HANDS

   Beautiful well-attended hands with careful manicure is an mark of elegance and aristocracy. It is no accident that you can tell the woman's age by her hands.
   Hand skin has to endure not only influence of time and climate conditions but endless home and professional stresses. Contacts with water and detergents lead to the loss of fat and moisture. Sun, wind, frost, dry air contribute to the premature skin aging and to the appearance of pigments (including senile pigmentation).
   Corneous layer of hand skin completely rejuvenates during 30 days on the average. But in order to keep on the process of cells regeneration, skin must receive the necessary amount of fat and moisture. Their shortage leads to drying, desquamation and inflammation of hand skin. Hand care does not require a lot of time and force, but it should be regular, which is very important. The earlier you start to care after your hands the longer they will look young.
   Hand care products moisture skin, compensate the loss of fat, make skin soft, gentle and flexible. The most convenient and popular are creams which possess biologically active elements (plant extracts, vitamins, glycerin, oils) and fat components.
   The cream must be applied at least twice a day (morning and evening) and ideally - after every washing. In the evening it is recommended to place your hands into the bath with hot water and then apply cream onto them.
Hands peelings, masks and wrapping procedures can be used for a more serious care. Various peelings for body and face (exfoliating scrub) are good for this purpose. But no cream will make hand skin soft and smooth if you are not going to protect them with gloves: rubber gloves - for housework, warm gloves - for cold weather.
   Nails as well as hands need special cream. Creams and gels for nails and skin around nails are to be rubbed with soft massaging movements from the edge of nails to the joints. This is recommended to be done daily, no matter whether you colour your nails or not..
   The lacquer possesses not only esthetic but also protective properties, preventing nails from external harmful influences. However it is not easy to properly polish the nails. The "decoration" of your nails is a whole art.
   It should be started with cleansing procedure, the same as skin care demands. The lacquer is to be removed with soft means, that contains no acetone, preferably not more often than twice in a week. Please, note: neither lacquer, nor nail-polish remover liquid damage the nail, but the acetone present in its composition does. That is why, when buying a nail polish-remover, always pay attention to its composition.
   Warm bathes with various softening additives remove tension from hands. A special attention should be paid to cuticle. It used to be removed mechanically, but now there are milder ways, allowing to avoid wounds and, accordingly, infections.
   It is not recommended to cut off cuticle. Special gel, cream or oil are recommended to be used before baths to soften cuticle and then it is to be gently moved to the nail edge by an orange-tree stick. There is one more means for care of the skin around nail base - a special liquid for cuticle that prevents the grows of epithelial cells.
   For fragile and weak nails there are special creams (such as Universal Crem for Nails - D-XVIII of Russkaya Liniya), that strengthen the nail plate.

FEET

   Feet carry the burden of our whole body and, along with it, of our problems. But they receive little care, if they do at all.
   Fatigue, unpleasant smell and callus are the main worries that our feet cause to us. To avoid them, you have to follow the main rules:
- wash your feet daily and to dry them thoroughly;
- anoint soles before going to bed;
- powder skin between fingers, and soles with special powder or baby powders before going out;
- use foot deodorants that will freshen skin and kill the bacterium;
- if the perspiration of your feet is strong, apply antiperspirants that decrease sweating (apply preferably before going to bed);
- every week make pedicure, which consists of: bathes for feet; rough skin peeling, starting with cosmetics (scrubs, special creams, gels etc.) and then, application of the foot grater or holystone; nail care, massage and softening cream or balms application;
- make special bathes for feet. Depending on the additives, foot bathes may relieve feet from tiredness, reduce perspiration and remove unpleasant smells, lubricate skin;
- spend as little time as possible in the shoes that are tight and with high heels;
- chose your footwear properly (it should preferably have built-in arch-supporters in order to prevent flat-foot or sole deformation).

   Find time for your feet.
   Almost all day long feet are corked in footwear, which is often rough and uncomfortable. As a result, foot nails often become deformed and splitted.
   For the health and esthetical look of your nails, they need regular pedicure. You can turn pedicure into a pleasant weekly procedure, combining it with massage.
After having removed the old nail polisher and having cut your nails, gently move the cuticle over. Do it in the same manner and with the same means as for finger nails.

RECIPES FOR HAND AND FOOT CARE

Baths for fragile nails
Oil and apple vinegar in equal portions. Treatment: 10 minutes daily for 2-3 weeks. Then apply the Universal cream for nails - D XVIII of "Russkaya Liniya"

Hand Masks
Peeling-mask
Composition: grapes pulp and ground oats. Take them in such a proportion that they the acquired mass looks like a porridge, which neither flows nor pours.
Apply a thick coat of the mask onto the hands and massage it into the skin by circular motions for 5-10 min. Rinse the mask with cold water and soften the skin with Universal protective cream for hands D-XVII of "Russkaya Liniya".

Moisturising and skin bleaching mask
Composition: watermelon pulp, juice made of half a lemon and starch (for thickening) . Proportions- as for a thick porridge. Apply a thick coat of the mask onto the face and leave for 20-30 min, then rinse with warm water and soften your hands with Universal Protective Cream D-XVI of "Russkaya Liniya".

Balm for rough skin of hand and elbows
Composition: orange juice and S glass of vegetable oil. Apply a thin coat of the mixture on hands and elbows and massage for 5-10 min. If the skin is very dry and chapped, leave the balm for half an hour, and to strengthen the effect put on gloves (knitted fabric). Remove what remains with tissue-paper. Store the balm in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Mask for a very dry skin of hands
Mix a yolk of an egg with a tablespoon of flax oil, a tablespoon of honey and lemon juice. Wash your hands (preferably with water left from boiled potato) and apply a thick coat of the mixture on the skin, then put on linen gloves and leave for one-two hours. Then rinse your hands with warm water and apply Universal protective cream for hands D-XVI of "Russkaya Liniya".

Anti-crevices foot compress
Apply a thin coat of the cream Healing cream for feet D-XII (wash and dry your feet before the application). Wrap the feet around with cellophane, put on the socks and leave for some time. Then remove the compress and blot what remains with a tissue paper.

Cold and hot compresses for feet are very good to your health: they stimulate the circulation of blood, improving oxygen supply and accelerating the metabolic processes. Add a steamed porridge-like mixture of medicinal herbs to the bath.
In cases of crevices, chaps and inflammations of lanula of the nail, make compresses with calendula and currant's oil that helps to cure wounds due the quick formation of new tissues. Then apply Healing cream for feet D-XII of "Russkaya Liniya".

Cold compresses with curds are used in cases of varicose dilation of veins and inflammations of surface veins. They cool, sooth and relieve skin from inflammation. It is recommended to wrap skin with cabbage leaves in cases of the out and varicose dilation of veins. Also use Anti-varicose cream-gel for feet and legs A-XX twice a day in the morning and in the evening.

Baths with ice cubes
They take off the edemas of calves and feet. If you've noticed that you are predisposed to edemas, you have to spend daily at least some time with your legs up.
After the baths apply the cream that suits your skin types.(Antiseptic gel for feet with antiseptic effect C-XV, Anti-varicose cream for feet and legs A-XX, Healing cream for feet D-XIII)

"Russkaya Liniya" cosmetologists' secrets
Test: "Do you know what your skin type is?"