Last year over 10,000 beauty products flooded the market.  Some are good, but most are bad.  Knowing that, how can anyone tell which product truly performs as advertised?  Well, we can thank CEW for taking the time to sift through the madness.  They’ve taken the time to review and vote on the best and most innovative treatments for acne, aging, cleansing, and moisturizing.

Some of the finalists include:

St. Ives Apricot Face Wash Blemish & Blackhead Control
Bare Escentuals RareMinerals Skin Revival Treatment
Burt’s Bees Soap Bark & Chamomile Cleansing Crème
Estēe Lauder Rectifiance Intense Eye
Sally Hansen Line Freeze for Lips
SK-II Whitening Source Intensive Mask

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Do your friends constantly say your skin looks like the hide of cowboy’s saddle?  Do you look for the nearest tanning salon when you visit your relatives over the holidays?  Well, you might just be addicted to tanning, well, more like addicted to the endorphins your body creates when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.  According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, people may be addicted to UV light, both physically and psychologically.

Dr. Robin Hornung [Division of Dermatology at the University of Washington] studied 385 male and female students to determine if a substance-related disorder (SRD) was the reason some students are “hooked” on tanning.  “Previous experiments [show] that UV light causes [an] endorphin release similar to the euphoric sensation associated with the  intense exercise commonly known as ‘runners high’ or other pleasure seeking behavior,”  Dr. Hornung explains.  Students who tan regularly may experience this high and become addicted to the act of tanning.  Like other addictive practices, such as drinking or smoking, 41% [of the students] say relaxation is a motivating factor in their tanning habits.  Unfortunately, studies have shown that with an increased knowledge of the dangers involved in overexposure to UV, unhealthy habits and attitudes among “high risk” age groups (adolescents and young adults) remain unchanged.

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