Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Skin Care Regime: What I Use

I don't believe that there is one perfect skin care regimine for every single person. Skin is so unique and has been shaped by so many different factors that it is almost like a personality all it's own. That's why I'm constantly on the hunt for different videos and blogs to watch or read, because with so many products in the market, there is no way I could discover them all on my own. Mixing and matching each product is all part of the fun, and after being asked to do a post on this, I thought I'd fill everyone in on what I do to keep my skin as best I can.

Just to give you an idea of my skin, it's a combination of dry and oily. My cheeks and forehead tend to get oily (very oily during the summer) but my nose, the area around my nose, between my eyebrows, and chin get dry and "tight" feeling after my face is washed.


Unfortunately, my camera decided to go haywire and corrupt about 10 of my photos and I was only able to salvage two of them. The good news is that you can see all the products, even if it's just a corner of it, haha.

The first thing that I do is wash my face every morning and night. Now, I say that, but more often than not I will forget to wash it at night. I know that's awful for my skin, and I should really remember to do it more often because I notice a drastic difference in my skin when I do. The product I use is "St. Ives Blemish Control Apricot Scrub" and I swear by it. I feel like it really sloughs off all of the grime and dead skin that collects on my face, especially around and on my nose. The only downside is that it's quite chunky and tends to get stuck under my nails. 

Next, though it's not a "skin care" product, I felt I should include my makeup remover. I am hyper aware of not using an oil based remover to keep it from clogging my pores, and the best product I've found is the "Mary Kay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover". I can literally use one cotton pad to remove both eyes (unless I've worn heavy makeup that day, in which case two will do the trick).

Moisturizing is key, and if all else fails, I ALWAYS apply a moisturizer after washing my face. The product I use is called "Ren-Gen Cream" and it came to my attention after watching a Youtube video by Zoella. It's not available in the United States, and I had to order it on eBay, but it particularly caught my eye because it claims to improve skin elasticity and heal scars or acne marks. This is a major insecurity of mine, so naturally I was hopping to try it. I would have to say that it really do improve my skin's overall condition. Most moisturizers just sit on the face or soak in to prevent dryness, but my skin honestly feels plumper and smoother. I haven't noticed that it does anything to PREVENT breakouts, but it does seem to help even my skin tone after I've had one.


Fourth, I use a lip balm on my lips every night called "Goodnight Kisses: Lavender Lip Treatment". It's all natural, animal testing free, petroleum free, alcohol free...basically free of anything that is typically in products that really isn't all that great for them. It's a great product to wear at night when your lips aren't being hydrated by water or other lip balm. Their products can be found here.

The last product I use are the "Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips" and I've heard different things about them. I've heard they aren't good for your skin, but it's never adversely effected me, and it's addicting to see all the dirt and grime that is pulled out of your pores (as gross as that sounds!). I accidentally bought the face and nose combination box, but I only use the strips on my nose. If you buy the wrong box on accident, the face strips work just as well on your nose as the nose strips.

The last thing I want to say about skin care is WATER. It makes a world of difference. I really feel a difference in my body especially when I drink soda instead of water after abstaining for a while. I drink coffee every day, and drink a huge amount of water to try and make up for that, but I would say that opting for water over soda, juice, or coffee makes a major difference in the clarity and brightness of my skin, in addition to how I feel from the inside out.

Whew! I feel like that was quite a bit of text, but hopefully I got across everything I felt was important. I might end up making a video of similar information for my Youtube channel, so if you haven't checked that out yet, the link is over on the right! I just uploaded a video yesterday of "What's In My Bag". Thanks for reading, and if you have something you'd like to see on here or my Youtube channel, I love getting tweets and emails, and all those links are in the right bar. Adios! (I really need a solid ending...haha)

Monday, January 21, 2013

Drugstore Beauty Favorites Video


This is my second video on my Youtube channel! This video show cases all of my favorite easily accessible drugstore beauty products. I'm quite excited about it, and if you would subscribe to my channel or thumbs up my video that would be great!

I'll probably have an outfit post for you all later in the week, and I hope you all had a happy Monday!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Let's Go Thrifting +Haul.....video!

My first (real) video has gone up on Youtube! I'm so excited, since this has been in the works for quite a while. I managed to figure out that my old camera (that my mom has now) can actually record in HD! So here is the video, conveniently located for your viewing pleasure, but feel free to head over to Youtube and thumbs up my video and subscribe to my channel. It would mean a lot, but without further ado, here it is!


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Thrifting Haul

I love thrifting. It's just so much fun. There isn't a thing I don't like about it, honestly, and one thing I love the most is sharing the treasures that I find with other people.

Last week I ventured out to my first Saver's, which is a national thrift store throughout the US, Australia, and Canada. Although it's slightly limited in the US right now, I'm fairly certain they're expanding pretty rapidly since I know they're opening a store just 10 miles down the road from me in March! I'm crossing my fingers to possibly get a job there, although I would probably spend my entire paycheck...

Anyway, I found one about an hour away and these are the treasures I picked up! It's not one of the larger trips I made, but one of my New Year's resolutions is to save more money, which consequently means spending less. Sadly, I had to put back a really nice sweater whilst I was there because I had gone over my personally imposed spending limit *sigh* The struggles of being a college student...


Open Weaver Sweater, $7.99
Sleeveless turtleneck crop sweater, $6.99
Silver chain necklace (worn here), $4.99
Gold spike/triangle necklace, $4.99

On another note, Saturday is going to be *drumroll* MY VERY FIRST YOUTUBE VIDEO!

Now some of you may be saying "oh, but Katie, you've done that before", and yes, I have sort of. However this is going to be a serious attempt at branching out into the Youtube realm for things that I want to add more life too. My first video will be a "come thrifting with me" style video, and I have a few more in the works, but you'll have to check those out for yourself to find out what they are ;) Happy Thursday! (it's only happy because tomorrow is Friday, hehe )