This Recruit is reporting for duty again.

Hello My Lovelies.  I do hope February is treating you well. Yesterday, my Beauty Army kit arrived. It has been a while for me personally. I have put myself on a budget and sometimes even spending $12 a month was a difference between makeup or lunch ( you know food won out) . But now that I have paid off a few things and my budget has opened up, this recruit is back !!!!

What better time to come back than during the month of LOVE!!!

 I chose Ineke Hothouse Flower Perfume . Beautiful scent of Gardenia and with the my new found knowledge of perfumes, it works well with my body chemistry. Happy Girl. :)

Next up: Sweet Pea Shea Enriched Shower Gel. Smells amazing and I look forward to trying it out. I have been a bit spoiled by working at work Lush Cosmetics. I do already have my shower gel favorites but hey I am always willing to try something new.

Lash Card: Time to bat my baby browns and make them pop. I am still wrapping my head around a need for a lash card considering how many mascaras out there now are clump free and such but I am slowly learning in beauty, there is a need for everything. I

Whip Hand Cosmetics is one of my favorite cosmetics brands. I am so happy I have the opportunity to try the loose pigment eye shadow. The color is gorgeous bronze and it goes on so smoothly. BONUS: They don't test on animals either. Speaks to my  heart <3

Last but certainly not least Olive bar natural beauty bar. This bar smells amazing and reminds of work with the beautiful bland of lavender, lemon and lemongrass. YUMMYNESS ABOUNDS!!!

Everything smells amazing and I am happy girl. For all my new beauties out there, if you want to become a new recruit in the Beauty Army Family, Click on this link.

Have a great day my Beauties!!

Be Gorgeous. Be Wonderful. Be You. 

So you are in the Zone...T-zone that is

Hey My Gorgeous Loves. Now I have covered dry and oily but what about my beauties who fall in the middle. You know who you are. You have that T-zone drama going on.. Shiny forehead, shiny nose, shiny chin and then Sahara desert everywhere else.  Combination skin is not fun because you have two things to take care off and may not be able to find the right cleansers to help you effectively.

If you have been reading my posts, you may have noticed I mention lavender A LOT. This is because it is the most wonderful sebum balancing agent there is.  Other great ingredients to look out for are calamine, glycerine, kaolin and algae. Calamine is known to help calm (hehhe) the skin from irritation and soothe. Glycerin softens and moisturizes which is great for your dry areas. Algae can provided needed nourishment and Kaolin is a wonderful clay cleanser. Clays to do help in drying out your oily areas.

Once you have cleansed, of course you know you need to tone your skin. I suggest finding a toner that has lavender. ( See I told you)  It will help balance your moisture needs.

After toning, finding the right moisturizer. Lavender , olive oil, glycerin will work again.

Giving your skin balance and moisture that is so needs.

Also, I will mention.. doing a facial mask once a week can also help get your skin to where you want it to be. Masks that have clay base, Kaolin, talc, calamine are fabulous masks bases to help dry those oily areas and moisturize your sahara ones.

I do hope these skin care posts have helped.

BE GORGEOUS. BE WONDERFUL. BE YOU.

Feeling Like a Oil Slick... Let's dry that up

Good Morning Loves. Today's POV is going to be about Oily skin. Oily skin can make you feel uncomfortable. You feel as if you are just extra shiny and may feel like you look like you are always sweating even when you aren't.

To help combat the problem, I do have a few suggestions.

DAILY CLEANSING SUGGESTIONS

1)  Find a drying and balancing cleanser. 

Charcoal and coal based cleansers are fantastic for because coal and charcoal are great drying agents that helps suck up any excess oil produced by your sebaceous glands. Remember I said base. It should also contain an essential oil that will help balance so you do not suck all the natural oils you need to give your skin a comfortably moisturized feel and look.
Examples of great balancing essential oils are lavender, rosemary, elemi and juniper.

2) Toner: I cannot stress toner enough.

 Find a toner that again will help suck up excess oil and maintain healthy oil balance. I would suggest finding toners with Tea Tree Water. Tea tree is a great antibacterial that will help clear up any pimples or offending spots. Also find a toner that has an astringent which will help soak up excess sebum. A few natural astringents are most found in the citrus family such as lemon, lime and grapefruit.

3) Moisturize: Now I can already here the arguments. ( Look woman, you told me to get rid of excess oil and NOW you want me to moisturize on my face..PLEASE, make up your mind) . Understand, no matter what your skin's condition, you do need to moisturize. 
Look for moisturizers that contain sebum balancing ingredients like lavender or healing ingredients such as Aloe & witch hazel. Look for the lightest moisturizer as possible. Please do not mistake moisture for oil.

Facial Masks

Everyone should do a facial masks. For my Oily skins beauties, I suggest doing a mask about twice a week.  Find a mask that has antibacterial ingredients like Tea tree, garlic and honey.  

Hope this helps you loves.

BE GORGEOUS. BE WONDERFUL.BE YOU.

Let's take care of our Wonderful Skin

Hey My Beauties. I hope this Friday finds you well. I made on post about FaceBook to talk about skincare. Now most of you know that I work at Lush Cosmetics and a part of my job is giving people consultations about their skin and how to help clear up any concerns that they may have.

Now we all know the skins types : Normal, Oily, Dry , Combination and sensitive.  The issue that I seen arise is sometimes we honestly forget to take change of seasons into account in to how our skin adapts. Remember skins covers 100% of your body and is exposed to the elements more than any other physical parts of you.

What this post is a prelude of what is to come. I will post about what is really great for each skin type and help you figure that weather, your health and food affect how your skin is going to behave.

I do hope you beauties will find the posts informative and helpful as I go through them.

Today : Dry Skin

As we all know, dry skin is very uncomfortable and it feels as if your skin has seen as much moisture as the Sahara desert. It feels tight and you will use about anything to give yourself comfort. 

When looking for a great cleanser, I would suggest looking for something for dry or sensitive skins. I lean more to sensitive skins because you are almost guaranteed that the ingredients will be extremely gentle. Make sure the ingredients to look for have lavender , glycerin and chamomile.

 The reasons for this is Lavender soothes, heals, help to balance sebaceous glands aka your oil producing glands and its antibacterial. Balancing out your oil glands will help wake them up to produce more of what you need to make your skin feel amazing.

Glycerin is a wonderful softener and moisturizer which is what your dry skin needs.

Chamomile helps to heal so your skin will just feel better.

Also , though you may have a wonderful cleanser, I would suggest getting a facial mask as well. 

MASK!!!

There is nothing more comforting or relaxing than getting a facial or giving your self a facial. For Facial Masks, again find those that help dry or sensitive skins. One the great face masks that Lush has is called Oatifix.

Oatifix has oats, bananas and almonds which help moisturize and gently exfoliate your skin. 

PLEASE BE AWARE... just because your skin is dry doesn't mean you do not need to exfoliate. Remember your skin is exposed to elements and every skin needs a good exfoliation. 

Now after you have cleansed, you will need to tone your skin. Toners help balance your skins ph after cleansing so it extremely important to find one that works for your skin type. Find a toner that is great for dry and sensitive skins. Toners for dry skins will not only help balance the skin but help lock in the moisture from your cleanser. 

Your final step is Moisturize. We all know but guess what, we don't all do it.  Moisturizing is am important for all skin types but especially for dry skin. Again, look for ingredients that will help bring moisture to your skin and if at all possible find one that has SPF protection. 

We all know how protection from the sun is important especially as we grow older.

******WARNING*******

Make sure loves you find out what you may be allergic to. 

I do hope this will help some of you. The reason I have not mentioned too many products is because I want you make your own decisions. My advice would be to look at the ingredient list and make wise choices. 

BE GORGEOUS. BE WONDERFUL. BE YOU.