My Newest Little Gem

Almond oil.  Hmm, who would've thought.  What led me here?  Looking for all natural hair serums and in my google submersion came out deciding to give almond oil a try.  I like it. I do.  Just a drop for the ends of your hair when it's wet.  I also wanted to stop using petroleum jelly to get my eye makeup off.  I tried it for a while to make sure it didn't irritate my eyes.  And it didn't, not at all.  It even made the skin around my eyes really soft.  So I started using it as a moisturizer on that ocular bone I think is what it is, every night.  One night I did notice I had a couple light red bumps and I thought, blasted oil you always break me out!!  But they were gone by morning and haven't been back and I then I ended up reading about in the oil cleansing method (which can use almond oil the mix) that it can draw impurities out of your skin and you can break out at first.  I also tend to get bumpy and itchy on the sides of my neck around the jawline so I put some oil there, it's not your oily oil, not like EVOO is.  Anyway, that area of skin is much softer and smoother.  Read about all the uses here!! "

Healing Purposes
Since almond oil is high in unsaturated fat, it brings down the level of bad cholesterol in the blood. When applied on the skin, it heals eczema and skin rashes.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/almond-oil-uses.html

   

Makeup 2.0

Original post date 3/28/08
For the 4 of you that have expressed interest in my beauty blogging, this is for you, ha! Ok after noticing that in one of the pictures from Easter that my face looked darker than my neck, the king of all makeup offenses, I went back to my clinique training days, got out both of my sheer miracle powders and did the stripe thing on the jaw line, took a mirror the front window and let the analyzing begin. I did about six stripes on different parts of my face and analyzed how they blended etc; I thought the lighter of the two shades, the light warm, seemed to disappear and blend the best. So even though the shade I thought was my shade, the medium light neutral which is their most popular shade is a smidge too dark. Another thing I figured out today is that the foundation works as good as their yellow concealer at, well, concealing. I got out my 2$ shadow brush from walmart that I use for the concealer and it worked great. So the great news is, before I purchased the big size, I figured out my color, that only took 3 months...:) and now I can just use the foundation as the concealer so I saved money not having to buy the concealer. I'll probably just use the darker in case, yeah right, my face gets darker in the summer...Also, I have barely put a dent in my little samples! I wear makeup about twice a week but really that's awesome I think! I am planning on ordering the foundation, Sienna Rose Mineral Blush, Copper Shadow.

*update, if you can believe it I still have not run out of the blush!!  I still have my sample of bronzer I use a lot in the summer and I use the medium light neutral in the summer as well.  Also for a more smokey brown I mix their black shadow with the copper shadow, probably 1/3 black to 2/3 copper.  All their stuff lasts a long time.

Face

Original post date 2/12/09
Since I had a specific request for more info on what beauty products I use that are chemical free ( or at least fragrance and paraben free) here comes my list. I suppose I will first say that before purchasing things like soap, toothpaste, moisturizer etc, I check the cosmetic safety database. It's in my FYI section on the blog, and if I can't find the specific product, I search the specific ingredients of the product I'm interested in.

I have not yet tried chemical free or low hazard hair products for myself. ( I'll do a separate post for what I use for the kids)I 'll list in the order I use them. *I do now and I will get on posting what I use. hair color is still not.*

0-2 low hazard,3-6 moderate, 7-10 high hazard

-Dove sensitive skin no fragrance bar, I wash with this and use this to remove my makeup and eye makeup. this used to rate a 2 but I just checked online and it's a 3 now... hmm go figure

-Desert Essence, Organics Body Care, Red Raspberry Body Wash, 8 fl oz (237 ml) this used to be a 2-3 can't remember, no fragrance, parabens etc, does have alpha and beta hydroxy for exfoliation. I use on my shoulders and chest with a loofah too. And every night I use this little round face scrub pad with the facewash, it's at walmart, beside the little face loofah but not the loofah. Clear as mud?? * I currently use

Beauty Without Cruelty, Facial Cleanser, 3% AHA Complex, 8.5 fl oz (250 ml) 

I really like this face wash, my only issue is the benzol alcohol, and I like I saw, I'm about try the oil cleansing method...*

-Vaseline for getting the rest of mascara off. rating? a big fat 0. * it rates a 0 but it's petroleum so I just recently started using almond oil and it is working great, and not irritating and it makes the skin around my eyes really soft.  more on almond oil in another post.*

-Home Health, Blemish Treatment Lotion, 4 fl oz (118 ml) database rating, unknown, I looked up ingredients before buying... I'm guessing 2-3 or better. (it's like clinique clarifying lotion) * I use this stuff like crazy*

-Nature's Way, CamoCare Organics, Under-Eye Therapy, 0.5 fl oz (15 ml) looked these up and this has to be low hazard, not listed when I bought but again I looked up the ingredients. * I use something different now, I will update my latest finds and current products but I keep these on here because it gives variaty in safe options.*

Aubrey Organics, Lumessence, Rejuvenating Eye Creme with Liposomes, I use the nature's way in the am, aubrey's in the pm, rates a 2 I believe. I didn't mean to use two at the same time, I just thought I was running out of my aubrey's faster than I thought.

-Reviva Labs, 10% Glycolic Acid Cream, 1.5 oz if you try just one thing, this would be it, it turns the skin over great and rates a 2 last I checked. you may want to opt for the 5% if you think you could be irritated.  * I no longer use this because i found something I liked a little more, I wouldn't be opposed to trying this again sometime though and kep it on here like I say for more options.*

So that's my night regimen, (although I did list am eye cream, I didn't think it would take this long..) I can tell I'm going to have to do these in parts...everything I've used that I've got off iherb, I've reviewed, you can probably tell which ones are mine. My skin is oily and breakout prone lately (always oily...) so I'm always looked for things to help that skin layers keep turning over. Exfoliation!! Sounds obsessive but my skin breaks out when I get lax on exfoliating... annoying but whatever, I'm used to it buy now, I just thought my breakouts were gone for good there for a while... oh well, hormones keep you young right?? *I do not do a face scrub everyday anymore, more like twice a week, slightly more in the summer.*

I try to basically keep what I buy in the price range of what I was already spending and getting as close to low hazard as possible.

updates*

Wide Awake Eye

Original post date 5/29/10

Wide Awake Pink Concealer for Dark Under Eye Circles click on this link, go, go NOW!! ok sorry, I'm still pregnant so I may as well blog... I need a break from the sun and heat anyway. So last week I ordered my summer shade from sheer miracle, ( did I mention they have me 10$ off just for blogging/linking to them, which I had done a long time ago, so that was a nice perk) I also decided to order for 2.50 the sample of the pink concealer. The sample was no bigger than a pea and I thought, GEE... that's minute... well a little goes a long way and this is stuff works awesome!!! It's really hydating and smoothing, really smoothing and does a great job masking the darkness I have on the inner corner of my eyes. I feel like all other concealers sort of magnified any texture or fine line issues, but this is quite something in my opinion, you aren't supposed to use it on the whole under eye, just the darkness, I just dabbed a little and blended. It wears amazing throughout the day and I don't know why... but it almost feels like my skin there has been smoothed too, weird, but good. ;) Did I mention all natural?? Oh and I don't know if was just my skin tone but I thought I might really have to work at blending it since it is a pink concealer but it really doesn't go on that pink at all.

MyChelle Dermaceuticals, Fabulous Eye Cream, .5 fl oz (15 ml) Another eye fave. I have been using this for months, and it has really helped smooth my eye area as well, it has retinol but it's really gentle, and I feel like I'm a good judge of that because ever since highschool my left eye is really sensitive and will get itchy and puffy if I get something too harsh near it. Good ingredients.