Hello my Beauty Blog readers! I apologize for being so M.I.A. The end of 2012 was quite busy for me and I hadn't gotten around to blogging much.
Chicago was blessed with another warm start to winter this year and has just now started to drastically get colder and colder. Anything below 20 degrees to me is pretty much "STAY INSIDE" weather. These cold days sure take a toll on the skin.
For those of you who don't know, our skin sheds about 50,000 dead skin cells every minute. Isn't that amazing? The reason exfoliating is so important though, is because sometimes the dead skin cells have a hard time coming off our body and our faces. Because of that it can cause blockage in our pores causing a breakout. Hopefully that sentence alone got your attention.
Everyone should be exfoliating at least twice a week, both their face and body. If your skin is super sensitive, sticking to once a week should be ok as you don't want to over irritate your skin.
Keep in mind, while winter is a key time to exfoliate, we all really should be exfoliating all year long. Getting rid of dead skin cells not only leaves your skin soft but it helps to produce new skin cells leaving you glowing and fresh.
Below are some of my favorite exfoliating products for both the face and body.
1.)
Pelle Rinnovo by Borghese ($49.50 1.9 oz)
Back in the day when I worked for Borghese, I regularly took samples of Pelle Rinnovo home. This is a product to exfoliate the face.The finite crystals in it are super tiny and you take about a dime size amount and worked it over your face in upward motions for 3-5 minutes. I have to warn you this stuff is strong and gritty but it really gets all the dead skin cells off. I wouldn't recommend this for someone with super sensitive skin cause it is rough after a minute or two or moving it around your face but someone with normal to oily skin will really get great results with this product. While it is expensive for a little amount, a little goes a long way and it leaves your face so smooth and fresh that make-up looks and applies so much better.
2.)
Carisonic Mia by Clarisonic ($119.00)
I bought exfoliating facial brush about 6 months ago and I love it. This exfoliating brush you can use once a day with your favorite face wash and it really gets the product into your pores. When you hit the on button the face brushes for one minute and you use it to massage your cleanser all over your face so while it cleans, it exfoliates as well. I like that you can buy detachable brush heads for your type of skin. They come in Normal, Sensitive, Delicate, Deep Pore, Acne and even one for the Body. This is a nice alternative if you don't like buying liquid products and rather have a tool do the job for you.
3.)
Vanilla Amber Sugar Scrub by Arbonne ($30.00)
I found out about Arbonne through a friend of mine who had one of those Mary Kay type group parties at her house. This Vanilla Amber scent was a limited edition for Christmas but this stuff was awesome. This is probably something you could make at home because it uses all natural ingredients but this scrub is full of this delicious smelling oil mixture mixed in with medium size pieces of sugar. I used to use this in the shower to slough off my skin and while the sugar exfoliates the oil puts moisture into your skin. By the time I got out of the shower ever time my skin was super duper soft. While they still don't have this scent available they currently have a
Sea Salt Scrub that has essential oils in it and has properties in it to prevent anti-aging for the same price. The only downfall of the product is it leaves your tub super slippery so BE CAREFUL if you choose to get a product with lots of oils in it for your body.
4.)
Sugar ($2.00+/- depending on where you go)
Sugar is great by itself to use on your lips to exfoliate. It leaves them nice and smooth so if you ever get dry, crackly lips use some sugar to help smooth them out before applying your favorite lipsticks or glosses.
5.)
Peach Satin Hands Pampering Set by Mary Kay ($34.00)
My final favorite product is the fabulous Peach Satin Hands Pampering Set by Mary Kay. This stuff is awesome. Not only does it smell delicious your hands, your hands will for sure feel like silk every time you use all three products together. It comes with a hand softener which you apply first, secondly you want to use the scrub over the softener to really scrub your hands and cuticles and last you rinse your hands and apply the hand lotion. This is a product you will want to be next to the sink for but it only takes a few minutes to use all three and after your hands will stay satiny soft for hours. At one of the Mary Kay parties I went to they did a demo for us where you only used these products on one hand to compare the difference between the two. You wouldn't think it'd be as drastic as it is but your hand looks much more clean, smooth and young after using this set. It's especially nice if you like to do your own manicures at home and like to pamper yourself.
Hope you enjoyed reading! Happy New Year everyone!
