BEST SELLING AUTHOR
GREGORY LANDSMAN PhD
GLOBAL BEAUTY & WELLNESS EXPERT
FOX: FACE FITNESS FOR MEN & WOMEN TO SUPPORT SKIN HEALTH & ADDRESS DRY AGING SKIN
David Smiedt
Yes you read that right.
​
It’s very rare – Kim K writing haikus rare – that we see a new grooming product in GQ land that we’ve never encountered before.
From undereye bags to rough elbows, canny marketers have come up with formulations designed to revitalise that specific zone with targeted ingredients.
It was therefore that the GL Skinfit Formula One Manhood Vitamin raised a few eyebrows around the office.
You see, the OMV, touts itself as “100 per cent natural penis healthcare” and the pack consists of 30 capsules that are not to be taken orally but applied topically.
Here’s what’s promised on the pack: “Active, vital, healthy penis skin. Relieve symptoms of dry, itchy or irritated penile skin. Revive the look and feel of penile skin and even skin tone. Stimulate circulation and penile sensitivity”.
Like you, we have questions. Many, many questions. For a start, of all the regions of the male body, the nethers don’t tend to miss out on the application of unguents, creams and the like. I for one at 50 have the scrotum of a 20-year-old. I was moisturising down there way before these formulations came anywhere near my face. You know what I’m saying. It’s no stretch.
Still though, I was gripped with a fear never before encountered. Up until now, I’d never wondered whether my cock complexion was up to scratch. It did what it was designed to, was hard-wearing and reliable. What more could you want? The answer to that question is apparently skin that is “vital” and “healthy” but definitely not experiencing reduced elasticity.
According to noted beauty expert Gregory Landsman – who is quoted on the packaging - the time had come to “fuel your manhood with 11 skin-strengthening vitamins and minerals to keep it stronger for longer!” The exclamation is his.
Who could possibly resist such an offer? Carefully following the packet instructions to “pierce the top of the ampoule and slowly squeeze the oil-based formula onto entire penis and scrotums” – yes scrotums – I prepared for a genital transformation that would make Caitlyn Jenner proud.
You may be able to tell from the tone of this piece, that the GQ test body was somewhat cynical about this product. HOW. WRONG. WE. WERE. This was nothing short of a one-eyed face lift. It was like he’d just spent two weeks in a spa in Cabo.
There was a definite improvement in texture and a certain joie de vivre that I didn’t know was lacking until now. My (poor) partner even used the word “silky” when pressed reluctantly into a before and after test. One capsule down, just 29 to go.
For more information, go to getskinfit.com (GL SKINFIT INSTITUTE®)
Want flawless skin and fabulous hair?
The answer may lie in your pantry.
Nicola Conville
​
Forget spending thousands of dollars on expensive creams and treatments. Some of the most powerful anti-ageing ingredients cost next to nothing, and they're right in your kitchen cupboard.
​
Gregory Landsman is a beauty expert who has been championing the cause of DIY beauty for years. In his new book, Face Value, he shares some of his top secrets and recipes for achieving beautiful, healthy skin the natural way.
​
In fact, his recipes are so effective that top modelling agency Cameron's Models has issued all its models with copies of the book.
​
"The simple do-it-yourself treatments in Face Value target our greatest skin concerns, such as reducing fine lines and wrinkles, improving firmness and elasticity and protecting skin from damaging free radicals," Landsman says.
Feed your skin
So what are some of the best products to use and why do they work so well?
​
"Grapes, milk, pineapples and sugar are some of the most powerful ingredients for skincare because they have high concentrations of nutrients," Landsman explains.
​
"Anything you put on the skin is absorbed effectively, so you're basically feeding your skin from the outside in."
Interestingly, many of these ingredients or their by-products are often found in expensive anti-ageing creams and treatments.
​
For example, glycolic acid peels cost hundreds of dollars if you go to a salon or clinic, but one of the purest forms of glycolic acid is caster sugar, says Landsman, which can be found at any supermarket for less than $3 a bag.
"You can do an at-home treatment by applying caster sugar to damp skin, leaving it on for 15 minutes to remove dead skin cells, then rinsing it off," he says.
​
The results are instantaneous, Landsman says, and you'll see an improvement in texture and tone within weeks.​
Budget busters​
Of course, DIY beauty is a great way to slash your budget, but Landsman is quick to point out that using natural ingredients is not a compromise, it's an alternative.
​
"It's about giving women the power to address their own skin issues," he explains. "After all, no-one knows your skin as well as you do.
​
"When you buy a cream for $900, you're actually paying for marketing, packaging and advertising, so people believe it's worth $900. If a woman feels good about what she's using, then it's worth it," Landsman says. However, he adds that a lot of women have been suckered into thinking that if you don't have to take out an overdraft to pay for a cream, it's not going to work.
​
"But the key thing I really love about DIY beauty is that it doesn't contain sodium laurel sulfate, artificial fragrances, detergents, petrochemicals, mineral oils or parabens. It's pure goodness going directly into your skin," he says.​
Greg's top recipes
Secret avocado skin moisturising and exfoliation treatment
Wash an avocado and remove the skin. Rub the inside of the avocado skin over the face. When finished, use the outside of the skin to gently rub the face in circular motions.
Why it works: The secret in this treatment is the avocado skin that stimulates and exfoliates, while moisturising and nurturing the skin with 25 essential nutrients. High levels of vitamins E and C reduce fine lines and enhance skin tone.
​
Lemon-cucumber whitener
Juice two lemons and one cucumber and mix together. Apply to areas where there is dark pigment and leave for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with lukewarm water.
Why it works: The secret is a strong antioxidant formula featuring vitamins A and C for the growth and repair of skin. It helps even out pigmentation and treat fine lines.
​
Seedless grape treatment
Cut green seedless grapes in half and rub gently onto the face wherever there are lines. Rinse off after 30 minutes.
Why it works: The secret is powerful glycolic acid for skin exfoliation, oil reduction and collagen building​
Your DIY beauty shopping list:
-
Apple cider vinegar
-
Avocados
-
Baking soda
-
Bananas
-
Citrus fruit
-
Cucumber
-
Grapes
-
Honey
-
Olive oil
-
Papaya
-
Pineapples
-
Sugar
-
Tea
Gregory Landsman is a global beauty expert and best selling author of eight books on inner and outer beauty. Landsman is an advocate of natural beauty, who shows us that we can all look younger and keep our skin healthy at every age. His television program Face Lifting Food is shown globally and used in Universities in the USA to educate on how to cook foods that keep skin looking younger; and his exclusive invitation-only Treatment Room concept that provides natural non-invasive ‘face lifts’ to European society is expanding beyond its Geneva base to Australia later this year, and the USA in 2020. The following article is based on excerpts from his best selling books Face Fitness and Face Food.
STRESS + SUN + EVERYDAY TOXINS + POLLUTION ALL AGE THE SKIN!
We live in a world where stress has become the ‘norm’ and our everyday lives expose us to toxins of many kinds. Daily stress as well as exposure to UV rays; eating food that isn’t 100% homemade; pollution; and lack of sleep all play havoc with our faces, profoundly affecting the way our skin and bodies visibly age.
HOW WE AGE IS 100% CONTROLLABLE ON A DAILY BASIS!
With the right approach we can retain and maintain healthy glowing skin, counteract deep wrinkles and maintain skin firmness and health at any age. In other words, ‘GET SKINFIT’! In my 30 years of dealing with faces and skin in the beauty industry I have had the opportunity to work with some of the fashion and beauty industry’s largest names. But even in the world of high fashion, no amount of make up, lighting or air-brushing can hide a face full of stress. In this day and age we carry stress in our bodies and visibly on our faces. In fact our faces say it all; how much sleep we have had; how much alcohol we have consumed, how many glasses of water we haven’t or how we are feeling.
THE WRINKLE CAUSING HORMONE THAT
CREATES CHAOS WITH SKIN
The wrinkle causing hormone called ‘cortisol’ is one of three hormones released by the adrenal glands into the blood stream when we are under any form of stress. This wouldn’t be a problem if this only occurred every now and then, but research shows that most of us are now living with what is known as ‘chronic stress’, or stress that doesn’t allow the ‘stress’ hormones that support us to recede back to normal. When the adrenal glands release cortisol, the sugar levels in the blood naturally increase, promoting ‘glycation’ in our skin and damaging our collagen. Cortisol also decreases our skin’s natural production of hyaluronic acid, which acts as a natural moisturiser for our skin. On top of this, it compromises the skin’s barrier, which allows even more hydration to be lost; and when skin is dehydrated, the enzymes in our skin that work to repair the damage don’t work as well.
​
DE-STRESS & AGE LESS! GET SKINFIT!™
There is no escaping our daily exposure to stress and toxins, yet despite this, looking younger is actually much easier than we have been led to believe. Through my work, collaboration with world class scientists and research with thousands of women and men over 30 years, I have concluded that there are two essential things that can be done on a daily basis to destress and support the skin to maintain its strength, vitality and youthful glow:
1. Remove the impacts of stress from the skin on a very regular basis: This involves regularly giving yourself a ‘natural lift’ by strengthening the facial muscles that keep the skin firm and youthful looking.
Unlike the rest of the body where muscles are attached to bones, facial muscles are attached directly to the skin. This means that as the muscles weaken, skin sags and the face drops. Face Fitness techniques strengthen the muscles, supporting the skin to be tight and toned, while reducing and softening wrinkles. This is a truly healthy preventative against skin aging.
2. Deeply hydrate the skin & feed it the right skin building vitamins and minerals: We can do this by topically applying pure vitamin and mineral recipes and formulas to the skin, as well as eating the right skin renewing foods.
Many of the natural foods we eat hold age-defying vitamins and minerals that are essential to skin radiance, while supporting, hydrating and maintaining the health of the skin. They are also the key to building collagen - the protein in connective tissue that keeps the skin elastic. However, despite advertising claims, collagen cannot be absorbed from a beauty cream as the molecules are too large to penetrate the skin’s cells. This means the most effective solution is to topically apply or eat foods full of skin regenerating vitamins and minerals that naturally renew, stimulate and protect collagen. For example Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that protects and stabilises collagen, (found in citrus fruits etc.); Vitamin E regenerates and smooths skin, (found in olive oil, barley & almonds etc.); Vitamin A builds collagen fibers, (found in eggs, carrots and spinach etc.); and Copper firms the skin and enhances its elasticity, (found in shitake mushrooms, sunflower seeds and lobster etc.).
This is the science that underpins the face lifting product formulas I developed for models to keep their skin fresh and healthy, and also the DIY methods in my books, that target our greatest skin concerns such as reducing fine lines and wrinkles, improving firmness and elasticity and protecting our skin from free radicals that cause premature ageing. There is no doubt that nature provides us with some of the most powerful anti-ageing ingredients when we know where to look! However, in a world where a great deal of stress comes directly from the emphasis placed on how we look, an important truth to remember is that the real essence of our beauty has very little to do with our physical appearance and everything to do with how we choose to share the spirit of our humanity in all that we do.
My personal philosophy of B.E.A.U.T.Y. is...
​
B alance in our life unfolds from the inside out.
E nthusiasm lies within the way we think and feel about ourselves.
A cceptance is the path to making peace with ourselves and others.
U nderstanding ourselves gives us clarity and wisdom to know what we want, and importantly, what we don’t.
T rust attunes our heart and mind so we can nurture spontaneity and adventure in our lives, and see that...
Y ou have what it takes to create the life and love you know you deserve and to never settle for anything less.
So while our skin is the largest organ on the body and we need to look after it, we can remain true to our beauty by never forgetting that we are only as old as our self belief, as wise as our words, and as beautiful as the love we hold in our hearts.
