Sunday Secret Weapons: Skincare

This week, my secret weapons are a few skin care products that I really love, but don't hear too much about from other people. Maybe some of you will like them, too!

1. Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream:

This first product is awesome. First of all, I have REALLY sensitive skin. I'm all about products that are natural. I have a rule (that I only sometimes break--like for Cetaphil), that if I put it on my face, I have to be able to pronounce/recognize all the ingredients. The ingredients in this are as follows: Olive oil, beeswax, honey, bee pollen, royal jelly and propolis extract.

This stuff is great for my daughter, too. She has eczema, and this really helps her skin.

For this stuff, I only use it at night. It definitely makes my skin look greasy and SUPER shiny, so I wouldn't recommend using it in the day. If I didn't know every ingredient in it, it might worry me that it looks so shiny. But don't be scared by the oily nature of it. Olive oil is actually good for your skin in a pure form. I use this in place of a moisturizer at night. Also, I like to let it dry while I brush my teeth and get all ready for bed. Use about the size of your thumb nail, rub it together in your hands first, and then you can use it on your face (or anywhere!). It has helped keep my skin calm, heal blemishes, etc.

As far as price goes, it feels like a small fortune because I'm a cheapskate frugal shopper, but it's really not too bad, especially for how long it lasts you! It's about $30, and for the last 3 months, I have used it every day on my face, and all over my daughters whole body (granted, she's only like a foot tall), and the jar is still pretty much full.

2. Sugar:

No, really. Sugar.
So, I put like a tablespoon of sugar in the palm of my hand, mix it with my face wash at night, and it's like the BEST exfoliant in the world.

I'm not gonna go acting like I'm a chemist or even remotely good at science at all, whatsoever. I'm not. D's get degrees, boys and girls, and this girl barely passes her science classes. I don't want to be a scientist! I want to be a writer! Or get paid to talk about makeup and shoes all day long but that's not realistic, nor is it relative to the current subject of skincare and table sugar! BUT, I did pay attention enough to know that table sugar is a lil' but of glucose, and a lil' bit of fructose, and I couldn't tell you if that's good for your skin or not, but I do know that it passes the pronunciation of ingredients test, and it's all scrubby-like. So it's working for me. And my skin kind of hates me sometimes, so if it's working for me, it's prolly safe. Plus I looked it up and some random websites said it was a good, natural scrub. Which is weird since, isn't refined table sugar in fact, not natural??
Or not. I don't know! I'm not a chemist! It just works, okay?

3. Coconut Oil:

I'm loving this. I use it all the time. As a hair mask/deep conditioner (Split ends? What split ends?), as a scalp treatment (Itchy scalp? Nothankyouverymuch. Not this girl.), as a facial moisturizer (sometimes I mix it with sugar. And it smells like a sweet, creamy, coconutty treat, thankyouverymuch), as a shaving cream oil, as a treatment for my little girl's eczema, as a tanning oil (Okay, that's an untruth. I'm kind of banking on not going to hell, so I won't lie to you, I haven't done this, but I might. One day.), and whatever else I feel like dabbin' this miracle goodness on! Don't be scared to use it on your face--again, it's the good kind of oil. I actually use it more like a facewash (or scrub if used with sugar), and rinse it off afterward. It will still feel kind of greasy, but coconut oil, if it's organic and all that granola jazz, is anti-bacterial. It's good for the ol' pores. Ain't no thing. And it's pretty cheap. Like $10-$12 ish bucks for a little tub of it. I don't feel like giving all the instructions so just buy the bottle I buy and follow the directions on the back, yo.
I use Efa Gold Organic Coconut Oil and I would recommend just buying it at Walgreens. But you can order it on Amazon, too.

MAKE SURE YOU ONLY USE ORGANIC, PURE EXTRA VIRGIN COCONUT OIL OR ELSE IT WILL MAKE YOUR SKIN LOOK LIKE A HOT MESS. kthanks.

4. Some Mixin' and Matchin' and Whatnot:

So, one thing that I love is mixing the sugar and a little bit of coconut oil as a lip scrub. Just try it. The next day, that sometimes-makes-my-lips-look-flaky-but-it-was-freakin'-expensive-so-I'm-using-it-mac-lipstick will go on smooth like butta. As in, no gloss needed. But still, use the gloss. We're not neanderthals, ladies.

Another thing I love? Coconut oil makes your arm pits smell good. Don't judge me. You'd prolly have some extra on your hands when you were in the bathtub, and you'd prolly try it. I'm just the only one sayin' it!

If you're having a breakout, and you decide to pull out the heavy artillery (I'm talkin' that tube of 10% BP, boys and girls), use the Egyptian Magic Skin Cream around wherever you put the Benzoyl Peroxide (but not on top...let's not defeat the purpose, now), and you'll avoid that annoying "Yes, I dried out my zit but I also have Flakeville around the rest of my non-broken out face. Thanksforthat. I can't win." thing happenin'.

OR, if you have just that one little spot that is kind of dry and it is making your makeup look stupid (I'm telling you, you ought to be using a good primer!), then just use a tiny bit of the Egyptian Magic and then put your powder over it so that it won't be shiny. It's kind of the consistency of Vaseline, without being bad for your pores, and it won't let your skin get dry again throughout the day.