Clarisonic Mia 2.

Deep Clean Your Way to Clear Skin.

I picked myself up the clarisonic just a little while ago and I'm so glad I finally did. It's a great tool for oily/acne prone skin, to really deep clean your pores. Also on the other hand though I could see people with more dry skin loving this as well, to buff away any flakes, clear away dead skin cells, and allow their moisturizer to more effectively treat their dry skin. Personally I love this tool for night time use. I use this on my second cleanse to help fully clean off any makeup residue from the day. 

You want to find either a creamy type cleanser for dry skin, or a very foamy cleanser for oily skin to use with this product. Currently I am using Aveda's outer peace foaming cleanser which I got for my birthday, and the foam to this wash is PERFECT. I also loved using this with Eminence Organics Eucalyptus wash, I do feel the eucalyptus helped treat my blemishes a little better as well, you just need a tad more water to have this foam as easily. A friend of mine is using the Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleanser for her oily acne prone skin and it is working wonderfully, I will have to try it next.

Stick to once a day to avoid irritation, and NEVER SKIP using this after a night of drinking. On the plus, it is fun to use when you're a little tipsy. And you won't wake up with gross party skin the next morning. 

When you are using this tool do not apply pressure, just gently move the brush in circles around your face, and it actually has a timer to give you a heads up when to change areas on your face! 

What Skin Type Are You?

What Is My Skin Type?

Thinking about investing in a new skin care routine? Not sure what products to look for? Overwhelmed by the product choices, not sure what your skin type even is? Have no fear. This is the easiest way to find out.

Step 1:

Cleanse your skin. Easy enough right?

Step 2:

Wait a bit. You will only need to wait about 30 minutes for the skin to return to normal.

Step 3:

Blot your skin, any blotting paper will work.

Step 4:

Observe and diagnose.

Oily Skin?
Your skin feels fine, though there is an oily residue on the blotting paper.

Dry Skin?
Your skin feels tight all over.

Combination skin?
Your T-zone shows oil on the tissue but the rest of your face feels tight and dry.

This is the most simple way to determine your skin type, for more information about each skin type and forming a complete skin care routine for your skin, visit my post about creating a customizable routine.

*LINK HERE!*

Warm Up Your Skin This Winter.

A Gentle Clarifying Cleanser.

I am trying out the Thermal Black Cleanser by Boscia, it is a gentle warming cleanser that opens your pores and draws out impurities. The warmth is super relaxing, really nice to use before bed. Not a cleanser I would use with my Clarisonic, you can't really feel the warmth that way, but it is great on its own. I would recommend this cleanser to people with normal to oily skin with minimal breakouts. I feel like you could find a more clearing cleanser if you have problematic skin, though for easier skin types this is perfect to detoxify and purify. It leaves your skin soft, happy, and clean. 

Make Up Removing Miracle.

I have to talk to you guys about my new favourite way to remove my makeup.

Ole Henriksen has a product called the Pure truth melting cleanser.

How do you use it?

You take a little bit of this gel with dry hands, you massage it onto a dry face, after you feel your makeup is breaking down, add some water and rinse away! 

My makeup washes away super easily, and I love how you can use this on your eyes as well, so gentle and it smells so nice.

This product would be great as a cleanser on its own for people with dry skin, though since I have oily skin and tend to breakout I go in with a second cleanse, something to target breakouts, after I use this product. 

Photo Shoot Ready Facial.

A custom Eminence Organics facial targeting blemishes, clogged pores, and dull fatigued skin.

It's Sunday night and I have a photo shoot booked for tomorrow morning bright and early, I've been so sick the past week. My skin is feeling it! My complexion is quite dull, and my skin feels much more bumpy than usual. I need to fix this!

From my previous posts you know I use Eminence Organics Skincare products. You can customize your facials, at home or in spa so nicely with these products for whatever your skins needs are at the time.

I have quite a few products to choose from, but I'll tell you what I chose to use tonight.

View post: "Creating Yourself A Custom Skin Care Routine"

Clear Skin Probiotic Cleanser

This cleanser uses: Cucumber juice, yogurt, sweet almond milk, willow bark extract, and tea tree oil.

To reduce redness and inflammation, clear and shrink the pores, moisturize, and balance the complexion.

Wild Plum Tonique

I chose to use this tonique because my skin feels all dehydrated and sleepy since I've been sick. Its key ingredients contain: wild plum juice and salicylic acid. They help to exfoliate, soften, smooth, and brighten the skin.

Red Currant Rapid Infusion Masque

This masque uses red currant, magnolia bark, grape seed oil, and a blend of natural AHA's, and tea tree oil to exfoliate, clear, rejuvenate, soothe, as well as it combats free radicals! A do-it-all masque that is formulated to penetrate as deep into the skin as serums. It's crazy amazing to layer with other masques. I chose this masque because it always gives my skin it's glow back, brings down any redness from imperfections and makes it feel super healthy. 

Almond & Mineral Treatment

This masque is one of my favourites. My skin feels so smooth after this masque, and I love stimulating treatments. I layered this over the red currant masque to help revitalize my skin. It uses paprika, ground ivy, zinc oxide, crushed almonds, and bioflavonoids to moisturize, nourish, tighten the pores, soothes, and enrich the skin. This is a stimulating masque so night time is the best time to use it. You will feel some warmth from the masque, and experience some redness for about 15-20 minutes after you remove it. This is totally normal. It is bringing blood to the surface of the skin, which increases cell turnover and  promotes healing. 

Citrus & Kale Potent C+E Serum

This is a brand new serum from Eminence that I'm trying right now. I really like how light weight it is, and it smells like citrus soda. This is an extremely potent Vitamin C serum. It is stabilized by ferulic acid to provide the most benefits. This serum does everything. It relieves redness and inflammation, fights free radicals, hydrates, tones, balances oil production, minimizes the signs of aging, and brightens. Vitamin E delivers nutrients. I can't notice I'm wearing anything, and I like it that way!

Clear Skin Probiotic Masque

I did things a little differently and chose this masque instead of a night cream because my skin needs a good revamp. Has to be on it's A game for tomorrow. This masque I use as a night treatment a few nights a week. you apply a thin layer, and let it dry before you go to bed. This masque is hydrating so it will not dry your skin out. It uses yogurt, cucumber juice, tea tree oil, shea butter, stone crop, and kaolin clay to deep clean pores, suck out impurities, reduce inflammation, even skin tone all while keeping the skin hydrated and happy. My skin loves waking up in this masque, usually after I sleep in this, I'll wake up with hardly any blemishes. I always re-buy it. 

That was this evenings facial. My skin is now photo shoot ready! 

Xo -Joanna

What are your favourite 'Quick Fixes'? Let me know in the comment box below!

Creating Yourself a Customized Skin Care Routine.

Follow The Steps Below To Create Your Customized Skin Care Routine.

I know that a lot of people don't have a full skin care routine, and a big reason for most people is because they don't know what products to choose, they find the steps hard to remember. It can really be intimidating. I get it. First off you have to determine what skin type you are. There's the few basics. Oily. Dry. Combination. Normal. Sensitive. Your skin will fall into one of these categories. 

I personally vary between oily and oily-combination, it depends on the time of year.

Explanation of skin types:

Normal: This is the skin type I envy. Not too oily and not too dry, it is perfectly balanced between the two. It has little to no imperfections whether that be redness, blemishes, enlarged pores or flakes. This skin type has no extreme sensitivities. Their complexion is bright, healthy, and radiant.

Oily: This skin type is prone to having large pores, and the skin is over producing and releasing oils. The complexion seems shiny, sometimes dull, and can easily experience breakouts, blackheads, and other blemishes.

Dry: This skin type has a very dull complexion, and may appear chapped, tight or dehydrated. Pores are practically invisible, as they are pretty much closed not producing enough oils. Dry skin can have less elasticity due to the lack of oil. This can lead to premature aging. 

Sensitive: This skin type is so hard to define. A lot of times you are so unsure because you can definitely fall into one of those other categories as well. When you have this skin type you have to become familiar with what works well with your skin as it will be quite finiky and nobody will know your skin better than you. This skin type may experience redness, irritation, burning, itching, and dryness. Try to choose organic, soothing, healing, and moisturizing products for your skin if you fall into this category. 

Combination: With a mix of normal, dry and oily areas this skin type can easily be mistaken for another category without a proper examination. Take a look. The oiliness usually occurs on the T zone, while the rest of the face is either normal or very dry. 

Still unsure? Try Fitness magazines skin type quiz.

Alright, we have determined your skin type. Now I'm going to give you the steps to a proper skin care routine, why these steps benefit your skin, and a general recommendation of the type of product to compliment your skin type. I will try to keep this short and sweet.

View Post: "Quality Skin Care Products VS Drug Store Products"

Step 1 (Cleanse):

Note that some people prefer to use makeup wipes or cleansing oils to remove their makeup before cleansing, this is especially beneficial for people who wear makeup daily. You cleanse the skin to remove dirt, debris, bacteria and sebum from the pores. You will want to cleanse twice daily, morning and evening. For oily skin it is best to use a gel type cleanser. The foam action of gel cleansers better remove the excess oil from the pores. (You do want to be careful that your cleanser is not too harsh, because though you want to remove the excess oil, you do not ever want to strip the skin of its natural protection oils) A dry skin type would want to use a milky based cleanser, these cleansers gently clear pores while keeping the skins moisture balance. 

Step 2 (Tone):

Toning is a step that is often forgotten, but it is so important! It is also the easiest, quickest step, so why not! You want to do this after cleansing twice daily. To wipe away any extra dirt or sebum left over in the pores, and to rinse away any remaining cleanser. Bonus points for choosing a toner that will compliment your skin type. Oily skin with tendencies to break out will need an astringent to really deep clean and tighten the pores, again choose something that is not too harsh as this will strip the skins natural protection oils. I always stick to more natural products! A dry or combination skin type would do better with a gentle toner that will help clean the pores but hydrate as well, and deliver more active ingredients such as antioxidants. This is especially beneficial to mature skin types.

Step 3 (Exfoliate):

*This step only needs to be done 3 times weekly.*

(For extremely sensitive make sure your exfoliant is extremely gentle.) Exfoliating the face has so many benefits and I would never leave this step out of my routine! For oily skin types this step really clears out the pores, removing black heads and preventing breakouts. This step removed dead skin cells so that the skin is not dull and allows any treatments you use afterwards to penetrate in to the skin better and be more effective. (Treatments such as serums or masques, but even your moisturizer) For Dry skin types this step also allows treatments to penetrate deeper, with this skin type without exfoliation, moisturizers have a tendency to sit on top of the skin and not penetrate enough to provide efficient results. Exfoliating provides a radiant glow, it also removes flakes and improves any roughness. 

Different types of exfoliants:

Chemical: These use either an acid or enzyme formula such as AHA's like glycol acid or BHA's such as salicylic acid. Enzymes are very commonly found from fruits. These acids help slough off dead skin cells without manually scrubbing. 

Mechanical or Physical: These styles use beads, or an abrasive type formula to buff away dead skin cells with your hands or a clarisonic type device. *View the Clarisonic Here*

*I 100% recommend the clarisonic, I noticed a huge difference in the way my skin looks and feels* 

Step 4 (Treatment):

At this stage after exfoliating you can apply a treatment masque. This should be done definitely 3 times a week. Remember your masques are your problem solvers. So choose a masque that targets what you are wanting to improve or prevent with your skin! I have a good combination of higher end masques and cheaper masuqes to layer as well. I am a huge fan of LUSH Fresh Face Masques. Natural, hand made, FRESH, and under 10$ each! My pick, 'Cosmetic Warrior'.

Step 5 (Serum):

The serum should be used after the masque if it is one of your three days that you exfoliate and masque, or on your off days, just after you tone and before you moisturize. This should also be a twice a day product. (Morning, cleanse/tone/serum/moisturize) & (3 days a week, cleanse/tone/exfoliate/masque/serum/moisturize) The serums are also problem solvers so just like with your treatment masques you should choose this to suit your skins needs.

Eminence Blackberry Pore Refining Serum

I really do splurge on my serums, it's worth it! A good quality serum can make a huge difference! Serums are formulated with much smaller particles, this allows them to penetrate into the skin easier therefor deeper and really start working at the source of the problem. 

This (above) is my favourite serum right now, I also Use A Booster serum when I'm experiencing breakouts.  I will post the link Here: Eminence Clear Skin Willowbark Serum.

Step 6 (Moisturize):

Every skin type needs to moisturize! Even the oily skin types! If you do not moisturize and just strip your skin of it's oils, your skin will over product oils thinking that it is not producing enough, and become irritated. I recommend having a separate moisturizer for the night rather than the day. As I said before through most of the year I use a day time SPF moisturizer. "Why I choose natural sunscreen + Sun Tips" I wouldn't want to use that to bed. Plus your skin gets a lot more dehydrated as you sleep as it loses much of its water and hydration. So choose a slightly heavier moisturizer than you like to wear in the day. Let your skin replenish itself, the night is when your skin renews itself and rejuvenates. A good night cream can also really benefit mature skins if it is formulated to target elasticity fine lines and wrinkles.

I hope I helped you all get to know your skin more! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Xo -Joanna

Why I Choose Natural Sunscreens & Sun Tips.

Surprise, Most SPF's Are Chemical Based!

First I want you to take a moment to look at the ingredients of your current sunscreen. If you find ingredients such as oxybenzone, ocinoxate, or even isobutane, you may want to consider switching to a natural sunscreen. Everything is going organic these days and for good reason. Sunscreen should be at the top of your list to make the switch. If you're eating organic, you should be applying organic because remember, your skin is your largest organ and what you apply, is taken into your body.

                 

Eminence Organics Sun Care

This is the daily moisturizer that I use in the mornings. I chose this product because it is from Eminence Organics, my favourite product line! This moisturizer is super light weight which I prefer as I have fairly oily skin. It contains micro-encapsulated tea tree oil which combats breakouts all day! And there is no need to re-apply since it is a natural SPF (Chemical sunscreens actually absorb into the body and become ineffective which calls for re-application through the day) This product is perfect for under your makeup! 

The difference between SPF's:

There are two different types of SPF's out there. Natural and Chemical. Natural sunscreens use a Zinc formula, this reflects the UV rays off of your skin. This method lasts all day, there is no need to reapply unless you perspire heavily or go swimming. Natural sunscreen is effective immediately! There is no wait time. As soon as you apply, you are safe to go into the sun. With chemical sunscreens they use a chemical formula, it filters the UV rays so that less reaches the lower levels of the skin, the product and chemicals absorb into the skin, into your body and quickly find there way to your bloodstream. With chemical sunscreens you need to re-apply throughout the day because it only is effective for a certain amount of time. 

How much sun is enough sun?:

I do believe that the sun is essential to your general well being. I am not a supporter of the 'sun scare' industry. Though I do believe in moderation. 15 minutes of sun exposure is all you need a day. Obviously not during peak hours. Do not underestimate the power of vitamin D.

Check out this DR. OZ article for more information: 'Your Sunscreen Might Be Poisoning You'

Hope I cleared a few things up, feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below!

Xo-Joanna

Spa Quality Skin Care VS. Drug Store Products.

Invest In Your Skin, You Are Stuck With It For Life.

I wanted to make this post because I get the question "Are spa quality skin care products really worth the extra cost?" so often. Let me tell you a little bit about skin care.

I know some people don't trust the reps in the stores because well.... commission. And come on, all those long technical words! I understand, I had to go to school for all that. It gets confusing.

I will start off by saying that in my personal opinion, yes, spa quality products are 110% worth the extra cash to me. Out of anything I would splurge on my skin. It's an investment. And remember, the skin is your largest organ, and what you apply, is absorbed and taken into your body.

Active Ingredients:

The difference in quality is quite significant between high end and drug store products. More significant than you could imagine. With your skin care you want a high percentage of 'active ingredients'. These are the ingredients that mostly make up the product and actually go to work on your skin. The more active ingredients, the more powerful your product. If the percentage of active ingredients is low.. In a lower quality product it could mainly contain fillers. Fillers can be anything from water, to wax. And also just because something is labeled with that ingredient doesn't necessarily mean that it is active.

Product Fillers:

You would be surprised to find that even some of the 'higher end' products have water as the first ingredient! It's good to know what you're paying for, especially if one of the top ingredients is... bum bum bum. Wax Fillers. Cool I just spent $15.00 on water and wax. 

The Facts: 

*The product line that I currently use 'Eminence Organics' has 95-98% active ingredients, they do not use water in their products as water breaks down organic materials. Drug store brands contain only 5-7% active ingredients. This is the #1 reason I choose spa quality over drug store brands.*

Benzoyl Peroxide:

A lot of drug store products will use benzoyl peroxide, be careful with this product it has been known to strip the skin of its natural oils, leaving the skin with nothing to protect itself. This increases bacteria growth, causes redness, irritation, and dryness. I would personally steer clear of this all together, and opt for a salicylic acid treatment or a tee tree alternative.

Student tip:

*If you do not have the budget for a full skincare routine from a higher end line, and really want to improve something about your complexion, I would splurge on what are considered the 'problem solvers'. This is your serums and masques. * 

I hope this post helped! If you have any questions please leave me a comment below!

Xo-Joanna