Blemish Treatment That Works!

I must say I don't have acne prone skin and thankfully I never have. But once a month I'll always get a few pimples and always in the most visible spots...of course. As a teenager I've learned that piling on makeup just makes it worst.  On my quest to treat these little invaders, I've gone through countless "blemish" products, that either kind of work or just don't. Well, this pink little bottle of goodness does it's job and does it well! Indie Lee's Blemish Lotion is just perfect!

Why I love it: 

- With 8 ingredients it's 100% natural which is one of the most important things for me when it comes to skin care. (All the ingredients are basically natural antiseptics, some with drying properties and others have nourishing and repairing properties)

- It's an over night treatment that only take seconds to apply

- It reduces redness and inflammation

Disclaimer: This product does not get rid of pimples overnight...I don't believe any product does. But it DOES help the healing process and reduces the amount of days of having to deal with a visible and painful intruder. 

How to use it:

Make sure to let the bottle sit in an area that is doesn't get moved too much because the alcohol and pink paste are meant to separate. If it does end up mixing just wait for the product to settle. After it's separated dip a cotton swab into the sediment and apply on to affected areas. I like to do it overnight and let it do it's job, or you can let it sit for a few hours if your at home and then wash it off. 

"Where do I get it?!"

You can get it online at www.indielee.com OR I got mine at The Detox Market in Toronto which is where I discovered this wonderful skin care company!

Cosmania The Must Beauty Boutique to Visit in Amsterdam

During my amazing stay in wondrous Amsterdam, I was told by my housemate to visit her favourite beauty store Cosmania on a beautiful narrow street called Herenstraat filled with unique boutiques.
Following her advice I biked my way over to the Jordaan District(my favourite) where there is a new generation of occupants: artists, students and young entrepreneurs.

Entering Cosmania you automatically feel a sense of comfort, as you clearly see all the products displayed in a minimalistic and simplistic manner. Brands are separately displayed together on wooden selves with testers on the bottom. The front of the store mostly caters to hair and body products, then as you walk farther into the store it fazes into skin care and makeup. The modern feel of the boutique is accompanied by cool house music playing in the background.

A beautiful detail I love about this boutique is that because it caters to both women and men it has a unisex feel to it, so men, want to pick up something nice for yourself or your lady? Don't hesitate to head on in.

A little bit about Cosmania...

The creators of Cosmania, Marije Hoff and Marcel Dekker call themselves "self-confessed cosmaniacs".  A clearly charismatic team Marije and Marcel have a passion for foreign products, beauty, photography, design and fashion which is clearly displayed in their beautiful boutique.  Having years of big companies under their belt such as L' Oreal, Lancome, Biotherm and Oillily the two decided to embark on their own private cosmetic company that caters to both women and men that have a love for beautiful beauty brands. Starting out as an online store celebrating their 4th year, the boutique in Herenstraat has now been open for a year and a half.

I had the honour of meeting with one of the creators, Marcel. Speaking with Marcel was a pleasure as he told me about his and Marije's background and about combining their passions, fashion with cosmetics. As well as bringing international beauty brands to Dutch consumers with affordable pricing.

Myself with one of the founders Marcel

Cosmania carries beautiful, special and affordable international products that you can mostly only find in Cosmania. I love that their products have quality and integrity keeping with the brand's philosophy. With plans of expanding throughout Holland, Marcel gave me some very good tips about being an entrepreneur. Follow your passion, follow a business plan, REVISE the business plan and most importantly stay consistent!

This is defiantly a must visit store for all beauty lovers....

Here are a few of my favourite products from Cosmania:

Inglot Makeup

Korres Fig Body Butter

John Masters Organics Hair Products

If you are ever in Amsterdam, be sure to visit this wonderful store!

Winter. One Easy Step to Protect Your Skin.

Everyone's skin takes a bit of a beating in the area of hydration in the winter. Keeping your skin from flaking and getting dry has proved to be a bit of a challenge and taking a bit more time and effort with your skin care routine. Even when inside, the dry heat can be damaging.

Like an answer to my prayers, I came across some advice to use primer in the winter to protect your face. In the winter, I would normally set aside my primer because I don't quite need it because my skin isn't as oily, so my makeup stays in place all day without it. 

As my Torontonian readers know, the past couple of weeks have gone down to -20C, so it was the perfect time to test this theory. Before trying out this theory I would find my skin being more red, irritated and dry than normal because of the cold.

After testing this theory for a few weeks, to my pleasant observation, my skin isn't as dry as before & redness and irritation has drastically decreased. Yet temperatures are still in the minuses!

Everyone has heard of primers, but what are they actually for? 

Primers are used as a base to created a layer between your skin and your makeup for a smoother application, to increase your makeup's longevity and some primers absorb your skin's oils, have SPF protection and some contain antioxidants such as A, C & E or grape seed or green tea extract. 

Most primers are silicone or water based. Some are tinted for colour correction and others can leave you with a pearlized finish. 

It usually takes a bit of time to find a primer that works for you and your skin. I've had a lot of difficulty because more primers cause me to break out, because come can really clog your pores. But I've finally found one that works for me and I've never broken out from and it's Arbonne's Makeup Primer.

 

So there you are my Nomadic Beauty readers, a little titbit for Beauty Monday! 

Nomadic Beauty

Beauty Monday: Skin Care, Winter Time, Changing It Up

So the cold and dry air are finally here! Yay!

If you haven't changed up your skin care routine from the summer time you might notice your products might not be working so well for you.

That's because winter is a bit more harsh on our skin. Even if you have an "oily complexion" your skin might be needing a bit more hydration than you think.

Things you might want to consider:

1. You might want to stop yourself from washing your face in the morning. As long as you've cleansed your skin the night before from your makeup, oils, outdoor dirt & pollution that your face has accumulated from the day before, you really don't need wash your face in the morning since all you did was sleep. Therefore instead for grabbing for your face wash in the morning, just splash your face with lukewarm water to wash off the residue of you night cream, so that you aren't striping your skin of your oils. And then proceed with your toner & day cream.

2. Example: If your skin care products are for "oily complexions" you might want to switch to "combination" if your using "combination" you might want to switch for "dry" skin. Really just upping your level of hydration.



3. Once a week do a hydration mask.

4. If you're finding your skin is a bit more flaky when putting on makeup, switch out your foundation for a tinted moisturizer or BB cream. And set with a powder foundation if you want a bit more coverage, if your happy with the coverage of the cream then just set it with you favourite setting powder.

Beauty Monday: "You can OVER exfoliate?!" Wait...what does stripping mean?

We are always hearing about exfoliating, but rarely does anyone ever explain what it does for the skin.

Exfoliating is meant for the removal of dead/dull skin, to unclog pores & speed up cell renewal. 

Caution: Before you go all scrub crazy, if your under the age of 30 I suggest exfoliating once a week. If you are over 30 you can go 3 times a week, as skin renewal does start to slow by that time. Over exfoliating can lead to stripping the skin causing breakouts and irritation. Of course,everybody's bodies are different so it might take a bit of trial & error to figure out what works for you. 

There are two ways to exfoliate, mechanically & chemically.

Mechanically:

Electronics -  One of the more popular ones at the moment that beauty bloggers and magazines have been raving about is the Clarisonic brush. And yes, I love it too. It's beautiful. Leaves the skin feeling so good and clean. It has one brush but the inside of it and onside of it revolve in opposite motions, creating 300 movements per second. It even has a timer of 30 sec. per facial part (forehead, nose & chin and each cheek side) get 30 seconds. It's great and because it is "gentle" I was using it every morning (bad idea). My skin became stripped (when your have taken off more natural oils of your skin than needed), I knew because I was breaking out more than usual & my skin became more sensitive. I gave my skin 1 month to recover, now, I use it once a week.

Scrubs: like a cleanser, come in either gel or cream form with abrasive materials in it such as sugar or salt crystals, micro-beads, crushed almonds sheds, ect. Likewise, use this once a week, I love Arbonne's Exfoliating New Cell Renewal scrub because you can also use it as a mask. Which is what I do with it once a week. But remember when using a scrub don't rub rigorously as it will irritate the skin because you are already using abrasive products on your skin already.

Chemically: These are scrubs that contain salicylic acid, aglicolic acid, fruit enzymes, citric acid or malice acid. Strong concentrations are used by medical professionals and in lower-concetrations sold over the counter. 

Hope this gives you a bit of insight on exfoliating and understand how it works and how much of it you should be doing. 

        Nomadic Beauty

Benefits of eye cream, the difference between eye cream & face cream.

Regardless of how old you are, skin care is extremely important. Cleansing (especially at night), exfoliating (ONCE a week if you're under the age of 30), and of course moisturizing.

We all know about face creams and more or less why we should use them. But what about eye creams? What's the difference? Until I started using an eye cream I struggled with dark circles under my eyes. Now, along with proper sleep and hydration, I don't need to use concealer anymore!

The skin around our eyes is much thinner than the rest of our skin, which makes it more delicate and prone to show signs of ageing. When the area underneath the eyes gets dark circles or puffy, it is a sign from our body that tells us we are dehydrated or not getting enough sleep. As a result, this area begins to age more quickly. Since it's the only place on the skin that doesn't contain oil glands, they need extra hydration, not only from drinking water, but topically as well. This is where the eye creams come in.

Eye creams contain more emollient than regular face cream (emollients help hydrate the skin and help keep moisture in). They also contain collagen, and antioxidants such as Vitamin C & peptides that aid in retaining collagen. You may also want to use an eye cream instead of your face cream under your eyes because some facial creams can contain ingredients that are too powerful for the delicate eye area. 

Tip: Apply your eye cream a few minutes before your makeup so that it can properly absorb into the skin .

I always recommend that you do research on your skin care products and make sure that they are safe for you. But here are two of my favourite products that I switch between:

I love the RE Corrective Eye Cream! Even though it's anti-aging it's still ok to use it under 30

It's a bit thicker & super moisturizing which I LOVE for the dryer/colder seasons.

I like this one for the warmer/humid months. It's not as thick but still packed with all the good stuff

& meant for the younger generations. 

Nomadic Beauty

“Why do I keep breaking out?! I can't figure out why!"

Listen to your body.

Here is are a series of questions to ask yourself when you notice that you are breaking out more than usual:

1. Is it my time of the month? Or close to it?

If it’s around 2 weeks before your period, chances are that hormonal changes are the main reasons causing you to break out.

2. Have I changed foundations?

If so, the new foundation that you are using may be too heavy for your skin, especially if your previous foundation was of a lighter formulation (silicon vs. water based). Another possibility to consider is that the new foundation contains a certain ingredient that your skin does not respond well to, in which case it’s signalling you to stop using it.
If you haven’t recently changed your foundation, then figure how long you’ve been using it for. If it’s been more than 2 years…THROW IT OUT, IT’S GONE BAD.

Note: Any creamy/liquid products have a shelf life of about 2 years. 

3. Have I changed my skin care brand or regime?

Any change of your skin care products or your regime MAY trigger a breakout. Sometimes when you switch to healthier products, your skin breaks out because it’s cleansing itself of toxins. If you’ve used your new products for a couple of weeks and you're still breaking out, the products might not be right for you and your skin. It’s a trial and error process. 

TIP: If you are trying out new products or switching regimes to improve your skin for a special event (even when getting advice from a professional), remember to do so at least 4 weeks prior to it. Everyone's skin is different, and what might work for one person may not be right for you.

4. Are there any changes to my daily routine, environment, food and/or emotions which can be triggering my body to react in a different way?

For example:
-Travelling (different time zone)
-Not getting enough sleep
-Not eating well (toxins in unhealthy foods cause breakouts)
-Healthy changes in eating habits (switching to a healthier diet plan may trigger you to breakout as a result of a cleansing process)
-Am I exercising more? (Wash your face immediately after sweating...sweat causes breakouts)

In the end, any changes that you go through on an internal or external level affect your body. Listen to what your body is telling you. Your body gives you signs and signals all the time, but your job is to take notice of them and make changes.

That’s all my loves. Please comment and like. I would love to know YOUR opinions.