very simple.....A clay mask can suck out the skin's impurities, like, oiliness, blackheads, blemishes, and other toxins that are stored in the epidermis.

And because Boots Botanics mask is a green clay, it's even more amazing at attacking the poisons in our skin.

According to what we 'un-masked,' so to speak, green clay or bentonite clay is one of the best types for a radiant complexion. We found this interesting nugget from wellsphere.com.

"Green Clay. The most absorbing of the Clays. Green Clay is generally used as a Face Mask for tissue repair, drawing toxins from the skin and to normalise excessive secretions of oil or sweat. Applied as a Face or Body Mask, facial clay masks cleanse, exfoliate, smoothe and soften the skin. Green clay is especially good at drawing toxins out.".

As you can see from the photo above (we found several pics on Google), when the Boots Botanics clay mask is done sucking out impurities, it will turn light green, after about 10 minutes. Merely rinse off with warm water, and enjoy softer, healthier-looking skin.

We heard about Boots Botanics Conditioning Clay Mask from a dermatologist on television last night, who recommended the Boots beauty product to suck out summertime skin problems.

We believe it, because green clay masks have always served us well. We can't wait to try this one.

Back To School Scramble For Denim: How About Just $15 A Pair

Denim is hot. Hotter than ever! And now, there's of course, the back to school scramble for denim.

We told you about Jessica Simpson's new line of jeans. And those are super sexy, too.

But what if you're on a tight budget and still need a few pairs heading back to college? How about just $15 a pair?!

No...this denim is not damaged or used in any way. The junior brands are well-known and loved: Paris Blues. Tyte. Revolt. YMI. Dollhouse. XOXO. Bisou d'Eve. Hot Kiss. Mudd. And many more.

It's all available at the 15dollarstore. Oh yeah.....every item is priced at just $15.

We found this pair--PARIS BLUES Zip Detail Skinny Jeans
Style No. LEY28960
Paris Blues skinny jeans feature decorative zip details on the front and back pockets. These five-pocket jeans have a whisker-wash across the lap and fit snug though the hips and down the skinny-fit legs. Inseam measures approximately 32.5”. *78% Cotton, 21% Polyester, 1% Spandex*Machine wash cold, tumble dry low
Price: $15.00. Retails for $72.00.

But you better hurry! The sizes left here for the Paris Blues are only available in 1, 3, 5, and 7.

Don't worry. There are tons of denim to choose from. And hopefully, the folks at 15dollarstore.com will re-fill the merchandise.

The only downside.....and it's a major one......Be sure you know your exact size in denim jeans, because there is no return policy. Ouch.

Sexy Sofia Vergara Plastic Surgery-Free? Makes Fun At Madonna's Face

Botox. Fillers. And plastic surgery. These cosmetic enhancements have been bouncing around the Hollywood headlines this week. Actresses accusing other actresses and celebrities of succumbing to the knife and/or too much Botox. And some, like Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher, posting Face Book photos without makeup, just to prove that she hasn't had any of that cosmetic stuff done recently.

What's going on??!!

The latest cat fight that has emerged, is the dopey one between sexy and younger Sofia Vergara of ABC's hit show Modern Family and Madonna. Actually, the iconic singer has not responded yet.

In case you might have missed this one.......the Colombian bombshell, at 38, gave an interview to Esquire Magazine, one in which the cat claws came out, and quite razor-sharp, we might add:

"L.A. is crazy. The women all look the same now," the Emmy nominee, 38, tells Esquiremagazine. "That thing with the cheeks. Like Madonna. Who do they think they're fooling? It doesn't make them look young. You end up looking like a freak." Sofia Vergara admits she may one day tweak her eyes. She also once considered a breast reduction, but her mom talked her out of it by telling her, "God is going to punish you if you cut them."

Sofia Vergara better pray the gossip rags don't find some before plastic surgery photos of her. There are rumors that Sofia's ample breasts were not the ones she was born with. And her upper lip looks thinner in some old commercial shots of her.

Meantime.....Madonna turns 52 next Monday. And yes, the singer has been talked about quite a lot these days, for the cosmetic surgery and fillers she supposedly has had.

The British call the look of too much fillers like Restylane, Juvederm, Collagen, Sculptra, and so on, pillow face, because of the over-inflated look these injections can create.

"A little filler goes a long way, according to injectables specialist Dr. Michael Prager:"The main problem arises," says Dr. Prager, "when celebrities don't just try to restore lost volume, but create a wholly new and artificial face. When I use filler, I'm not aiming to create something that wasn't there before. This is one of the biggest mistakes that can be made. Nor am I trying to create carbon copy or cookie cutter faces that all look the same."

Some people think Madonna has gone too far trying to re-capture the fountain of youth. But we think Sofia Vergara should be careful not to drop big names, because in Hollywood where just about every celebrity has gone under the knife or felt the sting of needles every few months, it could come back to bite Sofia in a major way.

Teri Hatcher Bare Face On Face Book To Show No Botox No Surgery

Teri Hatcher.

Hmmm. Would you say that she really is desperate, so to speak?!

Two days ago, the star of television's Desperate Housewives sat in her bathroom, makeup-free and turned the camera on herself, posting a bare-faced Teri Hatcher to the world, on her Face Book page. And two days later, we are still confused. But to Teri, what she did was a no-brainer.

Why? It was simple. The 45-year-old actress says she's tired of being accused of succumbing to Botox, plastic surgery, and/or implants. So, Teri Hatcher posted an album of self-portraits on Face Book to show women, especially, that she does have a few wrinkles, fine lines, and dark circles.

And this is a bit of what she wrote in FB:

...."Out of the bath getting ready for bed. Thought about all those damn critics of my face. Love it or hate it, my face that is, no surgery, no implants, no matter what "they" say. Decided I'd shoot myself in to reveal some truths about "beauty" and hope it makes you all easier on yourself.

Did I every toy with fillers or Botox over the years? yes. Tell me does this look Botoxed to you?

Yes I am alone in my bathroom naked in a towel on behalf of women everywhere trying to make a point. Women YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL
I can be mad, or confused or sad and tired. Julia Roberts had that same vein in her forehead in Eat Pray Love. Proud of Julia for being a real woman on a real journey.

45 year old me. Just me wanting to teach that all those glam versus trash pictures of celebs are about LIGHTING. It's not makeup it's not suregery [sic] or botox its LIGHT.".

We want to applaud Teri Hatcher for going makeup-free. Truly, wearing even a little bit of makeup makes a big difference in a woman's looks. And this shows it in an honest breath.

Yes, she looks lovely at 45. Do these photos from her bathroom prove that she has never, ever had any plastic surgery? No. Period.

We cannot prove that Teri Hatcher has done anything to her striking face. But we do know, after writing beauty articles, day after day, and interviewing the pros from the beauty and cosmetic worlds, that some beauty procedures are just that.....very subtle and not easily detected, when done right.

Teri Hatcher talks about that vertical forehead vein the she says she has and actress Julia Roberts also has showing on her forehead. Hate to break it to you ladies, but sometimes, the prominence of that vein, is a result of a Botox cosmetic injection. In other words, the vein can look more noticable after Botox treatments, as one plastic surgeon explains:

"A vein appearing after Botox may just be unmasked now that the muscle has been relaxed. When a muscle has more tone, it may press on a vein keeping it from being prominent. Once the muscle is more relaxed, that vein may be able to fill up more with fluid and become more visible. As the Botox wears off, the vein will go back down. "

We will take Teri Hatcher at her word, that she has no Botox, cosmetic surgery or implants at the moment. Why she felt the need to post an album of makeup-free self-portraits to her Face Book page is puzzling. She doesn't have to explain her attractive, youthful looks to anyone. She is an actress, and we understand the brutal culture we live in, where women are made to seem disposable after age 35 and where normal aging for a woman is unheard of, especially in Hollywood.

Maybe Teri Hatcher is just trying to survive on television. And so far, we think she is doing it well, with or without the help from a needle or scalpel.

Skechers Toning Shoes Don't Shape Beautiful Legs And Butt According To New Study

Sorry, Skechers.

The American Council on Exercise did a study, and found that toning shoes like Skechers Shape-Ups, "do not deliver the fitness or muscle toning benefits they claim."

Ouch! That means, ladies, that these odd, little shoes that make us walk harder do not 'build' us a better pair of legs or butt?! And these toning shoes do not help us lose weight?!

Well, Skechers isn't taking this one lying down. The popular shoe maker is fighting back, by claiming the study by the American Council on Exercise did not have any scientific basis. Skechers also says it would contest two new civil complaints against its Shape-Ups product line, saying the lawsuits were frivolous and targeted at extorting money from the company.

We've written before about toning shoes, like the FitFlop. And to us, the science seems pretty convincing. These shoes are purposely made to produce instability. That, in turn, signals your muscles to hold your posture. So as you take more and more steps, the body is being stimulated more and more and working more.

But maybe, Skechers has overly inflated the benefits of buying their Shape-Ups, by telling customers to, "get in shape without setting foot in a gym,". Still, there are many happy customers. We have read plenty of reviews, and a lot of women say these toning shoes give the entire leg and butt a strong work-out. And yes, women have lost weight wearing these shoes. By the way, the pair pictured above, are the Skechers Shape-Ups Xf-Accelerators ($100).

Remember the wooden-soled Dr. Scholls sandals from the 1970's? Those really gave your legs and butt a great work-out.And the Dr. Scholls company claims they are truly the original exercise or toning sandal.

We don't really care what this recent study shows. If women claim they are getting a good burn walking around in these toning shoes like Skechers Shape-Ups, then, let them keep walking. We don't see the harm in wearing these exercise shoes.

Women Still Talking About Recent Re-Touching Of Model By Ann Taylor

Re-touching. Photo-shopping. And now the popular retailer Ann Taylor is getting tons of publicity, but not the kind that mentions their beautiful clothing.

As long as the brilliant technology remains, we assume that 'designing' the so-called perfect, yet unattainable body, will continue with the images of ultra-skinny models selling clothing.

But when the gorgeous model herself, has been re-touched to appear even skinnier than she is in person, then we wonder what our culture is really trying to sell.

Website Jezebel.com recently uncovered an error admitted by the Ann Taylor shopping website, of a model having been photographed for the site, and then re-touched to appear much thinner. You can see the before & after shots(above) obtained by Jezebel.com. We think the before photo of the model shows a slender but healthy woman. The after picture shows a much tinier waist, hips, and bust, and all-over frame. We are confused with the photo-shopping and the reason for it.

And this technical glitch has been the talk-of-the-town for a number of days now. Ann Taylor got in hot water with another re-touching model incident a few months ago prior to this newest image altering.

Who cares? Well, a lot of women do. The models are skinny enough. This scary altering promotes a body image that is nearly impossible to achieve, even for an almost 6 foot tall model whose job is to maintain a very slender figure, to begin with.

The retailer told Jezebel.com that, "We agree that our re-touching has been overzealous."

We aren't picking solely on Ann Taylor. We happen to love their classic, lovely clothing. Even celebrated designer Ralph Lauren got raked over the coals several months ago, for an advertisement that depicted an extremely photo-shopped model, one who appeared to have a serious eating disorder. We are aware that re-touching or photo-shopping goes on quite a lot in the industry, for lighting purposes, and to make clothing appear more fitted and wrinkle-free. But erasing too many inches from a woman's body, makes you wonder.

Remember Naomi Wolf's best seller, The Beauty Myth? One woman commenting about the Ann Taylor re-touching error, left this quote from the book:

"More women have money and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers. . . . there is a secret "underlife" poisoning our freedom; infused with notions of beauty, it is a dark vein of self-hatred, physical obsessions, terror of aging, and dread of lost control. It is no accident that so many potentially powerful women feel this way. We are in the midst of a violent backlash against feminism that uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women's advancement: the beauty myth."

Simple Smart Hair Tips By Celebrity Stylist Ted Gibson

Celebrity Stylist Ted Gibson. He sure knows a lot of famous and beautiful heads of hair. Women like Angelina Jolie. Anne Hathaway. Debra Messing. Eva Mendes. And of course, the heads of many models.

Ted Gibson is Manhattan style...east coast chic.

And we just stumbled onto some simple, smart Hair Tips 101 by Ted Gibson for Teen Vogue. We thought we would share them with you:

1. Don't shampoo more than 3 times a week. Washing too much strips your hair of natural oils.

2. Overnight treatments replenish your mane while you sleep. Apply product to roots, work it through to the ends, and rinse in the morning.

3. If you want to grow your hair, try taking a supplement called Biotin. I've told a lot of actresses to use this B Vitamin.

And these are Ted Gibson's Must-Have beautiful hair products:

1. Icera Ceramic barrel with boar and ionic nylon bristles ($22, at Spornette-Icera. Ted says this brush "promotes shiny hair."

2. Ted Gibson's own product line, especially, his Goodnite Serum ($99) with essential oils and botanical extracts. Ted says his Goodnite Serum is "replenishing and volumizing."

3. Ted Gibson Hair Sheet ($14.99). This one intrigues us. It's a 'revolutionary towlette application and formula' that makes hair soft and shiny. And Ted says his hair sheet "adds texture but isn't heavy."

4. Regular Steel Wire Hair Pins. The old-fashioned kind you can pick up at any local drugstore. Ted adores these pins to "keep your hair up all night".

5. Ted Gibson's own Professional Flat Iron ($175). A wonderful accessory to create smooth hair. And as Ted reminds us all: "Always apply a heat styling product before flat-ironing, to avoid damage."

You can take a look at Ted Gibson's amazing hair products and accessories line here.