photo by VancityAllie
Hey Ladies! Glad to be back! I am gonna talk about the beauty industry today. Let me start off by saying that I LOVE the beauty industry. I adore pedicures, getting my hair and make-up done, and I LOVE that I have the option of getting cosmetic surgery…if and when I decide to! That being said, there are a lot of things out there that have become very commonplace in the beauty industry that may or may not be truly necessary or helpful to the average woman. That’s what I’m here to talk about today. Ok let’s go!
First off…the beauty industry is a HUGE money maker for the economy. You may be thinking…”well Duh!” but most of you don’t know just HOW much money the beauty industry grosses in just ONE YEAR. 160 billion! Yes you read that right…BILLION! The areas that they consider in the beauty industry are Hair and make-up, fitness and dieting, fragrances, skin care, and cosmetic surgery. Wow!
I think we can all admit to looking at a fashion magazine and drooling over those “MUST HAVE” items that are more than our rent or mortgage payments! I have peddled some of those items and used them myself and lemme just tell ya…they are nice but some of them are FAR from essential. Like for example…the number one skin moisturizer in Asia is made from pure Nightingale droppings. Uh gross!
Let me first start off talking about those extra items in the category of skin care and if they are worth mortgaging your house to buy them…
Moisturizer-Ok…to me this is an ESSENTIAL step…but some woman feel that this is a luxury and isn’t necessary. May I just say that I FIRMLY disagree! Moisturizing your face not only makes it soft, and protects it from UVA and UVB rays, but it helps guard against and reverse wrinkles and gives a barrier between your skin and all the junk in the air. Moisturizer should be a twice daily routine…just like washing your face should be a twice daily routine. And my opinion on night cream? Not necessary. Buy a good moisturizer without sunscreen to wear at night. Buy a good one WITH sunscreen to wear during the day. The end. 
Serum-These are those liquidey potions that have the MOST anti aging, acne fighting, wrinkle reducing, de-puffing benefits! They go on…in a VERY thin layer…before your moisturizer. Are they necessary? Well lemme ask you a question. Do you have wrinkles? Redness? Acne? Then you might benefit from a good serum. If you have acne then look for a serum with salicylic acid, if you have wrinkles then look for a serum with retinol, if you have redness then look for a serum with vitamin c! They are really nice to have and they do make a big difference but are not TOTALLY essential. Serum’s are usually more pricey then moisturizer so only use it once a day…preferably at night when your skin is doing all its repairing!
Face wash-Ok…seriously if you are washing your face with hubby’s bar of Irish Spring then you are doing your skin a SERIOUS disservice!!!!!!!!!! Face wash is specifically designed the be gentle. You will have dry, scratchy, cracked and nasty skin if you are using basic soap. There are definitely certain bar soaps that are more gentle then others but I wouldn’t recommend any of them for your face. My fave face wash for all skin types is Cetaphil. You can get it in a pump or a bar…I recommend the pump. Its gentle, it won’t break you out, and it just rocks! It doesn’t foam so don’t use it and expect a rich luxurious lather because you’ll be disappointed. But it removes all your make up and is cheap and great. I use it every day! Oh and you can get it at ANY drug store.
Eye Cream-Ooooh lala how I love eye cream!!! It’s amazing. It moisturizes and protects that sensitive under eye area. Have you been using your moisturizer under your eyes and expecting that it’s the same thing? Oh no its not! Eye cream is created using a process called micronization. Which pretty much means its broken down into smaller particles. The pores under your eyes are about 1/10 the size of the pores on your face and they can’t absorb our regular moisturizer the same way our face can. Eye cream is broken down and the particles are easily absorbed under the eye. That’s why the pot is smaller! You only use it under your eye and on your eye lid (if you desire to have tight and pretty eye lids when your 80!). You need a TINY miniscule amount for each eye. What I usually do is touch my finger lightly to the eye cream and then divide that amount between both my eyes. It’ll last you a year at least when you’re using it twice a day. Probably longer. Oh and buy an eye cream in a pot. Don’t use the tube ones. You will apply way more than you need and waste a lot of the product.
Ok…because this is a SUPER broad topic (I must really like those ) I’m gonna divide this up into two posts and continue this next week. Next week I’ll be talking about hair and…GASP…Cosmetic surgery!!!! Stay tuned ladies!
I was curious, what about the ingredients? They put a lot of stuff into those products, but is it safe? I have some more natural items and some not. But I wonder if some of the stuff does more “damage” then its claiming to fix because of whats in it? I just tried some Mary Kay and its really nice on my face. I don’t know the ingredients though. I have also been trying Burts Bees Night cream(new to me) and I’ve tried Arbonne daylotion spf15.
Thanks for posting, can you add more to the topic and suggestions for some more natural choices, choices over the counter, and those by personal consultant?
Thanks!
Michelle,
Just to throw this out, my sister has learned how to make some natural acne-prone skincare products. I was thinking of asking her to make a video with me to demonstrate how to make them and perhaps other kinds as well as the acne-prone ones. Would you be interested in seeing something like that? I know so many people are interested now in not putting chemical type things on their skin that I thought that might be a fun video to do…
I think some homemade skin care recipes would be nice:) I don’t have any problems with acne, I think my skin is normal to dry with an occasional blemish now and then. So maybe some ideas for different or all skin types made from our kitchen!
Thanks!
Thanks so much for your comment Michelle! There are A LOT of great natural skin care products on the market and the stuff that I mentioned can be found in natural as well as cosmetic skin care brands…AND in drug store brands. The cool thing is Burts Bees (as you mentioned) has a lot of amazing skin care products that are mostly natural. It will list the ingredients on the back and tell the percentage of natural ingredients in it. I also have heard that Arbonne is great. I haven’t tried it though. Mary Kay is great for A LOT of people but it personally broke me out so I can’t use it. I’m a huge fan of Aveeno for drug store skincare. Its really gentle and effective. Olay has also come out with some amazing “high tech” skin care products such as regeneriste…you should google “best drug store skin care products” and see the lists…there are A LOT of great products to choose from! Hope this helps!
Thank you for your expertise Kelsey. I don’t know alot about beauty products so it’s really helpful. It’s nice to be armed with some new information to push me to start a beauty routine again! I’m a new mom and any time that I used to spend on myself has been taken up by my baby.
I need to though because I feel better about myself when I look good (duh) and also for the benefit of my hubby. 
Rachel you are truly preaching to the choir sister! Being a Mom (especially to babies or toddlers) is hard work and I think that one of the first things to go is our beauty routines! When I had my daughter (6 months ago) I considered it a truly accomplished day if I got to shower. The hardest thing for me is the motivation to just “get off the couch and do it”. When the kids are asleep the first place you want to head is to your bed or the couch and just veg to regain strength for the rest of the day, but lemme tell ya, when I do get in the shower and make myself pretty I feel A MILLION times better for the rest of the day!! Funny how that works!
I hope that you learned some stuff…feel free to ask any questions on here that you may have and I’ll do my best to answer them! 