Dr. Robert Rey, celebrity plastic surgeon and star of E! television’s Dr. 90210, was on hand at the Nordstrom Summer Trend Show in San Francisco this morning to talk about Sensual Solutions, his new line of 13 anti-aging skin care products for face and body (exclusive to Nordstrom).

I stole a few minutes of the handsome doctor’s time to talk about Sensual Solutions, plastic surgery and overall skin care and health.

1. Be religious about sun protection

“Aging today is a choice,” says Dr. Rey. By focussing on preventative measures, like wearing sunscreen, “You’ll age only if you want to…”

2. Support “the girls” at all times, even while you sleep

To keep breasts from sagging, the doctor suggests wearing a bra while you sleep. “At night… your breasts are falling into your armpit, which pulls at the ligaments and causes sagging.”

3. Consider plastic surgery as a last resort

Dr. Rey calls his Sensual Solutions line “plastic surgery in a bottle.” He designed it for women looking for a non-surgical approach to anti-aging. All 13 products contain an anti-aging complex called AActive6-Exotics, a combination of compounds from the jungles of Brazil (Dr. Rey is Brazilian) and anti-aging ingredients from Western medicine.

A few of his favorites from the line?

• Eye Promise ($85): With a hectic schedule — long hours in the operating room and frequent cross-country flights — Dr. Rey depends on his Eye Promise cream to decrease puffiness on the skin around his eyes and reduce the appearance of dark circles.
• From Your Lips ($40): A plumping gloss to firm, to increase volume and to smooth creases and lines on lips while simultaneously delivering a glossy, natural tint.

  When we first sat down to talk, Dr. Rey reached across the space between us and applied From Your Lips on my pucker. Within about 10 minutes my lips looked and felt noticeably bigger, with a color a few shades darker than usual (but still my natural tone).

• Inhibitox ($150): The doc developed Inhibitox — what he calls “Botox in a bottle” — after growing tired of administering Botox (!) on himself before television appearances. The penetrating cream gets deep into the skin to relax the underlying muscles.

4. Do your research if you decide plastic surgery is right for you

Not all doctors who perform cosmetic procedures are plastic surgeons. Follow these tips to find a good one, and avoid someone who’s merely taken a weekend course:

• Look for a doctor trained as a general plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
• Make sure the doctor is licensed and in good standing with your state medical board (click here for a list of links to state boards).
• Listen to the buzz in your community, and chat with other women to find out which doctors they’re talking about.
• Listen to your gut. You shouldn’t have a bad feeling about your doctor. If you walk into an office and the doctor makes you feel uncomfortable or creepy, move on.
• Plastic surgeons often have books filled with before and after pictures of their work. The more documentation and pictures they can show you, the better, so look for thick books and stacks of pictures at the office.

5. Stop (or don’t start) smoking

Smoking destroys the skin, and Dr. Rey sees the evidence all the time in his medical practice. When two sisters or twins visit and one of them smokes, it only takes a second to guess which one’s the smoker.

6. Drink lots of water

Drinking water plumps the cells and flushes toxins from the body.

7. Give up caffeine

According to Dr. Rey, “It’s the number one cause of cellulite.”

8. Exercise!

It promotes mental and physical well being, and for those reasons and more, it’s a great anti-aging tool.

9. Cut back on stress

Stress is a major ager. Dr. Rey suggests daily meditation and regular exercise to keep stress under control.

10. Nourish your inner beauty

“Your spirit matters. Go to church, go to temple, whatever you do — you’ve got to do something spiritual. Or, simply help out in your community. This builds inner beauty, and beauty really starts there.”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Vacation, all I ever wanted…

Every worker bee deserves a break from time to time — a few precious days away from the daily grind.

MBB reader Rhian heads on vacay in a few weeks (lucky girl!) and could use some help figuring out how to pack her makeup.

I’m taking a week-long vacation and wonder how the heck I’m gonna keep my makeup safe — especially the MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural! I know it’s so fragile, but it’s a complete must. I’m terrified it will crack and shatter.

Also, I want to take a 15 pan palette and a few blushes, but I’m not entirely sure how to pack them securely and save space. No traincases please.

Rhian

Hi, Rhian. Where are you going on vacation? Can I stow away in your luggage?

Unfortunately, I’m the world’s *worst* packer when it comes to clothes and shoes (I bring everything but the kitchen sink), but when it comes to packing beauty products, I have a system that works pretty well for me.

When I’m checking in bags

The liquids in breakable bottles and small jars (like foundation) go into a large, clear plastic bag nestled securely (and cushioned by clothes) in the center of my check-in luggage. Sometimes I’ll even protect the bag in bubble wrap secured with extra large rubber bands. My powder products come with me in my carry-on bag.

If I’m not checking a bag

If I’m not planning to check anything in, I’ll try to find small cream versions of my must-have liquid products (less likely to spill). If there are any liquid products I can’t live without, I’ll transfer them to small plastic travel bottles (the TSA rules allow up to 3-oz in size). I get mine from REI, like these 1-oz bottles for $1.20. And I’ll store the bottles in a quart-size plastic bag which I keep in my carry-on bag.

Powder products — compacts and palettes

I *always* carry these on the plane, storing them in a slim, rectangular-shaped makeup bag like this silver Trina Turk bag from a Clinique GWP. The shape works well for travel and even fits into a standard school backpack.

Extra palette protection!

If I’m extra worried about palettes breaking in my carry on, I’ll bubble wrap each one individually, securing it with rubber bands before popping it into my makeup bag.

Ladies, how do you pack your makeup for travel? Do you have any tips for Rhian?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Today I turned 34, and I’m feeling pretty good about it.

Despite having a little more gray hair (I’m still reeling from that white hair in my eyebrow), the wrinkles around my mouth and my eyes, and that pesky chin hair that sprouts up seemingly overnight (like a mushroom! — all stiff and long!), this birthday feels good.

It’s not a milestone birthday like 16, 21 or 30, but this morning over my first cup of coffee as a 34 year old, I thought of a few reasons to relish my day.

My mom. Last weekend my mom asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. I said “Nothing,” because “turning 34 isn’t a big deal.”

She replied, “Of course it’s a big deal. That’s the day we met!”

I’m reminded that I won’t always have her to share things like birthdays with…

I feel lucky to be alive. Earlier this year I was flipping through my hometown newspaper and stumbled upon a picture of a girl I went to high school with. It was in the obituaries. The photo was her senior class picture, and I remembered it because she’d given me the same one at the end of the year.

I dug it out and read what she’d written on the back: “It’s been great getting to know you, and I’ll see you at the reunion in 20 years.”

Every day is a gift.

Birthdays are for big dreams. When I was in my 20s, I felt like I had all the time in the world, but I don’t.

I know that most of us feel like we’re barely able to keep our head above water — I know I do — so where the heck are we supposed to find time to explore the pyramids of Egypt? I can barely find the time to clean the bathroom at home!

For now, I’m going to work under the premise that adventure won’t just come knocking at the door. You have to reach out and grab it!

How old are you turning this year? Is there something you’d really like to do for your birthday?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Girl, before you jump into the rat race today — before you listen to your voicemail at work, check the calendar on your phone, read your new e-mail and all your tweets — relax those shoulders, take a slow, deep breath, and just chill in silence for two minutes with today’s latest list of skin care tips.

Why?

Because stress is bad for your skin (that’s from tip #9).

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like…

• 21 MORE Skin Care Tips
• 21 Makeup Tutorials
• 101 Wedding Makeup Looks
• 101 Hairstyle Tutorials
• 10 Fantastic Smokey Eye Tutorials

1. How to Exfoliate With Organic Products: Starting with compresses and pure essential oils, this video covers how to use natural products to exfoliate your way to healthier, happier skin.



2. Flax Seeds for Healthy Skin: Ford Models’ Gelila has a secret beauty tip. She incorporates flax seeds into her diet for healthier skin.



3. Exercise Your Way to Acne Free Skin: Here’s an angle on the benefits of exercise that I hadn’t heard before. I wonder if Costco still sells those mini-trampolines…



4. Sunscreen Tips from a Melanoma Survivor: Worth it for the statistics, if nothing else, but I found this article to be a great resource. One in five Americans will contract skin cancer over the course of their lifetime? That’s more than I thought.



5. 5 Delicious Tips for Beautiful Skin: In this post, former supermodel Carol Alt shares some of her diet beauty secrets. I’ve listed a few of these nutritional beauty posts before, but this one has some new info that makes it worth a quick glance.



6. Can Vitamins Really Help Treat Acne? The picture is kinda disturbing, isn’t it? This brief post discusses which vitamins do and which vitamins don’t help treat acne.



Continue Reading…

Heya, ladies! How’s your Saturday coming along? This comes out of left field, but last night I saw and absolutely loved Pixar’s Up, their latest animated flick. OMG! It’s effing delightful — poignant, breathtaking to see — and it restored some of my faith in humanity. If there are people out there thoughtful and capable enough to make a film like Up… well, anyway, I can’t recommend it enough.

As for today’s video post, it’s just a quick summertime makeup look (click here to see the video) using a few of my favorite products.

Hope you’re enjoying the weekend!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen