Weekly Beauty Tip #76: Exfoliate before applying a serum

Before applying any sort of serum to your face, it is best to exfoliate. Getting rid of all of the dry/dead skin will help the serum sink in and work better. Also remember to apply a moisturizer on top to seal it in and of course moisturize.

Review: Olay Fresh Effects Bead Me up Exfoliating Cleanser

A while back I reviewed the rest of the Olay Fresh Effects line. I have finally been able to use Bead Me Up enough to give it an informed review. Bead Me Up is an exfoliating cleanser.  As exfoliating cleansers go (at least the ones that I have tried) this one is pretty unique. 

This cleanser foams like Shine Shine Go Away to help clean all of the dirt out of your pores.  Because it foams, you do not need to use a lot of product.  It also has a ton of tiny little microbeads to exfoliate.  The microbeads are very, very small. When I use it on my already damp face, I can barely feel any exfoliation going on. But when I use it on dry skin, it exfoliates a lot better.  I would recommend trying it either way based on your preference, but I feel this cleanser exfoliates better on dry skin than on wet skin.

Cleansing wise, this cleans really well! My skin definitely feels clean and fresh.  It is not drying like Shine Shine Go Away. 

This isn’t the best face scrub I have tried; I have tried many that exfoliate much better. But as cleanser, this is great and it does have the added benefit of light exfoliation. 

The packaging is the same as Shine Shine Go Away, a squeeze tube. Which I like, it makes it easy to dispense the product. 

I should mention that this year, Olay is expanding the Fresh Effects line. The new products include:

-Swirled Deep  Pore Clean Plus Exfoliating  Scrubs in three scents:  Green Apple and Jasmine Tea, White Grapefruit and Green Tea and Honeysuckle and White Tea

- Dew Over Hydrating Gel Moisturizer

- Soak up the Sun Protection  Moisturizing Sunscreen SPF 15

- As Fresh As New Exfoliating Wet Cloths

- Bright on Schedule Eye Awakening Cream

These new products seem great and I am excited to try quite a few of them. 

Olay Fresh Effects S'wipe Out! Makeup removal cloths Review

A while back I showed all of the products that I won from an Influenster challenge with Olay Fresh Effects. I waited a while to review this product after really getting to test it out. I have been using these makeup remover clothes for months and now I feel I can give an adequate review of them.

The S'wipe out makeup removal cloths look like any other makeup removing cloth or wipe. They come in a pouch with a peel back resealable sticker for easy open close. I like this packaging because it is easy to just grab and throw into a bag. No matter how many times I opened and closed the bag, it would still reseal like new.

There is a scent to these, it is hard to describe what they smell like, but they smell good. The packaging claims them to be refreshing which they would be if it were not for one problem: they make my eyes burn! Oh, do they make my eyes burn. If It weren't for that, I would absolutely love these. They are really good at removing all makeup. After I bear through the eye burning agony, they do remove all of my eye makeup and when I use these on my face makeup, 80 -90% of it is removed. Sometimes I can deal with the burning as long as they clean well. I'm usually ok after waiting a minute and sometimes throwing water on my face.

I'm not sure if they would burn for everyone. If you buy these, I advise you to no use them around the eyes, they will not burn anywhere else (at least they don't for me).

Overall, I do like these wipes except for the fact that they burn my eyes like crazy. I am on my 2nd package of them, I'm unsure on if I will repurchase or buy something else.

Weekly Beauty Tip #59: Exfoliate

Exfoliating is a very important step in skincare. It will help remove old, dead skin and allow new glowing skin cells to come through. It is important to do this at least once a week.

Helpful hint: I have (finally!) gotten my mother to listen to my skincare advice, she now exfoliates. Since she started, her skin has gotten so much softer and a much better appearance.

July Glam Bag Review

 This is being posted later than I planned, but I wanted as always to test these products out for a good amount of time so that I could give you all a detailed review. Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service that sends you 4-5 products in a mixture of full sized and deluxe sample sized for only $10. You also get special discount codes for each month's brand. If you would like to sign up, please be awesome and use my referral link: http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h051r3lzwoa89xn . I should also mention that each bag has a theme. This month's theme was Beach beauty.

I love the bag its self for this month. It is a clear, waterproof plastic bag. It keeps with the beach theme, being a perfect makeup bag for the beach. In my bag I received a sampler palette from BH Cosmetics California Collection, a full sized Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon, a sample sized Derm E Microdermabrasion Scrub, a sample sized Coola Mineral Face SPF Unscented Moisturizer and a sample sized Sexy Hair
Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning and Texturizing Spray.
Here are my thoughts and reviews on each individual product:

                                                  Derm E Microdermabrasion Scrub

To start with, microdermabrasion. Many people have no idea what this is. If you break it down it basically means small skin abrasion. A micro derm scrub is a scrub meant to get rid of the dry skin cells on your face to reveal newer, glowing skin. This scrub has very small (and do I mean very small!) pieces of Dead Sea salt and volcanic sand. It reminds me of a more broken down version of Lush Ocean Salt. It smells really good, like lemons. It gives a harsher exfoliation than Lush Ocean Salt. This scrub does as it should and makes my skin feel soft and wonderful. A little bit goes a long way. I had my mom, who is in her late 40s try this. She has dry mature skin and (finally!!) she is listening to my advice on skincare. After using this scrub, she says that her skin has been less dry, it feels softer and looks better. The sample size I got of this was smaller than expected, but I was glad to try this scrub. It won't replace my beloved Ocean Salt but I really did love it, my mom did as well.


Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon

This next picture I know is blurry and it was taken in haste (I didn't have much time to take extra photos for this post). I am only posting it so that you can see what color this crayon actually is, since the lighting in the picture above makes it look orange when it isn't.

I was most excited for this product in my glam bag. I have been seeing these crayon shaped pigmented lip balms EVERYWHERE and I had yet to try one! I received this in Coral Crush, a beautiful coral color (although it looks pinker on me). On first thought when applying it feels wonderful. It is moisturizing, as I expected it would be. It is also very pigmented, which as a lipstick lover makes me happy. If you apply too much it may appear a little streaky. They don't stay on long and will come off when eating and drinking, so you'll need to reapply. This isn't a problem for me, any time I wear a lip product I bring it with me (even lip tars). I really want to get more of these, but these balms are only available in a kit that costs $25. The kit only contains one other color that I would wear so it doesn't make sense for me to buy it, which is disappointing because I loved this and I want some more colors.

Sexy Hair Soy Renewal Beach Spray Conditioning and Texturizing Spray

Wow that's a mouthful! I had never tried a Sexy Hair product, though I have seen them raved about so I was happy to see this. I love texturizing sprays (such as Not Your Mother's Beach Babe) so that was a bonus for me.  It comes in a pump bottle with a tab to position to open or close the bottle. The packaging is just like Beach Babe. The directions say this spray can be used over damp or dry hair. For dry hair it recommends also spraying at the roots for volume. When used on my dry hair, I sprayed to the roots and throughout my hair. I then put my hair up for about 10 minutes into a claw clip. When I took it down I have some nice, soft waves and a little volume at my roots. I haven't been able to try this on damp hair yet, but I'm sure it works just as well.

Coola Mineral Face SPF  Unscented Moisturizer

It's like Ipsy read my mind! I have been looking for a moisturizer with SPF and what appears in my glam bag? This. I was extremely disappointed in the travel size that I received. I wish it were bigger so I could've tested it out more.  This is a mineral moisturizer with SPF 20. It is unscented and not tinted. It blended well, didn't feel oily and it didn't leave any sort of white cast on my face.  I wore this yesterday when I went to the fair that my town has every year underneath my makeup. It was a hot day, the sun was out and it was beaming as I walked from my house to the fair as well as many sections of the fair. On a day like this, I normally would've worn BB cream, but I wanted to test the protection of this product. I wore it underneath a foundation without any SPF and I didn't apply any extra moisturizer over it. It did moisturize, but I wish it moisturized better. The SPF protection is good. I spent probably four or five hours at the fair and I didn't get any sunburn. I feel that this protected my skin well. I liked it.

BH cosmetics California Collection Eyeshadow Samples

 I was really excited to try these, having heard about BH cosmetics a lot though I had never had a chance to try them.  In the sampler palette I received three eyeshadows in Hollywood (deep purple color), San Francisco (a sparkly brown) and Malibu (a gorgeous gold color). Here are swatches of each color over Elf Essential Eyelid primer:

I was a bit disappointed in these shadows. Malibu had great pigmentation, but I feel like San Francisco was a little flat and Hollywood definitely fell flat. Sam Francisco could've had a bit better pigmentation and the pigmentation of Hollywood is horrible. When worn over primer on my eyes, Malibu and San Francisco lasted all day. But when I rubbed the swatches on my hand (which were put over the same primer) they wiped off completely. If I could buy Malibu as a single eyeshadow, I would. I love the color and the pigmentation. However since I wasn't fully impressed by the other two colors I don't think I'll be buying one of the California palettes.



Over all, I did really like this bag. Even though I wish some products were a larger size, it is great for what I pay. Also, I think Ipsy made everything travel sized so that it will fit in the bag to go to the beach. It is a great assortment of products that could be used at a day (or weekend) to the beach and it is perfect for travel.

Lush Grease Lightning Review

I got a sample of this product from Lush some time ago. Within the past two years my skin has changed a bit and I get more pimples than I used to. Nothing I used got rid of them effectively or quickly, so I needed another option. I found this product on Lush's website and had to get a sample from my local store. When that sample was running low, I absolutely needed to buy this.

Grease Lightning is dubbed a tea tree cleanser by Lush. It has many uses, but it is intended for acne prone skin. It is made with tee trea and witch hazel, which is really good for acne.

I use this as a spot treatment. Whenever I see a pimple, I put a little bit of this on it and it is usually gone the next day. Nothing else has worked as well for me as Grease Lightning has. Even better, it is made without the harsh chemicals many acne medications are made with.

There  are several other uses for this product. If you have oily skin, you can use it to soak up the oil. If you have acne prone skin you can use it to prevent and treat your acne. A sales girl at Lush also recommended using this on mosquito bites. A friend of mine has tried this with several bites and it definitely works.

This is a very easy product to use, the packaging makes it this way. It comes in a pump bottle. Just pump some product from the bottle and use. A little bit goes a long way, so if you aren't applying it on large areas of your face, I recommend pumping it into a little container (such as a Lush sample jar) and applying from there with a qtip.

Yes, this product really does work and I love it. I have gotten a few friends to try it and it has worked just as well for them. It is completely worth the price and so much better for your skin. If you're a lushie and have any sort of problem that can be solved with this product, it is a must have.

Weekly Beauty Tip #47: SPF is important!

SPF is very important! Be sure to wear sunscreen under your makeup or a foundation/tinted moisturizer/BB cream with SPF in it. Even on the cloudiest days, those harmful rays can still reach you.

Weekly Beauty Tip #45: Skincare routine on hands

Do your skin care routine on the tops of your hands for anti-aging protection.

Toner

So this is a topic I've been wanting to post about for a while now. And I decided to now since I have been talking to a friend about toner.  The basic foundation to a good makeup application is good skin. One thing everyone should do before they put on makeup (or atleast twice a day) is cleansing their skin, toning their skin and moisturizing. Most women do cleanse and moisturize but they don't tone! In fact, most women don't even know that toner exists or what it is.

I will be honest, I did not know what toner was until I started cosmetology school and I just recently started using it.

(Image from Amazon.com)

This is the toner that I use. Olay oil minimizing toner. Let's start with the basics. Toner is basically like a cleanser. You use it after you cleanse your face. It picks up all of the extra dirt, makeup and oil that you missed when you washed your face. It also helps to close your pores so that extra dirt doesn't get in after washing. It preps your face for moisturizing as well. Over time it can make large pores smaller. If you have oily skin, it will take the oiliness away which also gives you less pimples.

Now how would you use toner? Simple. It depends on what type you get. It can be in a spray, on a wipe or in a bottle like the one above. If it's a spray, just spray it onto your face and you're good to go. If it's a wipe, wipe your face with it. If it's in a bottle, simply pour it onto a cloth or cotton ball and wipe your face with it. But do not wash toner off.

Most toners have alcohol in them so they might have a slight burn, but after you apply toner your skin will feel clean and refreshed. 

So toner isn't difficult and it will really help your skin. It also isn't expensive. Depending on the place you buy it and what brand you get, it could cost you $5 or less.

A few toners I recommend:

 
- Olay Oil Minimizing Toner (I personally use it) [Image from amazon.com]
 
- Neutrogina Pore Refining Toner  [Image from amazon.com]
 
- Acne Free Acne Astringent Toner Pads (specially formulated for acne prone skin, It's in a wipe to make applying easy and quick when you're in a rush. It unclogs pores and helps prevent breakouts. One of my friends uses it and loves it) [Image from Consumr.com]