Gentle Face Scrub

It’s in the winter more than any other time where I feel I need to focus on exfoliation. I usually exfoliate about 1-2 times a week. I don’t know if it’s the cold weather or acne marks attempting to heal by regenerating new skin, but my face has been super flaky lately. I have oily combination skin which means my forehead, nose, and chin are oily while my cheeks are usually normal but recently both my cheeks and my forehead have been getting flakes after I apply foundation. I’ve noticed that regular scrubs help, especially this one.

Ingredients:

2 parts baking soda
1 part warm water

I mix everything together in a bowl or in my hands to make a somewhat thick paste. I try not to let it harden on my face or else it’s more difficult to remove, so instead I wash it off before 5 minutes are up.

This is a gentle exfoliator so you can do it more than once a week, and a tip I’ve picked up is that if you feel you need extra exfoliating, keep a scrub on for longer, rather than scrubbing it into your skin roughly, which can damage your skin. This homemade scrub is especially good for sensitive skin since it’s not too abrasive.

Softest Feet E-V-E-R

Quick post but I just had to share this little recipe. I was giving myself my weekly pedicure when I decided to try something new. I have a bottle of tea tree oil that I haven’t been using because I didn’t like it as an acne product. So, I soaked my feet in water with a few drops of tea tree oil and some honey. The water smelled amazing and my feet felt so clean and fresh! I’m pretty sure both are antifungal and antibacterial. To make my feet super soft I made a coconut sugar scrub – equal parts virgin coconut oil and white, granulated sugar. My feet have never been so soft! The coconut oil makes your feet oily but I just clean them with water and then dry them off.

Miraculous! And cheap.

April 2013 Favourites

I love monthly beauty favourites so I decided to do a post for the first time!

1. Bioderma Sensibio H20 micellar water
2. Yves Rocher Iced Foot Gel
3. Bath & Body Works “Secret Wonderland” Cream
4. Laura Mercier Oil-free Tinted Moisturizer
5. Baking soda (for face scrubs and dry shampoo)
6. L’oreal EverSleek Deep Conditioner
7. Yves Rocher Lipstick Gift in plum
8. White Vinegar (for hair lightening)

Leave-in Conditioner

I had always heard the raves that leave-in conditioner received, but never believed the hype. Leave-in conditioner is applied to your hair after you shower, before you put any other product in. After deciding to completely renovate my hair care routine, I have to say that leave-in conditioner is now one of my favourite products.

I used GOSH because it was the only one I could find at the Shoppers I was in without any “cones.” Now, I will admit that my hair is a fluffball if this is the only product I use, but coupled with coconut oil, which curls my hair and gives them shape, leave-in conditioner makes my curls soft and non-frizzy, making leave-in and coconut oil an amazing combination.

Give it a try! And throw out that mousse!

Butterhands

I’ve noticed that Fruits and Passion isn’t the most popular store. Or at least, I feel like most beauty gurus focus on Sephora, Bath & Body Works, and drug stores. I’ve got to say though, after giving Yves Rocher a chance and being thrilled, I kind of want to branch out to places like The Body Shop and Fruits and Passion.

Anyway, I received this hand butter as a gift and decided to throw it in my bag to keep on hold at school and work. Now, I prefer body butter to body lotion, but my skin really isn’t dry enough to warrant using body butter. My hands in the winter, however….

I didn’t even realize this little tube was filled with “hand butter” until I squeezed it in my hands. It moisturized my hands so well! I wouldn’t call it greasy or slippery, just thick and nourishing. This is a great product for people with dry, patchy, red skin. And it smells wonderful! My mom has a strawberry scent and my sister has the avocado, but the Monoï is really something else. I didn’t even know what Monoï is, but according to my fabulous investigating skills (Wikipedia), Monoï oil is made from semi-wax coconut oil coating Tahitian gardenia petals. Heavenly!

My favourite shower gel!

I recently fell in love with Yves Rocher. I never really paid the tiny shop any attention when walking past it in the mall, but after looking at its amazing deals online, I couldn’t help myself. I’m on my second bottle of the Candied Mallows shower gel, and I have another waiting for me too.

First off, the packaging is delightful. The bottle and gel itself are pink, and the label features pretty stars, hearts and sparkles on what look like dangling threads. Doesn’t get more girly than that. I adore the font and the roses in the middle too.

Moving on to the product itself, this stuff is amazing. Being the superficial girl I am, I bought it for the cute packaging, especially because the shower gel is said to be rose scented, which has never been my favourite. However, the “mallows” in the title made me think of marshmallows, so I decided to go ahead and purchase it. In reality it has a gentle scent of rose and marshmallows and something else, so that it’s neither overpowering or sickly sweet. I normally don’t go for perfumed shower gels, but this has become a holy grail product.

Cleansing Conditioners

I’ve decided to slowly start incorporating the Curly Girl method into my hair care routine. The CG method is also known as co-washing or no-poo, where you use a cleansing conditioner instead of shampoos, which contain harsh, harmful chemicals that are especially horrible for curly hair. The tip is looking for products that don’t have any ingredients ending with “cone.”

I’m Canadian and after several (ok, more than several) minutes at a nearby Shoppers Drug Mart, I found L’oreal Evercreme cleansing conditioner. It was the only cleansing conditioner I could find, but it seems to be working okay on my hair so far!

I’m going to use it once or twice a week, and shampoo only once a week from now on. I wouldn’t shampoo at all but I bleach my hair and use a purple shampoo to get rid of the brassiness. Once my hair is at the colour I want it to be, I plan on taking shampoo out completely.