When you live in the desert, dryness isn’t just part of the landscape it is part of everyday life. When I moved back to the high desert after spending 3 years living on the coast, I had to slather myself with lotion and face cream, conditioner, only to end up dryer that my moisture free self on the coast. My lips were my biggest source of struggle, they were constantly dry and without constant chapstick they would crack and peel. I gave up on lipstick and bough enough chapstick to put in every purse, coat pocked, desk drawer, car cubby and pants pocket that I had. I got a few tented chapsticks, so I got the look of a lipstick without the dryness.
Read morePerfectly Imperfect Holiday Gift Guide
If you are anything like me you usually skip Black Friday (okay, okay I maybe ordered a few things while on my couch in my PJs and okay those things might have been for me) only to start frantically searching for the perfect gifts for everyone else mid-December. I’ve always been a procrastinator and it really makes Christmas a stressful time for me. I may need a holiday shopping intervention! The last few years Santa has gotten me some really great gifts and if you are still wondering what to get your Mom or your Sister-in-law or your best friend, stop fretting I got you covered! Whether you want to spend $20 or $120 this gift guide has something she will love!
Read moreThe Reasons I Switched to a Virtually Unknown Makeup Brand
Okay ladies let’s talk about getting older. I’m 35 and in the last couple years there have been some changes in my face. Some aging changes in my face, some fine lines and wrinkles. It seems like I just woke up one morning and there they were, looking back at me from the mirror. I started to notice that my makeup was sinking into those lines and accentuating my age. I wasn’t comfortable, I felt like this was the first thing people would see when they looked at me. It was not, but that was how I felt. I had been using the same makeup from the beauty counter for years, I kinda hate to admit how many years I stuck with this company even with the makeup looking not that great. When you get used to something, it becomes your comfort zone and it’s hard to make a change. Am I right?
Read moreBest Eczema Friendly Products
My husband and I moved back to my hometown about 10 years ago. Moving back to a very dry climate for the first time in almost 10 years caused me to have one of the worst eczema flare-ups I had ever had. Small towns come with good old-fashioned small town doctors and I returned to my parent’s family doctor. I have struggled with eczema for years, at my family doctor, he came into the exam room and he was chuckling as he told me that he looked at my history and the first time I had come to see him about my eczema I was 3 months old. My neck chest, face, bends of my arms and legs were all covered in an itchy peeling bright red rash.
Read moreEasy two ingredient face mask
I have tried a lot of face masks, expensive ones and cheap ones. They never seem to deliver on what they promise. Maybe I have high expectations, but I have always thought of face masks as a reset, they get my skin perfectly hydrated and help clear pores and help heal blemishes. Otherwise, what the heck is the point, I’m a mom I don’t have time for something that isn’t gonna get me rockin’ in 15 minuets or less. I also am not a spa girl, not because I don’t want to go to a spa, but because it’s that or buying groceries for the month. I think my family would prefer to eat.
Enter the best face mask ever. This bad boy is hydrating, fights clogged pores, acne and aging and you probably have the ingredients in your pantry right now. Yep, no loading the kids in the car to search for the magical ingredients or logging into Amazon Prime to get them here tomorrow. What are these ingredients? Honey and Baking Soda, yep that’s right you don’t even have to put down your wine to go look.
Benefits of Honey
Honey is truly magical, this yummy liquid gold made by bees also has amazing benefits for your skin. Honey is an antioxidant, anti inflammatory, has antibacterial properties and according to Women’s Health is something called a natural humectant, meaning that is draws moisture out of thin air. How cool is that! What does all this mean for you? Honey will reduce the look of blemishes and scars, fight bacteria that causes acne and pull moisture out of thin air for your skin to absorb. The anti oxidants and enzymes naturally fight the appearance of aging.
What’s the catch? Ok, so there is a very small catch, it has to be raw honey. So you may have to set your wine down and double check on that. Sorry. Pasteurized honey is heated and that process will take some of those awesome things out of your honey. Look for raw honey in the grocery store. I generally stock up on local honey during the summer at my farmers market.
Benefits of Baking Soda
Baking soda is another awesome staple with so many uses. We use baking soda tooth paste for the same reason that you would want to use it on your face it has natural antibacterial properties that fight bacteria in your mouth that cause tooth decay and will fight it on your skin to prevent acne. The other benenfit of baking soda is that it is alkaline and our skin is naturally alkaline as well, so if your pH is out of wack it will get you back on track. If you are interested to know more about it you can learn about the benefits and risks of baking soda for skincare from an actual health professional on HealthLine.
Honey Face Mask Recipe
It’s easy and I generally just eyeball it so don’t worry about being super exact. I also only make this in small batches when I need it, because there is a chemical reaction and after a few days you will want to whip up a new batch. You might want to adjust to make smaller or larger batches depending on you needs.
You will need a small glass jar with a lid, baby food jars are perfect, but any small jar with a lid would work. A popsicle stick, spoon or your finger for mixing (wash your hands first you dirty girl). A tablespoon and a teaspoon for measuring.
2 tablespoons Honey
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
Add the honey and baking soda to the glass jar, mix until combined. The mixture will start to react and look light in color and create a foamy honey mixture. The longer you let it sit the more it will react and grow. I like to wait 15 to 30 minutes for the mixture to double in size before use.
To apply simply scoop some out of the jar and smooth over clean skin. Don’t rub this mixture into your skin (if you read 5 Skincare Lessons I Learned in My 30s, you know I don’t like abrasive exfoliators) baking soda is abrasive and can scratch your skin, so be gentle and smooth it on in thick strokes. Leave on for 5 to 10 minutes and rinse off with warm water and a wash cloth.
Be advised this is made out of honey that will heat on your skin and become liquid, so don’t wear your favorite shirt or the blazer you are planning on giving a presentation in at work.
Enjoy your beautiful skin!
Reference:
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/a19946109/beauty-uses-for-honey/
Why you should stop washing your face
I stopped washing my face about 6 months ago and I wondered why I didn’t do this 20 years ago? My skin is the best it has ever been at 35 years old! Why did no one tell me when I was 15 and had teenage acne to stop washing my face? So I’m telling you now!
Stop washing your face!
Ok, so I do cleanse my face once a day, I use a gentle non-foaming cleanser at night. Only at night, my face isn’t dirty in the morning, so no need to wash it.
Why did I make this switch in my skincare routine?
I have always thought that I had combination skin, really oily in my T-zone and dry everywhere else. I had frequent breakouts and even more severe hormonal breakouts. Hated my skin, I struggled with makeup it wouldn’t stay on the oily parts of my face and clung to the dry patches. I had always believed that oil was the enemy. So, as a teenager the more I broke out the more I would wash my face, the harsher the cleansers I would use. I used gritty exfoliating acne wash that I paid hundreds of dollars for and my skin only seemed to get worse.
Like most Americans I was washing my face twice a day. This over cleansing was doing more to damage then good for my skin. I was stripping the natural sebum in my skin, sebum is produced by glands under your skin and secreted through the pores. This oily, waxy sebum is what naturally hydrates and causes skin to be waterproof. Harsh cleansers strip the sebum and can cause the sebaeous glands to work overtime to produce more sebum. This over production causes clogged pores and breakouts and less hydration causes the dry flakey patches.
Tres Leches for the Win!
I was given the Tres Leches skincare system to try, non-foaming mild cleanser, toner and moisturizer. The recommend use was nightly use only. So I switched to this new routine, but clinging to what I had always know I kept cleansing two times a day. It was a difficult change for me, I was used to the tight clean feeling of a soap or harsh cleanser. My skin seemed oily and my makeup seemed to melt off during the day. I thought, I guess this just doesn’t work for my skin type. Instead of stopping and going back to my old routine, I though, I’ll give it a try as they suggested. So, I gave up cleanser, tonner and moisturizer in the morning. I just quickly rinse or wipe my face with a damp cloth and put on my makeup. The difference was amazing! No more dry patches, no more oily, oily T-zone and my breakouts are primarily hormonal with the rare lone zit. The breakouts I do have seem to clear up quicker than they did before. My makeup goes on smooth and stays on throughout the day. For the first time in my adult life feel like I can leave the house without makeup (ok, ok I still can’t leave without mascara).
The textured skin that was always on my forehead and my chin from blackheads or whiteheads forming is all gone. My skin is smooth!! I am getting complements on how great my skin looks! So, even if you are 35 with kiddos, it’s not too late to have great skin. Plus when you have kids, do you really get time to wash your face in the morning anyway?
5 Skincare Lessons I Have Learned in My 30s
Lessons I have learned about my skin that I really wish someone had told me when I was 13.
1. Exfoliate Often
I have exfoliated for years, but I was irregular and I usually used an abrasive exfoliating scrub it didn’t do good things for my skin. I now exfoliate regularly with a gentle chemical exfoliating gel, it has done wonders for how my makeup goes on and stays on throughout the day.
Using an abrasive exfoliating scrub would scratch the top layer of skin, exacerbating the problem. The more I scratched my skin the more pealing dry patches I would get. Using a gentle exfoliating gel gently peels away the top layer of dead skin, revealing the healthy skin underneath. I exfoliate at least once a week, sometimes twice a week and it has done wonders for how my makeup looks!
My favorite exfoliating gel Cure Natural Aqua Gel is available here.
2. Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize
This is something I wish someone had explained to me when I was 13 and suffering from teenage hormonal acne. My teenage brain thought, I’m breaking out so there must be dirt in my pores, so I would scrub with harsh cleansers and soap until my face tight and “clean”. I didn’t realize that this was the worst thing I could do for my acne prone skin. The more oils I stripped away with over cleansing the more I prompted my skin to produce more oil. This over production of oil, caused even more breakouts by causing blockages in my pores.
In my 20s I started regularly moisturizing, usually with a light moisturizer with sunscreen that I would wear during the day under my foundation. I have a very oily T-zone and I thought that a heavy moisturizer would just add to the oiliness. At that point, I had invested in an expensive 3-part acne system to combat my regular breakouts. It was not working, partly because it was harsh and abrasive exfoliating cleanser and partially because I was never consistent with any skincare routine and I was not using a really good moisturizer.
My 35th birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I have the best skin I have ever had (well post puberty anyway). Around my 32nd birthday, I finally started reading about how to care for your skin and the answer that always seemed to pop up was, moisturize! If you have oily skin, invest in a really good night cream/moisturizer, moisturizing with oily skin signals your skin that it can slow down on the oil production. If you have dry skin, first exfoliate and then moisturize, invest in a really good night cream/moisturizer. If your skin is dry you are not producing enough oils naturally and you need to add moisture. Exfoliating first will take off the top dead layer of skin and allow the moisturizer to penetrate your skin and do the most good. I have combination skin, so I have dry patchy areas as well as a very oil T-zone. I finally invested in a really good moisturizer/night cream and I liberally slather it on every night before bed and my skin is so much happier, I don’t have dry patches, my oil production had decreased and my makeup goes on smooth and stays on throughout the day.
My favorite moisturizer is Milk moisturizer from Maskcara beauty, you can get it here.
3. Use a gentle face cleanser
This is key, if you are using a harsh cleanser you are probably undoing all the good you are doing by exfoliating and moisturizing. Americans tend to over wash, we have this obsession with being clean and that obsession is causing problems with our skin. Harsh cleansers or over cleansing messes with our natural oil production. I say knock it off! If my face is truly dirty, meaning I have actual dirt on it from a day of gardening or a weekend of camping, I use a Dove Moisturizing bar to wash it. I only ever use this at night, never in the morning. My face is not dirty in the morning, if yours is you must have much wilder nights than I do! The best cleanser is a non-foaming cleanser, non-foaming cleansers will keep your natural oils and keep your face moisturized. I use a non-foaming cleanser at night (unless my skin is actually dirty then I use Dove) and I make my own mixture for the morning, with two ingredients you already have in your pantry. Depending on your skin type and what works best for you, decide if you need moisturizer in the morning. Some days I use a light moisturizer and some days I just put on my makeup without moisturizer.
My night cleanser is Milk cleanser from Maskcara and you can get it here.
My morning cleanser recipe:
¼ cup honey and 1 tablespoon baking soda. Mix in a glass jar with a lid. Let sit at least a half hour before using to let the baking soda react with the honey to make a lovely foam. Scoop out spread on your face, let sit for 60 seconds and then wipe off with warm water on a microfiber cloth.
** I make small batches 3 times a week, because the soda will continue to react with the honey and will only be useable for 2 to 3 days depending on the temperature in your house.
4. Sunscreen Everyday
Suddenly when you enter your 30s everything changes, you go from a sunbathing beauty to seeing your first sunspots emerge and you finally take the advice that your grandma tried to give you when you were 19. “Wear big hats and sunscreen, all the time and even in the winter.” My skin has also changed from going to a beautiful tanned perfection after a nice summer day, to now burning and then going back to pasty white. There are so many great options for fake tanning these days, that there is really no excuse for damaging you skin in the sun.
So, I now wear sunscreen every day on my face, there are some great options out there for sunscreen that make it so easy. If you have your favorite moisturizer or setting spray that doesn’t have SPF and you don’t want to sacrifice your favorite products to slather on oily sunscreen that will cause your makeup to do funny things try Neutrogena Liquid sunscreen, available here. Although the best is a makeup setting spray with SPF! Why add extra steps if you don’t need to, get the one I use everyday here!
Get UltraSheer Liquid Sunscreen here.
Get Stay Setting Spray with SPF here.
5. Correctly color matched foundation
So unless you have a crazy awesome genetics and you are in your 30s chances are you are starting to see fine lines. I hate to admit it but it seems like every time I look closely in the mirror I have aged a bit more, I blame it on the 2 year old monster living in my house. With these fine lines came the realization that my makeup wasn’t up to the task and the 19 year old at the MAC counter had no idea how to help. I would leave the house looking amazing and look in the mirror at 10:30 to see that my foundation was now settled into the lines around my eyes. Let me be the first to tell you, this isn’t the way it should be. If you have the correct shade of foundation It won’t settle! Yep, that is right you just need to find the right shade. There is help, maybe hit it the makeup counter during school hours to get more mature help. Or contact me and I would be so excited to find you makeup that works for you and makes you look as beautiful as you truly are!