Beauty Briefing time! Some quick skin tips for you!
1) Right, here's the obvious but your diet IS important. I'm not asking you to diet on rabbit food but if you want to have good skin, you can't be shovelling McDonalds and other grease bucket, overly-processed foods. Balance it, and yes, water does help. Drink it over cola when you can, in fact, it'll help your smile too, too many teenagers are suffering eroding teeth over time because of excessive cola drinking, so be diverse with your drinks - but know you can never go wrong with H20.
2) Facial masks! Get one appropriate for your skin, I'll probably review a few myself later on but they actually help, and it's good to do this weekly to maintain radiance.
3) KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF YOUR FACE. I know that's damn impossible, but you carry grease and dirt and all sorts in your nails and on your skin and carry it to your face, keeping your hands as clean as possible helps, but honestly, keeping that clean along with earphones/headphones and cellphone screens will help you minimise chances of break outs and such.
4) Exfoliate GENTLY and remove dead skin, and remove your makeup at night, trust me - your skin will look better for it in the long run. Err... one to three times a week should suffice in terms of exfoliation.
5) Use a toner after cleansing, preferably alcohol-free ones.
6) ALWAYS use an appropriate moisturiser for your skin, the best you can do is experiment, though I'll review a few in the future.
7) If you need help with step one, I highly reccomend this as I can personally testify that they're right on the money with this one:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/wellbeing/features/skin-glow/1/
~Ms. K
Thursday 31 January 2013
Sunday 27 January 2013
Covering Your Sins: Stretch marks
Don't feel bad, but nobody wants these:
What can you do to get rid of them?
Nothing.
Well that's not strictly true - you can go through all kinds of lengths to bleach your skin and try to get them to blend in, or you could opt for the only REAL method and just keep going for repetitive stretch mark corrective surgery which incidentally, my sister did, and it worked great apparently. The problem is, it's a costly procedure that you need to keep going back for until it's all gone. Unless you have cash to splash, don't.
Good news for all of my fellow poor people out there is you CAN reduce them. There's things that're good for your skin like cocoa butter and rescue oils that with repeated use, are at least good for your skin and promise to make a difference. To be honest though, Vitamin-e creams are best along with wrinkle creams because they build up the skin indention so they become less visible.
Now we get onto the real meat of this matter - if I can't really get rid of them, can I do something?
Yes. COVER IT.
As someone whose a) dropping ridiculous amount of weight and getting these and b) covered in unsightly childhood and high school scarring/burning, I know quite a bit about coverage and recommend the following:
a) Spray-on tan.
NO DON'T RUN. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LOOK LIKE THE CAST OF JERSEY SHORE. Just get one that's closest to your actual skin-tone and it'll cover you up brilliantly.
I'd recommend Sally Hensen Airbrush Legs (for more than just legs) featured here
Also rubs off less and just comes off in the shower! Lovely stuff. Fully rate it.
b) Body foundation
Speaks for itself, working as regular foundation with a lot less rub-off.
~Ms K.
Hair Removal - Review: Nair Bikini and Underarm Glide-On
4/5 Effectiveness
1/5 Discomfort
For underarms, I really don't find this too effective, I always find it leaving hair behind, and from someone whose a veteran of depilatory creams, I know how to apply it for maximum effectiveness. Even when maintaining arms up for unbearably uncomfortable lengths of time, willing Nair to do it's thing and do a 100% clean, I find it gets about 60% of it, the rest is best left to a sharp shaver.
Now... bikini line. This is where we have fun.
There's no real discomfort applying this at all, and it does do a good sweeping job, but it misses here and there, and with areas like bikini and underarm, you really don't want that, so it's best used in tandem with a razor. Also, like all depilatory creams, it stinks rottenly - so shower it off and use something to cover any remaining scent it may leave (though to it's credit, it's a LOT less smelly then Nair products for other parts of the body).
Now I'm aware a lot of my readers are here because this is probably their first time foraying into various methods of maintaining upkeep, so by all means BUY THIS PRODUCT, or it's Veet equivalent.
If, when you pull your underwear down, your expression is anything like this:
Then this is why I'm saying get this cream, it'll.... "clear the jungle" so's to speak, and then you may attack whatever's left with a bikini-line shaver (if soft hair/few) or a regular one (carefully used) depending on the coarseness and what's left of your hair, and not immediately afterwards, but after long enough for your sensitive skin to recover. Run yourself under the shower afterwards and you'll be good to go, because as we discussed - depilatory creams do not exactly smell NICE, and you don't want to remove the issue of hair, only to have another...slightly more disgusting issue to deal with. Luckily, the scent washes away with incredible ease, so you'll be good to go before you know it!
Notes on shaving various sensitive areas for first timeys will be provided in the review of shavers. Until then, smooth sailin'
(Review of bikini line shavers and POSSIBLY a vajazzle kit, coming soon. God help me, the Poundland clerks will not look me in the eyes...)
~Ms K
Hair Removal - Review: Veet Hair Minimising Body Moisturiser
2/5 Effectiveness
0/5 Discomfort
Absolutely no discomfort and provides no issue (I find) to varying types of skin, there's no skin, irritation or prickle and I've used this after both shaving and use of non-Veet depilatory creams. The key to this working even slightly is DAILY use, so pretty much after your daily shower, you'll want to administer this in areas you want to slow hair growth. Judging from the bottle - they're pretty confident about their product.
"We're so confident that you'll experience smoother legs in just 2 weeks that if you don't, we'll give you your money back! Proof of purchase required. Visit www.veet.co.uk for terms and conditions" - WOW -cocky.
Well, I would get them to put their money where their mouth is, but the thing is - it DOES work, just not to great, mind-blowing effects, it requires a rigorous amount of dedication and only promises to slow down hair growth, so it's also entirely dependent on your body's rate of hair growth. Mine is admittedly fast, so I had to rate this product down, however even for me - after about four weeks (as opposed to the two it suggested) I started noticing minor difference. I honestly didn't expect anything out of this. Why?
Like my Nair products, I found this in Poundland and just thought "Well, what have I got to lose, except unwelcome hair?" and decided to give it a try. I suspect that for softer, average body hair, this is much more effective, so if you can get it cheaply, I would reccomend it. For coarser, faster growing hair - which in reality, this should be aimed at, I'd invest in a better product, but if this is within your reach for Poundland prices - this is an okay purchase too. Thing is though, the slowed rate was almost UNNOTICEABLE. But it DID make hair smoother and lighter, and like all body moisturisers - it softened the legs marvellously, so for that alone, I'd get this product.
For actual hair slowing? Not so much. Sorry folks.
~Ms K.
Hair Removal - Review: Nair Moisturising Hair Removal
4/5 Effectiveness
0/5 Discomfort
For your ticket to budget beauty, this actually works extremely well - and the good news is, if you're in the UK, there's no need to go to Boots, Superdrug or Bodycare and pay extortionate prices for generic Nair produce - particularly, this one. You can actually pick up a ton of these at £1 per tube at Poundland - and yes, believe it or not, you can get really good beauty products from there as long as you stick with brands or something that doesn't look like it'll fall apart in your hands or a mysteriously labelled bottle that will suddenly make your skin translucent in the dark.
Actually, that's another reason the blog exists. I'll foray into Boots, Bodycare, Superdrug and online beauty stores but Poundland's branded beauty items will be reviewed for your convenience and sake of your purse.
So, UK price - lowest starting at £1.00 online, relax, Americans, I haven't forgotten you. You can probably obtain this with cheap, extreme ease too, but online - can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Nair-Moisturising-Removal-Cream-110ml/dp/B007A32SJQ/ref=sr_1_19?ie=UTF8&qid=1359327086&sr=8-19&keywords=nair+hair+removal+baby+oil
in a slightly different packaging, but the same product pictured here. I'd recommend you'd shop around to get it at a less extortionate price.
The great thing this about this particular release from Nair is that it actually does what it says on the bottle, my problem with many other of their products was that it severely dries out skin. This, however, has moisturising qualities as promised that's actually effective when you begin wiping down the remover.
For people who take issue with this particular product in that it doesn't get everything, it may be because of a lack of even, thick, layers and it not being left on long enough. Don't be stingy and have patience. It should grab at least 90% of the issue, and for whatever else, a quick razor will take infinitely less time and just get whatever may have been missed.
Warning: Whilst this is a smooth, painless process, do not be under the assumption that you can apply this particular tube to any part of your body. Reviews for intimate-area aimed remover will feature in other posts. Follow the instructions on the bottle (though you may exceed the time limit to leave it on and not think you need to go the ER, you'll be fine) and do not apply anything immediately after.
~Ms K
Hair Removal - Depilatory Creams (Introduction)
"I don't think it's for me, what if it hurts?" - it's an entirely painless process. Save for extremely (think, banana-sensitive) skin, depilatory cream is harmless. It's always advised you buy only a little of the brand you're aiming to try and doing a "test patch" on your skin in order to assess for any adverse reactions, but you shouldn't really be feeling a prickle or burn. You may feel slight irritation but even that wouldn't be too obtrusive, from personal experience - I've actually felt nothing and am able to leave it on and go about my business before jumping in the shower to wash it off.
"I don't think it's effective" - actually it's as effective as any other method of hair removal, the key to getting it right lays in brand, the length of time you leave it on for, and the thick even layer of application. If you do that right, a majority - if not ALL - of the hair should be gone, at the very least, it's a good assister to removal of at least 90% of the hair.
"I don't know where to start?!" Well, this is why you have this blog. I'll be reviewing what I use and assessing how effective they are, as with almost anything that creeps up on this blog. I'm no professional, and I'm not getting paid by anyone, but I can give you a truthful opinion and let you draw your own decision for which method of removal is right for you.
-Ms K
-Ms K
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