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

Want Healthy Skin? Start from Within!

Everyone knows the old saying: you are what you eat. Here at St. Louis Cosmetic Surgery Medical Spa, we encourage our patients to not only follow the skin care regimens our estethicians recommend, but to eat healthy as well. There are many foods out there that are wonderful for the skin, and healthy for the body to boot. Here are some of our favorites, along with coorsponding recipes. Happy eating, and add on a glass of red wine a day for extra benefits!

Berries, especially blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries.

Blueberry Oat Squares

Blueberry Lavender Mojitos

Strawberry Banana Smoothies

Pumpkin Seeds

Spelt Pumpkin Muffins with Carob Chips

Salmon

Orange Rosemary Salmon

Mangos

Mango Salsa

Through October 17, 2012, follow us on Pinterest and play along during our “Pin it to Win it” contest for Spa Patient Appreciation 2012!

Employee Spotlight: Mary Ann Egner, Medical Esthetician

On any typical day in our spa, Mary Ann Egner’s schedule is jam-packed. As a certified medical esthetician who has been with St. Louis Cosmetic Surgery Medical Spa for many years, Mary Ann has built a client base of dedicated patients who appreciate her warmth and expansive advice about skin care. Caring for her patients is a passion for Mary Ann, and she does everything she can to make sure each person walks out of here feeling calm, happy and beautiful. Whether they need a chemical peel, microderm, laser hair removal or a knowledge base in skin care products, she takes careful stock of each person’s needs and tailors a plan specifically for them. She considers her job a blessing, and comes to work every day feeling lucky to be here and to be helping people feel better about themselves.

Mary Ann’s Favorite Product:

“Up The Anti” by PRESCRIBEDsolutions Full Spectrum Sunblock with SPF 30 ($50)

Why She Recommends This Product:

“I love it because it is a physical, not a chemical SPF. It has no additives that will cause breakouts, which is the common complaint I hear about using SPF on the face. It also has a bronzer which helps even the skin tone and hide imperfections, all while being very light on the skin.”

Posted by: Rhonda Shrum

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: 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: 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.