Greetings dear friends,
 
A V&V client recently said of my, er... infrequent...newsletters, "No one could ever accuse you of sending out too many, but when you finally do, it's for a good reason!"

This is one of those reasons.  

Since medical cannabis was legali...

November Newsletter

Greetings!

Hedy Lamarr famously said "Any girl can be glamorous; all you have to do is stand still and look stupid."  Though I positively LOVE her wit and commentary (and migod was she on fleek), it's nice now and then to shed the ripped jeans and...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfexjYpCNq0

Simply put, dermaplaning is a fancy name for what men do everyday:  shaving (yes, shaving!).  A trained esthetician uses a cosmetic scalpel to remove dead skin along with vellus/non-terminal hair, making skin smoother and br...

The hypodermis (yes, where they put the needle) is the thickest portion of our skin, made up of adipose tissue, or body fat.  It provides insulation and padding.  The general condition of our skin is dependent on the fitness of the hypodermis.  Its overall health is in...

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Aging

Intrinsic skin aging is generally thought of as the hereditary, physiological, and immutable form of aging.   It is known as the “natural aging process.”  No matter how successful or evolved you think you are, you cannot escape intrinsic a...

If you are use anti-aging products like retinoids, alpha hydroxys or vitamin C serums, there are a few things you need to know that will make your regimen more effective and help avoid potential skin damage.

• Like alpha hydroxys (AHAs), retinoids thin the epidermal...

Essential Oils have gotten a bit of a bad rap.   Most people don't fully understand what they even ARE.  To be exceedingly brief, essential oils are the the distillation of compounds derived from organic materials - be they flowers, needles, twigs, roots, skin, sap, b...

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is the free radical eradicator par excellence, providing super-charged antioxidant activity while evening skin tone, texture and pigmentation.  It is also potent exfoliant with a low molecular weight that allows it to reach the dermis, enabling coll...

Retinoids are a class of Vitamin A derivatives that are antioxidant, cell regenerating, and cell communicating and whose anti-aging effects are well documented.  Retinoids reduce fine lines, increase epidermal thickness and stratum corneum compaction, reduce melanin co...

Now after reading this, don’t just rush out, buy all these actives and smear your face with them.  You will be sorry.  There’s a reason they are called actives.  Here’s a primer about each one.  Let’s first learn WHY, WHEN, and WHERE to use them so you know best HOW to...