Beauty Begins From Within: Supplements for a Beautiful Appearance

Whether you prefer a clean, classic appearance or an elaborate makeup look, being beautiful starts from the inside. Nourishing your skin, hair and nails from within is a surefire way to make the most of your natural beauty. Even if you don't wear a drop of foundation, lipstick or eyeliner, you can still maintain a fresh and glowing complexion. Fuel beauty with these must-have vitamins and nutrients.

Vitamin A is found in abundance in foods like eggs, milk, leafy green vegetables and yellow fruits. Rich in antioxidants, it battles free radicals in the body and protects against aging and wrinkles. Other benefits include increased circulation, which can significantly improve the appearance and youthfulness of your skin. The recommended dietary allowance for adult women is 4,000 IU every day.

Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is derived from foods like citrus fruit, cherries, berries, tomatoes and broccoli. Women who consume at least 40 mg per day enjoy beauty benefits like increased collagen production, which helps to maintain skin elasticity. Applying topical products with vitamin A promotes a smooth, silky skin tone and protects against UV rays and photodamage. Of course, this doesn't mean you can forgo the sunscreen.

Taken in supplement form or applied topically, vitamin E plays a major role in getting beautiful, healthy skin. Products with vitamin E oil are excellent for gradually and gently easing away scars and stretch marks. Creams, oils and serums with vitamin E are also ideal for areas with dry, rough skin; apply it to ankles, hands, elbows and knees for touchable softness. Add vitamin E to your daily diet by munching on seeds, almonds, peppers and greens, or take a daily supplement that includes the recommended dietary allowance of 15 mg for adult women. As a result, you will see skin that is more even in tone and less prone to unsightly scarring or formation of stretch marks.

If you find yourself battling acne, zinc can be your skin's best friend. Zinc plays a critical role in cell division, growth and repair--three things that contribute to a radiant, youthful complexion. It works with vitamin A to promote strong, shiny hair and also to prevent premature aging. Raw foods that are abundant in zinc include nuts, seeds, spinach and coconut. Topical zinc reduces sebum production and helps to zap zits before they form.

Consuming a healthy amount of omega-3 fatty acids works wonders for anyone who battles dry or itchy skin year-round. These nutrients are found in abundance in foods like fish, walnuts and flaxseed oil or can be taken in supplement form; adult women should aim for 1.1 grams of fatty acids per day. In addition to skin care benefits, fatty acids also strengthen thin, brittle fingernails.

Beautiful, youthful skin is the ideal starting point for any look from classic to outrageous. Even without a stitch of makeup, healthy skin goes a long way in improving your appearance. Whether you choose topical products or dietary supplements, the vitamins discussed in this article will bring you one step closer to glowing, healthy skin.

Managing the Costs of Beauty

One way to budget your money is to consider the beauty products you use. From scrubs to haircuts to makeup, there are ways to save money and enjoy your beauty treatments. Use the tips below to include beauty savings as part of your budget goals.

Start by considering your beauty expenses. Keep track of your beauty expenses for two months in order to get an idea of what you spend on beauty treatments. Even if your purchases are confined to soaps, cleansers and shampoos, beauty treatments are part of your spending budget.

When you go through your list of beauty expenses, notice which ones are impulse buys. Whether it's nail polish or a new facial scrub that caught your attention, beauty products can frequently be part of the impulse buys you make. Impulse buys include those things that you didn't go out to buy, but you ended up buying.

Consider why you make impulse purchases. Sometimes impulse buying is actually based on an awareness of budget, as when your favorite cleanser is on sale or when you have a coupon to get a certain amount off your bill at a particular retailer and you decide to stock up on something. Sometimes these impulse buys can save money, because they give you a chance to try a product you were interested in when it's offered on sale rather than at full price. If you make beauty purchases that qualify as impulse buys, consider what and how frequently you make such purchases to determine whether you want to reduce the number of impulse buys you make.

Determine whether you tend to try lots of different types of the same product. Some people buy a lot of different nail polish colors or facial creams or shampoos and end up having several versions of the same product around their house.  If you know that you like to buy different lotions, for instance, consider buying smaller containers or sample sizes. Although smaller sizes and sample sizes are frequently more expensive per unit than larger sizes of the same beauty supply, if you frequently like trying different versions of the same product, you can actually save money by purchasing smaller sizes.

Determine what your non-negotiable beauty items are. Whether you wear a particular perfume or cologne scent or you like the way a specific kind of shampoo works with your hair, you are less likely to change brands of beauty supply if you are attached to that brand. This narrows down your budgetary concerns with such items, because instead of considering cheaper shampoos, for instance, you know that you prefer one shampoo and can look for sales on that shampoo rather than purchasing cheaper shampoos that you are unlikely to use.

Consider requesting your favorite beauty supplies that are more expensive than typical beauty products as gifts. If you wear expensive makeup or expensive cologne, consider asking someone who gives you expensive gifts for the beauty item in lieu of another expensive item. For instance, if your perfume costs around $60 for a bottle and your husband plans to buy you flowers and chocolate for Valentine's Day, consider requesting the perfume instead.

If you wear a particular brand of makeup, consider the gift with purchase option. These periodic promotions usually provide additional makeup or trial sizes of new products after you spend a specific amount of money on another product. Make sure you examine what comes with your gift with purchase to make sure it is something you are interested in using or trying to maximize the benefits of purchasing a gift with purchase.

One way to save money on favorite beauty supplies is to shop for gift sets after holidays. Many times such gift sets are not available throughout the year and you will be able to purchase the gift set at a discount after a holiday. One word of caution about gift sets is to make sure you use the items in the gift set. For instance if you are buying a gift set that includes a deodorant that you know you won't use, it might not make sense to purchase the gift set, even if it's on sale.

Beauty products can add up to a significant part of your budget. Use the tips above to manage beauty expenses.