Hi beauties!
So I know that this is one of my favorite things to see; I figured I would post mine for all of you...my fall skincare routine! As the weather gets colder my skin gets crankier, being that my dry spots get drier and my oily spots break out. Lately, the updated products I've been using have been keeping my skin feeling smooth and looking happy and healthy.
Some of these products are old favorites, but the rest are brand new and I'm absolutley loving them.
Morning:
1) Cleanse! I've been using the Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser. I take 2 pumps of this and smooth it all over my face and neck, then I use my Clarisonic to give myself a really deep clean. This stuff doesn't have any soap content to it, which is great for my sensitive skin and keeping it from drying out, but the foaminess gives you that squeaky clean feeling. It foams when you pump it out of the bottle, so you don't have to work it into a lather, potentially irritating your skin. Basically, this stuff is magic and it's fabulous and I recommend it to anyone with combination skin like myself.
2) Treat! I've been using the Peter Thomas Roth Gentle Complexion Correcting pads for about 8-9 months now...I feel like they get rid of any bacteria stuck in my pores. They have one exfolating side and one smooth side; the smooth side is meant to cleanse while the exfoliating side is made to tighten pores and loosen up debris. They smell like peaches (yum!) but have a 1/2% Salicylic Acid and 10% Glycolic Acid to keep acne away and fight signs of aging.
3) Tone! I've been using LUSH's toner waters for about 2 years now. I've tried all 3 in my skincare routine, but my personal favorite by far is Eau Roma water. It's basically just rose water and lavender water, so it's an astringent (super effective in keeping pores nice and tight) but it's very soothing. I suffer from lots of redness in my skin, so this stuff keeps it from being blotchy, too. I keep the big size around because I like to use it to refresh my face during the day as well!
3) Moisturize! I've been loving the Mario Badescu Aloe Moisturizer with SPF 15. It's oil-free to keep me from breaking out, and my skin loves aloe to keep it healthy. This stuff leaves me feeling hydrated but never greasy, and it has SPF which is necessary all year, so my skin is protected against the elements.
Night:
1) Remove makeup! I use LUSH's 9 to 5 cleansing lotion religiously to take off makeup forever now. It's dove orchid and almond oil, so it's super light and antioxidizing. It's great for all skin types, so while I use this as a "precleanse" so to speak, it won't clog my pores in the meantime. I just take a little bit of this on dry hands and rub it onto anywhere I want to remove my makeup. It's gentle in the eye area, too!
2) Cleanse! I switched back to an old favorite, LUSH's Herbalism. I had strayed away for a long time and went through a long, long search for an amazing cleanser that I could fall in love with, and I decided nothing worked the way this one did. It's got rice vinegar to mop up oil and rosemary to antibacterialize. It also has ground almonds for a very gentle exfoliation that you can do every day. It keeps my skin from flaring up, I've found that my skin tone is more even, smoother, softer...I don't have enough good things to say. It kind of smells like teriyaki sauce...but hey, you win some, you lose some.
3) Treat! I use the Peter Thomas Roth AHA/BHA Acne Clearing Gel. It's a lot like the complexion pads I use in the morning- it's said to have the same effects, it's just focused more on clearing up blackheads, whiteheads, and clogged pores. I use it at night because it feels much stronger than the complexion pads...it has a 2% Salicylic Acid so it's a little bit more potent than the pads I use in the morning. I swear by this stuff. My pores look so much better every time I use it.
4) Tone! I use the Eau Roma Water again. Holy grail. Love forever. Ugh <3
5) Moisturize! I had a love/hate relationship with the Ole Henriksen Nurture Me moisturizer for a while. I thought that was what was causing my awful breakouts on my forehead and sometimes cheeks, which had never happened to me before, but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and continue using it for 2 weeks (that's how long it's recommended you use a skincare product to determine if it really works for you) and my skin is feeling fabulous. It's cushiony soft because it's more like a gel than a cream, so it absorbs really easily. It's awesome on my sensitive skin; it keeps it feeling hydrated but never, ever greasy because of the gel consistency. The only thing I don't like is the smell- it smells incredibly artificial...like a creamsicle. Don't get me wrong, it smells good...but I could see the scent in a body wash, not a facial moisturizer. Regardless, it feels great, so I'll probably repurchase it.
6) Eye Cream! I've been using the Tarte Maracuja C-Brighter Eye Treatment for a year now and I love it. It doesn't make my eyes burn, it's velvety, it's smooth, and my skin around my eyes feels stronger and more hydrated. I suffer from very delicate, dry skin around my eye area, and this stuff has been beautiful. I'm sure there are other eye creams out there that are great, but I trust this one!
7) Lip Balm! I'm a lip balm junkie. It's a sick, sick obsession I have to find the perfect lip balm. So far, I have found 2. The Bite Agave Lip Mask, which I put on at night and leave it overnight OR before lipstick (then I blot with a tissue)...but my tried and true is always my Rosebud Salve. This is my go-to whenever I have a doubt in my mind about how my lips are handling the weather changes.
I also love the Soap and Glory A Great Kisser lip balms, but they're very sticky. I have to make sure I wear them when my boyfriend isn't around.
Thanks for reading, beauties! Let me know about your skincare routines, I'm a product junkie as you can all tell, so I love to try new things! Until next time!
Hi beauties! I have another review for you today for a product that after this week I might just be a little bit obsessed with.
LUSH Cosmetics' Ultrabland!
This stuff has become my beauty holy grail. It is a cream cleanser, which means that it most definitely doesn't lather. How I like to use it: I wash my hands thoroughly and make sure they're really clean. I scoop a quarter-sized amount of Ultrabland into my hands and rub them together, then rub in circular motions from my jawline to my forehead...making sure to wipe over my eyes and remove my makeup.
(Yes guys, this stuff removes makeup better than a makeup remover wipe...in my own opinion of course)
All you have to do from there is take a damp cotton pad and wipe off the excess. I personally love the exfoliating cotton pads that I get from Target, I just feel cleaner afterwards.
It has lots of almond oil, honey, and beeswax to nourish the skin and rose water to soothe. Somehow, this cleanser works for everyone. It was originally created for one of LUSH's founders when she went to Liz Wier (another founder of LUSH) and begged for something that would help with her excema on her face. They came up with Ultrabland on the spot and it has become a LUSH best-seller ever since.
With good reason. I'm giving this product a 1000/10, it has evened my skin tone and cleared up blemishes in a week. I've used this every night for the last 5 nights, and the ridiculous turnaround in my skin is hardly even explainable. I can't thank LUSH enough for making such an insanely beautiful product.
Don't let the texture and thickness turn you off, beauties, at least take a sample of this baby home and take your makeup off with it. Let me know how it goes!
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!
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.
Don't get caught being eaten alive this summer, beauties! I've been moving towards more organic beauty/skincare products (I was already addicted to LUSH to begin with, but now that I am an employee there, I'm 100% on the more natural way of caring for your skin wagon.) so I thought it would make an interesting post to talk about some natural bug repellents!
I recently discovered that Karma Kream from LUSH Cosmetics is a natural bug repellent; I did some more research and discovered that a few other bug repellents have the same ingredient in common: patchouli oil! Bugs apparently can't stand the smell of patchouli, so if you love the smell of Karma, you're in luck.
Some other (less fragrant than that Off! bug spray) options are:
Bug Repellent from One Eighty Products which contains distilled water, lemon, eucalyptus, citronella, grapefruit, cedar wood, clove, patchouli, and lavender oils
Buzz Off Bug Repellent from Plunk Naturals (found on Etsy!) which contains generally the same ingredients as the Bug Repellent. Downside: you have to reapply every two hours.
Badger Anti-Bug Balm (which is a magical product, I completely endorse it), which is a bit different. It is a solid repellent instead of a liquid mist/spray that you rub onto the skin, so a small amount goes a long way with this product. This product also repels longer than the other two sprays because it is in a more concentrated solid form. This one has eucalyptus, patchouli, gum benzoin, and sandalwood.
And for a fabulous smelling alternative, try the Karma line of products from LUSH! It has patchouli, orange, and lemongrass to make a gorgeous, natural scent.
Good luck beauties, let me know if any of these natural products work for you!
