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Smooth skin puts a smile on her face

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Shame on you. This year when you committed to your New Year’s resolution, you totally forgot to include healthy skin. Olay’s latest initiative promotes African-American skin care with products that cleanse, tone, moisturize and protect your face.

Get into these essential beauty tips from Olay’s New Year, New You: #BeAgeless Beauty Secrets initiative.

1. Get Your Beauty Sleep

When you are tired, it shows! Lack of sleep can have a major impact on mental alertness and your complexion. At nighttime,your body rids itself of toxins, which impact your skin. Sleeplessness compromises your body’s circulatory system and causes dark circles under the eyes. So put your phone on silent, turn off the lights and TV, and aim for 7-8 hours of restful sleep.

2. Be Gentle and Get Even

For African-American women, washing their face too often can deplete its moisture. Try Olay Regenerist Luminous Brightening Cream Cleanser gently cleanses, buffs away the top layers of skin, helping to remove dark spots and scars. It contains a dual occlusive-humectants system that smooth’s, hydrate’s, and renews the skin with an illuminating look after each use.

3. Moisturize

Warm showers and over washing your face can strip darker complexions of its natural oils, so African-American women should make moisturizing an integral part of their skin care routine. Choose a rich moisturizer like Olay Regenerist Luminous Tone Perfecting Cream which features conditioners that smooth, hydrate, and protect the skin. It also contains a powerful antioxidant complex with Vitamin B3 (niacinamide), NAG (N-Acetyl Glucosamine), OliveM™, Green Tea, and Undecylenoyl that deeply penetrates the skin’s surface to reduce the appearance of dark spots, the amount of melanin production, and restores the skin’s natural glow.

4. Get Healthy

A healthy diet can also help you look and feel your best beautiful. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. Although the association between dieting and skin conditions are not clear, some studies suggest that a diet rich in vitamin C, low in unhealthy fats, processed or refined carbohydrates can promote healthy looking skin.

5. Protect Your Skin

For generations, African-American women have been raised to believe the levels of melanin in their skin act as a natural defense against sun exposure – hence the old adage “Black Don’t Crack” – skin damage from unprotected sun exposure does happen. In fact, uneven skin tone and scarring are primarily the result of sun damage. All skin – no matter the complexion or its environment – can benefit from daily protection. Choose a sunscreen containing both UVA and UVB protection in a lightweight formula like Olay Regenerist Luminous Brightening & Protecting Lotion, which not only provides African-American skin with SPF-15 protection, re-energizes the skin’s appearance and removes dark spots, but won’t clog your pores.

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