Current Morning Skincare Routine

Happy Wednesday!

This weeks post by request is my morning skincare routine!
Again I want to say that my skin type is combination, oily (mostly oily, occasionally dry spots). I have hormonal breakouts and some acne scarring. 

My morning skincare routine isn't much different from my night time routine. But I always, always wash my face morning and night! It makes such a difference in how makeup applies when you have clean skin. 

 If I'm showering in the morning I will use this face wash in the shower. If I'm not showering I will just use my Farm House Fresh One Fine Day Sugar Scrub. 

I've been using this Clear Pore Cleaner/Mask for years now! It works really well for every day use or as an intense mask. When you use this as a mask it feels very refreshing, almost cooling. It contains benzoyl peroxide acne medication. $6.79 at Ulta

 I use that Clear Pore face wash in combination with my Clarisonic Mia 2! I put about a nickel sized drop of my cleanser onto the brush head. 

I got this a few years ago and it's still working great. I think this has made a huge difference in my skin. It makes my skin so smooth. 

The Mia 2 has two speeds and a pulsing T-timer that tells you when to move to a different area of your skin. So I start on my chin and nose area until it pulsates, then I move to the forehead until it pulses again, then I move to one cheek area, then the next.

Even after using makeup remover and I use this Clarisonic, you can see on the brush head that I didn't get all my makeup off! I highly recommend a Clarisonic. 

Another nice thing about it is that it's waterproof so you can just keep it in the shower, and it comes in a ton of cute designs!  $149 online, Ulta, or Sephora

 Witch Hazel again! So after showering I put a little of this on a cotton pad (I prefer cotton pads over cotton balls so not to waste as much product) and apply all over my face. This is Dickinson's original witch hazel pore perfecting toner. $4.47 WalMart

 This is a new found love of mine.. The First Aid Beauty Daily Face Cream! I like using this in the morning because it makes my skin so soft, and so it helps with perfect makeup application. It absorbs really quickly and doesn't leave skin feeling greasy. I have oily skin so this is perfect for me! This is made for sensitive skin and is oil free. If you have really dry skin you might not like this product. I just use one pump. $20.00 at Sephora

 Then, just like at night time, I use these two in combination so that my lips are soft, smooth and ready for lipstick. This is my favorite lip scrub from LUSH, the Bubblegum Lip Scrub :) This stuff.. smells and tastes so good! I juse use about a pea sized amount and scrub with my finger all over my lips. Then you can just lick it off or wash it off. $9.95 at LUSH

Then I apply the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Lip Therapy. I love this stuff too! $12.00 at Sephora

 

Well that's it! After all this I apply face primer and makeup :) If you have any questions or any other requests comment below or on social media!
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Current Nighttime Skin Care Routine

This week I am talking about my nighttime skincare routine. I got a request for this so here you go! 

I just want to mention that I do not have perfect skin at all, I still get hormonal breakouts and sometimes dry patches. I used to have terrible skin and acne, so right now my skin is the best it's been since high school! I'm very happy with it right now! 

I have combination skin, my T-zone is very oily while other parts of my face can be dry. 

 So here's everything I use at night before I go to bed. This is my everyday nighttime skincare routine. Sometimes I'll change it up a little by using a mask, acne cream, or scar gel. But what you see here are my go-to products!!

This is Neutrogena oil-free eye makeup remover. It does an awesome job at removing waterproof mascara! I've been using this for years. I will say the knock off brand you can sometimes find at Walgreens works just as well. $7.99

First I remove my eye makeup. If I have false lashes on I will dip a q-tip into this makeup remover and rub onto the lash band until it loosens. Then I apply this makeup remover to a cotton pad and remove the remaining eye makeup.

These is the equate Original Clean Wet Cleansing Towlettes (with Vitamin E). These are very inexpensive and you get 60 wipes in each pack, and they come in sets of two packs. $5.97

After removing my eye makeup, I wet my whole face and use a towelette to remove most face makeup. These particular wipes aren't as wet as some other brands I've used, but with these you get the most bang for your buck.

This is the Farmhouse Fresh One Fine Day Shea Sugar Flawless Face Polish. This stuff is awesome and I really want to try more products from this brand! $25

I splash my face with warm water and then scrub my face with this product (make sure you have clean hands!). It smells really great! This product is for all skin types.

I use Dickinson's Original Witch Hazel pore perfecting toner to really get into those pores. This is 100% natural. You get 16 fl oz for so cheap! $4.47

Some negative things about this are that it doesn't smell good, and the bottle leaks when you travel with it. Other than that it's amazing!

To moisturize my skin I use Yes to Cucumbers soothing daily calming moisturizer (hypoallergenic, paraben-free, and 98% natural). $14.99

This moisturizer is a little more expensive but I only use just a tiny bit and it works great on my skin. I have some redness to my face so I love using anything with cucumber to sooth that redness.

To sooth my puffy dark eyes I use Yes to Cucumbers soothing eye gel (dermatologist tested, 99% natural product). $14.99

This is also kind of expensive but I just use a tiny bit every night. This bottle will last me for months.

Because I have some dark spots and scarring from acne I use Bio-Oil (PurCellin Oil). This is also good for stretch marks, uneven skin tone, aging skin, and dehydrated skin. $9.99 

This bottle is 2 oz, but also comes in larger sizes. I've had this bottle for quite a while because I only use a small amount on my face every night. I honestly think using this has significantly improved my acne scarring and actually helped with my oily skin. 

Even people with oily skin should use a skin oil. If you try to dry out your oily skin, your skin will only produce more oil to compensate. Read about using oil here.

To care for my chapped lips I use a lip scrub. This is the Santa's lip scrub from LUSH Cosmetics. This particular one was a limited edition and tastes and smells like Cola, but the Bubble Gum lip scrub is a favorite of mine as well. $9.95

The great thing about LUSH is that they don't test on animals and they really strive to use natural products and self-preserving products. 

To use this I will lick my lips so that the scrub sticks to them, then I apply a pea size amount of scrub with a clean finger to my lips. Scrub and then lick or wash off, this is safe to eat! 

Lastly I apply a lip balm. I just bought this Ultra Repair Lip Therapy balm by First Aid Beauty a while ago and I love it! $12.00 

I use this morning and night to soften chapped lips. It works really well in conjunction with the lip scrub! 

So there ya have it! That is my nightly skincare routine. I always, always take off my makeup before bed. I try to take really good care of my skin so it doesn't break out and stays as smooth and healthy as possible! 

I hope you enjoyed and learned something today! Have an awesome week! 

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How I Store my LUSH & Make it Last!

Hello loves!

Maybe some of you have noticed  that we love LUSH products. They have an amazing bath range and skincare. I have a really big stash at this point of bath bombs and bubble bars (especially after Christmas!!). I still have some products from last spring! I like to keep mine fresh, make them last more than one use, and mess-free but I'm still able to show off how cute they are when I want to.

Some of these bath products can be rather expensive, which I why I like to make them last for a few uses. Not to mention that I love every one of them and I don't want to use them too fast!
This is the limited edition holiday bath bomb, Cinders.

So, first you'll need zip lock bags, a sharp knife, a cutting board, and a hammer. I unwrap the bath product from the packaging it comes in if you order online. There should be a sticker on the product listing the name and ingredients. I take this off and place it on a zip lock bag so I don't forget the name of it.

First I'll show you how I break apart and store bath bombs (um parents permission if you are a youngin'!) I place the product on the cutting board to cut into a few pieces. This will really help you get a few baths out of the product instead of just one.

Decide how you want to break the bomb apart and place your knife on the point you want it to break apart. You will need to hold the knife there and gently hit the other end of the knife with the hammer until the bomb breaks apart. Most of them will break at that center point pretty easy.

Here you see my ugly hammer and knife with the broken bath bomb. I usually only break the bath bombs into two pieces because it can get too messy otherwise.

Now I'll take half of the bomb and put it in my bathtub :) And the other half will go into a ziplock bag. If you order LUSH online you will get a sticker with product details that I like to take off and put on the bag. If you buy LUSH in-store you won't get this sticker, but I will just label that bag with a permanent marker.

Now you are able to get two uses out of this bath bomb and keep the scent from mixing with your other bath bombs or fading. If your bath bomb breaks you wont have a huge mess either and there is no wasting product!









Now I'll show you how I break apart bath melts and bubble bars, they are much easier! I like to break these apart into four or more pieces because some of them are really big and a little goes a long way :)

This is a limited edition holiday bath melt called Snow Angel and OMG it smells amazing! Must-have!









So you'll still need a cutting board, sharp knife, and a ziplock bag.

Place the knife flat on the product where you want it to break and push down on the flat part of the knife with your hand until it breaks. Don't separate the product yet if you plan on breaking it again so you can break it pretty even.









So, rotate the knife where you want to break it again and repeat :) It is much easier to break these than the bath bombs.

Now take that sticker label or your permanent marker and label your ziplock bag and place your goodies in there until you want to use them again!

I have so many products in bags like this and they never lose their smell. However, I have to say that the products might still lose its color slightly.

Here you see the demonstration done with a bubble bar! This is another limited edition Halloween bar called Sparkly Pumpkin (given to me by none other than Paige because she is the sweetest ever)! 

 

Finally, I put my products into something cute like this storage bin from TJ Maxx (there are similar ones at Bed Bath and Beyond as well). I store mine personally under my sink because I have no other space! I would store this on shelves if I had a choice :) The products are cute enough to show off! Go check out LUSH! You will not regret it.

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Hello lovelies! It's bath time...
I have recently become a LUSHling. I discovered this company after watching some reviews of their products on YouTube. I was immediately interested in this brand and their values. They focus on using natural products, recycling, fighting animal testing, and charity. All of their products are handmade so each of them has their own unique qualities!
My Easter haul included just a few items I bought the Sex Bomb, Big Blue, and Pink Bath Bombs, Sunny Side, Dorothy, and Creamy Candy Bubble Bars, The Godmother soap, Bubble Gum lip scrub, Mask of Magnaminty, and lastly Angels on Bare Skin cleanser. I tried this Dorothy Bubble Bar first. Click on the image to see their site.

First of all I love the look of it (I want to eat some of their cute little products because they smell and look so good)! The scent of ylang ylang, sweet figs, and orange oil smells so clean and fresh. Honestly it's not my favorite scent compared to the others. It just smells really clean. It's also a good size.
I was able to cut this product into four sections and one section was enough for my bath tub (average sized tub). I put this product into a nylon sock (which a got for a few cents at WalMart) and tied it above the running water to ensure that every bit of it was dissolved. It made mounds of bubbles! The water turned a nice light blue and the scent was divine.The bubbles lasted the entire bath.

I have read that some of the bubble bars and bath bombs leave a residue in your tub, but there was not color left from this one in my tub. The water was also very moisturizing and I didn't even need to apply shaving cream to shave my legs. I would recommend using a half if you want a stronger scent and more color.

Dorothy worked amazingly well and will last me four baths. They don't lie when they say it will make mountains of bubbles! I noticed the scent stayed on my skin as well but I did lotion with a scented lotion after the bath. My skin was not dry after. The smell is not my personal favorite because I like the candy, sweet, citrus smells better. But when I showed my LUSH products to Paige & Lexie, this was Lexie's personal favorite!

Overall, this is a good product. I recommend visiting the LUSH website or their YouTube channel. These would make great gifts for any occasion and LUSH sends free samples with your purchase!

Follow the yellow brick road into a decadent bath Thanks for reading! This post is not sponsored.