FIRST IMPRESSION: The Body Shop's Tea Tree Skin Clearing Lotion

Happy Thursday guys!

Just a quickie post for you guys today! 

Yeaahhh definitely not to scale!

Last Sunday I ordered The Body Shop's Tea Tree Skin Clearing Lotion from Amazon and I got it on Tuesday. So far I've only used it twice but here is my first impression:

Product description from The Body Shop: "A light, non-oily moisturizing lotion for blemished skin. For use after your Tea Tree cleansing regime."


Smell: ★★★ It's little strong, especially when I first opened it. But when I put it on the smell vanishes, so it's all good after that.

Texture: ★★★★ Super smooth! It has the consistency of a 10% Benzoil Peroxide ointment (gaaah I hate that word!) It's also very cooling and feels very thin and light. 

Application: ★★★★★ Super easy to apply! It goes on smoothly and does not dry to quickly which is a plus in my book! Although I wouldn't exactly call it "moisturizing" it's not drying at all so it works great for my oily skin.

Price: ★★★ I bought this for $11 and its a 1 ounce bottle. Just a little ridiculous if you ask me, but I did see a couple reviews on their website that said it lasted a while. I guess we'll see how well it works! (It's actually on sale from $13 to $8 on The Body Shop's website but shipping is about $6)

Packaging: ★★★★★ The tube itself is great! Just a regular old tube. The labeling has a matte feel to it so that's new, and the cap it is easy to snap back on and it's not flimsy at all. 

Amazon's Packaging: 10 LOLs I know this has nothing to do with the product itself but look it what this tiiiny thing was delivered in? Made me laugh!

Hahaha

I hope you guys liked this, and see ya next time! J

MM

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The Procrastinating Beauty Blogger Tag!

Happy Wednesday!

I love writing, I really do but sometimes it just doesn't feel right. I've been working on the Dorm Tour post but it's turning out all weird and I don't really like it. Maybe I'll fix it for a later date, maybe not. But hey you win some you lose some right?

Anyway, I've had enough of wallowing so while I'm procrastinating on a reading for class tomorrow about Medieval Misogyny, I thought I'd do the Procrastination BB Tag! I found it on Beautyholics Anonymous, so heeeere we go!

1. Name a beauty regime that you rarely do?

Let seee, tweeze/shape my eyebrows! I know it sounds gross but I barely have any!! The hair is ridiculously fine so most people don't even notice the shape...so I've been told! They also have very odd shapes. My right eyebrow curves and the left has an arch...#awk

2. Is washing your make-up brushes something that you do regularly?
Haha no! It's actually pretty bad because I use the E.L.F Studio flat top for foundation, and I have two of them since they're so cheap (but great quality!) and my idea was that I'll use one until its dirty then use the other one while I give myself time to wash and dry the first....that has never happened. I use one until its dirty..then use the other one until its dirty...then I take the cleanest looking one and use wipes to get some of the makeup off...and yeah you know where this is going! Basically I do this until I'm breaking out like a crazy person and then I  realize that I should probably wash them. It's a really bad habit I need to get on top of this! 

I have been cringing the entire time while writing that!

3. How long will you last with chipped nail polish?

During the summer: a chip and it's off or fixed.

During the school year: I've gone weeks! It's the last thing on my mind so I generally ignore it. Lately though it's been bothering me, I don't like looking at it while I'm typing or writing. So for right now, maybe a week then I change it.

4. How long will you put off buying/replacing a beauty product, even if you need it?
If I need it, I'm usually pretty anxious to get my hands on it. The only time it will take me more than a week is if I'm insanely busy, broke, and/or not available on Amazon Prime.

5. What is your worst beauty habit?
Not cleaning my brushes! I also refuse to get my foundation matched at the counter because I once had  a lady apply my makeup at Macy's  for a fashion show of theirs and she made me look like luminous extra-dark chocolate. I'm black, but that was at least 3-4 shades darker than my skin tone. And she used Dermablend so my skin was unnaturally flawless and even. Then she applied bubble gum lipstick and hot pink blush. I looked frightening.* But I digress, I should suck it up and go get matched.

*this might also have something to do with me not being a huge fan of lip gloss or blush.

6. Name something non-beauty related that you put off doing all the time?
Homework! Not even really homework just reading. As a English Lit Major it comes with the territory but my goodness all writing before the 1900s is a pain to read! I mean a sentence about the color of someone's dress could go on for 17 pages! It's crazy.

7. When going out somewhere, do you leave getting ready to the last minute?
Always. I feel odd getting ready and then just sitting around, I like being right on time. I'll usually leave early if I'm ever ready beforehand.

8. Can you commit to spending bans?
Finally something I'm good at! I can be pretty cheap when I want to be. Sometimes I'll pick things in the store (or put them in my cart online) then just leave it and walk out. If I'm out with friends I'll leave my wallet in the car(under a seat or something). It works!

9. How organised is your make-up and nail polish collections?
Pretty organized! I don't exact have a nail polish collection but my makeup is super neat it's plastic drawers. I've also stopped storing my brushes in holders because they get dusty and gross(apparently I care a lot about dust..), so into a drawer they also go!

This week has been crazy and its not even over yet! I have two exams next week so I'll try and type up my next two posts before then! :)

Thanks for reading see ya next time!

MM

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Valentine's Day Fun for the Single Ladies

Happy Valentine's Day to all the lovely couples out there! To the rest of us…

Happy Galentine's!

I actually just heard the term “Galentine's” was last week for the first time. Did it exist before this year? If it did I think I've been living underground! Hahaha I really do like the concept because it still celebrates love, but a different kind of love:) So on this lovely snow day, I came up with a beauty related idea and non-beauty idea for you ladies to enjoy!

Option 1: Dramatic Makeover

Every now and then I get a little crazy and I just want to throw makeup all over my face and see what happens. More often than not, I end up looking frightening, but its so much fun!! It's not very often I get to do makeup that isn't super rushed and super natural. I'm willing to bet most people don't either because real life! So yeah go crazy! And impress and/or scare yourself with your creative skills!


Option 2: Hottie Action Movie Night

 So this one’s not new, but it’s a twist. I LOVE action movies (Thor actually makes me so happy), but as you can imagine my girlfriends don’t particularly agree with me. So on a night that’s supposed to be all about love which means chick flick's right? Not necessarily superheroes and street racers can be pretty hot too! Change up the atmosphere, get comfy, and watch some action movies with some eye candy!

 I recommend…

Thor 2: It has really nice pointless scene with a shirtless Hemsworth ;) 

Man of Steel: actually just anything with Henry Cavill will do

The Amazing Spider-Man: Andrew Garfield has got the sexy nerd look down!

Star Trek: Into Darkness: Oh pine, please be mine.

Fast Five: RIP Paul Walker!

Just the ones I could think of of the top of my head, feel free to branch out!

Hope you liked this post! I'm working on the dorm decor, I just finished taking pictures! :)

I think I'll do a little of both any movie recommendations?

Happy Snow Day! (If you live on the east coast, and you had a snow day lol)

In Defense of the Facial Scrub: St. Ives Green Tea Scrub

Happy Tuesday!

So I made a little note in my last (and first!) post that my next one would be about the new Green Tea scrub I've been using..and here it is!

So this is the St. Ives Green Tea Scrub...obviously...and I LOVE it!! So a little background...I've always loved facial scrubs because they always made my skin feel clean and refreshed. Also after dealing with soo much acne when I was younger I think I just liked to take it out on my face and scrub until I felt like I'd gotten rid of the bumps (Hint: that didn't work, and I was using it wrong).

But even though personally I love scrubs, I would always read about it's negative effects, and how the beads were much too rough for the skin on your face blah..blah... But then my freshman year of college I was having another episode where I just wanted my acne GONE, especially the white heads and the crazy pores I wrote about in my last post. So I used the St. Ives Apricot Scrub (noticing a brand pattern here?) and their Facial Cleanser (bleh more on that in the future) every single day. BAD IDEA! I thought my skin was just too tough so I needed to be tough in return, and yeah as you can imagine I broke out like CRAZY! I mean like huge pimples that were deep under my skin. My felt so sensitive! Let me just say that when I went to see a doctor and she said she didn't like scrubs, I finally stopped rolling my eyes and started reading the directions on the back! Most facial scrubs advise that you only use them 2-3 times a week...not the sometimes 14 times I was doing!

So I laid off the scrubs for a while and I still had the same issue...out of control pores and rough skin. Around the beginning of the fall semester I started using the Apricot scrub sporadically, only to find that It wasn't really helping. I'd always read about the Green Tea scrub, so while I was out looking for new products to try a few weeks ago, I saw it on the shelf and squeezed a bit out onto my finger to test the quality. It was sooo smooth! The beads, sand, whatever, are incredibly fine so it has more of a polishing effect than a scrubbing one. It also smells ah-mazing!

You can't even see the grittyness!

Currently I'm only using it once a week on Sunday nights to refresh my face for the upcoming week of school stress, sweat, dirt and this week, a special monthly visitor and all her accompanying breakout inducing hormones...FUN...yeah not really!

M-Tip: Ladies try not to freak out when your face suddenly goes bananas, it's probably the annoying Aunt Flow and it should be gone within a week and a half. 

Verdict: So far so good! It's definitely a lot more gentle than the Apricot Scrub, and it really get into my pores and clears it all out! For now, I'm only planning to use the Apricot Scrub pretty randomly on days when I feel like I need an even deeper cleaning and apply a mask to cool my face down.

The Charcoal Scrub is still great! I'll do an update with pictures maybe next week after all the hormones chill out a bit ;)

I'm thinking either a dorm room decor tour for my next post? Or maybe another review? We'll see;)

Have a lovely week!

M.M

New Semester, New Cleanser!

Happy Friday!!

So if any of you are like me at all, a new face routine absolutely has to match the beginning of a new life event right?? Alright, alright that's not true! But somehow I always find myself doing some face research and shopping at the beginning of new semesters, and what to you know? Spring 2014 is here!! So my face has been pretty nice to me lately("nice" meaning no monstrous breakouts or a million of them at once) So I decided to get away from products targeted specifically at acne and head toward products that would just deep cleanse really well. So I'm hoping cleaner healthier skin=less frequent breakouts, and cleaner smaller pores.

M-Tip: Chasing a completely breakout/bump-free face is a journey that will probably end in heartbreak...at least that's what I've been learning. Everyone gets breakouts, you goal should be to decrease frequency and severity. 

So what have I been rubbing all over my face?? Well Biore's new Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser. I stumbled upon it on the Biore website while I was looking for a full face version of their pore strips. I have to say I wanted to buy it from the moment I saw the word "charcoal" because waaaahhhh?? You mean those pebbles we BBQ on?? (btw I'm the easiest marketing target..so weak)

 I was also looking for something with a pump so I use it easily in these freakishly tiny dorm showers. There weren't very many reviews (maybe like 2?) on it, so I took a chance....and boy did it pay off!! Seriously! This is a lot to claim after a week and a half of use but hear..read...me out. So the first time I used this product I used it with St. Ives Green Tea Scrub (next post!). Before I used it my face felt very gritty and you could see my full-than-full pores (it was gross) and no matter how much I squeezed, washed, they would never go away!

Pumps out black!

I kid you not, after using the scrub (gently) and the cleanser afterwards, my face felt smooth and clear and well, like skin! I was so excited!! I still am! It''s crazy what a good deep cleanser will do for you! Almost two weeks later and my pores are still clean and looking better than ever before....and now how to make them appear smaller!


M.M