Beauty wish granted: While we don't exactly have the power to make it so you'll "never have to shave my legs/armpits/nether-regions again" (as one woman put it), we can make the process much less painful. First off, take this quiz to find out the best de-fuzzing method for you. Then, check out our comprehensive hair removal 101 guide that includes hairless tricks from industry experts. Want the CliffsNotes? Here are tips for shaving your legs into silky perfection:
Step 1: To get an extra close shave, exfoliate the day before you pick up that razor. It will remove dead cells that prevent your razor from gliding smoothly over skin. Try Kiehl's Gently Exfoliating Body Scrub, $25.
Step 2: Shave at the end of your shower/bath to allow skin to soak in the moisture from the water and hair to soften.
Step 4: Use long strokes and gentle pressure with a sharp razor (replace after five shaves). When you reach your knees, stretch the skin as you shave it to make sure you get every single hair.
Step 5: After you shave, apply lotion chock full of chamomile and calendula to soothe and shea butter for deep moisture such as FC5 by Arbonne Conditioning Body Moisture, $23.
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Your beauty wish: "Fuller lips."
Beauty wish granted: While we can't -- poof -- give you Angelina Jolie's perfect pout, we can help you create fuller-looking lips by watching this video and following these steps from an expert makeup artist:
Step 1: Use a flesh-toned lip pencil to line the outside of your natural lip line, adding volume to your lips. (Be sure to line just slightly outside of your lips -- don�t create an entirely new shape.) Fill in your lips completely with the same nude pencil, which will help your lip color last longer.
Beauty wish granted: Hair pros Kevin Mancuso and Mark Slicker agree that the key to getting rid of unsightly frizz is to add moisture, moisture and more moisture. Here are some of their detailed tips on how to do so:
Tip 2: Post-shower, if you have curly or wavy hair, apply your products as soon as possible and try not to touch your hair until it is fully dry. (See which product is right for you in this roundup of the best and worst frizz fighters.)
Tip 3: For straight hair (or if you're straightening it) style your hair and use a product like Nexxus Sleek Finish Frizz Taming Silkening Lotion, $10.99 to control excess flyaways and frizz when it's dry. Also, if you're blow drying hair straight, make sure to hold the nozzle downward to keep the hair cuticle smooth as it dries.
Tip 4: Use a deep-conditioning treatment once a week. If you wanna get DIY-y, slather olive oil on your hair and walk outside in the sun (don't forget the SPF though!), says Slicker. The heat helps oil penetrate into your hair and conditions it. Have fine hair? Add a teaspoon of light oil, like avocado, to your regular conditioner. Or pick up a deep conditioner like Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask, $6.99.
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Your beauty wish: "Prettier, softer feet."
Beauty wish granted: Experts responsible for beautifying A-list celebs and the Victoria's Secret posse dish on how to make your feet prettier and softer:
Tip 1: Slough off dead skin on your feet with a foot file.
Tip 2: Use a salt exfoliant like Philosophy Salt Scrub, $25 (it's a Total Beauty editor's fave, BTW). And while you're at it, see how to give yourself the best DIY pedicure of your life.
Tip 3: Treat feet with a moisturizing clay mask like CND Earth Moisture Masque, $32.13, then use foot cream or petroleum jelly and cover feet with socks before bed.
Tip 4: Pressed for time? Wear exfoliating slippers while at home.
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Your beauty wish: "Fuller/longer lashes."
Beauty wish granted: For long, dark, thick, voluminous, full lashes (these are some of the lash-ectives readers used to describe their eyelash wishes), we have a few ways to help:
Tip 1: Need a simple boost? Try one of the best mascaras -- ever, to enhance, darken and make the most of your natural lashes.
Tip 2: Need more of a semi-permanent boost? Get a lash tint, which temporarily dyes your eyelashes with a safe, vegetable-based dye. It achieves the look of wearing mascara -- without having to apply it. Plus, you'll look streak-free post-shower and while swimming. Perfect for gals with light colored lashes.
Tip 3: Need even more help? Try an eyelash-growing product. There are tons on the market nowadays, but our readers give high marks to Latisse, $104.99.
Tip 4: Wanna just fake it for a night out? Watch this easy makeup tutorial on how to apply false eyelashes -- without spending a fortune on professional lash extensions.
Recently we posed this question in a blog post: What Three Wishes Would You Ask Your Natural Beauty Genie For? (Well, If One Actually Existed.) We got an overwhelming amount of responses from you. There were surprisingly lots of feet-related wishes (go figure), but unsurprisingly a ton of perfect-skin requests. As we scrolled through the comments, we were nodding and agreeing right along with you. Some actually even made us tear up (OK, we may have been PMSing, but nonetheless), like this one:
"I would just want to be skinny. Everything else, I'm good with. Someone else can have my other two wishes."
While others made us LOL:
1. Unwanted hair
2. Unwanted hair
3. Unwanted hair
The bottom line is that no body is perfect and we all have things (definitely more than three) that we wish we could change. One woman sums it up here by saying:
"Reading this article and the comments makes me feel good because, well, everyone has something they're not happy about. There [are] things I would change and wish for and knowing everyone else feels the same just makes me feel better."
Unfortunately, some of your wishes cannot be fixed short of surgery like "a different nose" or " fuller, bigger, perkier boobs (about a C cup)." But believe it or not, the rest of your wishes you can actually grant yourself -- just by following these expert tips and picking up a few hard-working products.
