Best Moisturizers for Dry Winter Skin (via Real Simple)

This Real Simple round-up hit my inbox at just the right time for me: my upper lip has a mustache of chapped skin, thanks to using hundreds of tissues to get me through my post-holiday cold! (Not to mention how much help my lizard-like hands and very tight back need!)

Next drug store run, I’m going to pick up some Aveeno Positively Nourishing Calming Body Lotion, featured as the “gentlest”  of the bunch. I’m also really curious about the Neutrogena Body Oil because it’s been around for so long!

What are you going to try?

Olive Juice

You know how I make my own makeup remover?

Well, for those of you who, for whatever reason, would rather buy your makeup remover, you’re in luck! I just came across this product by St. Ives:

Moisturizing Olive Cleanser:

[stives.com]

And here’s a close-up of the label for you:

[stives.com]

Have you tried it? How do you like it?

DIY Facial

[dailycandy.com]

Have any of you given yourself a facial?

I did. Once. On the last day of middle school, at a friend’s house for a sleepover. It was one of those Biore masks, and we really only did it because we thought it’d be funny to take pictures. I don’t remember anything about the results.

But DailyCandy, with the help of Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic, recently created a video that will help lots of us–especially during this holiday season: a DIY Brightening Daisy Facial or, How To Not Look Hungover. Even if you don’t drink much, there’s no denying that the holidays are exhausting even without the addition of booze. I might do this to look alive in the midst of holiday travel.

Winterize!

Daily Candy’s got 27 Secret Weapons Against Winter Skin Care Woes.

I’m most excited about the inclusion of an item for men…

 

…and this lip balm:

 

And I love that this exists for traveling. It’s such a pain to squeeze product from the full-sized bottle into rinsed-out hotel shampoo bottles just so I don’t have to check a bag. Worth the $20? Probably.

 

 

 

Facials: Aestheticians the New Dermatologists?

winerose.com

In my last post, I mentioned that I won a facial at the Summerize Your Skin seminar. This was VERY exciting to me, since I’m obviously interested in skin health and who doesn’t love to win things?!

The facial starts with a consultation, since you can’t really get a quality facial without a consultation first. Kerian asked me a lot of questions, like:

• What do you like/dislike about your skin? I like how soft my skin is, but don’t like that it’s often dry and sensitive. She confirmed that it is dry, but explained that it’s not an internal issue (meaning drinking more water won’t help it), and is instead a topical issue (meaning I’m putting something on it that dries it out).

• Do you regularly have break outs? I break out right around my period. Just from looking at my blemishes, she could tell that about half of them were hormonal, and the other half were caused by dirt and oils. (I asked her for more information about how she could tell, but she just shrugged and said, “Experience.”)

• How often do you wash your face? Once a day, at night. She wanted to get me started on twice a day, but if you’re only going to wash once, nighttime is the right time.

• What do you use to wash your face? Clean & Clear for sensitive skin. “Well there’s your problem,” she said. “Have you ever seen a commercial for Clean & Clear?”

“Yes.”

“And who do they market to?”

“Teenagers.”

“And how old are you?”

“26.”

“Need I say more?”

She’s right. I started using Clean & Clear while I was in high school. At the time, it was the only thing that worked for me. And it kept working for me (or so I thought), so I kept using it. But because teenagers’ skin is naturally oilier than adults’, even the stuff for sensitive skin was drying me out.

• What kind of moisturizer do you use? Neutrogena at night, Eucerin Everyday Protection with SPF during the day. (I got major points for those.)

• Do you exfoliate? No, not really. Turns out I should. And I knew that, but I could also tell that my skin– since it was damaged from my teen skincare regimen– couldn’t handle it.

• How often do you shampoo your hair? Every other day. Even though I cut back from every day to every other day (at the time), it’s still too much cleansing for a part of your body that needs a more natural oil production schedule (otherwise the oil production goes into overdrive). Kerian suggested twice a week, which sounded a little gross to me, but I gave it a shot (future post alert!).

For the actual facial, I got a customized Phytomer treatment using seaweed from the Brittany coast. It included cleansing, exfoliation, steaming, extractions, massage (neck, shoulders, face), mask, and sunscreen, since I did it in the middle of the day and went out into the sun after.

At the end, she writes up a little prescription-type note that suggests products and usage. And if you don’t need something, she’ll tell you. She skipped the toner for me and got me on a new cleanser (for grown-ups!) and a weekly exfoliant. She also told me when she wants to see me again; she said I should get facials twice a year: before winter and before summer (and I imagine this is true for a lot of people).

I was so amazed at the clinical nature of the whole experience (while still feeling pampered), that I was kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

Coming soon: reviews of my new grown-up products and what happened with my hair washing experiment.

Summerize Your Skin

be prepared!

After concentrating on caring for skin in the winter on this blog, I’m excited to announce that I will be attending a seminar on how to get my skin ready for summer this week! It will be held at a spa I went to about a year ago for an amazing massage (I haven’t been back because massages just aren’t in the budget), so I’m excited to find out what they have to offer.

I’m also a little concerned that it’s just going to be a sales pitch for some line of products that “real people” can’t afford. But, if that’s the case, at least they’ll have light refreshments (I’m imaging slices of cucumber– ha!), goodie bags, and opportunities to win things.

So. If you have summertime skin questions for a REAL expert, let me know and I’ll ask them on your behalf!