Happy Holidays!
December 24, 2009
I will be taking a break during Christmas and New Years. See you all after New Years!
Simple Skin Care for Men
December 16, 2009
You ever wonder what to gift you dad, brother or spouse? Often I find it a challenge to shop for men, they just do not seem to need as many beauty’ products as us female species do. But I came to realize and discover that they too could use the pampering on tie skin. And as the weather gets cold they suffer the same dry skin and chapped lips we do, the sunburn, they have bad hair days, and they also get razor burn. The hardest part is the men in my life are not picky and are ‘cowboys’ that they do not seem to mind if their skin get damaged, neither can they hold up to a ‘beauty’ regimen. And machoism that my husband has makes it hard for him to even consider a professional spa facial, better yet having to apply moisturizer nightly or exfoliate once a week.
I have discretely been able to slip in skin care in my husband regimens by: leaving a mild exfoliating mask in the shower with his soap, and placing an odorless light water based face moisturizer by his shaver. I make sure there’s moisturizer with a light sunscreen and chap stick in his glove box.
For his weekly exfoliating mask, I recently discovered Gatsby Black Mega Scrub. This is available in tube form online and on ebay for roughly $8. The thing I really love about this scrub is that it doesn’t have a heavy scent, very very little goes a long long way and most importantly it gets the job done. After washing with this weekly scrub, it leaves te skin fresh and squeeky clean but never drying. I tend to cheat and use this product for myself every now and then.
For face moisturizer I do trust Mario Badescu Aloe Moisturizer with SPF 15. It is especially made for sensitive skin, it has a very light clean scent and it’s not sticky or heavy on the skin. It costs about $22 for a 2 ounce jar of product in the Mario Badescu website, but keep in mind when using this you just applying a very thin layer on the skin of your face. Indeed, less is more when it comes to this. This product does not clog the pores therefore, it doesn’t cause breakouts.
And lastly, for $2 a stick of chap stick in classic strawberry (that’s my favorite flavor) available almost everywhere, from grocery stores, to gas stations to drugstores, and now you can even get spf on your chap stick!
So remember the three things, chapstick, a weekly scrub and we chose Gatsby Black Mega Scrub and a practical moisturizer, in this case we are using Mario Badescu Aloe Moisturizer with SPF.
I know the Mario Badescu moisturizer is a little bit on the expensive side but keep in mind, men do not use many different products, they only need one product that works that they can stick to, pretty much for life. And it is hard to find a moisturizer you trust that won’t clog your pores, make you look oily and even worse cause skin damage and blemishes.
Easy Winter Hair Care
December 15, 2009
As much as the cold dry weather during winter can cause dryness and roughness to our skin, so can it do damage to our hair as well, both male and female. Here are some quick and easy regimens for winter hair care.
During the winter we tend to take hot showers or baths, but as drying as this is to our skin it also has the same effect on our hair. Avoid washing your hair every day. If you must wash your hair everyday, skip out on the shampoo and just use conditioner.
For the days that you do not wash your hair, to re freshen your hair or prep it for styling use a leave in conditioner. To avoid weighing down the hair by leave in products you can do a couple of things to fix that. One, water the leave in conditioner down, a 50/50 ratio will do just fine. Or make your own leave in conditioner by combining a few drops of essential oils, chamomile tea, coconut oil or aloe vera oil, and vitamin E.
it is recommended to do a deep conditioning or hot oil treatment once or every other week. VO5 will do just fine for an over the counter hot oil treatment. Or you can use quite a number of things to reset and rejuvenate your hair. There’s amla powder or oil, coconut oil, aloe vera extract.
Also, shielding your hair from the blistering cold air by wearing a hat or what not can help protect your hair too.
For leave in hair conditioner and deep conditioning recipes go to Sudsational.wordpress.com.
Perfume That Hydrates The Skin
December 13, 2009
Growing older and experimenting with different body and skin products, I have stopped buying department store perfumes.
Often commercial colognes and perfumes found in retail and department stores are overpriced and just come in a pretty bottle. They are endorsed by popular celebrities but its scent is made mostly of water and alcohol. And the worst part is putting it on and after a few minutes realizing the scent does more harm than good by making you smell bad.
Perfume or cologne shouldn’t reek the old cliche ‘baby prostitute.’ Like the proper application of make up it should not be over done but it should be there to accent and enhance.
It’s common knowledge to always try on perfume before buying to make sure it mixes well with your own scent.
It was a couple of years ago that I discovered hand made linen spray and hand made face misters, rosewater and lavender calming skin sprays. This is where the inspiration came about for a scented skin mister.
It’s definitely better to make your own perfume out of raw, organic, hand picked, natural botanical materials. This way you can personalize it yourself to match your own essence, and you know there isn’t anything in it that can irritate your skin or mess up your clothes.
You will need a small spray bottle, there are 1,2 and 4 ounce bottles available at Wal-Mart or Target. You will also need distilled water and the essential oil of your scent of choice. For this one we are going to make my favorite combination of scents, lavender, freesia and bergamot. We are making 2 ounces of spray.
Pour 1.5 ounces of distilled water in the bottle, add 5 drops of lavender, 3 drops of bergamot and 2 drops of freesia, shake the bottle and enjoy. I use this as car freshener, linen spray, pillow spray and on my skin.
Create a face mist spray by adding 5 drops of aloe, 2 drops of lavender and 2 drops of tangerine into 1.5 ounces of distilled water, rose water or a mix of the two, refrigerate or use room temperature, use it after the gym or anytime you want to freshen or hydrate your face or skin.
Practical Review on Etsy.com
December 13, 2009
Why You Should Use Etsy…
Etsy.com, as the opening page states, is a place to buy, sell and trade all things handmade. The best thing about this notion is the fact you will learn a lot from other crafters no matter what you are making. With everything being handmade each item is unique, one of a kind and fresh.
Just looking at the pictures of the various handmade soaps that are created, there is so much to chose from, so much to learn, and to get inspiration from. Sometimes I just browse through handmade soaps to see what my next article will be based on their designs, color schemes and combination of oils.
Anyone health conscious and looking for natural products should definitely consider joining the Etsy community. It is free to join of course.
I strongly suggest this website to anyone who is into handmade, recycled, natural, homemade crafts and personal care products. At the same time, if you are an entrepreneur, starting small, this is where to begin. You can check out other products, meaning you have the latest trends available for you to know and you are checking out the competition.
If you are simply just passionate about the hand made organic, recycled and natural arts and crafts possibilities, Etsy.com is definitely a useful tool to use.
Most Thoughtful Christmas Gift
December 8, 2009
With Christmas around the corner and our budgets’ dwindling into hardly anything due to the current economic status, what do you gift your family and friends you love so much? I usually would buy them a luxury product like a Louis Vuitton bag, Coach accessories, diamond necklaces from Macy’s, baby gear from Juicy Couture, eye wear from Prada and Gucci, $300 day spa gift certificate, Chanel make up, David Yurman or Tiffany silver. All of these mentioned are really nice and desired. But in all honesty there s no effort in gifting these items but forking up the cash and spending a few days at a luxury mall shopping for gifts as well as personal items that may come across. Heck, I’ll even stop by Cheesecake Factory for lunch, eat some gelato for an afternoon snack and wind down with a glass of red wine with my dinner at Spago.
This year I am making something more thoughtful and more personal. And honestly I can’t make many of what I am about to create because it takes a lot of dedication from my end. I am going to knit scarves from scratch. There are many selections to chose from in arts and craft stores. These kits include thread, needle, pattern and instructions or different colors to chose from, different styles and different levels of difficulty to make. The best feature I saw is that there are kits made from 100% cashmere, and organic cotton, how wonderful is that?
I believe in the saying, “There’s nothing better than getting a handwritten letter or greeting card in the mail.” instead of an eCard, or a wall post in Face Book or a comment or testimonial in MySpace and Friendster respectively. With that principle in mind there is nothing better than a hand made or personalized gift, right? This year it’s going to be handmade cashmere scarves!
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