Skin care, like clothing and hair styles, goes through phases. One beauty trend of the moment? Oxygenated skin care. Sounds healthy, but is it worth your hard earned cash?

When we think of oxygen, we think…essential to life. Skin care products containing O2 must be pretty dang healthy, right? Or at least that is what makers of oxygenated skin care want you to think.

Like oxygen bars of the ‘90s (remember those?), oxygenated skin care is supposed to sound enticingly fresh and good for you. And it does! Spas and derm offices use oxygen facials on the regular and with a celeb following. Why wouldn’t we mere mortals want our chance at getting in on this goodness?

What is Oxygenated Skin Care?

Hospitals have been using oxygen therapy to speed the healing of wounds and burns for some time now. This led some dermatologists and facialists to believe oxygen would also be good for treating  minor skin issues, like wrinkles, acne, and redness.

With oxygen facials, a wand-like tool is used to apply pressurized oxygen to skin, delivering active ingredients into deeper layers. Most often products containing hyaluronic acid are used alongside the treatment. Fans of the procedure like the refreshed, plumped look it gives to skin.

Now you can also get your oxygen to go in skin care products. These babies are popping up at beauty shops everywhere. Even some organic beauty shops carry oxygen-infused items. This type of product contains either something called “suspended oxygen” or ingredients thought to generate oxygen as they soak into skin, like hydrogen peroxide.

What Do Experts Say About the Oxygen in Skin Care Beauty Trend?

Most scientists and medical experts are more reluctant to trust the benefits of topically applied oxygen in skin care, and believe it is more likely the hydrating ingredients in the products responsible for the plumped up glow.

To get semi-science-y here, oxygen is a gas. It is difficult for a gas applied topically in skin care to penetrate the outer layer of skin. So even if a skin care creator did suspend oxygen molecules in liquid, it would only react with the outermost layer of skin, providing little advantage to the overall appearance.

As for hydrogen peroxide. Yes, it does release oxygen. But again, the oxygen would only affect to the top layer of skin and would not penetrate to deeper layers.

The Verdict on Oxygenated Skin Care

Since O2 skin care has been around for a relatively short time, it wouldn’t be fair to dismiss it altogether. If you have a product you love that claims to be oxygenated, use that sucker and be happy. But if you are looking for the bottom line, it is most likely the moisturizing ingredients giving your complexion the healthy glow.

If you are looking to spend your beauty dollars on a product that makes skin look soft, fresh, clear, and dewy, invest in healthy plant oils and natural ingredients. And always choose products for your skin type to get the most from your skin care.

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We introduced you to strobing last year. You know, contouring’s less labor intensive cousin? Well, forget all that. A new beauty trend is here and you are going to love it for summer.

The latest beauty trend is called “stripping” and it is super hot. And not nearly as sleazy at it sounds.

Since a more natural look is on trend this year, and thank golly for that, it isn’t a surprise that the number of products it takes to achieve the look is more minimal too. You’re yearning to bust out the good ol’ bronzer right about now, aren’t you?

We all want to shake off our winter pallor and sport a healthy glow this time of year. But the old ways of bronzer are behind us. Stripping, or “sun stripping”, is a way of using bronzer that makes it look like you’ve actually spent a little quality time under the sun. Who comes in from a fun day outdoors with a uniformly bronzed face? No one. Ever. That’s why all-over face bronzing got kicked to the curb in favor of this new approach.

Best of all it’s fast, easy, and requires only one product. Here’s how.

How to Perform the Stripping Beauty Trend in 4 Easy Steps

1. Choose a bronzer. Here’s the trick with stripping. You want it to look natural, so stay away from bronzers with shimmer and select one that looks good on your skin tone. Also, powder works best for stripping. Alima Pure Bronzer comes in two color choices, light bronze and medium bronze, and is super natural looking. Another option is W3LL People Bio Bronzer, a universally flattering shade that looks like a true glow.

2. Use the right tools. You don’t want your bronzer everywhere. A semi-sturdy brush, like the Alima Pure Flat Top Brush, is perfect for applying the bronzer. You will also want a blush brush, like Alima Pure Blush Brush, for blending.

3. Apply the bronzer. After applying your foundation or tinted moisturizer as usual, apply a strip of bronzer across apples of cheeks and bridge of nose, where sun hits your face when you are outdoors. This is going to look wacky, but stay with us.

4. Blend it out. Now, using the blush brush, blend the strip of bronzer outward slightly and buff to a natural looking glow.

That’s it, peeps. Couldn’t be easier and you will love the just-been-out-in-the-sun look it gives your skin.

*Disclaimer: Help support EcoSalon! Our site is dedicated to helping people live a conscious lifestyle. We’ve provided some affiliate links above in case you wish to purchase any of these products.

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The post Beauty Trend Alert: Stripping is the New Strobing appeared first on EcoSalon.

Ok. This is usually a look women attempt to avoid, but the hungover look is in. Find out how to save yourself the headache and tie one on with hangover makeup.

Red eyes, dark circles, greasy skin. None of these are typically considered appealing as a look. But trends are often unpredictable and this latest beauty fad shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.

We’ve seen bizarre beauty trends before. How about if you could party it up on a Thursday night and still look like you are pulling off the latest look, absolutely no effort involved? Yep, hangover makeup is a thing. Don’t believe it? Take a peek at the makeup looks that appeared on some NYFW runways for proof.

The good news is, this look can be done without the headache or morning after shame. Simply not going the extra yard to cover up flaws or powder your skin is a good start. If you want to go full on hungover, here are tips and products to get you there.

Hangover Makeup How To

For eyes, put down the concealer and pick up the shadow. Brown and pinkish shadows layered around eyes creates that “barely got three hours sleep” look. Powder shadows applied with a brush work best here. Try Alima Pure Satin Matte Eye Shadow in Mahogany and Bramble.

For a more intense hungover eye, think beyond the conventional. We are talking been-up-all-night-bawling eyes. Smudge a reddish pink lip gloss, like Kjaer Weis Lip Tint in Romance, on upper and lower lids to achieve the look. If you really want to go there.

No natural dark circles? While this is usually a good thing, for this look you will need to create some. And what says all-nighter like raccoon eyes? Apply a coat of mascara to bottom lashes only and, before the mascara dries, swipe a layer of mauve shadow under lower lash line and blend slightly. A cream shadow, like RMS Beauty Eye Polish in Imagine, does the trick.

For slept-in skin, apply foundation but skip the concealer and powder. Cheeks get a touch of mauve or pink blush on tops of cheekbones (mauve shadow would also work perfectly here). Apply a wash of matte color to lips with Ilia Lip Crayon in Dress You Up.

Of course, the hangover look doesn’t mean you have to reek like you stayed up all night. Clean off your body and swipe those pits with all natural body wash and deodorant from Nurture My Body. Small-batch and handmade organic body care products are understated enough that they won’t overpower with harsh fragrances and artificial scents, but effective enough that it won’t spoil your I-woke-up-like-this look.

There you have it. A routine to make you look hungover. Think you’ll give it a try?

*Disclaimer: Help support EcoSalon! Our site is dedicated to helping people live a conscious lifestyle. We’ve provided some affiliate links above in case you wish to purchase any of these products.

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