My Steps to Happy Skin

I'm heading off to Oregon for the weekend, where it will hopefully be a lot sunnier than it is in California right now.  Anyways, today I thought it'd be fun to do a little skincare, both face and body, post with a little Etsy shopping thrown in.  Enjoy!


But of course first I had to put in some sparkly things.


OPI for Sephora polish in: 212-Sephora, Under My Trench Coat, and Lost Without My GPS, all $9 at sephora.com: I keep underestimating the OPI for Sephora polishes.  Some of them are actually quite lovely and unique, and yet I always tend to walk by them in the Sephora store. How gorgeous is this 212-Sephora polish?  It's a sheer black base with tons and tons of sparkles in different colors and sizes.  I think you guys know how much I love dark polishes with tons of sparkle.  It looks serious from far away, and then you get up close and it's a little fiesta on your nails.  Under My Trench Coat is such a unique color with such an adorable name. It's sort of a beige-khaki-grey with gold shimmer, and a really fun way to do a low-impact neutral that's not remotely boring.  Lost Without My GPS is another candidate in my search for the perfect summer mani-pedi nail color, a lovely red-orange creme with a bit of a vintage feel.

All Pink Dandy: Pucker Up Lip Balm in Latte, $3.50 at etsy.com, Sugar Glow Deluxe Body Scrub in Guava Fig, $10.50 for 8 oz. at etsy.com, Deep Conditioning Organic Hair Mask in Vanilla Noir, $7 at etsy.com: I love Etsy.  I love it for clothes, jewelry, shoes, and also beauty products.  Etsy is a treasure trove for adorable little cosmetic niche brands with fab scents and great packaging.  My newest obsession: Pink Dandy.  Slightly retro, cute-as-can-be packaging with a wide range of products and scents, and mostly vegan, nasty chemical free products.  The lip balm comes in fun flavors, like Latte and Buttercream, and combines a moisturizing formula with a hint of color.  The sugar scrub has scents like Guava Fig (delish!), is a great value, has a ton of essential oils for hydration, and seems to have sprinkles on top.  Like a cake!  A sugary cake!  So CUTE.  I'm always a sucker for hair masks, and this one comes in Vanilla Noir scent and it's organic.  Who doesn't want their hair to smell like vanilla musk?





Whipped Satin Luxury Cream in Red Apple, $7.50 at etsy.com, Foaming Bath Whip in Hello Sugar, $10 at etsy.com, Tropical Paradise Fruit Enzyme Face Soap Bar with Pineapple, Papaya, and Pomegranate, $4.50 at etsy.com: That body cream looks so fluffy!  I know it's overfilled, but that definitely looks like it will keep your arms and legs moisturized for days.  The red apple scent sounds perfect for summer, too.  I'm intrigued by these bath whips.  They seem to be highly concentrated, moisturizing shower gels, which sounds like a great alternative to the usual high-lather, low-moisture drugstore shower gels.  Hello Sugar also sounds like the ideal morning wake-up scent, with it's mixture of lemon, shortbread, and spices.  Last but not least, there's this fab handmade soap.  The pomegranate is a great anti-aging ingredient, and the papaya and pineapple are full of lovely, exfoliating enzymes.  $4.50 for a soap that hydrates, cleanses, and exfoliates is a pretty fab deal.

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, $11.49 at drugstore.com, Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10, $5.99 at drugstore.com, Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream, $13.49 at drugstore.com: With all this talk about skin care, I thought I'd take a moment and update you guys on what I was using for skincare.  I have pretty typical late teenage skin: dry in some places, oily in others, hormonal breakouts with some just generally clogged pores.  I had a lot of issues with my skin in highschool, mainly due to an ill-fated idea to rub Vitamin E oil on my face every night and then a bad relationship with Retin-A Micro (BAD NEWS BEARS), but I've finally managed to get all the craziness under control.  Here's what works for me: I stick with a really basic cleanser, generally this Cetaphil Gentle Skin cleanser.  It won't remove makeup, but it manages to clean my skin without stripping it dry, which is really all that I want.  I follow that up with a prescription benzoyl peroxide cream, but this Clean & Clear gel is a good substitute.  I like benzoyl peroxide.  It's old school, it's simple, and it really works to prevent breakouts.  I top that all off with this Cetaphil cream.  It's a lot more moisturizing than the Cetaphil cream, it doesn't break me out, and it doesn't make me oily.  It's basically my ideal lotion, and you get a LOT for the price.  Then, whenever I need extra exfoliation (I'm huge on exfoliating, it seriously cuts down on breakouts and scarring), I use either this Freeman mask, for gentler exfoliation, or this St. Ives mask for problem days.  As for the hormonal breakouts, I'm a huge fan of Yaz.  I know birth control doesn't work for everyone, but it has all but eliminated my breakouts and if you suffer from that fab monthly breakout, I highly recommend it.

Image Sources:
OPI polish: 212-Sephora: stephscloset.com, Under My Trench Coat: stephscloset.com, Lost Without My GPS: stephscloset.com, Pink Dandy: lip balm: etsy.com, sugar scrub: etsy.com, hair mask: etsy.com, body cream: etsy.com, shower whip: etsy.com, soap: etsy.com, Cetaphil cleanser: drugstore.com, Clean & Clear gel: drugstore.com, Cetaphil moisturizer: drugstore.com.