Beauty or Bullsh*t? A Stainless Steel Exfoliating Blade

The Product: The Exfolimate, $30 from drugstore.com, looks like a weapon. But it's not! It's an exfoliating tool. 

The Promise: These little blade-like devices are actually supposed to help you exfoliate dead skin cells on your face and body, leaving you with smoother skin. Apparently the stainless steel metal plates — don't worry, they're not sharp enough to cut you — have micro-grooves along one side that are ridged enough to lift and remove unwanted dead skin cells that can cause scaly skin and free ingrown hairs that can clog your pores.

The Method: I took them for a test run mid-shower, since that's what the instructions on the packaging said to do — I essentially was "shaving" my face and body; however, I wasn't actually removing any hair, since these tools obviously these aren't razors (the motion is similar to shaving your legs). I used the rougher side to lightly slough off dry, flaky skin, while applying slight pressure at a 90-degree angle. Overall, I was fine when I ran the Exfolimate over my arms, torso, and chest, and legs, but I definitely felt like I had to be more careful when I switched it up and used the face blade to do my neck, cheeks, forehead, etc.

The Verdict: When I was done showering and had towel-dried off, my skin felt like a freaking baby's ass — so soft! 

I was honestly so impressed and surprised by this excellent little exfoliator, especially because it didn't require me to scrub away at my skin to get velvety-soft results. I immediately thought this would be the perfect pre-spray tan tool, as the packaging recommends. I'm kind of obsessed.

The Exfolimate totally isn't bullshit, it's defintely a beautiful thing!

Looks like my go-to facial and body scrub just got replaced.

Photo Credit: Exfolimate.com

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Are You Exfoliating Too Much?

moving cross country, finding a great partner... or lobbing off all your hair a la Karlie Kloss). But don't fret: It's not an impossible task. It just takes some thought—and great advice.

"A lot of times people don't like what they're doing in their current job, but they haven't defined what they want to be doing in their potential new job," Nicole Williams, career expert and author of Girl On Top, tells Cosmopolitan.com.

She says nabbing your dream job starts with doing some soul-searching: "I ask people to assess components of their current working life, and match them against the career they are looking to get into."

Try asking yourself these questions...

Time: How many hours do you want to work and in what kind of environment? Big company, small, telecommute, work-from-home flexibility (you know, the kind banned at Yahoo!)

Challenge Level: How important is growth potential and being challenged to you? Are you ambitious and ready to lean in, or just looking for a 9 to 5 to fill your time?

Work Environment: Define your best possible scenario in terms of work relationships. Who are you working with and for? What kind of boss would be ideal? Do you have dreams of becoming a boss?

Passion: How important is passion to you? For example, a woman we know races triathlons and feels like she doesn't need to be passionate about her job; her passion is attached to her sport.

6. Money: How much do you need to make? How much money do you want to make?

Steps To Making A Career Change

Stop Delaying

"The longer you are in the job you are thinking of leaving, the further away you are from new opportunity," says Williams. "It doesn't get any easier. Doing it earlier is emotionally, mentally and professionally better."

Be Willing To Sacrifice Something

You may have to start from the bottom (or the middle) and work your way to the top; Either way, be ready to drop a few rungs on the corporate ladder.

"Internships can be a good idea—or be willing to take a pay cut," says Williams. "If this internship, for example, introduces you to influential people and helps develop a skill-set, you'll be able to take these things to leverage them into a bigger position."

Start Saving

"Have a solid idea of the risk and savings in the bank," advises Williams. Even if it means cutting back on luxuries. "If you know the internship is going to last for six months at a minimum, that's the number you need to have in savings, and I normally advise 10 to 20 percent in savings as a risk buffer."

Network

"People love to talk about themselves," says Williams. "Find them on LinkedIn and through people you know, and consult with them."

Williams suggests asking those in similar fields questions like, "I wonder if you'd speak to me about your day-to-day life; What do you love most about the work that you do; What do you wish you would have known going into this career?"

"Those kind of questions are going to give you the information you need and will help you know the people you are going to need to know," she adds.

Now that you are armed with more than just your resume and a fresh manicure, it's time to start hitting the pavement. Happy hunting, gals.

Want more stories from Carson? Follow her on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Getty Images">

moving cross country, finding a great partner... or lobbing off all your hair a la Karlie Kloss). But don't fret: It's not an impossible task. It just takes some thought—and great advice.

"A lot of times people don't like what they're doing in their current job, but they haven't defined what they want to be doing in their potential new job," Nicole Williams, career expert and author of Girl On Top, tells Cosmopolitan.com.

She says nabbing your dream job starts with doing some soul-searching: "I ask people to assess components of their current working life, and match them against the career they are looking to get into."

Try asking yourself these questions...

Time: How many hours do you want to work and in what kind of environment? Big company, small, telecommute, work-from-home flexibility (you know, the kind banned at Yahoo!)

Challenge Level: How important is growth potential and being challenged to you? Are you ambitious and ready to lean in, or just looking for a 9 to 5 to fill your time?

Work Environment: Define your best possible scenario in terms of work relationships. Who are you working with and for? What kind of boss would be ideal? Do you have dreams of becoming a boss?

Passion: How important is passion to you? For example, a woman we know races triathlons and feels like she doesn't need to be passionate about her job; her passion is attached to her sport.

6. Money: How much do you need to make? How much money do you want to make?

Steps To Making A Career Change

Stop Delaying

"The longer you are in the job you are thinking of leaving, the further away you are from new opportunity," says Williams. "It doesn't get any easier. Doing it earlier is emotionally, mentally and professionally better."

Be Willing To Sacrifice Something

You may have to start from the bottom (or the middle) and work your way to the top; Either way, be ready to drop a few rungs on the corporate ladder.

"Internships can be a good idea—or be willing to take a pay cut," says Williams. "If this internship, for example, introduces you to influential people and helps develop a skill-set, you'll be able to take these things to leverage them into a bigger position."

Start Saving

"Have a solid idea of the risk and savings in the bank," advises Williams. Even if it means cutting back on luxuries. "If you know the internship is going to last for six months at a minimum, that's the number you need to have in savings, and I normally advise 10 to 20 percent in savings as a risk buffer."

Network

"People love to talk about themselves," says Williams. "Find them on LinkedIn and through people you know, and consult with them."

Williams suggests asking those in similar fields questions like, "I wonder if you'd speak to me about your day-to-day life; What do you love most about the work that you do; What do you wish you would have known going into this career?"

"Those kind of questions are going to give you the information you need and will help you know the people you are going to need to know," she adds.

Now that you are armed with more than just your resume and a fresh manicure, it's time to start hitting the pavement. Happy hunting, gals.

Want more stories from Carson? Follow her on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Getty Images">Whether you're a doctor who dreams of doing hair, or a hairdresser dreaming of climbing the corporate ladder, career expert Nicole Williams has pro tips on how to get started.

From Cosmopolitan.com. Visit Handbags reviews and advice for best reference here

Are You Exfoliating Too Much?

A few days ago I attended a Dove event where comedian Samantha Bee spoke about all things beauty—one of them being exfoliants. She said, "The other day, I'm pretty sure I exfoliated a patch of skin from the future," and then hilariously went on about how deep exfoliation has reached a new level.

And she's right. So, to her point, there are a few things we'd like to say about exfoliating your face: 1. Your skin is not a 2x4 board that needs sanding—be gentle, people, gentle! 2. Exfoliating, while it can do your skin a lot of good, can also do worse things in the long run if it's not done properly (i.e. broken blood vessels).

To be sure we're all on the same exfoliating page, we asked Dennis Gross, M.D., a cosmetic dermatologist in NYC, a few Q's about when and how to slough your skin—and the warning signs of over-exfoliation. 

"The [tell-tale] signals that you're using your exfoliator too much include: excessive dryness, irritation, redness, and sensitivity. If you see any of these signs occuring on your complextion, it's important to stop using the product immediately."

"As far as manual exfoliants go, such as scrubs with tiny granules, sloughing sponges, or hand-held devices, I find that many people overuse them and/or scrub too vigorously," says Gross. "Cleaning your skin daily with a washcloth, and applying very light pressure using circular motions, [is usualy] all you need to gently remove most dead-skin cells."

"You can also use a scrub [three to four times a week] that contains perfectly round and smooth polyethylene beads [like Bioré Pore Unclogging Scrub, $7, drugstore.com], which are gentler than seeds, nuts, husks, or pits commonly used in exfoliating products," he says. "My preference is for daily, gentle chemical exfoliation [aka heavier-hitting ingredients] over physical [aka manual] exfoliation, which is one of the reasons I developed the Alpha Beta Peels [$78, sephora.com]."

On the other hand, if you're a die-hard hand-held device fan that can't be talked into using a scrub or washcloth, we recommend using the power tool once or twice a week only to avoid over-exfoliation.

If you're already a victim of excessive sloughing, and you're left red and raw, don't worry—there's still hope for your skin.

"To calm your complexion once it's red, use products that contain green-tea extract," says Gross. "The powerful ingredient soothes the skin and studies show it can even help prevent skin cancer. Bisabolol is another effective anti-inflammatory ingredient derived from chamomile, which will relieve red patches and reduce inflammation. And licorice root extract and cucumber extract also work to soothe and calm the skin, alleviating redness."

Are you an over-exfoliation offender? 

Photo: thinkstockphoto

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From Cosmopolitan.com. Visit Handbags reviews and advice for best reference here