neck care

Does Your Face need a Wash in the Morning?

September 19, 2015 Swati 9 Comments

After a long long time, I am back with a skin care post. Yea!! I do have a lot of good news in my kitty but I shall go slow this time. I do not want to overwhelm myself 😀 So, yeah, lets go back to do you really wash your face in the morning or more correctly does your face need a wash in the morning?

Well, I am sure you obviously wash it! You would rather ask me if I had gone mad!!

Anyways, you remember the huge and awesome haul I shared with you a few weeks back from my Malaysia trip 🙂 I am still so excited about it that I am not able to decide what to use and when? Just yesterday, I tried out the SKII facial treatment mask and boy they are expensive as hell!!! So, was it worth it? No, I do not know. I still have 5 more and I would like to do a detailed review. Anyways, why am I even talking about masks?

Night Time Skin Care Routine

Yeah, right, I was talking about washing face in the morning. Now, let me just go back a little and talk about your night time skin care routine. So, what exactly do you do? Cleanse off your makeup, wash your face, tone it (optional) and moisturize. So, are you one who just prefers a single layer of one product or go with multiple products. Whatever the case be, you do cleanse your face properly at night, right? Then the question arises that what do you do in the morning?

5 Steps to get fairer skin? {Five Series}

April 29, 2015 Swati 126 Comments

Last Updated: 29th April, 2015

Hey Everyone! So, sorry for the title. It came out because of the consistent reader queries who are on their quest for fair skin and I had written this post long time back. I now see that I should have instead titled it as How to Preserve your Skin Complexion? It would have been more appropriate and conveyed my message clearly.

First of all, let me say that I DO NOT support this ongoing trend for fair skin and the stigma of being dark. In fact, even today in my own family, I have seen people commenting on how a person is dark complexioned or not and, mind you, they do not spare even the babies, howsoever cute they might be. And, I am a crusader against this very thought. I mean, come on, we have racism in our own communities!

Since quite long, I have been seeing a trend of questions on this topic from people who are either getting married or who have darker skin tones. So, first of all, I would like to say that you can’t really lighten the skin complexion. The skin color is determined by the amount of melanin your skin has and you can’t do anything to reduce the amount of this pigment inside your skin. Ok, after that bit of science, I would like to say that you can do somethings to preserve your original complexion.

Sunscreen

Yup, that’s the first step to any kind of skin care. And, I totally stress on the importance of this routine. I would suggest Neutrogena Ultra Sheer but my favourite is MVO Moisturizing Face Screen. I have often heard complains that the sunscreen does nothing but the secret lies in using the proper amount of sunscreen to provide full protection.

Face Cleanup at Home {DIY}

October 6, 2013 Swati 4 Comments

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Ok, this is just a DIY and is not supposed to mimic the parlor cleanups. I just randomly followed this routine one day and totally loved it so sharing it with you. You can do this when you think you can do with a little bit of pampering. I have already shared all the DIY’s in this post on the blog.

Ingredients

Face Wash
Homemade Body Polish
Deep Cleansing Mask
Nourishing Mask
Face Towel

Method

Wash your face and neck thoroughly to remove all grime and dirt. If makeup is already there, remove it properly using the double cleansing method.
Take this body polish and scrub your face and neck till all the granules melt off. This will take about 5-10 minutes at max.
Now, the next step is to use a deep cleansing mask or any mud mask which absorbs the toxins from the skin and leaves your skin glowing. Let the mask dry and wash off.
Now, to nourish the skin, you can take a nourishing face mask and apply a thick layer. Let it dry. Relax in the meantime. Wash off.
Follow with a toner or in my case aloevera gel. And, apply your favorite moisturizer or in my case a facial oil.

Body Polish

I have already shared the DIY on the blog here. I would strongly recommend you to use this. But, you are more than welcome to use a good face scrub if you own one. Also, after scrubbing, you can take the face towel and dip it in hot water and wash off your face with it (instead of steaming the face). This is just to open the pores.

Deep Cleansing Mask

Any clay mask is a deep cleansing mask. If you have one, that is more than enough. Otherwise, you can make one using multani mitti (fuller’s earth) and water itself. You need a mask which will only remove the toxins from the skin. The nourishment is the next step so don’t worry about it.

Recommended Masks:

Beauty Formulas Heat & Cleanse Clay Mask

Liz Earle Deep Cleansing Mask

Nourishing Mask

If you have a nourishing mask or a creamy or hydrating mask, that is good. Otherwise, you can make one using cocoa powder and honey. You can also add milk cream or fruit juices or banana.

Recommended Masks:

Biotique Bio Pistachio Ageless Nourishing and Revitalizing Face Pack

I would suggest any Biotique mask like milk cream or clove mask as well. They are all pretty nourishing.

So, that was my home DIY for face cleanup. Do you have any alternate ideas? Do Share!

Related Posts:

Turmeric infused Almond Oil

Mom’s Oil

Ginger infused Vinegar for Dandruff and Clarifying Hair

All about Facial Oils? [Part – I] {Skin Care}

September 22, 2013 Swati 10 Comments

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As you all know, I love oils. In fact, so much so that I would love to own all the apothecaries in the world! And, recently again, due to improper care my skin started to look and behave a bit weird so I thought I would go about giving it a good dose of care which does not ruin my easy life either. And, I have plethora of oils in my closet!!

So, that was when I started searching for how to use facial oils most optimally. Well, I know many of you are scared just when an oil is mentioned but guess what it is the best thing you can do for your skin. But, before that best, you do have to go through a fair share of trials and errors to know which one works best for which skin.

How to find the best oil for yourself?

Is your skin dry? Go for coconut oil. It has the fatty acids which instantly lift and plump up the skin and hydrate it from inside.

Sesame oil is generally for normally dry to combination skin.

Apricot oil is something which gets absorbed very very easily into skin. Grapeseed oil is also equally amazing for oily skin.

I am not sure of almond oil. Some say that the molecules are too big to penetrate the skin so it does not really cause breakouts. But, I have no history of breakouts so I can not really answer that. But, it is great for under-eye areas.

Olive oil is something I will never really recommend. I have heard quite a lot of complaints about it but many raves also but personally my preference is not that.

One more oil which I have used is evening primrose oil. I absolutely love it and would recommend it for mature skin, especially.

How to use Facial Oil?

Any oil should be used on damp skin. Why? Damp Skin is a good absorber and oils get spread on damp skin more easily. 2-3 or maximum 5 drops of any oil is enough to cover the face, neck and décolletage. Or, one pump if your oil comes with that.

Always remember to treat your neck and décolletage with the same products you would use for the face whether a mask or scrub or face wash or even the makeup remover or even sunscreen.

After that bit of lecture, let me tell you how I use the facial oils. This is when toner comes into use the most. Wet the face with the toner either using a cotton ball or just with the toner collected in cupped palms and then while your palms are wet, take the drops of facial oil and rub the palms till they get a bit warm.

Press the palms on your face starting with cheeks and then forehead and then nose and chin so that least amount of the oil gets deposited on the T-zone. And, then start massaging into the face and then neck and décolletage. There is no need to use more oil unless you feel dry.

So, these are my few cents on the topic. I hope this article has helped a bit. This is the first part though. I was writing the post and realized it was just too big so I thought I would publish the rest in a separate post.

So, do you use facial oils? If yes, are there any tips for us?

Related Posts:

Facial Massage for Anti-Aging Skin Care

Aarohi Oil of Apricot

Tips on How to use Bath Oil?

Get on flipkart:

Do you find more dirt on your neck than face? {Your Opinion}

April 1, 2013 Swati 4 Comments

Hey! So, following the Clinique 3-step skin care system I have been almost regularly using a toner. I am loving it because it hydrates my skin and I get to remove the dead skin cells also with it. You should definitely check out what Paris talks about exfoliation while toning.

So, yes, since I have read her post and that was the same time I got to use the Clinique products, I decided to continue with the toning part. Right now, I am using Paul Penders which is an Australian brand. Anyways, coming back to the topic, I apply toner in the morning and evening both.

Now, I have noticed that in the morning even after washing my face, the cotton pad turns gray in color while wiping the toner and in the evening, it turns brown depending on whether my face got cleansed well or not otherwise sometimes it also turns gray.

What’s gray and brown? Gray are the dirty dead skin cells and brown is the left-over makeup and in my case sunscreen. So, it also becomes a good reason to double cleanse your face and neck instead of just using a face wash.

But, I have noticed consistently that more dirt is on the neck area than the face. I do not know why it would be so because I cleanse my face and neck equally while having the shower and I use my face cleanser till the décolletage! Have you ever face such an issue?

PS: Writing a post after so long feels really weird! I have been absent from the blog because of some issues and deadlines. And, now that I am back, I would like to remind you that I have rescheduled my timings. I shall be posting only three times a week – Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I want to follow this routine slowly and get back on track! Thanks a punch for your patience 🙂 And, yes, I remember I have to reply for the comments and the queries.

So, what do you say? Does your neck look more dirtier than the face?