The Secret to Having Beautiful Skin

If you know me then you know I am obsessed with sunscreen. I swear by it. I know I have talked about it in my post Three Beauty Buys That Are Worth Spending Your Money On and I know I have mentioned this in my post about wandering around lower Manhattan but I will say it again: I do not like getting tan and if I forget to put on sunscreen it can temporarily feel like it is the end of the world. I know I am not the only person who has this fear though, if I was then hearing: 'Put sunscreen on everyday!' would not be so common.

Sunscreen is not only your best anti-aging product, it is also prevents skin cancer. People always say put sunscreen on everyday but I feel like it is always directed to just putting sunscreen on your face. Put sunscreen on all over. Why? You do not want to have wrinkly hands or neck (or anywhere) when you are older do you? And I am sure you do not want to deal with skin cancer either.

Basic tips on how to stay protected:

Back to the topic of skin cancer, make sure to put sunscreen on the most commonly missed places:

-Your scalp: Especially where you part your hair (If you do not feel like putting sunscreen on your scalp then wear a hat)

-Your toes: Do not forget to put sunscreen in between your toes

-Your feet

-The back of your knees

-Your ears: the top of the ear

-Your lips

-The back of your hands

-Your shoulders and the outside of your arms

When choosing sunscreen:

-Make sure that the sunscreen you are getting has at least an SPF (sun protection factor) of 15 (What is SPF: I do not know exactly how to word this so I'll quote The Skin Cancer Foundation: SPF is 'a measure of a sunscreen's ability to prevent UVB from damaging the skin').

-Make sure you are getting a broad spectrum sunscreen. This means make sure it can protect you from both UVA and UVB.

-WebMD recommends choosing 'a sunscreen that contains zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, because the compounds are less irritating than others and do not get absorbed into the skin' noting that those two ingredients are the safest ones there are at the moment.

Remember:

-Apply sunscreen 30 minutes prior to going outside. Do not wait until just before you head out.

-Reapply sunscreen every 2 hours or so.

-Wear sunglasses.

-Wear a hat.

-Sunscreen is important but try to stay in the shade from 10am to 4pm. This is when the sun is the most harmful.

-Cover up with clothing. Sheer or light weight white clothing does not always work, dark fabrics and fabric that is tightly knit are recommended. For added protection wash your clothes with SunGuard.

-Always wear sunscreen, even when it is cloudy out!


When out in the sun try a maxi dress and a light weight jacket. Also, rather than wearing sandals try wearing a light pair of shoes that cover your toes like Toms for better sun protection.  

Have any sun tips? Let me know! I love reading them. Okay, later!

Friday

IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE READING A LONG DESCRIPTION OF FRIDAY HERE IS THE ABRIDGED VERSION: We went out to do a shoot and it turned into a long walk all over lower Manhattan. I stopped and changed into a black maxi dress from American Apparel and I got a slight tan.

THE UNABRIDGED VERSION: On Friday we headed out to do a quick shoot for the magazine, but being us we somehow ended up doing something completely different. We ended up going on one of our usual unplanned walks. I will tell you where we went: First we walked through Nolita and into China Town. We stopped into Opening Ceremony (the red staircase) along the way. We walked through China Town almost to the west side, then decided after all of that craziness that we were in no mood for Soho madness and we kept walking south. We found ourselves in Tribeca where we decided to head East to the Brooklyn Bridge because I have never actually visited it (I know I know I have lived here for three years now, but it is a little out of the way). We stopped in the Bridge Cafe to get drinks and fries, and then headed to the South Street Seaport because we were practically there already. We walked along the water for a little while and then headed back. The pictures are posted chronologically and if it not a picture of Jordan then he took it. 

Because we were shooting I stopped into American Apparel along the way to change out of the shoot clothes and into a black cotton maxi dress. Unfortunately I think I am going to age 20 years now because I was not wearing sunscreen on my arms and I got a little color (I have not stepped out into the sun without sunscreen on since I was 15 so we were both a little shocked). 

DIY Friday post for Monday

I know I am not as stylish as Alexander Wang's niece:

but that takes a well thought out wardrobe and a selection of child sized fur jackets/a selection of Chanel bags. But it is not like I am not trying, in fact I am taking things into my own hands: For DIY Friday (do not hurt me for making a habit out of this) I decided to do my variation on the modernist/minimialst all white maxi dress. Pejoratively speaking, I think the terms modernist and minimalist kind of get thrown around a lot in fashion when something is either all black/white and does not fit into any another place, but I must say I do like a lot of the looks. My inspiration was taken from the Calvin Klein, Alexander Wang, and The Row's S/S 2011 shows. 

I did a little research, and by a little I mean I went to American Apparels website and found that they had an all white tank-top maxi dress (I do not know how I got the idea of tank top, but somehow it got stuck in my head). So on Friday evening Jordan and I walked over to the American Apparel on 6th and Bleecker and I picked one up.

When we got back to my apartment I put the dress on and with a pencil I marked where I wanted to cut the dress (which was a little shorter than midway down my thigh). I took the dress off and marked how I wanted the cut to fall down the middle of the dress. With a pair of scissors I followed the pencil market line to cut a panel of the white fabric out. Viola! Complete!

I made this ridiculous image in photoshop for you.

Open Cardigan: LF