Ten Thrifty Tips for Radiant Skin

/PRNewswire/ -- Beautiful skin without spending a lot of cash? It's true. In fact, you may actually save money on skin care this year, while also boosting your health, lowering your stress level and cleaning out your cabinets.

Skin care guru Celeste Hilling has spent more than 15 years researching and designing products in the quest to help people build and maintain radiant skin. With the ten thrifty tips, this host of "Skin Health TODAY" and CEO of Skin Authority is empowering you to throw away your old ways of thinking, "It's a new year, and time for a new you to embrace a new way of looking at skin care. Open your eyes, mind and bathroom cabinets to new ideas for skin care and you can keep your wallet closed!"

So, what's stopping you? Time for the top ten:

1. Out With the Old -- discard your beauty products one year after opening them because bacteria can grow in the bottle or jar potentially causing infections or irritation when applied to the skin. Use special caution with jars in which you dip your fingers or hands as those tend to have more active bacteria growth. It's a good idea to write the date purchased on the bottom of new products so that you know when it has reached the end of its useful life.

2. Simplify your Beauty -- you have 20 products on your shelf and don't have a clue how to use them! Simplify to no more than three to four steps in the morning and at night. In the morning, you need a mild cleanser, an anti-oxidant such as Vitamin C and a sunscreen moisturizer. Before you go to bed, use resurfacing ingredients such as AHAs and retinols in addition to restorative peptides.

3. Wash your Face -- it sounds simple and it is, cleaning your skin is one of the most important things you can do when you wake up and before you go to bed. Remove make-up and deep cleanse in one step by using cleansers incorporating AHAs, which are antibacterial and remove dead skin cells.

4. Hands Off -- regardless of the urge, keep your hands off your pimples! By pushing and prodding, you are actually pushing bacteria deeper, causing more inflammation and potentially scarring the skin.

5. Stop Smoking -- in addition to its negative, carcinogenic effects on your body and overall health, smoking causes premature aging. Cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 toxins, many of which are absorbed directly into the bloodstream and are taken by the blood into the skin's structure. Smoking also thins the skin, reduces collagen and contributes to an unflattering "apple" body shape in women.

6. More Sleep, Less Stress -- we don't live in a utopian society, so it's tough to manage enough sleep to make a difference in our stress levels. As one of the biggest impairments to skin care is stress, ease into a good night's sleep by turning off the television, taking a warm bath, dimming the lights and practicing breathing exercises.

7. Sun Protection -- the sun is not your skin's friend. Use sunscreen every day, rain or shine. To determine the quality of a sunscreen, check the SPF number on the label (those with SPF 15 or greater yield the best results), and the active ingredient label to make sure it has UVA-blocking elements such as titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or anything in the avobenzone family.

8. Cost Per Ounce -- shop for skin care the way that you shop for food, by looking at the cost per ounce. What you'll find is that products from spas and salons are a great bargain as they include complimentary consultations with a licensed esthetics expert, which you won't receive when buying products at grocery, drug or discount stores.

9. Don't Buy Products Based on Price -- while we're on the subject of money, just because a product is expensive, does not mean it's amazing. On the other hand, a product that costs less may not be a bargain that will work for you. Instead of shopping by price, evaluate the concentration of active ingredients and ensure any treatment product has a pH below four. The human skin ranges from 4.5-5.5 pH. A product should be below the pH level of the skin for maximum penetration. Otherwise, you might as well be using water!

10. Free Skin Care Coaching -- in light of the economy, Hilling has developed her own Skin Health Stimulus Package. Everyone now has access to a free phone or online consultation with a licensed professional to help them make safer, wiser choices on where to spend their skin care dollar or better utilize the products they already have. Simply dial 1.866.325.SKIN (7546) and say that you want to join the Beauty Workout.

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