How To Get Skinny In 2011 With One Easy Yoga Position

This is it! The big secret to staying skinny for the rest of your life, ladies.

And we have tested this one, easy yoga position for the last two years now, and it works! We have NOT gained more than a pound or two, in those couple of years. And at the moment, we are 2 pounds skinnier since that time.

We are talking about the Sarvangasana, or in non-yoga talk---the shoulder stand. And there are many health and beauty benefits to practicing the Sarvangasana daily. We get into this position upon arising each morning, and quietly meditate for 2 minutes in a shoulder stand.

The yoga shoulder stand. It does a body good! No kidding.

Many yoga students have experienced incredible weight normalization with the aid of the shoulder stand. The thyroid gland is stimulated during the pose. The shoulder stand helps to promote the correct functioning of the thyroid by increasing the blood supply into the throat area.

Not only is the shoulder stand great for weight control, it also helps those suffering with asthma. As Raghuram, a yogi who has taught yoga to some 16,000 asthmatic patients worldwide, explains it, "In this posture, the diaphragm muscle is strengthened because it has to work against gravity. This opens the chest and improves lung capacity."

The yoga shoulder stand is also good for those with varicose veins, since it allows the blood to flow out of the legs. The exercise pose does wonders for your belly and legs, too. It strengthens them and tones them up.

If you can do the shoulder stand for 2 minutes, once a day, you will gradually pick up the benefits. Start out slowly, and be sure your chin is pressed against your chest during the pose. Breathe slowly and deeply.

Do not attempt the shoulder stand if you suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure, glaucoma, or slipped discs (always best to check with your doctor before trying). And do not get into this position during your period. The inversion of your body can cause dizziness or nausea. However, doing the shoulder stand when you don't have your period, is said to relieve the onset of menstrual cramps in the long run.

We got scolded by one person, who commented that, "Doing one Asana alone is not sufficient. Yoga is a life style."

Yes and no. We agree that practicing yoga is a super way to stay healthy. But we have also learned, the Sarvangasana is known as "the Queen of the asanas" because of its many benefits. So, if you find that your time is limited in the course of Yoga practice, it is recommended to concentrate on this one, easy position--the shoulder stand.

Happy New Year!

How To Get Better Skin From Inside Out With 2 Pills Per Day

Beauty in a bottle. Does it really exist?

We have tackled this subject many times before, and each occasion we discuss the challenge, we admit, that the science of beauty and all its technological advances are making a major difference for women these days.

Back in the days of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, a simple egg white mask was a way to tighten skin and bring a temporary glow to the complexion. There weren't too many options for pushing back the clock.

But times have changed. In fact, there is at least one beauty company that swears you can develop better skin from the inside out with just 2 pills per day. And some beautiful celebrities are already popping their way to a brighter, more even skin tone and texture.

The product is GliSODin Skin Nutrients Advanced Skin Brightening pills ($80 for 60 pills). And the company claims that their all natural melon-plant-derived antioxidants promote even skin tone by halting the activity of tyrosinase, the enzyme responsible for hyperpigmentation.

Actresses like Drew Barrymore and Kristen Stewart are big fans of GliSODin beauty ingestibles. The company offers both beauty powders and pills.

Drew loves the Detox Formula ($125) because it," keeps my skin smooth and glowing".

And young Kristen is hooked on GliSODin's Advanced Brightening Formula ($80).

According to the company's website About page, the drinkable beauty concept came about in the City of Lights:

"GliSODin® is a unique non-genetically modified melon extract naturally rich in superoxide dismutase (SOD), combined with wheat protein to protect its SOD activity within the intestinal cells. GliSODin was developed by Isocell Laboratories, based in Paris, France. Isocell Laboratories is a leading company in anti-aging medicine, clinical research, and dermatological advancement and is the owner of GliSODin’s two US patents.

The GliSODin lineoffers 4 key products for total skin health. The products are available at beauty spas, and the offices of dermatologists and plastic surgeons around the country. Check it out here.

It's a brand New Year, and maybe, just maybe, it's possible to become more healthy and beautiful from the inside out in 2011.

Tired Eyes After Ringing In 2011 Tonight: Look Forward To New Non-Prescription Botox

Many of us will be celebrating the new year tonight, and that means plenty of champagne and spirits to go around and around, until the room starts spinning.

By tomorrow, we will have some very tired-looking eyes. And we're not talking about wrinkles. We'll get to those in a minute.

First of all, you need to plan ahead. If you're going to be in the mood to merry-make, then you will need to give your peepers some extra TLC. It's all in the eyes, ladies:

Eyes get very dry from too much alcohol. That's called dehydration. You need drops. We recommend Visine Tears Lubricant Eye Drops ($9.99, drugstores). Instantly get dry eye relief in a natural tears formula. These drops refresh tired eyes and provide coolness and comfort.

And here's some super beauty news to look forward to in 2011:

No-needle, non-presctiption Botox.
That's right. In cream form, right in the privacy of your own home. For real? Yes, indeed. In fact, hopefully, sometime in the new year of 2011, the amazing wrinkle smoother will be available in a topical cream called Revance. Say goodbye to the sting of the Botox needle and hello to a simple and painless rub-in cream. Genius, we say. Botox already enjoys a huge following. It is THE most popular cosmetic injectable.

The latest clinical trials on Revance show amazing results:

"The benefits of RT001(Revance) are clear; patients achieve meaningful aesthetic results with a simple, painless procedure" said Richard Glogau, MD, Clinical Professor of Dermatology at University of California, San Francisco and principal investigator for the study,
"The superficial muscles in the crow's feet area can be relatively difficult to inject; this treatment will allow physicians to obtain a more consistent result while maintaining patients' natural expressions".

This is quite a beauty breakthrough, ladies and gents! Revance has been shown to be very effective for those pesky crow's feet, which is welcome news by many.

So, for this evening, and into early tomorrow, 2011, forget about the wrinkles, and just focus on those tired eyes, and throw a little bottle of Visine in your makeup bag. You might just need it.

Happy New Year!!

Prevention Magazine Loves NeoStrata's Foaming Glycolic Wash AHA 20

Here at Beauty Tip Today, we're always on the hunt for a super facial cleanser. And we have found yet another!

Santa Michelle over at the NeoStrata skin care company located in Princeton, New Jersey, graciously dropped one at our doorstep.

It's called NeoStrata Foaming Glycolic Wash AHA 20 ($32, 3.4 fl oz.), and worth every penny. In fact, Prevention Magazine featured the cleanser in their July issue, as part of the popular magazine's, 'Defy Your Age' challenge:

Smooth Your Fine Lines and Wrinkles!
"Smooth wrinkles with the following products and these 3 Defy Your Age basics:
1. Cleanse Every Night: Leaving dirt, excess oil, and makeup on overnight can irritate skin, clog pores, and trigger break-outs. To refresh skin in the morning, splash with lukewarm water."

This is why we adore the NeoStrata Foaming Glycolic Wash AHA 20. It is an excellent beauty product containing 18% Glycolic acid and 2% Lactobionic acid. The formula is pH balanced and quite strong, but also gentle on skin. It is recommended for experienced AHA (AlphaHydroxyAcid) users.

We found the Glycolic wash to be very effective....It deeply cleans the skin, keeps acne away, and leaves you with a much smoother texture. And a little foam goes a long way. Quite an economical beauty item.

Let's be honest. It's time to switch to a 'big girl' cleanser. Say bye-bye to soap formulations. You must exfoliate your skin, and this NeoStrata Glycolic Wash AHA 20 does what it says on the bottle.

For more details about NeoStrata skin care, and the Prevention mag 'Defy Your Age' challenge, click here.

Trend Alert: Turquoise Chandeliers Hot For Winter Style

Hey....Look at me!

If you're wearing a pair of turquoise chandeliers, you will get noticed. Remember Samantha Jones (here) with those gigantic turquoise danglers in Sex and the City 2?! Okay, maybe those were a bit gaudy, but if anyone could rock them, it's Samantha.

When you think of turquoise, you're reminded of warm summer days and cool ocean breezes. But Hollywood's hottest celebrities are chasing away the winter blues these days with a bright pop of color.

Trend alert: Turquoise chandeliers are so in!

A-list beauties like Vivica A. Fox, Rachel Zoe, and Rose McGowan are just a few showing up at major events with some major aquamarine ear accents. And not to worry, because a little turquoise never hurt anyone-----it flatters all complexions.

We found a really cute pair of Gold-Plated Turquoise Chandeliers by Amrita Singh Water Mill earrings ($40, at Fashion Hippo) (bottom photo).

You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars for great turquoise earrings, but owning one pair will help you set the winter trend for 2011.

Halogen Bulbs Best Lighting For Applying Makeup When Daylight Won't Do

This is an important beauty question.....Under what lighting do you apply makeup?

We've all heard that natural daylight is the best light for putting on your foundation, concealer, blush, mascara, liner, powder, and so forth.

Why? Because you can see every 'nook and cranny' across your face. Natural daylight is truly unforgiving, but at least you can tell when the blush is a bit much, or the powder you've applied, has been over-done and settled into your fine lines.

What you don't want to do, is put on your makeup under the nasty fluorescent lighting that you see most commonly in offices and office bathrooms. The lighting there gives off a harsh green cast, and no one's complexion looks pretty under afluorescent halo.

Professional makeup artists will tell you that halogen lighting is the best way to go when applying makeup, if you can't get a good dose of natural daylight into your room, or you are applying makeup at night.

Halogen lighting is incandescent lighting and very close to the look of natural daylight. But it gives off sharper detail.

Most of us have incandescent bulbs in our lamps at home. And the lighting that emerges is soft and yellow, and flatters the skin, but the halogen bulbs give a better level of detail, and that is key when putting on makeup.

The only bad thing we can find about halogen lighting, is that the bulb gets very, very hot. It is excellent in overhead lighting like a chandelier. But when replacing a halogen bulb, one must use caution:

"Do NOT touch the glass envelope. The salts in your skin oils penetrate and weaken the glass. The bulb not only has a shorter life, but when the bulb dies the filament doesn’t merely burn out, but rather the bulb envelope shatters."

Well, having learned all that, if you can put on makeup in natural daylight, you will always get the best and most honest lighting for your skin.

Retinoids Refresh Face And Neck: Now Add Some To Baby Hands

Retinoids.

We know some 40 years later, that these Vitamin A derivatives, most notably Retin-A and Renova, do a face and neck a lot of good.

Retinoids have the chemical compounds that can brighten skin, soften fine lines and wrinkles, and improve skin texture.

So why not take a little left-over from your nightly ritual and baby your hands.

Let's be honest here.......Hands can be a dead giveaway, as we like to say. Most times, we are so busy trying to 'save' our faces and necks, that we forget to even treat our precious hands.

New York Dermatologist Heidi Waldorf has this advice:

Apply the same retinoid you put on your face and neck to your hands. And then, add a layer of Vaseline on top. Wear a pair of cotton gloves to bed.

In the morning, your hands will feel and look a lot smoother and softer. And you will be protecting them from further environmental damage. Even brown spots on hands will slowly lighten up and gently fade.

Retinoids usually come in prescription form, such as Retin-A, Renova, Avita, Tazorac, and several others.

But you can buy retinoids in creams and serums over-the-counter and still get excellent results. These might not be as powerful as Retin-A, but they are certainly less irritating. Try RoC Retinol Correxion Deep WrinkleNight Cream ($22, at drugstores).

Here's to younger-looking hands in 2011!