My thoughts on... honey.

I love honey. It's so good just by the spoonful, in some tea with lemon or apple cider vinegar, in peanut butter, and even mixed in with my face masks or baking soda. And if that wasn't enough, it can usually be found in this adorably cute bear container..

How cute is that?

But yes, you read right. Lately I've begun mixing honey in with my baking soda whenever I use it. Previously I was just mixing baking soda in with my Noxema, which you can totally do with whatever facial cleanser you use, but I decided to try it on it's own and on a whim pulled out the honey. 

(You can read about my love of baking soda here if you need to play catch up.)

Now before you think I'm weird for that, wait, never mind, I am weird for that. I do a lot of weird things like that now that I think about it. I mean, after all, I do put sake on my face everyday. 

But, anyway, so I had read about honey having benefits on the face when used as a cleanser or in a mask. And while, I never bothered to follow up on it, I always kept it in the back of my mind. 

And tonight I just decide to add some to the mix, and I couldn't be happier I did. My face has never been so glowy. 

Can I just for a moment point out that in all my years of using all those crap facial cleansers and this and that, my face has never ever looked as good as it has since I began adding these natural, chemical free,  products to my skin care regimen. I really am 100% shocked as to how well they've worked and what a difference they have truly made. 

Let's get back to the honey, honey. So after getting this amazing glow I decided to see what was in it that makes it so great. Well, it turns out that first of all honey is a humectant, which means that it traps and retains moisture in your skin, supposedly keeping it from getting dry. I need a week or two before I can say I agree with this or not. 

Honey also contains glucose oxidase, which when combined with water is suppose to produce hydrogen peroxide. I'm not a scientist, but that's what they say anyway. Honey is also suppose to contain antioxidants and flava-flavonoids that act as antibaterial agents. Which is always good if you have acne prone skin like I do. 

In addition to all that, honey is suppose to reduce scarring and it's also rumored to soothe irritated skin and even out complexions. 

In summary.. you need to try it out for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. I know it sounds odd, but give it a shot. And if not, it's always a good thing to have on hand for that nasty sore throat. 

Currently.

Just thought I'd share a current, right this moment picture of myself with you guys. Nothing fancy, no airbrushing or anything, but not bad for being dead with asthma for the past few days.

Nothing fancy, just me hanging out in bed working on some upcoming posts, keeping up to date with my Facebook and my Google Reader and checking out some recipes to make in the coming days/weeks. 

My thoughts on.... Sake Part Due.

So it's been a little over two weeks since I posted my original take on Sake and I know I promised an update after trying it out for a couple weeks. You can find my original post on Sake here if you want to brush up.

First, this is the bottle I bought. It's really kind of cute.

Excuse my bad cropping. It was on a black background and well, we all know how great my photo taking skills are, and I can promise you my photoshopping skills are definitely not any better. 

But, this bottle was $2.99 here in New Hampshire and after 2- almost 3 weeks, I still have half a bottle left. So you definitely get your money's worth from it. 

I'm obviously not drinking it though.  

But you can if you want. I don't judge. 

I use it in the morning and at night, pretty much anytime I wash my face. I put some on a cotton ball and run it over my face and that's it. I don't rinse it off as it's not sticky and has a fresh scent and it definitely picks up any dirt and other crap I may have missed. 

The first thing I noticed was that I had a sun spot under my left eye that faded out pretty quick when I first started using the Sake. I still notice it a little bit if I look really hard, but honestly, nobody else can. It really is barely there.

To test this out though I've begun putting Sake on my grandfather's sun/age spots on his forehead now. I know in my reading it said that Sake does indeed lighten spots of extra pigmentation, and while I did notice it on myself, I feel like I need to do an extra experiment if you will to prove this isn't just a fluke. And, I will say that I have begun to notice slight differences in his spots as well. I'll keep you posted. 

Also in my reading it said that Sake helps with moisturizing. Well, it doesn't. At all. Not even a little bit. My skin is definitely drier that it normally is, but for me this is a good thing as my skin tends to be on the oily side. I always use moisturizer anyway, but now with using Sake, I make sure I moisturize every time I put it on. 

Sake also helped BIG time with my pre-period breakouts as well. Usually it's pretty gnarly in my opinion and this time around there was hardly anything. I totally give the credit to the Sake for that one. I definitely don't have perfect skin, but I seem to be the only one who really notices my breakouts anyway, but I've definitely seen a pretty big breakout/pimple difference even not related to my period since using Sake. 

To sum it all up.. go buy this now. No, like, right now. Really. It's definitely one of the best kept secrets. Not only is it 10 times cheaper than the stuff in the beauty aisle, it's free from harsh chemicals and works amazing which is probably the best part. 

Plus, worse case scenario.. you can drink it and feel better!

Target Fail

There once was a time in my life where I spent countless dollars at Target. I was there all the time. I just loved it. Whenever I was bored, I would go to Target. If I needed a new shirt for Friday night, I went to Target. Whenever I had a day off, I went to Target. It was, in retrospect, a little ridiculous. 

But, in my defense, they have everything- like Wal-Mart only without all the weird Wal-Mart people. It wasn't until I moved out almost 2 years ago that I was finally able to stop the addiction, and that was only because all my money went to rent. But, after living that life for almost a year before having to move home again, I can say that I'm definitely cured. 

I still wander into Target every now and then, but it seems like more and more often I leave empty handed and I'm sure that will be more of the norm after my most recent experience. My issue with Target isn't the associates- at all. Well, except that one of my ex-boyfriend's works at my local one and that's always kind of awkward, but otherwise, the people there are great and friendly. My issue has to do with Target and their policies in general. 

A while ago I bought the Target brand make-up remover. Normally I use baby oil, but because it's so think and, well, oily, I was hoping to try something else. So I decided I would try their oil free waterproof eye make up remover. 

Let me tell you though, it's not good. At all. Don't waste your 5 bucks. It takes like 5 cotton balls and even though it's not oily, it still feels greasy. Anyway, about a week after I bought it I went back and wanted to return it. I had only used it once, so it was still a full bottle (versus using it for a week leaving a couple drops in it and then trying to return it). But, I was denied. In a nice way- the associate wasn't rude about it at all. It's just their policy- which is what I have a problem with. 

What I don't understand is why doesn't Target stand behind their brand? How does that instill confidence in their customers to try their brand items? I can tell you right now that the times I buy Target brand items in the future will be far and few in between and will then only be items I've already tried. I know I can't be the only one who feels this way either. Every other store is so quick to take back anything that you think Target would get the idea and jump on. I can tell you now though that this has really discouraged me from shopping there, which kind of stinks because I liked Target, even if they were more expensive. 

However, when you look at the competition, Wal-Mart takes back anything you're dissatisfied with and so doesn't Rite-Aid. I'm pretty sure that going forward I will be going there instead for my make-up needs. I just have a really hard time liking stores that don't stand behind their products, especially their own brand products. It makes me feel as though I'm not valued as a customer and either is the money I worked hard to earn and want to spend their. 

My thoughts on... baking soda

I personally believe in exfoliating daily and while some might disagree saying it harms the skin, I say just look at the glow of my skin. First, let's talk about skin. Skin is made up of  many layers, we won't get into labeling them all but know that there is a few. The bottom layers of the skin is where the skin cells are actually made and as new ones are made it pushes the old ones up towards the part of the skin that we see, the epidermis. However, as the old skin cells move outward, the move farther away from the blood source and eventually end up dying. So yes, all the skin we see is actually dead skin cells.

As is moves to the surface, all the dead skin cells continually build up and form a protective barrier against outside pollutants that would otherwise harm us and they do a really good job of blocking everything, which is why it's so important to exfoliate, especially before you use a moisturizer- otherwise that moisturizer is absolutely useless and you're going to get about as much use of it as your dog would. Honestly.

Think of a babies skin- how soft it is and the rosy glow that it always has. This is because it hasn't had time to form up large layers of thick dead skin cells which become dry and ragged. They still have fresh new skin cells that are highly vascularized. Exfoliating does the same for us. It takes away the thick layers of dead skin cells sitting on the surface leaving us with the younger skin cells showing to the world.

Which brings me to baking soda. Gina suggested this to me about a week ago in the comment section of one of my posts and I'm so thankful she did. Baking soda has over 40 uses and I'm sure if I researched it long enough on the web, I'd find more than that. It's like the little powder that could. The thing I love most about it though is that it's one simple, naturally occurring ingredient- sodium bicarbonate. And while you can use baking soda in cooking/baking (which I do occasionally), in your fridge as a deodorizer and basically anywhere else as a cleaner, my preferred use for baking soda is now as an exfoliator. And what an amazing exfoliator it is.

I mix it in with my Noxema a couple times a week and scrub away when I'm in the shower. It rinses on clean and leaves your skin as smooth as a babies. Honestly. I still can't believe how soft it makes my skin. After I get out I make sure I moisturize and my skin has such a rosy glow that I'm always left in awe.

In summary: Go raid your pantry, pull out your baking soda and start using it immediately. It's free of harsh chemicals, having only one ingredient, so it's gentler on your skin than all the toxic chemicals in other face cleansers. And it's cheap- wicked cheap, which is another reason it's wonderful. I'm always in awe about how some of the greatest beauty remedies are natural and cheap and not found in the beauty section.

My thoughts on.... Sake.

friend: Hey, I thought you said you had Sake?

me: Uh, I do

friend: Dude, I can't find it anywhere!

me: Did you check the bathroom closet where the towels are?

friend: .... 

Yes, my friends, Sake is no longer just for drinking and yes, I do keep mine in the bathroom with the towels.

A few days ago I watched Michelle Phan's video on youtube (check her out btw) recommending Sake as a facial toner and figured I'd give it a go. I've tried just about all of her recommendations regarding these types of things and will be posting my thoughts on those in the weeks to come.  

In prepping for trying this out I made sure to do some additional reading on it first. I like to see if anyone has posted about having bad results or reactions and what exactly Sake is suppose to do- what am I going for here, what should I expect.. ya know?

Well, the biggest thing I learned is that Sake is suppose to fade age spots and freckles- I don't have much of those if any, but I like to pre-emptive.  There's a by-product of fermentation in Sake called Kojic acid and apparently it's suppose to be kind of a big deal. I've never heard of it though before now. Anyway, it's also suppose to have antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, meaning it should reduce breakouts (we could all use that) and it's also suppose to trap in moisture making it good for dry skin. 

So after doing some light reading, I decided to give it a go. I've found using natural products as opposed to marketed beauty products is a lot easier on my wallet, and in this respect, Sake did not disappoint. I also prefer natural remedies versus marketed ones for the obvious reason of them being natural. I was able to get a small bottle of Sake for $2.99, which is a lot cheaper then any marketed facial toner in the skin care aisle. 

I washed my face first, removing all my make up and leaving nothing but clean, naked skin behind. I used a cotton ball, soaked up some sake and wiped it all over my face. I didn't find that it wiped away any left behind dirt (guess I did a good job washing!) and it did leave my face feeling fresh. It didn't burn (not even on an icky pimple I have), which at 15% alcohol, I kind of thought it might. It has a nice clean scent, doesn't upset the nose at all and it doesn't feel sticky after it dries. I did let it dry and then wipe it with a wet washcloth just in case, but I won't do this the next time. 

Right away my face seemed to look a little glowey (which is a good thing) and fresh. After an hour, my face feels a little drier than normal, but it's definitely softer to the touch. This is something I plan on keeping up for the next two weeks and I'll report then whether I notice a difference and if I'll be keeping it up long term or not. 

However, in summary, I'd say definitely give this a shot, for $2.99 I don't think you'd be wasting your time or money.