Quench Your Skin's Thirst!

I have pretty oily skin. When I wash my face it becomes very dry and sometimes peely. A fear that most people, including myself, with oily skin have is that if they use moisturizers it will make their skin even oilier. Earlier this year I found a product that moisturizes my skin without making it greasy. Moisture Surge by Clinique does the trick! This gel goes on a thin layer to lock in moisture to my face all day long. What I also love about this gel is that it doesn't make my face sticky, a lot of moisturizers tend to leave a sticky film, but this one doesn't. I use it every night almost as a mask to protect my skin overnight. I love it for my oily skin but this product is for all skin types!

What Are Your Rituals? Pt 2 - Hand Lotion

Another product from the SpaRitual line that I have fallen in love with is the Instinctual Organic Moisturizing Lotion. I'm a person who is constantly washing their hands (this is a germ filled world ya know!) so I'm always applying lotion to stop my hands from drying out. The current lotions that I use from Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret do a great job of moisturizing but since I wash my hands so much the lotion wears off very quickly. The SpaRitual lotion has a long wear stay and moisturizes deep down in the skin. It is a vegan product that features an amazing ginger essential oil and contains 83% certified organic ingredients and is paraben free. I use this lotion a few times throughout the day, not that I need it but as an excuse to smell it! I also like to use it on my hands and arms before I go sleep. Great product!

What Are Your Rituals? Pt 1 - Nail Lacquer!

For many years I was 'the' girl who ALWAYS wore the fake acrylic nails! Not only did I wear the fake nails but I wore them extremely long! My main reason for wearing the fake nails was because my natural nails just won't grow, they'll grow a little and then they'll break. My natural nails are also very thin, I've tried numerous nail strengtheners and hardeners but I can't seem to find the right one. After moving across the country (Kansas City, Mo to Los Angeles, CA) on my own for college, I had to put myself on a budget. Getting my nails done did not make that list! I come from a family of beautician's and nail techs so I know how to do my own but its so time consuming. I had to find a way for my nails to be cute and look healthy so I decided to just go all natural and try to grow my own. It takes a long time for nails to recover once they've gotten used to the acrylic, so I had to be patient. I found that getting manicures and using fun and pretty nail polishes helped speed up the process. Back in July I talked about how much I was loving Orly nail polishes (http://tyechampagne.blogspot.com/2009/07/nailed-it.html) and now I've found another line that has great nail lacquers as well. SpaRitual is a brand that I wasn't too familiar with until recently, in one of my classes we had to do research and present a new product for the founder of the company, Mrs. Shell Pink (she picked my team as the winner!!). What I really love about this brand is that most of their products are vegan and certified organic, which is a huge deal! The shade that I have is called Airhead from the Airy Sopranos collection of shades. Its very sheer and once applied makes your nails look like you came straight from the nail salon! Check out their whole collection of nail lacquers here: http://www.sparitual.com/nail_lacquers/

p.s. here's a throwback picture of me at my high school prom (5/4/2007), long nails in tow!

I'm A 'Bad Gal'

If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could only bring one beauty product, what would it be? My answer to this would be mascara, I couldn't live without mascara! In my opinion mascara is the single cosmetic product that could change your whole look. When I apply my makeup mascara is always the last thing I put on because I love seeing the dramatic difference it makes in my look. A mascara that I have been using for a while now is the Bad Gal line of mascaras from Benefit. I use both the Bad Gal Lash (black) and the Bad Gal Blue. They also have Bad Gal Plum. It gives my lashes length and volume. Bad Gal Blue makes my eyes 'pop' even more since it has color. Great product and even better price: $19 for a 0.30oz tube! Check it out!

http://www.benefitcosmetics.com/gp/browse.html/ref=sc_bb_c_3_169082011_3/188-9693552-6171846?ie=UTF8&node=1289302011&no=169082011&me=A2CD3UT466CEX4&bcBrand=core&clicked=center-34

I Vote Pur~lisse for Best~kisse!

Every since I can remember I have had an on going problem with lip glosses and lip sticks: they make my lips peel! I never, and still can't understand why it happens. To prevent my lips from peeling I would use Vaseline under my lip gloss or lip stick almost as a primer, but that just dries my lips out. I've heard people say that 'oh when your lips peel it just means your gloss or lip stick is old', but even if I buy a brand new gloss or stick I would have the same problem. I've come across this amazing product from Pur~lisse called Pur~lip Comfort Daily Lip Nourisher, and it does just that! I was truly amazed that it did NOT make my lips peel! You have to understand that I have tried so many things to make it stop and nothing worked!! This see-through/yellowish jelly is made with blue lotus, lupine peptides, sea silk, soy proteins and white tea. It's not a lip gloss or lip stick but more of a lip treatment. Keeps my lips smooth and kissable all day long! You can also use this product under your gloss or lip stick. I'm saying 'bye-bye' to my vaseline and 'hello' to Pur~lisse, and for $22 per 0.5oz tube, I'm definitely sticking to it!

Finishing Spray Saves the Day!

As a girl who is always on the go, I don't have a lot of time to touch-up my makeup throughout the day. I've recently found a product that holds your makeup in place all day through. It's called Makeup Finishing Spray - The Original Makeup Saver by Skindinavia. Its claims a 16 hour hold on your makeup, I've been using it for about a week now and I love it. It has become a staple in my already overflowing purse! You can buy it on the Skindanavia website http://www.skindinavia.com/web/index.html, 4fl oz for $29 and 6fl oz for $39 (I got mine for free as a sample but I will definitely be buying more because its so worth it!)

Relaxed Identity!

As a woman of color, I prefer to relax my hair. Yes relaxing your hair can be very damaging but what isn't damaging to the hair these days?! I've been receiving relaxers on my hair since I was about six or seven years old, it's just easier for me to manage it when it is relaxed. I relax my hair because I like the way it looks and feels. I do NOT, however, relax my hair to fit the standards of the society in which we live in. For a long time and especially recently, woman in the African American community have been blasted for choosing to relax their hair. Some have said that we aren't satisfied with how God made us, and that we just want to 'fit in' and be what everyone else is. These statements upset me so much! To add insult to injury, the 'people' who are making these comments are African American men! Really? Are we seriously dissing the 'Sistas' over our hair? When we don't have our perms we're nappy headed, but when we do get perms we're ashamed of our heritage? I'm not too sure how this works! I don't think a perm is any different than woman going to get plastic surgery, a boob job, nose job or whatever. Obviously they want to enhance their beauty, a perm is no different. I actually think a perm is less severe because it doesn't physically change or alter a part of your body, just a new hair style.

This is just my take on it, as I said before...I'm perfectly fine with getting my hair relaxed. But what does bother me is that there are women and young girls who struggle with not having 'good hair'. Initially, I didn't think it was such a strong issue, maybe because I'm content, but there are layers and layers of reasons why women want perms. Here is a clip from The Tyra Bank show when she focused on the isse of 'good hair', she even wore her hair in cornrolls (braids)!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeXUm8OOUA8


So do we relax our hair because it's the closest we will get to having 'good hair'? Well with all the debate of the relaxers comes the question of what exactly is 'good hair'? Many people have a different opinions of what it means to have 'good hair'. Growing up, it was the assumption that someone who had good hair was mixed or Caucasian. I'm not mixed...or Caucasian...or any other race but I think I have a good grade of hair, its lengthy (having length in the African American community is huge!) and most of the time its easy to manage. Comedian Chris Rock has put his own take on relaxers and what it means to have 'good hair' in a new film entitled 'Good Hair'. He researched for this film for twon years after his 4-year old daughter came to him and asked 'Daddy, why don't I have 'good hair'? by the looks of the preview this is something I definitely want to see! Here's the trailor:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu7ID4Vz6-E

Crest Pro-Health...Health Risks??

Crest's toothpaste's and mouth washes have a been a staple in life since I can remember. It's a brand that my mother trusted in keeping my teeth and mouth clean and healthy, to this day I still use Crest toothpaste. A friend of mine, (and fellow blogger: 100% Beauty http://beautyforthought.blogspot.com/ <-- check her out!!) recently brought to my attention a problem that she was having with the Crest Pro-Health line. She said that when she uses it, it makes the insides of her jaws peel, scary right? She warned me to never use that line (FYI: the Crest Pro-Health and regular Crest products are two different lines under the same company) because I would likely have the same problem. A few days later she emailed me a link to a consumer affair website that featured and extensive amount of complaints from individuals who used the product and experienced the same problems or even worse problems. Here a few testimonies....very scary! I'm never buying that toothpaste, I'll stick with the regular Crest! This line needs to be taken off the market ASAP!! Just read what customers had to say. Here's the link to read these stories in full: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cosmetics/crest.html

"I noticed sores on my inside cheeks and the skin felt like it was being
peeled off. Then my neck started hurting. I could barely move my neck, I
couldn't find a comfortable position to sleep."

"I started to feel severe pain and then started to feel something slimey in
my mouth."

"My son began using Crest Pro Health and in a week noticed peeling of the skin inside his mouth, swollen and bleeding gums. We immediately switched to another brand and his mouth got better or so we thought until his routine dental appt. the Crest Pro Health toothpaste had removed gum tissue and exposed a root from one of his back teeth. My son will have to have a skin graft in order to correct this problem."

Brighten Your Skin!

I've been using Aveeno's Skin Brightening Daily Scrub for about a week now and I really like it! I had been using Neutrogena's daily acne scrub but I got tired of it. It was drying my skin out and was irritating my skin during use so I needed something different. I have always heard great things about Aveeno products, I've used their body lotions in the past and they were really good so I thought their facial producst would be worth a try! This product is made with soy extracts and claims to 'gently exfoliate for even tone and texture.' Since using it I have noticed that my skin is a lot smoother that before...so I'm very satisfied! It's a great product and it's very inexpensive, you can pick it up at any drug store (CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc) or category killer stores such as Walmart and Target for $7-$9!