The Beauty Lab - Where Beauty Junkies Experiment

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As a fanatic of home remedies, I was very excited to learn about the health and skin benefits of apple cider vinegar. I always thought of apple cider vinegar as only a weight loss aid, but it actually does a lot more than that.

Ph balance is really important in maintaining a good complexion, but it is disrupted by our lifestyle of poor diet, drinking alcohol, smoking, dehydration, etc. Not only that, but many soaps we use tend to be more alkaline which can affect our natural balance. Apple cider vinegar can help with that. I use a toner made of 1 part vinegar and 2 parts water in the evening. Yes, it does stink, but it's a sacrifice that I'm making for a better complexion. haha. I also put a teaspoon in a cup of water and drink it 2 times a day. I even got my mom to do this, and she went out and bought five bottles of organic apple cider vinegar! She is noticing less whiteheads and blackheads. After researching many kinds of apple cider vinegar, many people have suggested to use Bragg's organic brand. Good luck!

Here's some links where I got my information from :

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/applecidervinegardiet/a/applecidervineg.htm

http://www.global-anti-aging.com/phbalance.html

Labels: apple cider vinegar, ph balance, skincare, weightloss

♥saysay on 3/12/2012 01:55:00 PM

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Nice one, Say! Welcome back to blogging! =P

By Eve Villain, at Tue Apr 10, 12:42:00 AM PDT

Hey Say! How about some visual aid. We wanna see that beautiful face of yours. =)

By Eve Villain, at Tue Apr 10, 12:54:00 AM PDT

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OK, so the latest thing I've bought is yet another Philosophy product. It's called the Supernatural poreless, flawless tinted SPF 15. It's basically a foundation primer/ mattifier.
The verdict? It's great! I love it. Say got me Photofinish by Smashbox last Christmas, another primer. That did do the job of giving my skin a matte finish. However, the Supernatural seemed to give a soft focus effect on my skin. I use it under my BareMinerals makeup.
Sometimes I wonder though. Am I basically just putting on regular makeup, just in seperate steps?
Anyway, I bought the Supernatural poreless, flawless tinted SPF 15 at drugstore.com for 30 bones. It had some enticing reviews. They had a special where if you spend $40 on any Philosophy product, they give you 8 ounces of Purity Made Simple for freezee. I also bought Makeup Optional for congested skin. More on that later. That special could still be going on so check it out if you're interested.

Labels: ALL, designer makeup, Philosphy, skincare

♥Eve Villain on 6/16/2008 10:20:00 PM

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It's really confusing deciding which cosmetics are right for us thanx for making it a little bit easier

By Anonymous, at Mon Oct 13, 06:29:00 PM PDT

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To the new Neutrogena product called the Wave. I saw the commercials with Vanessa Hudgens and saw some reviews online. It looked pretty interesting, so I went out and got one from Target for about $11. It's a little vibrating device (no, not like the one under your bed... hehe) that you turn on to deep cleanse your face. Here's what Neutrogena claims their little Wave can do:
the gentle vibrations help open pores so the foam can penetrate deeper to remove more dirt, oil, and make up
cleans 10X deeper than traditional face washing
comes with textured pads to remove layers of dead skin cells - leaving 100% of girls with softer, smoother skin after just ONE use.
so gentle, you can use it every day
if you use it every day, your skin will start to produce less oil
The pros: The steps to using this little thing is quite easy. It comes with 14 pads that you attach to the head of the device. Put under running water to activate the soap. Then, turn it on and massage over face!
I liked the Wave, because it feels really good when it vibrates your face. It really does feel like there's more circulation and deep cleans. My skin did get softer after the first use.

The cons: I didn't know how to remove my eye makeup! It says to avoid eye areas, but ummm how am I supposed to remove my eye makeup?? I tried to remove my eye makeup with this thing, and it made my eye sting so bad!! (don't try this at home)
You have to buy refills for the pads. But if you think of it this way, it's like buying new face wash every 30 days (refills are pack of 30).

How I really feel: I would compare this to a vibrating toothbrush. You don't really need it, and it doesn't help TOO much, but it's nice to have! It feels good using it :)

Rating:3 out of 5

Labels: ALL, cleansers, face wash, makeup remover, massage, neutrogena, products tested, skincare

♥saysay on 2/25/2008 12:32:00 PM

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I think these types of products are fascinating. Have you tried out Dove's SkinVitalizer? I think it's similar to the Wave. I haven't tried it myself, but I'm always tempted to. You can find a $3.50 coupon on their website: http://www.dove.us/your_face/default.asp

By Anonymous, at Fri Feb 29, 08:57:00 AM PST

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The bad news is that it's 20 bucks for an 8oz bottle. The good news is it works. This stuff is good! I'm glad I gave Purity Made Simple a chance. Philosophy's facial cleanser and makeup remover in one makes washing my face a really enjoyable experience. And no, nobody paid me to say that.
I almost bought the stuff sometime ago because it got such great reviews on drugstore.com. By the way, drugstore.com and beauty.com are great places to order beauty products online. You can rate and review products as well as read other people's reviews. But I guess online reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that most reviews may be fake and written by marketers.
Anyway, I didn't go through with ordering it and finally caved at Sephora the other day. I'm pretty impressed. My skin felt so clean, refreshed and soft. I massaged it in all over my face as well as over my eyelids and it removed ALL my makeup. LOVE IT! It's expensive, but if it actually improves my skin, then it's worth it! I'm so sucked in, I recently ordered Philosophy Save Me, a nighttime skin treatment. I won't even tell you how much that was yet. I also want to try their Makeup Optional Skincare Kit. If you've tried any of these products, please share your thoughts. I'll be testing Save Me out and writing about it soon.

Product: Philosophy's Purity Made Simple

What it is: Facial cleanser & makeup remover in one step

I loved: It really removed all makeup. It makes my face feel so soft and clean that I look forward to using it.

Not too crazy about: The PRICE! I'll let you know how long this $20 8 ounce bottle lasts me.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Labels: ALL, cleansers, face wash, Philosophy, products tested, skincare

♥Eve Villain on 2/23/2008 04:42:00 PM

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When I saw this product, my jaw dropped. Bare Escentuals (Bare Minerals) has it all! First of all, if you haven't read my article about BareMinerals, you must. Their product works really well! Now, they came up with Blemish Therapy. It's a super concentrated and effective acne treatment. It's clinically proven to quickly and effectively heal and treat blemishes. It's natural and non-irritating of course. The best part about this acne treatment? The powder has a tint that neutralizes the look of your pimples!! You can use it overnight or during the day under your make up. I'm definitely getting this thing ASAP! I'll update on this product after I try it.

Labels: Acne, ALL, Bare Escentuals, Bare Minerals, designer makeup, Pimples, skincare, Treatment

♥saysay on 2/06/2008 12:59:00 PM

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ohhhhhh~

tell me if it works!

i tried to use bare minerals before but it didn't cover EVERY blemish.but i guess i just have REALLY bad skin.so bare minerals doesn't cut it for me.i need bare minerals magnum extreme or something.

anyways,
this is my daily routine now.ciaoo.

By Anonymous, at Thu Feb 07, 03:22:00 PM PST

Bare minerals doesn't cover everything!! Don't get me wrong... But, it comes with a concealer brush that you can cover your blemishes with!

By saysay, at Thu Feb 07, 04:22:00 PM PST

I'm going to buy myself some BareMinerals right now! heheh That's what I'm treating myself to for Vday. Although, I am worried about coverage. This is purely a powder thing right? There's no liquid or cream concealer involved?

By Eve Villain, at Thu Feb 07, 04:45:00 PM PST

No... it's pure powder... but the way you "conceal" is by dipping the concealer brush into the powder and cover your blemishes or spots individually after you put the powder all over your face...

By saysay, at Thu Feb 07, 04:49:00 PM PST

That's definitely a good trick. My sister used to tell me to use the concealer brush with Mac StudioFix and it worked so well. StudioFix was really good for coverage - a little too good. I guess my face needed to breathe a little. *Sigh* If only we could have makeup that gives you great coverage and a flawless finish AND be good for your skin. The holy grail of makeup!

By Eve Villain, at Thu Feb 07, 04:58:00 PM PST

I have a huge pimple on my nose, can guys use it too?? let me know...hehe

By Master Wong, at Fri Feb 08, 10:15:00 AM PST

Yes, guys can use it too!! Don't worry.. I'll help you out boo~ haha

By saysay, at Fri Feb 08, 04:14:00 PM PST

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I ran across this email that Sephora sent to me, and Skyn Iceland is coming out with a new cream this spring. It's made with aloe and hydrolyzed rice proteins basically helping out irritated and sensitive skin. The craziness to this cream?? It's packed with peptides that stimulate endorphins (natural happy messengers like the ones your brain stimulates when you jog or something)! So your skin will literally FEEL GOOOOOD~ Can't wait to try it! The company is Skyn Iceland. The product is called Pure Cloud Cream. It just sounds relaxing, doesn't it?

source: www.sephora.com

Labels: ALL, skincare

♥saysay on 1/16/2008 04:19:00 PM

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Since we are in the topic of Diet and Skin, I wanted to elaborate on that a little more. I know most of us girls take care of our skin very well. It's not that hard, right?? You wash your face, tone your skin, and lastly, moisturize! But why the hell do I still break out?? I'm starting to realize more and more that the problem lies within. Eating healthy and having a fitness routine and blahblahblah is the obvious. Yes, I know I should eat apples instead of Doritos but Sally here is eating a bag of Cheetos everyday and has perfect skin.

This might be an explanation to why this happens and no, it's not because we live in an unfair world. EveVillian posted below that she turns red when she drinks alcohol and that might contribute to her "new friend." People with bad liver do not take alcohol well. They turn red, temperature rises, eyes swell, etc. I can speak for myself, because I am one of those unfortunate people that have a beer and people ask if I am wasted. LOL.

Anyways, back to the liver. The liver detoxifies the blood that comes from other parts of your body. Once it detoxifies, it sends the nutritional blood throughout your body. Well, the problem is that we eat and breathe so many toxins. Our poor liver is loaded with toxins and guess what happens?? It needs to release them! Do you realize how much toxins there are in processed foods? Once we stop eating all those junk foods, canned foods, and frozen foods, not only will we be helping our skin but also our lungs, colon and other less important parts of our body (Just kidding!)

Also, I always hear that hormones are a cause of acne... Well, how do I control my hormones?? That's the liver's job too! The liver regulates our hormones. People! We need to take care of our livers whether it be for our skin or for overall health reasons. I saw some supplements that we can take to help out our liver. I'm going to try this out and probably update on this post in a further time. Take daily supplements like Herbal Provider or any other liver supplements (tons to choose from online). Also, a 7 day liver cleanse from Herbaldirect.com (also tons to choose from).

For now, I'm putting those harsh products away and focusing on the inside.. Where it really matters.

Sources: Ezine articles. How does Acne Attack Your Liver? Wycliffe Williams.

Labels: ALL, diet, skincare

♥saysay on 1/14/2008 11:47:00 AM

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OW, my pickled liver! This brings alot to mind. First, there are many toxins that wear down your liver. There are the obvious ones like alcohol, but there's also fat and all that crap in over-processed food. Have you seen Supersize Me? The documentary where the main guy eats only Mcdonalds for a month? (Watch it! You'll stop eating fast food for a year.) Mr. Main Character almost got liver poisoning from all the fat he was consuming. It's not common, but it's possible!
Also, as you mentioned, Say -those toxins DO need to come out. If you've ever seen the movie Gia with Angelina Jolie, you might remember that towards the end, when she's finally trying to get clean from all the heroin she was doing, she started breaking out. She even says, herself, that it was her body trying to clean itself out.
It's almost like using a facial mask. They tell you to do it a week before and not the day before or day of a big event.
One more thing on this long-winded comment. If you smoke, try stopping for a couple days. Your lungs will try to clean itself out. (By the way, if you stop now while you're still young, your lungs can and will go to work to repair the damage done to your airways. As you continue to smoke, all that cilia that work as your personal air filter are frozen and useless, enabling all the crud to constantly build up in your lungs.) In other words, you'll be coughing more. That's another example of toxins coming out during the cleansing process.

By Eve Villain, at Mon Jan 14, 02:17:00 PM PST

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Does chocolate make you break out? My old boss never ate any chocolate because he said it made him breakout. I did some research on-line and the consensus is acne caused by chocolate (or any food) is a myth. More specifically, scientific research says that chocolate does not effect acne. Or maybe that's what the giant chocolate corporations want them to say! hmmmm.

One article I read suggests that foods high in carbohydrates may flare some people's acne. In theory, the high amount of carbs causes excessive production of insulin which in turn causes more and more insulin to be needed to assist glucose in cells or insulin resistance. Also, in females, the high insulin causes the ovaries to produce more testosterone which encourages acne. More points off for carbs!

I also suspect that a mild allergy is very possible. I think that a lot of people are unknowingly mildly allergic to chocolate and alcohol. I think I'm one of them too. I'm one of those people that get the sunburned look after a few drinks or get a new "friend" after eating too much chocolate.

The Acne Resource Center Online had some good news for me though. According to them, scientific research suggest that chocolate causes a boost of serotonin in the brain thereby causing a calm and stable feeling. They go on to say that if acne is caused by stress and chocolate reduces stress, it may actually be more preventative and not causative of breakouts. They also say that chocolate contains one-third the adult's daily requirement of antioxidants. Wow. That sounds too good to be true, but I think they mean DARK chocolate. Web-Md informs me that dark chocolate -not milk chocolate or white chocolate- contains potent antioxidants and may lower high blood pressure. You have to balance out the high calorie intake though. Also, I read that milk may actually interfere with the absorption of these antioxidants cancelling out the health benefits of eating dark chocolate. According to Web-Md, Researchers say eating a small 1.6 ounce bar of dark chocolate every day is good for you because it's packed with heart-healthy flaviniods.

Well, soon it's going to be Valentine's Day followed by Easter. Be prepared for all the chocolate hearts and bunnies! But since it's going to be there anyway, maybe we should test it out. Does dark chocolate cause breakouts?

You can buy this skin clarifying 1.79 oz. chocolate bar at Nordstrom's for 8 bucks!

Sources:

Dark Chocolate is Healthy Chocolate by Daniel J. Denoon

A Dark Chocolate a Day Keeps the Doctor Away by Daniel J. Denoon

The Chocolate and Acne Myth - Acne Resource Center

Acne Myths: Chocolate and Sex Causes Acne by Richard Thomas, M.D.

Borba Skin Clarifying Chocolate - by David Candyaddict.com

Labels: ALL, chocolate, diet, myths, skincare

♥Eve Villain on 1/13/2008 09:16:00 PM

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