Fuller Lips without Chemicals or Injections!!

For those that don't already know, I own my own small beauty company. It's one that accidentally threw me into the entrepreneurial world at a time in my life when most others are headed for retirement. I have been asked countless times why I started the business and invented my first product, Fullips, and the truth is it sprang out of necessity.

As I got older and started facing some more common aging issues (like thin lips), I went searching for options outside of injections. While I know many that have encountered no issues with their injections, I always just personally prefer natural options, at least for as long as I can get them!  I feel like looking good at any age is important and people should always do what works best for them.

I'm also not one to shell out a lot of money on treatments and certainly don't like pain or needles, so I tried the various plumping glosses and gels on the market. Some stung, some worked for a brief moment, and some did nothing. I wanted plump lips, but not red, burning ones from chemicals.

I knew lips naturally plump up when we're well hydrated because fluid draws to the lips and if someone sucks on your lips while kissing, they also plump up. So I decided to find a way to combine those two things into a beauty tool that would temporarily provide what I was looking for.

Self-suction turned out to be my answer! Figuring out that one size enhancer doesn't fit all was a bit of a chore, but after sucking on dozens of things and understanding what worked best, Fullips was born!  Add a little lipstick and liner and for those of us older women who have lost our lips, voila!

There are so many options for helping slow the aging process both inside and out. There are invasive products and natural products. I don't think there is a right or wrong, but simply what works best for you. Cost is often a factor as well. The key is to do research, talk to people about what you're considering, and interview several doctors if you decide to do a more invasive procedure. Remember to ask about maintenance and take it all into consideration.

Here's to your health first and your looks to follow!

Pretty, Soft and Happy Feet!

Living in the desert like I do (being in Las Vegas), where snow is non-existent and rainy days are few, sandals can be worn almost year round. This also means our feet are constantly exposed and take a beating, a little extra attention especially with open toed shoes, never hurts. 

However, for most people, even if we are wearing winter boots and shoes, having our feet soft and looking nice is always a plus! If you'd like to give your feet some much needed TLC, here are a few great tools for between your pedi appointments! 

First on my list, the Silk Feet Exfoliating Microscreen. I stumbled across this at Bed, Bath, & Beyond of all places. It's inexpensive at $6.99 and it beats out any pumice stone you've ever tried! It's a flexible mesh steel material and works wonders! 

Follow it up with a foot cream, of which I've tried many! My recent obsession is the Burt’s Bees Honey and Bilberry Cream. It smells so tempting and soaks right in without leaving a greasy, slippery mess to walk around in.

If you're looking for a total "makeover" and your feet are in rough shape, you can try the electronic file tool by Amope. It's a little pricier at about $36.99, but it does the job and with no effort! 

Additionally, for those that have ever been curious of the Baby Foot peel, if you have a free week where you can cover up your feet and let it do its magic (trust me, you won't want to be wearing sandals during the peel process), you will indeed come away with remarkably baby soft feet! 

Happy treading!

Baby Boomers and Skin Cancer

For those of us over 50, baby oil and iodine may be an all too familiar memory of our 20’s. Throw in a reflector followed by a top notch sunburn and that’s how I attained that perfectly bronzed body during my younger days. Knowing what we all know now, the idea isn’t quite as appealing these days!

As a consequence of the era where we baked until we were a fine golden brown, many of us are now keeping our dermatologist busy. And if you haven't visited your doctor yet, you may want to consider it!

Skin cancer has different types, but as with many others, the earlier you catch it, the better options you have for treatment.

From my own experiences, don’t ignore anything. I recently noticed a very tiny spot in the small of my back. A quick biopsy determined it was squamous cell carcinoma and I had MOH surgery to remove it. A tiny scar that’s now hardly even noticeable is a small price to pay. Had I waited, it would have been larger and could have spread. A spot on my face was also suspicious and frozen off. Left a slight white mark, but again far better than waiting and needing a more invasive procedure. 

While none of us want scars, the techniques used for these removals when caught early are minimal and certainly better than the alternatives!

For scars on your face, long-lasting coverage concealers work beautifully, and using one with sunscreen is even better. Hats, sunglasses with UV protection (very important) and sunscreen are a must.

And being covered doesn't mean you can't still have that sun-kissed look with your favorite bronzer. My current favorite is Benefit’s Hoola Matte Bronzer in a powder and of course tanning moisturizers will work too!

As always, it's never too late to protect your beautiful skin so please use that sunscreen! If it's exposed and the sun is out, you’re at risk. And make that call to the doc for your skin check. The sooner the better!

Little Changes...Good For Your Health and Your Waistline!

Summer often sees a rapid increase in health memberships for those of us hoping to get back into those swimsuits. There’s the old saying, “you are what you eat”, and if that’s the case I’m currently a giant piece of pie.

When we’re younger foods often affect growth and development. Sugar and caffeine are obviously not good for growing youngsters and in your youth you may not need the daily caffeine boost.  As we age, however, that morning cup of coffee can be our biggest reason for getting out of bed! Lucky for us, getting older has its perks, and recent studies have shown caffeine to be beneficial for us grown-ups. From reductions in cardiovascular disease and diabetes to psychological pick-me-ups, it’s proving to be quite curative!

While many of our nutrition habits are often established in childhood, as adults we have so much more information at our fingertips for easy ways to be healthier and adopt better habits! These habits can improve our physical as well as our mental health.

Sugar of course is one of the biggest saboteurs to our good intentions and unfortunately seems to pop up in anything that doesn’t grow out of the ground. It’s a plague for those at risk for diabetes or struggling with weight gain. And while it’s easy for some to suggest cutting it out altogether, it’s sometimes easier to figure out what “good” you can add to your diet, rather than subtract from it. So, what are some things we can all easily do to get results from the inside out this year? Here are a couple tips to make you feel and look better for the summer weather, without needing a gym membership or a crash diet!

Grab an Omega-3! Aside from the amazing brain-boosting properties like helping to reduce Alzheimer’s risks and depression, fatty acids are also connected to lowering heart disease and raising Vitamin D levels. And if that wasn’t enough, they contribute to the healthy skin and shiny hair we all want more of! Adding one or two servings a week of fish like Salmon into your diet can provide all these worthwhile results without any giant lifestyle changes.

Try something new! Whether it’s a food or activity, new things are always fun! Did you like riding a bike as a kid? Chances are you still will! Take an evening stroll after dinner and enjoy the winter season. If you’re a foodie, find a way to try out some things that are making the news. Many swear by anti-aging fruits like papaya which helps breaks down proteins and ease digestion. And the currently popular coconut oil and avocado have a whole host of uses and benefits. Obviously diet is a huge factor for weight, so if you just want to start somewhere, change just one thing at a time and go slowly. Maybe ditch the soda at lunch or replace your morning doughnut with a quinoa-oatmeal blend. Over time, little changes add up!

And for the beauty lovers needing a little pampering, here’s one more fun use for the great avocado!

Quick Avocado Face Mask:

Mash 1/2 Avocado really well. Dissolve 1 teaspoon honey in 2 tablespoons of hot water and add to the avocado. Smooth onto face avoiding the eye and mouth area. Leave 10 minutes and wash away.

Thinning lips? There are lots of tips to help!

As we age many things change--one major thing being our lips!

Where do they go?

Hormones changes often cause our lips to thin.

While I invented fullips lip enhancers to give us that extra plump without the cost or pain of injections, here are some other important tips to remember!

1)  Stay hydrated.  Dehydration can cause lips to lose some of their natural fullness.  So being well hydrated is beneficial, not to mention to your overall health too!

 Coffee, tea, sodas, alcohol, etc...anything with caffeine will decrease the results tremendously, do to the diuretic effects of those products."

2)  Moisture.  Keeping your lips well moisturized, just like you would the rest of your face, not only keeps them fuller looking, but their overall appearance is better.  

3)  Exfoliate your lips.  Yes, while we often think about exfoliating our skin, we often forget that our lips can also benefit.  Use a very soft brush, gently.  In fact, Fullips packages include small exfoliation brushes with every order as a gift, I think it's that important!  Remember, nothing is nicer and more kissable than soft lips!

4)  Consider using a Plumping Gloss.  There are several good ones on the market. Even if you prefer more color than you can get with just a gloss, or have your favorite lipstick, you can use a plumping gloss underneath your favorite color, still giving you the benefit of the plumping effect.  With any new plumping gloss, remember to always check the ingredients first to make sure you do not have any allergies.

5)  Hormones.  If your lips seem to have thinned due to age, and possible hormone changes, you might talk to your doctor about checking your hormone levels as a lack of estrogen can add to this problem.  (I use Bio-Identical pellets and love them!)  However if you are not a candidate for hormone replacement, then using alternative, natural options may be best in these situations.

6)  Liner.  When applying your lipstick, consider using a lip liner.  If you use a neutral lip color then you can take it just outside the edge of your lip line and it will still look natural.  Additionally, using the liner as a barrier, your lipstick is less likely to bleed.

7)  Find a Moisturizing Lipstick.  While I personally like the look of matte finish lipsticks, they can be more drying and your lips will not look as full.  However, if you have a special matte color you prefer, you could still try a plumping gloss under it. I am adding a great liquid matte the my line which lasts and does not cause me any dryness. None of my products are ever tested on animals!

8)  Lip Liner Illusions.  For a fuller looking lip using a liner, add a thicker line under your bottom lip in the center of your mouth.  It creates the illusion of more depth and fullness.

Bonus Fullips Enhancer Tips:

*For those that have a Fullips enhancer, here are some extra tips.  For those coming straight to our blog, the Fullips product was created to offer a natural and less expensive alternative for those wanting fuller lips, without the use of chemicals or invasive procedures.  Our enhancers come in 3 sizes and shapes for a variety of uses.

The Small Oval is my personal favorite!  It was developed to be used vertically, to target the middle of the mouth. In doing this, it takes the focus off the outside area where many older women, like myself, have more noticeable laugh lines and often get a turned down mouth look.  By drawing attention to the center of my mouth, and focusing on a smaller area, the fullness is more pronounced and distracts from the areas that I do not like.  It is kind of a smoke and mirrors thing, but it works! :)

The Medium Oval can focus both on the whole mouth area, and be turned vertically for targeting certain areas.  It can be used to do one lip at a time, and while that takes a little more practice to perfect, it is very useful if you have one lip that is smaller than the other.  If you are looking at just targeting smaller areas, like the center of your mouth, the small one is still the best.  But the Medium Oval tool provides options for both overall fullness and targeting.

The Large Round is our most popular seller for those looking to achieve an overall, fuller look.  It is best for doing the whole mouth area, but not as useful for targeting specific areas.  While some customers use it for one lip at a time, the size is best used for encompassing the whole mouth.  Generally, those with an overall larger mouth shape, and younger people, prefer this one.  Even though my 26 year old daughter in our demo uses the medium oval.  It's such a personal choice really.

 And...next blog, I will have tips for my latest product Nexsey! Designed to hide those neck wrinkles that also age us far beyond what we feel! Sixy is the New Sexy!

The Eyes Have it--It's all about the lashes!

Beauty trends are an ever revolving door. What is old is new again and even the fads we wish would stay buried in the past, tend to resurface!

Brows and lashes are two things that have had an interesting history of trends. Going as far back as Ancient Egypt, men and women heavily darkened them with kohl. In the Middle Ages both were shaved to create the illusion of a higher forehead, and early versions of mascara and tinting have been around for centuries.

Lashes and brows are still a huge point of focus today. Thick brows and long, luscious lashes dominate social media beauty pages. They can greatly accentuate the shape and size of the eyes and make the rest of your makeup pop. Much the way lipstick highlights your lips, lashes and brows finish your look.

Over time however, just as your hair thins or changes, lashes and brows can befall the same fate and leave us looking for options. While after 50 it’s perhaps not as much about trendsetting, we still want to maintain the same finished and more youthful look.

False eyelashes in particular are all the rage at the moment and options abound!  Full, partial, demi, angled, straight, you name it and they exist. There are thick, thin, wispy and everything in between. They can be applied one lash at a time or all at once in strips. You can attempt to do them at home, or have them professionally done. Price of course varies as well, starting at just a few dollars for drugstore brands or $25 for a more expensive pair. 

For those looking to start somewhere, my friend recently launched her own gorgeous line called Eyeris Beauty. They are not only extraordinary, but they are 100% cruelty free, which for me is a big thing! And they can be used up to 20 times allowing for some practice too!

False eyelashes certainly provide the most dramatic change, but you must be careful. Sometimes they can accidentally pull out your own lashes and the last thing you want to do is lose anymore!

And for simpler solutions, of course there is always mascara, all prices and all types. And again, while this is what I mostly use, you have to be careful as it can be drying and when it sticks to your natural lashes can cause further thinning. Last, there are prescription topicals you can ask your doctor about that promote growth. If this is of interest, just be sure to do some research of any possible downsides. The most important thing while enhancing any part of your look is not to cause further damage to anything you already have!

I have tried the false lashes and they were fun and quite dramatic. Personally they're something I would use for special occasions mostly. As I've shared before, I tend to be a bit lazy so anything that requires extra work probably isn't going to make my daily routine. So I suppose my drugstore Covergirl Lash Blast Volume mascara will have to do for now! Brows are up next month!

Hemlines-Long, Short, Mid-Length? You Decide!

There’s a theory out there that hemlines rise and fall with the economy (aka the Hemline Index). Whether true or just myth, one thing is for certain, boomers have had the honor of seeing it all over the decades-short and long, upswings and downturns.

For those of us over or nearing 60, we can certainly remember the hemlines of the 70's. Yikes! I wasn't paying much attention to the economy back then (my interests were certainly elsewhere), but I guess it must have been a thriving economy. How in the world did we bend over to pick anything up!? As the years have passed, the skirts of the 70’s are no longer as easy to pull off! Today there is a fine line between looking classy, sexy, and then of course looking ridiculous.  Ridiculous is the important one to pay attention to.

While the extra short skirt is best left to younger women, it does not mean we have to wear our skirts below the knees like our grandmothers would have insisted back in the day. If your knees have "aged well" summer dresses matched with a cute pair of sandals in this warm weather can be stylish and very appropriate worn just above the knees. If your knees are showing your age, a hemline mid-knee is often enough to camouflage the signs of age and still be a fun summer look.

Moving into fall and winter, the door is opened to many more fun options!

Wearing a chic pair of tights or opaque nylons, not only covers the knees, but gives you the ability to pull off a shorter look, while still providing coverage. Black tights paired with black booties, allow for a shorter skirt and a younger, sassy look. Tights with texture also allow for a fun break from the typical solid colors.

So how short is too short? Often body type will dictate what may look best. Fuller, flowing shirts can be more forgiving and be a bit shorter. For me personally, about 2 inches above the knee is what I can get away with these days.

The mid length between my knee and ankle is the least flattering on me because of my body shape and height. Also, if you find something you like that doesn’t look as flattering off the rack, keep in mind that alterations are usually easy and inexpensive, and can quickly turn a dress from good to great! An inch or two in the hemline and even some quick adjustments in the sides can make a big difference on how an outfit looks on your body.

Last, if you just feel more comfortable in them, longer lengths are always appropriate and very stylish. Additionally, wearing a bit of a heel regardless of the length, even a wedge, helps to elongate the legs and can offer a bit of a dressier look.

While we may not be squeezing into any miniskirts now, we’re not limited to just covering everything up either! In 2016, in spite of the economy, the choice is yours!