Entries Tagged 'Skin Care' ↓

Price: US$2.99
Rating:
Website: http://skinvitals.com.au

I’m going to be really harsh in this review, but I can’t help it …this has to be one of the worst products I’ve ever used.

Skinvitals sells a range of cloth masks, each with its own purpose. The G-Energize mask is an anti-stress rejuvenating and invigorating mask with the active ingredients ginseng and ginkgo biloba, both apparently ‘powerful’ anti-oxidants.

The concept of a cloth face mask sounds cool, I mean …less mess and less fuss and all that. But in reality it was a nightmare to use.

The instructions on the back of the pack

The first thing I noticed when I opened the pack was the smell, which was just okay. It kind of smells like cheap oils. Like walking into an essential oils store and asking for the cheapest oils they’ve got, then mixing them all together.

The cloth also felt really cold and slimey. Not that same thick luxurious feeling you get when you dip your hand into a thick clay mud mask.

Placing the cloth onto my face was the nightmare part. It just didn’t feel like it fit! I know I have a big nose for a girl, but it should cater for my kind of people. I had trouble placing the cloth against my skin on the sides of my nose, and it kept popping off my chin and ‘mustache’ area. In fact, the whole time I was wearing the mask it constantly felt like it was half falling off.

AND I looked ridiculous. This girl in the image looks fabulous. She’s gorgeous, relaxed and happy. Her mask fits well and she’s kinda comfortable wearing it. While I felt like some character out of a horror movie. Even after I’d warned my house mate that I’d be wearing a mask so not to freak out if he saw me. Once I’d freaked out after I saw me there was no way I was showing my face to anyone. I did take a photo but I’m too scared to post it.

But, the worst part of this cloth mask is how in no way did I feel relaxed or soothed which is what I usually love about masks. In fact, I felt very uncomfortable. With the mask half falling off my face, a little piece sticking in my right eye, and the feeling that I had wet surgical gauze plastered onto my face like a burns victim, was in no way relaxing or soothing. I was also a little freaked out about the piece that kept sticking me in the eye because there’s a warning on the packet that says “if product gets in eyes, rinse thoroughly with water”. Okay, definitely not a natural product.

And of course after I took the mask off (after 5 minutes out of discomfort not the full 15), I was left with gooey oily stuff all over my face. So my next thought was, “uh oh, are these oils going to break me out??”. Luckily a day later they haven’t, but the scary thought was still there.

I’m sorry Skinvitals for being so harsh. But really, what were you thinking when you made this product?? I’ll definitely be sticking to non-cloth masks in the future.

Fran

HOLY COW Las Vegas is hot! If you want to know what being inside an oven is like, then come to Las Vegas in summer. This is my third day on holidays in Vegas and I’m still not used to the searing 40ºC (104ºF) dry heat.

I think my skin is cranky with me for being in this oven. And it doesn’t like the constant drying air conditioning either. It’s rebelled by stopping all production of natural moisturizer. Well at least that’s what it feels like anyway. I feel as though I’m slowly drying out to a prune. The worst areas affected are my hands, shoulders, back, elbows, upper thighs and feet. Thank goodness my face isn’t too bad [yet], but my chin this morning has become unusually dry. So much for that ditching my moisturizer idea I had in humid Toronto.

Here it’s dry everywhere. The heat outside is so incredibly dry, and everywhere indoors is heavily air conditioned. No amount of moisturizer that I slather onto my body is doing the trick. Last night when I went to bed the driest bits were actually a little sore. And my shoulders and back hurt in the shower as if they’re burnt!

If you live here I guess it’s different, your body just must be used to it. I also have very dry skin anyway [my skin has always been dry] so these hot and dry conditions are just making it worse. If you have oily skin, you’ll probably love it here. Continue reading →

I felt like a rebel last night. After I had cleansed my face then applied my BHA, I didn’t moisturize. I didn’t feel like I needed to. When I stepped out of the shower my skin did not feel dry or tight, and after I applied the BHA it felt as though it had been moisturized already. So it got me thinking, do we really need to moisturize our skin? Or is that just something the cosmetics industry tells us that we need to do?

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about not moisturizing my T-Zone, so I guess I’m now just taking it one step further. I had such good results with not moisturizing my T-Zone that I thought …why not just skip that whole step altogether. I’m still moisturizing my face in the morning, but not at night.

I’m leaving tonight for a trip to the U.S for two weeks, spending most of my time in Las Vegas and Sedona. I’m wondering if the dry hot air will send me back to moisturizing at night? So is this just a humidity thing or if we’re eating well, exercising, taking supplements and looking after our body, then perhaps our skin just balances out to ‘normal’ - as in not oily and not dry and we no longer need to moisturize?

Dr. Hauschka’s say on all of this

I remember reading a while back on Dr. Hauschka’s website that we actually shouldn’t moisturize our skin at night at all. I thought this was a load of bollocks at the time because I had quite dry skin …but now I’m wondering if there’s some truth to it. Continue reading →

I typically have very dry skin, so you can imagine my horror when the weather in Toronto turned steaming hot and humid (literally overnight), and the skin on my face turned into a greasy mess.

It wasn’t so much that my entire face went oily, it was more the T-Zone area. If you’re not sure where the T-Zone is on your face, here is a pretty diagram I’ve made for you. Just imagine a T shape on your face. The top part of the T is your forehead, and the bottom is a line drawn down your nose and chin.

And it wasn’t just oily skin either, I broke out with some small pimples, with two on my nose, one on my chin and a small scattering on my forehead. Not a pretty site and very unfortunate after I’d only recently be celebrating completely clear skin.

I don’t think I helped matters much either by using my ‘usual’ amount of moisturizer on the first humid morning. I slathered on a decent amount of my Olay moisturizer which my skin usually needs in the cold and dry weather. On this very humid day it just made my skin greasy and shiny. So much so that my house mate even made a comment at how greasy my face was looking! Eww.

So the first thing I knew I needed to do was to use less moisturizer. In fact, I’m of the belief that if your skin is oily or you feel as though you don’t need any moisturizer, then why bother even putting it on. I’m sure there are beauty therapists out there groaning and shaking their heads, but I’m positive that moisturizers only work on the top layers of the skin, so they’re more for aesthetics and making your skin feel better rather than being a ‘cure all’. So if you already have plenty of natural moisture on your skin, why bother?

As soon as I started using significantly less moisturizer, and leaving my forehead out completely, my skin began to recover. I also used my Paula’s Choice 2% BHA once a day (at night), and used my Miessence Purifying Blemish gel on the small spots that I had. It took about a week for the blotchiness and pimples to go away, but they did! And now I’m happily pimple free again.

So for those of you with oily skin or oily t-zones, consider perhaps how much moisturizer you’re using on your skin. If it’s making your skin feel oilier or greasier then do you think you’d be better off with no moisturizer at all?

Here’s a video I recorded about my oily T-Zone:

Fran

Okay, so this post IS about natural bubble baths, but I found this not-so-natural product on the net from Me!Bath that I just had to show you first because it looks yummy enough to eat. It’s a bubble bath bomb, that looks exactly like ice cream!!! This is the most fabulous product I’ve seen in a long time.

I can’t believe this is not ice cream. I think I’d have to stop myself from taking a bite.

So this isn’t a natural product but I couldn’t find the ingredients listed anywhere so I can’t tell you exactly how bad it is. From what I’ve read so far though, it doesn’t seem that bad. It even contains jojoba oil, soybean (apparently quite hydrating to the skin) and Epson salts.

I love how pretty this is so much that I think it would be a fantastic birthday or Christmas present. Hmmm, friends and family, guess what you’re getting for your next birthday!

However, if you’re concerned about chemicals added to bubble baths and you don’t mind something that’s not quite as pretty, there are plenty of options available for toxic-free bubble baths.

If you remember my last post on chocolate, I talked about how I lay in the bath in our hotel in Vancouver reading a chickflik and eating chocolate truffles (HEAVEN!). What I didn’t tell you was that I had filled the bath with a natural bubble bath.

I’d like to say it was as good as the ‘real thing’, but unfortunately the bubbles were very weak. I definitely did not get that Pretty Woman bubble bath satisfaction. But I did have peace of mind knowing that I was enjoying a bubble bath without putting any chemicals or toxins into my body. I also enjoyed the gorgeous aromatherapy smell that the bubbles gave the bath water.

This particular bubble bath that I used (the one in the picture) was really cheap - only about CA$2.50 and I purchased it from Capers Whole Foods Store in Vancouver. I’ve since looked around on the net and found many other brands of natural bubble baths available. So if you enjoy a soak ever now and again have a look around next time you’re in your local health or whole foods store and I’m sure you’ll find a couple of great options.

Happy soaking,

Fran