AngelBQ

Ok so here I am again and it’s surely been a while since last time. Lots of stuff has happened since then. We moved in to our new house (will post picture later), been to Canada and even met up with Wanda, upgraded to Nikon D300, got a permanent job, became auntie in law to two healthy baby boys, stopped scrapping and quit my only CT, Catscrap (buhu) and started on a new craze of mine, make up. I gathered enough info over the months to share some with you who might have an interest for it. So these next post will be about Makeup, and other updates will come pretty soon.

Let’s start shall we.

:::Skincare:::

Prior to my interest to make up, the only item that could touch my face is water. Mom has always instilled in my mind that natural is best and that messing around with chemicals on my face will mess my face up which thrives better in its natural form. I think it has helped me maintain a healthy skin by not disrupting its balance. But let’s face it, everyday or frequent use of make up would need some cleansers and other helpers to revive the skin and besides I am now 30 plus where the skin has other needs and is prone to react more to its environment, like cold norwegian weather.

Before determining your skin care regimen, the trick is to determine your skin type and custom your skin care regimen accordingly (combination, dry, sensitive, matured, oily or acne-prone). I am not sure yet, but with my dry cheeks in wintertime and a bit oilier t-zone in summertime, I think that I am a combination like some sales clerk have suggested too. Another important thing before diving in the world of cosmetics, is considering the ingredients. You might not see any visible effect immediately, but if you will use these over the years, they can harm your skin and even body instead of do good. These are the ingredients I avoid:

• parabens: this preservative is now getting a lot of attention after there has been studies on the hormonal effect of these. Although the quantities might not be that much in a certain product, I would think that prolonged use of products containing these, will have an adverse effect on a person. it’s used in cosmetics to prolong shelflife.
• silica: my primers have silica, like my Clarins Instant smoothing Perfection and Smashbox’ Primer. I think almost all primers have these and it adds to that silky feel. That’s why at ordinary days I try to avoid this, or maybe just use Clarins, where a little goes a long way. Silica can clog pores.
• aluminium: an ingredient you can find in deodorant. I now use the crystal deodorant (also known as tawas for us pinays/pinoys). I buy one at the “health/alternative/ecological drugstores” here in Norway that is conveniently in a stick form. Much more effective and natural.
• I also try to avoid; talc, bismuth oxychloride (found in Bare Minerals which I used before switching to Everyday Minerals), synthetic fragrance and color (not essential oils though) and sulfate that some persons react to. Also avoid; diethanolamine, formaledehyde, isopropyl alcohol, parafin/petrochemicals, synthetic color, profylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulphate and steralkonium chloride.

These are examples of cosmetic lines that are of the milder, “cleaner” type:

• Aveda
• Ren (has award winning products and has no parabens, petrochemicals, syntethic fragrance and colors, sulfate, tea and dea-diethanolamine, glycols, silicones, pegs among others). They market themselves as clean, bio active skin care.
• Dr. Hauschka with their holistic approach (their rose day cream is a staple among some celebrities).
• Weleda
• Jason Natural Cosmetics
• Origins (they are phasing out their current line for paraben-free alternatives)

Not that natural and more fillers, but recommended by dermatologists:

• MD Formulations
• Dermalogica
• Matis
• Decleor

Other brands worth peeking into: Lancome, Clarins, Clinique, Kiehl, Ole Henriksen, Mario Badescu , Murad, L’occitane, La Prairie (highly expensive series), Vichy, La Roche Posay, Neutrogena, Dead Sea Spa Magik and and Dr. Brandt.

So what do one need for their skin care regimen: For my part, I am trying to customize the following:

1. Cleanser-to remove makeup and pollution on the face. I have Ren Mayblossom and Cypress Balancing Facial cleanisng gel for combinations skin. It is very runny and it won’t lather as much. I put this on the palm of my hand, work a gentle lather and apply on face, then rinse. The lack of foam is because it has left out a lot of fillers and therefore very gentle and mild. At first, when I came out of the shower, my skin seems a bit dry. Might be the warm water, but anyway, it does subside and later the skin feels healthy. As an alternative cleanser, I use Simple cosmetic wipes which doesn’t contain alcohol and perfume. I use the latter for late evenings where I am ready to go to bed and far to lazy to pull out the arsenal.
2. Eye make up remover-The cleansers need a complimentary product for the eyes, since most cleansers won’t do the job of removing gentle or waterproof/heavy eye make up. I’ve been trying to find one that is among the mild lines, but can’t seem to find any, so I am going for the most effective and yet claims to be mild, so that I don’t have to rub as much like with L’oreal. Eyes is the face most sensitive area, so choose one with caution. I ordered Clarins Instant eye make up remover for heavy duty make up since I use waterproof mascara and eyeliner. I ordered the gentle one first by mistake. Those that don’t use waterproof, I think could use that. Lancome Bi-facil is also much raved about. Things to consider; mild enough for lens wearer, removes in a flash and with ease, and suitable for skin type (an oily type for example won’t suit an oily skin). Those that are most raved are usually bi-phase (the ones that have seperated layers and which you have to shake before use). I might also try out Decleor Cleansing water which is meant for sensitive eyes. A trick is to put the product in a cottonpad, let it stay a bit on the eyes before swiping it off.
3. Toner/milk-Removes residues of makeup after using cleanser, acts as a perk me up for the skin and restores ph balance. I think I’ll skip this step, because I don’t want too many products on my face and that skin care will become a heavy burden on pocket and effort.
4. Mists-Used as perk me up, hydrating, refreshing preserves moisture/captures moisture. I use Fix+ by Mac (this has so many uses, will review it in next parts) and also have a homemade dupe with distilled water (9 parts)/can also use rosewater, glycerine (1 part), pure chmomille tea and green tea.I will buy Ole Henriksen’s cucumber balancing mist and keep it in the ref. to “waken” up the eyes on swollen, puffed up days.
5. Exfoliation/scrub-to remove dead skin cells from surface of skin, blackheads and to rejuvenate skin. This should be applied to a minimum. Overdoing it might really harm and irritate your skin. I plan to do this once every two weeks or once a week depending how mild the scrub is. I have St. Ives apricot scrub which I find a bit coarse. I am considering Aveda tourmaline charged exfoliating cleanser, Ren Jojoba Microbead Purifying Facal Scrub or Dermalogica Daily microfoliant (the latter is a very raved about product which has received awards by beauty mags).
6. Peel/mask-also works as an exfoliant. Draws out the blackheads on your skin and much more. Since I am going to use a scrub already, I think I am going to have a peel or mask just once a month. I plan to buy Ren Glycolactical Skin Renewal Peel Mask.
7. Day Cream/night cream/hydrating masks-this is especially important to have the right kind for the right skin. I am skipping the night cream as I don’t want my face to be dependent on a moisturizer to be able to generate moisture. I am a firm believer that “helping” your skin too much, might make it dependent on that help to act normally. Dr. Hauschka’s line has also the same belief and here is what they add; “while you sleep your skin is actually hard at work regenerating itself, balancing oil production and expelling impurities. Regular application of night creams interferes with these essential tasks, and over time skin becomes less able to care for itself. Covering the skin with moisturizer 24 hours a day sends a signal to sebaceous glands to cut down on moisture production, resulting in even drier skin that becomes dependent on moisturizing products just to appear “normal.”. As a day cream, I use Dr. Hauschka’s Moisturizing day cream. As opposed to their thick, creamy Rose day cream and other creams, this is runny. The skin absorbs this fast as a result and the effect lasts the whole day for me, even now in winter time. This moisturizing day cream has also more moist than grease. This is from Dr. haushka’s site: “Moisturizing Day Cream, the activating daily moisturizer that provides hydrating protection in a light, fast-absorbing formula. If we treat dry skin with rich, heavy creams or oils we effectively trick our skin into believing it’s been producing too much of its own oil. In response it will decrease production, perpetuating the dry skin cycle.”. I really love this. It really works for me! This is mild with no parabens or perfumes. It does use alcohol in small amount as preservative to prolong shelf life (derived from a fermentation and distillation process and is gluten-free. Isopropyl alcohol is not used). For hydrating masks (which is more intense at work), I heard Deceleor’s line is good, but again I don’t want to add another step in my regimen. Day cream will do.
8. Eye treatment-for smoothing out wrinkles, reduce puffines and swollen eyes and other eye problems. This one is maybe the one we should really meditate on before finding a product. I wouldn’t use your daycream on the eye area and also be careful in chosing concealer for the eyes for the same reason. Eyes is the most sensistive area in the face. I still haven’t decided yet on the product. The closest is MD Formulations Moisture Defense Antioxidant Eye cream, or Decleor’s Harmonie eye cream but still unsure. Also just using cucumber or a chilled sleeping eye mask is another alternative. There are also some homemade eyepatch recipes like dipping a cotton pad with rosewater, argan oil and green tea and putting it on top of your eyes. When applying eye cream don’t apply directly on the skin under or over your eye. Just apply where you feel the bone beneath and above the eye. Eye creams have usually a spreading effect. Some daycreams might have too, so if you are using a daycream and avoiding the eye area, and the daycream has spreading effect, this will be absorbed by the skin beneath eye as well.
9. Lip treatment-A dehydrated, wrinkled lip migh tmake the lipstick application uneven. I plan on getting Ren’s Biomimetic perfect lip honey. I heard raves about RoseBud Salve and Dr. Lipp, but I heard their overrated and that Rosebud Salve is just a pink vaseline, while Dr. Lipp, Orginal nipple balm is just lanolin. Other raves about MD Formulation, Deceleor, Weleda Everon, Mac, Jason Cosmetic’s, Neutrogena moitureshine lip smoothers, YSL exfoliating lip balm and Burt Bees. If I’d go for flavor, which I won’t, Murad’s pomegranate lip care with spf 15 sounds yummy.
10. Serums-correcting product to use for specific problems. Used beneath moisturizer, not used alone. Another step I don’t need. As with anti-age products, don’t start with this at a young age.
11. Boosters-aids and boost the effectiveness of the regimens. Another step I don’t want to dive in to.
12. Body-as with the face, you can use scrub, cleanser, cream and all sorts of stuff. Not too picky here, but try to keep it mild here too, but here I think smell will play a bigger part. I am going to give Lush cosmetics a try and MD’s face and body scrub.Ren haas some award winning moroccan rose shower products, but I find the smell a bit too strong. I tried it concentrated, so it might be different in the shower. Update: just found a set at the alternative drug store. It’s an american brand called Alba Botanica Cosmetics. It was a set containing the Alba Botanica Hawaiian Passion fruit body wash and the Hawaiian Papaya mango body cream. It’s free from Paraben and hypo allergenic. It does contain synthetic fragrance, but as last in the ingredients list, it means it’s the ingredients that the product contains the least amount of. This smells so sweet and so good. Much like Bodyshop’s products. The problem I usually have with natural skincare is that the smell takes a little getting used to, but this is really nice.

Other stuff to consider:

• sunscreen is definitely a good thing to have in your skin care products to avoid the damaging effect of the sun to the skin, both on the surface and skin cancer
• consider homemade as an alternative for a natural skin care. it’s fun, cheap and you are more in control of what you put in your skin. without preservatives, make sure to throw after short period. common ingredients: distilled water, rosewater. oils, green tea extract and glycerin (a humectant that captures moisture).
• throw away after expiration date. if you can’t find a date, use smell and sight to determine if it’s stale and there are some rules around the internet for how long a specific type of product usually last.
• like in my case, using natural products is not quite like the experience with bodyshop products where their products smells really delicious. i plan to stick it out though for the benefits and I am already getting used to the unusual scents.(like in Dr. Hauschka and REN) most of these products that are syntethic fragrance free, uses etherical oils as scent.
• make sure your hands are clean when applying skin care products. you can alternatively use a sponge to apply (like a cellulitic sponge). Most sponges can also be boiled for sterilizing. a pump is more hygenic than a jar. when using jar, a spatula or brush can be used for better hygiene.
• Make sure to let your skin rest from makeup in between days.
• Nothing is better for your skin than watching not only what you put on your face, but what you also eat. Right diet, sufficient nutrients, antioxidant and besides that, just getting enough rest. Abstain from smoking, stress and excessive coffee.
• Remove make up before going to bed (even mineral makeup, and esecially the eye area. mascaras are bacteria hoarders).
• Expensive is not always best. There a lot of cheap drug store brands out there that works swell.

Last, some useful web sites where I gather tips:

• www.makeupalley.com (register to see the product reviews and other stuff. i always check here before I buy stuff)
• www.makeupgeek.com
• www.youtube.com (I like Enkore’s channel, so many tips and homemade dupes)
• Check out my kaboodle list for more of the stuff that I have found to be raved about http://www.kaboodle.com/angelbq/8c-must-haves.html?sort=&filter=NONE
• http://www.videncenterforallergi.dk/Files/Filer/Patientinformation/folder-english-web.pdf (tips on reading the ingredients label. however certain countries have varying laws for what and how to make an ingredient list/declaration.)

And also websites to order (that accomodates international shipping, non international great site is sephora.com)

• www.feelunique.com (not that big of variety, but free shipping and big price difference)
• www.lookunique.com
• www.beautybay.com
• www.strawberrynet.com
• www.hqhair.com (has nars)
• http://www.iherb.com/Default.aspx
• www.beautybasket.no (norwegian)
• www.lulus.no

Stay tuned for flawless face makeup, next….