No Sweat: Summer Body Moisturizers

Summer Body Moisturizers by elbonner featuring a body moisturizer

I love summer time, but I also dread it, thinking about the hours I'll spend worrying about how sweaty I am. My outfit planning doesn't necessarily revolve about what's cute, but what won't show how drenched I am.

 (My conversation with myself daily. Original Here)

My other summer bummer is dry skin, and the whole sweat and dry skin thing just don't go. I felt like I couldn't wear a lotion during the day because it wouldn't let my skin breath, that it would just make me a bigger, sweatier mess. I was just using the wrong kind. Loading up my skin with thick creams to keep me smooth during the day only coated me like a rubber glove and made me overheat too easily. I finally saw the light and searched for lighter day moisturizers to add a bit of moisture without the sweat inducing hell I experienced with my winter lotions. Here are a few of my favorites!

L-R

Everyday Coconut Super Hydrating Body Lotion- A huge bottle to last you all summer, this lotion is all natural, light, but FULL of skin loving moisture. I can put this on and not feel like I'm inside an oven of sadness when out in the heat. It keeps me from looking scaley and flaky. 

Vaseline Spray and Go Moisturizer- Spray it on, rub it in, and you're done. This is best when you know it's going to be a scorcher or you just can't be bothered to really apply lotion. Love this when I'm running late because it takes no time at all and isn't sticky or greasy.

The Body Shop Spa Wisdom Yuzu & Rice Body Milk- Similar to the vaseline lotion, but a little more moisturizing. Great for sensitive skin that needs some extra pampering. Bonus: it smells awesome!

The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Puree- This lotion gives you a great citrus scent and light moisturizing effect that will last throughout the day. This"puree" is a mix between a lotion and a gel which makes it perfect for summer. It's very light, but keeps any flakiness at bay.

Hope this helps your summer moisture woes. It took me so long to figure out how to keep myself from looking a hot mess whilst still trying to stay moisturized. Stay cool everyone!

Winter Skin Rescue

Winter Skin Rescue by elbonner featuring an origins skincare

When winter comes my skin turns into a dry, flaky mess that requires a lot of attention. To keep from getting red, itchy, wind-burnt, and broken out I use lots of great products to keep everything calm and sexy.

1. Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate: smells like an herb garden with lavender and other apothecary favorites and melts into your skin to make you look moisturized and refreshed in the morning. I use this every other night (using a glycolic acid exfoliator on my off nights) and this keeps my skin from being red or itchy. This has never made my skin break out which is wonderful because this is a facial oil. Don't be afraid of facial oils,especially in the winter!

2. Kiehl's Rosa Arctica Cream: another great from Kiehl's, this cream is thick and luxurious and holds all of the moisture in! This is my night cream, but if your skin is super dry this can definitely be worn as a day cream. The arctic thistle in this cream has some magical skin properties that rejuvenate and hydrate the driest of skin.

3. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil: put in on your body, shave with it, deep condition your hair with it, remove your makeup with it. Coconut oil is my secret weapon in the winter for anything that needs moisture. You can get it at the grocery store, it lasts forever and smells like macaroons. WIN WIN.

4. The Body Shop Body Butters: thick, creamy, a multitude of great smells; what isn't there to say about this stuff? When you put this on in the morning it will remain on your skin until the next morning (if you're gross and don't shower like me).

5. Kiehl's Cream Eye Treatment with Avocado: Another thick and creamy eye cream with avocado oil that keep dry eye-skin at bay. Best winter eye cream I've tried.

6. Lush Angels On Bare Skin Cleanser: This is a freshly made,non foaming cleanser consisting of almond paste, lavender buds and lots of lovely skin ingredients that cleanse without drying. I like to stay away from foamy things in winter because they dry out my skin so badly and this is one of my favorite foamless cleansers. The smell is great for before bedtime when you want to relax.

7. Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturizing Balm: Some tinted moisturizers don't have what it takes to keep your skin soft and foundation can dry it out all together. This tinted moisturized is THICK and won't leave you looking flaky. It has a decent coverage and saves you from fine lines showing up which can happen with some drying foundations.

8. Bliss Clog-Dissolving Cleansing Milk:another non-foamy cleanser that caters to acne prone skin types. Winter may dry out your skin, but it can irritate it and irritation makes me break out more than oiliness. This has a great smell and enzymes to exfoliate dead skin off your face leaving it soft and glowy.

9. Origins Modern Friction: This is a heavy-duty exfoliator wit bits of blue corn and rice that scrub away all the flakiness. Use only three times a week or you could damage your skin. It makes my skin smoother than anything else!

10. Aveeno Skin Strengthening Moisturizer: This lotion contains ingredients that help beef up thin skin (which I have) and helps it hold in moisture. Because my skin is so thin I have a hard time with my arms and legs getting dry half-way through the day and no one wants to see my hairy winter-coated legs at work. Aveeno products use colloidal oatmeal to keep in the moisture and it works like a charm.

Hope this helps and sorry if there's not a lot of quick wit and humor in this post. I'm tired and I need my bath, but I wanted to post something tonight! Keep it soft and sexy people!

Allow Me To Exfoliate...

Allow Me To Exfoliate... by elbonner featuring Clarisonic beauty products

Kate Somerville face care / Dr Dennis Gross Skincare bath body product / Ole Henriksen body cleanser, $135 / The Body Shop body cleanser / Body cleanser, $7.92 / Mario Badescu Skin Care body treatment / Elemis bath body product / Clarisonic beauty product, $285 / ALPHA beauty product / Origins beauty product

Exfoliation is the key to happiness. I know I already posted about my homemade scrub, but that's not the only exfoliator that I use to keep me silky smooth and baby-faced. It takes an arsenal of face and body care products to keep my annoying dry, flaky skin at bay and this is how I do it!

For may face, I've used a couple of exfoliators that I really enjoy. I've used grainy scrubs and acid-based products that eat my dull skin away for me. I like both for different reasons and use them at different times, but I will go over which and when once I get to the descriptions. So without further a-do I'll start my list:

Face Care

1. Origins Modern Friction. This face scrub is used on dry skin and it utilizes corn and rice granules to get you face funky fresh and soft. I use this primarily in the winter when my skin isn't sunburned or wind-chapped because this stuff is the real deal. Using it on dry skin is what makes it so effective and to make it a bit more gentle use it with water. Only use this scrub like 3 times a week because any more than that and you might not have any skin left on your face, Crypt Keeper. IT'S THAT INTENSE. Not really, but close!  

2. My next favorite is an acid-based exfoliator which is actually in a different container, but I couldn't find a decent picture for it. It's Alpha H's Liquid Gold with glycolic acid. This is worn at night after cleansing and it eats all of your dead skin away! Great in the summer time when you want to exfoliate,but are apprehensive because your skin might be a little sensitive because of sun damage. The only drawback is that if you want it to work you can't use a moisturizer with it, it's just like putting water on your face. So if you hate that not-moisturized feeling this might not be your best bet,but it makes your skin look awesome and really helps me with acne and blackheads.

3. This Glycolic Gel by Mario Badescu is a lot like the one from AlphaH, but in gel form. It's easier to get a hold of than Alpha H and is a big cheaper. It's worn every other night like Liquid Gold and has a bit lighter exfoliation.

4. ExfoliKate by Kate Sommerville is the whole shebang; grainy exfoliators, plus enzymes and acids to eat away all the nasties. This comes in the original formula as well as one suited for acne and a lightweight version for sensitive skin. I friggin' love this stuff, but the price tag is a bit steep. When you will stop at nothing to get smooth skin, go with this one.

Body Care

1. I love The Body Shop. They have singular scents that smell like the real deal and this coconut scrub is great fora light to moderate exfoliation. It smells like suntan lotion and doesn't leave you or your bathtub a greasy death trap. So if you want smooth skin and don't want your family to find your naked lifeless body positioned unattractively in the bathtub after you've fallen, get this scrub!

2. One of my pet peeves with sunless tanning is all the scrubbing I have to do to get all my rough spots soft again. This product exfoliates AND tans you AT THE SAME TIME. Dr. Dennis Gross's Alpha Beta Glow pads are available in body and facial sized cloths that get you tan and smooth at once and don't look orangey or fake.

3. Ole Henrikson's Rub'n'Buff is one of the best smelling and most effective body scrubs I've ever used. It smells clean and fresh and uses salt to scrub away grossness. It recommends you use it on dry skin and skin that hasn't recently been shaved or you'll be a'hurtin.

Tools!

1. GET A CLARISONIC. I can't stress it enough; it's a sonicare toothbrush for your face and every dentist on earth worth their potatoes uses a sonicare toothbrush. It doesn't spin, it sonically shakes the dirt off of your face. You can use this every night, it has brushes for every skin type and feels like a massage every time you use it. It only needs to be charged once every 6 weeks and the brush heads get changed every 3 months. Easy peasy!

2. Using a body brush before you shower or bathe has been said to up your circulation and reduce cellulite. It can't hurt to try. I can't say it has  made my cottage cheese disappear (I'm not afraid to admit it!), but it makes my skin and my keratosis pilaris (chicken skin) much much better. These can be found in just about any bath and body store, so if you want an exfoliation that really gets you to wake up try a dry brush.

3. Lastly, these gloves are all over the place and really do a good job when you're traveling. It's not a liquid so it's safe for the plane, you can use them on wet or dry skin, and then dry quickly so I like to have them when I go out of town instead of lugging another bottle of body scrub with me.

Well, that's my list. I hope it was helpful and gave you some news products to try out. Now get get out of here and scrub off!