Friday, August 23, 2013

Spot Treatment, Healing, Update

So I'm going to share a few things in this post:
1. Best natural spot treatment 
2. Best natural way to heal an old spot/scar
3. Update on washing with salt/things I've tried with it
4. How I wash and care for my skin

1.
So first, the best spot treatment I have developed is similar to my charcoal mask

First you make a smaller portion of the mask (1 charcoal capsule, a small amount of aloe, and one drop of grapefruit oil or tea tree oil) 
Next you dab it on the spot and when it is still wet put a bit of salt on it
Let dry and repeat the next day (and so on)

However, if you have dry or very sensitive skin I would recommend using bee magic (something I've been loving lately) and the salt, you don't want to kill your sensitive or dry skin

Why this works: the charcoal draws out impurities, the aloe heals, the salt also acts to draw out impurities, and the grapefruit oil heals and smells good! 

the bee magic works because it is very healing and prevents the salt from completely drying out your skin 

2. 
So you're clear but have the after effects of the spots (UGH!), you may even be experiencing some scabbing. What I find works for me is using bee magic and aloe mixed together to dab on the scab or scar, then get some moleskin and cut a small piece to put over the scab/scar. This is ultra healing and the moleskin locks in the healing goodness. Why not a bandaid? Because a bandaid allows air in and this (for some reason) is not as effective. I would not suggest keeping it on for too long because air needs to get to it eventually. Normally I will sleep with it on and be able to see a huge improvement in just one night, depending on how bad the scab/scar is it could take up to three or four nights to completely heal. 

3.
 So I have been using regular salt to exfoliate my face with at night. I have tried several different things. 
a. wet face and rub salt on and wash off (beware this does sting if you have open wounds!)
b. wet face and pack salt on and let sit (my face was on FIRE with this, I wouldn't recommend it)
c. wet face and pack salt on and put hot washcloth on to sit (my face was less on fire but I still wouldn't recommend this)
d. slather bee magic over face in a thin layer and pack on salt (this was the absolute best!)

For me option D was the best, it did not sting and allowed me to leave it sit for 5-7 minutes and then rub in small circles and wash completely off. It was also very moisturizing because of the bee magic. However option A was not bad, just beware that it will sting a little. 

4.
So when I last updated I was just using my sappo hill soap, which is still the case! I absolutely adore this soap and just bought 9 bars for college. However I now use my clarisonic brush head to get extra lather. I wet the brush head and the soap and then rub the soap on it till I get a nice lather to put on my face. And then after that I use my aloe mixed with a drop of grapefruit essence and a drop of lemon oil. I have the same routine for morning and night except for the salt mask/wash(which is only for night). The only other things I will do are the charcoal mask or spot treatment. I don't use any other products for my skin and all I use for makeup are my Jane Iredale powder and blush, I have been using this since 7th grade!!!! I really hope my roomate in college doesn't think my skin care habits are too strange, at least I have the excuse of this blog. 


xx
Abbey

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Makeup, for guys too?

Women have always had the monopoly on the makeup industry, which of course makes sense right? Women are the ones who actually use it. Well wrong, they may be the majority but men wear makeup too! People always say well only the gay guys wear makeup, real men don't wear it. I resent that comment because it is NOT true! Men have the same insecurities as women, they worry about their facial acne just as much. Some may not care, others may care but not enough to resort to makeup. But there are plenty of guys on youtube who have makeup tutorials, are some of them gay? Maybe, but why should that matter. I think it's perfectly fine for anyone to wear makeup. I think we women could actually learn something from the men who do makeup, they wear it to cover imperfections (mostly) and sometimes you cannot even tell that they have any makeup on. To me that is the right way to apply makeup and how I have always done it, no one ever believed me when I said I wore makeup and probably the only time they noticed is when I had my makeup done for an event. It was way over the top but everyone insisted how gorgeous I looked, and you know what? I absolutely HATED it!! It felt heavy and gross. But really to each his own, it doesn't matter what gender you are or how you like your makeup done, sure I have opinions but that only influences how I apply my own makeup. And of course if someone asks me I will share my opinion but they may choose to follow something different which is perfectly fine! My brother is a great example of this, and may I say he looks fierce in his pictures and youtube videos!

Also I'm not sure I will be making the facebook page, however I have been toying with the idea of a youtube channel and videos. We'll see... 

Friday, August 2, 2013

Update

Ok so I haven't posted in a while, I decided to do an update on my routine for my skin and just in general. In my last post I was doing pretty much nothing and since then I have changed some things. I tried to start using my clarisonic again with disastrous results, I think it is just way too harsh for my semi sensitive skin so I am not going to use it again. So my routine now is as follows:

Morning-
Organic Sappo Hill Oat Soap (there are literally three ingredients in this)
Aloe Vera mixed with a drop of grapefruit essence (not oil)
Mineral powder and mineral blush [Jane Iredale] (for the day, sometimes I don't wear makeup at all)

Night:
Organic Sappo Hill Oat Soap
Salt wash (ok this is really new, I will explain about it down below)
Aloe Vera mixed with a drop of grapefruit essence

So the salt wash I heard about from a youtube video or other blog, I forget which. But basically you take some sea salt and rub it on your hands for a few seconds (and make sure you have splashed your face with warm water already!) and then very gently massage it into your skin for 10-15 seconds and wash off with warm water. Salt is really great for your skin, you may notice that your skin looks a but better after being in the ocean, it's because of the salt! The salt cleanses the excess oil away and also gently exfoliates dead skin and gets rid of any build up. I think this is an awesome thing to do at night and I'm sure every night would be ok, I'm just newly trying this out so I will update on it!

Also, I am still using my charcoal mask once a week, it is my absolute go to mask and you can even switch up the oils you use, instead of tea tree I've been using grapefruit essence which has been really great for my skin!! I also have been making a lesser amount of the mask to spot treat, which dries up any problem spots really well!


As for any other updates lately I have been really conscious about the ingredients in all the products I use, hair care, lotion, etc. I now use an all natural shampoo (or as close as I can get right now) which means no sulfates! Also instead of lotion I have been using coconut oil to moisturize my body, not only does it smell sooo good but it moisturizes for days and makes your skin look really toned! I am really analyzing what things I put in and on my body and trying to eliminate things that I know have synthetic ingredients or chemicals in them. More updates to come!