June Grooming Guide: Summertime - and the Skincare is Easy

June, bloom, groom: notice how they rhyme?

June is the most popular month for weddings (followed by August, with more than one in three weddings occurring in summer) - and this June, you can expect more gay grooms and lesbian brides than ever before. Whether you're walking down the aisle or leaping for the bouquet, you know you're going to be photographed, so your skin had better be ready for its close-up.

Summer skincare is easy: drink lots of fluids, keep your skin hydrated - and don't burn. Easier said than done, of course, given the manic pace of our lives these days, which is why we've rounded up some of our favorite summer skin salves to help keep your skin looking as radiant as a June groom.

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Organic Male OM4: Age-Defying Antioxidant Serum

While most of us prefer drinking our merlots, cabernets, and pinot noirs, there's apparently an argument for sloshing red wine on our faces. Not that this explains the bottle in your roommate's bed, but still, he might be on to something. As you've surely heard by now, grape seeds and skins are rich in polyphenols, which are powerful anti-aging and antioxidant agents. It's polyphenols that slow the aging process, while also protecting against DNA damage. In short, wine extracts prevent environmental damage to the skin.

Remember the episode of "I Love Lucy," where Lucy and Ethel stomp the grapes? Organic Male OM4's Age-Defying Antioxidant Serum is a little like that mixture: slightly tacky to the touch until it soaks into your skin, leaving your face with visibly fewer lines and a more even skin tone. Seriously - you're going to keep grabbing a mirror to marvel at the change. So how does it work? Vitamin B penetrates and moisturizes, while Stay C 50 helps stimulate collagen production and protects against sun damage. As for CoQ10, you probably know that's one of nature's immune boosters, while OM4's Omega 3 Proprietary Antioxidant Blend repairs and softens the skin.

The four-step OM4 skin care system asks only that you take four minutes a day to take care of your skin. Four steps in four minutes - is that so much to ask? The products are all packaged perfectly for traveling - as lightweight as they are durable - and the entire collection derives its bio-nutrient strength from the mineral-rich, antioxidant-packed berries, grain, and wine extracts from Oregon vineyards and agricultural fields. As you might imagine, OM4 utilizes natural and organic botanicals of food grade quality - and none of their products contain harmful chemicals, parabens, or additives. In short, you could probably drink this stuff - but why deprive your face of something so beneficial?

Use OM4 on your skin - and sip the Lafite. Your skin will be glad you did.

PRICE: $45.00 / 30 ml (1.014 fl. oz.)
LINK: Organic Male OM4 Age-Defying Antioxidant Serum
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Desert Essence : Gentle Nourishing Night Cream

The month of June is crazy with Pride. You're out all day and night, with hardly time to sleep. Which is why you need to insure that your beauty regimen is working overtime during Pride month. What you need is a good night cream to help compensate for your debauchery during the day.

Recently, Desert Essence launched a new face care line, which includes Gentle Nourishing Night Cream. Fortified with argan oil, this is an antioxidant-rich cream that is as gentle as it is effective. (Surely, by now, you've heard about the wondrous properties of argan oil: some centenarians who swear by it don't look a day over sixteen...)

For nearly forty years, Desert Essence has extolled the benefits of jojoba oil and aloe vera - and as the first American company to introduce Australian Tea Tree Oil to the States, Desert Essence has been at the forefront of natural and organic beauty care products. The company's inspiration is the desert with its carefully balanced and sustainable eco-system, which is why Desert Essences eschews all pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and animal testing.

Desert Essence Gentle Nourishing Night Cream also contains white tea extract and aloe vera to help renew and soothe your skin while you sleep, but best of all, there's evening primrose oil, loaded with fatty acids (which prevent eczema and other skin conditions). As you might know, the evening primrose blooms only after dusk. A flower after your own heart. Why not bloom at night - with Desert Essence Gentle Nourishing Night Cream.

PRICE: $16.99 / 2 fl oz / 57 g
LINK: Desert Essence Gentle Nourishing Night Cream
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Frownies: Immune Shield

Listen, you're probably going to get baked in June. On one of those days when you're dancing for Pride on the beach, on the pier, by the pool, your skin is going to fry - and then you're going to go back to your share, your cave, your hovel, and you're going to worry about cancer and turning into a leathery geriatric.

Stop worrying - and instead, reach for Frownies Immune Shield. Created as an after-sun oil for overexposure to UV rays, Immune Shield is 40% whole vitamin E serum, made from organic whole oats. As you probably know, vitamin E is a proven antioxidant that stimulates healing and reduces scarring - and Immune Shield's high percentage of active whole vitamin E helps to soften your skin and keep you from becoming Mr. Reptile Man.

Ever since 1889, Frownies have been eradicating wrinkles and reversing the signs of aging for men and women the world over, particularly those in the entertainment industries. Gloria Swanson famously wore Frownies Eye Patches in "Sunset Boulevard" - and Olivia de Havilland had them sent to her hotels. Even the Kennedy women used them. ??And women such as Raquel Welch and Rene Russo utilize Frownies for non-invasive treatments with proven results.

After showering, apply Frownies Immune Shield as liberally to your skin as the SPF you neglected to apply before hitting the beach. There's a wonderfully nutty aroma to Immune Shield that will help take your mind off your pain - and maybe even make you feel like snuggling with your honey.

And if you're prone to acne, use Immune Shield on your face in the morning after cleansing. Or if there's a scar that needs healing, apply Immune Shield to the skin. Unlike other vitamin E products, Immune Shield goes on smooth, not sticky.

The truth is, we're feeling a summer love affair coming on with Frownies Immune Shield.

PRICE: $32.00 / 60 ml
LINK: Frownies Immune Shield
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(June Grooming Guide continues on next page: Every Man Jack, Jurlique, O.N.E....)

Every Man Jack: Shave Cream

All summer long, you're running back and forth: from the city to the shore, from your share to your apartment, to the airport and beyond. One of the nice things about the Every Man Jack line is how convenient the products are for traveling. The shave cream, for example, is non-aerosol - and, at this price, you could even leave a tube in every bathroom you claim as yours.

Founded in 2006, Every Man Jack produces affordable, high-quality men's products that are eco-friendly and free of dyes, parabens, and other unsettling ingredients. In short, Every Man Jack has the same simple, no-nonsense philosophy as some of your best boyfriends: what you see is what you get (no drama, no ulterior motives - just good, old-fashioned moxie). And what you get is as good for your skin as it is for the environment.

Every Man Jack Shave Cream is made with wheat-germ derived squalane, which lubricates and softens, as well as olive oil extract for hydration, and chamomile and aloe vera to help soothe and heal your skin after a close shave. Fragrance free and formulated for sensitive skin, this is a shave cream that won't dry out your skin or clog your pores

PRICE: $6.00 / 6.7 fl oz / 200 mL
LINK: Every Man Jack Shave Cream
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Jurlique : Purely White Skin Brightening Cleanser

As lovely as summer is, your face takes the brunt of some of summer's indignities. Excessive sun, for example, and then all that gunk you cover your skin with to protect it from sun - and then, of course, the toxins that pour down your face when you're dancing in a sweatbox. And we're not even going to mention where your face lands after you've imbibed a few too many and suddenly it's morning and you wake up under the dock.

What you need on toxic summer mornings like that is Jurlique's Purely White Skin Brightening Cleanser. We know; we, too, think the name sounds slightly offensive to some sensibilities - and yet, it's hard to argue with the efficacy of this product. Ever since 1985, Jurlique founders, Dr. Jurgen Klein and his wife, have farmed a small corner of south Australia, cultivating more than 35 herbs and flowers for their all-natural skincare line. The 153-acre Jurlique farm uses no pesticides or herbicides in order to maintain a completely biodynamic organic business - which is something your nose notes as soon as you use any Jurlique product: these are products that smell as pure as a spring morning.

Fortified with Jurlique's VitaBrightKx complex (made from kakadu plum, one of Mother Nature's superfoods), Jurlique's Purely White Skin Brightening Cleanser delivers 50 times the vitamin C content of oranges. That's a lot of antioxidants, all working together to even your skin tone and reduce discoloration. The addition of rhyolite, a natural mineral exfoliant, helps this cleanser to gently polish your skin and restore your youthful glow.

Now what more could you want after a hard night? Rich in superfruits, including citrus unshiu peel (loaded with tyramine to help fade dark spots) and that kakadu plum, as well as African birch (which promotes skin elasticity), Jurlique Purely White Skin Brightening Cleanser is part of Jurlique's Skin Brightening system of products that even your skin tone in just thirty days.

Suitable for all skin types - even those faces that slept mashed in the sand.

PRICE: $23.00 / 100ml / 3.5 oz.
LINK: Jurlique Purely White Skin Brightening Cleanser
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O.N.E. : Olive Oil All-In-One Skincare

How many times have you been stopped by the TSA for a carry-on loaded with toiletries? How often have you tried explaining the reasons for twenty-six different emollients, cleansers, toners, serums, hair products, and creams? Imagine having your entire beauty regimen packed into one bottle. Incomprehensible, right? No. Not with O.N.E.

Created by a Long Island platinum blonde bombshell, Leni Goldsmith, O.N.E. is a one-stop shopping wonder, containing only five ingredients: organic olive oil, sunflower oil, vitamin E, and the essential oils of lavender and geranium. Free of all harmful chemicals, sulfates, or synthetic preservatives, O.N.E. is USDA-certified organic, which makes this product all the more miraculous.

Imagine a product that's good for your face, hands, body - and hair. What you're imagining is O.N.E. Olive Oil All-in-One Skincare. Formulated with 100% organic olive oil, which is loaded with antioxidants, O.N.E. is fortified with vitamin E, another natural antioxidant. Easily absorbed into the skin and the hair shaft, olive oil is a natural skin hydrator, while the lavender oil creates a calming effect, making O.N.E. a perfect nighttime cream. Use O.N.E. as a moisturizer for face and body, as well as a hand and cuticle cream - and also as a deep-conditioning hair mask for taming frizzy hair. Furthermore, you can add O.N.E. to your bath to soothe sunburn or chafed skin.

Packaged in a perfectly sized, six-ounce, self-locking, pump bottle, O.N.E. gets you through airport security in record time - and makes your skin more radiant all summer long.

PRICE: $29.99 / 6 fl. oz.
LINK: O.N.E. Olive Oil All-In-One Skincare
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