Your Key To Beautiful Skin

from bath and body

A soak in a tub for about 15 minutes will rehydrate your skin, but add good bath oil and you'll soften and moisturize the skin like you can't believe. The oil, which smells nice and floats in shimmery little slicks on the water, actually clings to the body as you leave the tub—instantly sealing in the moisture the skin has soaked up from the bath.

Wait until after you've run a warm bath, then sprinkle in five or six drops of bath oil. Salts can be added as the bath runs, but if you add the oil under running water, the vapours will dissipate by the time you get in, and you'll lose much of their olfactory benefit.

Remember, if you dry brush your skin a couple of times a week before your bath or shower, you won't need a moisturizer after a bath. But if you enjoy the way it smells or feels, go ahead and tantalize IS your senses—especially on dry or sensitive areas like the elbows, knees, and décolleté. When you use scented moisturizers, you will smell good without using perfume. The ideal time to moisturize is directly after a bath or shower, when the skin is wet and most receptive to moisture.

If your skin is oily, stick to lotions rather than creams. Lotions are lighter because they contain less oil and more water. Avoid products that contain olive oil and mineral oil-based lotions and creams, which can clog the skin. Look for lotions with silicones (ingredients ending in "-one"), because they won't clog the pores.

It pays to be picky and avoid petroleum- or mineral oil-based moisturizers. Mass-market cosmetics manufacturers almost always use petroleum and mineral oil in their moisturizers because they are vastly cheaper than alternatives like beeswax, jojoba, vegetable squalene, and shea butter. Okay—it won't harm you to use these occasionally, and it won't harm some people at all. But it doesn't help much, either. Unlike plant and certain animal oils (kalaya), mineral oil won't absorb into even the top layer of skin. It just sits there, greasing up and smothering the skin, which means that if your skin is oily, it can lead to breakouts. If your skin is dry, it can actually make it drier—like some soft drinks that make you more thirsty—by mopping up your skin's natural oils.