REVIEW: Burt's Bees Radiance Night Cream with Royal Jelly

After my pretty awesome experience with the Burt's Bees Cream Cleanser I thought I might try one of their creams to help battle my suddenly-dry skin. I know I haven't been drinking as much water as I should, and I know it's cold out and hot inside...but REALLY! My skin is pretty crazy dry.

I spent a considerable amount of time in-store reading the boxes for the various Burt's Bees moisturizers and decided to try the Radiance Night Cream with Royal Jelly.

The good folks at Burt's Bees claim that Royal Jelly is "very nourishing, royal jelly is made of nectar, pollen, flower parts, vitamins, minerals, bee hormones and other natural ingredients". To be honest, I just learned about the "bee hormones" part, which kind of gave me the giggles.

As a minor health fanatic, I have heard lots about the health benefit of Royal Jelly. If you do some research, you will learn that it does some amazing things for bees. Royal Jelly is what is fed to the Queen Bee, it is what makes her so much bigger than the other bees, and it is what makes her fertile (all other female bees are infertile). Royal Jelly is loaded with amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins B5 & B6, as well as the same anti-bacterial properties renowned in honey!

In the end, I figured since I'm the Queen Bee of my household I should try this moisturizer.

And it hasn't disappointed!

Despite a heavy load of oils in the Ingredient List (Sweet Almond Oil is second from the top, and further down you'll find Sunflower and Vegetable oils), this cream feels closer in texture to a lotion. Royal Jelly is the 9th ingredient from the top, and is followed by other awesome natural goodness, like Lemon Peel extract, Horsetail Extract, Rosemary and Pine Tree extracts, hops, etc.

The texture was very light, and even slightly sticky. The sticky feeling disappeared pretty quickly and wasn't off-putting, it just felt a little unusual at first.

The cream absorbed right in and did not feel heavy at all! My skin felt nourished, it looked beautiful and didn't feel dry! My skin has actually been so dry, that I was using this cream either (and sometimes, both) day or night!

This cream's ONLY downfall was its fragrance... it was the EIGHTH (!!!) ingredient from the top...meaning there was more perfume than Royal Jelly in this product. The smell was lovely, dont get me wrong, but surely it can't stink enough to warrant *that* much fragrance, right?

Hopefully that is something the good people over at Burt's Bees can fix sometime soon!

Also, at over $30 a jar, this product is WAY too expensive to not have tester jars out. There are Vichy, La Roche Posay, NeoStrata, etc creams at that same price range... and THEY have testers. **cough cough, are you listening Burt?**

This cream was lovely and nourishing that it actually encouraged me to buy the matching eye cream as well!!! I will review that another time...

In the meantime... TRY THIS STUFF!

REVIEW: Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus

Not too long ago Clinique launched their latest product in the fight against aging: Repairwear Laser Focus Wrinkle & UV Damage Corrector. It promises, within 12-weeks, to provide an anti-aging and sun-damage-correcting effect 63% equivalent to a laser procedure.

This may seem hard to believe, and with good reason. Laser works by damaging your skin at a very deep level, which causes your skin to go into over-drive to repair this damage. The resulting repair results in skin that looks better than when you actually started. However, to get the most results, you need a series of laser treatments. 1) It ain't cheap. 2) It hurts! 3) It works*. Is it possible that a SERUM can provide 63% of these results at a fraction of the price, with none of the down-time, and with NONE OF THE PAIN?!?

(**ALWAYS ONLY go to a reputable anti-aging spa, that is presided over by a Doctor, and staffed by Nurses and Esthetic nurses using the LATEST in laser equipment. Failure to do so may cause in hyperpigmentation, burns, and scarring. NEVER try to save money where laser is concerned**)

Okay, back to Clinique:

There's a cocktail of good-for-you ingredients such as Vitamin C (powerful all-around-anti-ager), Ergothioneine (mushroom extract - antioxidant), Pomegranate extracts (antioxidant), retinol (vitamin a), sea whip extract (anti-inflammatory), Pinenadiol (encourages micro circulation), hyaluronic acid (intense moisturizer), and a host of peptides (encourage collagen production). It also includes 3 special enzymes that work to correct UV damage, absorb light to minimize damage from happening right now, and to correct DNA damage.

The thing that caught my attention on the ingredients list? The DIMETHICONE at the VERY TOP.

As I've said before and will continue to say, time and time again... I hate Dimethicone. It is an optical blurrer, it creates an optical illusion that your wrinkles have disappeared, and you should stay away from a product when it's one of the top few ingredients.

In this case, I digress. This product is LOADED with good-for-your-skin ingredients, and while the dimethicone provides an instant "wow, I look good" benefit, there are definitely long-term benefits to using this serum.

I've been using it under my moisturizer for about 3 weeks now, just 3 or 4 drops each use, and I gotta say, my skin is looking mighty good. My naso-labial fold is looking a bit softer, which is a big deal for me (it's my first real sign of aging - albeit it means I'm a happy person who loves to smile...)

Oh, and before I forget - YOU CAN USE THIS SERUM AROUND YOUR EYES TOO! This is the original reason I picked this product up; it's loaded with peptides and anti-oxidants, can be used on face, throat, and eyes and can be used day and night!

At $53.50 CDN and $44.50USD, it's a great buy!

BOGO at MadeYouLook Natural Skincare on ETSY

Au Naturel Day 4 - Oil Cleansing!!!

I love Oil Cleansing. It can be tedious because it takes so long... I try to do it once a week, especially after those days where I wear a lot of make-up. It's an awesome deep cleanser. Essentially what you do is mix your vegetable oil of choice with a little bit of Castor Oil, massage into your skin for about 2 minutes before steaming and massaging it off with a hot hot washcloth.

Your skin will absolutely glow!!!

Last night I came out of the bathroom, my boyfriend took one look at my skin and immediately decided to try the Oil Cleansing for himself. He declared it to be just a really lovely facial massage (which it is!!!) and he loved how his skin looked after. He even woke me up this morning to tell me how amazing his skin still looked. Bugger!!!

Update about the little pimple - it's completely gone.
Update #2 about pimples...there are 2 tiny new ones that have popped up on my cheek! GAH! So I masked again today with the baking soda, activated charcoal and GwendolynForever's Honey & Glycerin cleanser. I also added a bit of Green Clay and substituted Lavender Essential Oil for the Rosemary EO.

I'll keep you abreast of any pimpular developments. :o)

Otherwise my skin is just glowing! The dryness on my nasolabial fold has disappeared, no new blackheads have formed, the fine lines in my nasolabial fold have minimized big time and the little lines around my eyes have also softened! YES!!!

So far so good. I'm going for 7 days...even though I'm really itching to try my new Biotherm products!!! ;o)

Thinking of going All Natural?

So I've been thinking... I love my skincare routine. I use a gazillion different products every day, I vary the routine from day-to-day (partly because I have so much crap and partly because...I am Aries? - IDK...but somethings gotta get the blame) and I obviously vary it from night to day.

But sometimes when I over-do it, I get these thumb sized patches of dry spots just outside of my nose between my mouth and my nose - for those in the know it's called the Nasolabial fold. Dry skin = aging. And the lines in my nasolabial fold have been really starting to show up. I blame the dry skin. which comes from abusing my skincare...

Anyway... I've been thinking. I make natural skin-care. (http://www.madeyoulookcosmetics.etsy.com/) I also buy natural skincare. I'm obsessed with skincare and I'm a junkie for trying new stuff out all the time! Thankfully I have an amazing manager at my pt job who loves to play the role of my crack-dealer and she sends me home with new stuff to try all the time.

I'm not talking about drugs people... SKINCARE! Stay with me...

Anyway, I'm wondering how I can incorporate completely natural skincare into my day-to-day (and day-to-night) routine. I'm talking COMPLETELY natural. Hand-made. No chemicals...

This can be difficult to do where moisturizers are concerned. After all, a heavier oily based product wouldn't work very well under make-up.

So I started last night... I came up with the idea AFTER I had washed my face with my NeoStrata face wash (which has 4% glycolic acid AND SLS - sigh). See ya in a little while NeoStrata!

I moisturized my eye area with a Shea Butter/Argan Oil cream by Druide that is rich, and thick, and creamy...and to DIE FOR. Those are literally the only two ingredients. You can buy a tiny 5mL size for $5, or a huge container of it for not much more.

You can find the product here: http://www.druide.ca/Product.aspx?ProductID=49008&Langue=En

To tone my skin I used my own "Oily Skin Toner" that's all natural. It has witch hazel, aloe vera gel, sage, lavender, and Calendule. You can find the product here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/55464096/oily-skin-toner-sage-aloe-witch-hazel

For my face I used a tiny bit of coconut oil and just massaged it in very well. At first it didn't have that "plumping" effect that you get with products that have water in them. You know that "aaaahhhh" cold-water-feeling of moisture being pushed into your skin? But after an hour or so, my skin felt rehydrated again, even though I hadn't actually added any more water...

I woke up with morning with beautiful skin! The lines around my eyes have disappeared (the Druide cream is THICK - and soooo refreshing, despite it's shocking lack of water) and my skin doesn't look congested after only using oil to moisturize.

I washed my face this morning with an amazing Honey & Glycerin cleanser I bought from another seller on Etsy. Her name is Gwendolyn and this cleanser and mask are AMAZING!!! The link for it is here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/34338193/honey-glycerin-cleanser-and-mask-4-oz?ref=v1_other_2

The small 4oz size lasts forever! You can use it as a cleanser or as a mask. Both the honey and the glycerin are natural humectants so you're increasing your skin's ability to hold water everytime you wash with it. It's also been infused with a bunch of wonderful organic herbs that she grows herself on her gazillion-acre-farm. It doesn't lather, but it's amazing. Honey is also a natural anti-bacterial (nurses used it in WW2 to clean out and heal wounds of all types). You'll have soft, glowing skin from the very very first time you use it! At $12 for the small bottle, it's WELL worth the investment!

Again, I moisturized with the Druide Shea & Argan Cream (I'll report back on how my mascara holds up, later) and I used a dab of coconut oil to moisturize. Except this time I sprayed my face with Avene's Thermal Water (just like the Evian stuff) before I put on the oil... my skin DID feel more "hydrated" because the oil sealed in the water.

Have any of you ever used an all-natural-routine? How did it work out for you?

NEOSTRATA... an introduction

First of all... GAH! It's been 2 weeks! Sorry you guys, life just got in the way. Plus I've been attending various schools and trying various new products... but there's really no excuse, I have a list as long as my arm of products I've ALREADY reviewed and just need to get up here. So - I apologize.

Today I want to talk about NEOSTRATA. Yes, I realize it's a brand, not a single product. But I want to talk to you about it, because there's something in the line for EVERYONE. And pretty much everyone should be using SOMETHING from the line to address their skin concerns.

I love NEOSTRATA. L-O-V-E absolutely LOVE it. For starters, they're Canadian (yay), but not that it matters when you consider that EVERYTHING they make is backed up by scientific studies. The kind of scientific studies that are done by an independent third party. The kind of scientific studies that are double-blind (which means neither the administrator or test subject know what they are using).

NeoStrata is famous for it's use of AHAs, specifically Glycolic Acid and Gluconolactone. Essentially what both AHAs do is dissolve the bond between dead skin cells. What is the benefit to this? Well, when you use a manual exfoliator (any kind of scrub) you run the risk of exfoliating unevenly, exfoliating too much (or not enough), or literally cutting yourself (which happens almost 100% of the time when you use a scrub that is naturally based, like walnut shell-based, etc).

Glycolic acid is amazing because at the concentrations found in NeoStrata's products, they speed up cell renewal. Therefore your skin sheds faster. The beauty in this is that because your skin cells are sloughing off faster, new skin gets pushed up more quickly. This flattens your skin, so acne-scars and wrinkles will soften. Their Skin Renewal Peel Solution is 10% Gluconolactone and 10% Glycolic Acid. I am literally on my 5th bottle of this stuff (I've been using it for about 3 years now, and let me tell you - my skin looks better now than it did 5 years ago).

Gluconolactone is amazing because not only does it facilitate a gentle peel, it also hydrates.

I think pretty much everyone, except those with crazy rosacea, can benefit from the Skin Renewal Peel Solution. It brightens your skin tone, firms up your skin (while Glycolic Acids thin out the skin on top, they encourage collagen production, thereby thickening the lower layers of skin, giving your plumper, softer, thicker skin), eliminates wrinkles and softens acne scars, and prevents break-outs (by eliminating surface dead skin cells which can clog pores, leading to pimples).

They also have an acne line... their toner for acne prone skin is 8% glycolic acid, which is PERFECT for a once-a-day application after cleansing and before moisturizing. I've sold this to MANY customers who have reported fantastic results after just a week or so of once-a-day application.

They have a 10% Glycolic Acid body moisturizer. Perfect for anyone who waxes or is prone to ingrown hairs on their legs.

They also have a spectacular line of anti-aging products, which I'll have to review for your seperately.

In the meantime, RUN to Shoppers Drug Mart to get yourself a bottle of their Skin Renewal Peel Solution. It's $73, but at under $1 per peel, it's well worth the results... one peel at the Doctor's office (or medispa) will set you back AT LEAST $100, and leave you hiding at home with an inflamed face for 3 or 4 days. But using this peel 3 times a week for one month gives you THE SAME RESULTS as a Dr's strength peel with ZERO downtime... Just make sure you use a good physical sunscreen and wear a hat as AHAs can leave your skin more sensitive to the sun.

The importance of Water

I went to a beauty "school" a few nights ago to receive training for one of the brands that we sell where I work. It's a great brand, and even though they like to point out that some of their ingredients are natural, and that they have a "natural origin", the reality is that they are still loaded with chemicals such as Propylene Glycol and artificial fragrances. The risks of these chemicals outweighs the benefits of the natural ingredients, so I generally try to avoid them.

Anyway, something the trainer said kind of stuck with me. She said "Why cover up with cosmetics when you can just take really good care of your skin?" Which is truly easier said than done, but it DOES make sense.

Do you thoroughly wash your face every evening? If you use a toner, is it alcohol-free and gentle? Do you have a suitable moisturizer for your skin? Are you using a rich eye-cream every morning and night? These are great starting points for your skin.

But most importantly...do you drink enough water? 4 cups a day is not enough. For good skin you need to be drinking at least 6 cups of filtered water every single day - CONSISTENTLY. It's easy to say you don't feel the need to drink that much when you fill up on multiple coffees, juices, and pops. So other than your morning coffee, try to avoid juices and pops so that you can get your fill of water first.

I know this isn't easy, but what if I told you that if you did this for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW, you would notice a VISIBLE IMPROVEMENT in your skin?!?

Something else I learned at this school...

Water, when you drink it will in:
60 seconds - hit your blood stream
3 minutes - get to your brain
10 minutes - reach your other organs
30 minutes - spread through your entire body.

So the next time you pick up a pop, ask yourself if you want that all over your body in 30 minutes. And reach for the water instead.

Benefits of Natural Skincare?!?

I may ruffle a lot of feathers by saying this, but I honestly don't believe the sun causes skin cancer. How is it possible that the one thing that gives life, that causes plants to grow big and strong, can give us humans skin cancer?

How is it possible that elephants baking in the hot Indian Sun, zebras running wild across the Serengeti, or monkeys swinging under the hot African sun do not get skin cancer?

What is it that seperates us from these animals (some monkeys being as close to 98% the same genetic make-up as us humans) and gives US skin cancer?

1) Our poor diet/lifestyle
2) The chemicals we put on our skin.

I'm going to address the second issue here, our skin care. Go to where you keep your skincare and bring back your facewash, toner, and moisturizer... Read the ingredients. Any google search can tell you what the ingredients in your skincare do. Let me address some of the obvious ingredients.

Propylene Glycol - is used in cosmetics as a binding agent and to create a "rich" feel. In other uses, it is an AIRCRAFT ANTI-FREEZE, used to TRAP, KILL and PRESERVE bugs, etc. It is known to dry out your skin, but the manufacturers try to cover this up by adding other ingredients that fake the feeling that your skin is hydrated, while deep down inside it is actually dry and dehydrated.

Mineral Oil - aka Paraffinum Liquidum, Paraffin, is used a "moisturizing" ingredient in skincare, even though it is NOT absorbeable by your skin. It is extremely comedogenic...making your skin break out. In Industrial uses, Mineral Oil is used to coat metalics to prevent rusting/oxidization. Imagine what this means for your skin; it coats your skin, preventing it from breathing, preventing it from absorbing atmospheric moisture, preventing it from releasing toxins from your body (Your skin releases almost as much waste from your body as your COLON does).

Go ahead and google the rest of your skincare ingredients...

Skin cancer is a fairly new phenomenon in human history. I think it is directly related with the Industrial Revolution, and the nasty chemicals that came along with it.

You often have many of the ingredients for natural skin care/ body care already at home in your possession. They are not expensive to acquire, and often have a fairly long shelf life. The products that do "expire" fairly quickly are the ones that you would probably eat before they go bad, such as yoghurt.