I get asked a lot what some of my skin "secrets" are on instagram... well I don't have perfect skin, lets start with that. It is not perfect in the least bit, I have small bumps and red spots and breakout just like everyone else. But I thought I wold share some of my routines + some lush DIY products you can use.
Basics
- Wash your face! Seems simple and common sense but a lot of people do not do it on a regular basis - I def haven't all the time.
- Prioritize, don't buy that starbucks latte and spend the extra bucks on the better facial cleanser. Use good products and not something found at the dollar store, I get some people do not always have the funds so like I said, prioritize the funds. Your body, including your skin, is your temple and you must treat it right!
- Follow with toner and moisturize! If you are 20+ start using eye cream, it is never too early to start dabbing it on because you are preventing instead of waiting for it to hit.
- Stay away from weird products with tons of chemicals, keep it basic... your skin in your largest organ and just like you should be putting weird ingredients in your stomach, you shouldn't be applying it to your skin.
- Hydration is also key! Your skin will reflect what you are putting inside your body. Eat right, cut out the fat and the processed foods, eat live fruits and veggies in abundance, and keep hydrated and your skin will glow.
What I like
There is a lot but I will be outlining some basics, if you need help on something more specific just ask me on my tumblr! (link at the top)
- I love clay masks, I try to apply one every week or every other week.
- Good cleansers - I currently use one from Cactus skincare and I love it! Smells amazing and leaves my face super soft. Before than I used clinique and BeFine.
- Scrubs. Light sugar scrubs are so amazing for the face but use them lightly and not daily!!!
- Moisturize, I tend to get dry flaky skin around my nose and I must moisturize well, especially when its cold and dry out + using my eye cream at night. If you can't find a good moisturizer, try a tab of almond oil, I am addicted to it and so are my friends thanks to me, that stuff is golden and you can use it on your hair as well.
- Coconut oil - apply some to your face and body as a deep conditioner, it will leave you silky smooth and smells deeeelish. Apply to your hair when its frizzy or apply a lot of it for an hour of overnight and wash it out to repair and hydrate your hair.
- Rose water or tea tree oil makes for an awesome toner, spritz some on after your shower or washing you face.
- Body scrubs - Lush is amazing and making your own is super easy! Check out the bottom of the page for more on that.
Hair care
- I only wash my hair every couple days. Some people think that's weird and others agree with it. Why? Well besides the fact that my hair actually looks way better after a day (its puffy and fluffy and gross right after washing) washing your hair too much will strip it of the natural oils in it.
- Eat right! and hydrate. It makes a difference on how you feel inside and out!
- Minimize using hair dryers, flat irons, and chemicals. I have naturally dark hair but I dye it a lot due to boredom and I always say never again because it damages it.
- Use conditioner in the shower and do not fully rinse it out. Rinse it out about 75% and leave a little in, it will help condition your hair further, control frizz, and just feel smoother when dry.
- Try changing up the brands you are using. I use to use bedhead for the longest time and I just noticed my hair getting weird after a while, not sure how to explain it, but you can tell. So I switched it up and it was great again. Also invest in good products! Suave, l'oreal,etc are a no in my book! Spend double the price and get the benefits, those brands are super cheap for a reason!
Stretchmarks
We all hate them and we all have them. Most of us anyway. Here are some tips to reduce them, there is no way for them to go away 100% without going to a professional doctor and get expensive treatment, but follow these tips for significant results.
- Aloe vera
- Retina- A creams
- Moisturize these areas daily
- Avoid tanning as the stretch marked skin does not tan as easily as the rest of you and therefor they will be more noticeable.
- Avoid bouncing up and down in weight quickly, drastic changes in your body does not allow the skin to grow properly and therefor causes stretching.
- And my personal favorite that my mommy taught me: Vitamin E oil. The best tip I can give you is to buy some of this, if you can not find it, buy vitamin E capsules at the drug store (the kind you take orally) and puncture it with a needle, spread the oil over the stretch marks. Careful, its very thick oil so make sure to dab directly on the marks.
Cellulite
- The thing all women dread! Guess what, most women have some amount of this. Even super thing girls. Yes, being overweight will cause you to be more prone on having cellulite but its a lot of other factors as well. Genetic plays a roll and diet! If you eat crap, it will show! You can be on the thinner side but if all you eat is food that is high in fat, it will show. If you do not drink plenty of water, it will show.
- Do not believe all the pictures you see in magazines, its called photoshop and I assure you half those girls have a tiny amount of cellulite. So do not feel bad or ugly if you have it too. Most women do. I have a bikini line and my model is a size 2 and you can clearly see she has a tiny tiny amount but I refuse to photoshop that out. It creates a false sense of what a woman looks like and I want to show everyone its ok not to be magazine perfect.
- Try gently massaging and exfoliating the area while in the shower and it helps the blood floor and getting fresh healthy skin to show.
- Unfortunately there isn't much you can do to fully get rid of this but you can eat better, drink lots of water, and dab some firming creams. Do not expect miracles but it will help!
DIY Lush products
Ok so mine may not be as pretty as the professionals but they work equally as well! Try them out if there is no lush near you or you just find it too expensive. These are super easy and affordable substitutes.
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Bubble gum lip scrub
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Lush lip scrub is amazeballs but it’s soooo simple and easy to make! I use to make this when I was about 10 or 11 years old and then lush came around with one just like it haha oh well. While my version isn’t bubblegum, you can get bubblegum extract online! I personally just used coconut because I love it and I wasn’t about to wait for bubblegum to come in the mail.
Ingredients:
- 2tbsp sugar (not the fine kind! You want a scrub)
- A few drops almond oil or coconut oil (coconut will taste better, almond can be a little off sometimes)
- A drop or two pink or red food coloring (vegan for me!)
- And a few drops coconut extract (use whatever you like, orange, vanilla, cinnamon! Or get the bubblegum one!)
Done! Mix mix mix. Shouldn’t be to liquid at all. If so just add more sugar.
Tastes yummy and makes your lips ready for some kissin!
Ocean Salt body scrub
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Ok so mine isn't as pretty and bright blue but it works well! Use it all over you body, this recipe is enough for 2-3 times use but it will not have a long shelf life sue to the natural ingredients, so use it within a few days.
Ingredients:
- 1 Avocado
- 1/2 cup coarse sea salt
- 3 tbsp coconut milk
- 1/3 cup almond or coconut oil
- the juice of 1 lemon
- 3-6 tbsp vodka (yes vodka! it works as an astringent... do not use rubbing alcohol as that leaves the skin dryer than vodka... lushes version soaks their lemons in alcohol but soaking isn't necessary right now)
- Optional: a very tiny drop of blue food coloring to make it blue like lushes.
Mix very well, mash that avocado and mix all the ingredients together. Should be a lovely thick paste consistency, if its too thin add some more sea salt, too thick add a little more oil.
Scrub-a-lub-loveeeee
Bath bombs!
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Sorry for the terrible picture but I made this a while back... same with the sea spray below.
Ingredients: Depending how much you want to make..
2 parts baking soda (I used 1 cup)
1 part citric acid (I used half a cup)
1 part epsom salts (I used half a cup of lavender! Choose your fav scent)
Mix very well in a large bowl. In a separate container mix:
5 tbsp coconut oil or almond oil
1 tbsp water
a drop or two of your choice of food coloring - it will not stain your skin! I used purple to go with my lavender scent
Here is the tricky part: Start adding the liquid mix to the powder mix very very very slowly while stirring quickly! The combination will fizz if the powder is exposed to liquid too fast. It it starts fizzing too much your bomb will not fizz in the tub, it will still be a nice addition but it won't have that fizzy effect. The end consistency should look and feel like damp sand.
Mold into balls or fun shapes and allow it to dry... which should take about a day so just store it away someplace.
Ready to bomb!
Sea Spray hair mist
I pretty much never comb my hair. Like twice a year? Haha I love sex hair, like you just got up from a nice time :p this is an awesome product for that. It will give you a beachyyy messy hair that will also actually smell tropical like you’ve been in Hawaii and back.
Ingredients:
- Small empty bottle filled 3/4 with water
- 1 tbsp sea salt
- Equal amounts of:
- Coconut scented hair conditioner
- Some hair gel (I like bed head)
- Almond oil or coconut oil
Shake it up super well, spray, and make a few fists with your hair to scrunch it and make it stay better.
The contents in the bottle will settle when not used, as it is oil and water but that’s ok, just give a little shake before using!
