Posted by Alexandra on September 6, 2012
Meet Sarah—she’s super pale, like her favorite star, but suffers from the sensitive skin that often accompanies a porcelain complexion. Among her woes: looking too young for her age. Hmmm, Sarah, we’re not crying for ya there! But we do want to know your tricks…
Name: Sarah
Age: 28 (with the misfortune [truly!] of looking 18 [I say misfortune because until people hear that I am 28, there is an unfortunate tendency to lecture me as if I have never experienced the "real world."]
Current Weather: The best summer ever! I just moved to the East Bay and it gets into the low 70s at the most lately.
Hair: Short, pin straight, fine but lots of it.
Skin: Super pale and painfully reactive and sensitive. My chin in particular likes to breakout when it gets touched.
Favorite star or icon from the past: Christina Hendricks (not really from the past but she plays someone from the past… that counts, right? And she’s gorgeous.)
Before the bath…
I dry brush every day, everything but spots that have active outbreaks of eczema. I love that it has made my skin feel delightfully soft. Sometimes I do a mask before I bathe, either a sample of one I got from Spirit Beauty Lounge or straight yogurt (I bought a huge thing of yogurt and then remembered that I don’t actually like yogurt so I’ve been using it as a mask.) Anything that provides some serious moisture that I can wash off (pure aloe vera was nice too.)
In the bath…
I mostly bathe (I know they’re not environmentally friendly so mostly it’s just pretending I’m in a hot spring and using a dipper to dump water from the faucet onto me), sometimes for long periods of time, mostly for as long as it takes to wash my body. I’m a total minimalist when it comes to products. I want one product that does its job perfectly. So in the shower I use California Baby Super Sensitive Shampoo and Bodywash. It’s unscented and has minimal ingredients. That goes on the bits that need regular washing. One pump is all I use for my body and hair (oh yeah, I get away with this because I have a pixie cut) so whatever is left from the bits-washing goes in my hair, just enough to make sure my fine hair doesn’t go limp from oil. The California Baby wash triples as my shaving cream. My face gets washed with a Konjac Sponge Company French Pink Clay sponge. No cleanser, just the sponge. My heels get pumiced if I remember.
Outside the bath…
My washing takes far less time than it does for me to moisturize and finish the process. I have super sensitive skin and get patches of eczema in various places (my wrists are FINALLY healing up) so moisture is super integral to keeping my skin from mutinying. I use a DIY oil that is fractionated coconut oil with 1 part jasmine grandiflorum essential oil and 2 parts jasmine absolute (jasmine is my all-time favorite scent.) I use that oil all over my still damp body, head to toe, just enough to cover everything without making me greasy. Then I brush my hair with a bright green Widu hairbrush that makes me so happy (the color is so fun!) and distributes the oil, preventing the grease effect (I walk a very fine line between moisturized/glowy and tragically greasy.) If I have a serious eczema outbreak I put a dab of Egyptian Magic on just those spots. It’s so rich that I have to alternate the days I put it on or my skin gets these weird bumps it only gets when it’s over moisturized. They go away but I try to avoid getting them with sparing application of moisturizer. Next is DIY deodorant (the winning recipe form the No More Dirty Looks DIY Challenge) and DIY body powder (arrowroot powder and the jasmine oils along with some rose hip powder because I felt like it.) Lastly, if I have a spot of cystic acne (it runs in my family and I got the least serious case; I only get one spot about 4 times a year) I dab it with tea tree oil, which is magic in a bottle and makes those spots disappear (I always put it on top of my face oil since tea tree oil is so strong and my skin is so sensitive.)
Finishing touches…
Most days I wear either no makeup or Couleur Caramel black cils longs mascara on just the top lashes. That goes on after curling (a must since my lashes are quite long but painfully straight.) If I’m feeling fancy (this feeling has nothing to do with what I am doing and everything to do with what I want to do), I add W3ll People universalist 2 on my cupid’s bow, lids, and lips, along with one of the following on my lips: W3ll People universalist 1, rms beauty lip2cheek modest, W3ll People nudist lip shine 8 all topped with hurraw! balm in black cherry (in keeping with my ‘give me one spectacular product’, hurraw! balm is the only balm I use. I have one stashed next to my bed, in my purse, and in my bathroom. The chai and coconut ones for around the house and the black cherry one, which is tinted, for when I am out and about.) If I know I’m doing a lot of outdoor things, I also put on my homemade sunblock (I just made it from a recipe I found on the internet and it’s the first time I’ve been able to wear sunscreen in years. I am allergic to most of the things that go into sunscreens OR they are too rich for my poor skin and cause serious breakouts [waxes are the main culprit.] The one I made has 3 ingredients: zinc oxide, fractionated coconut oil, and borage oil.) I only do sunblock when I am going to be out and about a lot because sunblocks tend to disrupt the flow of my skin and I prefer to just wear a hat and avoid long periods of sun exposure. Since it’s summer I am also painting my toes with Vapour Organics polish in Captive, the perfect deep blood red (the only color I will wear.) I searched long and hard for the perfect color and finally found it in Captive.
All that having been said, the most important beauty products for me are actually my diet, exercise, and fish oil. I take fish oil every day and eat a mostly vegetarian, veggie and fruit packed diet. This, along with regular yoga sessions, has done more for my skin than any product ever has. Maybe I should stop my clean living so I won’t be mistaken for a teenager…
Wow, great routine (and lifestyle). We’re super intrigued by the DIY sunscreen—anybody else made their own? What else here have you tried?
Posted by Sylvie on April 19, 2012
Hey all! Hope you are still enjoying these AM routines as much as we are. Please keep submitting if you haven’t yet! Today’s comes to us from Naomi, who is still using a product from the Quarterly subscription (yay!) and lots of other fun ones too… Read on!
Name: Naomi
Age: 39 (ouch!)
Current weather: schizophrenic! NYC trying desperately to molt into spring
Hair: chin length, fine, fairly straight dirty blonde without highlights but currently sun-kissed blonde (with highlights)
Skin: Fair-to-medium complexion, pernickety temperament – still experiencing a dose of winter dryness but currently pretty clear and smooth, just needing extra care and moisturising
Naomi is a regular around these parts, and Siobhan even had the pleasure of meeting her once at an event in New York. Herewith, her awesome routine!
In the shower…
Quick hair wash with California Baby Tea Tree shampoo (every week or two I use Ctonics Tantra shampoo for flakes) followed by a light condition with Suki conditioner. I use Clarisonic on my face (and sometimes décolleté) with Wei Beauty Chinese Rose Foaming Cleanser. Pits & bits get a wash with soap, currently using the one that came in my first Quarterly box (one personal care item that’s soooo easy to keep clean!). Every couple of weeks I do a full body scrub with one of the 100% Pure scrubs (not a purchase, it was free when I bought products a while back). When I don’t have a body scrub product (which I don’t tend to buy, I only use them if they came with something else) I use a body brush or the equivalent with a bit of my soap
Outside the shower…
I use one of three serums: Suki targeted bio-brightening face serum; Kahina Giving Beauty serum (a fave!); or One Love Morning Glory (compliments of a recent NMDL Friday Deal – thanks!). Then I use either 100% Pure Organic Coffee Bean Caffeine eye cream or Origins GinZing Refreshing eye cream, depending on if I feel puffiness or dark circles are a problem. After that, I us either 100% Pure Organic Pomegranate Antioxidant Hydration SPF20 or (if I’m definitely not spending any time outside) Bee Yummy Skin Food. It’s Vive Sana Polar to Solar sunscreen if I’ll be spending any real time outside, like weekends. A couple of times I week I moisturise with either Evan Healy body oil or Acure Organics Cocoa Butter + CoQ10 body lotion. I put MJ’s Herbals arnica salve on any bruises, Kahina argan oil on any extra dry patches or eczema and every couple of weeks, on days I’m only running errands or not going out in public at all, I use Kahina argan oil as a treatment on my hair and leave it in until the next day’s shampoo. Every day in winter, or as little as possible in the good weather, I blow dry my hair.
Finishing touches…
I love RMS un-coverup. Sometimes, depending on how “good” my skin is, I use Vapour Organic Beauty Atmosphere Luminous Foundation. Then I like Revolution Organics Freedom Glow Beauty Balm as blush, RMS Beauty cream eye shadow in Solar or Lunar, Shu Uemura eyelash curler, Josie Maran mascara, Anastasia Perfect Brow pencil, Dior Lip Maximiser or RMS Beauty lip balm. Okay, so now I can really see why the Desert Island Challenge was too hard for me… :)
Ha! Is she awesome, or what?
Image via
Filed under Blog · Tagged with 100% Pure, Acure, argan oil, arnica, Bee Yummy, body oil, California Baby, Clarisonic, Evan Healy, Kahina, morning routines exposed, One Love Organics, Quarterly, Revolution Organics, RMS Beauty, Shu Uemura eyelash curler, suki, sunscreen, Vapour, Vive Sana
