MiniRig: Portable Speakers That Are Made In England And Always Will Be

Another day, another Bluetooth speaker. Frankly, these days portable speakers are two-a-penny. You turn them on, pair them with your phone, then sit back and listen to the music. Portable speakers are really handy for listening to music if you’re in the park, on the beach or staying in a hotel room; and some of them really are rather good and can fill a room with sound that’s more than acceptable. You may not want to replace your main audio system with them but if you lead a nomadic lifestyle they offer a good alternative. Perhaps the main thing that many portable speakers lack is a solid bass response and decent body of sound.

Don't Waste Your Time Worrying About What's Unlikely To Come True

Think about how much time you spend fretting about what might happen. Those deer-in-the-headlights moments are not only agonizing but they are profoundly unproductive. With each minute you spend in a state of worry, you're robbing yourself of the opportunity to contribute to your own success and the world around you.

12 Things Happening In SEO Right Now That You Absolutely Must Know

Want to master SEO? Good luck with that. SEOs today realize that it’s a vast and varied field, with opportunities galore for pitfalls and perils.

The Numbers Are In: Most People Want To Be Their Own Boss

Having been recruited by my husband into our entrepreneurial lifestyle some twenty years ago, I wondered how many other people were in the same boat as us. At that time, back in 1995 when we were first married, we did not know many other entrepreneurs, let alone other couples who worked together. Quite frankly, at that time, the entrepreneurial life seemed foreign, unusual and quite lonely to me.

Two-Time Bathurst 1000 Champ John Bowe On Racing Career, Bentley's 200-Mph Test

John Bowe is one of Australia’s best-known auto racers. He won the prestigious Bathurst 1000 twice – in 1989 and 1994. Bowe estimates of the 1,000 or so professional races in which he has competed over the last 40 years, he has won 200 - or 20%. That’s pretty impressive.

Is Amazon Liable For IP Violations By Its Marketplace Vendors?

A recent court ruling might cause Amazon to patrol marketplace vendors more aggressively

Here’s A Surprising Trick To Get Smoother Feet

_{Shandi-lee Cox / Creative Commons / https://flic.kr/p/8GpLuM}

The Internet is full of questionable-at-best beauty tips. But a DIY pedicure idea in honest-to-goodness print (Jane Buckingham’s mammoth be-an-all-around-better-human book, The Modern Girl’s Guide to Modern Life, to be precise) seems more likely to be legit. So when I came across Buckingham’s three-ingredient recipe for a make-at-home foot-smoothing treatment, I was intrigued. And when I saw that it involved supersimple ingredients I already had in my medicine cabinet and fridge, I was all the more game to try it out.

Buckingham’s soak stars, of all things, aspirin. “You know it works for headaches, but it also softens calluses on your feet,” she writes. (Editor’s note: Say what?) “This solution will soften the callus and make it easier to remove with a pumice stone.” Now, most beauty DIY-ers knows that crushed aspirin mixed with water forms a paste that can act as an blemish fighter for acne in a pinch. (Aspirin contains the same ingredient that’s in spot treatments.) But even the most experienced beauty hack-er might not think to spread aspirin all over her feet. In the name of journalism—and softer feet, obviously—I decided to give it a try. Here are Buckingham’s steps:

1. Crush five or six aspirin pills (I broke out my supercool mortar and pestle—which, yes, I actually own—but you could also toss them in a plastic ziplock bag and mash with a spoon).
2. Mix the crushed pills in a bowl with a half-teaspoon each of water and lemon juice.
3. Coat your feet—focusing on any particularly callused areas—with the mixture, and then and cover with a warm cloth for ten minutes.

_{www.reddit.com / Giphy}

Let me start by saying that things got awkward right away. The powdered aspirin, water, and lemon juice never really gelled to become an easy-to-apply paste; I was dealing with more of a gritty, runny solution. My vision of smoothing it on my feet in a seamless, spalike application (complete with scented candles and soft music) was abandoned straightaway, because no way was that happening with this liquid-y mess. Instead, I plopped on the kitchen floor with a dish towel under my feet, and dumped the solution over my toes and heels, dabbing the excess run-off over my roughest patches. As for that warm cloth that you’re supposed to use to envelop your marinating feet? If you have a clothes dryer, microwave, or (even better!) one of those nail-salon towel-warming things, cool. I lack those appliances, so I had to warm a washcloth by draping it over a pot of boiling water, which worked great…for two seconds. Then the cloth cooled, and I was too lazy to continuously reheat it while my feet were all wet and gravelly. The point is, I didn’t properly pull off step three. But when I showered, I buffed the callused skin gently with a pumice stone. After rinsing and patting dry, my feet felt noticeably softer and smoother than usual.

There’s some science to back this up: “Aspirin contains aminosalicylic acid, a relative to salicylic acid. Dissolving it in water and applying to the skin can offer some skin exfoliation, removing dry, dead skin cells from the bottom of the feet,” says Joshua Zeichner, the director of cosmetic and clinical research at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. “Lemon juice contains natural acids that can not only separate clumped dead cells but also help enhance penetration of the aminosalicylic acid.” The lemon juice also acts as an irritant, according to Gary Goldenberg, a dermatologist in New York City and medical director of Mount Sinai Dermatology Faculty Practice. “It can irritate the skin in a superficial way so it can slough off.” In fact, Goldenberg suspects the lemon juice is doing most of the heavy lifting here. “Aspirin does have salicylic acid, but a few crushed aspirin probably have a low concentration, and I’d worry about it not penetrating. I’d recommend using something with a known concentration of skin-smoothing lactic acid or salicylic acid.” He suggests body products from Aqua Glycolic or AmLactin, such as the Moisturizing Body Lotion.

Want to leave your foot-softening to the store-bought (or salon-employed) professionals? This DIY remedy is just one of the roughly eight gazillion tips in Buckingham’s updated lifestyle tome. And the tips don’t just cover beauty. You could even learn how to deal with a micromanaging boss or drive a stick shift.

More from Allure

• 10 Hairstyles That Make You Look 10 Years Younger
• How to Get Rid of Dark Undereye Circles for Good
• Find the Best Haircut for Your Face Shape

The post Here’s A Surprising Trick To Get Smoother Feet appeared first on SELF.