Makeup techniques after a procedure — Part 1

This is the first of 2 videos about applying makeup after a fractionated laser treatment.

The fractionated laser we use is the Pixel but you would have the same thing with the Fraxel or Sciton ProFractional. Your skin is reddened and roughened for a few days after the treatment. The roughness gradually flakes off.

The reason we do a fractionated laser treatment is to improve the texture of the skin so it looks smoother, tighter and more refined. The laser works by stimulating collagen formation which tightens the skin, and stimulating new skin cell formation which makes the skin look fresh and radiant.

In this video, the makeup specialist at Advanced Rejuvenation, Claire, demonstrates on Catherine how you can completely hide the redness and roughness with a light application of concealer and foundation. In Part 2, Claire will apply color to the cheeks and eyes to finish up Catherine’s look.

Come and see Catherine at the Summer Sizzle

On Saturday, May 31st, Catherine will be participating in the Cedar Springs Pharmacy Summer Sizzle at the Cedar Springs Health Racquets and Sports Club, located at 960 Cumberland Ave in Burlington, ON.

Her one-month transformation is almost complete and she is certainly looking younger, fitter and more radiant.

Catherine started running in January of this year, running for only 1 minute and walking for 1 minute, and gradually built herself up. This will be the fourth race she has run since then. She sets an amazing example for us all.

If you would like to participate in the 5k or 8k races tomorrow, you can register between 8 am and 9:30 am at the health club. The races start at 9:30 am.

Take 10 Years Off Your Looks makeovers on Oprah

Last week, the Oprah show shared the stories of 7 women who were on TLC’s 10 Years Younger show, and 2 women who transformed themselves on their own.

You can see the before and after pictures here.

A very strong recurring theme with these women is that they put themselves on the backburner in their 30’s and 40’s in order to keep up with children, jobs and life. Sound familiar?

In terms of the transformations themselves, it is interesting how little it takes in some cases. A new hairstyle and makeup makes a world of difference but the key, I think, is to let someone else show you the potential they see in you.

How often do we apply the same old makeup in the same old way?

When you watch TLC’s What Not to Wear, how many times does the person being transformed resist having her hair changed? And then look like a million bucks when Nick is done?

Sometimes we need an outsider to give us permission to pay more attention to ourself. Sometimes the problem is that we’ve let our expectations of ourselves become so low, we need someone to show us how good we can actually look.

As Oprah says, we need to DREAM BIG!

Learn how to use the new styling products

When you get your hair done at Chiarelli’s Hair Design, they’ll put all kinds of lotions and potions in your hair. If you’re like me and your hair product knowledge only goes to shampoo, conditioner, styling product and hairspray, then you will love having all these mystery products explained.

Fia, one of the stylists at Chiarelli’s, demonstrates on another stylist, Ashley, everything from Prep, Lotion, Cream, to various finishing products. And not just the products but how to style your hair with the dryer, flat iron and your fingers.

My apologies in advance for the sound quality. You have to listen carefully to Fia in places but she shares a lot of great information.

Catherine’s progress

Catherine is making amazing progress with her makeover. She has received a number of treatments at Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa, including peels on her hands and chest, Pixel laser, BOTOX® Cosmetic, Teosyal dermal filler, Accent radiofrequency and IPL.

I want to keep her behind the curtain from now on so you get the full impact of everything at the end. I can tell you she is making amazing progress, getting fitter, losing weight and looking great.

Today I’m just going to give you a little bit of a teaser.

I get a lot of questions about the IPL treatment and what you look like afterwards so I’m going to show you a series of pictures of Catherine that will help answer the questions.

Above is Catherine’s cheek before the IPL. Lots of redness and brown spots of sun damage, right?

The second image shows her cheek immediately after the IPL. On my monitor, the redness in her skin is reduced. The little broken capillary on the edge of her nostril is standing out a little more because the background is paler but some of the branches of the capillary are shut down. The capillaries on her cheek (in the midst of that brown pigment) are shut down also.

The pigment hasn’t started to darken yet. This process can take 24 hours after the IPL.

The third image was taken a week after the IPL. If you look at the patch of brown pigment in her cheek, you’ll see flecks of dark brown. This is the darkening of the pigment that I have mentioned previously. The flecks would have been larger a few days previously and are getting smaller day by day to finally disappear at the 10 – 14 day mark.

Her face is at a slightly different angle here but you can also see that the broken capillary on the edge of her nostril has shut down further.

One IPL doesn’t get rid of all of the sun spots or brown pigment. The pigment is located at various depths in the skin. The flash of intense pulsed light will travel down through the depths of the skin until it hits pigment and gets absorbed so the more superficial pigment gets treated first.

With each subsequent IPL treatment, we work down through the skin to get pigment located at deeper and deeper layers. It usually takes 5 – 8 IPLs to get rid of visible brown pigment.

An excellent sunscreen for runners

One of the products that we gave Catherine was the UV Sport SPF 50 Sunscreen from Elta MD.

There’s nothing worse than trying to work out, and as soon as you work up a sweat, your sunscreen is making your eyes burn. Elta MD’s Sport sunscreen is highly water-resistant, specifically to prevent this problem.

We put it to the test on Catherine and she reports “I was sweating and the Sport sunscreen didn’t bother my eyes.”

Elta MD’s sunscreens are ideal because they are unscented and combine the best physical and chemical sunscreen ingredients to give broad spectrum protection against UVA and UVB rays.

The physical ingredient, zinc oxide, is micronized or finely ground so you don’t have a white residue on your skin.

This summer, you don’t have to choose between being active outdoors with no protection or with burning eyes from a regular sunscreen. Choose Elta MD UV Sport SPF 50.