Fight Marshmallow Face with Dr. Perricone

I’m not one of those people who can sleep for four hours and wake up looking “normal” and I’m definitely not someone who can cry and not wake up with a puffy mess of a face the next day. Cooling face masks work well to tame my marshmallow face, but I tend to get up no more than 15 minutes before I have to jet out the door so I usually don’t have time for that. I was recently sent a sample of an awesome Dr. Perricone serum however and while it doesn’t work instantly, it’s great for mellowing out marshmallow face. It’s called Chia Serum and it’s loaded in omega-3’s. Omega 3’s are vital to skin health because they help keep the cell membrane supple, reduce stress, while keeping skin soft and the ones found in chia seeds specifically act as natural anti-inflammatories. The serum as an oil-like light consistency, but not so light that it makes a big mess on your face, in fact it’s a little hard to spread so I mixed it in with Dr. Perricone’s Nourishing Moisturizer, a fast-absorbing day cream and it works perfectly (just don’t forget to apply SPF first!).

Aside from what we apply topically, what we eat and drink can help a great deal as well. To that end here is what Dr. Perricone suggests aside from chia –

• Wild salmon and other cold water fish (salmon, sardines, herring, trout, etc.) are great sources of protein, necessary to maintain and repair the body—including the skin on a cellular level.  They are high anti-inflammatory omega 3 essential fatty acids which keeps skin radiant, supple and wrinkle free, moods upbeat and brain functioning at optimal levels.  Wild salmon’s pink or red color, owes its pigment to astaxanthin, a super carotenoid anti-oxidant with potent anti-inflammatory properties.  Astaxanthin improves skin elasticity and reduces the appearance of fine lines.
• Green Tea contains polyphenols which help eliminate inflammation-producing free radicals.  Polyphenols protect healthy cells from cancer causing DNA damage, while ushering cancer cells to their death.  Another remarkable finding is the power of green tea polyphenols known as  EGCG to reactivate dying skin cells.
• Turmeric is a superb anti-inflammatory thanks to its superior antioxidant properties and its high levels of the super antioxidant curcumin.  It also increases blood levels of the enzyme glutathione S-transferase, an important antioxidant and vital in the body’s detoxification system, to keep skin clear, firm, toned and radiant.