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: 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!)

90 Day Challenge: Now THAT is a Chemical Peel!

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

Being a novice at times has its advantages. You don’t always know what you’re getting into when you plunge blindly into new endeavors, and therefore you’re saved from a lot of the trepidation that occurs when you know what’s coming. Being new to higher level chemical peels, I scheduled my second one (as part of the SkinMedica 90 Challenge) and went ahead with a much stronger version than the first one I did the last month. That peel was very mild, and I looked nice afterwards, so I was ready to go ahead with the next level.

Thank goodness I didn’t have any big dates or public functions to attend.

I got my first Vitalize Peel at 4pm on a Wednesday. Because I’ve been known to confuse instructions, I was intent on getting them right this time, and I specifically focused on how to utilize my SkinMedica products post-peel. I still managed to mess up one tiny detail, that I was supposed to sleep with the peel on overnight and wash it off in the AM. Instead, I washed it off at about 11:00 pm. but fortunately it was left on for enough time to work.

The next morning, I woke up looking like a rock star; almost as if I had gotten a facelift. My skin was tight and smooth. But by about 7pm that night, the mild flaking started around my chin, and when I woke up the next morning, my five-year old son said “mommy, did you grow a white beard overnight?” You’re not supposed to roughly scrub or pick the flaking skin off, so I might have been a bit embarrassed to go to work that day if I didn’t work in this environment. If I had a typical, public-facing job, I would definitely schedule this  in a way to make sure I was off during the worst of the peeling.

Ultimately, the full on flaking lasted 2 days and I peeled off and on in different areas for 8 days. However, the result was worth it by far. I haven’t used this little make-up in years while still receiving compliments every single day about how great my skin looks.

Aside from the peels, I have to say that my absolute favorite part of the challenge so far is becoming acquainted with  the SkinMedica TNS Essential Serum. Once I got past the slightly “vitamin” tinged scent (which I’m now addicted to and can’t fall asleep without), I realized that just a teeny bit of this anti-aging serum over the past couple of months has literally reduced lines on my face and given me that 21-year-old smooth, “plump” look. With no injections! A great product, it’s become my favorite thing to tell my friends to try.

I now have just a couple of weeks left on the challenge, and one peel left to go. I’m excited to see how motivated I’ll be to keep going with my newfound healthy regimen once the fun is over–I have a feeling I will be continuing for a long while!

Tired of Eyeliner Smudges? Permanent Cosmetics May be the Answer

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

Ever since I was an awkward 7th grader with big hair, I’ve been an eyeliner fanatic. For over 20 years, I have diligently smudged black, brown, or gray liner onto my small eyelids, hoping to brighten them up. And every day, I’ve been crabby when it inevitably migrated onto my hands, clothing, pillow, or some unsuspecting man’s white dress shirt. I’ve tried pencil, I’ve tried liquid; I’ve tried the drug store brands, I’ve tried the high-dollar stuff. It all, in the end, gave me raccoon eyes. I’d heard stories of people getting their eyes “tattooed,” but the thought freaked me out. A needle that close to my eye? And what if it looks horrible?

Although my concerns are normal, they turned out to be unfounded. I have been closely watching Janice Lewis, our Permanent Cosmetics Artist, perform utter magic on patients since I started here in September. Week after week I was amazed at how great these women looked after receiving permanent eyeliner, eyebrows, or lip color. I knew, once I got over my needle-fear, that I had to have this done. Her talent completely wiped away any fear I had of looking fake or tacky.

On the day of my procedure, I was slightly nervous. Before starting, Janice applied numbing cream to my eyes and allowed that to work for 15 minutes. As the numbness set in, I was covered in a blanket and left to cat nap and relax. The whole process was calming and helped ease my nerves.

Once the actual tattooing began to take place, I realized it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had envisioned. Permanent eyeliner is achieved by implanting pigments in the lash line, so it feels a bit like someone is scraping at your eyelid with a teeny, tiny prickly instrument. The process was generally more tiring and irritating than painful, and since top and lower eyeliner only takes an hour, it’s completely bearable because each eye gets a break while the other is being worked on.

I am beyond pleased with the results. I was slightly swollen and red for a couple of days afterwards, and now, three days out, I am experiencing teeny-tiny flakes as the tattoo heals but otherwise no ill effects. The stark color is fading a bit so it’s not so harsh, and it’s completely freeing to wake up in the morning and not have to do the whole eyeliner routine. Here are my before and right-after photos:

Permanent cosmetics begin at $500. Visit our website at http://www.stlmedspa.com or call 636-530-9020 for more details.

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: 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.

90 Day Challenge: Challenging what I see in the mirror

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

About a month ago, when I decided to do this challenge publicly, I was still very naive. Bolstered by my friends and co-workers and excited to have something huge like this to kick off my blogging experience here, I confidently chose to put myself out there as a guinea pig, assuming embarrassment would be minimal.

Then, I got my first digital photo analysis of my skin, and I went home and cried.

I was shocked. Bewildered. I’m a fairly pale girl, always have been. I’m the one people make fun of on the beach, wearing big floppy hats. Sunburn is not enjoyable to me, and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been in a tanning bed (and I’m not proud of those few moments). So while I was braced for the possibility of a few wrinkles and big pores, what I was not expecting was this: That’s my pale skin. With sun damage! A million little UV spots just biding time till one day, unbeknownst to me, they’ll show up ready to party.

Surprisingly, the wrinkles weren’t bad. I had one, so I won’t complain. But I was severely dehydrated, and full of bacteria, thanks to my awful habits of drinking 4 cups a coffee a day and not always cleansing before bed.

So yeah, I cried…because I had to realize that I’ve been lazy and unappreciative. I just expect my skin to always look like it looks now, with no effort whatsoever given to keeping it that way. And the truth is, that will always backfire. If I don’t correct it now, I will wake up in five years with that spotty face.

So not only do I have to publicly stare down my own vanity, but I’m being forced to recognize and rectify habits that don’t serve me well. Sure, I love coffee, and I joke about my addiction daily. However, I never once considered that it would have a negative effect on my skin. Apply sunscreen daily? I’ve never bothered, why would I? I’m not tanning or anything. Stupidly, though, I didn’t count on the endless hours of driving with sun blazing through my window, or all the times I’ve spent with my son outside at the playground. It all adds up, and it’s not pretty.

It’s slowly sinking in that the challenge I decided to do for fun, to just “look better,” will ultimately turn into a vehicle for massive introspection and analysis of not just my habits, but my concepts of health and beauty as well. Eventually, my hope is to not just have better skin, but a better understanding of how to care for myself, both inside AND out.

If you’re interested in the 90 Day Challenge, you can still sign up until November 30th. The cost for all the products and treatments is $695,  valued at almost $1300. Call 636-530-9020 for more information.