The Right Way to Get Your Beauty Sleep

Beauty sleep is very real. It's during sleep that skin damage from daily stress and pollution is repaired, dermal layers are rejuvenated, and even facial muscles are relaxed and gravity is shifted so wrinkles become less pronounced. Without enough sleep skin can look sallow and dry with uneven skin tone and more defined wrinkles. Wake up looking your best with these basic tips.

    * Get a head start Make a habit of washing your face and getting the rest of your nighttime beauty routine out of the way well before you're actually ready to go to bed, like a couple of hours ahead of time, so when you're really tired later you won't be tempted to blow it off.
    * Sleep on your back because laying on your side or stomach can literally press wrinkles into your face as you sleep.

    * Consider elevating your head, either on a couple of pillows or by raising the head of the bed by 2-3 inches. This will help prevent fluid from accumulating in the face and encourage lymphatic drainage.
    * Slather on the moisturizer Since there's no makeup to smear or products to block the absorption of key ingredients overnight is the perfect time to apply rich, thick eye and skin moisturizers. You can also moisturize your hair overnight by applying a moisturizing treatment, sleeping with a cap on, and rinsing it out in the AM.
    * Avoid carbs in the evening and wake up with less puffiness and more defined cheekbones. According to one dermatologist foods high on the glycemic index (rice, pasta, potatoes) can leave you waking up with a "soft, doughy appearance."
    * Sleep on a satin pillowcase to reduce frizz and have shinier healthier hair. Satin is smoother than cotton so there's less friction and rubbing on the hair shaft. (It can work for your skin too, but sleeping on your back is better.)

Spring Treats From Bouchon Bakery

Ready for your Easter treats? Chef Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in New York City  has created some tempting treats in celebration of Spring/Easter. The list includes seasonal macarons in flavors like Lemon Meringue, Pistachio, and Coconut, buttery cookies in bunny and egg shapes. You've got just another day or so to nab the homemade flourless chocolate cake being offered through Passover. Shown above is the Easter Egg Carton, a six-piece egg carton with marshmallows and chocolates eggs for $10.75. The full menu of treats is after the jump.

Easter Chocolate Bunnies and Eggs - Dark, milk or white chocolate Bunnies and Eggs filled with confections; $22 each

Bunny Shortbread - sweet, buttery cookies in the shape of a bunny, glazed with a white or dark chocolate pate à glacer; $4 each

Egg Shortbread – Bouchon Bakery's classic shortbread cookies festively shaped as eggs, topped with rich butter cream and decorated with temper chocolate; $3.50 each

Seasonal Macarons – Available in seasonal flavors, including Lemon Meringue, Pistachio, and Coconut; available in bags of three for $6 or boxes of six for $12

Springtime Cupcake - Carrot Cake cupcake filled with Cream cheese frosting and topped with Mazipan carrots; $4.75 each

Hot Cross Buns - House made sweet, spiced buns infused with currants and cranberries and finished with a cardomon scented glaze; $3.25 each

Chocolate Panettone – a spin on a classic, this traditional Italian sweet bread is infused with chocolate and complete with a chocolate center; $4.75 individual / $18 loaf

Springtim

Porsche Design P'6780 Diver

Sure they may sound similar, but the differences between a driver's watch and a diver's watch are vast. Porsche Design is certainly familiar with the former, but this is only their second attempt at the latter.

The P'6780, which follows the design studio's numeric nomenclature, is designed around one innovative feature: in order to protect the case from shocks and bumps, and prevent the crown from being turned during the course of underwater activities, the movement encased in its stainless steel cylinder mounts into a titanium bracket to which the rubber wrist straps are attached, and hinges forward for access. Neat trick, and also gives the timepiece a rugged look uncharacteristic of the company known for its smooth, uncluttered designs.

Greece finds itself in the middle of a pefect storm - economy down, tourism down

Greece has long been one of the black sheep members of the European Union - it has always relied on huge farming subsidies as its fellow nations worried about the stability of the Greek economy.

This year, those stability worries became justified when their economy collapsed. A combination of poor financial decisions and the global economic meltdown forced the Greek government to turn to its fellow countries for a bailout.

Now the European Union has finally decided to bail the Greek out, sentiment about the scope of the bailout has left Europeans mighty annoyed with the Greek. So annoyed in fact, that many of them have decided to book their vacation elsewhere - removing one of the largest sources of Greek income.

German airline Air Berlin has described the drops as "massive", but did not have any firm numbers to report on. Germany and the UK account for about 5 million tourists each year - a third of the 15 million that visit Greece each year. In 2009, tourism had already dropped 8%, so a continuing drop may prove to be a national disaster for Greece - especially since they'll need to dig themselves out of their $400 billion debt pile sooner or later.

Postcard fans trade four million cards

Who says snail mail is dying?

Postcrossing is an organization where strangers from different countries can trade postcards. Once you get a free membership, you can request to send a card and another member's address is sent to you, along with a unique country-coded number. You pick a card, write a message along with the code, and mail it. Once the recipient gets the card and registers it on the site, you're next in line to get a card from a different stranger.

With almost 170,000 members from 209 countries, it's a fast-growing club of postcard fans. So fast growing, in fact, that today they reached the landmark of trading four million cards. They only reached two million cards barely a year ago, so this idea is really catching on.

We've posted about Postcrossing in more detail here, and revealed the names of some Gadling bloggers past and present who are members. As one of them I can say it's a lot of fun and a great way to teach your kids about the world. So if you like getting and sending postcards, give it a try and help Postcrossing get to five million cards sometime before the end of 2010.

Postcards have been around since the late 1800s. The card included here dates from 1919 and shows a place in Richmond, Virginia where three rail lines crossed one another. Personally I love the look of vintage cards, and many fellow Postcrossing members have received them from me.

Spririt Airlines credit card comes with three free roundtrip tickets

We don't always cover frequent flier promotions or airline credit card bonus perks - but when we run into generous ones, we'll always try to share the news.

The newest promo from Spirit Airlines rewards you with three free roundtrip tickets, just for signing up and making one purchase on their card.

Of course, the promotion isn't as impressive as the recent 100,000 mile bonus British Airways handed out to people who applied for their credit card, but in this economy, snagging free airline tickets can be a pretty rewarding hobby.

The "Free Spirit" credit card also offers priority boarding, priority check-in, first year free, additional bonus miles for balance transfers and a free fare club membership.

To apply for the Free Spirit card, click here and click here for an overview of all award ticket destinations. The free tickets are based on off-peak availability, so please do keep an eye on the fineprint for any other "gotchas" - which is of course applicable to anything an airline offers you.