Seven Deadly Fashion Sins

Just as your body's systems can become gradually clogged and sluggish through bad diet and lack of exercise, so your sense of fashion and personal style can become bogged down through neglect, lack of knowledge and lack of time are all leading to bad habits that become a way of life.

Left unchecked, these bad habits can become so ingrained that they blind you to the possibilities of just how great you could look. The start of a New Year is the perfect time to establish a new code of dress conduct and banish your fashion bad habits for ever.

1. The Wretched Wardrobe

It's crammed with things that don't fit, you can't stand and you never wear. Have a good clean-out. Sort into five different piles: for the charity shop, dry-cleaning, alterations, favorites and possibles. Bin anything past its sell-by: i.e. anything faded, moth-eaten, ripped or stained. Decide on the basics that will refresh the pieces you intend to keep: a crisp white shirt? A great black T-shirt? A new pair of boots? A fabulous belt?

2. The Bad Bra

Research has shown that nearly 80 per cent of women are wearing the wrong size are either a cup size too small or a back size too big, or a combination of both. Nearly half of all B-cup-wearers, it seems, should be wearing a D-cup or above. Get fitted and make the best of your shape, silhouette and posture. Remember, the "new you" starts with the very first layer of clothing.

3. The Clone Queen

Are you a label victim?Do you wear one designer from head to foot, like Victoria Beckham who is Dolce & Gabbana one minute, Roberto Cavalli the next? Don't be afraid to inject a little of your own personality into what you buy. Make the look your own.

4. Same-old, Same-old Syndrome

Have you fallen into the trap of always wearing identikit outfits, like Elizabeth Hurley in her utterly predictable white jeans or split-to-the-thigh, cleavage dresses, Sienna Miller in her boho shifts and boots or any one of a horde of C-List celebs who can always be relied upon to turn up in minis and middy tops. If so, take inspiration from the likes of Emma Thompson and Helen Mirren, who are bold enough to reinvent themselves. Remember, vive le difference.

5. Buried in Boring Too tired to change?

Rather be safe than sorry? Do yourself a favor. Break open the mold and spring a surprise. Use the January sales to experiment. Promise yourself once a week to try on at least three things you would never have considered wearing before. If necessary close your eyes and pluck from the rails at random.

6. Color Coward

If your shelves resemble the inside of a Benetton shop, except every single item is navy, beige or black, it is time for shock treatment. Force yourself to buy at least three different colored things. Experiment with an orange scarf, a pair of purple shoes, a green cardigan, a fuschia belt, or even a pair of fishnet tights in color.

7. Stuck in a Groove

You have looked exactly the same for 20 years: same hair, same lipstick, same skirts, same shirts, same shoes. What are you trying to do? Set a record? Perhaps you think it makes you look youthful to wear, at 50, the clothes you wore at 25. Wrong! You don't just need a change of clothes, you need an overhaul. Throw out everything and start from scratch.
© 2007 Hilary Alexander

Factors Affecting Your Skin

Although your skin type is basically constant throughout your life, some lifestyle choices and environmental factors can affect how your skin behaves.

1. Sleep- Get 7-8 hours a night.
Benefit: Your skin renews itself by building new cells while you sleep.

2. Vitamin C- Eat vitamin C-rich foods and take a supplement for extra insurance.
Benefit: Vitamin C is a potent free-radical scavenger that's known for its corrective and preventative benefits for sun- and environmentally-damaged skin.

3. Water- Drink 6-8 glasses of filtered water per day.
Benefit: improved circulation and accelerated cell growth.

4. Exercise regularly
Benefit: moving around helps revive circulation and speeds blood flow to the surface of your skin. Added benefit: Exercise can help alleviate stress.

5. Stress- Relax your mind by exercising your body. Especially unclench your facial muscles. Benefit: Relieving stress can mean avoiding blemishes, hives, colour loss and under-eye circles. One more thing -- your mother was right: Habitually tense facial expressions can create permanent lines.

6. The "no-no's." Avoid them. Your skin hates alcohol, tobacco and caffeine, and will show you by losing moisture or forming wrinkles that make you look older sooner. Avoid the no-no's and get this benefit: You'll look younger longer. (Be aware that some medications can make skin more sensitive.)

7. Natural aging- As we age our skin becomes drier and loses elasticity, which can cause wrinkles and fine lines.
How to manage: Use a specially formulated age-defying moisturizer at night to nourish and renew your skin and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

8. Sun is the most damaging of all environmental factors. Continued exposure damages and wrinkles your skin. Sun exposure is also a major cause of skin cancer.
How to manage: Avoid long exposure and use a facial moisturizer with sunscreen -- every day. At night use a renewal moisturizer to repair damage.

9. Low/high humidity- Low humidity robs your skin of essential moisture, while high humidity can make skin feel oily.
How to manage: Nourish your skin with a good moisturizer to fight low humidity. In high humidity, that oily feeling isn't moisture -- you still need a moisturizer that will help protect skin from dryness.

10. Extreme temperatures- Both cold and hot temperatures with low humidity deplete moisture from your skin and leave it tight and dry.
How to manage: Nourish skin with a good moisturizer. Another hint: Use lukewarm, not hot or cold water to rinse your face.

11. Wind- Strong wind, especially with extreme temperatures and low humidity, can cause dry, flaky skin.
How to manage: Re-hydrate with a good moisturizer.

12. Air pollution- Windborne dust, dirt, and smog can clog pores and choke your skin.
How to manage: Protect your skin with a good moisturizer that forms a "barrier" between you and that nasty stuff floating around you. Carefully cleanse and condition every night.

Men Are More Intelligent Than Women?

And so the study claims........

Ha ! Can you believe that?
eehhmmmmm.......... read on my friends, and you be the judge.

Battle of the sexes: Are men more intelligent than women?

It is research that is guaranteed to delight men - and infuriate the women in their lives. A controversial new study has claimed that men really are more intelligent than women.

The study - carried out by a man - concluded that men's IQs are almost four points higher than women's.

British-born researcher John Philippe Rushton, who previously created a furore by suggesting intelligence is influenced by race, says the finding could explain why so few women make it to the top in the workplace.

He claims the 'glass ceiling' phenomenon is probably due to inferior intelligence, rather than discrimination or lack of opportunity.

The University of Western Ontario psychologist reached his conclusion after scrutinising the results of university aptitude tests taken by 100,000 students aged 17 and 18 of both sexes.

A focus on a factors such as the ability to quickly grasp a complex concept, verbal reasoning skills and creativity - some of they key ingredients of intelligence - revealed the male teenagers had IQs that were an average of 3.63 points higher. The average person has an IQ of around 100.

The findings, which held true for all classes and levels of parental education, overturn a 100 year consensus that men and women average the same in general mental ability. They also conflict with evidence that girls do better in school exams than boys.

But Prof Rushton, who was born in Bournemouth and obtained his doctorate in social psychology from the London School of Economics, argues that the faster maturing of girls leads to them outshining boys in the classroom.

And since almost all previous data showing an absence of difference between the sexes was gathered on schoolchildren, the gender difference could easily have been missed.

'It looks like up until late adolescence, the females have the advantage over males because they mature faster, which masks the underlying difference, he said.

Although experts have accepted that men and women differ mentally, with males averaging higher on tests of 'spatial ability' and females higher on verbal tests, it was assumed the differences averaged out, leaving no difference in overall intelligence.

Prof Rushton believes the differences are directly linked to brain size, with other studies showing men having slightly bigger brains than women.

'We know that men have larger brains, even when you take into account larger body size,' said the researcher. 'That means there are more neurons. The question is what these neurons are doing in a man - and they probably have an advantage in processing information.'

It is thought the difference may date back to the Stone Age, with women seeking out men who are more intelligent than them in a bid to pass on the best genes to their children.

'Some people have suggested it evolved because women prefer men who are more intelligent than they are for husbands,' said the professor.

'Just as they prefer men who are taller than them, they also prefer a male who is a little ahead of them in IQ.'

Critics claim Prof Rushton's results could have been skewed by the inclusion of more test results from females than form males.

Prof Rushton, who four years ago triggered a scientific row by claiming intelligence and behaviour are influenced by race, with blacks being more likely to be involved in crime and Asians having a greater chance of high IQs, however, stands by his results.

'These are unpopular conclusions,' he said. 'People should not be made to feel afraid to study controversial issues.

'We have the right to find the truth. One should really look at the facts.'

His work appears to confirm British research which showed men have bigger brains and higher IQs than women, which may explain why chess grandmasters and geniuses are more likely to be male.

The analyses of more than 20,000 verbal reasoning tests taken by university students from around the world revealed that women's IQs are up to five points lower than men's .

Women needn't feel despondent, however, as the scientists believe women can achieve just as much as men - as long as they work harder.

By BEN CLERKIN & FIONA MACRAE
Article courtesy of www.ivillage.com

Happy New Year 2007

the year 2006 ends. on behalf of the other angels, here's to welcome the new year 2007 to all our readers around the world. may this year brings lots of happiness and bundles of joys in your life.

wish you all the best.