Random Ramblings

Oh hi there my Goddesses. I had a few random updates that I wanted to share with you and I thought I would put them all in one post. 

First, the great olive oil on your eyelashes debate. It does not work. End of. It just does not. I applied olive oil to my eyelashes every night for 1 month because that is how long "they" said it would take. After the month was completed, my lashes were so long I was being mistaken for a baby giraffe so I threw away all of my mascaras and false lashes and now I am touring the land, werking under my drag name Ardell Lashalot, teaching all of you skinny lashed bitches about the magical wonders of coating your eyelashes and ultimately your eyeballs with oil. 

So besides the fact that oil on your lashes does not work to make them longer, if you are not careful you will be rubbing oil out of your eyeballs which is not much fun. I will admit, I got lazy and did not take another photo of the finished product however the finished product looks exactly the same as the beginning product, so you can just go back and look at those photos. 

Also just to make it official, the lovely ladies at Wise Optical in Bayonne NJ say oil on your lashes is a bunch of hooey and to please not do it. Smart ladies. Click HERE for original olive oil post. PS-My original photos are not showing up on the original post but trust me-my lashes look malnourished.

Next up my Retin-A update. After 7 months I have finish both of my tubes of Tretinoin and .......I really did not see any life changing differences. My acne is cleared up, however I had changed a few things about my routine so I am not sure if it was due to the Retin-A or my new routine. What did happen-some peeling skin and not much else. My nose did not like Retin-A at all. The inside of my right nostril was pained beyond belief! So bazaar! That was my barometer for when my skin needed a rest. The inside of my nose hurt so bad, I could not touch it. I have not used it for a few weeks now and I do not miss it. I honestly believe my skin sees more dramatic, quicker results from a quality AHA/BHA treatment. I did not dislike it but it did not rock my world.

Speaking of AHA treatments, remember my blog post about the egg white/milk/apple juice mask and I said it made so much liquid you can save it in the fridge for your next use? I also said I was not sure if you can do that but I was going to do that? Yeah don't do that. The acids from the milk and apple juice cook the egg (kind of like an egg ceviche') so you end up with gloppy egg whites in milk and apple juice. No bueno! Maybe just half the recipe to make less?

Lastly, this beauty^^^^^ has finally arrived to mi casa and will be reviewed accordingly after many uses! I am so excited! 

I know I already said lastly but one last thing, I highly appreciate the emails I receive from my followers. I would much appreciate it if you left comments so everyone can see whatever it is you would like to share. Unless you want to bitch me out about something, then you can just keep it to yourself. 

In the meantime, click one of the links down below to keep yourself busy and out of trouble!

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The Art of Double Cleansing

So this is how washing my face usually went. 

Five minutes before bed I would use 2 pumps of my Aquanil cleanser, massage it around my face for 10 seconds fully expecting it to completely remove the 3 pounds of makeup that has been sitting on my skin all day, only to have a smeared imprint of my face transferred to my previously clean towel. 

Forget about my morning routine--pathetic. I would rinse my face off in the shower, maybe a splash of water in the sink-why use cleanser in the morning? Ummm sweat and oil maybe? 

*hangs head in embarrassment*

Thankfully that has all changed.  My half assed attempt at washing my face was definitely contributing to my acne problems. Duh. 

Double cleansing is basically washing your face twice, first with an oil based balm to remove dirt and oil. Remember "like likes like", meaning oil and water don't mix but oil will be attracted to oil and lift it (and any makeup including mascara) right off of your face. Who should do this? Anyone who wears makeup or sun protection. If you have oily skin, do not be afraid. Plant based oils will not clog your pores and are perfectly safe to use. However, I would stay far away from mineral oil. That will clog your pores. 

The second cleanse can be a gentle, non-foaming cleanser (such as Aquanil, Cetaphil, CeraVe etc.) and is done to remove anything that had not been removed with the first cleanse. You can almost consider it an insurance cleanse. 

So here is how it goes now. Since my skin still reacts to products it does not like, I have not found a balm that I love (although I hear Clinique has a fantastic one that I may give a looky loo to), so I use coconut oil for my first cleanse. I used to use olive oil but coconut  works better for me. Take the coconut oil (or whatever you are using) and rub it all over your face, all over your eyes to lift the eye makeup, all over your cheeks, neck, everywhere. Then take a warm, damp washcloth and wipe off all the oil, dirt and makeup. If you don't have a wash cloth (you should go buy some, they are cheap), you can use those little cotton rounds. Next I take a few pumps of my Aquanil, massage it into my skin and again using my wash cloth, wipe everything from my face. There should not be a trace of makeup or anything left on your skin. You should be left with truly clean skin. Slather on some moisturizer and call it a night! I have even started properly washing my face in the morning with cleanser and a wash cloth. If you are going away on vacation and do not want to pack an oil or balm along with your cleanser, that's fine-just cleanse your skin 2 times using the same cleanser. 

As long as you stick to gentle products, you will not over cleanse your skin-we want properly clean, not squeaky clean. 

Everyone should try this! 

Your face will thank you for it

and then you can thank me!

So you're welcome in advance.

Happy Weekend Kittens!

~Jessica~

Dry Brushing

 

Besides telling all you pretty kitties about makeup products that I love, I also love to tell you about skin care, not only for your face but for your body as well. Not only do I like to share product information with you, I love to share tips and tricks that you can do in the privacy of your own home so you can get the most out of your skin. 

It is here that I will share with you the secret of

dry brushing!

This is one of the simplest things you can do for your skin.

Why should you do it? 

There are 3 major benefits to dry brushing your skin:

• Exfoliation-Removing dead skin from your body only results in 1 thing! Younger, smoother skin! Yay!
• Increases Blood Flow-You know what lack of blood circulation causes? Cellulite! You know what happens when you increase blood circulation? Buh Bye cellulite! (maybe not completely but it will reduce it)
• Stimulates the lymphatic system-This aides in overall health as it will help remove toxins from your system. 

So it's simple. The goal is to dry brush once a day. I will admit that I don't do this as much as I would like because I'm a muppet and sometimes remember while in the shower and my skin is already damp.You want to start with dry skin so the best time to do this is right before showering (or whenever you remember but your skin, and the brush, must be dry). Using a natural bristle brush, brush the skin upwards towards your heart. Brush in sections, for example, start with your calves, work your way up to your thighs, your booty, your belly-you get the picture. I have read that you only need to brush an area once or twice-I probably brush around 10 times then jump in the shower. Your skin has now been exfoliated, which means you're getting rid of the old skin cells and bringing on the newer and healthier ones. This is also the perfect time to add products with nutrients and antioxidants because exfoliation aids in the absorption of whatever products you will now apply. You can also add an anti-cellulite treatment for a double whammy against cellulite! 

Take that cellulite! 

If you are going to dry brush before showering, I would advise against any additional exfoliation in the shower. You don't want to irritate the skin!

Until next time,

it's smooth skin sailing!

~Jessica~

Airbrush Foundation

I am a foundation whore!

And a restaurant whore but that is another post. 

The one product that I am constantly searching for my holy grail is foundation. I switch and sample different foundations constantly! I have tried, in the past few months alone:

• Eve Pearl-very heavy coverage, texture bordering on oily and clung to any dryness which is not good while you are using Retin-A. 
• Paula's Choice-very good product, full of good skin stuff but I never got around to ordering online. 
• Kevyn Aucoin- I love this line but I really disliked this product. The Skin Enhancing Foundation is definitely not for me and the main ingredient is mineral oil, which will break you out in a blink. 
• RCMA-Fabulous product and in my opinion, the best professional foundation there is. RCMA is made using vegetable oils and waxes with nearly 50 percent pigment, which means high coverage while using less product. RCMA foundations contain no perfumes, animal extracts, mineral oils or lanolin.  
• Makeup Forever- My go to foundation but still not Holy Grail status, still, highly recommended. I also love their Face and Body Foundation, however it is so heavily perfumed, I refuse to wear it on my face. 
• L'Oreal-another really good product, especially for a drugstore brand. It is very reasonable so you can purchase a few different shades to mix and match. This is also a fall back foundation for me. 

I am constantly searching online and then going to Sephora to get samples to try before I buy. It is the one product that if I find and love it, I will stick with it for years. But I have to love it. 

Foundation, unlike color products, have 1 main function: to make your skin look the absolute best it can possibly look by evening it out and covering imperfections. With color cosmetics, you tend to switch colors according to your mood and the occasion. You can purchase a bunch of different color lipsticks, eye shadows, blush etc and they can all look fabulous on you but with foundation, you have to match it perfectly to your skin tone so usually, you are choosing only one-maybe two if you are adventurous with your contouring and blending. Plus, it is the foundation of your look, so it has to be the right texture with the right amount of coverage.

*Quick Tip* You should have a foundation that you use in the spring/summer months and one you use in the fall/winter months, due to changes in skin and weather. 

So after seeing a few makeup artist use airbrush makeup without an airbrush machine, I decided to try it for myself. Now I know that some of you airbrush aficionados are probably freaking out but I am a rebel like that and there are no makeup police here. At least not today.

Airbrush makeup has a completely different texture than regular foundations. It is really thin with a very watery consistency. The way airbrush makeup works is instead of applying foundation with a brush or a sponge and blending it into your skin, the makeup passes through a machine creating a very fine mist, hence the watery consistency, and evenly sits on your skin creating that flawless, airbrushed look that everyone is always chasing. You can control the pressure of the mist with the airbrush dial. 

So applying airbrush makeup without a machine took a few tries for me to figure out what worked best. Two different techniques worked well for me so I combined them together. First is with my very clean fingers. I apply 1 drop to the back of my hand and apply to the skin. This stuff dries pretty much on contact so you have to work fast. I work in sections and use 1 drop per section. 1 drop for cheeks, 1 drop for chin, nose and forehead. It should take around 2-3drops to cover the whole face. The second is putting a drop on a flat foundation brush and again working in sections, patting it onto the skin. I do both, first applying with my fingers and then taking a drop on the brush and patting wherever needs more blending or more coverage. I wouldn't even attempt using a sponge, the foundation would just be sucked up into the sponge and wasted. 

The makeup that I used is Dinair and I must say, Dinair's customer service is fantastic! You can send them a photo of yourself and they will match your skin to the proper foundation color. They then keep you informed every step of the way so you know exactly where your product is from packaging to delivery. This product works well for me because of the formulation. It is not heavy at all, therefore it does not settle into fine lines or pores. It just looks like skin. I know all foundation should just look like skin but I feel like this gives you a better version of your own skin. Foundations in general, should even out your skin tone, cover imperfections and create a smooth texture to your skin, however sometimes it can make your skin look older by magnifying wrinkles and pores. This just does not do that at all. If it looks this good with applying it in an unconventional way, I could just imagine what it would look like if I applied it properly. So this has made me really consider investing in an airbrush machine or at the very least one of those spray foundations in a can.

I give Dinair and applying airbrush makeup without a machine 2 thumbs up! 

Try it out and tell me what you think! 

Until next time kitty cats!

DIY Sweet Body Scrub

Oh hiii kittens!

 It seems that everyone really enjoyed the DIY yogurt mask post from a few weeks back, so I will try to post more of those for you.

Here is one more thing that you can try at home:

Mix some sugar together with a little olive oil, jump in the shower and scrub away! You will emerge all smooth, glowy and polished. 

Some TIPS:

White sugar, like the kind yo momma used to keep in her cubbard, works better than the raw turbinado sugar that I now keep in my cubbard. Also, this works best if you do this while your skin is still dry, scrub for about a minute or two all over and then rinse off and continue with your regular cleansing routine. 

Keep in mind, your tub will be slippery due to the oil-so be careful!

You can also do this with any combination of the following: salt, shea butter, coconut oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, vitamin e, lemon.

I do this once or twice a week. Happy scrubbing and tell me what you think. Let me know what kind of DIY skincare post you would like to see.