Ms. Healthy Face

About a month ago, my husband and I whisked our kids away for a mini-vacation. We stayed in the Casitas (which were so nice and relaxing away from the main hotel) at Morongo, about an hour away from South Orange County. Morongo is about 30 minutes from Palm Springs, so it's desert weather and extremely tough on anyone's skin because of the dry 100+ degree heat and super strong winds (there are sand storms on the regular!). Luckily, before we left for Morongo, Neocell sent me a bunch of press samples, including this dry weather essential, "On the Go Moisture Complex: Refreshing Herbal Mist".  Any moment my face felt hot and tight under the sun, or while walking through the strong winds to the main pool from our casitas, I'd spritz a couple pumps on my face and my skin felt immediately refreshed and less tight.  After I came home from our little vacay, I liked to use a couple sprays after applying my ELF translucent powder. I love how the mis

Did you know it only takes 26 seconds for your blood stream to absorb what you apply topically?  That is why it is important to think about what ingredients are in your skin care and other beauty products you apply topically.  I came across Manomai  when I first started beauty blogging, and truly became fascinated with their approach to skin care. I reached out to them, and they kindly agreed to send me a press sample to review for you guys.  Manomai's founder is a believer in Dr. Peter D'Adamo 's Blood-type Diet, which basically c onsists of eating the right foods for your blood type, in turn making you healthier and lose weight. She wanted a moisturizer that aligned with her beliefs in the Blood Type Diet, but also met her strict guidelines:  pareben-free,   mineral oil-free,  fragrance free,  cruelty-free, and  artificial color free. So, she developed 4 moisturizers with 4 special blends to uniquely match each of the  blood types  -- the Around-the-Clock

When you are a celebrity, money and accessibility to the latest and greatest beauty products and treatments are not a problem -- the world is your medicine cabinet. So what do A-listers choose as their go-to holy grail products? I did a little research, and matched up four major super stars in their 20s, 30s, and 40s and their choice beauty products.

Serums, to me, are an absolute necessity -- like taking your daily multivitamin. Essentially, serums are multi-vitamins for your face, and trust me, your face needs all the nutrients it can get after being exposed to the sun and pollution. So, when I look for a serum, I make sure that it has at least Vitamin C and E, and any other antioxidants or anti-aging ingredients are a plus.  Vitamin C and E are important anti-aging antioxidants that prevent and reduce oxidative damage from UV exposure, pollutants, and intrinsic aging.  Serums are powerful and quick to absorb because they are extremely concentrated. More specifically, serums leave out emulsifiers and hydrating-agents that most moisturizers include. Thus, you only need a small pea-sized amount, but keep in mind, that serums must be applied before moisturizing so that it has the best chance to absorb. Now, while serums are powerful with all their super ingredients, religious topical application will not give you

My mother-in-law introduced me to Neocell a little over a year ago when she began using the  Super Collagen Type 1 and 3 Powder . She drinks it everyday and raves about it (along with a bunch of other beauty bloggers). So when, Neocell reached out to me to test some of their beauty products, I was super stoked! The summer heat has been drying out my skin like crazy. So for a recent #MasqueSundays, I applied Neocell's Collagen Moisturizing Treatment Masque. Now, I know that this mask is called a "Collagen" mask, because it does contain collagen an other skin reviltalizers that have short-term skin firming and plumping benefits (ingesting collagen will probably get you more noticeable results), but the really obvious results I got from applying this mask was smoother, brighter, and more hydrated skin. As you can tell in the pictures, the formula is a creamy, and rich. The consistency kind of reminds me of a thick cocoa butter, especially, because it is super opaque and

Confession: I've been too big of a sissy to try face oils. I am acne-prone, and have combo skin, so initially I believed using face oils would cause me to become overly oily in my t-zone and cause pimples. BUT then, Arya Essentials sent me this delightful little box, and I could not resist playing with those vials filled with their face and body oils! You can smell both the face and body oils without even having to open the vials, and let me tell you, your first whiff is absolute decadence. The Face Oil harmoniously blends Vitamin 'E' and  over 10 essential oils, including, argan oil, jojoba oil, almond oil, gotu-kola oil, rose hip seed oil, sandalwood oil, indian gooseberry oil, holy basil oil, neem oil, ylang-ylang seed oil, and rose geranium oil. I love rose hips and argan oil for their hydrating features, and neem  for its anti-bacterial principles! The Body Oil is packed with a bunch of heavenly essential oils, as well, like sesame oil, coconut oil, bit