Skin Care From Yours Truly.
Hey y’all! It’s spring time and along with changing weather and wardrobes, every gal’s vanity could use a refreshing as well! Like I have said in another post, skin and face care have always been super important to me especially since I have had every face ailment known to man. Puberty was a muuuuhhhh and along with living in New Orleans for most of my life, the humid springs/summers did nothing for my acne-prone skin. Prescriptions were too strong, and skin care for .. ahem, others never did it for me either lol. So with this whole wave of holistic health for your skin, I was excited to try something different for my face, and boy did it work! Now I know everyone has different skin-types but here are a few tips that have been literally my saving grace! Hope y’all enjoy!
Washes: With having combination skin, I am constantly having to rotate how and how often I wash my face. Some weeks I’ll have to exfoliate, other’s a simple bar of soap works for the kid. So on oily days I would suggest an exfoliation treatment. My favorite is a basic honey+sugar+olive oil combo. Honey is a natural humectant so it’ll retain the essential moisture you’ll need. The sugar will gently buff away dead skin cells and any dirt/residue from the day. The olive oil helps with moisture but it’s also extremely healing and helps with general skin elasticity so it’s amazing for that youthful glow. This scrub is also really good to use in the shower all over to help your entire body feel awll silky & smooth. Sidenote : If you want to get exxxxxxxxtra fancy with your routine, manuka honey contains antioxidants and will help with breakouts or blackheads, it’s a tad pricey but it’s SO worth it. That’ll take your exfoliating game to the next level. & is also great to use a lip scrub.
Toning: I’ll be honest, I never really got the point of toners. My dermatologist swore that it was the end all be all to my skin care woes, and so I stocked up… partly because he was fine so I listened to everything he told me to do! LOL but the idea of toners closing your pores after cleansing was awesome, plus my skin always felt really good after I used it. But in the spirit hollisticity (that’s not a word y’all) Rose water is an excellent alternative. My momma put me on & I’ve loved it ever since. Very light and smells amazing. Plus, on dry skin days, it’s not as harsh as other chemical toners especially since it doesn’t have salicylic acid. Toners are amazing for getting that gritty stuff your cleanser leaves behind. Besides Rose Water, Clean & Clear’s essential deep cleansing toner is a great alternative for bad break out days.
Masques/Deep Cleaning: I hate blackheads, but I LOVE getting rid of them. The feeling of your skin once you get in them pores honey is unlike any other. I am the queen of looking up DIY face masks but my ALL time favorite is a bentonite clay. It’s versatility has to be why I love it so much: You can cut it with water for your weekly deep clean, or use honey when your skin is feeling super dry. You can use apple cider vinegar if you’re having bad breakouts or to get those stubborn blackheads. It’s so WONDERFUL and it contains minerals that DRAW OUT dirt and you can literally feel your skin pulsate and clearly I love this because I rave about it to errrr’body I know. So go ‘head and cop that, any clay mask will do really but that’s probably my go-to when it comes to deep cleansing. So after your wash, steam your face (sit in a hot bath to open pores OR just place your head over a pot of water with a towel over it) and apply the mask right after. You can can also use the bentonite clay mask on your body and is perfect for homemade pedicures after long days at work.
Moisturizing/Night oils: Now when it comes to moisturizing, I’m not playing around. I’m gonna be up 10-15 minutes longer than I intend to at night massaging all my oils into my face and body because that’s the most important part of my skin care routine. My favorite moisturizer is my Acure Argan oil, which I wrote about before but my next favorite is Castor oil and my third choice is coconut oil. I know, it all sounds pretty greasy but trust me, if you really tryna “wake up like this” & have bae all impressed (says the most single gal ever), use these oils! Not only do they leave you glowing, the literal improvement in skin texture is the most amazing part of it all. Silky smooth ain’t the word, plus you won’t wake up ashy so who can complain about that? I usually use castor oil more in the winter because it’s thicker and a little goes a long way (cold pressed organic is the best for skin, Jamaican black castor oil is great for your hair & edges for styling). Coconut oil is more of my go-to in the morning because it’s very light and argan oil is great for the summer because it’s lighter and penetrates to the second layer of your skin pulling oxygen to your cells. Argan oil is also great for blackheads too because it’ll draw healthy blood to your pores, killing the bacteria and soothes out your skin texture even more.
On days when my skin is dry or really irritated, I try to simplify, I’ll use a soap to wash and keep the argan oil and leave it at that. My favorite soap to use is olive oil soap just because it’ll give me that moisture that I love, but it also leave your skin feeling extremely clean. I have the brand “Kiss my Face” from whole foods & it’s amazing. But before that I used a vegetable soap from Trader Joes, both were about $3. The point being is that there are times when you’re actually doing TOO much to your skin and I learned this the hard way, I would say just minimize make up usage, wash twice daily with a soap and use a light oil or night cream to moisturize.
ALSO: VITAMIN E OIL IS YOUR BEST FRIEND, COP & THANK ME LATER.just use in place of argan oil or any of the other oils named above.
Hope this helps y’all! Any other questions or SUGGESTIONS (which we love) are welcome, just hit up our asks or tweet us dolls!
H, xo.
poetry x horoscopes.
Aries — ripping off the band-aid, waking through a forest, being center stage, police sirens, fingernails tapping against a desk, boiling water, a sunflower field.Taurus — chocolate melting, the ticking sound of a clock, blanket forts, sliding across a wooden floor in your socks, using sticks as swords, sunsets from the hood of a car.Gemini —the scent that follows after you blow out a candle, how handwriting is like a voice, your first visit to a haunted house, a rigid spine, the sound of crunching leaves, church bells.Cancer —holding hands in a hospital, lemonade on the hottest day of the year, a psychic’s parlor, sage & lavender & vanilla, hot air balloon ride over the city, windmills.Leo — city life at night, an acid trip, paint splattered at the wall, bubblegum, a one-way ticket, broken mirrors.Virgo —fireflies in the summer, back of the class, pacing & the click clack of high heels, bleach, waves crashing, sun kissed skin.Libra —when the couple says “i do”, lucky charms, bonfires, finger painting, blowing kisses, ballet shows, sugar on the tip of your tongue, outstretched palms in the wrong direction.Scorpio —being stuck at the top of a ferris wheel, wind in your hair during a midnight car ride at 100 mph, skin on skin, magnets on the refrigerator, a ceiling fan in the dead of night, sticky notes, foxes in the bushes.Sagittarius — jet lag, a wolf howling, bad puns, five star restaurants, burning your tongue, chipped nail polish, walking barefoot through the mud, treehouses.Capricorn — a loaded gun, the first snow fall of the year when everything is still and silent, the first breath after a panic attack, sun showers, the dreamy state when you’re running on no sleep, candyland, breaking through the surface.Aquarius — cracking open a fortune cookie, city lights in the rain, scissors & wrapping paper, bats in caves, sneaking out for the first time, watching the sunrise with your best friends, a wildflower breaking through the cracks of a sidewalk.Pisces — a canoe on the lake at dawn, windchimes, spring, hundred year old trees, jazz music & feather boas, dream journals, glitter eyeshadow, art museums.— feeling association with the signs, a.l. — (via wildfairys)
We’re constantly bombarded with words daily, things that are said in passing, in texts and between lovers. some words pass as music, most are just white noise but often we come across things that are poetry- that spark directly in the soul. Now y’all know I love me some horoscopes, I’m quick with the compatibility and birth charts, but I have yet to see anything like the list above. I haven’t stopped reading it since I saw it and when I did, I didn’t stop to think of those I have met throughout my life or potential partner, I instantly thought of the women in my life that have raised me, those who made me a better me, and those who helped me throughout all my difficult times. When I think of my mother, I think chocolate and childhood dreams, just like it reads for Taurus’, and when I think of my grandmother, I see so much of her in me so it’s only natural she represents visceral & the most lively thrills as it says for us Scorpio women. I read the Aquarius description and think about the wild adventures my sister and I have had growing up literally adjunct to one another our entire lives and the daises we used to pick in our youth. When I think of my best friend, I think of her reckless belief in love, naturally as any Libra and the times we used to sneak chocolates during family gatherings. This list isn’t just about your sign but how the writer puts into words, at least to me, so eloquently representing the abundance of feminine energy in my life that I am so blessed to be spoiled with every day of my life. To say this touched a nerve is an understatement. Hopefully y’all feel it the way I did and can go to those women in your life and appreciate them in their simplest most wondrous forms the way this had me.
H, xo.