Do BB and CC Creams provide adequate sun protection?

You may have seen on the packages of BB and CC creams their SPF and PA ratings. The friendly sales assistant from your favorite cosmetics store even swears you can forgo sunscreen since the product has enough SPF. Heck, even this Yahoo article says there's no need for sunblock. So would this mean BB and CC creams, along with their light concealing properties, make sunscreen obsolete?

Read on to find out.

Image courtesy of Amy Nguyen (absolutelyfobulous.com) 

Book Review: It's okay to have lead in your lipstick by Perry Romanowski and Randy Schueller

Weeks ago, while I was browsing through the Beauty Brains, I stumbled upon the book "It's okay to have lead in your lipstick" written by the founders of The Beauty Brains themselves, Perry Romanowski and Randy Schueller. The title was definitely intriguing as I too have this notion of how "bad" of an ingredient lead is.

The authors have impressive background of the cosmetics industry. Perry Romanowski is a cosmetic chemist, inventor, scientist, instructor, founder of Chemists Corner blog and training program. Meanwhile, Randy Schueller is a former Sr. Director of Hair and Skin Care R&D for Alberto Culver and Unilever, while also being a member of the National Association of Science Writers. The authors are basked in the cosmetic industry, and the quality of information in the books proves it.

A critique on acupuncture facials

It may have been already obvious that I like to criticize the tons of marketing hooplah made for the beauty industry. From unreliable active ingredients to extracts operating on naturalistic fallacy, there are many ways people can be fooled by unscrupulous businessmen. These people are too afraid of growing old or ugly that sometimes, fear gets the better of them and they take in all the false marketing hype.

And our beauty BS topic for the day: Acupuncture facials!
(Image from The Daily Mail)

Just days ago, I read an article from a local paper's online portal that one of the bigshots of Philippine cosmetic surgery is now offering acupuncture facials. For only P50,000 php (1250 USD) for every six months , a dozen or so needles will be stuck on the patient's face and will be removed after a few minutes. The facial's provider claims that it can cause facial muscle contraction, stimulate energy flow and circulation, toning up sagging facial muscles and thereby providing another very good anti-aging regimen.

Yeah right.

Does it work: Snail slime skin care

One big skin care fad from the East is the use of snail mucus. It is believed to reduce pigmentation and scarring on the cute assumption that snail mucus was designed to heal the snail as it moves through jagged terrain. I've personally seen some snail mucin products and they're not as icky as I thought they would be. In fact, I'm thinking of reviewing one famed mucus containing moisturizer for fun.

I first learned about snail slime from Penn and Teller's Bullshit show. It was witty and brutal as always, and I thought the snail mask was a mean yet funny prank. At that time, I had no idea snail creams would be as huge as what they are now.

Miracle(?) Skin care Ingredient: Aloe Vera

A lot of skin care products contain aloe. I have after sun gels with aloe. I have a facial wash with aloe extract. I've always though aloe was an established, as in well-researched miracle care, since it has been used for so long.

Until I found this strip from http://carbon-comic.com. This site just gained a regular!

I read more of the post and found out that there are no scientific evidences yet for the use of aloe as a remedy for sunburns. Let's say the evidences for the use of aloe on sunburn may be anecdotes for now, but what about some of the other skin-related claims?

Like as a moisturizer, treatment for acne, anti-aging ingredient, remedy for stretch marks, treatment for wounds among many others. Again, there are no scientific evidences for these claims - http://www.webmd.com and http://www.mayoclinic.com do list some cases where aloe may act as remedy but point out that additional research on aloe is still necessary.

So fellow skin care fans, don't forget to check the active ingredients on your products. Always check the product claims. And don't forget natural is not always safe, so test a product prior to purchase.

My Simple Collagen in Skin Care FAQ

So I wanted to buy drinks with collagen because well.. they're kind of big here, and I want to experiment if collagen will have any effect on my skin. Also, it is supposed to be anti-aging, a skin smoothing miracle. However, this miracle may not come cheap - some of the collagen beauty products can fetch for hundreds of dollars. This warrants some research (or rather Google-ing) and here are a few things I learned (sources are linked within the post):