This is a super fun (and funny) one, you guys. Mairin is the right hand woman over at Kahina Giving Beauty, so yes, expect some Kahina listed here. But before anyone gets their panties in a pinch, Mairin has ALL kinds of recs here: from hair to makeup to DIY and some internal tricks too. Not to mention a few dirty secrets!
Name: Mairin Cipolla
Age: 24
Current Weather: Beautiful, sunny, crisp NYC morning
Hair: Long, wavy, dense, thick
Skin: Been a roller coaster ever since moving to New York two years ago. Things are finally balanced now, which I credit mostly to fish oil/omega supplements, multivitamins, probiotics, and being happier. Taking good care of skin is essential (no sleeping in makeup, please!) but topicals can take you only so far, depending on the (many!) causes of your breakouts.
Before the shower…
My mornings are rushed- I like sleeping way too much, especially in the winter. Coffee (espresso, French press, whatever) is a must; I’ll take it black and I’ll take it immediately. I’m so bad about that “drink one glass of water immediately upon waking” thing. New Year’s resolution, perhaps?
In the shower…
If I have time to shower (usually I shower at night because my hair takes forever to dry), I use bar soap for body washing. I came across these two small brands at Brooklyn’s Renegade Craft Fair & love them: Possum Hollow Farm Soap and Volta Organics. I also really like The Beer Soap Co. That soap lasts forever.
Face wash alternates between Kahina Giving Beauty Cleanser or Simply Divine Botanicals You Can’t Zit Here. The Simply Divine smells, uh, different, and it’s this muddy black/brown liquid that semi-stains your sink, but I am convinced it really helps to keep breakouts at bay.
I use coconut oil to shave my legs—it’s the best, and so inexpensive. In a pinch, jojoba or olive oil work too. When I use a body scrub, I make my own out of coffee grounds, olive oil, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Sometimes I’ll add sugar. It smells sort of amazing; you should try it.
Just recently I’ve been introduced to Essence of Vali aromatherapy—thanks NMDL!—and I use their Relief massage oil on the back of my neck and massage it in during my shower. It helps to relieve tension and muscle tightness.
Outside the shower…
I really dislike applying body lotion or anything after a shower. There’s no time! There’s never any time! If I’ve shaved, then the coconut oil stays on my legs and voila. I will however apply a spritz of Essence of Vali, depending on how I’m feeling that day. Calm smells amazing. I also like Uplift.
Perfume, like coffee, is a must; I have some “clean” (EOV by Essence of Vali—I know, I went a little nuts on that Friday deal), some less clean… like D.S. & Durga in Coriander. Deodorant is either Tom’s of Maine (unscented, though I hear Lemongrass is great) or Soapwalla. Soapwalla, please make a stick so I don’t have to get my fingers dirty. Please! Pretty please!
Finishing Touches…
Next up is makeup and skincare. I use a mist every single morning. It’s non-negotiable. I switch it up between Kahina Giving Beauty Toning Mist and Evan Healy mists (Immortelle and Rose Geranium). I dab on eye treatment of choice—either Kahina Eye Serum or Kahina Eye Cream—Eye Cream if I’m dry, Eye Serum if I have serious dark circles or bags. I never use eye products from another brand: Kahina’s are perfection.
After that I blend liquid foundation (mine’s not clean: Lancome Teint Idole) with a facial oil or moisturizer. I use anything from aloe vera gel (cheapcheapcheap!) to Evan Healy pomegranate or rose hip to Kahina Argan Oil or Lotion… sort of depends on how I feel and what the weather is like. I swipe RMS unCoverup (either 11 or 22) on any blemishes or scars and set with Alima Pure powder if I need extra coverage.
My makeup routine is mostly clean. I’ve yet to try or buy a clean mascara. I use Julie Hewett liner in Smudge. I put different things on my lids: RMS Living Luminizer, RMS Cream Eye Shadow in Magnetic, Alima Pure Luminous Shimmer in Stone (smokey eye!) or even W3LL People mineral shadow in this light gold tone. If I’m super lazy (often), I’ll just use my blush as eye shadow, or go without.
Blush or bronzer is another must for definition and some color. I have Vapour in Spicy or Torch, Alima Pure in Lotus (sheer, lovely pink!), a pink W3LL People stick, or, most often, Nvey Eco powder compact in Natural. (Is this discontinued? It gives flawless coverage!) My brush was given to me by my mom probably eight years ago; it’s from the Body Shop and it has held up amazingly. I also have a half moon brush from Alima Pure that I am liking.
The only thing I’ll put on my lips is moisturizer—whatever I just put on my face.
I wash my hair at night, so in the morning I just style the front layers with a flatiron and put in a little product if I feel like it. I’ll use whatever moisturizer (aloe vera gel, for instance) or Kahina Argan Oil on the tips. Two decidedly unclean yet fantastic hair products are Sachajuan Volume Powder for when I’ve gone 2 or, um, 4 days without washing my hair, and also Moroccanoil Hydratings Styling Cream to smooth frizz and define waves. I also sometimes use SkinnySkinny Hair Powder in Jasmine to refresh oily roots.
If you’ve read the book (and if you haven’t: tsk! tsk!) you know that we did our share of experimenting with DIY makeup.
It takes a committed kind of girl to make her face from scratch—a girl both of us admire, but that neither of us naturally is. (And click the link at the bottom for some recipes we wrote for ReadyMade magazine!)
So instead of pretending, we boiled our DIY makeup section down to simple ingredients that translate into great makeup. I’d venture to say that the two most successful were beet juice as a lip and cheek stain (truly amazing) and activated charcoal as an eyeliner.
What’s activated charcoal, you ask? It’s the stuff they used to give people for food poisoning that you can buy OTC for tummy aches—it’s also the stuff in your Brita filter. Given my sensitive stomach, I always keep these capsules (pictured above) around the house, and one fine day decided to open one up. What I found inside was the purest, darkest, most perfect black powder. Hello smokey eye.
Now, is this substance the most perfect clean eyeliner? Arguable. The texture is a little rough and I’ve heard that it can dry-slash-irritate the skin—which would make sense because its tremendously porous. I never had any problems with it myself but I’d be very careful not to get it in my eyes either—a rule that applies to most things. Eyes don’t tend to like foreign substances so much, clean or not. The results are lovely though, and it sure beats some of the toxic potions out there, not to mention the eye charcoal out of India that I so adore (but that used to be contaminated with lead and still makes me nervous). Just look at Kathryn (left), one of our readers who tried it on her eyes. Rarr!
Have you ever attempted making your own makeup? Did you try our suggestions in the book, or are you the girl who cooks up magic potions in her kitchen? (Total badass moves.) Either way, we’d love to add some recipes to our repertoire or hear about your experience in the comments. We’re smelling a challenge coming on…
Image via a ReadyMade article, where we shared some DIY tricks
Today I stumbled upon a website I love! Yes, I found it because the website said very nice things about our book (Google alerts, yo!), but that’s not why I love it.
I love it because it’s cute and thoughtful and smart all at the same time. It’s called The City Mouse, and it’s positively charming.
I particularly liked this list she put up about reasons why she wants to start making her own stuff, DIY-style. I especially like numbers 4, 5 and 6, but I also like the idea that when we make our own stuff, it really does feel good, beyond the obvious economic, environmental and health benefits.
Here are some DIY recipes we have shared in the past:
Stuff you can do with baking soda (other than put out fires in your oven)
A vitamin C recipe for your skin
A bunch of beauty product recipes from scratch
A honey face wash from the kitchen
And here are the city mouse’s awesome 10 reasons to go DIY:
1. It doesn’t take as long as you think.
2. It’s productive – while you are making something, you are not watching TV, or Youtube, or checking status updates and tweets.
3. What you make will taste/feel better than the store-bought version.
4. You will not be eating chemicals or putting them on your skin.
5. You will not be releasing chemicals into the soil, air, water.
6. Homemade products don’t require wasteful packaging.
7. You will feel proud and satisfied.
8. You will learn something.
9. You will likely save money.
10. You have the freedom to customize your products.
Check out her site, here. And tell us: What is your favorite reasons to go DIY—or your favorite recipe?
Image via
Topical anti-agers are big business these days—and why wouldn’t they be? The promise of looking younger without succumbing to procedures that plump and possibly freeze your face into soul-numbing submission is appealing to a whole lot of men and women (including us).
We give a lot of play to anti-agers in the book—everything from peptides to vitamin A to CoQ10 came under our loupe—but one of the most exciting discoveries was the documented power of topical vitamin C. Good old vitamin C! Something we already know is great for us on the inside has shown to do everything from stimulate collagen production to even out skin tone. Isn’t it awesome when nature just works?
Not so fast. The issue with vitamin C is that it oxidizes very easily—which not only makes it ineffective, it can actually cause damage to the skin.
We’d read that certain forms were stable but when I broached the subject with Sophie Uliano last week at her party she was pretty skeptical. According to her and others there’s one way you can know: If your vitamin C cream or serum turns kinda yellowish, chances are it has oxidized.
So what’s the solution? Well, Uliano offers this great DIY recipe demo’d here that you can make in small batches. I like it and I think there are all kinds of ways to customize it, which I intend to experiment with and share. Either way, DIY may be one way to guarantee getting the full benefits of this wonder vitamin.
Have you tried C topically? Did you see results? Do you think your product had maybe oxidized? As always, shareshare if you have a story.
Regular readers will know we’re kind of nuts about baking soda, so Alexandra thought it would be cool to share with everyone just how much you can do with the magical white powder!
Over at GOOD her post just went up. Here’s a sampling:
Even the ancient Egyptians—and what beauty post would be complete without them?—used a compound similar to baking soda as soap. The stuff is antiseptic, antifungal, and lightly exfoliating. It will take the stains off your coffee mug and your not-so-pearly whites, and can be consumed internally to ease your tummy ache. And fridge odors aren’t the only smells it absorbs so don’t turn your nose up, and bring on the baking soda!
Spot-Treat Acne Our favorite natural acne remedy is clay, like this green tea one we swear by. But in a bind, making a little paste from baking soda and water and applying it to an unwelcomed visitor will help dry it out. We don’t recommend this for deep cysts, but for more surface afflictions, it works like a charm.
Cleanse Your Hair If you’re looking to join the ranks of non-shampooers (we know a few), to reduce how often shampoo, or simply to get rid of some product build-up on your roots, look no further than baking soda. Just fill a glass with warm water and dissolve about a tablespoon of baking soda into it. Take that to the shower, and after wetting your hair pour the mixture through. Comb it well before rinsing—your hair will feel a little coated and slippery until it’s fully rinsed out.
And five more, at GOOD.
Illustrations by Brianna Harden
This is our favorite makeup application trick because it appeals to our completely lazy side while also working and looking nice. Here goes: Instead of layering on your lotion or sunscreen (or both) and then finishing with mineral powder, foundation or heavy concealer, try a two-fer! Squeeze some lotion, argan oil, coconut oil or suncreen into your palm, then sprinkle about a quarter teaspoon of loose mineral powder into the goop. Rub your hands together to blend, and then sweep your hands over your face, starting at the center and moving outward.
You basically get the effect of a nice tinted moisturizer (with SPF!), but with a few perks.
First, because the minerals market is so huge, it’s easier to color-match perfectly to your skin tone. It may take some doing, and you might want to combine two different colors to get it just right, but it’s doable.
Second, the pure oils and the minerals are known quantities. There won’t be any surprise reactions to mystery ingredients.
Third, because minerals can look like garbage on dehydrated skin, this eliminates that problem altogether by building in the moisture and adding a little sheen.
And finally, because you get a nice light coverage, you don’t have to worry about the maskface that sometimes comes with foundation or poorly applied powder.
As always, make sure your minerals are clean—no parabens, silicone or extra crap in there—and same goes for whatever you’re mixing it with.
Have you tried it? Got any other application tips to share?
Since Alexandra shared her new amazing face wash with us, I thought I’d throw something else in the mix. It’s the easiest body scrub in the entire world, and the best part is you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen. Let’s call today DIY Wednesday or, um, Scrubby Wednesday, maybe. Though that’s a bit weird because actually, we’re both totally anti-scrub.
Those of you who have read the book may remember we have a pretty strong take on manual and chemical exfoliation on the face. You can check the face chapter for a refresher (we talked about it on NPR too) because as a general rule, we’re not fans, and we found some pretty compelling reasons why you shouldn’t be either—especially if you have rosacea, acne and other issues.
That being said, the honey wash is as gentle as can be, and mine? Well, sometimes you just want a good scrub. Instead of spending 30 bucks on some fancy one, or seven bucks on one loaded with plastic beads (seriously—they’re plastic), try this instead. As for the amounts, just eyeball it. Rocket science, this is not.
—Some oil you like (coconut, jojoba or my favorite, extra virgin organic olive oil)
—Some sea salt (leave this out if you have a sunburn or eczema)
—Some brown sugar (I prefer a coarse sugar to balance out the super-fine salt, but it’s basically up to you)
—Vanilla extract, the most amazing smell in the world (if for some weird reason you don’t like vanilla, use any other oil you like the smell of, or none at all)
—Combine it in measurements that seem right to you, stir and then hop in the tub
Couple things to know though: It makes the shower slippery, and I have a nasty bruise to show for it, so be careful and use a bath mat. I like to make enough it for a single use, but if you have some left over, seal it in an airtight container in the fridge, being sure not to get any water into the mixture (bacteria central). It’ll keep in the fridge for two weeks. Just take it out about 10 minutes before you want to use it, since some oils congeal with they’re cold.
That’s it!
We have a little secret. Maybe not something to bring up at a dinner party or in mixed company, but here among friends? Why not.
Alexandra and I both hate soap.
Aside from certain obvious body parts (the sexytime ones, and our pits), we don’t use the stuff. Basic hygiene, yes? Soaping up our…calves? And elbows? And the small of our backs? Why on earth!
Since we both stopped using soap, we find our skin much softer and naturally balanced, which obviates the need for body lotion. We like this, because it supports one of the central tenets in the book, which is that the fewer products you use, the fewer products you need. And when you’re buying less stuff, you can afford to get things you absolutely love when you do go shopping.
Back to faces for a second. We won’t use soap or anything foaming on our mugs. Our skin needs the natural oils that live on its surface and below. When we strip that with harsh, carcinogen-contaminated chemicals, our skin acts like a moody teenager.
Still, if you wear sunscreen and makeup, and who doesn’t, you obviously have to wash at the end of the day. I use a new Tata Harper cleanser some days, and an Evan Healy milk on others (reviews to come!). In the morning, I gently wipe my face with a clean wash cloth and water. That’s it.
Alexandra has lately been experimenting with honey. When she bothers to wash her face at all, she skews more DYI: a little honey as a cleanser here, coconut oil to remove makeup there. The point for both of us: Our bodies are marvellous! They do all kinds of magic tricks on their own. Let them be, and they work juuuust fine. And no, you won’t stink, we promise.
What about you? Do you use soap?
