Taking Care of the Largest Organ on your Body, your Skin. My Skin Care Revelation

I may be in the wellness industry, but until now, I have never really cared about my skincare. I had the random break out every now and then but never anything for me to worry about.

When I turned 30, my hormones decided to completely flip the script. I started to get common regular breakouts in the same areas that would then turn to dark spots because I couldn’t seem to keep my hands out of my face. I knew I had Oily skin especially in my T-zone but never knew there was such thing as Combination oily. I know, I know. I was definitely in the dark on some things. I started off using some products from Aveeno geared toward brightening to help fade some of the dark spots. I used it night and day later found out that it was too drying for my skin which caused my face to overproduce oil. I like the face wash, It produced a great lather so I still use it as a cleanser after I remove makeup. I don’t wear makeup every day, so use every now a then has seemed to be fine. I also used one of their sunscreens which I had to stop using completely. I was for sure clogging my pores. Once I stopped using it, my breakouts slowed down tremendously. I did not use a toner, I probably should have but I didn’t.

Fortunately for me, It didn’t take too long for me to find a product that worked well with my skin. Mario Badescu was the first product that I really researched and went and purchased. I knew it was going to take a while to really see results, but I felt that I saw results in the first week. I tried their Acne Starter Kit to help to stop the breakouts and get my skin back to a good place. One kit comes with a cleanser, toner, moisturizer, mask and an additional drying product. I used the mask a few times a week, about 2 times and a little goes a long way so it will take a while to use the entire product. Which is totally fine with me because it’s amazing. The kit basically is about a month’s supply if used 2x daily. Using the Acne Starter Kit was the right step to take at the beginning. It really helped with calming down inflammation and gave my skin a chance to heal and recover before another hormonal breakout.

After I finished the acne products, I decided to try the Combination Oily kit because my skin was in a good place for me to try and control the issue instead of repairing it. I absolutely fell in love with the Combo / Oily Regimen Kit. This kit also comes with a cleanser, toner, moisturizer, mask and one of my favorite night creams I will ever use. The night mask felt like silk when I put it on, it was so luxurious. It gives a nice subtle glow to the skin without feeling heavy. I will definitely be purchasing a larger size. Once I started using the Combo / Oily Kit, I’ve noticed a drastic change in my skin. A major decrease in breakouts and my dark spots have actually started to go away! I still get a random pimple around my cycle but they even are far and few between.

Overall, I am super satisfied with my results with this brand so far. Me being who I am, I have turned my nightly routine into a whole spa event! It’s very soothing and relaxing. It’s a new form of self-care that I can enjoy doing daily.

The Practice of Filling others from you Overflow.

You guys! LET. ME. TELL. YOU. WHAT!!! A sister got herself some braids and she is a new woman! Yes, ma’am! I am in complete love with braids! They are officially my go-to spring and summer hairstyle. The ease and convenience of them have been one of the best things for me. Not that I live a busy life or anything, but simply putting them into my jumbo bonnet at night, and waking up, taking off the bonnet, and going is something to be appreciated. I’m just saying.

Not only has having braids been a huge time-saver, but it has also been a major confidence boost as well. I have legitimately been owning my magic these past few weeks ladies. I know you know the feeling I’m talking about. You know when you just leave the nail salon, or the hair salon or buy a new outfit that fits you in all the right places. Yep, that’s the one.

Having braids reminded me that this kind of confidence is something that should be exercised all of the time. We have it in us but the cares of life will sometimes suck it out of you. As women, we have a tendency to give and give and not refill ourselves with the good things that we love. This is why we have to constantly be just as aware of keeping our cups full and pouring back into us, so we can continue to fill others. When we do that, not only are you giving from your abundance, but the abundance is full of love and joy because you are giving from a good place. You aren’t stressed or pulled in five million directions or feel the need to give out of obligation.

The goal is to fill others from your overflow. That being said, go get your nails done ladies. Go get your hair done. Read your bible. Take that bath in the middle of the day because you feel like it. Buy that lipstick in the shade you’ve been wanting to try. Or simply light some candles and put on your favorite music and just relax. This doesn’t have to be a difficult or expensive thing. Something that I actually want to do is start to read my bible every day. That is a HUGE factor in my life. I will save this for another blog post. I just encourage you to start that flow of consistent fill-up. You deserve it.

Self Care doesn’t stop during a quarantine. Trying Wax Hair Removal at home!

I recently purchased a home hair removal wax kit from amazon and these are my thoughts.

So I’ll begin with a little back story, I had laser hair removal about 7-8 years ago and I fell absolutely in love with the results. I had my full legs, underarms and partial bikini done and, I starting around last year, I’m just now really starting to get growth back. It literally cured any ingrown problems that may have been there It may be different for other people but I had very positive results. Now that I am starting to get more growth coming in I don’t want to purchase razors…I just don’t want to pay 6 dollars for a 2 pack of razors every few weeks. That’s just me. Now, do not get me wrong, razors are super convenient and I am not above buying my favorite razor if I have to get one. It’s the BIC Soleil Balance Disposable Razor and it is amazing. It has a built-in moisturizing shave bar and my skin feels great afterward. It gets a close shave with only one pass and my shave time is literally only 2 minutes if that. Granted, I have minimal hair growth from LHR, so it is what it is.

That being said I decided to invest in the next best thing in my books. Waxing. With waxing, I can get a good wax in and won’t need to shave for a few weeks. 3 at least. I went searching on Amazon and found the ILansley Waxing Kit. I tried it out for the first time a few weeks ago and started with the hair on one of my lower arms. Mainly to see if it would hurt and how long the hair could potentially stay gone. It’s been about 2 weeks and the hair is coming back in and it looks to be finer than before. So, that encouraged me to try to wax my whole legs.

My first step was to wait until the hair was long enough to wax. They say it should be about That felt like it too forever. I’ll say it took about 2 full weeks.

Photographer Narcissus Angel, talks the process of making major lifestyle changes and doing it for you.

Moment of Transparency. Please keep your negative comments to yourself. I am not interested.

I’ve been going through this phase in life where I’m taking responsibility for my own actions and not blaming anyone else for why I am where I am in life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not miserable in the slightest bit but I see room for improvement. I look back and can’t really remember ever really finishing anything. Other than High School of course, and Massage school, I have never really finished or seen something all the way through to the end. I would do the bare minimum required and anything over that just didn’t happen. On jobs, I would say “ Oh, I’m not going to get promoted anyway, why try? And guess what happened. I never got promoted. In school I never tried for the same reasons. Why? You can’t be smart. Unfortunately, this mindset carried over and showed in my life too. My mindset created a black hole of doubt where if I could have, I would have climbed into it and just disappeared. That was depression, that I didn’t want to admit. Thank God I didn’t stop there and let it continue to defeat me. I finally got the point in life where I questioned that there has to be more than what I’m experiencing. People all around me seem to be enjoying life and are living better so that means that I can too right?

Since that realization, I learned that we are the authors of our story. No matter how bad or good you were treated, or what anyone told you, you cant do, we can change our stories. I know it’s easier said than done but it’s possible. How exciting is that? We can change our futures and we can start now! Now it’s time to change that. Let's get more out of this beautiful life. As long as we are willing to work hard for the final product, you can do anything! We can do hard things and we can have the life we desire.

I just wanted to remind you, ladies, that if you don’t like what you see, you don’t have to settle for it. you can change it. We should do scary things. Doing scary things stretches us and builds our confidence. It helps us to grow. Wake up and start every day with morning affirmations of your greatness. You are worth it.

Let’s continue to fill our cups ladies so we can continue to pour into others from our overflow.