On the heels of December’s decadence, and because I always make a resolution (don’t ask if I keep it), I’m declaring 2017 the year to tackle beautiful skin from the inside out. Inspired by the newly released book Eat Beautiful: Food and Recipes to Nourish Your Skin from the Inside Out, by Wendy Rowe, each month, in addition to the latest information on cosmetics, skincare and bath, I’ll feature a skin-nourishing food or ingredient and tip to a local restaurant dish with the month’s skin-nourishing food.
Eating for Beauty
It is no great secret that caring for your body by eating fresh, whole foods is the key to achieving inner glow. By nature, specific foods and ingredients feed your skin vitamins and nutrients that can stimulate collagen production for firmer skin, fight free radicals, help repair, act as anti-inflammatories or offer anti-aging properties. There are a handful of books on the market, all dedicated to achieving beautiful skin nutritionally. Check out these titles:
Eat Pretty: Nutrition for Beauty Inside and Out, by Jolene Hart (also check out the “Eat Pretty” guided journal to make a practice of beauty nutrition tips and track progress)
Radical Beauty: How to Transform Yourself From the Inside Out, by Deepak Chopra
The Moon Juice Cookbook, by Amanda Chantal Bacon
Spinach
Loaded with Vitamins A, C, E and K, spinach is said to help reduce inflammation, heal skin and prevent acne. Loaded with antioxidants that destroy free radicals, spinach is also said to assist in reducing the signs of aging. The vitamin K and folate in Spinach are thought to improve the complexion, evening out tone and increasing skin’s radiance.
Eat Your Spinach
The Saag at Taj Mahal Restaurant is a staple of the Indian cuisine canon. Made with spinach and other dark leafy greens, turmeric, cumin seed, chiles and garlic, it’s a delicious vegetarian main or side. Prefer raw spinach? Check out the Sweet Spinach Salad at Theo’s Pizza.
Beauty Trends for Winter 2016/Spring 2017
While perfecting that cat-eye liner, go graphic with double lines, angles and other artsy flare. Dark lips (Gothic and classic red), smoky eyes, clumpy lashes, glossy lips and blue eyeshadow were all over Fashion Week runways. For Spring, it’s all about no makeup makeup, with some artists and designers completely foregoing foundation, while amping up the glow via highlighters, glossy lids and lips. Lashes play a big role, but gone are the clumps and fringe, replaced by minimal, natural looks, and for paler girls, no mascara at all. Pastel eye makeup is another big show for Spring and even Summer.
For Now
I am a product junkie. I have managed to work my way through a tube of Mac’s new Liptensity Lipstick in Smoked Almond; hit pan on two colors in the Anastasia Modern Renaissance Eyeshadow Palette; am head over heels for Tom Ford Eye Defining Liquid Liner Pen; and have gone fragrance freaky for D.S. & Durga’s fig-heavy “Debaser,” and Maison Margiela’s cozy chestnut and smoky wood “By the Fireplace.”
Love List
SK-II Facial Treatment Cleansing Oil, Facial Treatment Clear Lotion and Facial Treatment Essence
Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Oil
Dior Dream Skin Nude Air Luminizer
L’Oreal Voluminous Lash Primer
Essence Lash Princess Mascara
Anastasia Liquid Lipstick in Allison
Real Techniques Blending Sponge
Real Techniques Brush Cleansing Palette and Cleansing Gel
Maison Margiela
