Everyone is always looking for a good skincare brand that's going to solve their skin woes. There are plenty out there, but not all of them test on humans instead of bunnies and cats! Murad, however, is an awesome skincare brand that only tests on humans, and they let you know right on their packaging.
I mean really, is the chemistry of a rabbit's skin going to react the same way to an acne treatment as one of us? (And our skin doesn't even all react the same!)
On to what Murad is all about...
Their products have won tons of awards for effectiveness, for every skin type from sensitive and redness-prone, to maturing acne-prone skin.
The company was founded by Dr. Murad, who is a dermatologist and considered a leader in skincare. He has patented tons of advancements in skincare that have saved peoples' skin and turned it around entirely.
I highly recommend this brand; I've been using there soothing gel cleanser for redness reduction, and it has worked wonders for my skin. Normally it is incredibly red, sensitive, and sometimes even so combination that I have oil slicks in some places and flaky dry patches in others. After using this cleanser in conjunction with the Murad Blackhead and Pore Clearing Duo (which is a mask and serum to clean out dirt and debris and loosen it all up and then a refining serum to seal the clean pore), my skin looks completely different in the best way! It's much less red, can handle the elements better without becoming red and irritated, and is all around much more hydrated and less flaky.
There are hundreds of testimonies on the Murad acne systems for clearing the skin that you can find on Ulta.com and Sephora.com, and I believe it! From my experiences with this brand, I would send anyone in their direction if they're looking for a legitimate dermatologist-based skincare brand without the animal testing.
Let me know if any of you have tried Murad products, which ones they were and whether or not you liked them! Thanks for reading beauties!
Monday, September 30, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Let the Good Times Roll Review
Hi there beauties! I have another review for you today, and I'm super excited about it.
LUSH brought back their Let the Good Times Roll facial cleanser!
This used to be a limited edition holiday product that came out last Christmas, but so many people loved it and complained when it got taken away that they brought it back as a permanent staple in their face cleanser collection! (Or so they say...they also told everyone that last year but let's hope they keep their promise this time)
If you stop into a LUSH store, they have it displayed with the rest of the cleansing rolls (ie. Angels on Bare Skin, Herbalism, Aqua Marina and Dark Angels)...at least that's how it is in my shop. So we were getting it in pre-weighed pots but my store is cutting it from the roll now!
Anyway, on to the review...
First of all, this stuff smells like you can take a handful and eat it. It's like sugar cookie dough with a little bit of kettle corn mixed in. It's heavenly. I catch myself opening my pot to smell it when I walk in and out of my bedroom just because it smells that good (however I wouldn't suggest eating it...an edible alternative is LUSH's Popcorn lip scrub).
So this cleanser has a little bit of cinnamon in it to warm the skin, which is always nice on a fall or winter day when you've been outside and your cheeks and nose are freezing cold and you need a little something to warm you up. It also has maize flower and corn meal to gently exfoliate the face (and body!). But most importantly, there's glycerine, which is going to help lock in moisture on those days that your skin is misbehaving and getting a bit flaky.
If you've read my updated skin routine post, you know my skin's been beyond cranky lately. I've been switching my products to more soothing cleansers and moisturizers instead of harsh ingredients, and I've noticed that it's been helping. I decided to give this cleanser a shot on the days where I notice my dry patches messing with my BB cream (I use Tarte Amazonian Clay BB Cream in Fair in case you guys wanted to know), and it works wonders!
It's a lovely, deep scrub, almost like Ocean Salt if you're a Lushie, or like the St. Ives Apricot Scrub for those of you that are more into drugstore cleansers. It's just a little bit more gentle than those chunks that you scrub with, it's more of a subtle, grainy exfoliant.
As far as hydration goes, I notice that it helps relieve any tightness that I have on my face, because it's picking up that dead skin with the scrub and replacing it with some repairing glycerine.
All in all this product is definitely worth giving a shot; I see it working for just about all skin types, especially as the weather gets colder and you need a little bit more hydration. The smell lingers for a little while too, and that would always keep me coming back to this stuff.
Let me know if any of you try it! Thanks for reading!
LUSH brought back their Let the Good Times Roll facial cleanser!
This used to be a limited edition holiday product that came out last Christmas, but so many people loved it and complained when it got taken away that they brought it back as a permanent staple in their face cleanser collection! (Or so they say...they also told everyone that last year but let's hope they keep their promise this time)
If you stop into a LUSH store, they have it displayed with the rest of the cleansing rolls (ie. Angels on Bare Skin, Herbalism, Aqua Marina and Dark Angels)...at least that's how it is in my shop. So we were getting it in pre-weighed pots but my store is cutting it from the roll now!
Anyway, on to the review...
First of all, this stuff smells like you can take a handful and eat it. It's like sugar cookie dough with a little bit of kettle corn mixed in. It's heavenly. I catch myself opening my pot to smell it when I walk in and out of my bedroom just because it smells that good (however I wouldn't suggest eating it...an edible alternative is LUSH's Popcorn lip scrub).
So this cleanser has a little bit of cinnamon in it to warm the skin, which is always nice on a fall or winter day when you've been outside and your cheeks and nose are freezing cold and you need a little something to warm you up. It also has maize flower and corn meal to gently exfoliate the face (and body!). But most importantly, there's glycerine, which is going to help lock in moisture on those days that your skin is misbehaving and getting a bit flaky.
If you've read my updated skin routine post, you know my skin's been beyond cranky lately. I've been switching my products to more soothing cleansers and moisturizers instead of harsh ingredients, and I've noticed that it's been helping. I decided to give this cleanser a shot on the days where I notice my dry patches messing with my BB cream (I use Tarte Amazonian Clay BB Cream in Fair in case you guys wanted to know), and it works wonders!
It's a lovely, deep scrub, almost like Ocean Salt if you're a Lushie, or like the St. Ives Apricot Scrub for those of you that are more into drugstore cleansers. It's just a little bit more gentle than those chunks that you scrub with, it's more of a subtle, grainy exfoliant.
As far as hydration goes, I notice that it helps relieve any tightness that I have on my face, because it's picking up that dead skin with the scrub and replacing it with some repairing glycerine.
All in all this product is definitely worth giving a shot; I see it working for just about all skin types, especially as the weather gets colder and you need a little bit more hydration. The smell lingers for a little while too, and that would always keep me coming back to this stuff.
Let me know if any of you try it! Thanks for reading!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Mario Badescu Drying Lotion Review
Hi there lovelies! So in my posting schedule post, I'd mentioned that when I had gone out, I was going to share some of the products that I got with you.
I know I had written a quick blurb about the Mario Badescu drying lotion, but I want to go in-depth with how it's been working for me with almost a week of continuous use, what's in it, what the ingredients do, etc.
Let's get glowing...
The Mario Badescu drying lotion has virtually changed the integrity of my skin in about a week. Here was my deal: I was getting bumpy like all over the place, which rarely happens to me (anyone know why something like that would happen?) and some of those bumps were turning into whiteheads. Even worse, right?
I was finding that for some reason, the only things that were helping my troubled skin were formulations for sensitive skin rather than acne prone skin. Which essentially made no sense to me, but hey, if my skin wants to be temperamental, there's not much I can do, right?
But I still needed a spot treatment! Personally, I'm one of those people that always needs to put a spot treatment on before bed because I like to think I'm using it as preventative maintenance. I decided to try the drying lotion because I've heard people raving about it on YouTube, their blogs...I just had to try it, so I picked it up from my local Ulta! Here's my experience:
The drying lotion is formulated with salicylic acid, isopropyl alcohol, Calamine, Colloidal Sulfur, Glycerine and other secondary ingredients that make up this separated product. It comes in a small bottle that looks like this:
And it's incredibly easy to use, and marketed for all skin types. Hooray! All you have to do is dip a cotton bud into the pink sediment at the bottom (the bottle is very eager to tell you not to shake the bottle or use just the pink sediment, the separation is part of how the product works) and pull it out, then apply the mixture to your skin. You don't even rub it in, you just dot it on, let it dry, and leave it overnight!
I wouldn't suggest using this every day because it is drying; I've noticed little bits of dryness on my forehead where I've been using it, however that's nothing a little bit of Celestial from LUSH won't fix.
However, I do appreciate that they put glycerine in it, because it helps lock moisture into the skin, however you're still getting the effects of the sulfur and the salicylic acid with the calming, anti-inflammatory effects of the calamine.
But overall, I've noticed a huge change in my skin. It's gone from bumpy and irritated with lots of little blackheads and whiteheads and enlarged pores to almost back to how it normally is. The bumps that I have are either completely gone or they have diminished in size by more than half overnight. The area surrounding where I put the product is a little bit dry, like I said, but I throw a little bit of moisturizer for sensitive skin over it and it's all good to go.
If I had to rate this product on a scale of 1-10 I'd rate it a 9.5, only docking the .5 for the dryness that you get but it's easy to deal with.
Hope this helps guys! If you try it out, let me know how it works for you!
I know I had written a quick blurb about the Mario Badescu drying lotion, but I want to go in-depth with how it's been working for me with almost a week of continuous use, what's in it, what the ingredients do, etc.
Let's get glowing...
The Mario Badescu drying lotion has virtually changed the integrity of my skin in about a week. Here was my deal: I was getting bumpy like all over the place, which rarely happens to me (anyone know why something like that would happen?) and some of those bumps were turning into whiteheads. Even worse, right?
I was finding that for some reason, the only things that were helping my troubled skin were formulations for sensitive skin rather than acne prone skin. Which essentially made no sense to me, but hey, if my skin wants to be temperamental, there's not much I can do, right?
But I still needed a spot treatment! Personally, I'm one of those people that always needs to put a spot treatment on before bed because I like to think I'm using it as preventative maintenance. I decided to try the drying lotion because I've heard people raving about it on YouTube, their blogs...I just had to try it, so I picked it up from my local Ulta! Here's my experience:
The drying lotion is formulated with salicylic acid, isopropyl alcohol, Calamine, Colloidal Sulfur, Glycerine and other secondary ingredients that make up this separated product. It comes in a small bottle that looks like this:
And it's incredibly easy to use, and marketed for all skin types. Hooray! All you have to do is dip a cotton bud into the pink sediment at the bottom (the bottle is very eager to tell you not to shake the bottle or use just the pink sediment, the separation is part of how the product works) and pull it out, then apply the mixture to your skin. You don't even rub it in, you just dot it on, let it dry, and leave it overnight!
I wouldn't suggest using this every day because it is drying; I've noticed little bits of dryness on my forehead where I've been using it, however that's nothing a little bit of Celestial from LUSH won't fix.
However, I do appreciate that they put glycerine in it, because it helps lock moisture into the skin, however you're still getting the effects of the sulfur and the salicylic acid with the calming, anti-inflammatory effects of the calamine.
But overall, I've noticed a huge change in my skin. It's gone from bumpy and irritated with lots of little blackheads and whiteheads and enlarged pores to almost back to how it normally is. The bumps that I have are either completely gone or they have diminished in size by more than half overnight. The area surrounding where I put the product is a little bit dry, like I said, but I throw a little bit of moisturizer for sensitive skin over it and it's all good to go.
If I had to rate this product on a scale of 1-10 I'd rate it a 9.5, only docking the .5 for the dryness that you get but it's easy to deal with.
Hope this helps guys! If you try it out, let me know how it works for you!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
My Updated Skincare Routine
Well, guys, it finally happened: the day my skin went crazy. We should turn that into a horror film or something, shouldn't we?
I decided it was time to switch up my skincare routine because I've been doing the same thing for quite some time now. I was finding that I was breaking out more often so I substituted my moisturizer, and when that didn't help I substituted my cleansers...I could go on for days about how many things I switched up.
However, in the recent weeks, my skin (pardon the graphic imagery here) pretty much erupted in little bumps, enlarged pores, and lots of redness. The weirdest part is it happened almost overnight. In a matter of three days, the integrity of my skin was completely different and I was staring at myself in the mirror saying "what exactly happened here?"
So I ran to Ulta, and bought a new cleanser, a new moisturizer, and a new spot treatment! Here's what I'm using nowt:
This stuff has done wonders for me even after the first time I used it. This a gel cleanser that I use with my Clarisonic to really work it into my skin, and it feels cooling and comforting on my tight, depressed skin. I noticed that after using it, my skin felt smooth without feeling tight and uncomfortable, which is a pretty typical problem that I have with my cleansers. I've noticed a visible difference in the look of my skin since using this (last night), my pores look tighter and my skin is brighter and much less red!
Product number two I'm using:
LUSH's Grease Lightning "cleanser" (spot treatment) which I have been using for forever now. It's awesome preventative maintenance but if a spot does come up, I tend to be really impatient with how fast it goes away. I mean, who wouldn't be, right?
I love the tea tree and witch hazel in here to help with redness and inflammation, though! And it smells awesome!
Product number three:
Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion
This stuff is MAGIC! I heard about it from Leesha at xSparkage on YouTube, and she talks about how much she loves this all the time. I had to try it because with breakouts like mine, benzoyl peroxide is too harsh on my skin. It ends up leaving it red and irritated and because of that, the spot gets even bigger. I tried this one time overnight last night and my spots are gone. Not 100% gone like they were never there, but they have dramatically reduced in size, and I can see an extreme difference in the skin around where the blemishes were. It is much calmer and the pores look smaller!
Product number four:
LUSH's Toner Waters! In the morning I use Tea Tree Water to mop up excess oil during the day and I also use it as preventative maintenance to keep blemishes away, and then at night I use Breath of Fresh Air because the aloe keeps my skin a bit hydrated and smooth.
Product number five:
I've been using LUSH's Celestial moisturizer (meant for sensitive skin to protect against pollution) as my moisturizer. I was using Vanishing Cream, but I was finding too much of my face was feeling tight and dry, so I switched to something a bit heavier. It makes my skin feel like a baby's butt. I won't lie.
So as of this morning, I woke up with super soft skin! I'm going to try the routine again tonight and see if it keeps working for me.
Thanks for reading!
I decided it was time to switch up my skincare routine because I've been doing the same thing for quite some time now. I was finding that I was breaking out more often so I substituted my moisturizer, and when that didn't help I substituted my cleansers...I could go on for days about how many things I switched up.
However, in the recent weeks, my skin (pardon the graphic imagery here) pretty much erupted in little bumps, enlarged pores, and lots of redness. The weirdest part is it happened almost overnight. In a matter of three days, the integrity of my skin was completely different and I was staring at myself in the mirror saying "what exactly happened here?"
So I ran to Ulta, and bought a new cleanser, a new moisturizer, and a new spot treatment! Here's what I'm using nowt:
Murad Redness Therapy Soothing Cleanser
This stuff has done wonders for me even after the first time I used it. This a gel cleanser that I use with my Clarisonic to really work it into my skin, and it feels cooling and comforting on my tight, depressed skin. I noticed that after using it, my skin felt smooth without feeling tight and uncomfortable, which is a pretty typical problem that I have with my cleansers. I've noticed a visible difference in the look of my skin since using this (last night), my pores look tighter and my skin is brighter and much less red!
Product number two I'm using:
LUSH's Grease Lightning "cleanser" (spot treatment) which I have been using for forever now. It's awesome preventative maintenance but if a spot does come up, I tend to be really impatient with how fast it goes away. I mean, who wouldn't be, right?
I love the tea tree and witch hazel in here to help with redness and inflammation, though! And it smells awesome!
Product number three:
Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion
This stuff is MAGIC! I heard about it from Leesha at xSparkage on YouTube, and she talks about how much she loves this all the time. I had to try it because with breakouts like mine, benzoyl peroxide is too harsh on my skin. It ends up leaving it red and irritated and because of that, the spot gets even bigger. I tried this one time overnight last night and my spots are gone. Not 100% gone like they were never there, but they have dramatically reduced in size, and I can see an extreme difference in the skin around where the blemishes were. It is much calmer and the pores look smaller!
Product number four:
LUSH's Toner Waters! In the morning I use Tea Tree Water to mop up excess oil during the day and I also use it as preventative maintenance to keep blemishes away, and then at night I use Breath of Fresh Air because the aloe keeps my skin a bit hydrated and smooth.
Product number five:
I've been using LUSH's Celestial moisturizer (meant for sensitive skin to protect against pollution) as my moisturizer. I was using Vanishing Cream, but I was finding too much of my face was feeling tight and dry, so I switched to something a bit heavier. It makes my skin feel like a baby's butt. I won't lie.
So as of this morning, I woke up with super soft skin! I'm going to try the routine again tonight and see if it keeps working for me.
Thanks for reading!
Posting Schedule
Hi my lovely readers! In order to keep on top of posting consistently for all of you, I've decided to make myself a little posting schedule. This is going to help with you guys getting posts without wondering when they're going to be up, and it's also going to help me with letting me get all of the work I need to do in between done!
So here it is: I will be posting Mondays and Thursdays (at least) before 7:00 pm. This is going to be when I post for the rest of forever unless it's really not working out for some reason (however I really don't see it being a problem, the only interference may be my work schedule, and if that becomes a problem I can change the time to after 10, since that's when I'm definitely out of the shop.)
I'm going to be uploading another post in a few minutes, but we're going to have to hold off on the Stila Foil shadow review I wanted to do because...well...my local makeup stores didn't have it. -sigh- But I got a bunch of lovely products I'd like to share with you guys, all of which are cruelty-free!
The post coming up is going to be my updated skincare routine.
Thanks for being so understanding everyone!
So here it is: I will be posting Mondays and Thursdays (at least) before 7:00 pm. This is going to be when I post for the rest of forever unless it's really not working out for some reason (however I really don't see it being a problem, the only interference may be my work schedule, and if that becomes a problem I can change the time to after 10, since that's when I'm definitely out of the shop.)
I'm going to be uploading another post in a few minutes, but we're going to have to hold off on the Stila Foil shadow review I wanted to do because...well...my local makeup stores didn't have it. -sigh- But I got a bunch of lovely products I'd like to share with you guys, all of which are cruelty-free!
The post coming up is going to be my updated skincare routine.
Thanks for being so understanding everyone!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Cruelty Free Beauty (Stila edition)
Segment number two in our search for beauty without bunnies! Today's focus is Stila Cosmetics.
Stila is a cosmetics company that prides themselves on high quality products, and I can vouch for them when I say they do a pretty awesome job of making products that can be used for special occasions, every day...the works.
You can get Stila pretty accessibly, too, I know personally I can get it at the Ulta that's around 7 minutes from my house. However if you can't get to an Ulta or Sephora, Stila has a great policy: free shipping and handling for their website on orders over $50! (and I guarantee with the products they have, you're going to want to order well over $50)
So let's talk about some of their products that will help you achieve incredible amounts of fabulousness without the disappointment of knowing it was smeared on one of our furry friends first...
They have just about any makeup product you could ask for, from skincare (such as foundations and concealers) to waterproof mascaras and eyeliners, to shimmering and matte eyeshadows.
Their eyeshadows from my experiences are beautiful and highly pigmented, and range from crazy brights to neutrals. No matter what you're looking for, they're going to have it for your eyes. They even have a primer called the Prime Pot, very similar to MAC's Paint Pot! (just a bit stickier; I've found it works better for me than the Paint Pots do).
And now for the face: Stila offers BB and CC creams, as well as foundations, primers, concealers, you name it.
They even have lip and cheek tints in a handy pen-like package! Talk about convenient, right?
I'm going to pick up one of their "Magnificent Metals foil finish" eyeshadows tomorrow- I'll be doing a review of that some time in the very near future! Stay tuned for more cruelty-free beauty brands, as I'll be posting hopefully at least once a week. :) stay beautiful, everyone!
Stila is a cosmetics company that prides themselves on high quality products, and I can vouch for them when I say they do a pretty awesome job of making products that can be used for special occasions, every day...the works.
You can get Stila pretty accessibly, too, I know personally I can get it at the Ulta that's around 7 minutes from my house. However if you can't get to an Ulta or Sephora, Stila has a great policy: free shipping and handling for their website on orders over $50! (and I guarantee with the products they have, you're going to want to order well over $50)
So let's talk about some of their products that will help you achieve incredible amounts of fabulousness without the disappointment of knowing it was smeared on one of our furry friends first...
They have just about any makeup product you could ask for, from skincare (such as foundations and concealers) to waterproof mascaras and eyeliners, to shimmering and matte eyeshadows.
Their eyeshadows from my experiences are beautiful and highly pigmented, and range from crazy brights to neutrals. No matter what you're looking for, they're going to have it for your eyes. They even have a primer called the Prime Pot, very similar to MAC's Paint Pot! (just a bit stickier; I've found it works better for me than the Paint Pots do).
And now for the face: Stila offers BB and CC creams, as well as foundations, primers, concealers, you name it.
They even have lip and cheek tints in a handy pen-like package! Talk about convenient, right?
I'm going to pick up one of their "Magnificent Metals foil finish" eyeshadows tomorrow- I'll be doing a review of that some time in the very near future! Stay tuned for more cruelty-free beauty brands, as I'll be posting hopefully at least once a week. :) stay beautiful, everyone!
Monday, September 16, 2013
Cruelty-Free Beauty (LUSH edition)
Hi there my beautiful readers! For those of you that have checked back here, I apologize for my disappearance but I plan on being around a lot more often now! For those of you that are new to the family, welcome!
I'm going to be starting a series of posts on cruelty-free beauty, so I will be making one post per brand I use to show you how easy it is to be fabulous without the mistreatment of animals in the process.
The first brand I'm going to talk about is the wonderful LUSH Cosmetics, of course. They have become pioneers in the world of beauty without bunnies, and they have everything you could ever imagine from skincare to body care to makeup (called Emotional Brilliance) and it's awesomely pigmented.
The cool thing about Emotional Brilliance is that it can be used anywhere on the face or body, being that the ingredients are all healthy for the skin. You'll find ingredients like jojoba oil which is great for moisturizing, rose petal infusion to soothe, and almond oil which is a moisturizing and emollient ingredient for smoothing and hydrating. These colors range from yellows to browns to black and red and pink.
They are long-lasting and highly pigmented without the animal testing procedures that so many makeup brands practice so it's feel-good beauty! Apply it like a cream eyeshadow and blend out, or apply with a doe foot applicator and use it as a lipstick. These colors all also work as eyeliner and mascara!
Stop in to your local LUSH store for a color reading where you pick your colors...then the meanings behind the colors are explained!
Comment and let me know which colors are your favorites! Until next time beauties, stay stunning.
I'm going to be starting a series of posts on cruelty-free beauty, so I will be making one post per brand I use to show you how easy it is to be fabulous without the mistreatment of animals in the process.
The first brand I'm going to talk about is the wonderful LUSH Cosmetics, of course. They have become pioneers in the world of beauty without bunnies, and they have everything you could ever imagine from skincare to body care to makeup (called Emotional Brilliance) and it's awesomely pigmented.
The cool thing about Emotional Brilliance is that it can be used anywhere on the face or body, being that the ingredients are all healthy for the skin. You'll find ingredients like jojoba oil which is great for moisturizing, rose petal infusion to soothe, and almond oil which is a moisturizing and emollient ingredient for smoothing and hydrating. These colors range from yellows to browns to black and red and pink.
They are long-lasting and highly pigmented without the animal testing procedures that so many makeup brands practice so it's feel-good beauty! Apply it like a cream eyeshadow and blend out, or apply with a doe foot applicator and use it as a lipstick. These colors all also work as eyeliner and mascara!
Stop in to your local LUSH store for a color reading where you pick your colors...then the meanings behind the colors are explained!
Comment and let me know which colors are your favorites! Until next time beauties, stay stunning.
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