Monday, December 10, 2012

Back In Business!

After a long vacation from this project of mine I have decided to return.  It has been a rather rocky year for me and I just finished school for the semester.  My roommate and I have decided to do a "cleanse" until Christmas.  I use quotes because we are not exactly doing a no solid food take a bunch of stuff and drink cayenne pepper kind of thing.  Here are the basics to our plan...

~ Eliminate Gluten, Dairy, Soy, Processed Sugar, and Caffeine from our diets.
~ This leaves us eating vegetables, fruits, meats, and corn, rice and potatoes in the starch department.
~ Take a daily probiotic and for me a daily Vitamin D supplement.
~ One smoothie a day with a gluten free raw vegetable powder, frozen fruit, water, coconut flakes, and sometimes a little bit of Peanut Butter.
~ Exercise daily, for me this will probably include the elliptical and yoga.
~ Drink lots of water with lemon juice.
~ Try to get used to tea (blech).

As you can see this is NOT going to be easy, and I will probably struggle cry, and fantasize about chocolate while I watch cupcake wars on television.  However, both my roommate and I have some food allergies, she cannot eat dairy and I cannot eat gluten.  Neither of us are very good about it, so hopefully this will give us some discipline as well as offer us a look into what other foods we may be sensitive to.

After the cleanse, the goal is to add foods back into our diet one at a time so we know what foods we may struggle with.  For example it is way easier to know that dairy makes you sick when that is the only not clean food you are eating than when your also eating gluten, and caffeine.



Monday, January 16, 2012

Proactive Review

Yikes!  I know I know it goes against everything I stand for, overpaying for all of these chemicals that will probably kill my face but... I am getting desperate.  Nothing seems to be controlling my god awful skin lately and school is starting soon. :(  So I caved and I am going to try Proactive.

I am currently on day three and got the 30 day trial kit with the refining mask.  I am not going to do a complete review right now because I have just started using it.  Instead I am going to cover my butt a little bit and tell you all why I caved.
  I am a firm believer in putting as few chemicals in on and around you as possible.  I think it helps us be healthier and is overall better for us and the quality of our lives.  However, I am going to briefly talk about something all us women know and need but far from love.  HORMONES.  Yes yes, the kind in our bodies andddd the kind in our food.  Did you know the foods you eat contain hormone balancers and hormones that can balance or throw off your natural hormone balance.  I am sure you knew that your hormones can affect your acne.  Well, the foods you eat can affect your hormones.  I have recently restarted eating a "clean" diet, full of hormone balancing foods and eliminating the bad.  Now naturally, my body will detoxify itself during this process.  THIS is why I think my face is running rampant (YUCK), because I think my hormones are trying to sort themselves out in an orderly fashion.

Because of this, I am going to crack and introduce Proactive to my life.  My skin is extremely bad right now and needs some chemical assistance to help bring me back to center.  This is more than likely not a permanent solution, rather an immediate evacuation of bacteria from my poor skin cells.

Like I said before, I am not going to do a complete review right now, just a few things I have noticed.

First off, it is expensive as hell, you can get the online offer for 20 bucks and if your going to try this stuff that really is the best way.  However, after that I believe it goes to 40 dollars a month or something like that.  I will get exacts when I make an official review.

Second off, this refining mask everyone raves about.  Well like most things I have found, it does not work on pimples that have not broken the skin.  However, a pimple that is about to become a big ugly mess.  It's True!! Gone overnight.  Can't ask for more than that.  Although I will say it smells like desitin which is just kind of weird, but the smell does not stay after you rinse it so no worries.

Third off, I have been using it for three days and I have noticed my skin getting a bit smoother, no doubt shedding all the skin cells that have over stayed their welcome.  However, my skin is already incredibly dry in certain areas.  This is the same problem I run into with most acne product lines.  The parts of my face that get dry and flakey are the parts that need the medicine on them.  I am still currently using coconut oil after the regimen to moisturize and that has kept it at bay a little bit, but I did notice it's getting worse.  I may just be a one a day girl... who knows yet.


Anyway, I am not overly thrilled with my results thus far, but like I said three days only.  That being said I am noticing enough changes to make me curious enough to keep going.  My thoughts would be proactive once a day and maybe a bentonite clay mask the second time, or something like that.  HMM

What do you guys think? Anyone ever tried this stuff.  Shoot me an email! :)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Makeup Review: Covergirl Natureluxe Silk Foundation

As I told you guys before I borrowed my sister's makeup when I got home because I left all of mine at home! FML.  I ended up using this foundation because it was the lightest color she had on hand.  Well I really was quite impressed so I picked some up in my own shade to give it a fair trial.  I have been using it for a few days now and gave it the ultimate test... New Years Eve!

The Basics:
Covergirl made this foundation to give us a more natural feel with cucumber and jojoba oil.  Well how was I supposed to resist any attempt at being more "organic" with my makeup.  It is a liquid foundation that comes in a compact tube which in my opinion is quite cute.  Now mind you when I used this I used makeup forever primer on my face, but no concealer because I didn't have mine!

The color:  I found mine by using my fit me color to compare in the drugstore, which worked out fine.  I have a hard skin tone to match sometimes without looking orange and I was able to get a pretty decent match.  that being said it was a little pale for me which looks god awful in certain lights.  That being said the shade above would have been far to orange for me.  In the right light though it looks quite good.  I think it will be just a matter of if they have a color that fits you.  Their shade selection is in my opinion less than fabulous, but holds true to all of their other colors so its a personal fit thing.  I give their color three stars. ***

The coverage:  I was impressed with how well this covered up blemishes considering it had no concealer at it's aid.  I think it covered on its own better that the Maybelline Fit Me which is my usual foundation of choice.  It covered under eye circles not as well as I hoped, but again that is being picky.  I give their coverage five stars *****

The finish:  It was a very matte almost powdery finish in blemish prone areas, which I think personally make your blemishes look worse than they already are.  However, it was not extreme, and I think with a concealer it would be a non issue.  I did hope for a little more "glow" if you will in the finish than I got.  Especially after putting a setting powder over it.  Finish gets three stars ***

The price:  This is something that I have kind of an issue with.  I payed $15 for the foundation, and could have gotten a larger "high end" brand of foundation for $30.  Covergirl has good products yes, but at $15 dollars it needs to be bigger.  End Of Story.  Price gets two stars **

My skin:  I said before that my reason for even trying this was because the fit me was making me break out a little bit.  I have been wearing this for about a week and it has not made me breakout.  I even left it on overnight last night (half experiment half being lazy) and did not break out at all.  This gets five stars! *****

The other thing I held issue with in this makeup was the smell.  I understand that makeup will have a scent, and maybe it is personal preference but I found this smell less than appealing.  It smelled chalky to me, and I could smell it the whole night, not just right after I put it on.  Normally this is not something I really think about all that much, but I felt strongly enough about the smell to put it in this review.


Conclusion:  Truth be told this makeup frusterated me!  The good parts I was madly in love with, and the bad parts I have a hard time looking past.  This makeup covers well, does not make me breakout and utilizes some more earth friendly ingredients than some other foundations out there.  Those are three of the most important things to me personally.  However, the awkward smell and the price really are off-putting.  The price is not enough to keep me from ever buying it again, but enough to make me think twice.  Since this is a new makeup it is hard to get upset over a lack of shades.  If they added more shades to this, it would absolutely become a favorite.  However, I am happy with my own foundation.  To be honest unless other makeup made me keep breaking out I would not buy this again, but I will use this bottle until it is gone.  If you have acne prone or sensitive skin, or even if you want a natural makeup without losing out on coverage, I think you should try this.  You will probably be incredibly satisfied.  However, if your skin is not all that sensitive you probably will be just as happy with something a little bit more refined.  Since this is a new product I say this is one to keep an eye on.

How about anyone else?  Have you tried this?  Let me know!  Also! if anyone can find it cheaper absolutely let me know :)



Please be advised I am not affiliated with any companies, and do these reviews completely on my own.  I am not a professional and these are just my opinion and experience.  I am not responsible for any adverse reactions you experience with this makeup, or any other recipe or makeup on this blog.