Let me get this straight.
You shell out perfectly good money for a doctor to take some blood from your arm, separate the platelets, and then inject it into your face?
Sigh.
I suppose the argument could be made that it is better than injecting botulism cells into your face.
I’ll leave this one to other people.
Talk to me in twenty years, though. I might change my mind.
No, not snow.
It’s what’s coming off my dry winter skin.
It’s finally cold enough here that the thermostat is set to heat all the time. My daughter is a petite two year old who has pretty much no body fat, and so is prone to getting very cold, especially at night. She refuses to sleep under the covers, so heavy fleece pj’s and a high temp is what gets her through the night.
However, it’s wreaking havoc on my skin, of course. That and the fact that I often have to throw the covers off me in the middle of the night have me highly annoyed.
I’ve got my Bare Escentuals Skin Rev-er Upper, but it’s got salicylic acid in it, which isn’t exactly moisturizing. I love what it does for my skin in normal weather, but my skin is dying right now.
Should I supplement? Change lotions altogether? What is your favorite winter skin moisturizer? Do share!
33% of you love getting beauty products for the holidays, and 33% of you would rather have a gift certificate to get them yourself. 20% like it only if they know exactly what they are getting, while 11% say no way.
Sad to say I like picking out my own stuff, but sometimes I will tell my husband what perfume I want and he can get that. Unless it’s something like lotion or soap, I am more than happy with a gift card. However, I’ve never been known to turn a beauty product away.
The past four days have found me busy, busy, busy and needing to put product in my hair, which I normally go without unless I’m going somewhere. The bad thing is that when I go to bed with stuff still in my hair, I break out. Sometimes my face will break out if I even apply the product, which happens with almost all Paul Mitchell products. It isn’t so bad if I can get it out beforehand, but did I mention the busy and the toddler?
Because on me, it would simply translate into “oily.”
When the Sonicare toothbrush first came out, I poo-pooed the raves. Good lord, people, I would think, it’s just a toothbrush.
Then I got one, and understood what everyone was talking about. Whenever I use a regular toothbrush now, my teeth just don’t feel clean. Whether there truly is a big difference, I’m not sure, and I’m too lazy to do the research on it right now. But it certainly FEELS like a big difference to me.
So when the makers of the Sonicare came out with the Clarisonic, which is the skin version of the toothbrush, I really wanted one.
I’m big on exfoliating, or at least thinking that I’m exfoliating, and this thing sounds right up my alley.
But for whatever reason, I’ve yet to purchase one, probably because there are too many expensive lipsticks out there calling my name seductively.
However, that would officially make me an idiot because if your skin doesn’t look decent, then no amount of lipstick is gonna save you. Not even forty dollar lipstick.
One day, Clarisonic, you will be mine.
Hopefully sooner rather than later.
My, that is such a service-y type of title isn’t it?
I figured that since it is mid-June, it is probably time to start discussing the ways in which we change our beauty routines when the hot and sometimes humid weather kicks in.
I am fortunate to live in a fairly temperate climate. Sure, we’ll get hot here, but humidity is rarely a huge factor. Not that I’m far from the ocean, but for some reason the days in which the heat and humidity are positively unbearable are few.
So, my beauty tips for hot weather, limited as they are, are as follows:
-Figure out a flattering way to wear your hair up and get your hair off your neck. You’ll be at least five degrees cooler, I promise. Or, if you are the type that doesn’t mind, get a short haircut and fugeddaboudit.
- Powder is your friend.
- As are blotting papers. And in a pinch, did you know that the ubiquitous toilet seat covers found in public restrooms make fantastic blotters? Uh, straight from the dispenser, which goes without saying.
- Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. We all know this, but it bears repeating. Be even smarter than you already are and combine powder and sunscreen together. My very fair-skinned sister uses this handy portable powder sunscreen and swears by it.
- And even with sunscreen, I’ve lately become very fond of hats in hot weather.
- Even though it also sounds obvious, go for light washes of color rather than dramatic statements. Well, dramatic statements can be saved for nighttime, anyway.
- Fake some color with a great bronzer.
All right ladies, step up and share your best hot weather beauty tips! We are dying to know!
I was on the lookout for a daily treatment that would help even out my skin tone and possibly quicken some skin cell turnover. I decided that ultimately I wasn’t totally happy with the Boots I had been using, and sometimes I like to change it up for no good reason.
So I found myself purchasing the Bare Escentuals Skin Rev-er Upper, (Which is a pain to type, by the way. Also, each time I have typed it out, I spelled it Sin Rev-er Upper so maybe there’s something wrong with me) and have been very happy with the results. Since I use Bare Minerals as my foundation, I figured it was worth attempting, as this product is also meant to act as a sort of primer for the powder.
I’ve used it for about three weeks now, and have noticed a bunch of wonderful things. My pores are a bit less noticeable, I have fewer breakouts and anything that happens to crop up is gone the next day, and my skin tone is more even. It is light, non-oily, and even seems to control my shiny tendencies, perfect for the upcoming hot months.
I have absolutely no drawbacks to to discuss about this product.
Add the fact that this item is not a bank-breaker, and I think I’ve found The One.
Yes, I went there.
I went and spent almost sixty dollars on some powder.
What can I say? I was drunk on being away from my children for the first time in a long while and it went to my head. Freedom! The freedom to spend a crapload of money!
Except I sort of regretted the purchase instantly.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like the product. I really did.
It was recommended that I purchase Teint Dore, which has golden undertones. It makes my skin look nice, and I love the old-fashioned smell. One caveat is that it is important to use the right type of brush, else the little perles tend to want to jump out of the pretty container. There is a Guerlain brush that is designed specifically for this product, but my wallet could not handle both at once.
It does indeed soften out my lines and illuminates my skin nicely. Soemtimes I wonder if it is a bit too glittery, and then I tell myself to shut up and just go with it. I save it for special occasions, and as such, I expect to use this up in about ten years. Give or take.
But is it worth the sixty bucks? Is there no comparable product for less?
I’m sure there is.
But, I love the idea of this product (one of the first of its kind when first introduced in 1987) so much that even though I planned to return it, I didn’t.
Maybe I’m an idiot who just spent sixty bucks on something she didn’t really need, but I’m happy nonetheless.
I have this thing about exfoliating.
I’m sort of obsessive about it. I just sort of love the idea that I am scrubbing away dead skin cells.
Yes, it is a personal problem, but it doesn’t hurt anybody, so I just roll with it. In fact, I cried when L’Occitane had the gall to discontinue my most favorite exfoliating soap EVER.
So when I saw this facial cleansing product from philosophy, I decided to give it a go. It said it was designed for daily use, so all the better in my mind. A thirty second mini peel sounded right up my alley.
There is no doubt that exfoliation occurs when using this product. Whatever they use as the exfoliating “beads” fall somewhere in between gentle and a teensy bit harsh. I suppose it depends on how much pressure you use.
One tip for those with contacts, I found out the hard way that rinsing properly is VERY important. Do not rinse off in a rush, else you will find yourself with little beads embedded temporarily in your eyeballs. Yes, it was as pleasant as it sounds.
As with any new product, and especially an exfoliating one, I expected some inital breakouts. Breakouts did indeed occur, but I thought they would be temporary and go away once my skin got acclimated.
Except, it never did.
I had annoying, icky breakouts for a month, my friends. I kept hoping it would get better, because other than that one side effect, I liked the product. It made my skin soft and smooth and reduced my pores nicely.
Then I stopped kidding myself that the breakouts would go away and resigned myself to the fact that my skin does not react well to this product.
But for those of you who love taking off that top layer of skin as much as I do, this product might be worth a try.
I’m not really a pedicure person. Oh, the idea of a pedicure sounds heavenly, but I don’t really have time for pampering myself at the moment. And probably won’t for at least another year or so, if not a bit longer.
So in the meantime, I decided to give the Diamancel foot files at Sephora a try. I live in Southern California, where it is possible to wear shoes without socks for at least 330 days out of the year. Some years more than that. This requires that feet be kept in tiptop shape year ’round, and since the birth of my daughter a year and half ago, I’d fallen way behind on the foot maintenance.
I ordered both the Diamond Foot Buffer #11 and the Diamond Foot File #20 because I figured my feet needed all the help they could get.
These files, if you couldn’t tell by the name, utilize ground-up diamonds to scrape those rough spots away. So fancy! They are easy to clean with soap and water, and I imagine that they will last for years with proper care.
I’ve found that the best way to use them is at night, before a shower. Feet must be dry when using, and then after the shower, a nice rubdown with your favorite foot lotion will result in some fairly awe-inspiring feet in the morning. I know you are supposed to sleep with socks after the lotion application, but I cannot STAND doing this. My feet must be free to breathe, and I imagine my results would be even better if I did so.
The Foot Buffer is a well made, heavy-duty tool, and is for an overall foot smoothing effect. It is so nicely weighted that you hardly have to put out any effort to get an almost alarming amount of dead skin off. It is not, however, cheap. But for someone like myself who does not make it to the spa, I would say it is well worth the money in the long run.
The Foot File is made to attack corns and callouses. I don’t have any corns, but I definitely have my fair share of callouses. This lightweight, easy to use file is also a bit pricey, but it is frighteningly efficient at getting rid of hard spots on the foot. Again, well worth the money.
If, like me, you enjoy having soft feet but don’t necessarily have the time or money to spend on frequent pedicures, this tag team of foot tools just might be the answer you are looking for.
*As always, my own money was spent on these products.
