Three Simple Ways to Boost Your Confidence

A few years ago, lack of confidence was my biggest weakness. However, I turned my self-perception around by infusing my life with a few easy habits. If you are looking to improve your confidence, here are some steps that worked for me. 

  

Set reasonable goals

Have you always wanted to run a marathon? Learn to cook? Another reason for lack of confidence is the habit of setting goals too high. If you try to go from couch potato to exercise aficionado in a day, this can backfire when you find yourself disappointed in your success. By taking things one step at a time to achieve  any goal, no matter how small, can boost your self-confidence. As you work to bigger challenges, you will build trust in your own abilities.

Have secrets

This may be the most surprising tips we’ve mentioned. Having small, innocent secrets can be a fun way to develop a relationship with yourself. These aren’t secrets that you keep out of shame, but are more playful in nature, like stashing jelly beans in your desk drawer just for you, or catching a solo movie on your day off — not secrets as much as things you don’t share with anyone else. If every single aspect of your life is an open book, it can be easy to lose a sense of identity and independence. It works similarly to keeping a private journal, which is another great way to get to know yourself.

Be who you want

If you’ve always imagined yourself differently, take action to become your “dream self.” The key, however, is to take small steps and get to know yourself along the way—be who you want to be, but don’t totally abandon who you are and become a stranger to yourself. Like our first tip, set reasonable goals. If you are modeling who you are based on what other people want, of course you’re not going to have confidence in this person. 

One way you can ease into this is by playing with your appearance: surface changes are more minor and easy to play with, so you can get used to taking control of your life before looking inwardly. If you’ve always felt like a blonde on the inside, but you hear your mother’s voice telling you that women in your family have been brunette for generations every time you consider trying out a new hairstyle (the story of my teenage years), tell Mom that this generation is trying out blonde. If your style preference has always been bolder than what you’ve worn, take the plunge and introduce funkier pieces gradually. If you are bothered by your laugh lines but don’t prioritize beauty, indulge yourself.

I’ve mentioned it before, but frankly I can’t mention it enough: if you’ve always imagined yourself with skin that looks smoother, take a close look at NeriumAD. This simple skincare solution is clinically proven to help minimize the look of wrinkles and fine lines in 30 days. You can have the firmer, evenly-colored looking skin that you’ve always imagined. There’s no reason not to make simple changes if they’re available and affordable. After making outward adjustments to become the person you’ve always fantasized about being, you can get more comfortable to make the inward changes you want, whether it’s improved confidence, patience, emotional wellbeing, or whatever traits you want to work on.

Upstage Your Competition with this Season’s Secrets to Enhancing Your Career

Competing in the corporate world is a challenge that requires strategic action. Regardless of whether you are dressing in order to get the job you want or to keep the job you have, elevate your confidence and capabilities with this season's secrets to alluring with ease and maintaining an appearance that leads to success.

Saturate your skin with confidence

With age comes experience, but nobody wants to appear to be older and wiser.  Wisdom is something that you can demonstrate throughout you career. Your age is something that can relatively be left up to the imagination of others, but only if you rely on a highly effective anti-aging face cream that delivers noticeable results. Allow NeriumAD to transform your skin over time by making it an essential component of your skin care regimen.

 
NeriumAD’s Age-Defying Treatment is infused with a patented NAE-8 extract, which is derived from the Nerium oleander plant and harnesses the plant’s natural anti-aging properties. Scientifically formulated to diminish the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, NeriumAD has the potential to nourish your skin and begin banishing the signs of aging. Applying NeriumAD Day Cream in the morning promotes self-assuredness, more luminous skin and a brighter outlook.

Scrimp on spritzing your favorite fragrance

Even if your high school sweetheart or lifelong love couldn’t (or still can’t) get enough of your signature scent, your office mates can and will, quickly. Elevators, cubicles and break rooms are no place to show off your undeniably good taste when it comes to fragrances. Refrain from overpowering the workplace with cologne or perfume. Before leaving the house, spray the scent once or twice into the air and stand under or walk through the mist rather than applying it directly to your skin. Doing so will allow your colleagues to breathe easier and alleviate you of risking getting socially snubbed due to over-indulgence.

Stay ahead with a haircut that inspires envy

Almost all of the illustrious hair salons in your area earn their reputation through rigorously training their students with precision and standards of excellence.  

Aveda, Redken, Paul Mitchell and various other famous names educate their soon-to-be-stylists at schools that may be located within driving distance from your house or work place. If your mornings in the mirror are spent analyzing your split-ends, redeem your workplace appearance by scheduling a haircut that will rival your superior’s stylist’s endeavors. Search your city for salon schools and book with a student who boasts an upcoming graduation date in lieu of a diploma.  Emerging students are equipped with the most recent knowledge of current trends and techniques. In addition to being flanked with hovercraft professors who leave no room for error, students will tame your tresses for a fraction of the price, all the while making certain that for you, the arena of modern day personal style will be a non-compete when it comes to career advancement.

Presentation often preemptively secures or dismantles your chances of success, but thankfully, it is a part of the perception of your workplace performance that you have control over. Whether you are interviewing or intent on never leaving the job you love, safeguard your opportunities with these tips on maintaining an appearance that leads to success. 

Exciting Technological Advancements in Beauty and Skin Care

Many exciting technological advancements hit the news every day, and a large number of them are in beauty and skin care. Methods using chemistry, engineering, biology, and other scientific disciplines can give beauty products a technological edge. Take a look at the latest technological advancements in beauty and skin care:

Shade matching

In the world of makeup, the hottest shade right now is the smart shade. Blushes, lip colors, and even foundations now come in a form that matches the right shade for you. The way this works depends on the product, but most will contain a type of chameleon pigment, which goes on white and then adjusts to coordinate with your skin tone. If you have a color matching foundation, you can even find products that will adjust after application to coordinate with your blush and other makeup.

Going electric

Bob Dylan did it—why not skincare? More and more products are hitting the shelves that utilize the power of electricity, like electronic skincare brushes. These brushes use a rotating or pulsating action to cleanse the skin of impurities, priming the skin for cleansing, moisturizing, or whatever skincare routine works for you.

Drawbacks to this type of product can be the bulkiness and the price. A top notch electric skincare brush will be rather pricey, so you need to consider whether this is worth adding to your routine. They can also be difficult to store in your bathroom space or travel with, so be aware of how much prime real estate you have available to avoid overcrowding.

Extraction methods

The sad truth is that many incredible beauty product ingredients are out in nature right now, but we lack any effective way of extracting them from the source. Oftentimes, typical extraction methods cannot procure ingredients from plants and other natural sources without damaging them, taking away what makes that ingredient so special or powerful.

However, the good news is that extraction methods are improving, and a few products are now available that contain hard-to-reach ingredients in quality form. For example, skin cream NeriumAD contains Nerium oleander extract. This ingredient has been used therapeutically for centuries, but has always been held back by damaging extraction methods. NeriumAD’s advanced extraction technique preserves Nerium oleander’s powerful qualities, resulting in the improved appearance of wrinkles and fine lines—an amazing way that science and nature can work together to enhance the benefits found in the natural world.

Series: Grandma’s Beauty Tips with Modern Updates

I’ve mentioned before that growing up, I learned a lot of beauty tips from my grandmother. I’ve found that the tips I learned from Grandma have become more regular fixtures in my skincare routine than what I read in beauty magazines and other modern resources. So, I’ve decided to make a list of Grandma’s best beauty tips along with modern updates I’ve added myself: 

 Grandma’s Tip: Just look in the cupboard

While cooking, Grandma hardly ever measured her ingredients, knowing exactly what any dish needed with just a quick glance. The same is actually true with one of her skin care strategies. When she opened her kitchen cabinets, you never knew whether she was looking for the perfect cherry cobbler thickening agent or vanilla for her homemade mud mask. The kitchen is full of affordable and effective beauty supplies. You can use ingredients like olive or coconut oil as a moisturizer for hair and skin. You can use ingredients like sugar as an exfoliator with honey as a wonderful smelling skin scrub. There are plenty of other everyday products that you can keep around to make easy and effective concoctions, but consider any allergies or sensitivities you may have before administering—patch tests can be a good idea.

Modern update: Add essential oils

      

Essential oils have been around for a while, but only recently have they been available in smaller quantities perfect for individual use at home. Essential oils are concentrated extracts like tea tree oil or lavender oil that can be added in smaller amounts to beauty products. You can add a few drops of essential oil to your homemade coconut oil moisturizer or other carrier oil depending on your skin needs—it’s easy to research which oils are great for moisturizing, acne, scarring, or other skincare concerns.

Grandma’s Tip: Nature can be powerful

There’s a reason natural ingredients like oregano and peppermint have been used therapeutically for thousands of years: the right form of an ingredient given for the right ailment can be incredibly powerful. A look at medical studies will tell you that natural ingredients like Acai berry and Nerium oleander are constantly studied for new medicinal benefits. Grandma often found relief through ingredients grown right in her garden. However, since these ingredients are powerful, make sure you fully understand any treatment before using it.

Modern update: Nature + technology can be powerful

Despite her traditional habits, Grandma was always up for trying new things. With today’s technology, there’s no reason not to benefit from the ways that technology can make natural ingredients better. Look for products that use advancements to utilize the power of natural ingredients without depleting their effectiveness. However, NeriumAD Age-Defying Treatment uses revolutionary extraction technology to procure Nerium oleander extract while preserving the ingredient’s effectiveness, which can then be safely used in NeriumAD. If you’re interested, I use this for improving the look of my skin, helping the appearance of concerns like the appearance of wrinkles and discoloration.