The Acne Post - Revisited

It's been a while since my last post, and that's mainly because my skincare routine has been in a transitional period after I made some drastic changes about a month ago. I wanted to wait at least one month to write this post so I could give you some honest and time-tested feedback. 

I decided to get a facial at a place I've been going for years for bikini waxes called Peaches Skin Care here in Santa Barbara. My skin was majorly breaking out after I switched to a heavy daytime moisturizer with a high SPF (FYI, it was Boscia Restorative Day Moisture Cream SPF 15 -- heavy and greasy, ugh) and I was feeling desperate. I knew from doing my usual extensive online research that precedes any kind of beauty-related service that Peaches makes their own products, uses microcurrent and microdermabrasion (say what?) in their facials, and boasts on their website and social media sites that they can clear up any kind of acne, with before and after photos that seem too good to be true. So I had high expectations, and also high doubts that my uber-sensitive skin would do well with the two M's that I thought were reserved for "medical" spas (i.e. places you can get Botox but say you're going to the spa--or so I hear).

After a facial that was a little over an hour with a friendly and concerned esthetician, my face was looking a bit battered (she did very thorough extractions), but I was feeling hopeful. Here are my main takeaways from Peaches:

• Regular facials with extractions, microdermabrasion, and microcurrent are important for skin maintenance. The extractions get all the acne-causing gunk out, microderm brings up layers of new skin, and the microcurrent lifts and tightens (they call it a "face lift without surgery"...which I think is more than a bit of a stretch).  A second facial a few weeks after the first is the most important to make sure the new skin that was brought up by the first facial stays clean (or maybe this is a ploy to get you to buy a facial package at Peaches...which gives you a small discount if you pay for 3 facials at once. Either way, I bought it).
• Only pure antioxidants penetrate the skin and make a difference. I didn't feel pressured into buying their products, but the way the esthetician seemed to honestly believe they were the best out there and that they could change my skin sold me. I bought a cleanser, exfoliating wash, toner, and mask. (Full disclosure: I would've bought their moisturizer except that after testing it on my arm I had an allergic reaction.)
• Yeast infection cream can cure your acne.  The esthetician also insisted I put Monistat 7 (yes) on my face morning and night after toning. She said that acne is often a fungal problem and so the Monistat helps with that.
• Milk of magnesia is a fabulous face mask. They recommend you sleep with it on your face like a mask or at the very least in problem areas, as it calms skin, curbs oil production and helps acne. I've been leaving this on overnight on areas where I feel like I might have a zit coming on, and, sure enough, I wake up zit-free in the morning!
• Wear sunscreen on your face only when necessary. This probably shocked me even more than the vag cream. According to Peaches, sunscreen ingredients are pore-clogging and cause breakouts. She recommended a titanium dioxide sunscreen to use only as needed, but since wide-brimmed hats are for sale in the Peaches lobby, I think it's safe to assume they prefer hats to sunscreen.
• Makeup is the devil. Absolutely NO liquid foundation. Pure mineral makeup with no fillers is OK (i.e. no Bare Minerals) but they really hate foundation, saying it causes acne. 
• Even worse than the devil: Wearing the devil while working out. Sweat will cause your makeup to clog your pores even more. 

All of this might seem pretty extreme and weird to someone who has not tried everything to clear their skin and had no luck. But people like me, think, hmmm, this actually kind of makes sense.

Was it instant omg-this-skincare-is-a-miracle? No. Have I had any breakouts? Yes. Have they been smaller than usual and few and far between? YES. They also go away quicker and without using any targeted acne treatments like the ones I reviewed in my original Acne Post. In fact, most of these minor breakouts happened while I was traveling and not following the routine to a T, and since I got back and had my second facial (3 weeks ago) those breakouts cleared up super quick and I have not had a single breakout since.

The main issue I am dealing with now is minor irritation that may or may not be related to the Peaches products and routine. After my first facial, my skin was definitely more sensitive and reactive, and I was also flushing at the littlest cause. Since my second facial, it's been a lot better. Some days I can feel my skin flushing more easily than others. I also suffer from bad seasonal allergies that always affect my skin, and it's prime season right now. Since my skin is looking so great otherwise, I am really hoping it's not the products. I will probably be in denial at least for another 6 months until I use them up anyway. :)

I bought a $100 moisturizer

I have been wanting to write this post for a while now but wanted to be fair and give myself enough time to use the product before reviewing. And now it's finally that time -- and I have a lot to say, so bear with me. It's been about two months since I bought Tata Harper's Repairative Moisturizer for a whopping $100. To be honest, I only paid $80 since they were having a limited time 20% off sale and I jumped on the opportunity. But still, $80 is a hefty price to pay for a 1.7oz bottle of cream. And the overall verdict: worth every penny, if it won't break your budget.

I had never heard about Tata Harper before I had a facial at the spa at the Four Seasons here in Santa Barbara. The esthetician explained to me how her products are 100% free of chemicals and synthetic products, and how Tata Harper created the line after her father-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and his doctor highly recommended eliminating harmful chemicals from his products. I was literally stunned after the facial when I looked in the mirror and saw dewy, glowing skin, free from the redness and blotchiness that I always have after a facial. I immediately thought, "I'm going to buy every single product she used on my way out of here," then when I saw the price of most of those items was over $50, I changed my mind.

A few weeks later I changed my mind again when I saw Tata Harper's 20% off promotion. Another plus of buying directly from their website is that they include 3 free samples with every order, and shipping is free on all orders over $40. I'm also loving all of the samples I've gotten, but I'll save my reviews of those for another post. :)

The Repairative Moisturizer is Tata's dry skin moisturizer, and after using it morning and night for about a week I started noticing a difference. My dry patches and flakes started to disappear. I should also note that while my breakouts have not disappeared completely, I have fewer, smaller pimples than I've had in the past. The moisturizer has a light, silky consistency that absorbs into the skin easily, and it has a pleasant but strong floral scent.  It lacks SPF which is probably my main complaint, as I have to layer my SPF over it in the mornings and it doesn't mesh flawlessly with the moisturizer. As far as packaging goes, it comes in a light green glass bottle that is beautiful and I definitely plan on reusing it after I use up the product.

This past week, as part of my ongoing efforts to use up the beauty products I have before buying new ones, I started using my old morning combo of Philosophy's Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer with Weleda's Soothing Almond Lotion to create a more moisturizing tinted moisturizer. After a few days of using this combo the dryness started creeping back in. There hasn't been any changes in weather during this time, so I think it's safe to say it's likely the lack of my Tata Harper. I made the heartwrenching decision to dump the Philosophy and go back to using Tata twice a day. 

As much as I love this product, I don't think I will stop looking for something somewhat comparable that costs less than half as much. $100 is nothing to sneeze at. It's almost a cell phone bill or 2 Anthropologie sale tops. It's a vet visit for Dexter. Maybe someday spending $100 on a cream won't seem selfish and wasteful, but not today. 

Sometimes it just doesn't work out...

And it's no one's fault. It's true in life and it's true when it comes to beauty products. I've been really struggling with which night cream to purchase (an old fave? a possible new fave from a trusted brand? something completely different?) and luckily the return policies at my favorite stores Sephora and Ulta make it easy for me to test out different ones before settling on the best.  

While killing time on a lunch break in Ulta last week, I used up every available space on my hands and arms testing different moisturizers. When I left the store, only one spot (other than the abhorrent reaction I am about to describe below) was irritated -- from a Dr. Perricone cream, and I don't remember which it was. Luckily Dr. Perricone is a pretty expensive line, and I'm OK with crossing it off my list based on just that one experience. Of course, crossing something off my beauty list doesn't exclude it for life.

Case in point: Clinique. Some time ago,  I had a bad allergic reaction to one of their face sunscreens, and we called it quits. Last week in Ulta, I decided to give it a go again. I dabbed on Moisture Surge, Moisture Surge Intense, and Super Rescue Antioxidant Night Moisturizer. Almost immediately, and I mean literally within about 10 seconds, the skin where I had applied the Intense version of Moisture Surge was itchy. 20 seconds later it was red. 30 seconds later it was itchy, red, and blotchy. A minute later small hives were visible. A minute and 30 seconds later the small hives were white mountains in a red sea and I couldn't resist scratching it. Even after washing my hands, the reaction area was itchy and visible for a few hours, and 8 hours later (after showering, mind you) there was still little dots and blotches that provided evidence for what had occurred earlier.

Clinique is 100% fragrance free and "allergy tested," and yet this product somehow caused the worst allergic reaction I have had in a long time, and at the same time the other two Clinique products showed zero signs of irritation. I actually went ahead and purchased the regular Moisture Surge and used it for two nights, only to return it. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm "allergic" to it, it made my cheeks slightly red and blotchy, and I'm just not comfortable dealing with that at $40 a pop. In comparing the ingredients lists of the regular Moisture Surge and the Intense, there are so many different chemical ingredients that I wouldn't know where to begin in guessing which one caused the reaction. The Super Rescue is my next try, and seems to have the best online reviews for effectiveness and gentleness, so we'll see if that means anything for me. 

I also tried Ole Henrikson's sensitive skin moisturizer, Nourish Me, only to return it after a few uses. For one, it smells like a cross between fruit loops and a creamsicle, and it's a very strong fragrance. It didn't do much in terms of adding moisture and it made my skin just a little itchy. 

All of these products have high-quality ingredients, minimal preservatives and harmful chemicals, and thousands of reviews from loyal users online. But they just weren't for me. Time to move on. 

New Weleda Favorites

A few months ago I dedicated an entire post to Weleda, and --don't hate me-- I'm about to do the same thing.

I recently added two new Weleda products to my repertoire, Skin Food and Iris Hydrating Day Cream. I bought Skin Food as a hand cream after I ran out of my Neutrogena and L'Occitaine favorites, and have not been disappointed. It's thick, creamy, and a little bit goes a long way. It has a strong scent which I wasn't expecting, and it's not bad, but I don't love it either. It kind of has that generic "I bought this at a natural foods store" smell, if you know what I mean, and I tend to dab some perfume on my wrists quickly after I apply it. I've also used it on my dry knees and dry spots on my face. All-in-all it's a solid multi-purpose heavy moisturizer that would be great in a carry-on to be used as a hand cream, body cream, and night cream. I'm only being nitpicky about the scent so I have something to say about a Weleda product other than "OMG I love this!"

Even though today was in the '80s here in Santa Barbara, it's been slowly starting to get a little more fall-like with cooler nights and mornings, and my skin is feeling it. Some flakes and tight dry spots have already appeared, and the Almond Soothing Lotion I've been using just wasn't cutting it. I've switched to using Iris Hydrating Day Cream on cooler mornings, and it's much more moisturizing than the Almond. Unfortunately I have to say again that it has a strong scent, clove-like, that I don't particularly enjoy, but it wears off quickly once it's absorbed. I wouldn't say that it's the most moisturizing cream I've used, but it does the job.

I admit that I'm getting a little bored with all of these Weleda products, regardless of how fabulous they are. They're simple, affordable, natural, and non-irritating, but the world of skincare is vast and tempting. My tube of Iris Hydrating Night Cream is getting towards the end and I will likely replace it with something from a different brand ... stay tuned to find out what I choose!

No-Shower Shower

Since we moved and I started a new job back in January, I have finally followed through on my promise to myself to bike to work more often. Before January, we lived downtown and my old office was a 5 minute bike ride from our condo, but now that distance has multiplied to a whopping 7 miles or 35-minute+ bike ride each way, with hills. I think it is understandably intimidating, especially when my job often involves coordinating events and I need to look presentable. We had a pretty hot summer, so when it got down into the low '70s last week, I decided to seize the opportunity to get some bike commutes in before I lose daylight savings.

I'm a sweaty mess when I work out. Whether it's yoga, running, hiking or biking, I am always drenched by the time I'm done, usually regardless of the temperature. So I knew that when I started biking to work I would have to refine my routine so that my coworkers wouldn't politely stay far away from me on days I biked to work. Here's my No-Shower Shower routine that's been working well for me so far:

Part 1: Before you Bike

Prepping for your ride correctly can make the post-bike ride clean up go a lot more smoothly. For one, I don't bother putting any makeup on before I leave. I wash my face with my normal cleanser, and then apply my favorite facial sunscreen, Coppertone Oil Free Faces SPF 30, and put a swipe of untinted Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15 on my lips. Then I put sunscreen on my shoulders, chest, back, and arms, depending on what's exposed that day.

I wear my hair in a low bun so that my helmet can sit comfortably and my hair is kept off my back. Then I use bobby pins to pin the sides of my hair back off my face. This minimizes the amount of sweat that gets in my hair.

Part 2: Post-Bike Ride

About 7 miles later I'm in my office and sweating bullets. I find that most of my sweating happens after I stop moving, and so it's key to work quickly to stop that nasty sweat in its tracks! I'm lucky in that I have my own large, private office, so I can walk in, lock the door, pull down the shades (sometimes...I have a second floor office and the windows are pretty hard to see into from outside, but knowing me I already have a stalker) and get to work.

Step 1: Hair

The first thing I do is take off my helmet and let down my hair, flip my head over, and liberally pour dry shampoo all over the underside of my hair. I use Lush No Draught Dry Shampoo but I've heard that plain old corn starch works well too. I like the citrus scent of Lush's. I massage it in as well as I can, then I flip my hair back over and put more dry shampoo on the top of my hair and massage it.

*Note: Your floor will likely look like you are trying to hide a coke habit after all of this. I keep Lysol wipes in my office, and usually push one around with my foot to clean the white powder off the floor.

Step 2: Body Clean Up

The next step is probably the most important for feeling fresh: cleansing wipes. I spent a good amount of time in Ulta looking at the ingredients lists of different cleansing wipes before settling on Yes to Cucumbers Facial Towelettes. They have a clean scent and are non-irritating. I use one wipe on my face and another one or two on whatever parts of my body are feeling grimy (you can use your imagination here). After I'm cleaned up, I swipe on some deodorant and spritz myself with my favorite body spray, Philosophy's Inner Grace Perfumed Body Spritz, and put on my change of clothes.

Step 3: Face

I like to simplify my usual morning routine when I have to do it at the office. To do this I use a tinted moisturizer. I own Philosophy Hope in a Tinted Moisturizer, which is one of those products I'm trying to use up, and after googling it it looks like it's been discontinued. It's not very moisturizing at all, so I mix it with some of my usual morning moisturizer, Weleda Almond Facial Cream, to make it more substantial. (On a side note, I've heard good things about Josie Maran Argan Tinted Moisturizer and am excited to try it once the Philosophy runs out.) Then I apply some mascara, a few dusts of foundation from a compact (I'm currently liking Neutrogena Mineral Sheers Compact Powder Foundation) and some lip gloss or balm.

Step 4: Finishing Touches

My last step is brushing out my hair. Dry shampoo works better the longer you leave it in, which is why I like to leave it in while I'm doing everything else. I make sure all of the powder is gone, and either leave my hair down or put it in a pony. Usually it looks fine down.

Eh voila! Not only do I get a workout, some endorphins, and a chance to really appreciate and enjoy being outdoors in beautiful Santa Barbara, but I can go about my work day feeling fresh and focused.

On female body image

This post is inspired by the beautiful Miss Conduct, who wrote such an honest and inspiring post on a topic that is somewhat taboo and a challenge to write openly about as a young woman.

When I was 14 I signed with a New Jersey modeling agency. The back of my comp card (a modeling business card) had 4 pictures of me in different poses and settings, all arms and legs, and underneath in small writing: Height: 5'10", Weight: 105 lbs. It also included waist, hips, and bust measurements, which I'm sure you can guess. I was friends with a girl slightly older, about 17, and I remember reading the back of her comp card and seeing "Height: 5'11", Weight: 125 lbs," and thinking wow, she's fat. 

My best friend at the time was also a model and also quite thin, like me. She lamented about her wide hips and how she couldn't model bikinis because of them. Nonetheless, while the other girls brought carrots and celery or nothing at all for lunch, we would go to a local diner and get chicken fingers and fries.

I was never chubby. Not even as a baby. My long legs, arms and everything else started when I was born and the doctors called other doctors in to marvel at the length of my fingers and toes. Through mid-college, I never weighed more than 125 and never wore larger than an extra small or size 2. I ate what I wanted, drank what I wanted and never, ever worked out or did any form of exercise other than walking two blocks from my apartment to get groceries and back. Walking up the stairs always left me winded, but I didn't think much about it. I was skinny. I was always thinner than my friends. I couldn't comprehend why people spent so much time and money at the gym or running on the Commons. Were they crazy, or did they just really like pain? It had to be one or the other.

One of my closest friends in college was overweight, and had diabetes. We never talked about weight; in fact, it's safe to say I was terrified to bring up the subject with her. The only time it came close to coming up was when we went shopping for a dress for me for my 21st birthday, and we went to what seemed like a hundred stores and she patiently watched me try on different dresses in each of them before I settled for a hot pink, strapless, Betsey Johnson number. I was hit with an immense feeling of guilt on the subway ride back to our apartment for not once asking her if she wanted to shop for a dress too, or even just asking her where she went shopping, since we all know plus-size women have very limited options just about everywhere. But I didn't say anything. Our friendship was built on a love of weird movies, celebrity gossip, and a shared love of cooking and baking. And it worked. If I dwelled on it any longer, things would start to get uncomfortable.

Fast forward 5 and a half years: I'm no longer a size 2. The scale hovers between 140 and 150 and I'm usually a size 6, but sometimes a 4 or an 8. I run at least a mile a few times a week and also do yoga or pilates. I also eat until I'm full and indulge slightly more than I probably should with sweets and alcohol.

So when did it all change? At my first job out of college one of my coworkers warned me "Once you hit 25, it all goes downhill." Meaning that you can no longer eat a pint of ice cream at 9 at night and expect it to not leave a mark on your body. And she was right. I got older, wiser. I started reflecting on weight, health and exercise, and my years of dabbling in modeling and the damage they had done.

For one, the average age of a model is around 17. This means that the ideal female body image is based on a 17-year-old girl. Yes, there are older women in the spotlight and out of it that have the bodies of 17-year-old girls, but there are reasons. Basic science tells us that if we eat more calories than we burn, we gain weight. The foolproof way to make sure this doesn't happen: eat less. Super skinny women don't eat what normal-looking women eat. It's that simple. I'm sure there are a handful of women over the age of 21 out there who truly just have a high metabolism and can eat a lot and still be thin, but this is a rare exception. The "age when it all goes downhill" might not be 25 for every woman, but no matter when it is, we're still expected to look like that 17-year-old model.

Although acceptance of larger women as the beauty ideal is slowly starting to happen, I doubt we will ever truly accept them. Too many of us, myself included, are "uncomfortable" with accepting that body type when it's so different from what's ingrained in our minds from birth, and changing that way of thinking is a challenge. I read an interesting article about a plus-size model who said that she didn't realize there was anything wrong with her body as a child. That sentiment is something we should carry throughout our lives, it shouldn't be shut down the moment we open a magazine or turn on the TV. For me, by the time I was 14 I already knew that "fat" was not something I wanted to be and started applying that label to others. How can we work to push the age that that happens back a few years until eventually it's nonexistant?

I'm slowly starting to accept that I'll never be a size 2 again, and that I don't have to be because forcing my body to that ideal through extreme diet and exercise is not something that's on the top of my list at this time in my life. I'm glad I'm still the girl who eats chicken fingers and fries.

Would you light my candle?

Not only is this blog post a reference to one of my favorite musicals of all time, RENT, it's also a true question I would ask if they're aren't any Zippos around. I have a somewhat irrational fear of using matches and I never have even tried. The sound of a match being lit makes me cringe. I'm terrified I'll burn my fingers. But, I love candles. So if that situation ever arises, let's just hope there's someone around to light my candle.

I walked around our apartment this morning and counted how many candles we currently have out: 7, plus tealights and an extra scented pillar candle waiting in the wings, and 3 "holiday" candles. This is actually a surprisingly low number for me. My love of candles undoubtedly started with my mother (like a lot of things) who always has a candle in every room of the house and goes around and lights them after she's done with her Saturday top-to-bottom, no-surface-left-unscrubbed cleaning. To this day I always light them when I'm cleaning or done cleaning. It makes everything somehow seem cleaner and more serene, and I love that.

The difference between my love of candles and my mother's is that my mother had no choice but to love candles. As an elementary school secretary for almost 20 years, she has gotten hundreds of candles as gifts from students. Like me, she hates waste, so she uses them. Open the cabinets in the bathroom and laundry and what will you find -- more candles. What usually gets regifted -- candles. I have taken a couple of hers over the years, but, as you would expect, the candles she gets are a mixed bag. 90% of Yankee Candle's scents make me gag. If the packaging is ugly and it can't be removed, I'll say no thanks, even if it has a redeeming scent.

I spend my hard-earned money on fancy candles. Granted, I have learned to say no at times when a $42 organic soy candle at a boutique in wine country just isn't in the budget, but it's hard. I go back and forth regretting the decision. I write blog posts like this one to help me cope.

Voluspa is one of my favorite brands (gorgeous packaging and scents), but if you're looking to NOT spend the majority of your paycheck on candles, Target actually has an impressive selection to choose from. A friend and I recently spent a good 20 minutes in the candle aisle, sniffing and selecting, and I bought just two and was very proud of myself. Be forewarned that they have some duds in there, but if you allow yourself enough time to really sniff through them and choose wisely, you'll be a satisfied candle shopper.

Scent-wise I tend to lean towards light, clean, floral scents, but I also like a bit of a musk every now and then. I light my patchouli pillar candle from Pier 1 when I do yoga. Voluspa has a scent called Moso Bamboo that's dark and earthy but it makes my heart sing when I'm in the right mood. Nothing signals the start of the holiday season for me like breaking out the heavy evergreen and pine candles.

I realize that a lot of people might think that candles are a frivolous thing to spend your money on. But when you consider the atmosphere they create, that elevated feeling of "clean" and "home," plus the number of burning hours, with a scent you enjoy and something pretty to look at, I don't think you can go wrong.