Sleeping with your makeup does more than leave you with dark rings around your eyes from eye makeup smudges. It’s not good for your skin.

While you sleep, makeup is ground into your pores, which clogs them and can lead to uneven, bumpy skin from blemishes and pimples. Makeup can get into your eyes, causing irritation. Delicate eyelashes are at risk as they are stiff and caked with mascara. Sleeping on them in this state can cause them to break or fall out.

Cleansing your skin before bed doesn’t just remove makeup, but also all the dirt and grime that collects on your skin during the day. Removing these impurities and your makeup allows your skin to “breathe” for a few hours while you sleep.

The few minutes of extra sleep you may get when you crawl into bed without adhering to a nightly cleansing routine won’t be enough to compensate for the dull, lifeless and blemished skin that can result.

This year, make a list of New Year’s Resolutions that you not only CAN keep but will enjoy keeping. Treat yourself to beauty, relaxation and luxury.

1. Resolve to exfoliate weekly at least. Get yourself a lush and aromatic scrub that clears pores, lifts dead skin cells and polishes skin and glow, glow, glow in 2007.

2. Resolve to fight lines and wrinkles before they start by moisturizing daily.

3. Resolve to treat yourself to a deliciously long soak in a warm bath once a week. Whether you use bath salts, a bath bomb or a foaming bath oil, make it a total experience. Play mood-setting music, burn scented candles, make it your time to unwind from the hectic pace of everyday life.

4. Get a makeover. Its a great way to try out a new look and discover new colors that you never knew would look great on you.

5. Update your hairstyle. If you’re bold enough, try a new cut or style. Look through magazines and on the net to see what cuts might suit your face and lifestyle. If you’re timid or like your hair the length it is, add some accessories to dress it up. Hairsticks, decorative hair pins and jeweled ponytail holders are a few of the ways to give hair some pizazz.

6. Get a professional manicure even if you usually do your own nails. It’s a great help to have them professionally shaped or try some nail tips. Go bold with a little nail art. You won’t believe the mood lift you get with a shiny coat of nail polish.

7. Check out our Beauty Store for great deals on some of the latest and best personal care products for a fragrant and gorgeous new year.

Indoor living can leave skin feeling grimy and and looking dull. At the end of the day you need something to invigorate and polish skin to give you a hydrated glow.

Ocean Salt Skin Cleanser by LUSH is full of natural ingredients that scrub and exfoliate then soften and polish. Ocean salt, grapefruit, lime, coconut and avocado butter all combine to leave your skin feeling new and alive again. The ocean salt granules make a great scrub that dissolve to rehydrate skin. Use daily if you have oily skin but limit to once a week if your skin tends to be dry.

Available at our Beauty Store

After a long day or an exciting evening, it is tempting to skip cleansing routines and flop into bed with the day’s makeup still on our faces. While doing this occasionally will probably cause no great harm, doing it routinely can clog pores, irritate delicate skin and generally make skin look tired and dry.

Removing makeup from eyes is a delicate job on delicate areas so you don’t want to rub and scrub. Waterproof formula mascaras are especially hard to remove without some type of makeup removing preparation. Avon’s Moisture Effective Eye Makeup Remover is designed to be gentle and yet effectively remove eye makeup and mascara while moisturizing and hydrating.

Sephora all-in-one Makeup Remover Towelettes can be used on face, eyes and lips and are oh so portable. No need to rinse either, just wipe, toss and go.

For an all-makeup remover that combines gentle cleansing with moisturing and a bit of aromatherapy, Adrienne Arpel’s Meltdowns are amazingly effective. My favorite is the soft but fresh scent of the Mandarin Meltdown but the line also includes a French Vanilla Meltdown, Green Tea and Grape, Coconut and even Fresh Pear and Citrus. Treat yourself to one of these meltdown cream cleansers and feel refreshed and relaxed.