skincare

Summertime Favorites: Beauty & Skincare

July 27, 2020 by Alyssa

Summertime beauty and skincare favorites I’m loving right now.

I’ve really dove into skincare during quarantine and found a few new-to-me favorites. Since I’m always curious about other people’s skincare, I thought I’d share mine. Let me know if any of my favorites have made your list too.

Brazilian Bum Bum Cream has been all the rage on the beauty blogs I read so when the Sephora birthday gift happened to be Bum Bum cream, I was beyond excited. And instantly loved it. The smell reminds me of a beachy summer vacation. It’s coconutty, sweet, and smells delicious. IDK if it works to tighten skin while moisturizing but I caved and bought a full-size because it smells and feels glorious on my skin.

Versed Dew Point Moisturizing Gel is a great light-weight summertime moisturizer. I love the gel formula because it doesn’t feel greasy under my makeup but still leaves my face feeling hydrated. I use this as my daytime moisturizer. The price is right too at just $14 and it’s lasted 4-months!

Honesty Beauty Oil is something I use every evening. It took me a while to warm up to oils but I really like it. This one has a light, pleasant smell and I like the way it moisturizes my face right before bed. After regularly using the oil, I found my skin feels more hydrated in the morning when I wake up.

Tip: Oil should always be the last thing you apply to your skin (day or night) unless of course you’re using sunscreen then put the sunscreen on last.

Ole Hendricksen Cold Plunge Mask has been a summertime staple. It’s a cooling clay mask that reduces pore size and controls oil. It’s perfect after a day in the sun and makes me feel extra fancy anytime I wear it. Plus the color makes it fun. I use this twice a week after exfoliating.

Tula Rose Glow & Get It Brightening & Cooling Eye Balm perks up my eyes each morning. It has some shimmer in it along with a cooling effect and a burst of caffeine to make sure I look extra perky on those early morning Zoom calls. It’s easy to apply too, just run it along your eye bags and Boom! You’re bright and ready to get it.

Tip: Did you know you should apply skincare products from your hairline to your bra line? Because when you’re 80, you don’t want to have a youthful-looking face with saggy neck and decolletage, do you? Make sure you cover all of it so you age flawlessly 😉

Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber De-Tox Hydra-Gel Eye Patches pair well with the Cold Plunge Mask or before using the Tula Rose Eye Balm. I keep these in the fridge for an extra cooling effect and pop them on in the morning while drinking coffee. They have cucumber and caffeine in them to help de-puff eyes and reduce dark circles.

Tip: You can find these eye patches at Walmart online for $28 compared to $52 at Ulta, Sephora, or Amazon. Save some money!

Cocokind Vitamin C Serum is something that took me a while to start using regularly but once I did, I noticed my skin looked brighter, fresher. Vitamin C helps even out your skin and is said to help with aging (wrinkles!). I like the Cocokind serum because it’s not too pricey and seems to actually work.

Got any beauty or skincare favorites you’re loving? I’d love to know about them. Tell me in the comments!

Clean Beauty Products I’m Loving

March 20, 2019 by Alyssa

This year I’ve been making the switch over to cleaner beauty products. While I’ve tried quite a few that were flops, I’ve found others that I truly love.

There’s a clean beauty movement making its way through the skincare and makeup market, and with so many new products hitting the stores with claims of clean, paraben-free, non-gmo, and organic, it can be confusing to weed through them all and find the best.

Clean Beauty Ratings

If you’re new to clean beauty, EWG’s Skin Deep & the Think Dirty app are great resources for beginning to understand the ingredients in the world of beauty and skincare. EWG is great if you’re on a computer and can build your own reports if the product you’re looking into isn’t already in their database. I like to use Think Dirty for on-the-fly reviews while browsing products at stores — though their product list is more limited than EWG’s so it’s a hit or miss at times.

When I look for skincare products, I search for those with an EWG score of 3 or below. And for Think Dirty, I’m usually looking for a score of 4 or below. Of course, there are always exceptions to that rule depending on the ingredient causing a score to increase and with that, I use my own judgment based on how I feel about the ingredient. You should do the same. Here’s a great article on skincare ingredients.

Today I’m sharing four clean skincare products I love and have seen improved skin health while using them.

Over the past year I’ve been trying lots of clean beauty products. Specifically looking for skincare and makeup with quality ratings from EWG’s Skin Deep and Think Dirty that are affordable, easily accessible to stock up on, and haven proven results when using them. While I now have quite a few clean beauty products I like, the four I’m sharing today are my most frequently used.

Heritage Store Rosewater & Glycerin

EWG Score: 0 // Think Dirty Score: 0 // eco-friendly, vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free

I use the Heritage Rosewater a toner after washing my face. I love it because the smell is light, the ingredients are simple and it’s just plain refreshing. It’s moderately priced and can easily be picked up on , Thrive Market or Whole Foods. Even <3M likes me to mist his face with it after a hot day. It’s especially refreshing after flying.

Acure Brilliantly Bright Facial Scrub

EWG Score: 2 // Think Dirty Score: 3 // vegan, sulfate-free, paraben-free, cruelty-free, mineral oil-free, petrolatum-free

I love this scrub! And the fact that it’s green makes me love it even more. Acure facial scrub is made with French green clay and sea kelp. The grit in the scrub is gently but effective which means I can use it 2-3 times a week without feeling like I’m over exfoliating my skin. It’s also easy to stock up on, you can find it at Target, Whole Foods, and on Amazon.

Andalou Naturals Ultra Sheer Daily Defense Facial Lotion

EWG Score: 2 // Think Dirty Score: n/a // organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, vegan, sustainable, fair trade, cruelty-free

Moisturizer is all about personal preference. I prefer something that is light, non-greasy and contains SPF. I found to meet all of these requirements and it wears well under makeup, though I wish the SPF were a bit higher as it’s only at 18 SPF. However, this moisturizer smells well and it’s a huge bottle for the price. Find it at Whole Foods, Ulta, Amazon and Thrive Market.

Olehenriksen Banana Bright Eye Cream

EWG Score: 4 // Think Dirty Score: n/a // paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalates-free

Yes, I know. A score of 4 is outside my preferred range but as I said, you have to use some discretion when choosing products and determine which ingredients are important to you. And for me, I’m fine with this rating and ingredients that cause it to go about my preferred EWG 3 score.

Eye cream as part of my skincare regimen is a new addition. I never used one but two times in a row, while getting a makeup touchup post-haircut at Jackson Ruiz, the makeup artist commented on my eyes and asked if I used an eye cream. After the second time, I decided to look into one and came across Olehenriksen’s Banana Bright Cream (no, it does not contain or smell like bananas, it’s named that for its pale yellow color).

This eye cream has a long list of accolades and lots of studies with proven results. And I too can attest to those results as I’ve seen a decrease in puffiness and dark circles since using the cream over the past 3 months.

Olehenriksen’s eye cream is moderately priced ($38) compared to other eye creams on the market, and after using it for 3 months I still have more than half a jar left. The cream has great coverage and you only need a tiny bit each use. I like to use it day and night and during the day, it works well as a lid primer before applying eyeshadow. Find it a Sephora and on Amazon.

Do you have any clean beauty products you love? Share them below! What other sites or tools do you use to check the quality of your skincare products?

My Rodan + Fields Brightening and Lash Boost Experience

March 21, 2018 by Alyssa

It’s been just over 3-months since I started the Rodan + Fields REVERSE Brightening regimen and began using Lash Boost. Today I’m sharing my experience, results, and what’s next for me in terms of skincare.

After watching months of before and after photos appear on my Facebook feed for the Rodan + Fields regimen and jealously yearning for long beautiful lashes, as promised by R+F Lash Boost, I gave into a Cyber Monday deal and splurged on a skincare and Lash Boost set. I started the regimen and began using Lash Boost in early December. It’s been about 3-months of consistent use, maybe missing 5-days total, and I’m happy with the skincare results and have seen definite lash growth.

A Bit About My Skin

I naturally have pretty clear skin, I don’t really remember having breakouts growing up and even now, I only have a rogue pimple every now and then on my chin. I am also blessed with relatively small pores and smooth skin. I consider my skin to be normal in terms of oil but err on the side of sensitive when choosing skin products.

My skin does have some redness issues — specifically around my nose and cheeks, as evident in the before photo below. I also have moderate bags which are always covered with concealer. My biggest issues are a couple popped blood vessels that I’ve had forever and are a bit more noticeable, adding redness to my face. Honestly, I don’t remember not having them — one’s under my left eye and the other on my nose.

My Skincare Routine Before Rodan + Fields

Before using R+F I simply washed my face in the morning while in the shower with and tried to remove my makeup most days before going to bed — using a , which obviously left some residue…. I also used an twice daily once after I showered in the morning and again before bed. Plus during the sunnier seasons.

Also, a couple times a week I used a Lush exfoliator and this pumpkin mask for brightening but that was about it. And as I mentioned before, there are a few additional things I do daily (and continued to do during the R+F process) which I believe contribute to my skin health.

So in short, my before regimen was pretty straight forward, my skin was relatively good and I had a routine

r
Mask and Mask

But like I said, I was curious about R+F and seriously wanted longer lashes without having to go the falsies route which is expensive and requires constant fills.

Here’s How the Rodan + Fields Regimen Works

The REVERSE Brightening regimen comes with one bottle each of

Exfoliator
Toner
Dual Active Brightening Complex
- Vitamin C Formula
- Retinol Formula
SPF 50 Sunscreen

You begin the regimen by using each of the products once every other day then gradually work up to using each product twice daily. My first time using the products, my skin felt quite warm and the products burned (I use this word cautiously but that’s how it felt) as there was more than a tingling and it was quite uncomfortable.

I started using the products every other day for the first week and after a few days, all of the burning subsided as my skin adjusted to the new products.

Knowing that my skin is a bit more sensitive, and finding it odd that the regimen required you to exfoliate twice daily (which I found to be quite excessive) I found my own rhythm with the R+F skincare products. Here’s what I ended up doing

Morning: Wash my face with my go-to and applied my regular followed by the R+F sunscreen
Nightly: Removed makeup with my , followed by R+F toner then a pea-sized amount each of the R+F Vitamin C and Retinol formula
Every Other Night: Exfoliated with the R+F exfoliating scrub followed by the rest of the regimen (toner, vitamin c, retinol)

My Rodan +Fields Skincare Results

Following this system I created for myself over the course of 3-months (December-March) here’s the results I experienced.

As you can see my redness has disappeared and my skin is much more even overall so I believe the reigning worked.

But, I’m left asking myself — is it the specific R+F regimen that worked or was it the overall process of using an exfoliator, toner, and serum regularly that made a difference?

I wasn’t using these kinds of products (toner, vitamin c, retinol) before starting R+F and I’m curious to find out what would happen if I switch out the products (exfoliator, toner, serums) for something more natural/organic and used it as frequently as I used R+F.

Would my results be similar? Would my skin maintain it’s more even coloring?

After my R+F products run out, I’m leaning towards trying a similar regimen with product & ingredients that are better for my skin (at least according to Skin Deep Cosmetics Database site).

Are you still with me? I know this post is rather long but I wanted to group it all together.

Last Boost Results

So this is a little bit more straightforward. Before Lash Boost, I had short stubby eyelashes as evident below. I started Lash Boost the same time I started the R+F Brightening regimen and missed maybe 5 days of Lash Boost use throughout the entire 3-month period.

With Lash Boost, you apply it once nightly but it should be done only after thoroughly removing all of your eye makeup and clearing your eyes of any of the eye makeup remover residue. This will ensure Lash Boost is applied to your lashes directly rather than on top of makeup or remover residue.

My suggestion is to apply the boost directly to your top lashes at the base, right where the lash and your skin meet. When using the wand, I’d gently tap off excess boost from the wand back into the applicator bottle as you only need a thin application of the boost.

As directed, I applied Lash Boost to my top lashes with my eye closed, counted to 10 to allow the boost to soak through to my bottom lashes then opened my eye and repeated on the other side. I also found doing it this way (counting to 10) allowed the serum to dry slightly so nothing fell into my eyes.

I’m extremely happy with my Lash Boost results. They are definitely longer even without any mascara but are accentuated even more when I apply a . The lash growth is 100% noticeable and I’ve had compliments on my lashes from both friends and strangers. It’s a product that I’ll likely continue to use and will buy again, although it’s pricey it’s still a savings compared to lash extensions over time.

Have you tried R+F regimen or the R+F Lash Boost? I’d like to hear about your experience and if you had similar results.