I’m a bit addicted to body scrubs and that fabulous sensation of sloughing away the dry skin - at any given time, there are probably at least a half-dozen exfoliators hiding out in my shower or under the sink. (My all-time fave: the supersweet Coconut Cream Sugar Souffle by LaLicious.)

Something slightly novel for those of us who like it rough: the new Sugar Glow Exfoliating Bar from Tone. The soap’s got lots of tiny jojoba pearls, which gently buff your skin while you wash up. It’s a little less messy than those salt scrubs, and the scent’s so fresh and energizing. Perfect for when you don’t have time to do the all-out at-home-spa thing but still want to feel all polished up and ready to go.

One of the happiest Chinatown discoveries I’ve ever made, second only to boba: Bee & Flower soaps, sold for about a dollar at most shops. The best way to add some lovely to your day when you’re near-penniless, the soaps come wrapped in the most darling packages - flower-printed paper, a logo-emblazoned band adorned with a buzzy little bee, all stamped with Bee & Flower’s golden seal.

It’s so lovely, in fact, that you might not want to open the soaps up. Which is just as well - they’re so perfect for keeping stacked on your bathroom shelves or tucked away in your bureau drawers, since the sublime scent will make everything smell all fresh and sweet. Choose from fragrances like sandalwood and ginseng and jasmine, but my favorite’s the simply gorgeous rose and its pretty-pink packaging.

Oh, and the soap itself? It’s creamy and smooth and guaranteed, as one Bee & Flower lover notes, to give you “villainously suave skin.”

AmorePacific are so gaga for green tea, the skincare company cultivates its own on a volcanic, subtropical island off the coast of Korea.

The magic ingredient in that tea - the powerful antioxidant EGCG - gives AmorePacific’s Time Response Skin Renewal Creme its supposedly miraculous ability to turn your complexion all youthful and glowy again. Also infused with a patented red ginseng complex, the free-radical-fighting creme is said to restore the skin’s elasticity and firmness as well.

Since AmorePacific’s anti-aging elixir goes for about $250 an ounce, I’ll most likely be keeping my green tea consumption to stuff like Mariage Frères Matcha. But it’s nice to just to gaze at the pretty packaging and dream of lush islands and lovely skin. And that little golden mini-spatula is just divine.

It’s so unfair that toiling away to bring beautiful flowers into the world should leave your hands all dry and cracked and unpretty. But since gardener’s hands are inevitable for most green thumbs, it helps to know that at least there’s no shortage of natural skin-soothers out there.

One of the richest and thickest salves I’ve ever tried: CamoCare’s Soothing Cream, which dermatologists in Europe have used for decades to treat skin conditions. A little less intensive but soooo yummy, Alba’s Papaya Mango Body Cream has lots of tropical fruit enzymes to turn your hands nice and smooth again. There’s also kukui and macadamia nut oils, as well as that papaya and mango with their mouth-wateringly fresh fragrance.

But the ultimate treat for de-roughing gardener’s hands just might be Carol’s Daughter’s Lemon Ginger Mint Manicure in a Jar. Not only does the stuff soften you up with shea and cocoa butters and sweet almond and soy oils - it exfoliates with sea salt to slough off that dreaded dead skin. And with the vanilla scent and lemon, ginger, and peppermint essential oils, it’s sort of like dessert for your hands. Bon appétit.

Candy is dandy, but not everyone’s all about the Easter day sugar saturation. For a pastel-hued pleasure that will appeal more to the natural-beauty buff than the sweet tooth, fill up a basket with One With Nature soaps. The first and only bars to blend skin-soothing shea butter with minerals straight from the Dead Sea, the soaps are as creamy and decadent as the finest milk chocolate.

With a concentration of 21 healing minerals, Dead Sea salts are so nourishing to the skin that Cleopatra herself demanded that they be used in her beauty regimes. One With Nature retains the salts’ purity by adding no artificial colors or synthetic fragrances: The lavender, lemonade, and rose petal bars are all scented with essential oils and flower petals and other such naturally fragrant ingredients.

And there’s an eco-benefit to the soaps as well. In addition to incorporating biodegradable plastic wrap and recycled labels into their packaging, One With Nature is partnering with a group that’s working to preserve the environmental heritage of the Middle East and its natural resources.

As if we didn’t already worship Stella McCartney enough, she’s gone and created a skincare line that’s destined to help push organic further into the mainstream. Loved by ThisNexters like stylewriter, Care offers luxury beauty products made without petrochemicals, endangered plant species, or silicone. Says deydolma in commending Care: “It not just ‘green washing’ like we are seeing so many business out there do these days - but it is authentic and certified. And - she does not have a gazillion products for us to buy and use - she knows that skin care should be quick and painless.”

While I’m wishing for the Calming+Soothing Elixir (a moisturizer made with “skin-cushioning” chamomile, arnica, and licorice), John and Rose have already been lured by the Gentle Cleansing Milk (“a very good cleanser that removes makeup without being abrasive and is very soft and gentle on the skin”).

And for those not ready to make a full-on commitment to Care, there’s the oh-so-darling Discovery Set: Featuring trial-sized versions of the 5 Benefits Moisturising Cream, Calming+Soothing Elixir, Radiance+Youth Elixir, and Nourishing Elixir, the kit is the perfect intro to luxury organic.

Apparently aromatherapy has officially gone mainstream, given Johnson & Johnson’s recent launch of a product line whose secret ingredient is a little something patented as “Aromasoothe.” Created to ease tension of all sorts, the new Melt Away Stress Body Care collection combines “florals, fresh greens and creamy watery notes,” according to Fashiontribes.com.

The key seems to be chamomile, a botanical long known to provide natural stress relief - as well as alleviate insomnia, tame headaches and muscle pain, and lift away PMS symptoms. And, of course, “slathering on yummy moisturizer is soothing in and of itself,” as ThisNexter keryn points out in recommending the line.

Some other tried-and-true ways to get those aroma-soothing essential oils: Sipping Mighty Leaf’s Herb Fruited Chamomile Citrus tea, breaking off a few squares of Tranquility lavender chocolate, and treating your skin to The Body Shop’s Lavender Salt Scrub.

20-something-years-old and  still able to play “barely old enough to drink champagne martinis” in her press bio, you’d think your K would break hustling hard with lounging in La La Land’s glammy sands, soaking up sun’s shine, fake-baking in Hollywood salons for a gloriously golden tan.

You’d think.

But I prefer my skin porcelain, I like my pretty face’s light vanilla framed against the black chocolate of my hair, I dig —

Not weathering wrinkles come my next decades on earth.

Though I’ve traded my daily rocking Neutrogena Healthy Defense Oil-Free Sunblock Lotion, SPF 45  for Paul & Joe Protective Dual Powder Foundation SPF 25, I’m considering slipping back into liquid sun protection for more seeimingly solid coverage, I’m considering something like Clarins UV Plus SPF 40, though it’s —

“Not cheap, but it goes on like silk and great under make up,” says beauty artist Nikkole Otani, “not like regular sunscreen.” 

 Shiseido Sun Protection Liquid Foundation SPF 42 is less regular and more luxe, too.

...continued: forever 21

Daylight Savings can’t come fast enough for my light-starved self - finding out we’d be turning the clocks back earlier this year was like having Christmas all over again. But with more daylight comes more exposure to those terrible UVA and UVB rays, which are no good for your skin in so many ways (and, no, I did not mean for that to rhyme).

So when you’re out frolicking in the 7 p.m. sunshine this Sunday, make sure to slip on your Kate Spade Sunglasses. “Life in California is full of sunshine and you need the perfect pair of shades at all times,” notes Laura Laytham, reminding me that I really need to upgrade from my $5 Venice Beach-bought shades. A recent transplant, mrsmogul includes the Kate Spade sunnies on her Switching Sides list of “L.A. Lifestyle Essentials.” “Now that I’m living in constant sunshine, I have to wear shades daily!” says the California girl.

More time in the sun also calls for slathering on some primo sunscreen, such as Skinceuticals Ultimate UV Defense SPF30. “This is the best sunscreen, hands down,” twirlgirl claims. And, as with all sun protection, there’s a benefit beyond skin cancer prevention: “Your ultimate tool for slowing aging skin is a good sunscreen!” twirlgirl promises.

...continued: Up Your UV Defense

Most darling Paul & Joe,

I’ve fallen for both of you boys, though I’m sure -

Nay, your K knows.

- You fellas understand.

I’d see you around while boutique’ing on- and offline, breezing past your short boot with tie in back, never winking, nor ever blinking twice, at your “Bay of Bangal” kimono dress, hardly playing hard to get, really barely seeing your suede boot with patent piping.

And then one day I was at glossing through the Beverly Center, hunting for beautiful people for a street fashion colunmn of mine, then shopping Sephora for my perfect match.

“I want something  completely there for me, that won’t leave me bare,” I told a sympathetic sales lady. “I need to consider my future, so I want a smart SPF. I want something that will complement my porcelain skin.”

“And organic blueberry scone points if it’s easy on my eyes, as well.”

She smiled and nodded, knowing, and led your K -

Blushing pink like a school girl (I’d brushed on some NARS “Orgasm” blush.)

- To you, Paul & Joe, and your Protective Dual Powder Foundation with SPF 25.

You know our happy ending, we’ve been together nearly every day since.

What sold me, gorgeous?

You were so smooth, so flattering, so smartly composed, so -

Packaged in a pearly, lacy compact.

It was ooh la love, dolls.

Bisou, bisou, French kisses,

Your K
 

Some scary news for all those who spend lots of time behind the wheel: New research from St. Louis University found a link between more time spent driving and a higher incidence of left-sided skin cancers - especially on sun-exposed areas like the left arm, left hand, and the left side of the head and neck.

To up your sun defense while you cruise around (or wile away the hours in gridlock traffic), slather your skin with a powerful sunscreen like Neutrogena UltraSheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF 55. “I love this sunscreen because it feels clean on my skin – and there’s absolutely no icky shine,” says Wendy Leonard. Adds fellow shopcaster mightymarce: “This is my favorite sunscreen…It’s perfect for using every day (as well should be doing!!). And Neutrogena is recommended by top dermatologists, so you know your skin is well protected.”

“Does winter have you feeling pale and bleak?” asks Have. Want. Need, of Fab Sugar .com.

Not especially, love.  Your K’s pretty happy hustling and girling about town any season. Though my skin is looking a little more porcelain than usualy, maybe I ought to -

“Check out these festive emblazoned sunshiney bronzers to lift you up and create a tan looking face,” says Have. Want. Need.

Go on, gorgeous.

“Here’s a look at four fun compacts with sun emblazoned logos built right into them. Apply them to your cheeks, forehead, and shoulders all year long. I have a feeling it’s going to be a bright, bright, sunshiney day…”

...continued: You Are My Sunshine

You gifted Mom, Pops, your BFF, your boy, you played Santa to all the little lovelies in your life.

But what about that little something that sticks between you and the world, that work/live/plays with you,  grows with you, what about -

“If beauty is only skin deep, you better take damn good care of your skin!” says Anthony Pisano of Fred Segal Beauty.

Exactly, Mr. Pisano.

Time to play Santa Claus to your epidermis, dolls. 

...continued: Gift Your Skin

It’s leopard-print season about every two or three falls, but animal skins weather any weather, any year.

Now included. 

Chloe gets it: “Animal prints are everywhere for fall so stand out from the rest by snapping up (get the joke?!) from Manolo Blahnik’s exotic collection.” Her pick? Those peridot aligator open-toe pumps to your left.

...continued: Ooh La Love: Animal Skins

File under “Potentially Life-Improving Stuff I Think About Doing All The Time But Never Actually Get Around To”: Healthia Cynthia blogs about dry-brushing, the practice of sloughing your dry skin with a long-handle, natural-fiber brush. In addition to leaving you all glowy and beautiful, dry-brushing helps stimulate your lymphatic system and help rid your body of toxins. Cynthia recommends making it a pre-shower ritual, assuring one pain-fearing commenter that “it feels really great, like a brisk walk on a gently raining evening.” Somehow I’m finally sold, and in between starting this post and ending the last sentence, I visited Amazon.com to get myself a way-affordable Tampico Dry Skin Brush from Yerba Prima. Seven bucks for a product that Cynthia promises will “give you a whole new lease”? A big huge happy hooray to that.

As the deadliest form of skin cancer, melanoma has become 15 times more widespread over the last half-century, according to Coco Masters at Daily Rx. But a new Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology study found that “people who physically ‘map’ their moles, by marking the location of their existing moles on an image of their back or torso, were better able to detect new growths than those who didn’t mole-map,” Masters reports. To keep your skin healthy and cancer-free, break out the camera and start mapping now.

And here we always thought chocolate was bad for your skin. At Dr. John LaPuma Healthy News, the food-as-medicine specialist reports on a new study finding that cocoa that’s high in flavanols (a type of phytochemical) may help increase the skin’s blood flow, improve its texture, and even protect against UV rays. Always stoked to discover that something we already loved is actually supergood for us, ThisNext will definitely make note of Dr. LaPuma’s recommendations of the high-flavanol chocolate brands Vere and Cocoavia.

Here’s a way to better your sun protection: Skin Care Blog has discovered a clip-on device that calculates your optimal sun exposure time. Just enter your skin type and some info on the type of sunscreen you’re using, and the UV Monitor will measure the sun’s ultraviolet intensity and tell you how long you can stay out without risking a burn.

ThisNext knows beauty products aren’t just skin deep: beauty products are about making your life healthier and happier.

And smushing organic blueberries all over your face.