Showing posts with label green tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green tea. Show all posts

Monday, May 6, 2013

Summer Skin Moisture Savers

Summer Skin Moisture Savers

Summer Skin Moisture Savers by elbonner featuring a la roche posay

Warm weather is great for the soul, but it can totally throw your face into an adolescent, oily, unmanageable breakdown. It's horrible, it's annoying,but it happens to the best of us. What we tend to forget when we get a little oilier in the summer is that we still need to moisturize because sun exposure leads to moisture loss! You're sweating out the water in your skin and it either needs to be sealed in or replaced. What can make the difference is a good moisturizer.

Combination Skin

 Juara Sweet Black Tea and Rice Moisturizer- This is my favorite moisturizer of all time. I use this all year round, but I feel like it was custom made for my summer skin. I used to struggle with oiliness during the day when in the sun, but dryness because of thin moisturizers I used to keep the oil at bay. This stuff works with me to keep me looking fresh, but not too moisturized. 

Fresh Lotus Youth Preserve Face Cream- This works a  lot like the Juara one. It's a bit lighter for those on the oily end of the combination scale and smells like cucumbers floating in cool water. Just that alone makes it great for summer. Layers well under sunscreen and BB creams also!

Oily

Korres Pomegranate Balancing Moisturizer- At the height of my oil problem a few years ago, I was desperate for a moisturizer that didn't suck the oil from my face only to make it oilier out in the sun. I went out on a limb and tried Korres, a brand I'd never tried before and changed my skin for good! This stuff gives oily skin just enough moisture and packs in what can only be magic to keep all the shine away. I was blown away and recommend it to anyone with oil problems.

Alba Hawaiian Aloe and Green Tea Oil-Free Moisturizer- Great drugstore buy that I found very similar to the Korres moisturizer when I was low on cash and needed some oil control. It was very soothing if I'd had any sun exposure the day before and was very light/nicely scented. No breakouts and no problems!

Dry/Mature

Avene Hydrance Optimale Light Hydrating Cream- French skincare is always good. ALWAYS. Which is why I wasn't surprised when this skin cream from Avene moisturized my overly sensitive, newly dry skin when I was first having to change face products. My skin when from out-of-control oily to dry in what seems like overnight. I figured my skin was mad and went for something made for sensitive skin. This entire brand is based on the benefits of French mineral water and its soothing properties. It helped calm things down and was very moisturizing. I went with the light because it was summer time and thought any more and I would have been shiny. Go with the whole shebang if you're super dry.

Kiehl's Abyssine Cream + SPF 23- Super rich, super luxurious, and complete with a sun protectant. Sometimes, I find that putting a mineral sunscreen over a moisturizing cream can actually suck out all the moisture (the minerals act almost like a mattifyer) and render your expensive cream useless, I say! Go with one with an spf. This cream is formulated with deep sea minerals that live in the most extreme and damaging conditions on earth (thermal vents moving boiling hot water from the earths core, science whoa!) and are able to withstand damage from extreme heat. Great for the summer! Super thick and luxurious, I would only recommend this to the driest of skins.

Wildcards! Summer Face-Issue Helpers:
Acne: La Roche Posay Effaclar DUO Dual Action Acne Treatment- Pimples and summer go together like family barbeques and drunken uncle speeches. This is a much-loved acne treatment for those unwanted guests that works without excess drying or peeling.

Irritation/Sun Damage: Korres Greek Yogurt Advanced Nourishing Sleep Facial- Get all the benefits of a greek yogurt facial at night without ruining all of your sheets and pillows. This super nourishing mask is great for a day spent too-much in the sun or just general irritation from over cleansing (which we all tend to do in the summer, i.e. removing sunscreen). Since it's used like a night cream, you get eight hours (ha! I wish) of treatment rather than, say, 15 minutes. Another great from Korres.You really can't go wrong with them!

I hope this helps prepare for the oncoming onslaught of skin-bummers that come along with the changing of the seasons.Just remember to sunscreen up, don't over exfoliate, and have fun in the sun without worrying about your face!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Keep It Fresh: Homemade Face Masks

(photo: life123.com)

Around this time of year my skin decides to turn against me and become a flaky, irritated, and dry mess. I hate it more than anything and it makes wearing any sort of powder-based makeup a disaster from the fiery pits of hell. The only thing that helps my face is babying it whenever I get the chance so I do a lot of masks. Store bought masks seem to fall into two different categories: 1. Cheap, single-use masks that have questionable ingredients and just don't work, 2. Really expensive masks available in stores like Sephora that cost like $50 a bottle,  $50 I could be spending or saving for something else. I have decided that unless a masks can deliver perfect skin guaranteed, I'm going to make all of my face masks at home. I'm going to share with you some of my favorite homemade masks that keeps my bitchy skin in check.

Yogurt Turmeric Mask
2 Tbsp. Plain (IT MUST BE PLAIN) Yogurt (full-fat is best)
1 tsp.Turmeric powder

Throw the ingredients into a bowl, mix until fully incorporated and brush onto your face with an cheapy foundation brush. Leave on for 10-15 minutes and rinse afterwards. This mask is great for calming your skin down when it's acting a fool. The lactic acid in the yogurt softens your skin and eats away the flakes while the turmeric, a natural anti-inflammatory, calms redness and other things like wind/sun burn.

Honey Aspirin Mask
1 UNCOATED Aspirin tablet
1Tbsp. Honey (Raw is best)

Crush the Apsirin tablet with the back of a spoon. Pour honey over tablet and mix. Apply to face and leave on for 5-10 minutes. Aspirin is almost totally salicylic acid which is a major ingredient in acne medicine. It exfoliates the skin while the honey helps to soothe and act as an antibacterial agent. So while the aspirin eats the stuff out of your pores, the honey works its way in to kill all the nasties. Of course, if you have an Aspirin allergy DO NOT use this mask. You will die or ruin your face.

Oatmeal Yogurt Mask
1 Tbsp. Oat flour 
2 Tbsp. Plain Yogurt

Mix together and leave on for 15-20 mins. Oatmeal helps keep in moisture and calm irritation, that's why you use it when you get chicken pox. If you don't have oat flour, just blend rolled oats in a blender or coffee grinder until you get a semi-fine powder.

Green Tea Coconut Oil Mask

1 tsp. Matcha powder (green tea powder)
1 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Mix the two ingredients together. Coconut oil hardens at below 76 degrees Fahrenheit so if need be, heat the jar up in a bowl of hot water until liquidy. DO NOT MICROWAVE, it kills all the good stuff! Green tea has every benefit on the planet, including calming down your red-ass face and I'm convinced that coconut oil is damn well the blood of Christ. It moisturizes, it clarifies, it kills bacteria and is smells of coconuts, what more could you people want?! I would leave this on for 5-10 mins and do so lying down as this could drip if you applied too much. Keep the application thin and wear a shirt you don't mind getting oil-stained and have a towel handy.

Well, now you know all of my secrets. Are you happy now?! I should hope so. Once you have these ingredients you can make masks for pennies-on-the-dollar instead of lining the pockets of the 1%. Get crafty and gorgeous at the same time!