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My Love Affair With MAC Cosmetics

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MAC EyeshadowsFor years I have had an addiction.  Yes, it is true…to MAC Cosmetics!

I can blame the period during which I served as the Director of Cosmetic Research at Alhambra Medical Center (from 2005 to 2007), since during that time I was expected to investigate every type of product which made contact with the skin, including color cosmetics.  Until that time I had no real interest in makeup, and only owned a black eyeliner, pressed powder and a couple of lipsticks.  Even now my daily routine consists of powder, blush, eyeliner, and lipstick…I cannot be bothered with foundation, eyeshadow, bronzer, mascara or lipgloss on a daily basis.

But I cannot help but fall for the deeply saturated hues that characterize MAC color cosmetics.  Their eyeshadows are like precious gems, glittering and luring me in.  I have been an artist my entire life and realize that it is the artist in me that is so attracted to all the colors.  When I prepare for a photo shoot or competition, or I do makeup for a model, I approach the face as a canvas and lose myself in the process of creating something beautiful.

Keep in mind that the photo above shows MAC eyeshadow pots stacked two and three deep, so I do indeed have a LOT of eyeshadows, probably close to ninety.   I also have MAC false lashes, lipsticks and lipglosses stored in another makeup storage area.  Before you folks assume that these makeup items are just collecting dust, I can tell you that this stuff does get used.  Whenever I have a chance to get creative with colors, I will experiment with some of the more flashy shades in my collection and allow my creative side to completely take over.

I highly recommend MAC eyeshadows over other makeup brands (though Urban Decay, Nars and Laura Mercier have some amazing shades) due to their color payoff.  As a result of their high degree of pigment, they last a long time.  However, I realize that there are women who might be color shy or makeup shy in general, but who may be curious about learning a bit about makeup.  The best eyeshadow shades for a makeup neophyte to purchase in the MAC line which will serve as great basics and allow one to create some great evening and smoky eye looks are:

Brule (great lid base)

Haux (lid color; this is a muted lavender)

BrownDown (one of the best brown shadows ever)

Carbon (a deep inky black)

If you want to experiment with a flash of color, a couple of favorites are Humid, which is an intense emerald green, and Plumage, which is a deep teal blue.

The best thing to do is to practice and experiment and have fun while doing it.  Makeup application can unlock the child within us and allow us to create beautiful things!

No, You Can’t Borrow My Shoes!

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IMG_0336

I have two of these cabinets, filled with boxes of shoes.  I have photos of each pair of shoes affixed to the sides of each box for easy identification.  At last count I had 70-something pairs of shoes which to some women isn’t a lot.  Believe it or not I actually do wear almost every pair of shoes I own!  Most women cannot borrow my shoes because I usually wear a 6-1/2 US which is a pretty small shoe size.  I swear I am not a shoe addict!

Help! My Face Is Falling!

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Original post can be found at http://www.rxmuscle.com/rx-girl-articles/7293-help-my-face-is-falling.html

Filler Tx

An inevitable consequence of the aging process is the loss of elasticity in the skin that we often take for granted when we are young.  This loss of firmness is amplified by competition diets and training which can trim storage fat stores to the point that female competitors’ faces look positively skeletal.  My eye is trained to scan a person’s face for areas of lipoatrophy, elastosis, rhytids, shifting of malar fat pads, etc….in other words, sunken, sagging, drooping, wrinkled skin.  The degree of elastic breakdown and loss of soft tissue fullness that I see in an average fifty year old is something I commonly see in many female competitors as young as their late 20’s.  This process only gets worse over time unless the competitor is willing to do something to prevent progression.

What can a competitor do once her skin has started this dreaded sagging process?

There are laser treatments available which help to resurface and refine the skin and which can also tighten the skin somewhat.  However, these treatments are often too expensive for competitors, especially when considering all the costs associated with competing.  Another viable and cost-effective solution to the issue of loosening skin is a chemical peel.  There are many different types of chemical peels available, ranging from very light glycolic acid peels to an aggressive TCA (trichloroacetic acid) peel.   One composite peel (phenol, TCA, salicylic acid and Retin-A) which is my personal favorite is the Vi-Peel which is well tolerated, painless, and confers a good tightening effect on the skin.

Another wonderful option to correct the loss of volume in the face and add structural support is fillers.  There are a number of hyaluronic acid based fillers available now (Restylane, Perlane, Juvederm, Belotero) which last 6 months to a year.  Radiesse is another natural filler option which is comprised of calcium hydroxylapatite.  Radiesse also acts as a biostimulator, stimulating cells in the skin to produce collagen over time.  Another wonderful feature of Radiesse is the fact that it lasts 18 months or more.

If you have wrinkles in the forehead and around the eyes, Botox and Dysport are excellent treatments and will last for 3 to 6 months.

If you are in the Los Angeles area, I offer filler and Vi-Peel treatments.  Please go to my medical website for more information:  www.staceynaito.com

New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Work

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2013By no means am I trying to destroy the motivation that some of you may be experiencing with the fresh slate of a new year and some new goals placed before you.  But it drives me nuts when people make these promises to themselves to eat healthy foods, start going to the gym regularly, quit drinking, etc., then give up after only weeks or even days because they supposedly blew it for the year. I fully expect, along with countless other fitness people, to see a major influx of new faces at the gym next week, hogging the equipment without knowing how to use it and increasing the temperature of the gym to hatching-baby-chicks hot, only to see a drop off shortly after Valentine’s Day.  It really is a shame that many individuals lack the drive to keep after their goals and only find yet another excuse to abandon the idea of bettering themselves for the long run.  SO WHAT if it is a new year, and SO WHAT if you mess up after a few days or weeks?  The most important thing is to keep your eye on the prize and get back up on that horse!

If you think I don’t have moments of weakness, I will tell you right now that I am human just like the rest of you.  While I do not indulge in bad foods frequently, I will have an occasional treat, meal or feast that is well outside the definition of a clean meal.  On rare occasions I will miss a workout, though this happens once a year (in fact it just happened today because I have been battling the flu since yesterday).    But if I were to say, “okay, I blew it for 2013”, then of course that would be the perfect cop-out and I would no longer have the pressure to conform to a schedule or continue to pursue a goal.

Ask yourself this:  WHY do you have a goal to lose weight, eat better, (fill in the blank)?  If you have an understanding of the psychology behind your goal, and if you develop a do-or-die attitude, you will increase the chances of reaching your goal dramatically.  Make your choices the types of choices that are made for a lifetime.   Be specific about your goal and have a SPECIFIC PLAN in place, whether that plan is a written workout schedule, printed meal plan, timeline for when and how you will make measures to get that promotion at work, etc.

Every day spent with a focused mindset will get you closer to your goals.  Allow yourself the occasional slipup but also refrain from allowing such incidents to completely derail you from what it is you really want.

“Healthy” Bars

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Granola BarMany people love the convenience of bars, whether they are labeled as granola bars, energy bars or protein bars.  However, many of these bars aren’t much better than candy bars in terms of nutrition.  Beware of granola bars, as many of them contain sugar, oil, and even candy.  Energy bars and protein bars are also frequently high in sugar and can also contain caffeine and artificial sweeteners.  Regardless of the type of bar, many formulations also contain preservatives.  What’s more, some bars are so highly processed that they could be described as “fake” foods.

There are some bars out there which are minimally processed and can be considered pretty decent in terms of nutritional value.  Make sure to check the ingredients on the wrappers and look for natural ingredients like oats, fruit and nuts.  You can also make your own granola bars and protein bars.

Here is a great link which has numerous recipes for natural protein bars:

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/recipes/protein-bars

This is a good link for a granola bar recipe:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=394740

If you don’t have time to make your own bars, healthier bar choices which you can purchase are the Lara Bar and Quest Bar (http://www.questproteinbar.com).

“Healthy” Cold Cereals

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bowl_o_cerealMany people have fallen under the misconception that dry cereals can be healthy as long as they contain grains such as wheat, barley or oats.  Such grains are subjected to processing which deranges the nutrients that they contain, which is in part why dry cereals are commonly fortified with vitamins and minerals.  It seems counterproductive to strip grains of their nutrients, then add them back in, but this is a very common practice.

Many cereals also contain highly processed flours which also have been stripped of nutrients, and some even contain genetically  modified grains which can have questionable effects on the body when absorbed by the body.  Such flours can sit in the digestive tract for prolonged periods, interfering with absorption of nutrients and creating an environment which invites overgrowth of pathogens.

I must mention something here about instant oatmeal.  It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn to instant oatmeal, believing that because  it is oatmeal, it is healthy.  Patients will tell me that they like the convenience of having the instant variety around.  However, instant oatmeal has a plethora of  ingredients other than oats, such as oat bran, oat flour, salt, caramel color, and guar gum.  Vitamins and minerals are added to instant oatmeal to fortify it since the processing method strips some nutrients away.  Guar gum is used as a thickening agent and will bind liquids in the digestive tract.  Yet people think instant oatmeal is healthy!

A healthier cereal choice is to either find dry cereals which contain buckwheat, millet, quinoa or amaranth.  Another very healthy cereal choice is to cook old-fashioned dry oats.