Pond's Cold Cream

I haven't being putting on a lot of makeup in the summer and my skills have really deteriorated  For instance, I went to my friend's wedding and I went full out for the occasion. Usually, I just wear a highlighter and lip balm for most days out. When it came time for the full face, I did a horrible job. My eye shadows were uncoordinated and clashed with my skin and it really didn't look blended in flash photography. The foundation was a bit too thick in certain areas and tended to be too light with my skin. I decided to not push my luck with eyeliner but had to go back and blend my ass off. 

When I got home, my face felt so sticky and I just wanted to wipe it all off. For my regular days, a facial cleanser is all I need but for that day I took out the heavy gear. 

This does have a strong scent but since I wash my face twice, the scent isn't bothersome. I've had this for a long time and still have tons of it left. It removes a good bit of my makeup and while I haven't broken out because of it, I have a feeling that it has the potential to wreak havoc on your skin if used too often. 

It's extremely thick and on a dry face, I apply globs of it all over and just massage it into the skin. It's a great time to practice all of those facial massage techniques that you read in the magazines. Then I take a damp washcloth and wipe it off. Since I save this for my heavy days, I tend to wash my face twice again. I take a cleanser and on a damp face, I once again massage and wash. Then on a wet face, I take a different cleanser and wash again. You might think that this is a lot of work but it isn't a part of my normal routine and it also takes all of my makeup off. As you can guess, I don't have a lot of counter space.

Here's a test of my most water, budge and oil proof beauty products. Wet n Wild's gel eyeliner, Milani's liquid liner and a some mascara. You know about my oily skin and I've never had to worry about these products ever smudging on me. The Milani one tends to stain my eyelid and that's why I rarely use it.

There's a blob of cold cream...

and massage well into the skin.

It got most of it out and I'm not surprised with the leftovers.  I've had makeup removers that wouldn't have left a dent in these products. That's why I follow up with a  face wash, just to make sure.Not sure if I would recommend it for all because of how thick it is and the addition of mineral oil just doesn't make this a safe product for all. I would probably repurchase it but you know I like shopping for new things.

Horrible Back Acne with Bananas?

I was going to be getting pretty close with my bacne but guess what? I chickened out. I was typing it but felt like it would be too much. So let me just do this without pictures. Due to hormones, stress and a poor diet, my back has been just filled with painful cysts that hurt even when I laid down. Even with my trusty combo of Stridex and body wash wasn't enough to help calm the inflammation. I saw this post on Pintrest about bananas and acne. If you Google it there are precise instructions on what to do.

After applying the peel and going to sleep in it, my back seemed to turn a darker shade of red and the pain wasn't as bad. After two days of use the pain was gone, it was now a darker red rather than the bright red but the bumps still remained. I ran out of bananas on the fourth and final day but it seems as if my back has calmed down. My sister, the best and the kindest sister alive (who applied the bananas on my back) claimed that she didn't see much improvement but I honestly felt like it did. Before the peels, the pimples were tender to touch and were gradually getting worse. After the first overnight treatment, it seemed better. The only thing that may have contributed to the failure department is that my back still is pock marked by lots of scars and marks. It claimed to help get rid of scars but naw.

This post may have been more effective with pictures but honestly, I don't have the courage to post them. I'm pretty embarrassed and pretty sensitive about it and I don't want others to see it. Sorry.

I've also noticed a lot of grammatical and just stupid mistakes that I've made when I don't proofread my posts. Geez. I've been going back and fixing some stuff but why didn't anyone tell me about this? So much egg on my face.

How you doing?

Hey~ Not sure if I'm ready to blog regularly again but it seems like things are calming down now. I mentioned a recent medical incident on the post before, and it seems like things are better. To make a long story short, my father recently had his gall bladder removed. I know that it's not a particularly big surgery but my father has never been sick and has never been to the doctor. However, my mother called me at the crack of dawn, telling me to call for the ambulance since he wasn't feeling well. He's doing well now and everything is fine but we've all been on pins and needles. My mother is also having complications with her nasal passages and the family has just been completely swamped and overwhelmed. Thank goodness everything seems to be well and if you've been sending positive thoughts my way... Thank you.

This hasn't been good for my skin and my back has broken out like crazy. I was planning on improving my body because I plan on going on vacation in December ( hate NY in the wintertime)and have been working on fitting into a bikini. Now I'm not to sure that it's going to happen. I saw something on Pintrest and have been trying it out for my back and I'll post something up on it soon.

Hold Up

Hey, how you doing? I'm letting you know that I am going to not write on here for a while. My posts have been few and sparse, especially with the lack of posts. I'm overwhelmed with a lot of things and most of them seems to center around my family and their medical issues. So please be aware that I'm officially taking a vacay but will be back. Don't really know if anyone does read this blog often but I hate it when a blog just stops functioning abruptly. So if you can spare so good thoughts, well wishes and a mention in your prayer, don't really care where they come from, I would be very grateful. See ya soon.

Recommendations for Dry Skin

I think everyone knows about my skin type but I think that its been unfair of me to just keep putting up products for one type. As I've previously mentioned before, my sister has the complete opposite skin profile when compared to me. Whereas I have an oil slick after one hour of moisturizing, her skin is remains dry and clean. She rarely breaks out and has dry spots and eczema instead. Now I have to mention that her price points are different as well. I'm totally fine with using drugstore products but she believes that you get what you pay for, especially with her skin and tends to splurge with her skincare routine rather than makeup. Now this is her recommendation and I've never tried these products so this really can't be a review. 

For fairly dry to normal skin she used to use Clinique's Moisture Surge for herself but as she got older, drier and addicted to the good stuff, she then updated her creams to this. 

Dior's Hydra Life Creme Confort Pro-Jeunesse. She also recommends the Sorbet one from this line for a lighter feel.

+

For eye care, this is the Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Resist.

Both last for a good time and it is something that she wholeheartedly recommends, especially during the winter months. Both have a light, floral smell and I don't like the smell of the eye cream but the moisturizer smells so good. 

 This is the Dior.

This is the Shiseido.

Both creams are heavy but the Dior seems to be a bit lighter and is a bit more fluid while the Shiseido seems to be thicker. They both leave like a shiny, somewhat sticky film on the skin for a few minutes but absorbs nicely into the skin. While that part bothers me, my dry skinned sister states that it feels lovely and extremely moisturizing on the face and it provides a light barrier around her face. She tells me that this is a life saver during the winter months and the only thing missing from her collection is her Lancome's Genifique serum, but that's a bit too pricey for her. Geez. She tends to get these during Sephora's F&F sale to save some money.

Gosh this is getting too rich for my blood. Since its been Ramadan for this month, I've been gorging myself on the non crowded Indian restaurants in my neighborhood and I can't move. I also have an invitation to my friend's house for Eid and I can't wait. Oh plus, this blog is probably going to slow down considerably since I have nothing much to write about these days. Apologies.

Burt's Bees Res Q Ointment

I recently returned from my annual camping sojourn and I loved it. Do you know what my friends ask? "Did you go camping camping or camping"camping""? What? There's more than one type? Apparently I went the real route by sleeping in tents and braving the elements instead of luxury camping. While I was there, I had barely any problems with bites. I do admit that I go a tiny bite on the side of my ass, where a wayward mosquito decided to have a bite. But it paid dearly for it's taste. But after three days, nothing. However, when I returned home, after the first ten minutes, I was bitten everywhere. It was on the worst places ever! Mostly on my hands and toes. Gah! Except for the face, being bit on the hands and feet are the worst. Look at it.

 It burns.

I'm the type that doesn't like to scratch and would prefer to ride out the itch-fest but my goodness. I couldn't handle it. Then I remembered reading this in a magazine once about how bengay can be applied to stop the itching. I don't have bengay or tiger balm around but I did have this. Burt's Bees Res Q Ointment to the rescue.

This was supposed to be for muscle soreness but I've read that this does wonders for cuts as well. I still am skeptical about putting that on my cuts, I have neosporin for that, but decided to give this a try. It comes in a tin and is a smooth ointment that did not melt even during the east coast heat wave. It stinks to high heaven with the traditional tiger balm's, medicinal scent that doesn't really fade. But this thing worked like a dream and brought me temporary relief.

It stops the itching for a but and you do need to reapply it. It does seem to sink into the skin after a while but as I've said, the scent is still there. Since I know that Burt's Bees is a company known for healthier ingredients, I don't mind using this again and again. The tin does get a bit hard to open and close with the itchiness all over my hands but it does seal in the ointment. I've had this lying around as an unused gift set for a while but still hasn't dried out. So overall, this is a pretty good willing to repurchase product.

Carol's Daughter Healthy Hair Butter

I've been trying to grow out my hair and try a particular hairstyle that I saw on youtube. My hair is in decent condition with not a lot of split ends and no real rough texture. I do have the occasional tangle but the part that bothers me the most is the still dyed parts at the end of my hair. In order to combat that, I've started using my Etude House oil again but if you know me then you know that I needed a change. I was going to try some Argan Oil or some Macadamian oil but when I was on Sephora I saw this Carol's Daughter Healthy Hair Butter for about $11. Now let me reintroduce my hair. It is fine with medium to long length that is untreated at the roots but dyed at the ends. It tends to get oily very fast but the ends remain pretty brittle and so I've become best friends with my dry shampoo. 

Here's a picture of my damp ends. The water hides most of the damage but I do have a childhood bad habit of playing with the ends of my hair.

This is the product and it claims to pretty healthy with no parabens, petroleum, mineral oil or any artificial colors. It does contain beeswax and is recommended to apply directly onto damp hair in order to deep condition, protect it and provide a natural shine. Gosh this sounds perfect. This does come in a bigger container but I roped myself in and just got the smaller one. Now this thing smells extremely strong and doesn't really fade for a long time. It smells like musky ginger and I am not a fan of woodsy or ginger smells so this was not a good start. This was also extremely thick and I was worried that the hot, close to 95 degree weather would melt it but nope. It is so thick and I could tip the container upside down and not have it spill. Good for traveling. Now for the road test.

I first put on the amount, rubbed my hands together vigorously and tried to get it to go through my hair. But it still didn't really coat the hair. So I took a bit more but it still wasn't coating or smoothing out my tangles. I decided to wait and let my hair dry before doing anything else. My sister saw me after and asked if I had washed my hair. This left my hair really greasy and oily. It did not get rid of the tangles and didn't condition or smooth my hair. But wait, maybe I applied too much product. So I put on maybe half the amount or maybe a bit more on the hair next time and nope. Still the same. It did leave a shine but did nothing to improve the condition of my hair. Not only that but it was pretty heavy and I couldn't get the stuff off of my hair. I had to go soap my hair three times and follow it with a vinegar rinse.

This is a picture of me after the first time applying it. The roots look ok but the top part looks to greasy. Now most of the reviews that love this are primarily women with curly thick hair, which is the complete opposite  of my hair profile. I honestly wouldn't but this and would cough up a bit more to try the other oils. Damn it.