While you are putting on your bright and sheer spring ensembles on, remember that even your skin needs a touch of something fresh to complement the change in season. Here’s our list of all the spring beauty trends that you have to own:

Beauty Balms- Chances are that you have already seen these in every beauty magazine which in turn has left you utterly confused. Truth be told, we don’t like to swap out our skincare routine for every new “it” thing that hits the market but if you are a tinted moisturizer or even a moisturizer kind of a girl (who isn’t?), this is one easy-step product with benefits multiplied by thousand. With moisturizing, skin enhancing, tone correcting and sun protection all combined in one, this can be take the place of numerous daywear beauty products depending on your skin needs. Prices average around $36 but definitely worth every penny you spend. BBs should definitely go into your list of spring must-haves just like bright orange nails.

Lighten your skin care routine- Most skin types call for heavier skincare products during the winter months but spring clean your beauty cabinet and replace with gel based cleansers, lotions and masks as the weather warms up. Look for hydrating and brightening masks to complement your spring skincare regime.

Exfoliate- It’s time to slough off all the winter dry skin so look for a good exfoliation routine. If you are a facial regular, consider going for one. Get your body prepped as well with a body wrap that can get your skin healthy and buffed as the leggings are peeled away.

Hair- After all the grimy weather, your hair is going to reflect more sunlight and to complement the weather get some highlights to add dimension to your crowning glory. Finally, the weather lets you air dry your hair occasionally and this is something you should do once a week to let the natural oils in your hair work the strands. Use some Zinn Moroccan Argan Oil is your hair to combat dry and frizz.

So maybe your invite to the Oscars after party was lost in the mail, but we can all use a little glamour in our lives. Be in going dancing with your girls of that fancy dinner date with your beau, here are some tips for looking extra glamorous at your big event.

1.     Dieting: The Right Way

Everyone can benefit from exercise and healthy eating habits a few weeks before your special day, and an upcoming event can be great motivation for getting in shape, but avoid last-minute crash diets. People who resort to these are usually left feeling weak, cranky, and not in the mood for fun. Plus, it may not be the best idea long term. Studies have found that frequent “yo-yo” dieters — people who crash diet and then go back to eating normally — may end up gaining more weight over time. Since it’s almost impossible to lose more than a couple of pounds of body fat per week, set your goals early on: If you’d like to lose 5 pounds, for example, start your program at least 3 weeks before the big night.

2.     Tanning: Just Say No

We all know the problems tanning causes later in life, but lots of people don’t know how tanning can mess with that big-night look: Some people are prone to breakouts or rashes after tanning; others notice it leaves them with dull, dry, flaky skin. So if you simply must have that fresh from the beach glow, look for alternatives to the tanning bed. Plan ahead and experiment with store-bought tanning products. Try them out several weeks in advance to find out which one works best for you. Or visit a salon for advice on spray tanning.

3.     Sleep!

Get plenty of rest, especially on the days leading up to your big event. Lack of sleep can effect every part of your looks, from your skin to your eyes, to hw much energy to have to actually have fun!

4.     Wear clothes that fit.

No matter how cute or on sale that dress is, if it’s not your size, you are not going to look good in it. Tailoring can make all the difference. You would be surprised how little it costs at your local dry cleaners to get that outfit taken in or let out, so it hugs your body in all the right places.

5.     Wear the right undergarments.

Though Madonna pulled it off admirably in the 80’s, nothing classed down an outfit like a bra strap hanging out. Also, if you are wearing a dress with a light fabric, make sure that there are no unsightly lines or bumps showing through. And a good pair of spanex can work wonders!
Finally, don’t forget to have fun and know how great you look. Confidence is the greatest look on a woman, so wherever you are going, march in there like you own it!

Come fall and we are done with the laid-back sun-kissed summer look. As nature’s hues and fashion changes, it’s time to update our beauty routine as well. These are some changes you can make to revamp your fall beauty cabinet in keeping with the season:

Face: Fall ushers in the dry skin season and for most of us, we need a little more moisturizing skin care to balance out our skin, making it necessary to switch from our spring/summer moisturizers that worked very well. Try using a deeply moisturizing and penetrating night cream, preferably oil-based with primrose or mineral oil, for extra hydration like the luxurious Argan Oil based Zinn Anti-Aging Face Cream. Don’t skimp on the SPF for your day lotion or foundation just because the summer sun is not lighting up your days. Remember that winter sun rays are just as harsh on your skin. To keep your natural oils from getting depleted, splash some cold water on your face in the mornings instead of applying face wash.

Skin: Your body needs a moisture barrier as the cold gusty wind starts drying it out. Don’t forget to slather on a generous amount of body lotion, like the Zinn Body Lotion, especially after a hot shower when your pores are open to soak in the moisture. Switch to moisture rich body washes and shaving crèmes for extra indulgence.

Toes and hands: Switch your minty and floral foot and hand lotions for some real heavy-duty stuff like glycerin and natural oil based cremes. Get rid of dead skin with an exfoliator or a DIY lemon and sugar scrub periodically to let the moisture seep in. The Zinn 100% Moroccan Argan Oil not only keeps your skin glowing is the dry winter months but applied overnight, keeps your hands and heels soft as well.

Hair: Fight dry hair and split ends with a deep conditioning mask once a week. Or oil your hair overnight with  the Zinn Argan Oil for lustrous locks that shine with health. If the humidity is wrecking havoc on your hair and turning it fizzy, spray on some anti-humidity serum or oil to your wet or dry hair.

Make-up: After the basic beauty routine, we need a pop of color to match the fall palette. Make your peepers stand out with a soft smoky or a bold plum look with the new mineral pressed powders from Bare Escentuals. For your nails, sport funky in a pumpkin shade or go chic with a deep blue.

Beauty can be lethal…and we are not talking about drop-dead looks! Controversial chemicals in your beauty products can be responsible for different forms of cancer and other health conditions. Did you know that 60% of what you apply on your skin gets directly absorbed by the body? Most of us, men and women alike, expose ourselves to personal and beauty care products at least 6-8 times within a 24-hour period. So you are more likely to be exposed to toxic pollutants and carcinogens through your daily personal care regimen, than any other activity in a given day.

You are probably aware of the evils of paraben and lead, and make it a point to look out for products free of these. But it is not just these better-known controversial pollutants that are a cause of concern now, with the recent media attention that certain beauty procedures have drawn.

Reading labels carefully is the only prudent way to go. Anyway, given the lack of regulations in beauty industry labeling, you can never be too sure that your beauty product is not secretly corroding away your health.  Watch out for anything that has synthetic coloring ingredients, emulsifiers, copolymer, triclosan, and forms of urea as a preservative. Although there are close to 800 potentially carcinogenic ingredients in beauty products, here’s listing out a few that are commonly found:

• Alcohol (Isopropyl): Commonly found in hair colorants, body lotion, hand lotion, after-shave, perfume and fragrance. It can cause depression, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.
• Artificial fragrances: Most beauty products contain fragrance and this includes shampoo, conditioners, facial skincare products, soap, bath products, and sunscreen. Many of the properties in fragrance are potentially carcinogenic and toxic, and can affect the central nervous system.
• Sodium lauryl sulphate or (SLS): Present in 90 per cent of all shampoos and really anything that foams. Research has shown it is damaging to the immune system, the eyes and skin and can also be carcinogenic.
• Polyethelene glycol (PEG): Found widely in facial cleansers to dissolve the oil and grease on our skin and makes the product creamy. They disrupt the immune system by stripping our skin of it’s natural moisture and are also potentially carcinogenic.

A lot of these ingredients are not as toxic by itself but become very dangerous in combination with other chemicals, like SLS.  You can find more on the dangers of toxic ingredients in your beauty cabinet here.

Tinted Moisturizer: Add a little sheen and give a little coverage to you skin with a non-clogging tinted moisturizer. Along with sun protection and flawless finish, an easily absorbed moisturizer also preserves the natural oil balance in your skin. If the summers went by without you getting too fixated on any particular one, try the Aveeno Positively Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 30 and natural soy complex($16-$18).

Blushes: These are definitely a girl’s best friend or two best friends because you need one in cream and one powder, depending on the weather. I prefer powder going into fall/winter and creamy ones for summers. Make sure that at least one is a natural looking color close to your skin tone like soft rose or peach. The other can be a bronze or something more dramatic for an evening look. Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blends Sheer Highlight delivers the right touch at about $12. But going over the mark a bit, we swear by Estee Lauder Signature Cream & Signature Powder blushes for about $26 each. Apply in moderation and blend the blush well to not look amateurish.

Eye shadow: Make your peepers look outstanding, either with dramatic hues or smoky shadow or just add an au-natural touch for daywear. But whichever way you look at it, eye shadow does make your entire look. We like super pigmented ones that build in color easily like Bare Escentuals Mineral eye shadows at about $13 for each hue or the L’Oreal HIP Bright Duos Shadow with two colors and the staying power of more expensive brands at just $8.

Mascara and eye pencil: Both are extremely essential for opening up your eyes and adding definition. Pencil should be in brown or/and black depending on the look you want to create and look for smudge and water proof products. Drugstore brands like Maybelline work very well for this everyday beauty essential with the Maybelline Lash Stylist Comb waterproof mascara ($15) and the Maybelline Cream eye pencils ($6).

Make-up remover: If you are going to wear make-up, removing it is an absolute must at the end of the day. The Zinn Beauty Velvet Facial Cleansing Milk replenished with its rich formula as it cleans. While go the go try cleansing towels instead like the Purity Facial Cleansing Cloths ($20).

The simple rule of beauty is that clean skin is healthy and beautiful skin, but picking the right cleansing routine amidst the cacophony of washes, wipes, masks, scrubs, and exfoliators calling out for your attention can be daunting and confusing at the same time. A delicate balance needs to be striked between over drying and sapping your skin of natural oils and eliminating dirt and make-up agents that can lead to acne and inflammation. So we at Zinn decided to simplify your skin cleansing choices with our insights into what to look for in a cleansing routine.

We recommend a facial cleanser in the night to wash away the day’s dirt and grime, an exfoliating scrub every 3 days to dislodge the blackheads and dirt particles that seep under your skin, and a facial mask once a week to further clean, remove dead skin and improve your skin tone. I am a facial toner buff and count on it to wipe away residual dirt from my skin but many beauty experts feel otherwise. They say that if your cleanser is effective then you don’t need a toner so this is what I do… use a mild facial wash, then follow up with a toner and if specks of dirt shows up on the cotton pad then I feel that justifies its use. On the days when I wear make-up, I use a cleansing wipe or milk to get rid of the make-up first before the face wash. But the thumb-rule is not to apply everything together, which means leave out the toner if you have already used a make-up dissolving wipe. Every 2-3 days, switch the wash for the scrub, paying attention to problem-prone areas like the nose and the chin where you tend to collect blackheads or white heads and wash away with lukewarm water. Finally, top up your cleansing regime with a facemask suitable for your skin type, made from pantry essentials or natural ingredients that cater to your skincare needs.

To follow these simple skin-cleansing tips, choose a natural ingredient based product line that works well for you unless you are a make-it-at home beauty treatment buff. We have put together a list of 5 natural skin-cleansing ingredients that work miraculously on most skin types:

Seaweed: Found in a number of skincare lines, the ocean vegetable or seaweed has Vitamin A and C for holding together the skin’s collagen, and potent antioxidants with healing and rejuvenating properties. The phyto nutrients present also help increase blood flow at the surface of the skin, hence making it supple, smooth and radiant.

Argan Oil: Packed with antioxidants, vitamin E and essential fats omega 6 and 9, Argan oil based cleansers work wonders on dry skin and aging skin by preventing the loss of moisture while cleansing, softening and evening out your skin for a radiant glow.

Tea-tree oil: An effective antiseptic and fungicide, look out for this ingredient if you have sensitive and acne prone skin. It removes pore bacteria to prevent further out breaks and the deep cleansing properties repair your skin after pollutant and toxin exposure.

Green tea: Products that have green tea are gentle on your face but are capable of deep cleansing your pores and the high amounts of antioxidants fight skin damaging environmental pollutants and sun damage.

Aloe Vera: A combination of many different vitamins and minerals, aloe gel gets further into your skin than many other products for cleansing. The best part about aloe vera is that it is 96% water, which is the best natural hydrant for your skin.

Have you discovered a natural ingredient that you find irresistible for your skin? Share with us…

With her wedding nuptials just days away, you can almost feel the whole world waiting with baited breath, to see what their most beautiful celebutaunt will be wearing on her big day. Over the years , she’s most certainly given us plenty of gorgeous looks, but on this day, if we know Kim, she’ll find a way, to upstage even herself.

We at Zinn love Kim’s when she’s at her most natural. With her raven her tousled or pulled back, a softly lined eye, a hint of rouge on her cheeks, nude lips, and just a hint of falsies, she’s the epitome of a picture perfect bride.

Of course there’s the something blue, and so we’re throwing in SJP’s Manolo’s for a bit of nostalgia. As for something borrowed – well there’s a whole heap of sisters to lend a hand.

Whatever she wears, we know Kim, will look stunning on her big day.

To create a natural look a la Kim K for your self, be sure to number one take good care of your hair and skin. Great beauty starts with a great regime….organic argan oil products like our Zinn line are great for improving the condition of hair and skin, supplying them with the with vital vitamins and nutrients they need to shine, so you positively radiate from head to toe.

On the make-up tip, for Kim’s natural look, Kim’s make-up artist Troy Jensen uses soft metalics to highlight and shape Kim’s eyes, rosy beige blush by shisheido to contour her cheeks, and always a liquid liner for precession.To get more tips from her make-up guru, head over to his beauty blog

http://spoiledpretty.blogspot.com/2009/02/kim-kardashians-red-carpet-makeup.html

Wishing you looked like the flawless skinned model on a centre-fold? Even the most rational of us find ourselves guilty of this wishful thinking. Years of being exposed to glossy magazine covers and crafty marketing ploys has programmed us to believe that we could just airbrush our blemishes and wrinkles away, but everyone is seemingly waking up to the reality of ‘unreal’ beauty images that infiltrate our lives every single day.

We are not yet in an era of un-photoshoped beauty role models but it is worth observing the recent critique of heavily airbrushed celebrity images in advertisements. It is this conception of immaculate beauty that drives women to spend a fortune on their vanity every year…sometimes to the extent of offsetting a personal financial misfortune. The 30-billion-dollar-a-year cosmetic surgery industry in the United States is built on women’s insecurities and their devotion to these unrealistic beauty ideals. As much as we love to feast our eyes on flawless cover girls and skip over the fine print on the ‘digitally enhanced’ disclaimer, it is time to wake up to realistic conceptions of beauty and a media that buzzes with tangible beauty achievables.

We as a beauty brand are party to the beauty marketing bandwagon too but at Zinn we promote natural radiance that comes from pure and healthy treatment of your hair, skin and body…glow that emanates from sound and healthy treatment of the inner wells of beauty… and that philosophy is reflected in each creation of our all-natural and organic line. So let’s embrace au-natural beauty and say no to chasing photoshoped illusions!

Guess what dazzled everyone at the star-studded NYC Dance Alliance Foundation Bright Lights! Shining Stars! gala? It was our exotic Zinn Beauty line that made the red-carpet heavy weights and beauty pageant winners like Cassandra Seidenfeld Lyster, Robin Cofer, Adriane Lenox, Miss NY Kaitlin Monte, Lin-Mauel Miranda, AC Ciulla, Brenda Braxton, Deb Lyons et al, shine brighter totting off their gift bags. The celebs attending this night of song and dance honoring the legendary musician Roberta Flack, walked away impressed with their unique natural beauty giveaways from Zinn…and the buzz is that they can’t wait to shine with more Zinn beauty at their next event.

In the world of natural beauty, a bevy of foods are pitted against each other for the next most coveted “skin superfood” title. We decided to make you aware of the latest that rules the roost. So move over green tea and tomato, and make way for….

Oysters: Has oodles of zinc and maybe the best fix for your zapped zit. Zinc deficiency is linked to acne, rough and dry skin, and slow skin wound repair.

Swiss chard: rich in biotin and B-complex this green in essential for skin health and prevention of hair-loss.

Grapefruit: rich source of Vitamin C that promotes collagen production for skin renewal and firmness. Also has lycopene and bioflavonoids for overall skin health.

P.S. More about foods with proven results for gorgeous and glowing skin!