All Eyes On Her

I must have gotten possessed the other day, because I somehow managed to make a fairly large LUSH purchase online.  And I stopped buying their stuff years ago — too much SLS, dyes, fragrances, etc. for my sensitive skin.  But they do definitely have some winners — I always wind up going back to Aromacreme, and Big is scratch-tastic and Flying Fox smells like heaven.

Well, I discovered a couple new hits this last time around.  Vanillary smells similar to my usual Comptoir Sud Pacifique Vanille Coco fragrance, but slightly less sweet; and the apparently best-selling Jungle solid conditioner bar is less of a pain in the ass than I would have predicted.  But the real show-stealer was a new cleanser meant for problem skin, called Dark Angels.

Read the rest…

Okay, I’ve talked about making a DIY version of a powder product before, but now I HAVE to do it! Check out Peter Thomas Roth’s two new sunscreens.  The first is an SPF 30 formulation that’s specifically meant for oily and/or problem skin, and it contains such additions as salicylic acid and “willow bark extract” (ahem: same damn thing, PTR), as well as the old standard antioxidant cocktail.

However, the new stuff ALSO contains powdered dimethicone, which we all know I’m not a fan of.  And can you blame me?  The stuff blocks pores like none other, so I don’t exactly consider it a wonder ingredient for a product that’s designed to alleviate oily skin and acne.  (Perhaps there’s something I don’t know here — maybe dimethicone in powder form is less comedogenic.)

The second new tube contains the same antioxidants and sunscreen ingredients (albeit in higher concentration), and no salicylic acid. And they’ve somehow packed butylene glycol in there.  But BOTH new versions contain bismuth oxychloride, which is a real bummer — it’s known to make some people break out in an irritated, bumpy red rash.  No thank you!

The old stuff I still have a tube of contains silica and the Antioxidant Trifecta, but no dimethicone or bismuth oxychloride.  It also has significantly less titanium dioxide (and less zinc oxide as well), and it’s WAY too dark for my skin tone so it’s pretty obvious.  I tested these two new ones on my hand at Sephora and they both seemed a bit paler, but it was tricky to tell.  However, the ingredient list in the old stuff is much shorter, which of course makes me happy.

Honestly, since they still share the same crappy packaging with the coarse, shed-prone brush and the cap that comes unscrewed, I’ll probably just concoct my own and put it in a synthetic dispensing brush that I found online.  I will update if and when I get around to actually seeing this through… now I just need some free time to clear out our storage closet!

My GOD does Aveda suck now. I mean, this isn’t exactly news to my regular readers, but they’ve sucked for quite some time now — right around the time that good old Aerin.  One of the ways in which they deviated from their original glory is to start offering BS marketing ploys, namely the Pure Privilege system. (Privilege my ass, when I have to pay $10 to enroll.)

Turns out this system has a teensy catch — your points expire if you don’t use the account frequently enough.  So, even though I paid my $10 for this privilege, I’m about to have my account shut down and my existing points voided.  Why is this, you ask?  Because Aveda has literally not made a SINGLE product that I can or would use, in the past TWO YEARS.

And it’s not for lack of trying, trust me.  Back when they came out with their Smoothing Collection a couple years ago, I bought the shampoo and conditioner duo to give it a try.  And it wasn’t totally horrible — it kind of made my scalp freak out, like most dimethicone-heavy smoothing formulations do — but it delivered similar results to that holiest of hair grails for me, the Redken All Soft collection.  However, it smelled so incredibly foul that even my fiancé begged me to return it!

And recently, I returned to the scene of the crime to try and buy a tiny trial-sized item just to activate my account, and I of course got into a discussion with the Aveda sales gal about the company’s downfall and crappy products.  (I can never keep my mouth shut when they start to pry or go for a hard sale.) She badgered me into buying a bottle of the Style Prep Smoother, which had a different but still bleh smell, and which TOTALLY did not work on my coarser, wavier hair.  WAY too much cetyl alcohol content for a leave-in product — it dried out my ends like crazy, despite the fact that she swore it made her hair more moisturized.  And shockingly, I hated it and returned that too.

So what’s a girl to do?  I went down to the local Aveda today since they’re having yet another Double Points Extravaganza!!! event, and I went with the intention of actually making a purchase that I would keep.  Yes, lately I’ve been missing having a salicylic acid-based acne spot treatment, so I went with the intention of checking out their relatively new acne line.  Well, my faithful three readers, guess what I discovered?

Every single acne product contains dimethicone — one of the MOST comedogenic ingredients that acne-prone people fear.  OH my GOD, how the mighty have fallen.  You can have your expired Pure Privilege points, Horst/Aerin.  I know it took me a long time to finally break things off with you, but it is SO OVER now!

Grant and I got engaged last month, and since then everything has been a whirl!  We’ve kicked into planning mode, largely because we’re both really enjoying the planning process thus far.  But of course, one part of the plan is to lose some weight before the big day, so we both look and feel our best.

Along with the weight-loss goal comes a set of skincare goals for me.  And much like losing weight, for me these goals are things I’ve been meaning to do in or out of wedlock, just to keep my skin feeling and looking its happiest and healthiest.  And now I have a really good excuse to make it official! So I’m writing myself a set of skincare vows to follow while leading up to the big day and beyond.

1) I vow to use my Clarisonic at least once per day, with no more than one lapse per week.  (I mean, I paid enough for the thing, and I love the results… when I actually take the time to use it!)

2) I vow to at least remove my makeup before going to bed, no matter how tired I am. (A very bad beauty habit of mine — I always tell people that I’m full of great skincare advice that I have lots of trouble following!)

3) I vow not to skip lotion/body oil after more than one shower per week.  (Taking care of dry skin needs consistency!)

4) I vow to file my nails BEFORE they break and tear from getting too long.  (I’ve been carrying a top-notch nail file in my purse since January 1st, but I have yet to use it once this year!  And I notice my ragged nails much more now, every time I show off my ring… it feels wrong to have crappy cuticles and crooked nails next to such a beautiful heirloom.  I should give the rock the respect it deserves and take care of my manicure!)

5) I vow to be consistent in the application of my topical actives.  (No more starting things like Retin-A but skipping it six nights a week — no good will come of it, and I hate getting perpetually stuck in the dry flaky phase!)

Hopefully the fact that I made these vows public will mean that I actually follow them, to some degree.  I’m also going to post them on EDS so that my pals online can help egg me on.

I recently caught wind of the Rare Minerals acne-fighting mineral powder concealer by Bare Escentuals, and now I see that it’s been voted a Sephora best-of.

I’ve always wanted to avoid anything by BE, since they are notorious for including the chemical bismuth oxychloride in their formulations.  (Many people are quite allergic to bismuth, and it causes a rash-like reaction that takes ages to clear up.  I’m not eager to find out whether I should count myself in those ranks or not!)  And bismuth aside, this stuff definitely has some other ingredients (like dimethicone) that would aggravate my breakouts.

However, the idea of making a powder concealer that contains acne-fighting ingredients definitely intrigues me.  I’ve been trying to figure out a good BHA solution for ages and ages, and concealers that help dry up and bust blemishes definitely appeal to me.  And since my problem with salicylic acid was always figuring out how to get it to dissolve in a liquid base, the idea of being able to leave it in its powdered form is a definite bonus!

I’m going to try this out with my Everyday Minerals concealer set.  I’ll mix the shades that best match my skin for covering blemishes, and I’ll add a few drops of manuka essential oil (gentler than BE’s tea tree oil, and less stinky), and a bit of powdered salicylic acid.  I may also try adding some powdered zinc oxide, both for extra sun protection and for its soothing properties.  (I just have to make sure it doesn’t lighten the mix too much.)

If I can track some down, I might also add powdered sulphur, since that’s the acne-fighting ingredient that always shows me great results on individual blemishes.  However, sulphur’s smell really turns my stomach, so it may be worth while to leave that out of the mix.  It looks like I’ll be making up to four different batches to test this idea out, so I’ll post updates soon.  Thanks for the great idea, BE!

In the spirit of doing some more long-awaited 100% Pure reviews, here are my first impressions on their Fruit Pigmented Cheek and Lip Tints (in Sugar Plum).

Personally, I’m not much of a lipstick girl, so this didn’t do much for me in that arena. And oddly enough, the color looks totally weird on my lips — way more coral, and opaque enough to look weird but sheer enough to not quite pull off a lipstick-like look. For whatever reason, it just didn’t do it for me in that context, but I like it as a blush stick.

I only got this color for cheek use because at the time, it was the only shade on the 100% Pure website that wasn’t shimmery. (I already got hooked on Too Faced Pink Leopard Bronzer for my shimmery blush.) They sell more colors on QVC that aren’t shimmery, but they only sell them in trios, and I didn’t want to buy three. (Plus, they only had certain items on QVC and certain other ones on 100% Pure — still so frustrating! — and 100% Pure had more things I wanted, plus a free shipping minimum.)

I got lucky in the shade I picked, because it’s just like my natural flush color. I wouldn’t say it’s similar to Benetint on everyone, necessarily, but the end result looks the same for me, and this stuff is easier to apply. However, I do find that it goes on best if your skin is freshly moisturized, and I sometimes find that I like to blot with a tissue after applying it. I also don’t think it has fabulous lasting power, so a bit of loose powder on top is necessary to help set it. I also sometimes use it underneath my Too Faced blush for a look that’s both flushed and shimmery.

I’m a *tiny* bit worried that the cocoa butter in it clogs my pores or makes me a bit more prone to breaking out on my cheeks. But since I’m theoretically using both Retin-A and my Clarisonic, I should be fine — I think it’s only a problem when I’m not consistent about those two items.

All in all, I like this item — it’s the most natural-looking blush I’ve ever found, and it never has any risk of looking unnatural or dry (which are my main objections to most powder blush formulations). And after I started using Retin-A, Benetint had a weird way of sticking to my skin right where I first applied it — I think it clung to the dead skin cells that Retin-A left behind, so it would always look blotchy no matter how quickly or thoroughly I blended it. But that never seems to happen with my Sugar Plum stuff, so I’m a happy camper!

So I’ve been using Devita’s Solar Protection Creme 30 for a couple years now, and it’s still treating me well.  Despite concerns about the actual level of sun protection, this product is the most cosmetically elegant and skin-friendly sunblock that my picky skin has ever found.

Turns out, there’s an even cheaper way to enjoy it! The company came out with a body block formula that’s nearly identical to their facial sunblock, but is significantly cheaper.

The body block also comes in smarter packaging (a bottle rather than a jar) which makes it more hygienic and therefore increases its shelf life. Sure, it’s no amber glass vacuum-sealed pump bottle*, but they can’t all be winners. I’m pleased to find a way to make this sunblock a bit more user-friendly.

Devita products can be tough to track down, though. I’ve found that the best prices are at Internatural, though they haven’t yet caught on to the fact that this sunscreen’s growing popularity means they might want to maintain a larger product stock — they frequently run out and take forever to get a new supply in. But at 15-20% cheaper than the rest of the Web, plus free shipping for larger orders, they’re the best vendor I’ve found.

Fair warning to those of you who get inspired to try other Devita products: they’re not all golden like this one! Devita sure did hit a home run in the sun care department, but I’ve found their other creams to be mediocre at best, and I have serious beef with their body wash and their allegedly alcohol-free acne pads (which are, in fact, chock full of alcohol — sensitive complexions beware!). So much so that I don’t trust anything else they formulate. So experiment at your own risk, but don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

*And in fact, the packaging shown on the Devita site is not accurate. Instead of a nice cosmetically sound pump bottle, it’s in a flip-top plastic bottle. Still functional, but not quite as elegant and a wee bit harder to use.

I’ve been working on a DIY beta hydroxy solution that doesn’t contain any alcohol, and I pestered the chemist over at The Personal Formulator about solubility, and they were pretty informative:

Salicylic acid is only slightly soluble in water, one gram dissolves in 460mL water. To incorporate salicylic acid to a formulation, the following methods can be used:

1) it can be added to the oil phase of the emulsion and heated to 80-85C

2) it can be added to a water phase containing sodium phosphate, borax, alkali acetates or citrates to increase its solubility in water

3) it can be combined with a glycol, such as propylene glycol

Since I’m not gung-ho about using borax, glycols or any other unnecessary chemicals, I went ahead and tried to dissolve it in oil alone. However, the crystals seem to re-crystalize once the oil returns to room temperature. I’ve been shaking the solution vigorously and applying it anyway, and I haven’t had any problems — but I’m just not convinced it works well.

Blast it, I wish I knew more about solubility and other basic chemistry concepts! Next time, I’ll be trying to add it to a lecithin-emulsified solution to see if that helps. If any other skincare gurus have ideas, please share them!

I’ve been enjoying my 100% Pure products for some time now, and I keep meaning to formalize my thoughts in a review. What better time than 12:48 AM? Since I have a TON of products to comment on, I’m breaking them into individual posts. First up — their Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream. My six-month-plus search for the perfect eye treatment is finally over!

This stuff is rich and thick, but doesn’t feel too slick or balm-like on my skin. It sinks in fairly well, but still leaves a moisturizing feel. I can use it under makeup without it being too crazy and oily-feeling or looking.

It hasn’t caused milia or irritation for me as of yet, though it does occasionally clog my pores where my crows feet join my temples. (Nothing a little Retin-A/Clarisonic can’t handle, though.) It seems to contain a bit less caffeine than my oldy-but-moldby Best Bath Store eye cream, but I still notice a bit of a plumping effect. It can sting a bit if I get it directly in my eye, but that’s true of almost any product when it comes to my sensitive peepers.

Plus, I LOVE that it comes in a glass pump bottle instead of a jar, so it can’t go bad as quickly. (I just wish they’d make it dark glass so the product would hold up better, but hey, that’s a small complaint amidst a sea of raves!)

And best of all, and the delicate vanilla scent is so enjoyable, and I can smell it for quite some time after I apply it. (This might be a drawback for some users, but I adore it — most of my fragrance choices have vanilla notes to them, so it blends well in my case.) All in all, I’m super-happy to have found this — I’ve even gotten a couple of friends hooked on it!

I think my Clarisonic and my Vitamin C Serum might sorta be canceling each other out.

A few EDS members expressed concerns that C serums gave them really obvious blackheads, in weird places like their cheeks. And I believe the theory here is that vitamin C oxidizes the gunk in your pores, so it makes it all the more obvious.

And, of course, the theory behind the Clarisonic is that it helps *remove* the gunk from your pores. (Amongst other things.) I think it helps a little, with this and with maintaining a smoother and evener complexion. But I’ve always been of the philosophy that some people just get blackheads, and some don’t, and there’s very little you can do to change that.

Anyway, I’m going to bail on using C-Serum after I finish up this bottle of PSF, and see if my blackheads don’t improve a bit more. At $48 a bottle, I don’t think I can justify the “maybe” results anyway!