Give Yourself a Hand with Mineral Air Four-in-One Foundation
From nail art to laser resurfacing, hands are very much a part of today’s beauty picture.
Anecdotally, people usually only start paying attention to the skin quality on their hands about 10 to 15 years after they begin attending to the skin quality of their faces. To be sure, manicures have always been popular and softening hand creams a must-have everywhere from the night stand to the office desk drawer. But we’ve let our hands down in other ways.
Today, there are plenty of things you can do – preventive and treatment – to bring out the best in your hands, today and into the future.
Hands over the years
With all the attention given to anti-aging, too often the skin on aging hands has been an afterthought. We’ve all seen instances where the face looks youthful but the hands most definitely do not. The reasons behind such disconnects are a perfect storm between physiology and neglect.
Signs of aging are notoriously difficult to mitigate on the hands for a number of reasons. First, the skin on the hands is thinner than on the face with significantly less fat underneath. It’s largely fat that gives hands their pleasing smoothness and contour. (Take a look at a baby’s pudgy hands for proof of this.) As we age, the fat wears away leaving prominent veins, skin slackness and sagging.
Next, in addition to skin thinning over time, there is sun damage. Most people don’t apply sunscreen to the backs of their hands so pigment irregularities manifest in time. The result are age spots and stubborn blotches that don’t want to budge.
Daily life
Just as with skin on the face, how you treat the skin on your hands will show up later, for good or for ill. This includes no-brainers like wearing rubber gloves for household tasks to prevent irritation, to wearing cute, less-trouble-than-they-sound cute driving gloves (with closed backs, of course) in the car to protect against age spot formation from sun exposure through the windshield.
Daily (or twice daily in a perfect world) sunscreen on the backs of your hands will pay youthful-looking benefits in years to come. The hands can take on a heavier SPF cream or lotion than the face does. And even if you don’t invest in specific hand reviving creams – and today there are plenty of good ones – you can apply whatever you’re using on your face at night to your hands too.
There are also at-home peels you can administer yourself that may offer some improvement.
Doctor options
Those who want to make drastic changes to eliminate signs of hand aging will need to head to a dermatologist, plastic surgeon or vascular surgeon for the heavy lifting. None of these treatments are inexpensive, however. These can include injections to eliminate prominent veins which are perfectly safe and in no way impede manual dexterity or finger function. Heavier chemical peels or a laser/intense pulsed light treatments can lift off age spots and pigment irregularity. Because melanin-infused brown pigment is so stubborn as it inhabits many layers of skin tissue, it will probably take a series of treatments erase it all.
Finally, filler injections or autologous fat transfers can restore lost volume. But take heed, even if you invest in these procedures, you’ll still need to adhere to a skincare and sunscreen regimen to keep your hands in good shape.
Mineral Air in the picture
In addition to regular manicures (professional or DIY, doesn’t matter), moisturizing and treatment creams and sunscreen, the one thing you can do this instant for the beauty of your hands is right in front of you. That is your trusty Mineral Air AirMist Device and Four-in-One Foundation. Yes! It works as brilliantly on your hands as it does on your face and décolletage!
Apply sunscreen first and let it set for about 5 minutes. Then, after you’ve done your face, give your hands a mist as well. If there are certain areas you need to cover more, give the first coat a minute or so to dry and then hit the trouble areas again with the AirMist. What you’ll get are smooth, luminous, even looking hands that look totally natural and that will stay that way for hours. Best of all, they’ll make perfect partners in beauty with your pretty face.
What’s the difference?
Mineral Air offers two device-plus-formula categories, one for makeup, the other for skincare.
Mineral Air original (MA) includes its AirMist Device, an easy to use, everyday consumer tool that rivals professional airbrushing in its cosmetic application of our eponymous foundation, blush, or bronzer. Mineral Air Skin (MAS) features the Renewal Serum System with its ElixerMist Device for lightweight vaporized delivery.
“In addition to regular manicures (professional or DIY, doesn’t matter), moisturizing and treatment creams and sunscreen, the one thing you can do this instant for the beauty of your hands is right in front of you.”