The Ultimate Facial: Detoxifying and Moisturizing Mask

I never really enjoyed face masks until I discovered the wonder and joy of the fresh face masks that LUSH makes. If you don't have a LUSH by you, unfortunately you can't get them since they have to be refrigerated and they make them fresh, but for about $6 you can get a face mask at Lush that has enough for about three masks and expires in about two weeks. The upside: the ingredients are all fresh and organic (think seaweed, asparagus, blueberries, garlic, honey, oats). The downside: it expires in two weeks. 

However, what I learned from using these face masks:

1) They feel AMAZING cold. If you have a day where you got too much sun, slap a cold face mask on and let it sit for fifteen minutes and it will greatly reduce the redness and help prevent peeling. 

2) They are incredibly great for your face, no matter what their designed purpose. Every face mask I have used, whether it is designed for exfoliation, moisturization, cleansing, etcetera, always makes my face feel like it's been buffed with a nail emery board in a very good way. 

3) It's a lot cheaper than getting a facial at a spa (which I also really enjoy). 

Since I started using masks, I now keep all my masks in the refrigerator, regardless if they are LUSH, Perfectly Posh, Arbonne or my favorite, our Detoxifying and Moisturizing Mask. However, I do admit that I have ones from all of the manufacturers in my refrigerator because like shampoo, I believe that your face needs variety when you are treating it and the same routine day after day will stop shocking your skin and getting it to improve. So while yes, I use all of our skin care products, I don't use them every single day with the exception of our face wash. 

Tonight I have a date night with my husband since it's his company Christmas party and I'm going full-out with my makeup and doing full face. I started preparing last night with our Facial Resurfacer but today? Mask time!

I have had this mask container in my refrigerator for nine out of the eleven months that I have been a distributor and I've used it at least three to four times a month each month. And look how much is still left. It's about half full. It is not going bad since I keep it in the refrigerator, and it still smells and works wonderfully. The directions suggest a thin coating (usually a good fingerful is sufficient since it spreads well) and to use it no more than 1-2 times a week. 

Math time: 

Cost of the mask: $50
Use: 4 times a month x nine months = 36 masks
I have half of it left. 
$50 divided by 72 masks = 69 cents per mask

Not a bad rate for a prestige skin care item that really works and is fortified with anti-aging complex. 

So it feels cold, it works, it moisturizes your skin, it helps with anti-aging....and....it smells great. To me, it smells very much like cucumbers, so from reading the ingredient list, I gather that some sort of cucumber extract must be in it. However, what is actually IN it? 

Top ingredients that caught my eye: 

1. Kaolin. I'm not surprised at all to see this as this is a top clay ingredient used in most cosmetics. It's job? Absorbing excess oil and water into itself as well as making a paste when mixed with water that has a texture. You will see this used in virtually every facial mask, even the ones from LUSH. 

2. Vegetable oil. Also not surprised to see this one either...the mask isn't greasy or oily, but a little bit of oil is needed for spreadability and the mask does direct you to use a cleanser after you take it off. I use our 3 In 1 Normal To Oily Cleanser. 

3. Yeast extract.  This is an antioxidant, and antioxidants strengthen skin structure and help prevent environmental damage. 

4. Vitamins A, B, C and E. These are NEVER bad for your skin, but Vitamin E especially is great. 

5. Orchis mascula (flower extract). This is going to be found in a lot of our products, including LipSense. Flower extracts have varied purposes but many of them stimulate microcirculation, improve dryness, reduce redness, and revitalize aging skin.

6. Jojoba seed extract. Surprise surprise, this has Vitamin E in it as well which can be used to treat sunburns! It also speeds up cell regeneration which will help with treatment of scarring, acne and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. 

7. Arnica montana. Arnica traditionally is used to treat injuries and soothe muscle aches, but it also will reduce inflammation!

8. Camellia sensis (leaf extract). Another antioxidant! See #3 above. 

9. Zinc. Remember zinc oxide? The white cream people still occasionally put on their noses to prevent sunburn? It is also used to treat skin irritations such as diaper rash and other issues, but also can be used as a mild astringent. 

10. Volcanic ash. I know this is a strange thing to see in skin care products, but if you haven't seen any skin care products with charcoal or other carbon-based products in them, take a look if you have especially oily skin. I have found for me that any facial wash or scrub with charcoal in it is especially effective at helping control oily skin, which I have in abundance. Activated charcoal'when used in a face mask magnetizes to and helps extract the dirt out of your pores, making them less visible. If you have ever had a professional facial, part of the facial usually is a manual pore extraction where the aesthetician actually manually extracts the dirt and oil clogging your pores. This will help in the same way and I have noticed my pores are less noticeable by using products with ash or charcoal in them. 

So my routine this morning? I used a gentle facial scrub to take off the products from the night before, put the mask on my clean dry face, let it sit for twenty minutes, and then washed it off with clean warm water. After that, I washed with our 3 In 1 Normal to Oily Cleanser, moisturized with our Daytime Normal To Oily Moisturizer and then topped that with our Silk Pore and Wrinkle Minimizer. The after picture was taken just after washing the mask off and before cleansing and moisturizing.

The end result is that my face is clean, moisturized, soft, and ready for full face tonight!

This mask would make a wonderful Christmas gift without a doubt! Don't forget about the people in your life that love facials! This is a gift that will give all year long!

The Detoxifying and Moisturizing Mask retails for $50.00 USD. Please contact me to order! (And no, I have no idea why the flyer shows it blue. It is white.)

Dark Circle Eye Treatment: Take the bags to the curb!

Dark Circle Eye Treatment, or DCET for short, is one of the best products that we offer where you can see immediate results within about twelve hours. AND...you don't have to use it all the time. For the longest time, this wonderful product was out of stock, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a tester so I was able to test it. The skin below your eyes is very thin and delicate, and as such, black circles can develop quite easily for a number of reasons, usually not enough sleep, being sick, sleeping on your stomach, certain medications, rubbing your eyes really hard during allergy season....it's basically a type of bruise from the blood vessels under your skin leaking blood and the light refracting off the delicate skin making the "black" or "blue" show up more. 

I don't really understand the chemistry behind DCET and I'm not going to try, but I can tell you that I don't use this product every day. I use it when I need it. If I am not sleeping well or pulling long days or late nights, I will apply it. If I notice that I have shadows, I will apply it. If my eyes are puffy from crying (yes, I cry, girls do that!), I will apply it. It does contain SenePlex, our patented cellular regeneration serum, so from using it and from the little bit I gleaned in biology class in high school is that it basically hastens cellular growth of the skin below your eyes, making the skin not AS translucent and the circles not as prominent. 

Directions for use: You are recommended to apply DCET on clean dry skin before you moisturize with a small amount day and night. A small pearl-sized amount beaded onto your finger is plenty to use on both eye areas since it is very rich and very concentrated. Use your ring finger so as to not put added strain on the delicate undereye skin and spread it around gently until it is absorbed. Moisturize as usual....I use Climate Control and my Day or Evening Normal to Oily Moisturizer after applying.

I decided to test this serum with before and after pictures the first week I started my blog and I was staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning playing with HTML, so this first picture was taken on Thursday, October 19, 2017. See the black smudges? If you look close you can actually see almost a varicose vein broken in the rounded part of my orbital socket! Imagine that the skin below your eye is like a leaf...and all the little veins in the leaf are the capillaries below your eyes. When one breaks and releases blood into the skin below your eyes, it appears black because blood is actually a blackish-red traveling through your veins when it is deoxygenated. Deoxygenated blood is darker due to the difference in color between deoxyhaemoglobin and oxyhaemoglobin.

What I noticed immediately the next morning after this picture was taken was that the skin under my eyes was a little firmer, more even in skin tone and I looked less....well, tired. And I didn't feel the need to immediately reach for some natural concealer or EyeLuminator. 

This picture was taken after 72 hours, Sunday, October 22. 

And this picture was taken after almost a week on Wednesday, October 26. 

I don't know if you can see the difference in pictures as well as I can in daylight, but it's amazing. And trust me when I say that I am TIRED ALL THE TIME!

Like I stated above, I don't see the need to use this every day. I used it twice a day during this testing period to show how great it works, although I might be using it all the time after this experiment. I also made sure I got enough sleep at night and drank plenty of fluids. I am also on blood thinners, so my black circles are a tad more prominent for that fact, so there's my full disclosure. 

It has no odor. It is not oily or greasy. It does not leave a color on your skin and you don't feel it tingling or stinging after application. The only difference I noticed was that the skin under my eyes felt softer and more moisturized. And as stated before, it does have SenePlex in it which will help with aging. I am prone to genetic issues with the skin under my eyes (my mother, uncle and my grandfather all have this problem) so I have to work at this a little harder than the average 42-year-old. 

Black circles, red circles, or puffy eyes.....this could possibly be your miracle skin care item! Contact me if you are interested in ordering it! I have one in stock but this is easy for me to order if you have to have it!