There's nothing like celebrity endorsement to popularize a product: Oprah recently re-aired her 2004 show about green tea and its effects on weight loss and it's all over the news. No doubt, there will be a rush on green tea immediately. However, in addition to being beneficial for other health concerns, green tea is also excellent for skin care. Here are a few ways you can put it to good use.

   - Get rid of those puffy eyes: Green tea contains an anti-inflammatory that reduces fluid build up around the eyes. Those fluids are often a major reason for sags and bags. To reduce the puffiness, brew two bags of green tea, let it cool, place the tea bags on your eyes and relax for 10 minutes. Higher quality green teas contain higher amounts of the anti-inflammatory, so don't settle for the inexpensive brands at a regular grocery store.

    - Tone your skin: To close the pores and tighten things up overall, brew about 2 teaspoons of green tea in a ½ cup of filtered water, strain out the tea leaves and pour the tea into a mister. You can spray it during your regular morning or evening skin care routine, and spritz throughout the day. You don't have to wash it off.

    - Protect your skin from sun damage: While green tea doesn't block UV rays, it does fight the excess free radical production caused by sun exposure. In fact, many natural sun blocks now contain green tea. Check for them at your local health food store. To reduce the possibility of a negative reaction between the green tea and other ingredients, choose a sun block with a zinc oxide-base.

   - Slow down the aging process. As free radicals and inflammation are major factors in aging, anything you can use to reduce them will help, including green tea. However, to be fully protected you also need to prevent the excessive radical production caused by environmental pollutants. Your best skin care product for that is a shielding lotion. Now recommended by thousands of doctors, a good shielding lotion bonds with the outer layer of the skin to form a new protective layer that keeps out chemicals.

    Green tea has been used around the world for a variety of ills for centuries, including natural skin care. Don't wait for celebrity endorsement to give it a try, you could see some immediate and surprising results - but don't forget the shielding lotion, chemicals and pollutants are your skin's worst enemy!