I might be the biggest whiner during the Holidays , but hey, I still love it anyway. The weather’s so chilly, it feels great, I’ve been longing to cuddle with a book and watch DVDs as soon as I get my much needed time off from work. But you know, during the Holidays , there are so much stress vibes that are just everywhere! Stress from work - total burnout, I swear, stress from preparing and organizing parties, and stress from shopping.

A kikay girl like me has observed some stress in the name of beauty, too. Here are some of my observations :

1. Skin breaking out lately.
More than two girl friends of mine have had really bad breakouts lately. Call it Holiday stress. Blame the Holidays! Rar! ( No, just kidding ). No sleep, restless from coming up with a shopping list, beating the holiday traffic, and nonstop partying. With me, working 7 days a week paved way for this catastrophic event.

Solution : Catch up on sleep when needed, maintain a strict skin care regimen, drink 8 or more glasses of water (yes, do that), drink vitamins, and keep Sundays free to relax, and exercise somewhat! Lastly, relax. It’s all in the mind. ( Oh I wish I could say this to myself! Haha! )

2. Dry Skin.
The cold weather’s got us bad as it makes our arms, and legs all dry. One scratch from a fingernail and the trace is just so visible. The air is so dry that it makes our skin dry and scalier. Not a good sight, and of course, it doesn’t feel good as dry skin means tight skin.

Solution: Intense moisture is needed, and you won’t even feel the grease with your thick lotions because it’s really really dry weather now, so as soon as you step out of the shower, or while you are inside the bathroom, apply lotion generously on damp skin for maximum absorption. Sleeping with moisturized feet housed in socks would also help!

3. Tired Skin
It shows, and I’ve seen so much people look tired! ( No offense, because I’m one of them! I accept that it’s a normal part of life to have bad moments, you know? ) This is the result of overworking, overthinking, and overblogging ( woops, no, no! haha! ). I mean, overexertion can take its toll on our skin, specially on our face. That’s the worst part because face value is just everything - I don’t mean it superficially like being extraordinarily beautiful, but the overall vibe of the face. You can beam with a smile and make a person forget all of his/her problems. With a tired face, you’d exude the aura of well, being tired. Makes you look older, and heck who wants to look old? Absolutely no one!

Solution: Again, water therapy is a must to replenish body liquids and keep the skin less stressed, and Stress tabs and vitamins would really help to combat the look of being stressed ( I truly believe in that commercial. I skipped one dose of my Cortitrol, a stress supplement, and I loathed on how I looked in front of the mirror. I thought, never again will I skip this thing! ). I know that sleep is very difficult to catch up during the busy holidays, but hey, once you get the time, doze off heavily!

To be continued!