Keepingitreal

Night Creams In Sync With the Body’s Clock?

THESE days, even resting hours are meant to be productive. Build more muscle then burn extra calories while you sleep. Invest wisely, and get rich as you snooze. And if beauty marketers are to be believed, no woman should let a night pass without slathering on a face cream dedicated to repairing her skin from dusk till dawn.

By day, our besieged skin contends with what the cosmetics industry calls environmental stressors like ultraviolet rays, pollution and cigarette smoke. Those stressors contribute to the appearance of aging. So the evening, the makers of overnight skin potions suggest, is the ideal time to repair the damage done. Sleep, my pretty, and wake prettier is the thinking.

“At nighttime, skin does its repair,” said Kristine Cryer, the vice president for product development at StriVectin, which added an overnight serum to its roster this month. “It’s not working hard like it’s working during the day.”

In particular, women worried about losing the battle against time won’t go to bed without a rejuvenating lotion. In the first half of 2009, sales of nighttime facial moisturizers were an estimated $43 million, and sales of specialized nighttime treatments — mostly concentrated serums — totaled roughly $17 million, according to Karen Grant, the vice president for beauty at the NPD Group.

And the number of such treatments is on the rise. So far this year, 55 nighttime skin care products have made their debut in North America, compared with 40 in 2007, according to the Mintel International Group, a market research firm.

When it comes to selling these potions, “re-” is the prefix of the moment, said Taya Tomasello, a senior beauty analyst at Mintel. If a company wants to connote nighttime renewal, it’s as easy as using this formula, Ms. Tomasello said, “RE-insert-verb-here-ING.” Regenerating. Restoring. Resurfacing. The idea is each morning your skin is “a new blank canvas,” she said.

StriVectin’s new $59 Overnight Facial Resurfacing Serum promises to dissolve gently “surface imperfections, minimizing the appearance of large pores, evening skin tone and improving the overall health of skin for a smoother, younger-looking, more vibrant complexion.”

In the last few months, Estée Lauder has made much ado about so-called “clock genes” in our skin that can distinguish night from day. After repeated exposure to environmental stressors, these genes become “de-synchronized,” slowing the skin’s ability to repair itself, according to the company. Enter its $47.50 Synchronized Recovery Complex, the company’s newest Advanced Night Repair serum, which “makes sure cells work together for optimal repair of all the damage that occurred during the day,” said Dr. Nadine Pernodet, executive director of research and development for Estée Lauder.

There are practical reasons to use certain facial treatments before bed. A serum need not be layered under makeup or sunscreen. Certain ingredients that degrade in light or make skin likely to burn are best used when the sun doesn’t shine. Lightening creams to even out skin tone and some retinoids fit that description.

But there is no scientific proof that skin repair actually ramps up at night, dermatologists say. And skin is capable of juggling multiple assaults by day. “We are constantly repairing our skin and responding to stressors,” said Dr. Jenny Kim, an associate professor of dermatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at U.C.L.A. “Our skin doesn’t wait for nighttime repair.”

But research has shown that certain physiological changes that happen at night may enhance the effectiveness of some creams, Dr. Kim suggested. Skin temperature rises, as does water loss leading to slightly drier skin. “If your water loss is higher, theoretically due to less of a skin barrier,” she said, a moisturizer “can improve the skin barrier.”SOURCE:NYTIMES.COM

Naomi Sims, 61, Pioneering Cover Girl, Is Dead

Naomi Sims, whose appearance as the first black model on the cover of Ladies’ Home Journal in November 1968 was a consummate moment of the Black is Beautiful movement, and who went on to design successful collections of wigs and cosmetics for black women under her name, died Saturday in Newark. She was 61 and lived in Newark.

She died of cancer, said her son, Bob Findlay. Ms. Sims is sometimes referred to as the first black supermodel. “Naomi was the first,” the designer Halston told The New York Times in 1974. “She was the great ambassador for all black people. She broke down all the social barriers.”

Ms. Sims often said childhood insecurities and a painful upbringing — living in foster homes, towering over her classmates and living in a largely poor white neighborhood in Pittsburgh — had inspired her to strive to become “somebody really important” at a time when cultural perceptions of black Americans were being challenged by the civil rights movement and a renewed stress on racial pride.

When Ms. Sims arrived in New York on a scholarship to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1966, there was very little interest in fashion for black models and only a handful who had been successful, like Dorothea Towles Church, who starred in the couture shows in 1950s Paris, and Donyale Luna, who was named Vogue’s model of the year in 1966.

In need of money, Ms. Sims, with her heart-shaped face and long limbs, was encouraged by classmates and counselors to give it a try. But every agency she approached turned her down, some telling her that her skin was too dark.

Undeterred, Ms. Sims decided to approach photographers herself. Gosta Peterson, a photographer for The Times, agreed to photograph her for the cover of its August 1967 fashion supplement, then called Fashions of The Times.

The Faces of the Future - S E A N J O H N

Sean John is looking for some new leading men to be featured in its new upcoming FALL/WINTER Ad Campaign. All participants must be at least 18 years of age or older.
All submissions must be submitted by May 1st.
To enter click the link shown below:

http://www.seanjohn.com/contest/

‘Top Model’ Casting Goes Smoothly, but Isn’t Free of Tears

Hundreds of young women subjected themselves to certain heartbreak early Saturday in Midtown Manhattan, rising before dawn to line up, primp and be scrutinized and summarily rejected by the judges for “America’s Next Top Model,” the reality show.At least this time there was no near riot. This weekend’s casting in New York was a do-over after things went terribly wrong four weeks ago, when a car overheated and began smoking in front of hundreds of aspiring models. They had been waiting along a jammed sidewalk outside the Park Central Hotel and were frightened en masse after seeing the smoke and fearing an explosion was next. Barricades were toppled, people were knocked over, arrests were made and the casting was called off.Saturday’s casting, at the Pennsylvania Hotel on Seventh Avenue, saw no such drama — the police arranged barricades along West 33rd Street to contain the line in a snakelike fashion. Yet the orderliness of the proceedings did little to lessen the sting of defeat.“We were a little shellshocked, a little hurt,” said Jenny Whoa, who lined up at 6:15 a.m. and was rejected by a judge almost as soon as she was herded into the judging room with dozens of other women (Tyra Banks, the show’s host, head judge and executive producer, was not in attendance). Ms. Whoa lives in Brooklyn and is diminutive by modeling industry standards, but tried out because the height limit for the show’s next installation is 5-foot-7. At 27, though, Ms. Whoa is at the upper age limit for contestants (the minimum age is 18). “It was,” she said, “my first and last chance, all in one swoop.”The doors opened at 6 a.m. Women of all shapes and sizes arrived from the five boroughs and beyond: supermarket cashiers, store clerks, Federal Express employees, students, dropouts, all eager, even desperate, to be plucked from their regular lives and transformed into fodder for the reality television mill.The height limit was ignored by a handful of statuesque women, including Mecca Aaron, who lives in Downtown Brooklyn and is 6-foot-3. “I’m hoping to be the exception,” said Ms. Aaron, 25, who said it was her fourth time trying out. Shakiesha Watson, who is 18 and five feet tall, took a train from Trenton before dawn and had not bothered going to sleep Friday night. Alana Smith, 19, arrived in the city at dawn after taking an overnight bus from Toronto with her boyfriend. They had arrived in Toronto on a cheap flight from California: Ms. Smith, who is 5-foot-5, had always wanted to model, but had missed the show’s auditions out West. CONTINUE READING...

Tyson is Making a Supermodel

EXCERPT FROM:BET.COM ~ Written by Clay Cane -- Check out more of Tyson Beckford on "Make Me a Supermodel," which airs every Wednesday on the Bravo Network.  Click here for details.  Tyson Beckford is the only Black male model and one of few male models in general to become a household name.  Beckford gained international fame as a Ralph Lauren model in the mid-90s, named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by "People" magazine in 1995 and has walked catwalks with his urban-meets-high-fashion-style from Milan to New York City.

Now, Tyson is on his second season as host of “Make Me a Supermodel,” which airs every Wednesday at 10PM on Bravo.  In this interview, the well-preserved 38 year-old talks fashion, Diddy and those pesky gay rumors. 

When you were promoting “Make Me a Supermodel” last year you said you didn't have as much creative control as you would've liked.  How is it different this time around with the second season?   Second season I got a chance to really talk with the kids.  I'm a mentor, not a judge anymore.  Being a mentor you get to talk with them more and you don't have to keep a certain distance.  As a judge, you weren't allowed to really get too close to them.  I was also able to talk to the producers and tell them how fashion really is and how we can make it better. 

There is an idea that modeling reality show competitions don't reflect the fashion world.  In what ways does your show reflect what is really going on in fashion?
For one, we are the only show that has a designer on it by the name of Catherine Malandrino.  You don't even have to say any more after that one! 

Do you ever feel bad about critiquing somebody and seeing them heartbroken or crying?
Anything or everything you see on television is nothing compared to what the real world is like.  So, we're actually preparing you for what is really going to happen when you get out there.  They're not going to be as nice as we are.  I’ve had my book thrown back at me.  The world of fashion is not easy just like the world of life is not easy. There are wars going on in the world and there are people starving.  That's the reality of it. It's not an easy business.  People sometimes think it's an easy business, but it's really not. As we say in the hood, "Don't get it twisted!" CONTINUE READING..

21-Year-Old Virgin