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 beauties! So I decided to write this post after my skin freaked out on me yet again, because I know many people struggle with those little blemishes that pop up right before important events. In my case, I have NYCC (New York Comic Con) on Friday, and I'll be wearing liquid latex to keep my mask on. (I'm going as Harley Quinn from Batman, I'll be the Harley with red hair in pigtails instead of blonde, in a black and red jersey dress with her costume's pattern and combat boots in case any of y'all see me and want to say hi...I'll also post pictures afterwards! :D)
So I know my skin is going to be incredibly unhappy with me, as it is showing me signs that it isn't too happy with me right now. So I've done lots of research on spot treatments, and here's what I learned:
There are plenty of spot treatments out there, but not all of them seem to get the job done. It's all what ingredients are in there and how your skin reacts to those ingredients!
When you're looking for a good spot treatments, look for ingredients that are going to antibacterialize the skin without drying it out. Sometimes dryness is good if your pimple is filled with lots of pus and producing excess oil around the pore, but most of the time, we need to keep our skin hydrated and that will help prevent acne because it is balancing the amount of oil that is being produced and pushed to the skin's surface.
Here's a list of some good antibacterial ingredients:
-Tea tree
-Witch Hazel
-Hydrogen Peroxide
-Honey
-Thyme
-Peppermint oil
-Grapeseed oil
-Grapefruit
That's just naming a few that occur naturally!
If you put tea tree oil or witch hazel on a blemish, it will help to detox the pore and bring down inflammation. Honey provides natural moisturization while still antibacterializing your pore...not to mention it tastes and smells awesome!
I would not recommend hydrogen peroxide for topical use on the face because it will probably be too harsh, however it does occur naturally.
Some other ingredients I have found to be helpful:
-Sulfur
-Salicylic Acid
-Aloe Vera
-Benzoyl Peroxide
-Kaolin clay
...It is said that benzoyl peroxide is too harsh on the skin as well and may cause redness and irritation as well as excessive dryness, but when I get acne I know that this stuff helps at least a little bit overnight and then I just add a little bit of extra moisturizer the next day.
Look for these ingredients in your spot treatments and you'll be set to treat those pesky pimples!
Just be sure to use moisturizer afterwards, because dry skin could lead to even more irritated, breakout prone skin!
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!
