"beauty" news and stories

Sunburst Trout Farm's caviar. Photo: Fred Sauceman, Flickr.

Cosmetologists have long raided the kitchen cabinet to make everything from cucumber lotion to egg white shampoo, but Sunburst Trout Farm's Sally Eason believes her new trout caviar skin cream is unprecedented.

"I always heard caviar was the best thing for your skin," says Eason, whose family has been raising mountain trout in western North Carolina since World War II. Laughing, she adds: "I'm hoping I'm going to look like I'm 22."

Caviar beauty treatments aren't new, but none of the products currently on the market are made from golden trout roe. Sunburst Trout Farm has a history of extracting value from trout eggs, having pioneered trout caviar in the early 1990s. The tangerine-hued eggs have since surfaced at ritzy restaurants and on Jacques Pépin's television show.

But in 2007, Sunburst's processing plant was destroyed by light-fingered arsonists who made off with 670 pounds of the farm's treasured roe.

I'm embarrassed to admit, but ever since I was little, I've had a thing for deliciously-scented bath products. I've never been a make-up person, and I'd take slacks over a skirt any day of the week. But give me a passion fruit-guava bath and shower gel, and I'm all over it. Working at a bath and body store in high school only compounded this addiction.

Because I'd like to think of myself as a connoisseur of food-scented bath products, I can't be bought off with any old strawberry bubble bath or vanilla body spray. Heavens, no. I spring for the unique, the out-of-the-ordinary, the extraordinary. Exotic fruits and unusual pairings make for some fantastic soapy products. Go ahead, take a peek, and then pick up some confectionery concoctions just in time for Valentine's Day. But I have to warn you: when the bottles are empty, the withdrawal symptoms set in, so make sure you stock up.

Sarah mentioned that studies have recently been done that show chocolate is good for your skin. One beauty company, Borba, took that seriously. They have just introduced a line of chocolate bars that will supposedly clear your skin. The bars are made out of Swiss dark chocolate and are infused with a parented "skin clarifying boost ."

Borba also has a few other edible beauty supplements, like age-defying Acai gummies and jelly beans, both of which are organic candies flavored with Acai, green tea and vitamin C, intended to improve the look and feel of the skin. The company also sells a number of variously flavored waters with different skin rejuvaniting purposes.

Perhaps I'm being too cynical, but I'm not sure that chocolate and gummi candies are going to give me perfect skin. And it is worth noting that products that market themselves as nutritional supplements to not have to have their claims proven by the FDA, so any results are most likely anecdotal. But as long as they taste good, I guess it's worth a shot, right? 

Source

You may eat oatmeal every morning for breakfast, but you can also use it on your skin. Doctors and scientists have long known the power of oatmeal to treat minor skin inflammations and relieve very dry skin, and we often see colloidal oatmeal as an ingredient with facial products.

• For a bath soak, finely grind 1c. dry oats in a blender or food processor. Sprinkle in tub of warm water. Soak yourself for 15-20 minutes. I had to do this for a few days when I broke out in hives from a food allergy.
• I have seen oatmeal facials done two ways. The first method uses ½ c. dry oats that has been finely ground mixed with ¼ c. plain full fat yogurt and 2 Tbsp. honey. (We've already seen the beauty benefits of honey.) Apply to face, rest for 15 minutes, then rinse off.
• The 2nd oatmeal facial uses 1/3 c. instant oatmeal cooked with ½ c. water. Add 2 Tbsp honey, apply to face, rest for 15-20 minutes, then rinse off.
• The oatmeal by itself in a facial mask works as an exfoliator, but it can also physically slough off dead skin cells because of its texture when it is ground into a powder.

Previous spa foods not to eat, but to treat:
Avocados are moisturizing
Cleopatra's secret: honey
Miracle Whip and Mayo: Miracle moisturizer
Two in one: eggs
Go bananas!

I used to eat bananas like a monkey, but aside from being an ingredient in pancakes or other baked goods, I stopped in recent years because suddenly the texture was too slimy and mushy for me. However, I'm thinking about bananas again, this time for my skin, rather than my stomach.

Bananas have been used throughout history for their moisturizing and skin-nourishing properties. They contain minerals like magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamins A, B and E. Even companies like the Body Shop, known for their naturally based beauty products use real bananas in their products.

For an exfoliating mask, mash together 1 barely ripe banana, 1 Tbsp. honey, and 1 egg yolk. Apply to face, rest for 20 minutes, then rinse off with warm water. To make it a "banana bread" facial, you can add a few Tbsp finely ground oats.

Previous spa foods not to eat, but to treat:
Avocados are moisturizing
Cleopatra's secret: honey
Miracle Whip and Mayo: Miracle moisturizer
Two in one: eggs