Glow Recipe Avocado vs. Watermelon Sleeping Mask

I got a lot of questions about which one is right for you. People are wondering if they should pick up the Avocado or the Watermelon sleeping mask (UH... I would say, get  both if you can ;P)

Similarities: 
These are BOTH products for hydration and work overnight to help give you a nice exfoliation your skin glow in the morning. They are both great for uneven texture and dullness of skin.

Now for the differences: 

The Watermelon Sleeping Mask - for me, is best used during warmer weather when I have oily skin. This is more of a oil free, gel like formula that is more lightweight and bouncy. It provides AHA to gently exfoliate off your dead skin cells to give you the glow you want! It is packed with hylaronic acid and watermelon extract to add hydration to plump up the skin! Your skin will be hydrated, soft & smooth, and brighter.

The Avocado Sleeping Mask - is good for all skin types, but best for more dry skin. For me, this is the perfect mask for the wintertime! This is a more creamy texture, that adds a bit more thickness and depth into your hydration. It adds avocado to add that dense hydration (and collagen). This also exfoliates, but instead of AHA, it has PHA (which are larger in molecular size, so it works more closely to the surface of your skin rather than the deeper layers of your skin). It also has kaolin clay and manuka honey to help pull out impurities of your skin while providing soothing properties for stressed out skin. Your skin will be hydrated, smooth, brighter, but also firmer (since it also helps with the elasticity of your skin)

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So for me, it depends on how my skin is. When it's oily, the Watermelon sleeping gel provides a better hydration without my skin feeling greasy in the morning. The Avocado one is way more creamy and intense in the hydration and does a more gentle exfoliation on the surface on my skin to help with my eczema that might flare up during the cooler weather.

You can purchase both products at sephora here or here or on the glowrecipe site :) Will you be picking any of these products up?? :)

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What's NEW at Wander Beauty!?

I recently went to a Wander Beauty event and they just launched their NEW No Days Off Discovery Kit! This is their new kit that features 3 new products of beauty essentials for on the go -- especially when you have no days off!

It includes:
-a mini Drift Away Cleanser (1oz) This is a gel-to-foam cleanser that cleans makeup and impurities gently to give a double cleansed effect to nourish and revitalize all in one step.

-mini Dive In Moisturizer (.67oz) This is a 72 hour moisturizer (WHAT?!). It packs in Pentavitin and 13 fruit extracts to hydrate, brighten and protect for healthier looking skin.

-mini Extra Mileage Hair Refresher (.94oz) THIS I WILL NEED A FULL SIZE!!! lmao. This is so innovative! This is a liquid hair refresher that has silica powder so it duals as a hair texturizer and kind of like a dry shampoo to help keep you fresh -- especially after a work out or what not! I tried this after the workout and I did NOT look sweaty or greasy at all!!!

-the cutest clear, peach and gold (with words "no days off") cosmetics pouch

Testing the products out - so I can't wait to let you know how they are! Already love the cleanser and hair refresher, but have yet to try the moisturizer!!

Currently this item is not out yet, but it will be $38 and you can pre-order!

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Drunk Elephant A-Passioni Retinol Cream

OOOOOK - this new highly anticipated retinol cream from Drunk Elephant arrived as a fun little gift the day after Christmas .. and I've been testing it out for a couple weeks and I'm ready to give you my thoughts!

First off, I want to mention, I've tried some retinols in the past and it has been a disaster for me. So much that I feel scared to try retinols! I must've also been young and dumb, because anytime I've tried them my face would peel and get very sensitive, so I'm always weary of how much I put. Mind you, I have combo oily skin (sometimes combo dry in the winter), and it is not sensitive (except for my eye area).

So insert the DE A-Passioni Retinol cream! I've been into Drunk Elephant for some time now and I legitimately get excited any time they come out with a new product. So this new product is a Retinol cream that is a CLEAN product that has 1% vegan retinol to diminish fine lines, wrinkles and sun damage.

According to the website, here are some of the highlighted ingredients in this product:

- 1.0% Retinol: Improves the look and feel of uneven skin tone and texture and addresses the damage from daily exposure to UV rays, pollution, or other free radicals.- Triple Peptide Blend: Helps visibly firm and strengthen, boosting the visible results of retinol.- Vitamin F: Works to improve the appearance of texture and suppleness and calms signs of sensitivity.

Also, to go over what these ingredients do:

 Retinol and supportive peptides restore bounce, resilience, and clarity to skin while helping to even tone and texture without redness and irritation. Vitamin F and a curated blend of oils replenish lipids and moisture while antioxidant-packed ingredients defend against environmental stressors.

Now for my experience:

They said to start 1-2 times per week and then increase from there. It also says to use a pea size amount, so I also started with less than that. In addition, they recommend mixing with an oil or serum if needed - I did, because it allowed a bit more of a 'buffer' for when I was putting the retinol on my face. (Can you tell how worried I was to try this? LOL)

On the first day, I put half a pea size with the B Hydra Serum and the Marula Oil. When I placed it on my face, it gave a slight tingle, but nothing my face wasn't used to. When I woke up, my skin did not feel dry or peely like past retinols, but I didn't see any visible differences in my skin.

Here's the mix of products I tend to use: Marula Oil, B Hydra (white bottom right) and a tiny pea size of the retinol. When I felt like I was putting more retinol, I added the protini peptide cream.

I wanted to try again after 2 days, so on the third day as I looked at my skin, it looked smoother.. seems to continue to heal as the days go on! So on the third day, I tried again and mixed it with B Hydra, Marula Oil and the Protini Peptide cream, but I used a little bit more of the Retinol. Still a bit of tingling, but no burning or worrying sensation. I woke up the next morning, skin looked good! smooth and a bit more radiant.

I continued this routine for 2 weeks and I will say that I have had NO peeling (because I was very careful and really started with a little bit to work my way up.) I want to try and use it more because I know that this is a WAY effective product... however, I also know if I increase too quickly, my skin won't be accustomed to it and it may peel and be dry.

The only thing that I've had trouble with is the packaging. I know that the foil packaging was designed specifically to help the product keep better and what not, but even with squeezing from the very top, I find that the product starts to come out of the tip. Because of that I'm scared as I continue to use it, I might end up wasting product because I use such a small amount at one time.

Long story short -- a little bit goes a long way, but this stuff has been ROCKING so far! Not sure if it's because of the mix of products, or because this has more hydrating ingredients or because this is Drunk Elephant, but this is the first time I've used retinols for more than a week without it peeling on my skin. <3

This product costs $74 for 1oz and you can purchase it at Sephora or Drunk Elephant. (And mine even came with a mini B Hydra to get ya started!!!)

Have you ever tried Retinols? What are you thoughts!?

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Glow Recipe Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask

With winter in full force, my skin's a mess! It cant handle the weather changing and my skin has been patchy and oily and dry and all sorts of strange things. When I heard about the Glow Recipe Avocado Melt Sleeping Mask, it sounded like a great item to try.

The new Glow Recipe Avocado Sleeping Mask is a creamy mask with avocado, honey and PHA to moisturize dry, dull skin overnight! It's a super rich cream that helps with dryness, dullness, uneven texture and loss of firmness and elasticity.

From sephora.com - here are the ingredients in product:

Highlighted Ingredients:- Avocado: Helps provide hydration and support natural collagen.- Manuka Honey: Provides antioxidants and soothing properties to refresh stressed out skin.- PHA (Polyhydroxy Acid): Provides a gentle exfoliation while you sleep.- Kaolin Clay: Pulls impurities from the skin without causing redness or irritation; and absorbs excess oils, decongests pores, and diminishes shine. 

Ingredient Callouts: Free of sulfates SLS and SLES, parabens, formaldehydes, formaldehyde-releasing agents, phthalates, mineral oil, retinyl palmitate, oxybenzone, coal tar, hydroquinone, triclosan, and triclocarban, and contains less than one percent of synthetic fragrances. This product is also cruelty-free.

To me, it sounded like the perfect thing for my skin - it encompasses everything I needed for my dry but oily skin. It has products to help hydrate and plump (avo and honey), but also had products to exfoliate and pull out impurities (PHA and Clay).

I've tried it about 4 times. This product is to be used about 2-3x per week. After my whole skincare routine (double cleanse, essence, serum, moisturizer + oil), I used the spatula to scoop out some product. They say to use just a dime size (and do just use a dime size, because the first time I used too much) and I tap it onto my skin. This product was so thick and creamy and didn't slip and slide on my face.

It melted into my skin and absorbed pretty quickly, so I knew I wouldn't have a problem with the product getting all over my pillow. I could feel a slight tingling sensation which I supposed was the PHA (YASSS). When I woke up and washed my face, the first thing I noticed was that my skin did not feel dry or tight (hydration centrallll!). I also noticed that my skin patches had diminished a bit and were smoother. My skin also felt smoother and brighter. I will also say, that I saw some teeny "pimple" looking things around my chin area, and my guess that it was helping to purge out impurities. This did not scare me because this tends to happen to my skin a lot when I try new products that help to "clean out" my pores. It also clears up within a couple of days. 

By the 3rd use, my skin patches were still visible, but also visibly smaller. My skin had no more break outs and seemed plumper (although sometimes its hard to tell because my skin is always plump in the morning because I'm probably all swollen from all the drooling and sleep lmao). My favorite part of this product was seeing my hydration levels increase and seeing my skin looking brighter. It seemed less uneven and dull, which is my biggest problem in the winter.

Overall, I really enjoyed this product! I think that it's definitely worth trying. If you have sensitive skin, I would definitely get a sample to try on a patch of skin because if the PHA tingled on my skin, chances are someone with sensitive skin's reaction will be stronger.

You can purchase it here at sephora or on the glow recipe site for $45 for 80ml of product.

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5 Products/Brands that Gave me Confidence in 2018

Here they are - 5 products that gave me confidence in the 2018. These are products that I'm for sure bringing into the new year... and probably longer. These are products and brands I found that have really changed my thoughts about myself.

1. Too Faced Multi Sculpting Concealer - This has single-handedly changed my makeup look. I haven't been able to find a more hydrating, high coverage concealer that stays on my oily, but dry and patchy skin. You only need a little bit, and it doesn't cake under my eyes (like other super high coverage concealers) and makes my skin look brighter and more awake.

2. L'oreal Unbelieva-Brow Longwear Brow Gel - This was a love/hate product at first, but after I got over the learning curve, THIS PRODUCT CHANGED MY BROW GAME! usually my brows are pretty solid, but throughout the day if I sweat or touch any part of my brow, it starts to shift... but this product..! Once it dries, it DOES NOT move. It's so good, you HAVE to use an oil product to clean it off. It comes with a separate brow brush, which took a bit of trial and error to get it to shape my brows correctly. I would say this takes as much practice as it does getting a perfect eyeliner wing! Let me know if you guys want a tutorial -- SO GOOD!

3. Jouer Rose Gold Palette - This is unlike any other palette I've used. It's not overwhelming with only 12 colors, but the palette that it offers is so beautiful. It allowed me to do my usual day looks, but allowed me to experiment with a couple new colors. It was the first time I didn't feel intimidated to try new colors with my old and after a while, I started using colors I wouldn't necessarily use and people were complimenting me on my looks.

4. Drunk Elephant - This brand was introduced to me this year and it, along with some other products have really changed my skin. Being Clean beauty - it's free of fragrance, essential oils, etc... it's non-toxic, healthy for your skin... and my skin was happy for it. With a regimen of all Drunk Elephant, my skin began to clear and change (first it purged and broke out a bit). The products that I LOVE LOVE are the framboos glycolic night serum and the protini peptide moisturizer. They really work for my combination skin!

5. Fresh Beauty - I've always LOVED fresh beauty but these two products.. not sure if it's one, the other or the mixture of both have really made my skin so supple, plump and hydrated. The Fresh Rose Toner and the Fresh Kombucha Treatment Essence made such a great duo for my skin. Because of both thin formulas, it allows the product to really skin deep down into my skin. I'm seriously obsessed and am not sure I can stray from these two products!

What are some products that you're bringing in from 2018?! :P

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