Beauty – Page 4

Identifying the Beautiful People Around You

Whom can you turn to for encouragement? Who will support you while you make the changes needed in order to uncover your true essence? Write down a list of these individuals. And don’t neglect to name your spiritual source of support. Whether you rely on God, a Higher Power, or some other type of divine energy or force, know that this loving support is always with you!

Excerpt: The Beauty Blueprint by Michelle Phillips

To Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1401931731/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3525344955&ref=pd_sl_qdo7p6n55_ee

Creating Your Beauty-Blueprint Affirmations

Just as a magnifying glass can focus light onto a targeted beam, affirmations focus your mental energy onto targeted life changes. They can also be a powerful reminder of how beautiful you truly are.
Now that you have a list of your beautiful qualities, let’s use those to write some affirmations. It’s best to keep them short and simple; they’ll be a lot easier to remember and repeat. Go through your list, and try adding the words I am or I have in front of each statement. Your affirmations might look something like this:
• I am compassionate and patient.
• I have a joyful, strong spirit.
• I am creative and inspiring.
Pick out a few that really resonate with you (or all of them, if you wish) and copy them onto index cards. Place these powerful statements in prominent places just as you did with your beautiful qualities. (You can keep both sets of cards out, just display your affirmations, or use a combination of both; perhaps put the “leftovers” on your nightstand.) Recite these affirmations until they become a part of you. Watch as they harness your mental energy to manifest incredible life changes!

To purchase a copy of my book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Beauty-Blueprint-Building-Dreams/dp/1401931731

A Beauty Breakthrough!

In my teachings I often wrestle with the balance between inner and outer beauty. I believe strongly that feeling great about who we are radiates a beauty unique to each of us, but where to begin tapping in to that depends on each client I work with.

At times I found that helping people reconnect to their qualities of outer beauty can jump start their confidence and self-esteem and start an avalanche of great feelings. Hence the makeover!

To do that, throughout my years as a celebrity makeup artist and beauty expert on TV, countless women have asked for my secrets to looking good. While they always expect to hear about the latest product or Hollywood trend, the answer I give them is always surprising…the key to looking your absolute best starts with beautiful skin. Believe me when I say I’ve tried everything and now I think I have struck gold!

A company called Life Line Stem Cell Skin Care approached me a few months ago and said just try these products and let us know what you think. The results were incredible! I called the rep and asked what was behind the great skin I was seeing. She said, “Human Stem cells!”

Through ethical research using human stem cells to cure some of our biggest diseases, researchers at Life Line Stem Cell Skin Care discovered that these stem cells worked with our body’s own system to replenish and rejuvenate our own skin. This patented treatment is the ultimate rebuilder for collagen, tightness, hydration and supple skin. What does that mean for us? It means erasing fine lines and wrinkles, anti-aging and a foundation for real beauty with or without makeup.

Of all the companies who have approached me over the years I have finally found one I feel so strongly about that I will endorse them wholeheartedly.

To order a free sample go to:
http://lifelineskincare.com/
and if you decide to order the products, enter the code: Michelle for a 15% discount!

For an even better explanation of exactly what the Life Line Stem Cell Skin Care products do- check out below this segment I recently did on the NBCshow “Daytime.” and an interview with America’s favorite Dermatologist, Dr. Tess Mauricio on my radio show “The Radiance Factor”.

Say goodbye to dull aging skin and hello to a beautiful glow!

With love,
Michelle

What’s Your Top Ten List?

Today is a good day to remind yourself what lights you up. Take out your favorite writing utensil and write down the top ten things you love to do—even if you aren’t doing them right now. When I first used this exercise in a workshop, the majority of the women sat there tapping their pencils and staring at the blank page in their journals for what seemed like an eternity.
“I don’t know,” one woman admitted.
“I have no idea,” said another.
“I can write you a list of the top ten things I need to do when I get home,” one offered, half jokingly.
On the other hand, ask any little girl to do this and I bet she’ll have it done in under three minutes. Chances are, she’ll be all the way to number 40 and asking for another piece of paper. Most young girls know who they are because they listen to their hearts. They don’t worry about being practical or efficient, and impressing others. That’s why they’re also such confident dressers. They express themselves freely, without a care in the world. (Even if, on any given day, that includes wearing tap shoes, shorts, and a wool sweater with matching earmuffs.)
To help get you started, here’s my top-ten list:

• Laughing and playing with my children
• Having date night with my husband
• Taking bubble baths
• Eating at fine restaurants
• Hosting or attending dinner parties with my closest friends
• Spending quality time with my girlfriends (so good for the soul!)
• Watching my kids play sports or perform in a play (I cry with pride every time!)
• Traveling
• Fishing
• Walking on the beach
As I mentioned, most of my clients or workshop participants struggle with this exercise. The majority can’t come up with more than three things, and some eventually give up and cry in frustration. It’s very telling. We women nurture everyone and everything outside of ourselves but we haven’t made the connection between nurturing our spirits, feeling beautiful, and staying on course toward our dreams. We’re like builders trying to frame a house without a solid foundation. Despite our efforts, our work just won’t hold up, eventually toppling over.
No one sees the foundation, but that doesn’t mean it’s unimportant. Just like foundational garments or cosmetics, it’s the critical starting point. Others may not understand why you need to spend time doing something on your top-ten list, but they will notice as you grow stronger and more beautiful . . . all a result of nourishing your soul.
So, get going on your top-ten list! Remember to focus on what you love. Are you doing any of these things on a regular basis? If you aren’t, why not start now? Set your intention by identifying a simple step you can take today. Then do it!

Excerpt: The Beauty Blueprint by Michelle Phillips
Purchase: http://www.amazon.com/The-Beauty-Blueprint-Building-Dreams/dp/1401931731

Accentuate Your Positives

Exercise for the day: (no, it’s not sit-ups)

Which feature do you love best about your body? By now, you know that real beauty means accentuating the positive. I want you to embrace yourself just as it is today. What is it about your body that you really like? Your hourglass shape? Your strong legs? Your toned arms? Your graceful neck?

Write down your best features and then circle your top three and hang it somewhere to remind yourself all day every day!

Excerpt: my book “The Beauty Blueprint”

Michelle

Impact and Influence

I often talk about the meaning of true beauty, beyond the superficial, and material, digging to the core of what makes some stand out over others. In my experience that can be nothing more than the man or woman who walks around with a beaming smile. Passersbys will take notice and feel a beauty that no makeup could match.

That said, have you ever heard the phrase, “wipe the smile from your face?”…meaning something that happens that could strip a happy, radiant person of their beauty?

As much as we would like to think, and for that matter should be, in charge of the beauty that comes into our worlds, there are a lot of influences that shape our existence.

Throughout our lives many things, especially people, have made impacts that have sent us in an emotional or spiritual direction. This direction could have been positive…or it could have been negative…and as difficult as it may have seemed it was what was intended for us at that moment. The challenge for us in the more trying times is how we deal with that person or event…how we choose to process how it influences us over time. Do we carry broken baggage with us on our journeys forever?

Let’s take a second to go back, not all the way to some deep dark recess of our spirits, but in the last few days or weeks. Think for a minute about someone who influenced you, positively or negatively. Was it a warm hello at your favorite coffee place or a word of praise from a boss or coworker? Or was it someone who was quick to take your parking place or close relation that said something as simple as “you’re not wearing THAT are you?”

How did you process these events? How did they affect you? Were you a person who created those influences on others?

Each of these seemingly little events in our daily lives can have huge repercussions and to work towards truly beautiful lives it’s time we take charge of the impacts and influences flowing to us… and from us and radiates that positivity back out!

Michelle

Shine Your” Million Dollar” Light

One of the things I say all the time about beauty is that if you feel amazing you look amazing .. and one of the most important facets to feeling beautiful is your self-worth. If you’ve ever heard or used the phrase, “She looks like a million bucks”…that is a value…and a worth…and more than likely goes way deeper than someone who is wearing a million dollars worth of clothes and jewelry but rather someone who holds their head up high and radiates a million dollar light.

But what can keep us from looking…and living that way? What can take our self-worth away…the simple answer is ourselves! It is called SELF-worth… and SELF-esteem for a reason. Like most things in our lives- having and living that personal value can be easier said than done.

For me the challenges with my self-worth have come when I have based it on the opinions of others. In the past I put too much emphasis on living according to the way my husband, family, or friends said I should ….rather than in the ways that were in alignment with my dreams, goals, and values. There were times in my life I was paralyzed by simple decisions…before I could do anything I had to take a survey or a poll of everyone I knew- so my choice would be “acceptable” to the majority of the people in my life.

I felt like this was what I had to do to be loved…and valued. I spent an unreal amount of energy like that to be accepted. I tried to be perfect for everyone around me. I tried to build a perfect marriage,create perfectly overscheduled kids and a perfectly decorated house. Of course, no one around me appreciated it the way I thought they would because it wasn’t their goal. They definitely didn’t appreciate a stressed out me from running myself ragged. If you’ve been there, you know the next step is resentment… “I did all this for YOU people!…and this is the thanks I get!” ??? Change?

And then you continue on the cycle of self-doubt, thinking “No one values what I do or who I am” and your worth and purpose are gone…

It’s time to break the cycle…and start loving YOU, building self-worth, personal value, and BEAUTY… from within.

Before we can head in a new direction, it helps to figure out where we are. You can start by asking yourself a few simple questions:

– Where do you think you are giving away your self-worth?

– Is there someone in your life you are giving the power away to? And how can you get it back and keep it for yourself?

– What in your life isn’t in alignment with your goals and values and is taking away from your self-worth?

Remember: “If your outer world reflects your inner self, you are in alignment and living a beautiful life!”

Michelle

“True beauty is not what is on the outside; it’s what dwells deep within our hearts, in the essence of our beings. The only thing makeup can do is enhance that true beauty.”

A recent study revealed that women today are less happy than women of the same ages 25 years ago. Why do you think that is so? One of my clients told me that while we’re aware of all the possibilities waiting for us, we’re also aware of everything lacking in our lives. Another suggested that the stress we face in trying to get it all and balance it all has been magnified by a terrible economy. So while the stresses are piling on and the economy is straining our wallets, the pressure is also getting more intense for us to maintain an artificial standard of beauty. It’s as if women are being squeezed out of the lives we fought so hard to win the right to have.

For many, the first sign that we’re losing that battle for our best life is a nagging dissatisfaction with our appearance. We know there is a standard, and we fear we can’t meet it. This fear often comes to a crisis point when we approach our 40s.

When a woman is in her 20s and 30s, she’s in her “getting years.” She’s focused on getting a job, a husband, a house, and children. Those goals take all of her mind, soul, and body to achieve. For many of us, after all these years of intense goal-oriented living, we wake up one morning and realize there’s nothing left on our “to get” list. We’re married (or we’ve been married), we have children and a comfortable home, and we’re established in our career. Suddenly we realize, with a sense of nagging dread, that although we may want everything we have, we don’t have everything we want! We achieved many of the goals we set in our 20s, but now we suspect our list wasn’t bold enough. It’s time to rediscover who we are and who we could be.

Our beauty shines when we allow ourselves to revel in our inner qualities and share them with the world. It’s in these moments that we are all beautiful. When we share from our hearts and help someone else learn from our experiences, or ask for support for ourselves, we cultivate our true beauty. It’s when we aren’t afraid to ask for the support we need, and when we open our hearts to each other, that true transformation occurs. That is when we open ourselves to what the pursuit of true beauty can help us achieve.

Excerpt: The Beauty Blueprint by Michelle Phillips

When You’re Supported, You Grow!

When I was in the downward spiral of my depression, a friend suggested that I try attending his church. I told him that while I appreciated the suggestion, I wasn’t a very religious person. I considered myself more “spiritual.” He assured me that his church was different and that the person giving the sermons was less of a preacher and more of an inspirational speaker.

Since I had nothing to lose and everything to gain, when the following Sunday rolled around, I picked up my mom and we went to my friend’s church. I listened to the speaker and hung on her every word, tears flowing down my face the entire time. Although there were some 500 people there, I felt as if she was speaking directly to me. Most of all, I felt like I was home. I started attending regularly, and the sermons would lift me up and carry me through the week. Since I was becoming a familiar face there, I also stepped into a beautiful circle of new friends. The church became a constant source of unconditional love and support.

You don’t have to go to a church to experience this, though. Go online or visit your local community center and look for clubs or organizations that are of interest to you. You might even be able to find a women’s club in your neighborhood. You can also sign up for my monthly newsletter on my website (www.MichellePhillips.com) for ongoing support, love, and encouragement.

Michelle

Detox Your Cosmetic Bag

By Donna Tarantino

makeup Happy 2014! Like every New Year, it is the time of year we feel the need revive, renew and restore our lives and selves. One area that many of us seem to miss is our beauty products. Did you ever think about detoxing your make up? Let’s face it, many of us (me included) have a vast collection of eye shadows, lipsticks, potions and lotions. We try them, we use them, stuff them in bag and forget about them.

Detoxing your make up is essential and should be part of your regular cleaning routine. Did you know that most beauty products can go bad once they are opened? Chances are that the lotion in that beautiful jar you have been saving won’t hurt you, but it will not do you any good either. Most products do not work properly over time as they lose their potency, some of them look very dated (throw away the punk rock eye shadow), and last, but most importantly, bacteria.

Once you have opened a product, exposed it to air, and stuck your fingers in a jar of cream, you have exposed it to bacteria. The last thing you want is a trip to the dermatologist for a skin rash or infection and find out that your products may have been the culprit!

How do you know if your product is headed for the recycling bin? There are general rules that most beauty insiders follow. First, trust your nose and eyes. If your product stinks, changes colors, has separated or just does not go on smoothly like it once did, throw it away. Many beauty products do have expiration symbols on them, but not necessarily a real expiration date. If you could remember when you purchased and/or opened the product, that would be fantastic, but chances are you were preoccupied with other things when you first opened that jar. My advice is to write down the date on the container when you first opened the product. Then you can be reminded of when to throw it away.

Any products used around the eye area should be discarded in 3-4 months. This includes creams, mascaras, liners, and concealers. Eyes are sensitive and you do not want to meddle with this. In three months, you will see a change in texture and wearability in an eye product. Don’t chance it. Recycle and replenish.

My rule of thumb on other products is to keep for 6 months to a year. Chance are if I bought something and have not used it in 6 months, I am never going to use nor miss it.