SKIN CARE BLOG

Sleeping Beauty: Not Just a Fairytale

2010-10-04T10:33:00.006-04:00

It’s common knowledge that a good night’s rest is beneficial to the skin, but what’s really going on while you doze? How do night time treatments really work to make our skin look refreshed and more radiant after eight solid hours? Below we’ve uncovered the science of sleep and its effect on the skin.

The Anatomy of Wrinkles

While your head rests on the pillow, your body is working overtime to renew and replace the skin cells that have been damaged during the day by environmental factors such as UV rays, pollution, and harsh weather conditions. In fact, skin cells can regenerate at rates up to 30 times more at midnight than at noon*, during which fibroblast cells in the dermis (the layer of skin where wrinkle damage happens) stimulate collagen production. Collagen, a protein made up of peptide chains, is responsible for giving skin its structure and elasticity. Less collagen means more lines, wrinkles, and sagging. Using a night cream that contains peptides can help signal new cells to increase collagen production. Therefore new skin appears firmer and lifted, and fine lines and wrinkles seem smoother and diminished.

Like Oil & Water

In women, water loss through the skin is about 25% higher at night than during the day, and skin produces half as much oil between 2 and 4 a.m. than it does midday.* This means your skin is definitely going to be drier at night. Best to slather on a night cream to keep moisture levels high while you slumber. Look for formulas that contain hyaluronic acid, a hydrator that’s also produced naturally in the skin. It attracts and binds water to the skin, releasing moisture as the skin becomes dry. This gives skin a plumped appearance, and can significantly reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles.

Smother the Competition

Treatments you apply in the morning have to compete with many factors, including the environment (weather, sun, pollution), makeup, and sunscreen. Without these distractions at night, skin can absorb ingredients better and deliver them to the areas of the skin where they are needed most.

*According to The American Association of Medical Chronobiology and Chronotherapeutics

So, dear readers, we turn it over to you:

poll by twiigs.com

FemmeScience is on the List: The Stylist LA Summer Splash Party

2010-09-16T09:23:00.009-04:00

FemmeScience was a proud sponsor of The Stylist LA Summer Splash Party, celebrating style expert Niki Shadrow's birthday. The party was a great success, as more than 500 stylish guests showed up to celebrate with Niki at Los Angeles's Hotel Sofitel Stone Rose Lounge (one of our favorite places to sip on a cocktail when we're in LA). Niki and The Stylist LA founder Emily McDonald gave attendees styling consultations. Lucky them! Our wardrobe could certainly use a refresher course. Carrie Zack Events produced the fabulous soirée and made sure everyone's sweet tooth was satisfied with Nibbles Cupcakes, sweets from The Chocolate Garden, and swirls of sugary cotton candy from Tasty Clouds Cotton Candy. FemmeScience provided tasty treats for guests' skin, including our Hydrating Face Cleanser, Revitalizing Body Polish, and Night Cream, which came in handy when they got home after a night of partying, we're sure. Want to see how it all came together? Check back in here at the FemmeScience blog where we'll be posting more photos from the party!

Top 5 Anti-Aging Ingredients Not to Miss

2010-05-10T16:46:00.000-04:00

IT'S HARD TO TRUDGE through the skin care marketing jargon that's out there. Miracle creams promising a second coming for your face, fountain-of-youth serums and potions that will keep you eternally young. How are you supposed to know what's right for you? We suggest familiarizing yourself with what your skin needs and go from there. There are a handful of time-tested anti-aging ingredients that work, and if you're new to the whole scene, it's your best bet to stick with those. We've compiled a short list of the top five anti-aging skin care ingredients that have been proven to work. Print this out and take it with you when you go shopping for anti-aging skin care. We've done the work so you wouldn't have to worry one little wrinkle.

Retinol - We can't sing enough praises of anti-aging frontrunner retinol. Derived from vitamin A, retinol does wonders at turning over dull surface skin to reveal your true inner beauty, hiding just beneath that top layer. This can fade sun and age spots, brighten dullness and even tone, and banish fine lines. It can also minimize the appearance of pores, smooth texture and improve clarity. Need we say more?
Peptides - Put a little pep in your skincare steps with peptides. Peptides are known for plumping, because they signal to your skin cells to start producing more collagen and elastin, the fibers that give skin its shape. This firms up the skin's appearance, smoothes out fine lines, fills in wrinkles and gives you an overall lifted look. And who couldn't use a little pick-me-up?

Alpha Hydroxy Acids - Alpha hydroxy acids, or AHAs, include glycolic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, and malic acid, and are known in skin care as chemical exfoliants. Don't be alarmed--all that means is they increase cell turnover by loosening dead skin cells from the skin's surface. This is key in anti-aging, since cell turnover slows with every passing birthday. You've most likely heard of glycolic acid, as it's one of the more commonly used AHAs. It's small enough to penetrate into deeper layers of the skin, stimulating collagen and elastin production. Wrinkles, be gone!

Vitamin C - Vitamin C, the all-around anti-aging wonder ingredient, packs a powerful punch against a bevy of aging issues, including dullness, brown spots, slowed cell renewal, sagging and free-radical damage. It almost sounds too good to be true, but we wouldn't lie to you. Incorporating skin care products that contain this antioxidant can help increase collagen production, brighten and even skin tone and improve overall skin health. All this brought to you by the letter "C."

Hyaluronic Acid - Retaining water is never a good thing. Unless, of course, we're talking skin care. Hyaluronic acid is a super hydrator that draws moisture to the skin and can hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water. Just imagine what that can do for you skin. We're talking filled-out lines, plumped-up wrinkles and an all-over healthier appearance. Not only does moisture leave your skin looking and feeling dewy and soft, it makes for a great prep for makeup, too.

Exfoliate Away the Age

2010-04-29T16:21:00.011-04:00

NOTHING GIVES AWAY YOUR AGE like dull, lifeless skin. Sure, there are wrinkles to iron out and under eye bags to unpack, but that persistent dead skin cell buildup just casts a gloomy shadow over your entire appearance. Fortunately, there is a fairly simple solution that yields almost-instantaneous results: exfoliation. Getting rid of those slovenly dead skin cells that are lounging on the top layer of your skin will do wonders for your complexion. All you gotta do is rinse, lather, and repeat. There are two types of exfoliation, chemical and physical. Here, we break down the properties of each, and explain why it’s important to use both in your skin care regimen.

Chemical Exfoliation
Chemical exfoliators include enzymes, retinols and acids, all of which are compounds that work to loosen the bonds that adhere dead skin cells to the skin’s surface, making it easier to lift them from the skin.

One of the most well known categories of chemical exfoliators is alpha hydroxy acids. Alpha hydroxy acids, or AHAs, include glycolic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, and malic acid, and are sometimes referred to as fruity acids, since they are derived from fruit and plants. In order for any skin care ingredient to be effective, it must penetrate the top layer of skin to reach active skin cells. Of the most common AHAs, glycolic acid has the smallest molecular composition and is therefore able to better penetrate the top layer of skin and is a common ingredient in anti-aging skincare. AHAs have a proven effect on the outermost layer of the skin by promoting diminishing the protein bonds between the top layer of skin cells and the next layer. Thus, as the top layer of dead skin cells are loosened and discarded, healthy, new skin cells are revealed, and skin appears fresher, smoother, and more radiant. Glycolic, lactic and citric acids can penetrate to the deeper dermal layer of the skin to help promote increased collagen production and thicken the skin, giving it a plumped, restored appearance.

Many over-the-counter products contain low (and generally safer) concentrations of AHAs, which are enough to loosen the bonds between the top and second layer of skin cells. Lower concentrations can generally be used on a daily basis without skin irritation, and can help smooth skin, manage acne, and reduce the appearance of sun damage. Many skin care formulas combine AHAs like glycolic acid with an anti-irratant like allantoin to help alleviate any possible irritation from the acid. Since AHAs remove that top layer of skin cells and expose younger, newer skin cells, it’s extremely essential that you wear a broad-spectrum SPF everyday to prevent further damage to those newly exposed cells.

Another acid that’s prominent in skin care is a beta hydroxy acid, salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is most widely used as a treatment for acne due to its antibacterial properties, and also works in a manner similar to AHAs by causing skin cells to shed more easily. When skin cells shed, clogged pores open up, allowing the salicylic acid to penetrate better, neutralizing bacteria and allowing the pore to constrict.

Thirdly, retinols (which can be listed in an ingredient list as vitamin A, retinol, retinyl actate or retinyl palmitate) are a widely accepted and proven group of chemical exfoliators. They are especially effective because their molecular structure is small enough to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin to signal skin cells to increase collagen and elastin production. Increased collagen and elastin production plumps up skin, and smoothes out lines and wrinkles, thus making retinol almost an essential ingredient in any anti aging skin care routine.

Physical Exfoliation
The second type of exfoliation is through physical means, which include microbeads, nut granules, salt and sugar, microdermabrasion crystals, and other grainy particles. The way these particles work is a little more straightforward—they simply slough off the dead skin cells that adhere to the top layer of skin when massaged over skin. Removing those pesky dead skin cells can help promote cell turnover, reveal fresh skin, smooth out wrinkles, and diminish pore size, and all the while promoting a healthier, younger appearance.

Developing a skin care routine that incorporates both chemical and physical exfoliators can help you reveal your best-looking skin. Use a chemical exfoliator to loosen dead skin cells from the epidermis and prepare them for exfoliation. Physical exfoliators can be a little more irritating to the skin, so use one a maximum of 2-3 times per week to remove those loosened dead skin cells.

In order for exfoliation to be an effective anti aging tool in your skin care routine, you have to be dedicated to the cause. Choose a daily cleanser that contains a chemical exfoliant so skin cells are consistently being washed away and your face is extra-prepped for any weekly scrubbing you do. If you have sensitive skin, look for cleansers that also contain allantoin, aloe or green tea, since all those ingredients help calm irritation. That pretty face of yours doesn’t deserve all the attention—your body needs love, too. You can find a body wash that contains both chemical and physical exfoliants. Just make sure the particles in the formula are gentle enough to use everyday. Stick to the plan and give it a little elbow grease, and you’ll be glowing from head to toe in no time.

Tip of the Week: How to Get a Closer Shave

2010-04-26T15:28:00.006-04:00

Successful comedian and actress Mo’Nique, who played the harrying mother in Precious, has recently caught some flack for swearing off shaving after one bad experience left her nicked up. We can understand how a "hair"-rowing experience with a razor could scare you off. Putting down the knife is one way to avoid cuts and razor bumps, and there are other, more time-consuming and expensive ways to remove hair, but if a razor is your weapon of choice, here’s our tip on how to get the closest, smoothest shave possible. In one word: exfoliate. Exfoliating scrubs away the dead skin cells on the surface layer of skin--you know, the ones that clog up pores and get the in the way of you having touchable, baby-soft skin. Once you slough off that unneeded layer, you can shave closer to the hair follicle, leaving smoother, softer, silky skin. Not only that, but using chemical exfoliants like salicylic acid post-shave can help minimize ingrown hairs, buy keeping those pesky dead skin cells from building up over follicles and clogging the pore. It's a win-win, really.

Shake What Mother Nature Gave You

2010-04-22T14:08:00.010-04:00

To celebrate Earth Day this year, we're getting back to the basics--the way nature intended. Here at FemmeScience we're huge on effective, quality ingredients that deliver real results and are just simply good for your skin. And what could be better than nature? Some of the most dermatologist-recommended skin care ingredients stem from natural sources like fruits, trees and plants. Here, five essential naturally derived ingredients to have in your skin care.

1) Glycolic Acid--This alpha hydroxy acid comes from sugar cane and is one of the most widely used chemical exfoliants in skin care because it's so good at what it does. It weakens the bonds that bind dead, dull skin cells to the surface of your skin for easier and more effective exfoliation. Increased exfoliation reveals smoother, younger-looking skin, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, minimizes pores and diminishes dark spots.

2) Soy--Not just a tasty treat, soy has many benefits when applied topically. Soy contains isoflavones, a plant compound found in the soy bean, which exhibit antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Those powerful antioxidants will combat the damage done to your skin by free radicals in order to even out skin tone and support collagen production, which will plump up sagging skin and fill in wrinkles.

3) Green Tea--We know that drinking green tea will do the body good, but all those antioxidants can be harvested into effective anti aging skin care. High concentrations of catechins and phenolic acid help to protect skin cells from free radical damage, which can cause age spots, wrinkles and dullness. This little leaf also soothes and calms stressed out skin.

4) Kojic Acid--Considered nature's alternative to lightening chemical hydroquinone, kojic acid comes from an unsightly source: fungi--specifically, mushrooms. This ingredient is used to brighten darkened areas of the skin like age and sun spots. It works by inhibiting melanin production, thereby also helping to prevent further discoloration.

5) Shea Butter--Found in the Shea Tree nut, shea butter is one of nature's richest moisturizers. The moisturizers in shea butter are the same moisturizers produced by the sebaceous glands in the skin, which helps promote skin healing. It also contains vitamins A and E, both of which are essential additions to any skin care regimen. Vitamin A supports increased cell regeneration, while vitamin E is said to assist in circulation.

Who is FemmeScience?

2010-04-19T13:30:00.005-04:00

At FemmeScience, we think you should look and feel your best during the best years of your life. Unique and always chic, our customer is a modern woman who knows what she wants and lives life to the fullest. She is intelligent, beautiful, sophisticated and genuine. She lives an exciting, luxurious and freewheeling lifestyle. She is confident and never afraid to express her individuality. A free spirit who views the world with a vastly fresh approach, she works to live, and doesn’t live to work. She demands performance and style from her skincare and seeks visible, dramatic results. She doesn’t take any bs and lives live by her own set of rules. She is beautiful inside and out. She is smart and she is part of a new generation that uses knowledge wisely and powerfully. She knows she is going to look fabulous when she is 40, 50, 60—you name it. She’s not afraid to age and realizes she’ll only get better with time. She is you.

Fight Aging Early: Top 5 Preventative Anti Aging Tips

2010-04-15T15:12:00.013-04:00

THEY SAY "AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION is worth a pound of cure,” and this couldn’t be truer in anti-aging skin care. Speak with any dermatologist, beauty editor or plastic surgeon and they will tell you: prevention is the best anti aging treatment. Starting to properly care for your precious skin at an early age, before the aging damage really gets under way, is one of the best ways to keep your skin looking healthy and fresh for longer. Developing an anti-aging routine isn’t just about skin care, but rather, a lifestyle as well that complements healthy skin function. The skin is susceptible to both external and internal factors—how you treat your body is as important as what you put on your face. Healthy lifestyle choices can amplify the results that an effective skin care routine can produce—poor ones can completely undermine them. Here are five preventative anti-aging steps you can take to start preserving your healthy, beautiful skin.

1) Anti Aging Treatment—Finding an anti aging treatment that’s appropriate for your skin type and age is important. Using too potent of a formula or one for the wrong skin type can make your skin condition worse, or be completely ineffective. There are some ingredients, however, that generally work for most skin types and are proven to be effective in keeping the visible signs of aging to a minimum, if not nonexistent. Dermatologists have stood behind retinol, peptides, vitamin C and hyaluronic acid as some of the best anti aging skin care treatments available. Use retinol to help promote cell turnover, working to reverse signs of sun damage and hyperpigmentation. Peptides can help signal your skin to produce more collagen that may help support sagging and wrinkled skin. The powerful antioxidant Vitamin C does wonders to brighten skin tone, boost collagen synthesis and work against free-radical damage. Hyaluronic acid can retain more than 1,000 times its weight in moisture and bind it to the skin, helping to keep your face smooth and moisturized. Incorporating an anti-aging skin care treatment into your skin care routine at an early age can help keep early signs of damage at bay. It’s always better to prevent future damage than play catch-up with skin that is already damaged beyond significant repair.

2) Moisturizer—A daily skin care routine that works overtime to moisturize your skin throughout the day and night is a necessity for fighting off signs of aging. A hydrating cleanser and a good facial moisturizer should definitely be included your daily skincare regimen. A note to oily-skin girls: don’t skip out on the moisturizer because your skin produces excess oil. Oil is not a sufficient moisturizer and can prevent water-soluble emollients from getting to your skin cells. It’s about finding the right balance of moisture for certain areas on your face that might be drier or oilier than others. Maintaining appropriate levels of moisture in the skin can plump up fine lines, minimize the appearance of pores and give skin a dewy, fresh glow. Look for products that contain super moisturizers like hyaluronic acid, shea butter and squalene.

3) SPF—We cannot stress this enough: protect yourself from harmful and damaging UV rays! Not only will exposure to those drops of golden sun expose you to an increased chance of skin cancer, but they will also fuel the rate at which your skin ages. Specifically, sun rays damage the elasticity in the skin, causing a loss of firmness and fine lines and deep wrinkles. Basking in it can also cause freckles and hyperpigmentation (dark spots), which leads to a dull, uneven skin tone. Kill two birds with one stone and slather on a daytime moisturizer that contains an SPF of 15 or higher. Also, stay out of the sun during midday, when the UV radiation is the strongest.

4) Nutrition—Keep yourself hydrated, eat a balanced diet and make sure you get enough vitamins. We’ve heard it all before, but there’s obviously a reason experts keep coming back to these suggestions time and time again. You don’t need to go overboard with the water consumption, as too much might flush out vital nutrients that you’ve consumed throughout the day, but make sure you never go thirsty, as that’s a sign of dehydration. Fruits and vegetables also contain lots of water, so eating your recommended five-a-day is like a one-two punch: vitamins and H₂O, all in one bite. Almost all experts advise against excessive alcohol consumption. Now, we like our margaritas as much as the next girl, but alcohol dehydrates the skin, leaving your carefully stocked anti-aging skin care regimen ineffective against wrinkles, large pores and dullness. Keep alcoholic drinks to a minimum, and if you must, reach for red wine—it’s packed full of antioxidants, which are always helpful in fighting against free-radical damage.

5) Stress—Important deadlines at work, first dates from hell, multiples kids’ schedules to juggle… Life can get hectic, and if you’re not managing it well, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll be stressed. Many studies have documented the effects of stress on the body, and your skin is no exception. Stress can cause wrinkles and acne flare ups in even the healthiest skin. Find something to clear your mind and relax to reduce stress. Meditate, take a yoga class, read a book, anything to take time for you. It’s also extremely important that you get a good night’s sleep. Skin cells regenerate while you sleep. A solid 7-9 hours of shut-eye coupled with a good skin care regimen that promotes cell turnover, and you can wake up looking refreshed, firmed and maybe even a little smoother.

"The Real Jessica"--But, Really?

2010-04-13T11:40:00.009-04:00

Blonde bombshell Jessica Simpson has been gallivanting about the globe for her reality show, The Price of Beauty, “to explore how different cultures define beauty and the extraordinary lengths that women will go to in order to achieve it,” according to the VH1 show website. Extreme beauty ideals and the pressure they put on women is a hot topic that has been recently resurfacing in the news in various forms (models in Spain being too thin, Dove’s campaign for real beauty, heavily photoshopped magazine images revealed, etc.). There seems to be an increasing awareness of the threat that unrealistic beauty ideals poses to the self-esteem of women all over. So when J Simp proposed that she pose sans makeup or retouching on this month’s Marie Claire, we didn’t bat a mascara-ed eyelash. It seemed like a natural extension of what she was trying to achieve with her show. Plus who doesn’t love a good celeb-without-makeup shot? Well, the cover is on stands now and people are up-in-arms about the fact that Jessica doesn’t really look like she’s completely bare. We have to admit we’re pretty sure we noticed at least a little bronzer on her cheeks. What do you think? Can you see a hint of tint? Does it matter? Vote and leave your comment below!

Is J Simp wearing makeup?

poll by twiigs.com

What is FemmeScience?

2010-04-01T11:25:00.010-04:00

WHEN I WAS IN MY EARLY 20's, people literally used to stop me on the street to ask me what kind of skincare I used. And the answer was always "Oh, nothing really, just soap and water." I really never paid attention to the kind of products I used and pretty much stuck to the CVS brands…

Fast forward 10 years and boom—the situation is completely different. Hello, acne. Hello, dullness. Hello, wrinkles. Hello, uneven skin tone.

If you are anything like me, then you know how incredibly frustrating and maddening it can be when you’ve had great skin your whole life (or at least until your mid-twenties) and then all of a sudden another birthday passes and everything changes. That glow your skin had starts to diminish and suddenly you find yourself paying a lot more attention to those skin care infomercials.

Your late twenties and early thirties is the time when aging concerns begin to show up. Hormone levels begin to change, metabolism declines and cell turnover rates begin to slow down. Your skin may have accumulated a sufficient amount of damage to has some degree of visible roughness, dullness, starter wrinkles, fine lines and discoloration. Much of this damage probably occurred earlier on in life, but unfortunately it doesn’t show up until much later. Well, it's time to fight back, and regain and maintain your youthful, fresh glow.

FemmeScience was created specifically to address these issues. FemmeScience skin care products contain dermatological-grade ingredients to enhance the vitality and radiance of youthful skin. But these aren't the harsh acne formulas you depended on in your teen years, and they aren't heavy-duty aging concoctions department stores carry for mature skin. FemmeScience is a prestige line dedicated to preserve the beautiful skin you already have and prevent future damage. Start taking care of your skin now, and you'll stay more radiant for longer. Now, who doesn't want that?

The FemmeScience Customer

2009-09-16T15:57:00.001-04:00

1 of 9

Unique and always chic, our customer is a modern woman who knows what she wants and lives life to the fullest.

2 of 9

She lives an exciting, luxurious and freewheeling lifestyle.

3 of 9

She is confident and never afraid to express het individuality.

4 of 9

She appreciates the best years of her life and looks forward to getting better with age.

5 of 9

She loves herself and recognizes the need to nurture her spirit, her youth, and her beauty.

6 of 9

She views life as a journey with many challenging and beautiful moments. She is dedicated to hard work, intelligent living, and beauty from the inside and out.

7 of 9

She is intelligent, beautiful, sophisticated and genuine.

8 of 9

A free spirit who views the world with a vastly fresh approach.

9 of 9

She demands performance and style from her skincare and seeks visible, dramatic results.

Welcome to the FemmeScience Skincare Blog!

2009-04-30T12:05:00.003-04:00

On behalf of all of us at FemmeScience, I'd like to be the first to welcome you to the debut issue of the FemmeScience blog.

We would to use this blog to spread our philosophy in a practical way. Our goal is to share our hands on experience, working with the largest organ of the body; the skin. We want to help young woman understand and nurture their skin. When you understand what affects it, you will be able to preserve it youthful and vibrant.

We will answer some of the most common questions about skincare in this blog. You'll read expert skincare tips, youthful beauty secrets and skin care articles from industry experts. You will learn to combine expertise with advanced ingredients to help maintain an effortless beauty. Our skincare experts will give the education you need to get the skinny on tackling acne, anti-aging, dark circles under eyes, sun protection and skin basics.

We encourage you to browse our blog, and check in often, as we will be publishing skin tips, skincare articles, and other resources to help you look and feel your best.

Here's to the science of beauty and youth for the modern woman,

Federico Sanchez
President, CEO.