Lotion Me Up or Oil Me Down?

I recently got a question about what to use when you get out of the shower to keep skin moisturized. I was going to post this on Friday, but seeing as how this week is pretty dreary in LA, I’m going to let you in on a secret ahead of time (dry weather = dry skin = yuck). Baby oil. It’s old school and yet it’s the best thing you can use to seal in the moisture from your daily shower. And, you can even mix it in with your lotion to give it that extra punch. Here’s why it’s so great:

When you get out of the shower just pat dry your skin, don’t rub yourself down with the towel, (otherwise you negate this whole process). Since you are newly cleaned and your pores are still open from the hot steam of the shower, rubbing oil into your skin helps seal in that moisture. Once it dries, it allows your pores to close up naturally as your skin dries.

Trick and Treat

One trick I like to use is add a few drops of my favorite perfume to my baby oil to give it that extra sumthin sumthin. My man always compliments me on how my skin is so soft and how I always smell a certain way – I’m telling you, it works. It’s especially nice for at night if you want to smell refreshed but don’t want to put on perfume or a strong body spray.

Also, I like to use a specific type of body oil when I want to feel a little extra sexy: Carol’s Daughter Body Oil (they have different flavors, so whichever kind suits you best, go for it). I like to use Carol’s Daughter’s Ecstasy Bath & Body Oil.  Yes, it’s $20, but I usually ask for it for X-mas.

Lotion by itself is ok, but depending on the type, it can actually dry out your skin or just be too greasy to put on clothes easily. Either way, go with what you prefer for your skin. And experiment a bit. You never know what works for you until you try out your options! 

Traveling Wreaks Havoc On My Face!

I don’t know about many of you, but if you're like me, you’re adventurous and love to travel. The only thing is…the traveling part. Ugh. I despise being on planes, especially for long periods of time: cramped seats (I’m not lucky enough to afford a first class ticket), people around you who smell funky, who chew loudly (or as my pet peeve goes, crunch on chips), and worst of all the whole altitude and making my skin super dry. I try and stay hydrated with water on the plane, but then the issue of getting up to go pee crosses my mind, so I try not to drink too much. See?! I told you traveling is a pain in the ass. So what does this have to do with beauty? Well, everything quite frankly. When you feel gross, you tend to not care about your appearance or even worse you let go of your daily routine, particularly when it comes to your beauty routine and your eating routine (this includes the liquids you regularly consume).  I know, Starbucks is super convenient as is McDonalds’ grab and go sandwiches. But put that aside for a minute and consider this:  

These are my tips that I’ve found help me just a bit stay on my ‘beauty’ course:

Get Prepared

a.     Eat before you leave, drink plenty of fluids; make yourself a sandwich and bring fruit for the plane ride, and when you get past security, buy a bottle of water (you can always have coffee on the plane if you want or need it that much). My point here being, the more you feel like it’s a normal day, you’ll treat it as such and you won’t starve and you won’t be dehydrated (which at least for me leads to crankiness). Now some of you actually like traveling because it gives you the excuse to buy junk food or more expensive stuff you may not normally get. That’s totally fine!  But know what you’re going to splurge 

b.     In your carry-on, pack a small pouch with necessities – a toothbrush/toothpaste, chapstick, face wipes and facial moisturizer (you can find travel-sizes of all these items at Target for $1). This way, once you get done eating on the plane, go to the bathroom (hopefully only once) and spruce yourself up. You’ll feel more refreshed and more likely will make healthier choices. Otherwise, you just sit in your seat, feel crappy and then you’re day is all screwy.

Honestly, that’s all. You just need to prepare yourself ahead of time as if you’re going to be in the worst mood and plan for that! What makes you feel better? A fresh face and lots of water! At least it will minimize the crankiness that comes with altitude and attitudes. Now, if next time I can only remember to bring my phone! 

"Gorgeous" by Lush Doesn’t Make Me Feel So Gorgeous

I have to admit, after reading so many online rave reviews of Lush’s Gorgeous moisturizer, I wanted to run out to the store and get it. Now mind you, this product is $90 – yes, $90 for 1.5oz! But luckily, a friend got a sample (Way to go! and why didn’t I think of that???). I tried it for about a week (at night) and it just did nothing for my skin. It’s super sheer and just doesn’t pack enough punch for a night moisturizer. I consistently woke up in the mornings with kinda dry skin.

Usually, when I wear a great moisturizer I wake up with baby-ass soft skin. I mean my face is seriously butter smooth. I would much rather prefer to spend half the money on a moisturizer that works than on one that just has a bunch of hype behind it (I’m not talking thick, greasy moisturizers either). Hell, Oil of Olay makes awesome day and night moisturizers. And get this – you think these large companies have ‘low-end’ products? Think again. They have such large R&D departments with the $moola$ to make really great quality products.  So the bigger the company and longer they’ve been around, take notice. 

What the F*!% Was She Thinking? (This just pisses me off)

Ok, I know, unprecedented that I would write two blog posts in one day, but I saw this news story and just HAD to share the craziness that is, well….fashion? Adrienne Bailon, famous for (dating Rob Kardashian) and oh ya, is a ‘Disney Star’ too, had a bit of wardrobe malfunction at a NYC event last night. The thing is, I can’t for the life of me figure out what the original dress is supposed to look like!! Here’s a pic before the wind blows the ‘dress’ up:

And here is what it looks like after (i.e. the wardrobe malfunction part). 

Umm, is that just a large ass flower in front of your flower, honey bunny? And, ummmm…..did you decide that NOT wearing underwear with a sheer dress would be a good idea? Look, usually, I’m on the side of the celeb, because we’re all human and shit happens! But COME THE FUCK ON. How did you NOT see this shit happening? I mean, are you for-fucking-real???  You first wear a sheer net to cover your honey pot; decide not to wear underwear; and on top of that only wear a piece of fabric that just falls over your va-jay-jay (albeit a big piece of silly-placed fabric) that in no way is held in place with some kind of tape or you know, maybe thread?? Girl, take a fashion risk when you don’t run the risk of pulling a nasty-ass, trashy Britney Spears move. This one’s on YOU.

Miracle Worker: Neutrogena Spot Treatment

Ok, so I know Friday’s are becoming a homemade product of the week, but I needed to venture from the norm for just today.  Last night, I noticed the biggest freakin zit on my cheek (which is usually the nice part of my face – my T-zone is what usually breaks out – chin and forehead). Anyway, I used a dab of Neutrogena’s On-The-Spot Treatment for the pimple that I felt swelling up (it was gonna be a big, nasty one) and then just went about my regular night routine (moisturizer all over my face). I woke up this morning, went to put on some more of it on, and seriously couldn’t even feel where the pimple was any longer. It worked THAT good. I’m still putting it on today and probably tonight too, but this product has been quite a few “Best of” lists and now I know why! (Oh, and it’s super cheap too! $6, Target.com)