Look Better in the Morning

Sleep can make you look better -- it stimulates growth hormone, which eventually allows for the production of collagen and elastin to keep your skin taut. But don't let ZZZs do all the work when it comes to helping you look great. Stack the deck with these tricks:

• Change your sleep position. When you sleep face up, gravity exerts a light stretching effect on your skin. When you sleep with your face pressed to the pillow, you'll develop sleep lines and look puffier in the morning.
• Wrap your pillow. Allergy to dust mites (or, really, dust mite poop) is common, as are allergies to feather pillows and laundry detergent. These all cause repeated nighttime eyelid swelling. You can guard against mites and their droppings by covering your pillow with a 1-micron case that feels like a pillowcase. This should decrease the allergies and the puffy look.
• Let your skin breathe. Your skin needs to breathe to get rid of toxins from the sebaceous glands. But it can't do that if it's suffocated by a pancake-thick layer of makeup. While we're not in a position to tell women to flush their cosmetics, we do believe that many can be brainwashed to believe that makeup is absolutely necessary to improve their appearance. In reality, healthy skin is nature's ultimate cosmetic.
• Skip the nightcap. Alcohol dehydrates your skin and increases the leakiness of capillaries, so more water moves from your bloodstream into your soft tissue. Combined with the horizontal position during sleep, the result is facial puffiness, stretched skin, and faster wrinkle formation (not what you're going for, we assume).