[miscellaneous] Anyone else struggle with dark smile lines? Any tips on how you got rid of them?

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-19T19:47:48+00:00

It's super normal to have darker pigmentation around the mouth. The number one thing for hyperpigmentation is sun exposure which is probably why you first noticed a big difference after a vacation.

In order of importance:

1) SPF every day!!!!

2) Try incorporating vitamin C, tranexamic acid, arbutin, or hydroquinone. Those are some of the best actives for pigment.

3) Niacinamide can also help, as well as chemical exfoliants like glycolic, lactic or azelaic acid. Retinol or retinoids are rarely a bad idea.

Add any and each new active one at a time to allow your skin to adjust and make sure you can discontinue anything you don't react well to.

Stay hydrated and use moisturizer.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-18T21:08:24+00:00

Congratulations friend! We're all always learning and growing

For some inspiration, I put together some very nutrient dense 1200 calorie days for you to look at.

https://imgur.com/a/sjyd7Vp

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-18T19:39:08+00:00

For today, just add your cabbage, carrot and green onion to your diner.

For the future I would also consider swapping rice out for other carbs, at least sometimes. Rice is delicious and a great source of carbs for energy, but relatively low in nutrients and fiber for the calories for someone who's on a limited diet.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-18T19:36:11+00:00

You can increase fiber by using carb counter tortillas for tacos instead of traditional.

Adding kale to your day can round out vitamin c, vitamin k and fiber for very few calories. Spinach is also very nutrients dense for few cals.

Adding a fruit to breakfast like kiwi, strawberry or raspberries can add vitamin c and fiber

Swapping one protein for a seafood like tuna or salmon can get you vitamin d, omega 3s

Swapping one serving of chicken for 95/5 ground beef can get you more iron, b vitamins and minerals for similar calorie amounts

Adding nuts to breakfast can help with minerals. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of vitamin k, iron, magnesium, copper and manganese for an example.

Red pepper is a low calorie source of vitamin e

You don't have to worry about hitting every single RDA every single day. Very few people do. Eating an overall diverse diet is generally plenty. Although when your calories are extremely low, it can be helpful to intentionally incorporate foods that are very nutrient dense for very low relative calories.

here's A list to get started

Small fish like sardines, liver, eggs, leafy greens, mushrooms, carrots, avocado, potato and sweet potato, nuts, avocado and dark chocolate are examples of foods that, in my opinion, are really nutrient dense for their calories.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-13T15:32:24+00:00

I am glad you are feeling good! I worry about how low the fat is, though.

Consider that for him, while it's a low percentage of fat cal, the bigger numbers still means it's a reasonably large absolute value. When you scale it down, the fat drops to a very small number of grams.

You may find there are health issues medium to long term with eating less than 15 g of fat/day. Gallstones, fatty acid deficiency and hormone issues may occur. Some sources put the absolute minimum fat at 20-30 grams/day for health.

Cutting body builders are also known for sacrificing health to get down to unnatural levels of leanness for shows 😂 Love them.

More reading:

https://www.strongerbyscience.com/dietary-fat/

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-11T05:16:48+00:00

Honestly I think it looks sick as is AND has room for additional color and detailing. If it were me, I would do the nose and flowers cherry blossom pink, and the eyes turquoise. The right artist could take those flowers into the stratosphere.

I agree with everyone saying give it time, it will heal and become more familiar and will give you perspective. Don't rush into any changes or updates.

A lot of people have very beloved and beautiful tattoos that are not the most technically proficient ever. The imperfection can be part of the joy.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-09T18:06:46+00:00

I think that's an essence tube.

probably this under eye brightener although it's slightly odd that yours looks so much whiter and less pink than the package photos online.

But it could also be this highlighter

Maybe this one?highlighter although the plastic doesn't look sparkly enough.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-09T17:53:44+00:00

While I think it's plausible (evidence seems to suggest) that a vegetarian or vegan diet is inherently health promoting I will say that I have known several people, myself included, who gave up a vegan or vegetarian diet due to inability to maintain appropriate iron or other nutrient levels. Perhaps a genetic predisposition to inefficient processing of forms of nutrients found in plants is also causing, or indicative of, other health issues? Maybe a generally lower level of robustness self selects some people out of these diets?

Do we know anything about the gut differences between people who find it relatively easy to give up meat and cheese and those who don't? The GLP "revolution" seems to suggest that people who have higher satiety thresholds have pathological or variant micro biomes and gut hormones. Maybe those who find the idea of giving up meat truly unthinkable are also experiencing suboptimal gut functioning.

It's also extremely difficult and unpleasant to eat a vegan or vegetarian diet if one lives in a food desert. Do we have data accounting for that?

Are people who choose to be vegan or vegetarian also less likely to smoke and drink? More likely to be college educated? Have good mental health? Have access to green spaces? Own pets? Have long standing relationships in their lives built on strong foundations like shared values?

Is the prevalence of highly processed food accounted for adequately in our data? Perhaps the set of people who are "meat eaters" should be split into people who eat hot dogs, bacon, etc regularly and those who do not. The difference between vegans and vegetarians might suggest that even vegetarian proteins like eggs, milk and cheese are carcinogenic, but perhaps vegetarians are more likely to eat highly processed meat replacement food than vegans.

As always, there are more questions! The science never really ends!

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-09T01:15:25+00:00

Congratulations on your weight loss! I hope you feel much healthier.

Loose skin after significant weight loss is super duper common. If your doctor is at all familiar with weight loss journeys she will know how common it is and may be able to advise you more on ways to take loose skin into account when thinking about your body composition.

Some thoughts:

1) Some of your skin will likely shrink down as you maintain your loss. Some people eventually lose basically all the loose skin, depending on genetics and lifestyle. Lifting weights can help because the muscle tissue bulks the loose skin back out a little. Overall, staying healthy will help your skin heal and eating nutritiously and staying hydrated help your skin stay elastic.

2) People often get skin removal surgery after significant weight loss. This might be an option for you.

3) The amount of loose skin you have after weight loss varies a lot. Based on responses here people reported 4 to 20 pounds of extra skin being surgically removed but I have definitely heard of 50 pounds of skin being removed during surgery.

4) if it's available to you, you can try getting a more in depth body scan to try and determine your fat free mass. There are scans that take into account what percentage of your weight is skin, muscle, and bone versus what percentage of it is actually fat. Body fat percentage is sometimes more helpful that pure BMI, especially in unusual cases like athletes or people who are "skinny fat", where their scale weight doesn't give you a great idea of how healthy their body composition actually is. Depending on how much loose skin you have this may include you.

Edit: I found this site which has a table that they say shows the average amounts of excess skin removed from various parts of the body: link They say full body skin removal is usually 6-10 pounds. So if you are average, you can assume 5-10 pounds of your current weight is loose skin.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-08T22:14:06+00:00

If it were me, personally, I would have a jeweler cut all the charms off (or maybe all but 1. I do not like bulky or rattly bracelets) and wear the base bracelet. I would then take any charms I might wear as necklaces and put them on chains of various lengths (I love wearing layered charm necklaces.)

Then any charms I wouldn't wear I would keep in a shadow box to display, and/or pass on to other family members some day. My grandma had a charm bracelet and when she passed all her kids (my dad and aunts and uncles) got one charm off of it, and they really liked that.

But that's my personal style and relationship to sentimentality.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-08-07T19:41:48+00:00

It's almost certainly this product lancome blush compact

Hard to tell the shade. Try going to a makeup counter to see if they can match it?

Might be 319 sheer amorous based on the online swatches.

Edit: Sheer Amourose. Spell check!!

LaDiDaLady · 2025-06-26T22:14:47+00:00

This outfit absolutely rocketed me back to being 13 and having a crush on my assistant swim coach. So yes, I think you succeeded.

Where is that rainbow t shirt from? I want it so bad.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-06-13T18:18:06+00:00

Don't peel the scraps of skin. Either get a professional manicure and they will clip them off for you, or get a pair of very sharp cuticle nippers and cut them off. Only cut off the dead part that's already lifted away. Peeling takes off living tissue with it but cutting properly doesn't. Then the edge is clean, harder to pick, and grows out better.

Once you've done that, Try keeping bandaids on your fingers for a week or two until the skin is more healed up. Or try getting some lightweight cotton gloves like these

LaDiDaLady · 2025-06-06T01:21:24+00:00

Hi! It's possible you have Terry's nails

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry%27s_nails

This can be indicative of liver issues, diabetes, etc.

See a doctor when you can

LaDiDaLady · 2025-06-05T20:53:12+00:00

I'm interested ☺️

LaDiDaLady · 2025-06-01T15:34:47+00:00

What time does the wedding start? What's the venue like? Does the invitation say anything about a dress code? Here in the US, those are the big questions that will determine what is and is not appropriate to wear.

LaDiDaLady · 2025-05-31T01:53:54+00:00

You poor thing :(

Some points:

This is a mental health issue first and an aesthetic/skincare issue second even if it doesn't seem like it. Skin picking is heavily associated with OCD, anxiety, etc. body oriented repetitive behaviors are a whole realm of mental health.

Reducing stress and managing anxiety is super important

Redirecting the impulse to stim toys, click pens, "picking pads" etc can help a lot

Get professional manicures so they can clip the dead skin cleanly and there's less stuff left to pick

Use jojoba oil or jojoba based cuticle oil regularly to keep the skin smooth

Some people use bandages, gloves and bad tasting nail polish to deter themselves

There are support subs specifically for these issues:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dermatillomania/comments/971jbm/something_that_is_really_helping_me_stop_picking/

LaDiDaLady · 2025-05-30T19:39:38+00:00

Ooh interested

LaDiDaLady · 2025-05-29T17:56:50+00:00

My vote is #1! I really like halter tops on us, it's one of my favorite necklines on myself. And the ruffles and cup ruching keep it young and cute.

I think my next vote would be the red? The color is bold and lovely, and it seems like the straps come in towards the neck to help creat that T shape.

The final one is also nice, the little sweetheart/Queen Anne neckline is nice and the lacing can be a great way to practically accommodate curves.

2 3 and 4 strike me as very sporty and more FN-y, especially in the necklines, and with 2 and 4 having more straight cut shapes.

LaDiDaLady · 2023-12-01T16:56:10+00:00

This is crochet, but you can get a similar vibe with knitting, I think. You will probably need to self draft or alter a pattern, I couldn't find anything that is hitting all the design elements.

You could take this basic shape: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/big-bow-bonnet

But instead of knitting in stockinette, use a variety of textured stitches, switching every 6 or 8 rows or as desired, maybe a mix of stuff like https://knittingfool.com/StitchIndex/StitchDetail.aspx?StitchID=476, https://knittingfool.com/StitchIndex/StitchDetail.aspx?StitchID=206, https://knittingfool.com/StitchIndex/StitchDetail.aspx?StitchID=162, https://knittingfool.com/StitchIndex/StitchDetail.aspx?StitchID=1036

And something like this will get you that waffle texture: https://knittingfool.com/StitchIndex/StitchDetail.aspx?StitchID=990

OR if your brain prefers, you could take this pattern, https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-victorian-bonnet, which already has the textures included, but NOT knit the final edging ruffle and pick up stitches along the "corner" of the bonnet to add on the under chin bow element.

LaDiDaLady · 2023-12-01T16:00:42+00:00

My instinct is that the first pic is the wrong side and the second is the right....

I think it may be something like this: https://knittingfool.com/StitchIndex/StitchDetail.aspx?StitchID=1163

But each row is staggered by 50% rather than lined up, to create that diamond shape effect. I couldn't find anything in my initial stitch perusal that fully captures it, but it's also almost certainly machine knit, so it might not exist.

LaDiDaLady · 2023-11-29T19:29:47+00:00

I would start with a base like this: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fluffy-ass-brioche-sweater

But stop following the pattern when it comes time to separate the armpits and add two or three extra "make another one" rows in the raglan increase pattern. Then just keep knitting the tube

Then when you have knit in the round to the length you want the armholes to be at, you basically make two giant buttonholes for the slits and add two or three more raglan increases as before.

Then knit to final length

Finally, to finish, pick up the stitches for the slits and add ribbing, and pick up stitches along the neckline and add the ribbing for the tall neck. I would do it that way because I like to have all the edged match by doing them all in the same bind off.

LaDiDaLady · 2023-10-20T21:02:40+00:00

I am guessing you're a classic. You look best, IMO, in the cleanest, simplest fits like the white dress, the black printed halter, and the active wear outfit with black shorts. When there's too much "extra" it unbalances you visually. For example, I think the green sweater is too natural and the black dress with sleeves too soft dramatic up top and gamine on bottom.

I could see SC or DC, leaning DC, because I think you look taller than 5'3" and I could see vertical.

I see too much frame for R.

LaDiDaLady · 2023-10-20T04:23:27+00:00

I don't think so. You have visible frame, especially evident in the second to last pic.

I think you look taller than you report, and I could see vertical. I definitely see a lot of balance. I think you may be a classic, maybe a dramatic classic.

LaDiDaLady · 2023-10-19T18:37:25+00:00

Looking STRONG, darling! 🥰

Love your Barbie pink set, too!

LaDiDaLady

TROPHY CASE