Silvery Sneaks

Get your glam on with these fun silver sneakers.

mark.'s Silver Streak Sneaks are super shiny... perfect to pair with plain skinny jeans and a silky blouse, or to spice things up for a casual walk about town.

These statement shoes are shiny fun!

4 Ways To Actively Prevent Sun Damage

Sun damage is serious. Too much exposure to UV rays can cause sunburns, wrinkles, and skin cancer. 

What is Photoaging?

Skin can be damaged by the sun. Over time, this sun damage creates wrinkles, fine lines, and coarse texture. What's happened is that UVA has actually damaged the collagen in the layers of skin. In addition, "age spots" are actually spots of melanin production as a result of sun exposure!

What are UV rays? 

The sun creates ultraviolet light in long waves (UVA) and short waves (UVB). UVB rays are what causes sunburns, and UVA rays are what cause long term damage. Both UVA and UVB can be blocked by a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or more.

You can actively prevent sun damage:

• Stay out of the direct sun when it is highest in the sky, between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm.
• Cover your skin with white or light colored clothing.
• Wear a hat and sunglasses.
• Slather on the Sunscreen

The bad news is, the sun can and does cause skin cancer. (I have fair skin and I'm terrified of the results of a few severe sunburns in my lifetime.) The best way to prevent sunburns, photoaging and skin cancer is the apply sunscreen liberally. Like, a real lot! 

What's Your Birthday?

And what's your birthstone? I've always loved shopping for jewelry with my birthstone, aquamarine.

Check out these really cute shaky birthstone color bracelet!

Every month has a birthstone color:

• January-Garnet 
• February-Amethyst 
• March-Aquamarine 
• April-Diamond 
• May-Emerald 
• June-Alexandrite 
• July-Ruby 
• August-Peridot 
• September-Sapphire 
• October-Tourmaline
• November-Citrine 
• December-Blue Topaz

This bangle bracelet is awesome for summer, and can be layered.. get birthstone bracelets for all your loved ones! I like to get my own birthstone, aquamarine, diamond for my daughter and blue topaz for my husband.  It looks really cool with the clear, light blue and dark blue. What's your color combination?

Ultra Sexy Trio

If you like sweet, romantic fragrances, this trio is sure to make your heart thump!

Ultra Sexy Pink

This eau de toilette has notes of Raspberry Essence, Blushing Peony Essence, and Chiffon Musk Accord. Reviews give it 4.5 stars! The bottle holds a light pink fragrance, and is accented with a pink with black polka dot bow.

Ultra Sexy Heart

This eau de toilette has complex notes: Maraschino Cherry, Red Rose Petals and Chocolate Marshmallow. Reviews give it 4.1 stars. The bottle holds a pink color fragrance and is accented with layers of chiffon hearts.

Ultra Sexy Lace

The newest fragrance re-released in this trio is Ultra Sexy Lace. Notes of Pear, Magnolia and Golden Amber. Reviews in so far give it 5 stars! The bottle holds a darker pink color fragrance, and is accented with bunches of black lace.

Bronzed Beauty

Looking for a summer bronze without the risks of sun exposure? Bronzers are so easy to use to help contour, highlight and enhance your complexion.

Still not sure how to master the perfect bronze? Here's how to acheive that sunkissed look:

• Swirl your bronzer brush in the powder or pearls
• Sweep the brush across the top of your forehead, just below the hairline
• Circle a bit onto your temples
• Pull some bronzer down under your cheekbones (apply just below where you would normally sweep blush; highlight above cheekbone blush, bronze below cheekbone blush.)
• Blend bronzer along your chin and jawline

After applying all powder contouring, bronzer, blush, and highlighter, make sure you go back with a Kabuki brush and blend it all to make it look more natural and to reduce any harsh lines that may have been created during application.

mark. Glowdacious Illuminating Powder

A delicious bronzing, highlighting, illuminating swirl of color to get that glowing skin! While any shade can be used for any skin tone, Prettied Up is ideal for light skin , Shimmied Up is best for medium skin and Amped Up looks amazing on dark skin.

Glow Bronzing Powder

A sunny bronzer in Sunkissed Glow, Warm Glow or Light Bronze shades.

Glow Bronzing Pearls

Delightful color pearls are a unique way to get your bronze on. These multi-toned pearls provide a blended, natural glow. In Sunkissed or Bronzed shades.

Don't forget a bronzing brush! 

Skincare Game Changers: 3 Leading Skincare Solutions

Avon recently introduced three cutting-edge skincare products: Vitamin C serum, AHA refining cream, and extra strength retexturizing peel. This adds to our already innovative line of Anew Clinical treatment products. These game changers can truly make a difference in your at home skincare treatments.

If the sun and other aggressive environmental factors have damaged your skin, these three products will work to minimize that skin damage, repair collagen and make your facial skin look brighter and smoother!

AHA

Alpha Hydroxy Acid is an anti-aging staple, used to improve the look and feel of aging skin. AHA Refining Cream improves skin texture, reduces fine lines, and works to reverse photo damage from the sun. (Wear sunscreen while using this product). AHA is specifically designed to help increase collagen. 

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps skin is an antioxidant to protect skin from environment damage works to make skin look smoother and clearer, fights inflammation and irritation, and contributes to skin healing. The Vitamin C Brightening Serum has 10% vitamin C to fight damage from the sun, pollution or other skin aggressors like smoking.

At home chemical peel

The Extra Strength Rexturizing Peel pads retexturize your skin for a smoother look. 5 acids, including glycolic acid, hyaluranic acid, and salicylic acid, combine to fight sun spots, fine lines and the texture caused by acne. (Wear sunscreen while using this product). Natural ingredients include cucumber, pineapple, papaya, honey and aloe. This is a highly concentrated at home peel that will deliver big results!

Homemade Ice Cream Summer Treat!

Ice cream has got to be THE summer favorite treat! A cold scoop of sweet ice cream on a hot summer day is one of the best experiences of summer, especially for a child. Imagine being able to mix up a batch of your favorite ice cream flavor, especially knowing that all of your ingredients are fresh!

I tested the Half Pint Ice Cream Maker, available in the summer Avon living for $39.99. I am slightly obsessed with kitchen gadgets, so I jumped at the opportunity to try this one out! After trying several recipes, I would say I am mostly impressed with it, though there are a few things about it that did bother me.

Out of the box, the ice cream maker has four major parts: the magical bucket, the motor, the pour spout, and the paddle. You have to place batteries into the motor part, then attach the clear plastic pour spout onto the motor. The two piece paddle attachment is inserted into the motor, and then that whole assembly is attached to the bucket with a twist. You must wash and dry the bucket and stick it in the freezer right away - unfortunately, you will not be able to make a batch of ice cream the first day.

First of all, it does a great job of making small batches of ice cream, gelato, froyo or sorbet.The best part is that each batch can be completely customized with flavor and ingredients. The small batches allow you to enjoy gourmet flavors and blends.

Ice cream is essentially milk, sugar and flavor. Old fashioned ice cream also uses eggs. Sorbet is made from fruit and fruit juice. Gelato adds coffee flavor. Frozen yogurt is made using yogurt (Greek yogurt is best) and flavors.

There isn’t too much of a secret process to mixing ingredients. Your liquid “smoothie” mix will usually churn up into a delicious frozen treat!

The basic process is to place the bucket in the freezer in advance, mix the ingredients for your ice cream, and chill the ingredients. The next day, churn your ice cream, freeze to harden, then enjoy!

My Top Tips for Making Ice Cream:

• THINK COLD! Everything has to be cold. The bucket has to be in the freezer for at least twelve hours. The mix has to be chilled. Cold = ice cream, sorbet, gelato, froyo
• Plan ahead. Freeze the bucket, mix a batch of ice cream “liquid” and chill it. Putting the mix in the freezer 30 minutes before you start to churn won't hurt either.
• Fill the bucket halfway. ¾ at the most. Churn. Churning can be a little noisy, but it is fun to watch!
• When you're done churning, quickly transfer it to a chilled container and freeze to harden it up. At least a few hours, to firm it up. Enjoy quickly, like that day or the next.
• Tomorrow, churn your ice cream, and mix up a new batch for next time. Wash, DRY, and freeze the bucket (inside a plastic bag) again for 24 hours. Not being able to make more than one batch a day was disappointing.
• Invest in a large package of AA batteries. One thing that did annoy me was the battery door; it kept popping open when I tried to assemble the parts. Because you churn for 20 minutes at a time, this does require battery power. I would have preferred a cord. Use fresh batteries!

So far, I have tested with traditional ice cream, blueberry sorbet and frozen yogurt. I love being able to control the ingredients, especially the fruits and flavors. The ice cream maker does come with a booklet of instructions and recipes, but I am confident enough to change up recipes by swapping out flavors, and they have all churned up into yummy desserts.