Epic Beauty Guide
  • Product Reviews
  • August14th

    8 Comments

    Okee­doke! So here is my offi­cial skin care rou­tine that I’ve been doing con­sis­tently for at least 3 months now (some of the prod­ucts are recent addi­tions though). I thought I would share because it’s good to know what other peo­ple use, what works, and also because I get a lot of requests to spill the beans. ;D

    Oh! I almost for­got about the FTC dis­claimer: I never accept pay­ment for reviews, nor am I affil­i­ated with any of the brands men­tioned. Some­times I am sent prod­ucts to review, but actu­ally doing a review on them is up to me and whether I think it’s good enough to rec­om­mend to you guys.

    I embed­ded the video below, and I included all the links to the prod­ucts in this article.

    {CLEANSER}

    100% Pure Laven­der Honey Facial Cleans­ing Foam, $18, 6 oz.
    In the sum­mer, I use this nightly and I usu­ally wash twice — a real quick once-over and rinse, and then a sec­ond time where I spend about 30–60 sec­onds gen­tly mas­sag­ing the cleanser on my skin. You get a bet­ter, more thor­ough, but non-irritating wash­ing that way. In win­ter, I wash nightly or every other night.

    {EXFOLIATOR}

    Skin Apothke Ubtan Scrub, $9, 2 oz. (lasts forever­rrrr)
    Great for all skin types, works really well on sen­si­tive and dry skin. Safe to use just once a week, or every other night. Imparts an amaz­ing glow on your skin, and your skin will feel so incred­i­bly smooth and nour­ished, not dry or irri­tated. I love this scrub.

    {TONER}

    Neem Man Neem Leaf Extract, $36, 8.4 oz.
    I’m thor­oughly addicted to this prod­uct. It comes straight from Aus­tralia, and it’s seri­ously worth the price. It lasts for a very long time, and it works really well to pre­vent blem­ishes and tone the skin. It’s a great prod­uct to have around for every­thing — blem­ishes, bug bites, sun­burn, eczema, what­ever you need it for, neem is there for you! ;) I get the 250 ml bot­tle (8.4 oz.) every 2 or 3 months. I believe it’s an extra $10 or $11 to ship to the United States. (P.S. This is espe­cially good for sen­si­tive and dry skin that can­not tol­er­ate tea tree oil.)

    {MOISTURIZER}

    100% Pure Cof­fee Cherry Caf­feine Face Cream, $31.50, 1.6 oz. (lasts for­ever)
    100% Pure Nour­ish­ing Facial Oil, $25, 1 oz.
    Organic Extra Vir­gin Olive Oil, $12-$16 for 12–16 oz. at gro­cery stores
    I like to rotate between these three mois­tur­iz­ers, and some­times I include Trop­i­cal Tra­di­tions vir­gin coconut oil ($19.95 for 16 oz.) in the mix too. I like switch­ing it up and I don’t use a mois­tur­izer every night in the sum­mer. In the win­ter, I use a mois­tur­izer once or twice per day, and I’ll layer the oils with the face cream. I like to use the Nour­ish­ing Facial Oil around my eyes as well, as it is hydrat­ing, anti-aging, and doesn’t clog pores.

    {BLEMISH TREATMENT}

    Best Bath Store Acne Treat­ment Gel, $16.95, 4 oz.
    Just shake it up really well and apply a lit­tle amount to what­ever spots need treat­ing. Totally non-drying and also works great as a pre­ven­ta­tive for spots, which is great if you’re prone to hor­monal pim­ples and black­heads in larger areas. Over­all it’s the best blem­ish fight­ing stuff I’ve ever used.

    Mario Bade­scu Sil­ver Pow­der, $12, 1 oz.
    This stuff has got­ten over 100 stel­lar reviews on Makeup Alley — I’ve used it twice since I got it a week ago and love it. It works great for unclog­ging pores and pre­vent­ing and remov­ing black­heads. This will be a sta­ple of mine, and I rec­om­mend it to any­one who gets black­heads or large pores or very oily skin that tends to get con­gested. Plus, you don’t use much, so this jar would prob­a­bly last you a year if you used it 1–3 times per week.

    {OTHER FUN STUFF}

    Home Health Cold Pressed Cas­tor Oil, $8.29, 16 oz.
    I’ve used cas­tor oil on my lashes for years and I swear by it. It truly nour­ishes your lashes, keep­ing them thick and healthy. Some­times I wear my nat­ural mas­cara and when I take it off at the end of the day, I apply a lit­tle bit of cas­tor oil to re-nourish and re-hydrate my lashes.

    Muji Cut Cut­ton Pads in Large, $4.95, 120 pads
    These are great all-natural unbleached cot­ton pads, excel­lent for use with ton­ers and lotion masks (a skin­care tech­nique rec­om­mended in Chizu Saeki’s Japan­ese Skin­care Rev­o­lu­tion book). I bought 4 bags of them back in Decem­ber ’09 and I’m just now going through my sec­ond one. Well worth it.

    Aloe Vera Gel — Fresh, ~$6.99 for a plant at nurs­eries
    Aloe is a mois­tur­iz­ing, calm­ing, heal­ing, blem­ish fight­ing, won­der­ous plant. I highly rec­om­mend get­ting a plant or two (or three), tak­ing good care of them (keep them in full sun­light, don’t over­wa­ter), and using their amaz­ing gel when you need it. I’ve been using it nightly for about a week and tried it as a primer before putting on tinted mois­tur­izer for an event — it worked great!

    I always love know­ing what you guys use in your skin care rou­tines that work for you, so feel free to post a com­ment!
    ~Steph x

  • August5th

    3 Comments

    Top 5 Natural Scrubs & Exfoliators from Epic Beauty Guide

    Exfo­li­at­ing your skin on a reg­u­lar basis does won­ders for improv­ing its look and feel — you’ll wind up with smoother, softer skin, and if you’re prone to black­heads, you’ll have less of them.

    The trick is find­ing a qual­ity scrub or exfo­lia­tor that will do a great job, but doesn’t con­tain unsafe arti­fi­cial ingre­di­ents and won’t irri­tate your skin in the process. These are my Top 5 picks for exfo­li­at­ing products.

    {PICK #1}

    Skin Apothke Ubtan Scrub
    I am com­pletely hooked on this nat­ural, Ayurvedic herbal scrub. It is sooth­ing, anti-acne (and anti-blackheads), and imparts a gor­geous glow on the skin. Use 1–3 times per week depend­ing on your skin type. This scrub is best for all skin types, and sen­si­tive skin will espe­cially appre­ci­ate it. The bot­tle may be deceiv­ingly small, but I’ve been using the Ubtan scrub for over 2 months, 1–3 times per week, and I still have half the bot­tle left! ($9, 2 oz., avail­able at Etsy.com)

    {PICK #2}

    Talu­lah Vanilla Bean Reju­ve­nat­ing Cleanser
    This vanilla, rice, and sugar scrub is a great choice for those with oily, thicker skin. Sen­si­tive, thin­ner skin should rub the scrub in the hands prior to apply­ing to the face, just to wear down the exfo­li­at­ing par­ti­cles a bit so it’s gen­tler. Smells amaz­ing, too! ($26, 4 oz., avail­able at talulahskincare.com)

    {PICK #3}

    Suki Exfo­li­ate Foam­ing Cleanser
    Organic lemon­grass, sugar, and sooth­ing herbs make this lemonade-smelling scrub an excel­lent choice for acne-prone skin. How­ever, if you are aller­gic or sen­si­tive to chamomile (rag­weed fam­ily) or algae (sea­weeds) then you may not find the same pos­i­tive results with this scrub that so many peo­ple rave about. ($29.95, 4 oz., avail­able at amazon.com)

    {PICK #4}

    Emi­nence Organ­ics Scrubs
    This com­pany pro­vides a wide selec­tion of scrubs, peels, and pol­ish­ers that smell divine, work won­der­fully, and are good enough to eat (i.e. Mimosa Cham­pagne Sugar Scrub). You can go to the Emi­nence web­site and see exactly what scrub would work best for your skin type, so you’re not stuck in a one-size-fits-all sit­u­a­tion. (Priced around $40, 8.4 oz., avail­able at amazon.com)

    {PICK #5}

    Natur­o­path­ica Gly­colic Puri­fy­ing Peel
    For skin that is often irri­tated or sen­si­tive, non-physical exfo­lia­tors like sal­i­cylic and gly­colic acid may be the bet­ter way to go. For this, my favorite is this treat­ment from Natur­o­path­ica. While the price is steep, it is well worth the qual­ity and hard work this prod­uct does on behalf of your skin. It pre­vents acne (espe­cially black­heads) and keeps your skin smooth and soft with­out any scrub­bing. ($68, 2.5 oz., avail­able at naturopathica.com)

    {BONUS PICK}

    KAVI Micro­derm Exfo­lia­tor
    This gly­colic and crys­tal cream exfo­lia­tor is ideal for mature skin and those seek­ing to even out their skin tone (if you have acne scars or sun dam­age — rejoice!). I wouldn’t rec­om­mend it for those with active acne. This is a great option for an at-home micro­der­mabra­sion treat­ment that has nat­ural, plant-based ingre­di­ents instead of all the arti­fi­cial junk you don’t want on your skin. ($56, 2 oz., avail­able at kaviskin.com)

    Let me know if you have used any of these prod­ucts and how you like them! Also, if you have any good (and nat­ural) exfo­lia­tors you use, feel free to post a com­ment telling us what it is. :)
    ~Steph  x