I Can't Say "Yum" Loud Enough!

Oh My!

If you ever needed a lift, no matter the season, a good scrub for the body does wonders for the soul. Get the perfect scent blended to with natural shea butter and the shower will be your new relaxation zone. I just tried Sugar Butter Delight, also known as Spa Excel Sugar Scrub, and it definitely lives up to its name.

All natural and pretty sinful! This rich scrub lifts the spirits while softening your skin!

It smells great in the shower or bath, and you won't need lotion afterward. Moisturizing oils penetrate dry skin, soothing tightness and itchiness. Every inch becomes supple and touchable. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to just smell it or actually use it...such a dilemma, but I tried it for an evening dinner party. Trust me, people can see the subtle glow of skin that is exfoliated, nourished, and deeply moisturized. I felt great, my skin looked great, and there were compliments, ladies!

Choose the ready made version or create a custom blend with a signature scent that floats with you for hours. My test run was Coconut Melon which is simply divine! It is perfect for snugly evenings with hubby ( winkety wink)!

Ingredients:

• Shea Butter
  
• Pure Cane Sugar
• Coconut Oil
• Jojoba Oil
• Olive Oil
• Castor Oil
• Citric Acid
• Vitamin E
• Add your favorite fragrance!
  

Sugar Butter Delight has found its way to my favorite body care and home spa list. If you love products that serve multiple purposes, try this. I am definitely keeping Sugar Butter Delight on hand!

Happy Holidays!

The greatest gift is the time we spend with those we love. I will be spending time with my wonderful husband and my cohorts in cosmetic experimentation!

Happy Solstice!

Ga-Ga Over Glossi Glaze

I have been experimenting with different blends for lip care for about a week now, evaluating blends that give the results I want. While I love the research before making my own, there are so many products that just don't deliver and I discard any further research into the blend. Not so with my latest find, though.

I snagged a small pot of CS Glossi Glaze and just love it! It is a great blend and worth a try, before you blend a batch for yourself, but is also great to purchase ready made. The blend of castor wax, castor oil, jojoba, and shea butter combine to soften more than most premade glosses. Just add your favorite color during blending and have a shade that balances with your complexion perfectly.

If you are ready to blend your own colors and foundations, along with this luscious gloss, the ebook, Mineral Makeup Secrets Revealed is a must have. It provides a step by step look at blending your own shades. I downloaded this little gem a while back and use it ALL the time!

There's nothing better than seriously moist lips in harsh winter weather. Get yours conditioned with this wonderful find. I think you'll like the results!

Pre-Party Planning: Need a Mild Peel?

Using the calender and natural substances is a simple way to put forth the freshest face possible for holiday festivities. There is still time for treatments to ensure glowing skin in candle lit rooms. Exfoliating chemical and enzymatic masks are straight forward, all natural, and the perfect way to get ready to look fabulous. Apples, heavy cream, sugars and salts can all play an external role and it's easier to rinse the ingredients for apple pie filling from a face then trying to erase evidence of it having been eaten, from thighs.

Two Apples and some honey can tame pimples when blended together until they resemble a paste. The malic acid in the apple acts as a gentle peeling agent and the honey is a natural moisturizer with antibacterial properties. This is a bit milder than a salicylic acid wash or mask and useful if aspirin sensitivities might be an issue. Blend heavy cream with apples and the lactic acid from the cream will join in and soften your face.

Just as most of us have used the cucumber trick on our eyes, crushing or blending the cucumber into a slushy paste can be cooling relief for the rest of the face as well. Cucumber also tightens the skin ever so slightly so this is a great mask to use before special occasions, especially if your soiree is during an evening after you have worked all day. Take about 20 minutes after you wash away your office face and before you put on your party paint. You will look more rested and, more importantly, feel refreshed enough to have fun.

Remember the heavy cream? It's also great with carrots. Put both in a blender and make a thick paste. Spread it on and relax for about 20 minutes. Let the Lactic acid and the Vitamin A from the carrots work their wonders. Rinse with warm water and pat dry.


Since none of these mixtures have preservatives, remember to refrigerate any unused portions. If started tomorrow with one facial every 5 days, skin should look fresher as newer cells are revealed. The psychological boost will be unmistakable.

Have fun!

Doing it at Home

I have always been fortunate in finding ways to get around paying high prices for skincare, mainly because I want to get things from individuals who are most like me.  Small businesses with educated people striking out on their own.  They feel like my friends and not a method to control my behavior.  I am especially drawn to those that don't advertise, but quietly turn out their product, or write the recipes I can tweak for my own evil purposes.

If you are ready to do some mild experimenting there are some staples you should have on hand. These are basic and harmless, and help you evaluate how your skin will respond.

Oils

The oils you stock will reflect your skin type.  Heavier oils, like Avocado and Jojoba are great for dry skin and can also be used as warm oil treatments before shampooing.  Grape Seed Oil is great for mature skin that cannot bear the weight of a heavier oil.  Try blending it with a bit of  Jojoba if you need the extra moisture. Apricot Kernal oil is another choice for blends or to use alone.

Along with these base, or carrier oils, a few essential oils can be added.  Since science hasn't determined the exact effects of different essential oils, we all go by their reputations which have been passed down through the ages.  My favorite essential oils are Lavender, Lemon, Frankincense, Ylang Ylang, and Rosemary.  Always mix the essential oils with another oil or cream and put no more than about 12 drops total in any blend, assuming your goal is to have about 8 ounces of finished product.  For me, 3 or 4 drops each of Lavender, Lemon, and Ylang Ylang is a great blend.  Adding a few drops of this blend to an inexpensive face cream or premade base is always nice.  Lavender is known for its healing properties, Lemon for its skin lightening properties.  Ylang Ylang has been touted as an aphrodesiac, but I use just two or three drops in my dreams because it creates a nutty under tone.  Any more than about 3 drops is overpowering.

Start with small amounts while you experiment, then reinvest in those ingredients that you use the most of.  An essential oil starter kit is a great way to sample the different possibilities.  Many kits will have a booklet listing the properties attributed to each essential oil making the "learn as you go" process much easier.

Why not make this project one of your New Year's resolutions.  Taking control of your skincare is your right.  In the long run, you save money by not paying for corporate advertising and creating your own, sustainable program of skincare.

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Beauty Market Buzz: Herbs and Skincare: Where Should You Begin?

Hyaluronic Acid: The key to Moisture

Herbs and Skincare: Where Should You Begin?

Herbs have always been a mainstay in treating illness. Even though western medicine requires a substance through a series of tests before getting the stamp of approval, allowing pharmaceutical companies billions in profits, there are those plants that have been accepted for their efficacies based on generations of experience.

Borage, WhiteWillow Bark, and Lavender are some of the most common ingredients blended with base oils or plant silicones to treat those little problems that vex our vanities. With the drive for more environmentally concious and toxin awareness, the potential client or customer struggles with labels and hearsay with little help, unless they devote their lives to researching and comparing laboratory names, INCI names, and proprietary blends to find out exactly what they are getting in the $50.00, 1 oz, bottle of eye cream or serum. Of course, research can be fun, but it takes time.

Greatskin borage leaf cleanser

Periodically I search for products using one ingredient as my guide rather than the product's focus. Instead of looking for general eye cream I will look for something that has Borage or Ginseng. Placing a sheet of paper in coat pocket with a list of other names the ingredient goes by, I like to call these their "stage names", helps. In the case of this eye cream, Borage seed oil smooths and softens, very good for fine lines. Ginseng is found in many skin care products that fight fluid retention so I will look for that if I am worried about puffiness under my eyes.

Bioelements Acneplex™ - Daytime Treatment Gel

Many acne products have Salycilic Acid which acts as an exfoliant. This makes a great anti-aging product as well!

White Willow Bark is something that my nature loving friends swear by, but won't recognize it by its lab name, Salycilic Acid. The arguments about this one are interesting to listen too, but its all natural, regardless of what it is called. In a pinch, a paste of aspirin placed directly on a pimple will send it packing before a full 48 hours passes, for most people.

Greatskin Age Defying Milky Cleanser Blended with Pure Essential Oils&Anti-Oxidants

Lavender Essential Oil is one of the best natural cleansers.

Lavender was used by the Roman Empire for personal cleansing, keeping their soldiers from developing nasty infections from reusing personal cleansing items. Remember, they didn't have toilet tissue! I love a bit of Lavender Essential oil in the spray on hair oil I create and use periodically. Lavandula Angustifolia sounds pretty scary but it's the same, wonderfully aromatic oil that the Romans used. It has a reputation that includes soothing nerves, facilitating healing, and toning and revitalizing the skin. Looking for products with this can be time consuming so adding a few drops to my favorite skin cream is great, especially during winter, as long as I don't use it near the eyes.

Don't be afraid to explore products when you need to focus on a specific problem. Sometimes the product that is less expensive and less well known has the perfect ingredient to suit your needs. Your can be realized by planning ahead. As with all skin related issues, analysis is the first step. The GreatSkin® Analysis Questionnaire is a good way to choose which of your personal goals to tackle first!

Enjoy!

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Something New!!!!

I found an interesting product advertised on my Yahoo e-mail called " Dermitage ".  Advertised for dark circles, it's a good bet there are more products for skin care on the way, using  the Dermitage patented blend and delivery system.

Vibran C Firming Eye Gel; not quite Hydroderm or Dermitage, but Vitamin C gels have many characteristics that can be equally effective!

Much different from Hydroderm, the pictures on the main page are not simulated, but actual photos, lending more credibility in an instant.  Dermitage does offer a free trial, though, which should be well worth the time it takes to evaluate the product for yourself.

Why do companies create products, and then conceal most of the ingredients with a patent?  Mainly because they are approved for most of the blends used in the industry and by those who make their own skin care items, but more importantly, delivery methods are changing all the time. After all, having too many ingredients in common with other companies and their offerings wouldn't lend the air of magic needed to create the buzz needed, but changing the way the ingredients reach their intended target is more than a little noteworthy!  Rest assured; there aren't too many surprises lurking in the deep dark labs at Dermitage, which is probably true for Hydroderm as well.

Strivectin SD boasts a great blend, but has one ingredient, included for it's effects, which appears to be harmless.  Definitely try it before making your final decision!

It's always fun to try new products, though and a freebie is the best way.  If you aren't feeling that brave then you can always look at existing products to get an idea of how your skin will respond.  Part of the fun is shopping, but you may also notice that your skin starts responding to the changes favorably, as a new blend may have concentrations of active ingredients that differ from your normal product or blend.

I prefer getting a set of products to try, for skin problems that tend to travel in groups.  Then, I see what is working and start planning!

What would the world be without the variety that continues to pour out of innovative companies?

Enjoy!

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Keeping Your Balance While Keeping it Clean

How we cleanse our skin is just as important as the quality of our daily diet.  As we get older, harsh ingredients cease to be appropriate as skin takes longer to recover from having its pH disrupted and our natural oils stripped from its surface.  It is crucial to change our approach to avoid altering an already delicate balance.

Even mature skin needs to guard against developing acne, contrary to popular belief.  Great Skin Oil Control Cleanser balances the need to maintain the natural pH and oil content of the skin while removing the daily grime that clogs pores and dulls the complexion.

 Great Skin Oil Control Cleanser also acts as a gentle exfoliant, which can delay the signs of aging by encouraging cell renewal, then providing the moisturizing power of Allantoin.  One of the most interesting bits of information about Allantoin, is it's being a derivative of Ascorbic Acid.  With regular use, Great Skin Oil Control Cleanser will result in brightened skin tone and fewer age spots, without the use of Salicylic Acid, a.k.a. aspirin.  This is great for people who are allergic to aspirin and its derivatives.

Remember, once you use Great Skin Oil Control Cleanser , think about the active ingredients, do a little reading, and consider including some of these ingredients in your own hand made toiletries, but do try this formula first to see what the possibilities are!

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A Touch of Blusher: Fall 2007 Makeup Round-Up (#10-#7)

A Touch of Blusher: Fall 2007 Makeup Round-Up (#10-#7)

Stepping out of skincare mode for a moment.....I ran across this post and thought I would share it, mainly for its use of color.

One of the greatest influence on our sense of well being is color. The beauty market buzz ladies, just a few friends who are hooked on analyzing products and reproducing the results on our own, also play with color in blending our mineral make up.

Look at the color palettes and take a mindful moment to notice how you feel when seeing them. If you are extremely organized, jot down the colors that lift your spirits and consider changing the way you buy your cosmetics. It's alright to go with what is popular, but the connoisseur will purchase based on personal feelings.

To enhance your glow, pamper yourself with a personal home spa day. Try blending your own facial scrub the day before to allow the ingredients to "settle in", then gently scrub. Apply your handmade moisturizer or favorite, all natural brand. This creates a new, refreshed skin tone will support you new found approach to beauty. Including mood as part of your regimen is sure to enhance your aura with confidence.

The beauty market buzz is all about a total package. Analyze, then take control. Create your own buzz with an inner glow that comes with choosing the colors that lighten your mood!

Enjoy!

There's Nothing Better Than Free Stuff.....

Discoveries always make me smile and this is no exception. I found a wonderful little ebook with simple recipes for home made bath and body products that I will give away as a little gift to those who subscribe to Beauty Market Buzz or Black Market Beauty news letters and/or feeds.

As the months roll on I hope to widen the collection to include recipes for more complex skin care items, but will always include recipe blends that can be created with items form the health food store, including vitamin C serums, specialty facial masks, exfoliating cleansers....well, you get the idea!

All you have to do is join and the freebie will be emailed. Don't worry, I have no intention of flooding your email like many sites do with daily fluff. Just what I find that will help everyone recover stretch their beauty and skin care dollars!

What are you waiting for?

Warning: You Can Do This Too!

It's always a pleasure to take time out to give our skin a good going over. The more natural the ingredients, the more of our senses get filled and the greater our sense of well being.

L'Occitane Almond Apple Sweet Peel strokes the senses with some familiar home spa ingredients. The market buzz is about the simplicity of this product.

The first impression is that you are going to smell like an apple pie with almond ice cream topping, but this isn't the almond and apple here. Apple cider vinegar is the mild astringent used with almond shells as the scrubbing portion. Very basic, very homey. Rosemary supports the apple cider vinegar as a mild stimulant and glycerin is added to soften newly revealed skin as older skin is sloughed off through scrubbing. This is not only a time saver but a great way to boost your skin during the cooler months that are easing their way to our doorsteps.

Most of the buzz among the beauty market discussion “pod” has been wrapped around the different ways a home made version of this scrub gets altered to include different oils - like almond oil, coconut oil, or olive oil – and even the addition of essential oils. It is a tried and true scrub that can be approximated with turbinado sugar instead of almond shells...the sky's the limit! My little hoodlum, beauty market friends all got hooked on making their scrubs after trying out manufacturer's versions. You should see all the jars.

If you are ready to try this version of a home brewed skincare system L'Occitane Almond Apple Sweet Peel is a good way to introduce yourself to this sort of scrub, before you start blending your own!

Hyaluronic Acid: The key to Moisture

I get tons of questions from people who, while cruising through Black Market Beauty, need help with subjects more akin to skin care aspect of beauty. It's kind of tough to figure out what to put on before you use your mineral make up. Since most questions address issues common to mature skin we usually end up talking about moisturizers. The beauty market's buzz is all about holding more moisture in place to create a more youthful appearance, and delivering what has been lost from the skin through time and weather.

Moisturizers have always been the backbone of most skin care products that address aging or sun damaged skin. Where some are very obvious and have been used since ancient times, like olive oil, coconut oil, lanolin, or avocado oil, others are not. One of the items we see often see now is Hyaluronic Acid. It sounds pretty fierce, but then anything with the word “acid” attached makes our minds wander to drain cleaners and glass etching. It also makes those who want to keep anything that might be a “chemical” out of their beauty basics, cringe. Have no fear, all is not lost.

Hyaluronic Acid occurs in nature and can be extracted from ground cockscombs..poor little roosters, but often is produced through bacterial fermentation, which is a process that most people find much less objectionable. It has super moisture retention potential and is found in human skin along with the two other, crucial components, collagen and elastin. It forms a gel when exposed to water, and is used in those lip plumping injections that are all the rage.

A “cocktail" of vitamin C, Hyaluronic acid, Co-enzyme Q-10, and hydrolyzed elastin results in an anti aging cream that holds moisture in place, plumping up wrinkles to create a smooth surface for make up application. Companies like Nivea, Avon, and Prescriptives all rely on Hyaluronic acid to create their most effective anti aging products. You can also blend this with lipsticks to create plumper lips without injections. Add a little DMAE for an added boost, but do so gradually.

We who make our own skin care products also use this wonderful ingredient, saving money by blending it ourselves instead of paying for the advertising budgets of the bigger commercial skin care houses. Once you feel comfortable making less complex facial creams, consider venturing into those that include Hyaluronic acid. It will definitely elevate your facial creams to a new level of effectiveness, drop a note at Black Market Beauty to find out where to get it for your very own creations. You can find out what the beauty market's buzz has been about.

Ageless Beauty, Health and Wellness: Virgin Coconut Oil for Ageless Beauty, Health and Wellness

Even though hair care subjects usually make me cringe, I found this item quite useful. Both olive oil and coconut oil have long chained molecules that enable them to bind more effectively with hair shafts. Once you get your method o use perfected, you will see and feel the difference these natural oils can make!

Read more about coconut oil:
Ageless Beauty, Health and Wellness: Virgin Coconut Oil for Ageless Beauty, Health and Wellness

Black Market Beauty

Too Much Tan?

Find 6%Bleaching Cream at Skincare RX

One thing I cannot stand is having to change my make up shade. Being African American with hefty sprinkles of Native American wreaks havoc with my beauty aspirations if I spend any time in the sun during the summer months. Those little seasonal factors are what drew me to mineral make up and blending my own shades, but that is for another entry. Buzz in the market tells me there are some products to help with unwanted tanning issue.

If you are in the same boat, not the heritage mix necessarily, but hate changing your make up shades for each season, think about giving your skin's shade little lift with Physician's Complex 6% Bleaching Cream. I found it while investigating what the beauty market had to offer.

Bleaching creams are extremely popular in Asia, especially Japan, where a pale, almost porcelain skin tone is prized by women. In the west, bleaching creams are used for spot problems and dark under eye circles. Regardless of where you are, there are some common factors that cause the skin to lighten.

Physician's Complex 6% Bleaching Cream has almost all the known bleaching ingredients that are safe for skin, primarily Kojic Acid, Hydroquinone, and Vitamin C in the form of pineapple and lemon extracts. The creators of this little wonder were also wise enough to include moisturizing ingredients to help soften the outer layers of skin and allow the nutritive value of grape extract to penetrate.

I haven't tried it yet but have my eye on it in case I don't feel like blending my late summer mineral foundation soon. The market buzz says it's fair, going by the 3 star rating, but in my mind that's better than many products I have seen that only had hydroquinone as the main bleaching ingredient.

If you manage to sample this product, let us know and your comment will be added to the beauty market buzz.

Regenerist Night Recovery Moisturizing Treatment

The Beauty Market Buzz still finds Regenerist Recovery Moisturizing Treatment a worthy weapon for over night skin care.

Buzz in the beauty market has centered around products with simple ingredients that help the skin recover from harsh conditions during daylight hours. Deep, penetrating moisturizing that also delivers nutrients needn't be expensive, though, as many moderately priced night creams are effective. Regenerist Night Recovery Moisturizing Treatment, brought to us by Oil of Olay, fits nicely into any budget.

Even though Regenerist Night Recovery Moisturizing Treatment relies heavily on cyclomethicone and dimethicone, it also has Glycine, Lysine, Threonine, and Arginine which support cell growth and health. Skin is bathed in VitaminB3, Pro-Vitamin B5, Vitamin E, and Lavender extract while you sleep. There's no need to worry about it's safety as cyclomethicone and dimethicone can be used without being part of a blend. In fact, many in the beauty market have done so!

Waking up to smoother and more vibrant skin is bound to start the day off with a smile. If you have mature skin then I suggest you give Regenerist Night Recovery Moisturizing Treatment a try. The buzz in the beauty market says you will probably see improvement within a couple of weeks.

Throwing a Makeup Party?

Visit the new Coby's Clips Beauty tips! Coby Taylor has spent most of the last 12 years make up and hair design for photo shoots and weddings and realized that many women, and girls, are uncomfortable trying on make up at the counters of expensive stores, and feel that sales people are a bit too pushy. With this in mind, she has created DVD's, available at her site and through Amazon.com.

Her unique DVD's are inexpensive and cover subjects like throwing your own make up party, and tips on applying different cosmetics, perfect as inspiration for getting friends together to experiment with mineral make up or new skin product blends. An added benefit is her donating a portion of sales to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Rock of Africa.

Stop by, show your support, invite your friends over!

N.V. Perricone Advanced Face Firming Activator

I found this little gem, N.V. Perricone Advanced Face Firming Activator, a few months ago and gave it a try. You can bet that it was the sample size but I was inspired by the buzz it created among the same friends that talked me into selling mineral make up. I was impressed because it has ingredients that I am familiar with from my little mad scientist experiments in hand made toiletries and cosmetics.

One noticeable ingredient is Glycolic Acid which we all know exfoliates in concentrations that are high enough to be dangerous to those who are just too dense for words. This might be a concern because this product is for morning use! Don't take the directions lightly! You really do need to use a moisturizer and sunscreen afterward!

N.V. Perricone Advanced Face Firming Activator isn't for the faint of heart in the price area either, but you only need a couple of drips to smooth over your whole face. It lasts a long time if you are careful to use other products for daily, casual wear. Its something I would save for the week before a class reunion or another special event, just to make sure I am as stunning as I want to be!

Related Articles:

What is DMAE?

What is DMAE?

Dimethylaminoethanol, DMAE, has been used since the 1990's as a skincare additive. Because of the hype surrounding it - testimonials and studies showing that DMAE can reverse some sagging of the skin, the price is greatly inflated and it probably shouldn't cost any more than aspirin.

DMAE's affects are not nearly as pronounced or obvious as those seen with Botox or continued use of Retin A, but when combined with other compatible substances, reputed for their anti aging affects, DMAE can bring about pleasant changes. Since sagging of skin is one of the most common signs of aging, reversing it just a bit can yield greater results without the risk and expense of surgical face lift or Botox injections.

I have used DMAE in products that were premade and have made my own products using DMAE as part of the formula. Results have been good, but it takes a while to notice a difference. I am fortunate in my ability to get DMAE and blend it as I wish, with other premade creams that are less expensive and serve as suitable bases for my own, personal DMAE face cream.

If you are interested in trying some yourself, let me know!

What's That on Your Face?

It's fun reading all the great reviews on skincare items. They talk about the price, how smoothly they go on, and other issues that don't really get to the heart of the matter; what's in that stuff and what is it supposed to do?

That's something I always want to know when choosing a skincare item or a cosmetic product. Since I take the time to carefully choose mineral make up for my face, I spend the same time selecting the proper skincare product. I have to know what is in it because price isn't a very good indicator of what is actually going to happen. Many times the ingredients are the same, regardless of price.

I am here to share what I find out about all the luscious creams and serums we use daily to hide signs of aging, treat fine lines and wrinkles, treat our dark under eye circles, and conceal our flaws. Stop by often to keep up on my discoveries.