Get out your camera and win some SkinMedica products!

As most women will tell you, we accumulate large quantities of skin care products. Because of this, we often find decorative ways to display these products, rather than store them behind closed doors. Often, they’re packaged nicely and it’s just easier to access them in the morning and in the evening. Whether they are in a pretty basket or housed on a glass shelf, we can get pretty creative with our displays.

Recently, I was setting up my own bathroom, and putting out all of my SkinMedica products, and I thought it would be a great way to run a contest: I could have patients show me their OWN SkinMedica setups! I could give away product (because really, who doesn’t love free product?) and allow people to get some decorating ideas to boot.

So, here are the rules:

1. Email me a photo of your SkinMedica setup to info@stlcosmeticsurgery.com

2. I’ll pin your photos onto our Pinterest board, under the category of Home Decor.

3. Repin your favorites!

4. Our staff will choose the best one for the week, and each Friday in April I will announce a weekly winner, who will receive (1) SkinMedica Daily Physical Defense Sunscreen and (1) SkinMedica Dermal Repair Cream.

5. At the end of the month, I’ll announce a grand prize winner who will receive a surprise SkinMedica Package.

Good luck, and happy pinning! Get decorating!

-Rhonda

90 Day Challenge: And the winner is…

After months of chemical peels, new serums to teach people about, and photos to analyze, we finally have a winner selected for our SkinMedica 90 Day Challenge. Her name is Jennifer Bengston, and her dramatic results over the course of 90 Days impressed everyone here.

Congratulations, Jennifer, on committing to the goal of changing your skin, and sticking with the process! You’ve earned 6 months worth of FREE TNS Essential Serum from SkinMedica, and we hope you’ve become a fan of taking care of your skin for life.

90 Day Challenge: What I’ve Learned From 3 Months of Skin Care Bootcamp

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

Going from someone who barely had time for moisturizer, to a skin care addict in 90 days provided me with some valuable insights into my new routine. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, to start a regimen that’s healthy, but it’s worth it, as long as you remember a few things.

1. Going to bed with a dirty face full of make-up is a big no-no.The first time I saw the Visia pictures of my face, with my pores full of bacteria, I wanted to cry. It doesn’t take long, wash that junk off. You don’t need a fancy cleanser. Save your money for the serums and creams, get some drugstore cleanser if you need to, and scrub off the day. If your pillow is multi-colored in the morning, you’re doing it wrong!

2. Sunscreen is important, even in the winter. I never, ever imagined I’d be the person to say this, but even when the weather’s cold and dreary….you need sunscreen. Driving around, walking from your car into buildings, it adds up over time, and sun damage is the number one way to ruin your skin. In the warmer months, it’s imperative, so slather on a daily SPF of 20 or 30. And don’t even get me started on tanning.

3. There’s a method to the madness: the order you put products on your face makes a difference in the effectiveness. If you’re confused, ask, ask, ask! Certain serums need to be on clean skin, others can be layered. If you’re spending a considerable amount of money on the right products, you need to make sure you’re using them for maximum effectiveness, or it’s all a waste of cash.

4. If you don’t like something, or feel it doesn’t work, ask an esthetician. You might be using it wrong, or they can recommend something that will work better if you’re having a reaction. But don’t just cut it out of your routine without talking to them.

5. It’s not all or nothing. If you fall off the wagon, don’t just stop! If you’re out of one product, don’t skip it all, put on the other two. If you miss a week, start back up. Anything is better than nothing….your skin will still benefit.

6. Water, water, and more water! One of the biggest problems I have is getting enough water in throughout the day, and it shows in my face. Dehydration causes taut skin that shows aging and fine lines a lot more easily than skin that’s properly hydrated. Get yourself a fun, colorful water bottle (I prefer one with a little bling myself) and carry it around all day. Your skin is always easier to fix on the outside if your inside is taken care of as well.

Thanks to everyone who has followed me through this journey, especially those who have done the challenge themselves! We will officially announce the winner in early March, who will receive a six month supply of SkinMedica TNS Essential Serum (my all-time favorite product!)

Want dramatic eyes with little work? Here’s how.

Many women like the look of long, thick eyelashes. A long dark eyelash can really bring attention to an eye and make it seem bigger and brighter. There are countless ways to achieve this look, from expensive mascaras to drugstore false lashes, but one of the easiest ways to get real long lashes is with Latisse®, the only FDA approved eyelash enhancement product.

Promoted by the likes of Brooke Shields and Clair Danes, Latisse® is a prescription drug  that is applied to the base of eyelashes to generate longer lashes. Used in conjunction with another amazing makeup technique, permanent makeup, you can achieve beautiful, dramatic eyes with little to no effort every morning.

If you’re tired of spending tons of money at the drugstore on false eyelashes, “extending” mascaras and eyeliner that inevitably wears off, this combination may be just the thing you’re looking for. If you get in before the end of February, you can have a free sample of Latisse® with ANY permanent makeup service!

90 Day Challenge: Is Natural Always Better?

Last week, I read an article about French women: an article that discussed their natural beauty, their confidence, the general allure that makes them so attractive. While I love the concept of natural beauty, I have many doubts about those that we bestow the title upon.

Inner beauty aside, we usually consider someone a natural beauty when she doesn’t have to wear tons of make-up, when she looks younger than her natural years without looking “fake.” Her skin looks flawless with no caked-on foundation, she exudes that “girl-next-door” look. But as I’ve found over the past month, having skin that looks so good sans make-up is work in and of itself. Yes, I can see definite improvement since I began the 90 Day Challenge. My make-up goes on much more smoothly and I seem to use less of it, not to mention the random compliments I’ll get from people who know me. Week after week people will squint at my face and say “you know, your skin really does look great.”

And it does, no doubt. I can even go out on a Saturday afternoon errand-running mission without foundation. I look…natural. Oh, but the work involved in looking so natural! Aside from the nightly routine, I’m getting chemical peels and trying to stay out of the sun. So while it’s nice that I have a natural look, it’s no more natural than the deep red lipstick I used to live and die by.

And where, exactly, do you draw the line in the natural/fake debate? Many of us curl or straighten our hair, shave or laser our legs, apply deodorant and perfume, scrub and exfoliate and polish and pluck….truly, in the search for beauty and attractiveness, does anyone really prefer “natural?” Or is it just the illusion of natural beauty that proves good enough?

For myself, I’m ok knowing that it’s not easy, that I don’t wake up looking ready for the day. It takes a little effort to get my hair the way I like it and my skin feeling smooth. And that’s fine, because it makes ME happy. And in the end, I think being HAPPY with myself is the key. After all, the French are confident too, right?

90 Day Challenge: Why are healthy habits so easy to break?

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

hab·it (noun)

An acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

We all have many habits in life; some good, some bad. The bad ones seem to come with ease; I mean, how swiftly we can fall into the habit of eating pizza and chips for dinner, or watching TV all night instead of folding laundry? But the good ones, the ones we REALLY want to stick–those, unfortunately, take more effort to ingrain. I’ve heard that it takes 21 days for something to really become a “habit,” and from my experience, that’s pretty generous. I might need more than 3 weeks to say “this is something I do everyday, without even THINKING, it is involuntary.”

A few short weeks ago, the notion of putting on serums and creams every night was so foreign to me, I actually had to set a reminder on my iPhone to do it. I grunted and groaned but I did eventually begin to get used to it, and even began to look forward to the clean, smooth way I felt after it was all done.

But then, I got my first chemical peel, and my fledgling habit almost went right out the window.

The experience of the chemical peel in and of itself was pretty much a non-event. The one I chose for my first time was simply a Level 1, so there was no actual “peeling” involved. In my imagination (which is pretty vivid) I was envisioning thick layers of gummy materials all over my face, being peeled off in one big hunk. In reality, the peel I got felt more like rubbing alcohol being applied to my skin with a piece of gauze. Simple, easy, no big deal.

In actuality, though, it is a pretty big deal, and therefore I was told to stop using the heavy-duty skin products for a week while the chemical peel did its skin-enhancing job. Admittedly, I was as stoked as if I was in fifth grade and just found out I had no homework for a week. I could go back to slacking!

The funny thing about it, though, was that I had sort of gotten used to feeling good, and stopping felt odd. Sort of. I missed the feeling of feeling clean and fresh and healthy, but I didn’t miss the routine, and I didn’t miss it enough  to re-start a week later with gusto. I had to reset my iPhone reminder, pep myself up again almost as if I was starting over from scratch. Even though I had halfway formed the habit, it was still very, very easy for me to take that break, and hard for me to start back up. If I had waited just a few days longer, it would have taken even more effort to get back on the horse.

Why do these healthy habits take so much effort, even when you enjoy how you feel afterwards? It doesn’t matter how great I feel after jogging, it’s still hard for me to get up in the morning and hop on the treadmill. Apparently, beauty and skin care are not much different from exercise. The benefits are great if you just force yourself to stick with it for at least 21…or 90…days. I just have to remember to keep my eyes on the goal, just like I do at the gym. Healthy skin, looking five years younger…it’s worth it, I promise.

90 Day Challenge: Jumping in and Making Mistakes

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

For a tactile learner like myself, staring a new project is always exciting. Instead of reading directions or asking for help, I just like to jump in and get going. I’ve never read through a manual for a computer or a phone, I don’t properly lay down cloth and edge tape when I paint, and shelf diagrams just confuse me so I toss them in the trash before I set out to build them on my own. I’ve always found that if I can just get my hands on the material, I’ll figure it out significantly faster than if I go through someone else’s steps.

While this works fairly well with an iPhone, it doesn’t work too well with skin care.

Once I signed up for the 90 Day Challenge and got my photos taken, I was utterly mortified at the condition of my skin and vowed to fix it immediately. Armed with an arsenal of products that I had never even seen before, I set out to get fixed overnight. Before bed, I washed my face with some $5 drug store cleanser and then promptly slathered on thick layers of everything in my SkinMedica bag. The next morning, I did the same. I felt GOOD. I felt EMPOWERED. I felt PROUD of myself for taking steps to get healthier.

Upon entering the office later that day, I found an esthetician and excitedly went on and on about my night and morning experiences. Just like my five year old son when he writes his name perfectly and wants praise, I preened for Wendy and waited for her to pat me on the back like a good pupil when I told her what I had done. Imagine my surprise, however, when she told me I had done it all wrong.

Wrong? How could I have messed this up already, I asked? It’s cream! You rub it in, boom, done, right?

Not right…and if you ever want to see a skin care expert freak out, say to her “I’m not sure how many times I applied the Tri-Retinol formula to my face.” Frankly, I’m lucky she caught me when she did: Because skin care is a science, there’s a method to the madness, and left to my own devices, I might end up looking worse, and not better.

Number one, I was using an exfoliating scrub to wash my face instead of the gentle cleanser I should have been using as part of the program. Number two, I put everything on in the wrong order. A product like SkinMedica TNS Serum, for example, needs to go right on clean skin, and I was putting it on last. Number three, I was using WAY too much product. I rubbed so much TNS Eye Repair cream in that the concentrated ingredients were aggravating my contact lens-wearing eyes; apparently very small amounts rubbed gently in around the eye works just fine. Number four, the Tri-Retinol Complex is powerful stuff and only goes on at night….not numerous times during the day.

So this continual learning process carries on. Lesson learned this week? Sometimes, I can’t just dive in. Sometimes, I need to consult the instruction manual, read the diagram, and actually TALK to the experts…after all, that’s what they’re there for.

Why our estheticians are the best…

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

When it comes to skin care treatment, Mary Ann Egner knows her stuff. As a licensed medical esthetician at St. Louis Cosmetic Surgery Medical Spa, her job consists of not just performing chemical peels and facials, but analyzing skin and really listening to her patients as well. These skills, however, do not come overnight. Mary Ann, like all of our estheticians, constantly makes sure that she is learning, evolving, trying new things, and keeping herself cutting-edge.

As part of her ongoing (and never-ending!) education, Mary Ann went to Carlsbad, California recently for the SkinMedica Advocate Summit, 2011. While there, she met and listened to many top doctors in the skin care industry and came away with some great insights:

What an awesome adventure and learning experience!!! After all the fatigue of traveling to Carlsbad, CA. and dealing with the time changes, I was so not ready to be inspired, but I was!!! At the welcome reception I was delighted to talk with several fellow estheticians and medical estheticians from all around the country. It was so interesting to exchange information about services, products and our profession in general. After a good night’s sleep and a wonderful breakfast, I was rearing to go and go we did. First there was the company update. So I am thinking, ho hum. NOPE!! After listening to a brief explanation from Ted Schwarz, the President, speak about the goals and future of Skin Medica, I was pumped. It is so nice to know that it is not just about turning a profit, but taking care of the patient needs.

Next came Rahul Mehta, Ph.D., who has all the info on the clinical. He is so intelligent about all the wonderful research being done on the products and production of the new ones (Lots on the horizon!). Then John Garruto, Vice President of Formulation Development spoke. To estheticians, this is so intriguing. There were so many more people who I don’t have time to write about, but they were all a part of this wonderful experience. The founder of the company, Dr.Richard Fitzpatrick, M.D., F.A.A.D., is an amazing man who had the foresight to see what would be needed in the future and he took the steps needed to create this awesome company. Thank you, Dr. Fitzpatrick for your vision and thank you for the wonderful experience of experiencing the Advocate Summit, 2011. I look forward to next year.

We’re all excited for our staff and patients to benefit from Mary Ann’s learning experience. Knowledge is power, they say, and our staff is full of it!