How to Get HD-Ready Skin at Home
By: Victoria Dawson Hoff
Courtesy Elle
There’s no time like the present to steal celebrity beauty secrets that translate from red carpet to everyday life. Today, Joanna Vargas, facialist to the stars (who works with Julianne Moore, Dakota Johnson, and Maggie Gyllenhaal), divulges exactly how to get that practically airbrushed complexion—so you, too can have camera-ready skin.
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1. Peel your way to a smooth face.
"I love doing peels! They are the quickest way to get red carpet ready skin. We do a fruit acid peel with paprika that really flushes out the skin. Peels get rid of any fine lines and even out skin tone. When you follow with a LED light, it brings down inflammation and stimulates collagen production. You’ll look glowing for miles!"
2. You are what you eat.
"The skin needs basic vitamins and nutrients to achieve a glow from within. Every time I see my client Naomi Watts walk a red carpet I am struck by how luminous she looks. This is absolutely the result of eating greens at every meal (even breakfast) and always wearing sunscreen. Eating greens will help to oxygenate your skin, encourage lymphatic drainage, and keep you de-puffed and glowing from within."
3. Scrub-a-dub-dub.
"I encourage my celebrity clients to sleep in my Exfoliating Mask the night before a red carpet event. It evens out pigment and takes down inflammation, and after a good night’s sleep in it, you wake up fresh-faced like you’ve just had a facial."
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4. Massage your face.
"Lymphatic drainage massage is a lost art and certainly a tool that any woman can use to make her face look rejuvenated. On dry skin, you just massage the skin in a circular motion upward [and make sure you have clean hands and a clean face]. Start at the base of the neck, on the sides where your arteries are. Massage in gentle circles upward, toward the jaw, up the sides of the face and around the eyes. This will help coax nutrients into the tissue. If you’re prone to breakouts, you’ll want to do the opposite motion and start on the top of the face [working your way down]—this will coax the waste away."
5. Try a little DIY.
"If you can’t make it to the salon before a big event, try this DIY mask:
· 1/4 cup honey
· 1/2 cup brown sugar
· 1/4 cup milk
· 2 tbsp olive oil
This mask is great for exfoliating sensitive skin. Before any big event women tend to have some nerves, which can lead to last minute breakouts that really destroy their confidence. This mask is calming, and you can use it to scrub away any unevenness. Scrub it onto skin for a few minutes using a downward circle motion. This will stimulate the lymphatic system and help to rid the tissue of any impurities. Next, leave it on the skin for 10 minutes. The lactic acid in the mask will assist in resurfacing the skin while the olive oil will act as an anti-inflammatory. Then remove the mask with lukewarm water.”
6. Or bathe in tea.
"Another at-home treatment is to rinse skin in chamomile tea. The tea has natural anti-inflammatory properties and will assist in healing pimples overnight. If you’re wearing a strapless dress or something with a low back, you feel like everything is exposed and it’s important to address all of the skin. The night before any big event, run a chamomile tea bath–you can do this by simply putting [a few] tea bags in the bath! Not only does it smell heavenly, but it will also encourage a good night’s sleep."
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7. Put some bags on those bags.
"If you have puffy eyes, an old fashioned trick that works is to peel a cucumber and slice it up to place on your eyes [and let it stay there for 10-20 minutes]. You can also put cooled chamomile tea bags on each eye to de-puff."
8. (Dry) brush away your cellulite.
"If you have cellulite and skin elasticity issues, try ‘dry brushing’ [your problem areas with a natural fiber brush]. Start two weeks before an event and you’ll see problem areas slim down. Dry brushing stimulates lymphatic drainage, helps with cellulite, and gives the butt a lift. It only takes a minute before you get in the shower and it really works." (Editor’s note: For best results, choose a natural fiber brush, and then brush lightly in a circular motion all over your body, focusing on problem areas, for 5-10 minutes daily. Pairing this regime with a DIY coffee scrub is like dynamite to those dimples.)
9. And don’t forget some last minute pampering.
"The night before, do a full-body exfoliation. One of my favorite products for body is Eminence Organics Coconut Sugar Scrub. It contains coconut oil, honey, and sugar dissolved into glycolic acid. It makes skin feel so good and glow everywhere. Exfoliation is key to a perfect glow."
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