Heliotro.pe » Body Care

Chicken skin begone!

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 23:05:20 +0000

In recent years, I’ve started to notice keratosis pilaris on my upper arms, and a teensy bit on my tush and the backs of my thighs. The latter two don’t matter AS much, since my hubby thinks my skin is smooth is butter (and it IS compared to his). But I really wanted to eradicate the arm stuff before my wedding!

For years I’ve used the blemish-clearing formulation of St. Ives Apricot Scrub as a body scrub, in conjunction with a foaming shower gel and waffle scrub gloves and some DIY skin oil immediately after. That quadruple-combo usually helped, but only if I was REALLY regular with scrubbing and moisturizing, which I generally am not.

So I bought Diana Yvonne Lactic Acid 10% gel and Fruit Acid gel 15% combo, plus KP Duty by DermaDoctor and Peter Thomas Roth Max Complexion Correction Pads.

Combining the above-mentioned products really did the trick. I eased in, using part skin oil and part one of the gels, and I would kind of try to homogenize them in my hands first and then apply. I would sometimes use straight KP, sometimes mix KP and a gel, sometimes wipe arms down w/ pad when I couldn’t shower. It all really helped!

My arms were lovely and bump-free for the big day, and not nearly as discolored/blotchy as the KP used to make them look. The Diana Yvonne products were fab — not chock full of propylene glycol like so many other AHA/BHA formulas. I now just do a little bit of any one of the above when I think of it or notice the stuff coming back!

If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t bother with the KP Duty. Pretty pricey and kind of stinky. I’ll use it now that I have it, but the Diana Yvonne was better bang for my buck.

Freebie Fest, Part 2

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:29:11 +0000

Wow — Sephora’s recent VIB Swag Bag was quite the freebie for me. Many of the items included are things I’ll actually use*, which is rare for me with freebies. There was even a replacement for an existing product of mine! It was nice not to have to spend the $50 minimum for free shipping online, too — my local store often runs out of bonuses way early, but not this time.

PLUS, all my wedding skincare remedies qualified me for a free Skincare Challenge full-size product, and they finally had something I wanted — and I’ve been wanting to switch to a different moisturizer anyway as of late. Never seen a philosophy Skincare Challenge reward on their site before, so this was a pleasant surprise.

And lastly, I still have a crazy high number of points to redeem, so I’m due for another freebie soon! But none of the 500-point bonuses have appealed to me lately. Maybe I’ll just wind up stocking up on a zillion different $100-point perks instead…

*Like Phytodefrisant, Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer, Urban Decay Stardust shadow in a purpley color, and a replacement for my trial-size Smashbox Photo-Op Under Eye Brightener that I like to carry in my purse for loooong days (like this one). Quite the bonus bag!

The post-marital fuglies

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 03:44:02 +0000

Well, the big day has finally come and gone! The day was lovely, but now it’s time to get ugly. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t view marriage as an excuse to completely let myself go or anything. But this wedding has involved an INSANE amount of primping and stress and spending on our parts, and my new husband and I will both be pleased to relax a bit now that the show is over. (Though we DID both get spa treatments on our honeymoon!)

Non-beauty inevitabilities that I officially welcome back into my life:

Yellow teeth — those Crest 3D WhiteStrips HURT! And my teeth look just fine all normal-colored, thank you very much.
Dry cuticles and unkempt nails — Sometimes you gotta be lazy!
Acne AND bacne — thanks for holding out for so long, epidermis! You can even throw some KP my way if you must.
Tan lines — gone are the days of swaddling myself in a goddamn cashmere wool wrap in 96 degree weather just to keep my back and shoulders line-free! OK, I still wear it sometimes as it’s great sunscreen and looks lovely — but I no longer feel OBLIGATED to wear it rain or shine.
Mosquito bites — I’m amazed you guys didn’t cover me in pink welts before the big day. Thanks, buddies! Have at it. I will tackle you with prescription-strength steroid cream and continue to catch you easily mid-flight.

Things I now bid adieu to for the foreseeable future:

Bustiers/corsets with boning — GOD PLEASE THE HORROR. I still have a scar from where it poked at me all night, from BEFORE the wedding! Boning is bullshit.
Spanx — I can finally both digest and breathe, to say nothing of going to the bathroom in a reasonable time frame.
Heels — OW. At 5’11″ I’m done with that discomfort for a WHILE. (Though I’ll probably dye and keep my 2.5″ Jimmy Choo and/or Angela Nuran wedding heels, and re-wear them eventually!) But as of right now, I can’t feel the outer edge of my damn big toes because of my wedding-day footwear worn for a mere 2 hours. *&^@$@#! heels!
Manis/pedis — I gotta start saving my money again, and plus, I kind of miss my OWN neglected polish shades! And no more dremel for a while. Nails on a chalkboard. And no more soaking my fingers in acetone for ages to get the tough gel polish off.
Makeup artists — I love being pampered and all, and Carina and Swink both did an amazing job — I just kind of miss looking like ME. I normally never do foundation or blush, my eye makeup never looks as perfect as theirs, and I’m just *used to* my own shades and formulations. Plus it took like a year to get my false lashes off, and a few real ones came with each cluster. QQ Owie!

LUSH Aromacreme discontinued.

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:51:43 +0000

I don’t know how I’m going to go on.

Wedding Skincare Vows

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:09:10 +0000

Grant and I got engaged last month, and since then everything has been a whirl! We’ve kicked into planning mode, largely because we’re both really enjoying the planning process thus far. But of course, one part of the plan is to lose some weight before the big day, so we both look and feel our best.

Along with the weight-loss goal comes a set of skincare goals for me. And much like losing weight, for me these goals are things I’ve been meaning to do in or out of wedlock, just to keep my skin feeling and looking its happiest and healthiest. And now I have a really good excuse to make it official! So I’m writing myself a set of skincare vows to follow while leading up to the big day and beyond.

1) I vow to use my Clarisonic at least once per day, with no more than one lapse per week. (I mean, I paid enough for the thing, and I love the results… when I actually take the time to use it!)

2) I vow to at least remove my makeup before going to bed, no matter how tired I am. (A very bad beauty habit of mine — I always tell people that I’m full of great skincare advice that I have lots of trouble following!)

3) I vow not to skip lotion/body oil after more than one shower per week. (Taking care of dry skin needs consistency!)

4) I vow to file my nails BEFORE they break and tear from getting too long. (I’ve been carrying a top-notch nail file in my purse since January 1st, but I have yet to use it once this year! And I notice my ragged nails much more now, every time I show off my ring… it feels wrong to have crappy cuticles and crooked nails next to such a beautiful heirloom. I should give the rock the respect it deserves and take care of my manicure!)

5) I vow to be consistent in the application of my topical actives. (No more starting things like Retin-A but skipping it six nights a week — no good will come of it, and I hate getting perpetually stuck in the dry flaky phase!)

Hopefully the fact that I made these vows public will mean that I actually follow them, to some degree. I’m also going to post them on EDS so that my pals online can help egg me on.

D I Why?

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:34:57 +0000

I’ve been working on a DIY beta hydroxy solution that doesn’t contain any alcohol, and I pestered the chemist over at The Personal Formulator about solubility, and they were pretty informative:

Salicylic acid is only slightly soluble in water, one gram dissolves in 460mL water. To incorporate salicylic acid to a formulation, the following methods can be used:

1) it can be added to the oil phase of the emulsion and heated to 80-85C

2) it can be added to a water phase containing sodium phosphate, borax, alkali acetates or citrates to increase its solubility in water

3) it can be combined with a glycol, such as propylene glycol

Since I’m not gung-ho about using borax, glycols or any other unnecessary chemicals, I went ahead and tried to dissolve it in oil alone. However, the crystals seem to re-crystalize once the oil returns to room temperature. I’ve been shaking the solution vigorously and applying it anyway, and I haven’t had any problems — but I’m just not convinced it works well.

Blast it, I wish I knew more about solubility and other basic chemistry concepts! Next time, I’ll be trying to add it to a lecithin-emulsified solution to see if that helps. If any other skincare gurus have ideas, please share them!

100% Pure Body Cream review

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:55:57 +0000

In my continuing obsession with 100% Pure products, I’d like to highlight their delicious body cream collection. I’ve sampled their pineapple, nectarine, honey almond, and coconut scents, and I loved them all! (Though I have to admit, I was partial to the coconut — it made me smell exactly like a fresh-baked macaroon.)

I expected to hate some of these creams, because I usually can’t stand a lot of fruit fragrances, even if they’re allegedly natural. But I was pleasantly surprised every time with these guys! The pineapple and nectarine smell closer to the real thing than anything else I’ve tried. (And as an aside, their strawberry lemonade shower gel smelled drinkable, that’s how accurate it was. It’s kind of eerie.)

I’m not sure exactly how they derive their fragrances, but whatever they’re doing is working for them. The scents do last a long time, but they’re not so strong that they overwhelm your normal fragrance products. (They’re just noticeable up close — but be careful, you may be tempted to lick them off your skin!)

The consistency of these creams is just dreamy — softening and moisturizing and yet it sinks in great. It’s a very thick cream, so it’s nice and concentrated, but it doesn’t feel greasy at all after you apply it. I’ve found that they help a lot with my dryness-prone skin.

I can’t wait to try out some of their other dessert-like scents, such as chocolate mocha, white chocolate, and vanilla bean. I’m a sucker for lotions that smell like baked goods, I guess! I’ll definitely update if I try out these scents, but for now I’m not even halfway through my bottle of Organic Virgin Coconut — it’s that potent!

Old school: The Bubble Bath

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:24:13 +0000

For many years I’ve cautioned readers against bubble baths, singing the tune that skin soaking in harsh detergents is only going to get dried out and flaky. Instead, I’ve said, you should use a body oil, and apply it directly to your skin before you slip into the tub. (Or go for a therapeutic bath additive, like Epsom salts for muscle tension, or aromatherapy essential oils for mental tension.)

That’s all well and good, but sometimes you gotta indulge those old-school cravings. And ever since I started using 100% Pure’s bath gels, I’ve been shocked by how non-dry my skin has been! (Their lotion ain’t half bad, either — I’ve been meaning to post a detailed review of their products, and I promise I will soon!) These babies truly are pure, with no icky fillers like dimethicone or harsh detergents like sodium laurel sulfate (SLS). So I decided to give them a whirl in a bubble bath, on the off-chance that I had finally found a cleanser that was gentle enough to soak in for an hour.

I have to admit, my expectations were low since these don’t cause much foam during shower time. But I think that must be largely due to their liquid-like consistency, because BOY was my bath bubbly today! I was surrounded by fluffy, light, nectarine-scented foam that took me back to my days of pretty princess dresses and My Little Ponies. A much-needed escape! I still recommend the other, more skin-friendly baths I’ve prescribed for so long. But on those days when you just wanna jump in rain puddles and play with makeup, I finally have a go-to bubble bath option! My inner child is grinning. :)

Swap-tastic

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:25:20 +0000

Makeup Alley is a skincare and makeup discussion board similar to the Essential Day Spa Forum, but because I discovered MUA second, I’ve never really participated in their forums.

However, they have a couple of fabulous features that EDS does not — namely, a wishlist function, and a swap function. These two work in conjunction with each other — you place items you’re yearning to try (or just stock up on) on your wishlist, and you also post items you’re happy to get rid of on your swap list. People take a look at your swap list, and offer to trade you for stuff they want and you don’t. And you can search other people’s swap lists for items on your wish list, and try and get them to trade.

Sure, the system has some flaws — many members have complained of “swap-lifters” who receive but never send, and you never know if the item you receive will be in the condition described. But there’s a pretty good system in place for rating users and giving feedback, kind of like eBay. And so far I’ve only had experiences ranging from medium to great — never overtly bad.

A couple times now, I’ve gotten ahold of items I was dying to try, but didn’t want to shell out money for. And my main goal was to pare down my excess surplus of beauty goods, which I’ve definitely been able to do. I’m still getting rid of things all the time, and the shipping cost is usually pretty nominal.

Swaps have been great for me, and I just wish I weren’t so insanely picky — but since certain ingredients always send my skin haywire, I’m fairly conservative about what I’ll swap for. A couple times I’ve just sent users items of mine without asking for anything in exchange, just to put some good swap vibes out there and to see products I never use go to a good home. When you’re as invested in products as I am, it’s nice to see them appreciated!

You do have to create an account to use Makeup Alley for these purposes, but accounts are free and totally private. Nothing but pluses in my book!

With new territories come new… smells

Virginia (Heliotro.pe) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:30:26 +0000

Turns out, tagetes is STINKY! My package from Nature’s Gift arrived recently, and I mixed up a little vial of tagetes essential oil in a neem and avocado oil base. I started anointing dear Grant’s toes with it, and I was wowed by how smelly it is. Not like anything else I’ve smelled, and certainly not as offensive as neem, but very… strong. It’s also a very bright yellow color, kind of like turmeric or saffron, and it does kinda stain the skin/nail bed.

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of results we get. I specifically designed this toenail fungus treatment for Grant, because he can’t stand the smell of vinegar. So the normal vinegar bath method was kinda out of the question, if I wanted him to be a willing participant. Here’s hoping this vinegar-free method makes all the stink worth it!