Skin Actives Pumpkin Enzyme Peel

Happy Monday!!! Hope you had a great weekend and are refreshed and ready to go for the week. Techincally, this is the beginning of the first week of summer but here in Virginia, it has felt like summer for quite awhile!!!

With the warmer weather often comes skin problems. Gone are the blustery days of winter when my skin is often dry and chapped. These days, I'm fighting the perpetial glow of humidity and sometimes my facial pores get clogged and bumpy. That's usually when I increase the amount of exfoliation power I'm using. For toners, I go from my DIY White WIllow Bark concoction to a full on salicylic acid potion. As I still use my Retin A every other evening, I often feel the need to use a "day time" exfoliant and Skin Active's Pumpkin Enzyme Peel fits the bill! 

This clear, colorless liquid provides the gentle exfoliation that we all need. Containing 100% Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) Enzyme, usage is anywhere from a couple times per week to every day (depending on whether you have dry, normal, oily or acneic skin), I normally use it once or twice per week, in addition to my normal routine, but for those months when I experience hormonal breakouts, every day does the trick for me. I've tried so many different exfoliants including really strong acid peels and it's so nice to use a product that is effective yet so gentle on the skin---there's no worry about burning or painfully "roughing up" your face by accident. Skin Actives Pumpkin Enzyme Peel is like that friend who is always there for you---you may not realize how much it does for you when you're using it but you sure do notice when it's not around!!!

Just like all of the Skin Actives product line, Pumkin Enzyme Peel is so well priced at $9.50 for one ounce. A little goes a long way so you will get much more benefit than you can imagine for the price! Click here to purchase at the Skin Actives website.

Ages of Beauty rating: *****

A Sudsy Kind of Therapy

I’ve gotten all kinds of practice lately dealing with stress. Right now it’s coming at me from all sides and honestly, sometimes I do my best work during challenging times. Since creating things, whether it’s sales, a strong sales team, a process at work or something that my friends and family can eat/drink/use, seems to ground me, it was time for a new project!

A little over a month ago, I started making soap. Yep, soap! Real, honest to goodness, handmade, oil and lye, feel good, smell good SOAP!!! I already had the cosmetic formulation bug (which I’m still loving) and this seemed like a good tangent to follow. My very first batch, a triple butter soap, just finished its  minimum four week cure and I’ve already started giving it away to friends and family. Reports back say that it’s luxurious, lovely and nothing like they’ve ever washed with (in a good way!). I’ve also been using a bar and I just love it! Of course, one of my guilty pleasures is handmade soap so I knew what to expect. I have to say, though, that it’s so rewarding that I can make something so practical and personal for my loved ones to enjoy!

Making real soap is surprisingly easy. Not only are handmade soaps fun to make but they are extremely gentle to the skin. And more than one person who has used one of my bars was surprised that it was made with oil and lye. A big misconception seems to remain that “lye soap” is harsh and dangerous. Nope…the only way to make soap is by using three required ingredients: oil, water and sodium hydroxide (lye). The chemical process of turning those three ingredients into soap is called “saponification.” And if the ingredient calculations are correct (which is really easy to calculate using any number of available “soap calculators” on the internet), all of the lye is used up, leaving you with a lovely, moisturizing bar of pure soap!

My first bars are kind of rustic looking but over the past month and a half, I have produced some pretty cool looking, dare I say “pretty” soaps (I’ll eventually post pictures). Most of them are still curing and I can’t wait to give them away!

If you’re interested in learning more about how to make soap, check out the following resources:

• Soap Queen Blog: http://www.soapqueen.com/
• Miller’s Homemade Soap Page: http://www.millersoap.com/
• The Dish: http://www.thedishforum.com/forum/

I made the soap above using an all inclusive kit from Essential Depot. Here’s a link for the kit to make “Bonnie’s Triple Butter Soap:” http://www.essentialdepot.com/servlet/the-560/Bonnie%27s-Triple-Butter--dsh-/Detail

You can find Bonnie’s (Good Earth Spa) You Tube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/EdentiaFarms.

I purchase my supplies all over the internet but some of my favorite vendors are:

• Brambleberry: http://www.brambleberry.com/
• Essential Depot: http://www.essentialdepot.com/
• Wholesale Supplies: http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/

If you decide to get into soaping, you’ll find that it’s not only relaxing but also rewarding as you brighten other peoples days with a gift of handmade soap!

Lovely Lotion Your Way

I was talking to my Mom the other day and she mentioned that she was out of lotion and asked that I get her some. This was a great opportunity to try out my new skills in the DIY cosmetics world! Mom likes sweet, floral scents so we settled on some kind of rose fragrance for her and I went to work!

One of my favorite blogs is Point of Interest, written by Susan Barclay-Nichols, a chemistry goddess to those of us who like tinkering with beauty ingredients. In her blog, Susan (aka “Swift”) explains how different chemical processes work (like emulsification, saponification, chelation, etc) as well as testing her own formulations with varying ingredients, focusing on the special properties of each ingredient that either make a creation work or fail. It was actually Susan’s blog that peaked my interest in cosmetic formulation. Well, now I’m hooked and I’ve been having fun, while learning new things, ever since!

Before making Mom’s special lotion, I had made one other true lotion out of a mixture of lecithin, distilled water, oil and a preservative. It was simple and incredibly moisturizing! For Mom’s lotion, though, I wanted something soft, feminine, light in color (my first lotion was beige, due to the lecithin) and silky. For that, I turned to Point of Interest and went to work searching for Susan’s great lotion tutorial. I followed her “Modified First Lotion Recipe with Humectants,” which is on page 12 of the tutorial. I used slightly different ingredients and wanted to bottle this lotion in an 8 ounce container. Here are the exact ingredients and measurements that I used for 8 ounces:

Water Phase

• 154g distilled water
• 4.5g glycerin

Oil Phase

• 34g Soybean Oil
• 11.3g shea butter
• 6.8g cetyl alcohol
• 11.3g Polawax

Cool Down Phase

• 2.3g Fragrance or Essential Oil (I used 1 dram of SkinActives Rose fragrance oil and 1 dram of their Jasmine fragrance oil)
• 2g Germaben II

Everything in this recipe except the cetyl alcohol, the Polawax and the Germaben II can be found at your local Whole Foods. All three of these can be found at Lotioncrafter, one of my favorite online sources for ingredients. Click on these links for more info: Germaben II, cetyl alcohol, Polawax (emulsifying wax). You can see that these ingredients are pretty inexpensive and they go a long way, allowing you to use them again in again in other lotions and cosmetic formulations. If you don’t feel like getting in the car and driving to Whole Foods for the other ingredients, Lotioncrafter has the rest of them as well!

As for the preservative, Germaben II contains parabens, which I have absolutely no problem with, but if you prefer a non-paraben preservative, Lotioncrafter has those as well (I like Optiphen). (You MUST use a preservative, even if the lotion is just for your own use!!!)

This lotion was sooo easy to make (just follow Susan’s tutorial) and so silky and lovely! I bottled it up, made Mom a custom label and applied a self-laminating film over the label to keep it nice and fresh. Mom LOVES her new lotion and I'll make sure to keep her well supplied (as well as making my own batch)!

Have a great weekend!!!

Garnier Smoothing Cream Cleanser

Every so often, I find a product that really surprises me in a good way. The latest is Garnier’s Smoothing Cream Cleanser. This product has been my go-to facial cleanser all winter and I love it! I usually find that drugstore cleansers are too harsh, even the ones that are supposedly for dry or sensitive skins. The key to this one is the ingredients:

Aqua/Water, Sodium Cocoyl Glycinate, Coco-Betaine, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, CI 77891/Titanium Dioxide, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Parfum/Fragrance/ Methylparaben, Salicylic Acid, Polyquaternium-39, Ethylparaben, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Ascorbyl Glucoside, F.I.L. D162186/1

The surfactants in this cleanser, sodium cocoyl glycinate and coco-betaine, are both very gentle. I won’t get into why there are two of them in this formula but they do work well together. The slight foaming comes from the coco-betaine and because it’s not harsh, this cleanser won’t give you that tight, squeaky clean feeling that I hate. Other ingredients in this formula are a number of preservatives (some of which are present in the fragrance used. A note about the preservatives in this formula---parabens are nothing to be afraid of! They are GREAT preservatives and are safe for cosmetic use. I get irritated when people get all hysterical over an ingredient due to internet hysteria), a few oils (very small amount), some sodium hydroxide, which is probably used to adjust the ph to a skin-friendly level, a number of ingredients to help with emulsification/texture of the product and also fragrance. The amount of salicylic acid in here is small so it probably isn’t doing much for exfoliation (in a cleanser it doesn’t spend much time on the skin, which it needs to do in order to exfoliate). If you’re sensitive to fragrance, you may want to skip this one. I happen to really like the scent but it is definitely there.

In my opinion, Smoothing Cream Cleanser is a great product and if I had oily skin I would also use it as it definitely will break up oil and is gentle (which, in my humble opinion, is important for all skin types). This one’s a winner!!!

Ages of Beauty rating: *****

OOOO Baby! I Love Your Baby Soft Feet!!!

In Florida, where I’ve been hanging out for a couple of months, it’s already sandal season but for the rest of the country, it’s finally getting into its full swing. If you’re anything like me, that means it’s time to do something about your dry, rough calloused feet! That lead me to Baby Foot, the crazy foot peel that I’ve been reading about for the past couple of years. I was determined that THIS was the year so I searched and searched locally to no avail. Heading to the internet and Mr. Google, I was able to find Baby Foot at Beauty Bridge for $24.95. 

The box contains a shiny foil packet that holds two gel-filled plastic “booties” where all the magic happens! I was a skeptic but willing to try and I wondered how in the world this highly touted foot peel could possibly do the job on my tough feet. So, the first thing I did was review the ingredients:

So….what do we have here? Water and alcohol and then the acids that really are the ones that do the work: lactic, glycolic, citric, malic and salicylic acids (smaller quantities of this). I’m familiar with all of those and have used lactic, glycolic and salicylic acids on my face. Then there’s arginine, an amino acid that is used for wound healing. I can see how that could be potentially beneficial in a peel and it’s towards the top of the ingredients list. Humectants and emollients include the butylene glycol, the PEG 60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil. Each bootie is filled with a fairly viscous gel, so there have to be some thickeners in here (there are: hydroxyethylcellulose but also the butylene glycol can be used as a gelling agent when used at up to 10% in formulations) and the fragrance (parfum, as well as Linalool and Limonene at the end) is listed fairly high up on the list so I suspect that everything after “butylene glycol” is at fairly low levels (less than 5%?). Some of the extracts and oils also provide some scent as well but I think that many of them are in the product to provide “label appeal.” The bulk of the work is definitely being done by the acids! We also have a couple of preservatives (Phenoxyethanol, sodium nitrate, glyoxal, and O-Cymen-5-OL---a preservative booster) and a PH adjustor (disodium phosphate).

OK---so how does it work? Well, first I soaked my feet for an hour to soften up the skin (this is a MUST). Then I stepped into each bootie and secured them with the tape provided (note---I had to supplement with my own Scotch Tape). The gel was thick enough to adhere to the skin but was a little bit slippery when I walked. So then I put my feet up and watched a move for an hour, giving the gel a chance to work. Once the time was up, I rinsed the gel off of my feet and then washed up.

For the first couple of days, nothing happened. It wasn’t until about the fifth day that the magic started:

The peeling started right under the balls of both feet and then later progressed to the tops and the sides of the feet. Almost over night (it seemed), the skin turned brittle and dry like an onion skin and flaked off like crazy. It didn’t itch or hurt and underneath was smooth, soft skin.

A LOT of skin sloughed off, guys! And while that’s happening, your feet look a little crazy (and you’ll have to vacuum your floors a lot) but you’ll be happy once it’s all done. I’m at Day 10 now and about the only thing that isn’t completely exfoliated are the very outer parts of each heel---the part of my heel that is the toughest! I definitely do like this product and will purchase it again (I may even try to “dupe” it in my spare time---yeah right!). Baby Foot definitely goes at least one better than a regular pedicure.

Check out Baby Foot at Beauty Bridge!!!

Ages of Beauty rating: ****

Products I’m Loving!!!

It’s been a week since I’ve posted due to my focus on my Dad’s health issues and work. Just about everything that could have gone wrong with Dad has, but we’re hopeful that now he’s on the (very long) mend. My husband is visiting me in Florida this week so I thought I’d start the week off right---with a blog post! :)

Even though I haven’t posted very much, I have been testing products like crazy! I’ve got so much material, pictures, products, etc but no time to write. Over the weekend, I spent some time downloading and editing, organizing and planning so I hope to do a lot of posting in the next couple of weeks. Starting things out , I’ll give you a sneak peek of some products that I have really been loving lately. Scroll down for more!!!

Clockwise from bottom left:

Tarte BB Tinted Undereye Corrector

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Snow Peach

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat

Jurlique Herbal Recovery Advanced Serum

Skin Actives Scar Gel

Physicians Formula BB Cream

Tresemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo

Garnier Soothing Cream Cleanser

Paula’s Choice Mega Length Lash Extending Mascara

Revlon Stainless Steel Nail Groomer

Absolute Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover Pads

Revlon Parfumerie Nail Enamel in Apricot Nectar

Maybelline Color Show Nail Enamel in Neutral Statement

From top:

Esqido Mink Eyelashes in Unforgettable

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette

Revlon CC Cream

Cover Girl Blastlipstick in Glimmer

Skin Actives Revitalizing Night Cream

Skin Actives Anti-Aging Cream

Skin Actives Antioxidant Day Cream

My own DIY Cuticle Cream

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Snow Peach

Skin Actives Anti Aging Creams and My DIY Cuticle Balm

Stay tuned for more reviews coming your way!! Thanks for your patience as I navigate the waters of eldercare.

DIY Salicylic Acid Toner---So Easy and So Good!!!

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I’m obsessed with skin care. I’m a big advocate of proper cleansing and the use of an acid based toner, a la Caroline Hirons (see this post for more) and in my quest for the perfect acid-based toner, I’ve used so many at all price points that it is mind boggling! Some were just perfect but really expensive and others were pretty inexpensive but contained so much alcohol (or the acid blend was so strong) that my skin dried out. And now, since I’m somewhat into the DIY trend, I’ve researched a bunch of different options until I found one that works really well for my dry winter skin.

What many of these toners have in common is a beta hydroxy acid (BHA) called salicylic acid. The active ingredient in aspirin, salicylic acid is a great exfoliator, keeping the pores clean and clear as well as soothing inflammation. Salicylic acid is also great for acne, promoting rapid cell turnover. Since many of the commercially prepared toners I tried contained alcohol (and a couple were way too harsh for me), I sought out a toner that contained salicylic acid but no alcohol. Much to my chagrin, I couldn’t find any! So onto the internet I went, looking for an answer to the question, “Why is that?” What I found is that pure salicylic acid requires alcohol as a solvent to dissolve the acid. Since I wanted to avoid alcohol, that wouldn’t work. Fortunately, one of my sources, a well respected skincare message board, contained several threads on this very topic. I learned that while salicylic acid toner requires the use of alcohol, white willow bark, which is a natural source of salicylic acid, does not! Before too long, I had a toner recipe to try!

This toner is sooo easy to make and works really well without irritating my skin. I’ve been using it for about a month and a half and not only does it not sting, it doesn’t smell bad, tingle or dry out my face (a big deal in the cold of winter). I formulated my toner so that it has a 2% concentration of salicylic acid (which should work for those with acne as well). A note on the ingredients: you’ll need white willow bark, which can be purchased for a small amount at a number of online stores. I get mine at Skin Actives (link here), where it’s available for $5 for 5 grams. You’ll also need witch hazel hydrosol, which you’ll probably need to order online as this is NOT the stuff in the drugstore that’s full of alcohol. I purchased mine at Organic Witch Hazel but there are a number of suppliers (google “witch hazel hydrosol producers”).

Please do not attempt this if you are allergic to aspirin! For those of you who aren’t, here’s the recipe:

SALICYLIC ACID TONER 2% Using White Willow Bark

2 grams Powdered White Willow Bark

10 mls Distilled Water (room temp-- to dissolve the White Willow Bark]

20 mls witch hazel extract.

70 mls distilled water

Preservative (I have both Optiphen Plus -- which is paraben free -- and Germaben II but am not sure what I used—you can also get these at SkinActives)

 

This is really easy to put together. First, weigh out the white willow bark and place it into 10 mls of distilled water, which should be at room temperature. Mix it thoroughly until the white willow bark is fully dissolved. Then add the other ingredients, being sure to mix everything up well. This recipe makes enough for roughly four ounces. I keep mine in an amber bottle and apply it twice daily as part of my cleansing routine. Easy peasy!!! In my opinion, this toner is great as it is but if you want to add fragrance, you could do that as well.

This is now my go-to toner and I luuuurve it! I’ll always try other products but this one is the cats meow and is my holy grail acid toner.

If you try it, let me know what you think!!!

Soft Lips for Less

In last Friday’s post (which you can read by clicking here), I mentioned that there was a new lip balm coming out soon from a very famous brand and that lip balm will cost $50! That really tweaked me because I had gotten hold of a lip balm that it was being compared to (also $50) and the ingredients list for that product was basically Vaseline, wax and some essential oils. Now, that may not sound like a big deal to you but coincidentally, two days earlier I made my OWN lip balm that costs significantly less than $50 to make (less than $7.00 for the ALL of the lip balm you see above plus some left over for another project) AND it had far superior ingredients than Vaseline! So, it just reminded me of yet another way that some in the beauty industry really take advantage of women’s fears by having us think that one has to pay a lot in order to get a good product. Not true! In fact, my lip balm is a perfect example of something that you can make yourself that is a thousand times better than much of what you can purchase in a store.

Now, I know what you’re thinking…”But Denise!!! There’s no way I could make that! It’s too difficult and I could never find the right ingredients!” Sorry…if you can get on the internet to read this blog post, you can make lip balm. There are definitely no special skills required.

All of the ingredients I used can be purchased from your local drugstore, Whole Foods, health food store or about a million places on the internet. I will tell you where I purchased my ingredients plus provide links. You will kick yourself when you find out how easy this is and if you actually do decide to make your own lip balm, you lips will thank you (you can also use this stuff as a cuticle cream as well!)!

OK. Here’s the basic recipe, which is from one of my favorite cosmetic formulation blogs, Point of Interest. I weighed mine out in grams but I’m going to simplify it for you.

• 20% beeswax
• 25% soft butter (I used shea butter)
• 15% cocoa butter
• 40% liquid oil

Let’s talk about the “liquid oil” ingredient for a second. Basically, what you want to do is pick some oils that you like and that you get easily. Some good choices are sweet almond oil, castor oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil. All of those are easily available at Whole Foods, many drugstores and health food stores and at many grocery stores. There are soooo many oils you can potentially use (heck, you can use olive oil if you want)! You’ll see a list of oils from the Point of Interest blog by clicking here, here, and here. Susan’s blog is awesome so check it out!

Besides your main moisturizing oils, you’ll want to include some Vitamin E (which comes in oil form) because that acts as an antioxidant and helps keep the other oils from going rancid (always include this). I also used a small amount of peppermint essential oil to give the lip balm a slight “chocolate mint” flavor (the cocoa butter makes it smell slightly chocolaty). Literally, you take all of your ingredients, put them in a Pyrex measuring cup (you don’t need a big one) and either microwave it in 20 second spurts until melted or place the Pyrex measuring cup in a frying pan with a little water surrounding it (I did it this way), and then heat it slowly until everything melts. It’s that easy! Now, if you’re not familiar how the percentages work, I’ll spell out the recipe in measurements that we all know.

Total: 20 Teaspoons

• 4 teaspoons beeswax
• 5 Teaspoons shea butter
• 3 teaspoons cocoa butter
• 8 teaspoons liquid oil ( try 1 teaspoon castor oil, 1/4 teaspoon vitamin E, 1/8 teaspoon peppermint essential oil, 3 1/8 teaspoons sweet almond oil, 3 1/2 teaspoons coconut oil)

Once you get everything melted (the beeswax will be the last thing to melt), pour the lip balm into either small pots or tubes, like I did above. You can use any small, clean container that you already have (wash in soap and water and then air dry) for your own use or purchase small containers and tubes at one of the suppliers I’ve listed below. Filling the tubes is super simple===just screw the insert down, fill the tube by pouring the balm in slowly (it may get a little messy) and then top off the “dimple” that forms as it dries (or not). If it cools too fast as you’re pouring, just re-melt. Let the balm cool without the lids on and within about an hour you’re ready to use your lip balm. So simple!!!

A couple of notes about making the balm. Mine looks yellow because I used natural beeswax, which is yellow. The yellow does not show up as a color on your lips but if you don’t like the color, just use refined beeswax which is a cream color. One of the oils I used when I made mine also added to the yellow color (rosehip seed oil) but, again, it doesn’t show up on the lips.

In the “modified for teaspoons” recipe I showed above, literally every ingredient can be purchased at Whole Foods for not a lot of money. You just need a small amount and any of the oils you purchase that come in larger quantities can be used to moisturize, take off makeup, moisturize your cuticles, etc. Here are a couple of other suppliers if you’d rather order online (my preference):

LotionCrafter (Great company and so knowledgeable!)

• lip balm tubes
• lip balm pots
• vitamin E
• castor oil
• cocoa butter
• shea butter
• fractionated coconut oil (a special kind of coconut oil that has a much longer shelf life than regular coconut oil)

Garden of Wisdom (I haven’t ordered from them yet but will as I’ve heard great things!)

• cocoa butter
• shea butter
• sweet almond oil
• castor oil
• fractionated coconut oil
• beeswax
• peppermint essential oil

Ingredients to Die For (new to me but I’ve also heard great things!)

• sweet almond oil
• castor oil
• cocoa butter
• fractionated coconut oil
• shea butter
• vitamin E
• beeswax
• peppermint essential oil

Get creative with this and have fun!!!

Have you ever tried making your own lip balm or any other cosmetic product? Let me know!!

 

An Easy Peasy Tip for Great Winter Skin

If you’re like me, this is what you skin looks like in the winter (unless you take steps to prevent it). Every year I get older (and better, in my humble opinion!) my fight with dry, itchy, flaky and dehydrated winter skin ramps up a notch. With all the flying I have done this winter, it’s been terrible. Well, I finally tried something that I have “poo pooed” for years! As I’m typically viewed as a pretty intelligent person, I’m almost ashamed that I wasn’t open to this sooner. What finally got me going in the right direction is a co-worker (a GUY, I might add!) who told me he’s been using this for years. By now you’re saying, “Just spit it out, Denise!!!” Well, this “miracle” skincare product is…a HUMIDIFIER!!!

Photo via

OK, now before you say, “Well DUH!!!” hear me out. I have always associated humidifiers with babies and since I have never had a baby, I’ve never experienced their benefits. It really wasn't until I hired Mike (the guy I mentioned above) that I learned about this miracle product (work with me here, people). Mike’s office is in an old home that has been converted into office space. The heat source is one of those old radiators and apparently the air is really dry in his office during the winter. Now Mike is one of those guys who is open to anything that works (yeah, and he also advocates use of a Neti Pot, but I’m still too chicken to go there) and on a recent business trip, he mentioned that he also travels with a portable humidifier (more on that later). So about a month ago, after more travel and more dry itchy skin, I finally decided to bite the bullet. I’m happy to say that I purchased my very first humidifier for my home office.

Available at Amazon

I’ve been using this beauty (don’t you love the color??) for about three weeks now and it has changed my life (OK…maybe I’m being a little dramatic). Seriously, though, my skin is not dry and flaky anymore without copious amounts of super fatted moisturizer, my lips are soft and smooth and even better, my sinuses are clear and not dry as the Sahara. For less than $50, I’ve solved an annoying problem and feel great about passing this tip on to you! This particular humidifier, by Crane, is really easy to clean, holds enough water to get you through a long work day (and more) and is adjustable in terms of the amount of vapor it releases into the air. I have a very large home office and it’s just perfect. Better yet, it turns itself off when it runs out of water so if you forget to turn it off after work (which I may or may not have done before), you have no worries. I also purchased the optional filter because, even though I have a softener at home, my water still has too many minerals. The other option would be to use distilled water, which (in my opinion) is inconvenient. This particular model comes in several lovely colors (what---you don’t like the pink???) so get yourself over to Amazon and check it out!

Mike also recommends traveling with a humidifier and one he has used includes this one from CVS. It’s small enough to fit into a carry on (it uses a bottle of water instead of having a separate tank) and he reports that it’s great for the hotel room. I've yet to purchase one but will soon.

I’m pretty much sold on humidifiers now and my skin is thanking me. How about you? Do you have a humidifier in your office? Has it helped your skin?

Tightening and Brightening with Clay

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my interest in ingredients and cosmetic formulation has skyrocketed! It all started with my review of Glam Glow’s Clay Mask (see my review here). As I researched the ingredients list, I realized that the contents of that little jar are actually pretty simple and were described in a way that made them seem a lot more exotic than they really are. As a result, I attempted to find every ingredient on the list (except the specific preservatives, which are available but others can be substituted or not used as all if you’re making just enough for one “serving” for yourself) and I actually did find all of them pretty easily. In fact, at some point, I will do a post on *my* version of this mask! Anyway, part of what I learned is that a lot of ingredients in some commercially available masks don’t really make a lot of sense (in that they don’t really add much to the formula but rather are sexier to describe in the marketing speak used to promote the product). Anyway, since I had all of these ingredients, I thought I’d start with several very simple products and go from there.

I made a mess!

My research took me to the LisaLise blog (click here), which is the brainchild of Lise Andersen. Lise started as a cosmetic formulation enthusiast and then turned it into a business. She now has her own line of natural skincare products, which you can see here. Fortunately for us, Lise has very generously shared her knowledge of cosmetic formulation as well as recipes for many products. The first recipe I’ve used from her site is the “10 Minute Lavender Detox Mask.” which you can find by clicking here.

This mask is really simple—some kaolin clay, a little bit of sweet almond oil, some water and some lavender essential oil. Lise uses a kaolin clay that has been colored purple (so pretty!) but I used regular white kaolin clay which I purchased for $1.98 at Bulk Apothecary. You can probably find it in your local health food store, Whole Foods or anywhere natural products are sold. In general, clay (all kinds) is inexpensive and white clay is pretty benign as far as the skin is concerned. It doesn’t dry out the skin but leaves it soft, exfoliated, clean and tightened (this is temporary but you’ll love the feeling!).

I mixed up Lise’s recipe of about 2 Tablespoons of water, to which I added 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of clay (don’t stir it until the clay has been fully absorbed). Then I added a teaspoon of sweet almond oil (again, you can find it in a health food store, Whole Foods, Amazon, etc) and then the five drops of lavender essential oil (I already had everything but the clay). This mixture will be really thin so if you want a thicker mixture, start with less water. Then take a small brush (I literally used a small paint brush) and brush the mixture on your clean face. Here I am in all my glory:

I’m happier about this than I look!

I left this on my face for probably eight minutes. According to Lise, you don’t want to leave it on until it dries completely. After ten or so minutes, remove the mask with a damp sponge or a washcloth.

Once I removed the mixture from my face, my skin was soft, smooth and my skin felt firm. As a quick beauty treatment, it’s lovely!! I actually made more than I needed so I put it into a small jar and added a preservative (which I also already had) so that it will keep for the next use. Unless you know something about product preservation (or are willing to spend the time to learn about it), I advise you to just make enough for one application. The ingredients are very inexpensive and there will be very little waste.

Post mask

I try to incorporate into my routine some sort of at home pampering beauty treatment at least once per week. A mask is perfect for a quick pick me up! Visit the LisaLise blog for more ideas.

How about you? Are you a DIY skincare fan? What are your favorite DIY recipes?

Korres Lip Butter

Baby, it’s cooooold outside!!! When I woke up yesterday morning it was 6 degrees outside and this morning was no better. As a result of the cold weather this winter, my skin has been on a rollercoaster ride, at times only slightly dry and others completely dehydrated, scaly and itchy. My lips probably got the worst of it but thank goodness I had a supply of Korres Lip Butter. I actually purchased these three pots last winter but only opened them a week ago. They have absolutely done wonders for my lips! Read on for more info.

These pots came in a set with a couple of tube lip glosses. The texture is light, almost “spongy” feeling in the container and there’s a good shine to each of them. Here are a few pictures of each “flavor.”

Guava

Guava

Pomegranate

Pomegranate

Quince

Quince

One thing that struck me right away with the Korres Lip Butters is their moisturizing capabilities. They had my lips whipped into shape in no time! My lips went from peeling and cracked to soft and supple. Although I prefer my lip balm to come in a tube, I found the pots very easy to use and part of that has to do with the soft texture of the balm. Let’s take a look at the ingredients and see what we have here:

• Shea Butter: a thick, greasy feeling “butter” that functions as a moisturizer in softener
• Rice Wax: solid form of rice oil, used to keep the balm firm yet flexible
• Polybutene: a synthetic polymer that is used as a binder and viscosity adjusting ingredient. Also make the lip balm “sticky”
• Trimethylolpropane Triisostearate: skin conditioning agent and emollient
• Hydrogenated Polydecene: skin conditioning agent and emollient
• Polyethylene glycol: a type of ester, which is a substance that helps other ingredients mix together (like water and oil, for example)
• Hydroxystearic Acid: a thickener
• Stearalkonium Hectorite: a suspending agent, which means it helps keep ingredients consistent across a batch of product
• Propylene Carbonate: a solvent and film forming agent
• Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate: a skin conditioning agent/emollient
• Sucrose Tetrastearate Triacetate: an ester that contributes to a nice “skin feel”
• Flavor (Aroma): designed to provide a taste to this product. I don’t taste anything but several of these ingredients smell strong/taste strong so I have a feeling whatever they used to “flavor” this balm is really more about masking the smell/taste of the ingredients
• Tocopherol: an antioxidant that is used to keep the oils from going rancid
• Dicalcium Phosphate: this can be used as an exfoliant as well as an “opacifying agent” which just makes cosmetics less sheer (and this is very sheer)
• Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil: a light feeling oil
• Ascorbyl Palmitate: a stable version of Vitamin C. Could be used as an anti oxidant or for skin benefit
• Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax: an edible wax used as an emollient
• Psidium Guajava Fruit Extract (in the guava “flavor): probably used to flavor the lip butter but I don’t detect any flavor
• Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Extract: a skin conditioning agent/emollient
• May Contain: Titanium Dioxide: if used here, it’s probably functioning to make the product more opaque. At the end of the list, it’s probably not doing much for sun protection, which it is also known for.

That’s a lot of ingredients! Some of these items may be part of a different substance, but when formulating cosmetics, manufacturers have to list the individual ingredients in a product. For instance, if I was selling a cake in a bakery, instead of just listing “cake” and “icing,” I’d have to list out each individual ingredient of the cake and icing. Make sense? Based on my research, most of these ingredients are fairly widely known and, depending, on whether you like “all natural” products or not, some of these ingredients will be desirable and some probably won’t. Rest assured, though, that there’s nothing wrong with any of these ingredients and they contribute to a really lovely lip butter!

Each shade in my collection is very sheer (Guava is completely clear) so they are incredibly easy to apply without looking in a mirror. On my lips, they mostly add shine and boy, do they moisturize! As I said, they have completely taken care of my dry lip problem.

Korres Lip Butters are available at Sephora for $12 each. In addition to the colors above, there are also Jasmine, Mango and Wild Rose colors available. If you’re looking for a great lip balm, look no further! (but do check out Korres!)

Ages of Beauty rating: ****

My Best Beauty Finds of 2013

This post marks the one year anniversary of this blog so I thought I’d do it up right by recounting my favorite products that I learned about in 2013. Now, some of these products were introduced long before last year and some are new but what they have in common is that I first heard about them and used them in 2013. Here are my favorites!

CC Cream: IT Cosmetics

I haven’t reviewed this yet but I discovered this product in December. With medium full to full coverage and a texture like a great moisturizer, this CC Cream has really impressed me. Stay tuned for a review soon!!

Mascara: Trish McEvoy Volume 

This product has become my Holy Grail mascara in the last year. Although I continue to try new mascaras (right now I’m trying to find a good drugstore option), I come back to this one (as well as Mac’s Zoom Lash Waterfast) time and time again. Check out my review here!

Foundation: Nars Radiant Cream Compact, Becca Luminous Skin Ultra Sheer, Mac Face & Body

2013 was the year of foundations for me and I found a lot of great ones. These three are the standouts for me with the Becca and the Mac coming in as the best sheer to light foundations while the Nars product rounds out the list as a medium to full coverage choice. I’ve reviewed both the Nars and the Mac (here and here) and you should expect to see a review on the Becca product soon!

Lip Gloss Sticks: Neutrogena Moisture Smooth Color Sticks

Would you  believe that I have had a review for this product sitting in my drafts folder for about nine months? At some point, I’ll actually get it posted but until then, I’ll tell you I really love this Neutrogena lip product, especially the watermelon color. Get thee to the drugstore and buy some!

Concealer: IT Cosmetics Bye Bye UnderEye

This concealer is so darn good that I recommend it to people over and over. It’s pigmented, opaque but not “dead” looking and it lasts all day! Check out my review here.

Makeup Brushes: Wayne Goss

I absolutely love it when a normal, everyday person has a passion for something and turns that passion into a great success. That’s Wayne Goss in a nutshell! He’s a makeup artist, YouTube makeup guru and the kind of person who would make a great friend if he lived nearby. Irreverent, quirky, funny and talented as hell, Wayne has developed his own line of makeup brushes that are so beautiful and soft, they make blending a dream! Click here for my review (and then go out and buy a set for yourself)!

Contour: Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow

Here’s another product I reach for time and time again. It’s a great contouring product for ladies with light skin. Check it out here!

All Purpose Moisturizer: Skin Actives Dream Cream

Dream Cream, is, hands down, the best all purpose moisturizer for dry skin. It has saved me a couple of times this winter as my skin got dry and itchy. Read more about it here.

Finishing Powder: Nars Light Reflecting Setting Powder

One word: AMAZING!!! Here’s my review.

Bronzer: Revlon PhotoReady

For women over forty, I believe that bronzer should be matte and not shimmery (well, most of the time). Revlon’s offering isn’t fancy or expensive but it does the job very impressively. This is a great find. I haven’t officially reviewed it but have used it in a number of “face of the day” posts like this one, here.

Cream Blush: Sonya Kashuk Cream Blush

This is another brand new product to me (within the last month) and I LOVE these blushes. A review will be coming soon!

Matte Eyeshadow: Sonya Kashuk Eye on Neutrals Palette

Recently, I feel like I’m having a love affair with the Sonia Kashuk product line. I used this palette in my “Five Product Face” post and will review it soon.

Blog: Caroline Hirons “Beauty Mouth”

The goddess of skin care. Read her blog. That is all.

Lip Gloss: NYX Butter Gloss

More products that I’ve photographed, worn and never reviewed. They make this list for a reason so stay tuned!

Eye Liner Pencils: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil in Mushroom

Urban Decay is known for their eye pencils and this is one of my favorites. Although I’ve never reviewed this pencil, I use it all the time on my lower lash line. It’s such a great neutral and never looks too heavy. Check it out here at Sephora.

Eyeshadow Palette (high end): Marc Jacobs Style Eye-Con No. 7 in “The Lolita”

This is actually the first Marc Jacobs Beauty product I’ve tried and I have to say that I’m impressed. Over the holidays, I used it quite a bit and was able to get quite a few looks out of it. I’ll be reviewing this one soon!

Bath product: Library of Flowers Bubble Bath

For me, the three most important things about a bubble bath is that it must be hot, the bubbles must be plentiful and the fragrance must be heavenly. Library of Flowers delivers on the bubbles and the fragrance in a beautiful way. Read my review here!

Makeup Remover: Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Balm

Hands down, my absolute favorite facial cleanser. I will purchase this forever!

Facial Cleanser:  SkinActives Creamy Facial Cleanser

A gentle cleanser that it new in 2013 to SkinActives, I have used it and repurchased but haven’t reviewed yet. You can find it here on their website.

Syrup

Cream in Your Coffee

Lipstick: Mac Syrup, Mac Creme in Your Coffee

These have been around forever but they’re new to me. Purchase them at the Mac website here (or your local counter).

Hand Cream: SkinActives Hand and Body Moisturizing Lotion

Another great product from a great company! This is a daily (or several times daily) habit and my hands have never been so soft! Here’s my review.

Nail Polish: CND Vinylux

As much as I love nail polish, I get bored with my color after a couple of days and can’t stand to keep the same color for more than a week. CND’s Vinylux Weekly Polish is perfect as it doesn’t chip and is designed for weekly wear. I have several colors and my favorite is Pretty Poison (a dark green with green flecks). You can read more here.

Eye Shadow Pencil: Sephora

Sephora’s Jumbo Eye Shadow Pencils are soooo good and last on my oily lids without creasing. They are available in many lovely colors and are a real beauty bargain. Here’s a review showing three of them and here is a post showing a look I used with another. Definitely worth a look!!!

Powder Blush: Mac Mocha

A great neutral, every day blush for many complexions, Here’s a look I did with this blush.

Beauty Tool: Tria Laser Hair Remover

 Best. Thing. Ever! Check it out here.

Hair Conditioner (Deep): Pantene Intensive Restoration Treatment in Medium-Thick

I’ve come to love this stuff over the last six months. It deep conditions my hair, making it feel so soft! Although I haven’t reviewed it yet, I will do so soon. Until then, you can find it anywhere Pantene products are sold.

Well, that’s my list for 2013! What would you add? Are any of these products your favorites?