Safer Skincare

So a looooong time ago I wrote about how I was starting a safer skincare/ makeup routine. That did indeed happen. But as it turns out, all skincare is not created equal and I ended up trying a ton of different brands. I started out with the brand that seems to be the most prevalent, BeautyCounter. And I have to say, ehhh. I didn't love it. I didn't notice a difference in my skin at all and honestly my Olay moisturizer  performed better. It was a lot of hype, but not a lot of results. I do appreciate what they are doing with the ingredients, but it wasn't a match for my skin. But it was expensive, so I finished using it. But I won't be buying it again.

On a more positive note, I love this product. My skin looks and feels ahmahzing after using it. I will buy this again and again.  You can read more about Tata Harper and her approach to natural skincare here.

Tata Harper Mask

I also tried a few products from the french brand Caudalie. The one that stood out to me the most is

this eye cream. It works wonders on dark circles and puffiness. There is a reason it's nickname is "the Cadillac of eye creams". It's pricey, but it's a good size bottle. Read more about Caudalie and their ingredients here.

Premier Cru Eye cream

As far as moisturizers go, this is where I had the most trouble. My skin is dry y'all. In the winter it's flaky and and my complexion is awful. I tried lots of different brands and for a while was just using this face oil because I had given up. But it wasn't cutting it when the weather was cold and dry. I still love that oil, but now I use it with this fantastic moisturizer....

Intense hydrating mask
It's on sale right now!! Go buy it!!

It's the beeessstttt. I use it at night and put thick layer on and sleep with it. My skin is dewy and smooth in the morning and stays like that ALL DAY! Before makeup I'll use a bit of the Tarte face oil. If you haven't been using face oil before your makeup, I suggest you start that now. Your makeup will glide on so nice and even. I also recommend this oil. 

I also picked up a few other CR products after I bought the moisturizer...

Clarifying mask

This mask is great and makes my skin soft and smooth while cleaning out pores. 

Enzyme polish

This you can use as a mask and then a scrub. Smells lovely and really exfoliates your dry skin. 

After I have this baby I am going to try out this retinol treatment. Gotta get after the fine lines. And as much as I wish I could do that with an all-natural product, you need retinol for that. I've heard great things about it and hopefully my sensitive skin likes this better than past retinol treatments I've tried. 

Retinol Treatment

While Colleen Rothschild products aren't completely natural, they are formulated without parabens, sulfates, formaldehyde, PABA, and a few other no-no's. You can read more about it here. 

So there you have it. It's been a lot of trial and error to get to this point. But I was commited to finding products that were better for my body but also improved my skin. It was a lot harder than it seemed. 

Hi! You there? And big news!

Well hello there. That is, if there is anyone still reading this blog. Sorry for the neglect. The past year was, how you say, emotionally rough. I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, the blog suffered. I would have expected it to be an outlet of sorts, but it didn't really pan out that way. It really just wasn't something I thought about.

But I'm hoping in 2017 to sort things out. Life is on an upswing. Starting with big news that we are, in fact, expecting a baby boy in April! He will join our now 6 year old (!!!!) little girl and I feel that our family will be complete. The exciting news of a new baby brings about the exciting news of decorating a nursery. I haven't done one in so long and I am totally thrilled that it's for a little boy this time.

I had a million ideas swirling at first, but I've narrowed it all down to the design board below. I think it's just the right amount of baby without being too "baby". As with most people decorating a nursery, I want it to grow easily with him in the future.

Most of the fabric has been ordered and the Pottery Barn crib arrived right before Christmas. I am still on the hunt for the perfect dresser/changing table. This one was just a random google image search but it's what I am looking for. And while that painting by Renee Bouchon is everything, and it's basically what I designed the whole room around, it won't be in the room. I'll probably end up doing something similar myself.

So there you have it! I am hoping 2017 is the year I bring this ol blog back to life. Although with a new baby, things will probably get tricky. So much for timing.