Welcome to the seventh edition of the Beauty Smarts Blog Carnival! In preparation for back to school (yes, I said back to school) let’s take a look at some beauty routines you can perfect throughout the month of August so that you are always looking your best no matter what. These fabulous bloggers have broken down everything from home remedies to tips and tricks in order to help readers figure out what works best for them. So break out those eye pencils and beauty books — but make sure not to give yourself a dirty look!

Who knew olive oil could be so versatile? Aparna says, “Besides lemon, milk, sugar, aloe, turmeric, sandalwood and honey, olive oil is another household item that has multifarious uses as a beauty aid.” See what they are in 11 things you can do with olive oil posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming.

“Nature is the newest trend in skin and hair care,” says GreatManagement. “For years, we’ve been putting toxic chemicals into our bodies that build up and make us feel tired and sick, regardless of whether we eat them or if they seep though our pores. And people are finally catching on that natural is better.” Check out more in Natural homemade beauty recipes posted at Free Organic News.

Amir Marzouq presents some eco-friendly tools for your makeup bag. Check out Voice your Vote: Natural Beauty Products | Guffly posted at Guffly for the latest.

Don’t want to spend a fortune on facials or masks? No problem! VANYA presents 4 Easy Homemade Facial Recipes | VANYA posted at Facial masks for facial skin |VANYA: “Here are four simple, yet effective and great homemade facial mask recipes you can use in the comfort of your own home.” Banana and avocado anyone?

Do you have sensitive skin? How can you tell if this is something aggravating you daily? Spa Boutique presents Sensitive Skin: What Are Your Options? posted at Spa Girl Beauty Tips and gives us an inside look at what signs to expect for sensitivity to different beauty products.

Lately, I feel like my skin has been breaking out all over the place! But what is actually going on? Maybe I can find out what my actual problem is in eternal voyageur’s Is it a breakout or is your skin purging impurities ? | eternalvoyageur’s Xanga Site – Weblog posted at Venusian*Glow.

Do you wear makeup every single day or can you go out in public without it? What is it that makes some people feel they can’t live without makeup. Check out To Makeup or Not To Makeup, posted at our very own A Minute With SpaBeautySchools.

You can always trust your mother, right? Many of us follow the routines that have worked for our parents, but maybe we should be following a different kind of beauty regimen, due to product ingredients or just different skin types. Robin Adler presents A Misguided Trust posted at Organic beauty for hair, skin, nails.

Women aren’t the only ones who take beauty and grooming seriously. Gin G. presents Beholding Beauty posted at Sense Scribe, giving us a lesson in beauty and grooming for men.

What are you afraid of when it comes to beauty products? Find out about The Most Feared Beauty Tool and see what some Twitterers think of it. A of Makeup Lovers Anonymous breaks it all down for you.

If you’re an aspiring hair stylist, you’ll certainly want to learn from the pros. Take notes from an expert hairdresser at Lauren Conrad’s Hair Colorist Kaz Amor Shares LC’s Color Tips presented by HairBoutique.

It’s easy to forget that your teeth are actually part of the world of beauty. Wayne Hairston presents Best Teeth Whiteners – What You Should Look For in Tooth Whiteners posted at The Best Teeth Whitening System because we all should be able to flash our smile proudly!

And that’ll do it for our seventh edition of the Beauty Smarts Blog Carnival!! Thank you so much for your continued participation and remember to prepare and look your best for the back to school season (or even your Labor Day bashes!) — it’s creeping up faster than you think.

-Amanda Fornecker

• Are you a blogger? We invite you to contribute to the next Beauty Smarts carnival: Submit here.
• Readers: Let us know your favorite post here, and what you’d like to read more about in the future. Comment below!

I’m certainly not made of money so getting a facial (although I love them and my esthetician) can sometimes be hard to do on a regular basis. In between, however, I can be sure to take care of my face in just the right way to help the maintenance of what the facial has already improved. I can definitely vouch for Bliss products, as I use them quite often and have seen a definite difference in the quality of my skin.

While I doubt I’ll ever get over the oily characteristic of my complexion completely, I do think these products have helped me zap zits, get rid of any dry patches (I know, who would even think I have those?!), and keep my face clear and clean in general. My fave products include the Steep Clean Deep Pore Cleanser and the Steep Clean Pore Purifying Mask.

I’m pretty certain that most Bliss products work well – I have no complaints as of yet. See below for some tips and recommendations by the Bliss Spa professionals!

-Amanda Fornecker

Summer weather—being high on heat, humidity, and UV rays—puts skin at risk for clogging, breakouts, and pigmentation. A regular routine of removal (getting rid of keratinized dead cell layers and pore-clogging lipids) and UV-defense (to keep the melanocytes from over-reacting and overproducing pigment) are key to keeping clear skin.

Bliss Spa clients keep their complexions under control by exfoliating twice as often, using a cleanser that promotes emulsification, and diligently applying sunscreen to prevent UV radiation.

Keep summertime sebaceous levels on the lower side of the ‘dermo-meter’ with:

bliss steep clean pore purifying mask which exfoliates dead skin cells, brightens skin’s surface, refines pores, and just might put our facial tables out of business.  The next best thing to ‘being there’ this 15-minute facial in a tube will transform t-zones into a scene of extreme clean.

laboratoire remède matte therapy cleansing gelée a water-activated gel-to-cream cleanser that ditches the day’s debris while taking a swipe at sebum, for skin that’s beautifully balanced and remarkably matte.

bliss best of skintentions our mission-driven moisturizer that protects skin with SPF 15 for UVB (burning) protection plus a UVA (aging) rating PA++.

-Bliss Spa

Back with my facial experience and — it was fabulous! I had a relaxing encounter and really learned a lot. She picked at my face a bit (I know, sounds gross and painful but it’s worth it – promise!), put a few different masks and gels on my face, gave me a scalp, neck, and upper back massage, and even tweezed my eyebrows for me! It was quite lovely and lasted about 90 minutes. I was very relaxed and happy. Although, it probably wasn’t the most budget-friendly activity I’ve done recently, but I think it was totally worth it. Every now and then a girl needs to splurge, right?

In any case, I’ll be passing my new found knowledge on to you:

Water
This is the essence of all things; the basis of life. I decided to drink four bottles of water yesterday at work. I kept filling up. I guess I just was preparing for the facial in some way. But I must get into more of a habit with this, especially since my esthetician reiterated the importance of drinking water religiously. Take this example I recently read: a grape that doesn’t have enough moisture (aka water) will shrivel up and turn into a raisin. If you don’t drink enough water, think of what will happen to your face in later years…

Cleansing
On a cold morning, it’s easy to hop in the hot shower and wash your face with some scalding goodness. But it’s no good for your face! Anytime you wash your face (I’m supposed to do it day and night) you should use cool or lukewarm water, otherwise you risk breaking blood vessels in your face (ick!). And although it may not be visible, you could be doing damage without even knowing it.

Toning
I stopped using toner a long time ago because I didn’t think it was doing anything for me. In fact I thought it was making me break out. I think where I went wrong was the choice of toner I made. I believe that the one I had picked way back when (I can’t even remember which) was high in alcohol. This can clog your pores. Toner apparently helps your face not overproduce oil. With the continued use of toner, I will be able to use less moisturizer because my face won’t need as much just after I’ve cleansed.

Sustenance
Apparently, you are what you eat. My esthetician told me that if you eat an excess of chocolate or drink a lot of caffeine, it can affect your face negatively. I had always thought this was a myth but it’s true! And guess who drinks coffee every single day? Of course I do. So what’s the solution? Wean myself off the stuff and get headaches a lot? Or keep up with the addiction. I probably should kick the habit, knowing it’s affecting my skin. We shall see…

Troubleshooting
You’d think because I’m so beauty-obsessed I’d have a product on-hand to zap those zits. But I don’t. The best kind to get, according to my oh-so-marvelous esthetician, is one that has tea tree oil in it. When you get a zit (or even when you feel one coming on), just apply your zit-zapping product with a Q-tip and your healing time will certainly speed up!

In a nutshell: drink more water, use lukewarm or cool splashes of water, use toner, cut out the caffeine, and get some tea tree oil! And, of course, get a facial if you can!!

-Amanda Fornecker

I’m going for my first facial today. You’d think that being as beauty-obsessed as I am, I would have had this experience before. But no, I have always been scared to do this because my skin is on the sensitive side.

So what changed my mind, you ask? Well, I decided it would be beneficial to really have a professional look at my face and decide what needed to be done. I get acne still every so often and it’s so frustrating! I’m not a teenager anymore and I’m praying that I don’t have adult acne – it’s just so inconvenient!

I have scheduled a 90-minute session with an esthetician a friend recommended. This was the standard for first-timers. In fact speaking to this friend got me really into wanting to go through with this. I hear this girl is really good and will really do what I need. Hopefully she can clean me up and help me feel refreshed! And in the future I can get some further fixes for redness in my face and leftover acne scars.

I don’t really know what to expect. I’ve heard girls come out and say they had a great experience and others – not so much. Will my face reject this treatment? Will I be red or blotchy? Will my skin be flaky tomorrow, despite my very oily skin type? Will she make extractions, but leave holes in my face? I really hope not. These are all the negative things I’m hoping won’t happen, especially since I have an event to go to on Friday!

I will certainly keep you posted and let you know if the experience is worth it or not! I hope it is!

-Amanda Fornecker