How to learn a lot about your skin in 30 minutes

Yo, I swear I'll never not blog for this long ever again. It has just been such a hectic month with school and studying for my esthetics state exam in New York so I can transfer my license :~)

A n y w a y s 

I've been wanting to write about this topic for a while: being aware of your skin and what it likes. 

1.) Your skin is your body's largest organ. Sounds crazy, but its true. This large organ we have protects our internal body organs, protects us from injury, and basically without it- our bodies wouldn't exist the way they do. 

If you want to nerd out some more on skin stuff, here's a great PDF on all that scientific stuff. 

2.) As consumers, we are conditioned to think that more expensive products = better results. We watch reviews on products we wish we owned and because we see it works for someone else, we think it will work for us even if the products are almost entirely natural. It is important to keep in mind what skin type you have and any allergies you have in order to pick out products that will help keep your skin looking great. 

** IMPORTANT ** I can't stress this enough! If you have a skin condition, it is crucial to see a dermatologist. Don't solely rely on internet reviews because even if someone has the same skin type as you, they might not be allergic to something that you could be allergic to.

If you are unsure about your skin type, Paula's Choice has a quick infographic on how to determine all of datttt. Another great resource to determine what's good for your skin after determining skin type is BeautyPedia. Some of the claims can seem kind of biased... but it does provide info on what is inside of certain products that are overrated. (Looking @ u, La Mer.) 

3.) I would also like to bring up expiration dates. It is crucial that you use products within its core period after opening a product in order to avoid break outs. If you're using a product that isn't in a tube, its best to dispense product with a spatula or q-tip to avoid contamination which could lead to breaking out. I've created a chart to help let you know when its time to toss out a product. You wouldn't want to just hoard all this bacteria in your makeup bag, would you? 

* Some of these have different expiration dates based on ingredients. It is best to look for this symbol  that indicates how many months you can use the product to its full potential after opening. 

I hope this was helpful!

♡
patia

Inspiration post #001

   

 

♡

patia

Nipple cream > any other lip balm to ever exist in this world.

My personal beauty challenge this year was to figure out the best lip balm for my chronically chapped lips. Yes, I drink water. Yes, I eat a lot of fruits & vegetables daily. I've been dealing with this for the past 15 years of my life. It's annoying, I know.

If you have chronically chapped lips like myself, you've invested quite a lot of money into lip balms from drugstore to high end. You can't lie though, a lot of lip balms just have cute packaging so why not buy it? It's like purse candy. I've collected them all- Fresh Sugar lip balms, Glossier Balm Dot Com, Rosebud Salve, Malin + Goetz, Aquaphor Lip Repair, etc the list goes on. Don't get me wrong though! These are all great in their own ways! But some only work well when my lips aren't as chapped, like when they're normal, you know? Oh and the Glossier Balm Dot Com is fun to put on your face. 

My lip care routine is simple. Or was simple. I'll do anything for plump, supple lips :(  

I lightly exfoliate my lips with a toothbrush and apply a balm directly after. In the mornings, I brush my teeth + exfoliate lips in the shower and as soon as I step out, I apply Glossier Balm Dot Com to lock in the moisture. I used to be uncertain about this product during the summer because its so thick and it was sooo hot in New York. I'm okay with it now though and sometimes I'll apply it over lipstick so its a little glossy. 

At night, I do my my whole skincare routine, brush teeth, exfoliate lips, and slather a bunch of Aquaphor Lip Repair.  

As much as I thought I love these two products, I needed something "stronger" to condition my lips. I'm tired of these chapped lips! This lead me to a Google search last week where I saw people were using nipple cream- specifically Lansinoh on their lips. The brand makes a lot of products for breastfeeding mothers. What the. Yeah. I mean it makes sense and moms love it. So of course I had to try it. I purchased a tube from Walgreens which was about $12USD. They also come in a mini 3 pack for $8USD. The only ingredient in this is 100% pure Lanolin and its safe considering babies come in contact with it when being breastfeed. (Lanolin can also be found in a lot of lip balms!)

The consistency is similar to Vaseline, but it actually sinks in instead of sitting on the lips. By the way, Vaseline sucks. You couldn't pay me 100 dollars to apply that stuff to my skin at this point in my life. I apply this ONCE in the morning after my shower and it lasts ALL DAY LONG. You seriously only have to use a little tiny dab of product. The tube is huge and probably can last you up to a year for how little you need. It does provide quite a slip if you plan on using a lip stick over it, so I'd be extra cautious with application. It smells like nothing and I haven't experienced any irritation/breakouts. I told my friend Lori that I felt weird carrying a tube of nipple cream with me because the bottle actually says nipple cream, but she said it was cute. I was seriously going to cover the tube with stickers, but whatever.

If I had to rate this, I would give it 5 stars out of 5. It's only one natural ingredient and extremely safe for people of all ages without irritating the skin.

♡
patia


Ps - Use this link to get 20% off your next purchase for the Glossier Balm Dot Com! :)

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We out here.

I don't really know what has taken me so long to finally get this going! I've gone through a lot of major changes in my life such as temporarily moving back to Florida to be with my mom and enrolling in an esthetics program full-time to carry out my love love love love for skin care. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm extremely obsessed with beauty products and rap music. I crave the J.Lo/Kimora Lee Simmons glow and it excites to me to participate in an industry that helps people achieve that.

Although I've always considered blogging to be kind of corny, it makes sense to document and share the things that I am excited about. Especially for my friends. It gets hectic sending thirty texts that all say "You gotta try this highlight. This might be the one." There also just aren't that many blogs geared towards girls with my skintone (think, NW40/45). It became painful to google things like "____ on dark skin." I also ran into the problem that NO ONE seemed to be making reviews on the products that truly interested me- it was always holy grail type items.

Typing all of this already makes me feel crazy.

...Anyway

I recently ordered Bobbi Brown: The Ultimate Beauty Resource book off of eBay for like three dollars or whatever. I love Bobbi Brown. I feel like not enough people my age are talking about her enough because she was so 90s and cool. I mean she still is, but you know what I mean. One of the main philosophies she lives by is that you can't just "create" beauty, you must enhance your beauty from within. This book was published in 1996 and to be honest, it's still extremely relevant to this day.

I thought I'd scan a few pages where she discusses African American beauty. (A lot of these techniques can be applied towards anyone with a medium-deep skin tone)

♡
patia