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Articles on Beauty Matters:

Choosing Coloured Contact Lenses is a Must

There was a time when we used glasses that changed color in sun. They were the two-in-one option of the bygone days. Now, we have contacts with the same two-in-one function. These are colored lenses that correct the vision and give a different color to your eyes.

There are a number of well known brands offering them. It is advisable that you settle for a known brand rather than going for something cheap manufactured by the unknown aliens, for saving in this area may not only be unhealthy but may also make you pay much more in medical bills. Besides, what's the point in purchasing a cheap lens and then imagining all the damage it might be doing to your eyes. That would mean buying a lens and getting a headache for free.

The next step is to buy the right lens. In this category there are mainly three different kinds of lenses available. These are visibility tints lenses, opaque color tints and light filtering tints. These lenses are made in emulation of our own eyes, which makes them look astoundingly natural. It's much like wearing an additional eye and if you buy a good quality lens it feels comfortable enough for you to forget you are wearing a lens at all.

While choosing lenses you must consider your complexion as well as the color of your eyes so that whichever lens you pick looks best on you giving you an all round makeover. So, for those who are fair the right colors are blue, light green and violet, and if your complexion is rather dark settle for something bright and reflective.

If you are one of those with a reddish tinge on skin or hair, what looks particularly good on you is light brown. Green or gray are your colors if you have those crystal clear blue eyes.

However, visiting the eyes specialist is a must for those who have a vision problem so that the right kind of lenses could be chosen for you. Moreover, it is important that you take medical advise on whether or not you should wear lenses at all. Most of the time there is no problem wearing lenses but this additional precaution ensure that possible individual complications are detected beforehand and do not catch one unprepared.

Eyes are precious, delicate and complex, so every possible care should be taken to keep them healthy. Regular visits to the eye specialist is one of the important precautions that one must take.

Ashish Jain
15 Dec 2006

To get more information on best contact lenses, buying contact lenses and cosmetic contact lens visit http://www.contactlenseclub.com/contacts/

Relive Your Glory Days

Flawless and luminous skin is an ongoing challenge and remains a dream for many women and even the metrosexual male these days. Apart from natural aging, photo aging (caused by UV rays) is the top contributing factor towards premature skin aging. Coupled with daily stress levels, our skin suffer from undue pressure and, inevitably, display signs of lethargy and haggardness.

The battle against skin aging requires an understanding of what are the primary causes that rob the skin of its youthful glow. The number one culprit behind the causes of skin aging is attributed to a lack of collagen, which causes a weakened collagen network, spelling big trouble for the skin, over time.

Common skin problems affecting Asian women

Skin Discoloration
Clinical studies have shown that UV radiation has the ability to speed skin aging four times faster whent the skin is constantly exposed to the sun. UVA and UVB rays deplete the skin's collagen and elastin supply and sppeds up the darkening process. This, in turn, weakens the skin's defense and expedites the formation of brown spots that multiplies and increases in intensity over time.

Loss of Elasticity
Smooth and firm skin can only mean that your skin is filled with an optimum amount of collagen and has the ability to renew and regenerate itself consistently. Your skin can maintain its youthfulness and elasticity if it is well protected, when its internal collagen and elastin fibres are strengthened continuously, thus slowing down the effects of aging.

Dryness
When the skin is dry, it tends to be sensitive, lined and rough. Next, the skin will lose its lustre and fine lines sets in. With the right nutrients to boost and strengthen skin cells, the skin can be properly nourished, restored and repaired to bring about a visibly hydrated, moisturised texture.

Fine Lines
Wrinkles are a major concern for both women and men. A young person doesn't usually have wrinkles because the skin does a great job stretching and holding in moisture. The dermis has an elastic quality thanks to fibres called elastin that keep the skin looking and feeling young.

However, over time the dermis loses both its collagen and elastin fibres gradually, part of the natural aging process. If these are not replenished consistently, the skin gets thinner and will have trouble getting enough moisture to the epidermis (upper layer of the skin).

Lack of Radiance
Many would go togreat lengths to achieve that "beautiful" look, like surgery, botox injection, overpriced skincare products, to name a few. But even with the perfect proportion on one's facial features, they may still find their skin looking dull. The cause? A slowdown in cellular renewal and poor blood circulation.

Supplmenting your diet with the right nutrients to increase your skin cells' ability to renew and regenerate itself, may help restore it back to its former glory days.

Article contributed by,
Total Image
Malaysia
Published in The Star 14 Dec 2006
16 Dec 2006

Women Seek Cleavage and Comfort in Their Bras

Would you buy a bra that can be converted into a shopping bag? Or one which contains liquid that can keep you warm, or cool, depending on the weather? Probably not, but Japanese women are game.

When it comes to underwear, Japan is the land where high-tech meets quirky. Last year, Triumph International Japan launched a "shopping bag bra" - a lacy red bra which can be turned into a shopping bag. The padding in the bra cups doubles as extra fabric which can be held together with bra straps to create a bag.

For a step-by-step diagram, visit www.triumphjapan.com/release/unique/2006110700166.html.

Japanese underwear maker Wacoal Corporation also released its Kaiteki Navi range last year, which includes "climate-control bras and underwear". They contain liquid which cools the wearer in hot weather and heats up when it is cold outside.

When it comes to underwear, women here (Singapore) are less adventurous. In fact, when Triumph launched its Fresh Fabric T-Shirt bra, which has odour-repelling qualities, in 2004, sales were modest. Singapore women only demand two things from their bras - cleavage and comfort. Every major brand selling here says that its top-selling bras are the padded and push-up varieties.

In Europe, where women are more endowed, the trend is the opposite, with minimal padding preferred. Singaporean women like to dress sexily, which is why they want an additional boost. At Wacoal, 60% of the bras sold are padded.

Comfort is also key. When Triumph conducts focus groups, the women always say the "no matter what the purpose of the lingerie is, it must be comfortable". But here is the bad news: The law of gravity has deemed that "the more you try and push something together, the more the degree of comfort declines. Which is why the race to combine cleavage with comfort has meant that underwear manufacturers are now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop bras that can give the bosom lift but won't make you squirm with pain.

One major breakthrough in recent years has been the use of microfibre, a man-made fine yarn which is soft and light yet holds the flesh in place. Triumph's top-selling One-Piece Bra for example, uses microfibre and is heat-pressed with glue to create a seemless finish. It was developed over eight years and is a collaboration between the German-Swiss company's research labs in Europe, Japan and Hong Kong.

A comment put it this way - A lot of people underestimate how much work goes into developing bras, but for the One-Piece Bra, thousands of reseacrhers, engineers, mechanics and marketing staff worked together. In fact R&D is spent to eliminate the number of elements that can annoy a woman.

Recent inventions include elastics which don't pinch the skin, two-way stretch foam cups that move with the wearer, and fabrics so soft that you forgot you are wearing a bra.

Over at Wacoal Corporation's Human Science Laboratories in Japan, Taiwan and China, engineers conduct experiments on how women's bodies react in different environments while wearing different materials. They also collate data on thousands of different female shapes and sizes to find out if the needs of women are changing. For example, a decade ago, the average Singaporean woman was a size 70B, while recent research shows that women here today are a more busty 75B.

One of Wacoal's most ground-breaking underwear invention last year was the Tummy Walker, a panty which puts pressure on selected muscles when the wearer walks, helping to tone up the hips, thighs and abdomen. Even home-grown lingerie manufacturers have got into the act, with Ero Lingerie creating Skin Cool, a range designed for Singapore's humid weather. It notes that the padding in conventional push-up bras is made from compressed foam and non-breatheable fabric, making them heavy and uncomfortable.

Skin Cool push-up bras have “thermal regulators” - small pores in the foam and use a more breatheable fabric so that air can move more freely. An experiment with one woman who wore the padded bra was on a treadmill for an hour and withih 15 minutes of stopping, the bra had dried up completely. Skin Cool now accounts for 80% of sales at Ero Lingerie, which stocks seven other international brands of ingerie.

An avid bra shopper who now owns at least 200 bras says she would rather $100 on a nice bra than a pair of shoes or blouse. She continue to say that she could be wearing an old blouse but if she is wearing a new ;ingerie which looks good and gives her a good shape, she feels confident both inside and outside.

Leong Su-Lin
URBAN
The Straits Times
Singapore
19 Jan 2007

This article is an abstract from The Straits Times - URBAN, January 4, 2007