5 exercises to smooth facial lines and wrinkles

Here's an excellent article on how to smooth facial lines and wrinkles which I presume all, if not most of us would be interested.

Exercise 1: The Scowl-Line Banisher

Step 1
Take your two forefingers and place them one on each side of your scowl line. Pull your fingers gently apart if you need to smooth out the line.

Now pull your brows together, but make sure you are not making the line again (look in the mirror to make sure). You are just working those muscles. Hold for a count of ten.

Step 2
Now move your fingers apart so they rest in the middle of your forehead, approximately above the arch of each eyebrow. Now think about pulling your corrugators towards your fingers and your temples—you are counteracting the pulling-in movement with a pulling-out movement. Feel that vertical line being smoothed away.

Exercise 2: Palming  (soothe the eyes and the optic nerves, and help reduce puffiness)

Step 1:
Rub your palms together until they feel warm.

Step 2:
Cup palms over your closed eyes so that the heels of your hands are resting directly on your eyelids. Push gently against your eyes

Exercise 3: Upper lip smoothie

Place your forefingers on either side of your mouth corners to anchor the muscles. Stretch your top lip down and over your top teeth and towards your mouth corners at the same time. Your upper lip should be completely smooth, no puckers.

Hold for a count of five, then release. Repeat three times, holding for a count of ten each time.

Exercise 4: The Carp Curl

Step 1:
Place your two forefingers on either side above your mouth, along the nasal-labial folds. This anchors the area as you work on your orbicularis oris.
Without making lines in your upper lip (stretch it as in the upper lip smoothie above) stretch your top lip forward and up towards your nose.

Step 2:
Curl your lip up and out, as if you were a fish sucking in water. Curl it ten times, then relax, then curl it ten times more, this time a little faster

Exercise 5: Advanced Carp Curl

Step 1:
Place your forefingers on either side of the nasal-labial fold and curl your lip up towards your nose as in the previous exercise.

Step 2:
Now stretch your lip down over your teeth (as in the Upper Lip Smoothie).

Step 3:
Alternate the two movements so that you resemble a fish. Repeat 10 times. Relax.

Repeat this three times. Each time you do it, make the alternating movements a little more rapid, while trying to maintain a smooth rhythm. When you are done, relax. Wiggle your mouth around to relax the muscle (without making lines!)

Source : Mvblog

Review : Beauty Without Cruelty Eye Makeup Remover

Product Description
BWC Extra Gentle Eye Makeup Remover with an herbal extract and vegetable glycerin gently removes all types of make-up, including water-resistant, completely and easily without irritation.
Leaves no oily residue. Make-up can be re-applied immediately after use. Made with natural ingredients. No animal ingredients. 100% vegan, vegetarian. No synthetic or engineered fragrances. No animal testing.

Being my 1st eye make-up remover of  lesser chemical origins, I am curious on its performance. This is my first product from the brand, which I purchased from iHerb. I use an eye make-up remover everyday to cleanse the concealer remains and eyebrow markings at the end of each work day. Hence I needed something that is gentle enough without much tugging required. And this product met my simple needs effortlessly.

Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC in short) is famed for its cruelty-free products that are superior in performance with exceptional prices. Their color cosmetics are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, and are fragrance free and their nail colors are free of toluene, formaldehyde, and pthalates. You can read more about the brand here.

The product which I bought comes in a flip-top cap opening and the fluidity of the contents flows out easily.
On weekends with more eye make-up, this eye make-up remover do remove all my eye make-up, from mascara to eyeliner, and leave my eyes feeling clean and fresh without leaving any oily residue. However, it does sting slightly when it gets into the eyes accidentally.
Note that I don't use waterproof mascara and eyeliner so I won't be able to comment much on that.

However, Q-tip is still needed to remove my blue eyeliner marks from The Make-Up Store. That has always been my pet peeve.
It scored 3.7 from 27 users on Makeupalley .
In terms of ingredients, according to GoodGuide, it scored 4.9/10 with concerns on Cocamidopropyl Betaine (surfactant) and Phenoxyethanol (preservative). You can also read more about it here

Cocamidopropyl Betaine : Suspected of causing immunotoxicity and organ toxicity
Phenoxyethanol : Suspected of causing developmental toxicity and reproductive toxicity

Ingredients
Purified Water, Glycerine, Decyl Glucoside, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Phenoxyethanol, Ethyl Hexylglycerin

You can get it for US$7.19 from drugstore or US$5.73 from Vitacost or US$6.02 from iHerb. Quote OKI787 to get US$5 off your first purchase at iHerb.

Review : Sally Hansen Fast Acting Polish Remover

Product Description
Specially formulated Salon Formula works quickly and does not leave the nails dry and brittle. An innovative blend of Pro-Vitamin B5, Vitamin E and sweet smelling Chamomile gently and quickly removes polish without leaving stains. It fortifies and improves soft, weak, thin nails.

Yet another Sally Hansen nail polish remover which I bought to replace the previous one. This product removes nail polish slightly better than the previous one and is less drying too.
It has a wide opening which made pouring onto cotton pads wasteful. It has a typical scent associated with nail polish remover. It did the job decent enough though removing glitters still need abit much more work than usual which is understandable.

Note that it does contain nasties in the list of ingredients such as acetone and benzopheone-3

Source : UrbanTouch

Review : Lovemore Electric Ore Peptide Firming Duo Lifting Mask

Product Description
Improves skin elasticity, Anti aging, Firming

This is yet another sheet mask pack which I hauled from Taiwan shores. 10 sheets in a box.
While I do not need firming at the physical stage (even though my age tells me that I need it ), its always good to keep it firm and supple. The other 2 Lovemore masks which I have used before, were not that impressive enough. I actually felt kind of let-down by all the hype surrounding it.
Check out my previous reviews on Rose Crystal Tourmaline Peptide Moisturising Duo Lifting Mask and White Crystal and Platinum Peptide Whitening Duo Lifting Mask. What a mouthful, the names are too long! BTW, you can get it cheaper in Hong Kong than Singapore.

Heavily soaked in essence, it comes with hooks to secure tightly to the face via the ears and an extra flap for the neck which one can secure it to the ears as well, to give an overall firming effect.
Similar to my old rants, I disliked the lifted effect near the nose, as that meant the mask did not get to do its job of hydrating and firming that area with its essence. Its basically due to the harsh tightening of the mask as one needs to stretch the mask hooks to the ears. Blame it on my cherubic face shape. lol.

It contains good antioxidant ingredients like
Nanopeptide -1
- Protect and visibly reduce wrinkles and efficiently prevent premature signs of aging.
- Maintain your skin's natural moisture level
Syn-Ake
- erase wrinkles , relaxes your face muscles and reduces muscle concentration making your skin smooth and even.
Fish collagen peptide and palmitoyl hexapeptide
- aid in collagen synthesis
Palmitoyl pentapeptide-3 and copper acetate
- smoothen wrinkles
Coenzyme Q10
- combat free radical damages

Skin appears more radiant, smooth and supple which is apparent the following morning, however I experienced breakouts every now and then. The hydration does not last till the next morning which kinda disappoint me, because the ingredients tell me otherwise.
I like the ingredients but the mask does not like my skin.

Source : Sunnanz , Secretive

Review : Sebastian Collection Titanium Protector Leave-In Conditioner

Product Description
Titanium protector, a leave-in conditioner that acts like an invisible shield against environmental conditions. Strong lightweight, and it detangles as it conditions. Contains sunscreen.

I purchased this eons ago, from Beautyticket but hasn't been using it that regularly until I permed my hair recently. This product has since been discontinued.
I didn't enjoy using this because of its large size. Its difficult to hold it in my palms when I tried to spray my hair with it. The nozzle is not easy to depress, especially when the size of the bottle is cumbersome. The contents were sticky and made the floor sticky as well. I used it every morning before I left for work and did not apply anything else thereafter.

I didn't notice a significant improvement to my hair structure after using this. The scent is not that great. It doesn't provide ample moisture to the hair. It did help to detangle my hair when the knots are still lightly tangled, but not so, if I am having a bad day where the tangled ends are at its worst state.
However, it did left my hair feeling very soft which lasted till the next hair wash.

And even though it claimed that it does contain sunscreen, I reckon that I need to coat my strands of hair with lots of the conditioner before it can fully protect my hair. Still, little protection is better than no protection against the sun.

It scored 3.9 from 14 users on Makeupalley .

Source : Amazon