Category: coconut oil

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Spring Cleaning: How Often Should You Clean Your Brushes?

by Red Lips & PassportsLeave a Comment on Spring Cleaning: How Often Should You Clean Your Brushes?

makeup-brush-pages-jpeg

Last week I was chatting with one of my good good girlfriends and of course the topic of skin care came up. I’m always on my friends speed dial when they have any kind of ailment or skin issue, since I seem to always have a good remedy or product recommendation. My GGF (good good girlfriend) was saying that her skin was breaking out and she couldn’t figure out why. So I went down my normal list of questions:

How are your eating habits? Good 

Have you been going to the bathroom regularly? Yep 

Are you keeping your hands and cell phone clean? Yes

What about your makeup brushes, are you washing them regularly? *silence*

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Ding ding ding!!!  She had no idea that she needed to clean her makeup brushes, and had been using the same dirty brushes for YEARS!!!   Ladies this is NOT acceptable behavior, your makeup brushes must be cleaned regularly even if you do not use them often.

It’s actually recommended by dermatologists that we wash our makeup brushes daily… But ummmm who has time for that?  So washing your brushes weekly is acceptable.  For me, I’m going to be honest since I don’t wear makeup daily, I wash my brushes about once every two weeks.

Danger Zone

Using dirty brushes on your skin can cause numerous issues.  Breakouts are a huge consequence of using dirty brushes.  This is because over time the brushes become caked with residue, built up product, oil, skin cells and BACTERIA!!!

Cleaning Tips

Cleaning your brushes is super simple, you can purchase brush cleaners from brands like e.l.f., Clinique, Mary Kay and M.A.C.  Since I’m a cheap skate I just use Dr. Bronner’s Castile Oil Soap.  You can also use: unscented bar soap, dish detergent and even baby wash to clean your brushes.  Also, when my brushes are super caked with product I like to use avocado or olive oil to break down the gunk easily.

Brushes can be clean in  a few easy steps:

  1. Gently work the shampoo on the brushes with your fingers (be sure to avoid the barrel so that you don’t cause the brush to loosen)
  2. Press the water out with a towel
  3. Reshape the bristles and lay them flat so that the brushes can fully dry

Whatever you do, DO NOT soak your brushes!!!  This can cause the glue to loosen leading to the bristles to loosen from the barrel.

How often are you cleaning your brushes?  What products do you use?  I’d love to get suggestions from you guys!

Stay tuned as I continue my Spring Cleaning segment and discuss when you should throw your makeup away!

Until next time….

acne, Beauty, beauty blogger, blackheads, blog, blogger, coconut oil, Uncategorized

Sleeping Beauty… The Effects of Sleeping with Makeup On

by Red Lips & Passports10 Comments on Sleeping Beauty… The Effects of Sleeping with Makeup On

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My schedule is so hectic some days, last Sunday was one of my busiest days. I had church, brunch plans, family to visit in the hospital, grocery shopping…. yea thats not even all of it.  I’m still trying to understand how people are able to keep it together when it comes to hectic schedules, but thats a whole different post.  Anywho by the time I had gotten home that night it was nearly 9:00 and I was beat.  I barely could make it to my couch I crashed as soon as I landed.  What I intended to be a 20 minute power nap turned into a full nights sleep.  I knew I was wrong, falling asleep with a full face of makeup is the ultimate no no!!!

If you think that one night of sleeping with makeup on won’t do damage to your skin, you are sadly mistaken.  When I woke up the next morning I had multiple blackheads all over my chin and cheeks.  This usually occurs when I sleep with makeup or don’t thoroughly clean off my makeup the night before.

There are several things that happen when we don’t take our makeup off at night…

  1. Your run the risk of eye infection – forgetting to remove eye makeup dryness and irritation, which can lead to infection
  2. Skin aging – for every night makeup is not removed, our skin ages by two days.
  3. Breakouts – leaving foundation on can lead to clogged pores and major breakouts
  4. Dry skin – failure to remove makeup can create a barrier that can block your beloved moisturizer from penetrating your skin, leaving the skin patchy and dry

To remove my makeup on a typical night, I use coconut oil and a facial tissue (literally melts the makeup right off of my face).  I also like to wash my face with Dr. Bronners Green Tea Castile Oil Soap or the Love Your Bare Face cleansing oil  from Julep its $28 so it is a bit pricey, if you are a Julep Maven you can get it cheaper when the secret store opens up. I also like to use my new obsession, Micellar Water to remove tough products like matte lipstick and kohl eye liner.

Sometimes it can be hard to get the energy to remove makeup, especially after a long night where partying may or may not have been involved *exit sarcasm*.  One habit that I try to maintain when I have a late night is to keep a box of baby wipes ( I don’t believe in makeup wipes) near my bed.  This way, even when I’m super tired I can quickly remove my makeup with a wipe so that I don’t do any damage to my skin or pillow cases!

What products do you use to remove your makeup?

 

 

bblogger, black girls rock, coconut oil, hair, lifestyle blog, lifestyle blogger, Uncategorized

L’Oreal #Extraordinaryhair Review

by Red Lips & Passports3 Comments on L’Oreal #Extraordinaryhair Review

Extraordinary hair

Even though I don’t have much hair on my head these days, I do take care of the few strands that I do have.  My scalp tends to be very dry so its important for me to wash and condition my hair almost daily to keep the dry and flaky skin at bay.

I was really excited to try out the Extraordinary Oil line from L’Oréal.  Especially because keeping my hair oiled has always been a huge struggle for me even when I did have longer hair.  I had the pleasure of trying out the Nourishing Shampoo, Nourishing Conditioner and Lustrous Oil serum (my favorite of the three).  This line is perfect for dry and lifeless hair.  While my hair is VERY dry, it does give life so don’t get it twisted!  The great thing about the Extraordinary Hair collection is that the products are all infused with a complex of coconut, argan, sunflower, chamomile, amla and soja! All essential in keeping ones hair nourished and oiled without weighing it down.

When it comes to my hair, I’m EXTREMELY picky about the shampoos and conditioners that I choose, mainly because I have natural hair (4c texture), and if you have natural hair you know that everything isn’t for everybody.

Due to my tightly coiled hair, it sometimes can be tough to find a shampoo that gets into the nitty gritty of my hair and leaves it feeling squeaky clean.  The Nourishing Shampoo did exactly that.  While washing my hair I was amazed at how the soap quickly lathered and removed the dirt.  It really only took one good shampoo to get my hair clean.  Once I finished, I could hear the squeaking (love that sound) as I towel dried it.

The conditioner was pretty great as well.  I mixed it with some avocado and sat with a makeshift show cap on my head to let the conditioner penetrate deep into the roots of my hair.  Upon rinsing it, my hair was super soft and my itty bitty curls looked more plump than usual.

My absolute favorite product from this line is the Lustrous Oil!  It’s soooooooooo thick and extremely effective on my hair.  Just a few pumps are good enough to keep my normally dry hair oiled through the whole day.   Unlike many other serums, this one didn’t weigh my hair down.  My curls were still plump and light and there was no left over sticky residue from the serum.

It typically takes three weeks to know whether or not a new product is working for you, but with this collection, I knew within a few short days that this product was perfect for me.  And now that I have gone back to my Amber Rose cut, I’m still in love with the products for keeping my scalp clean and free from flakes and dryness!  Dear L’Oréal you get two thumbs up from this Product Junkie!!!

(I received this product free from L’Oréal for testing purposes.)

 

bblogger, Beauty, beauty blogger, coconut oil, health, Uncategorized

PiperWai

by Red Lips & Passports4 Comments on PiperWai

natural-deodorant

I love my boss, she’s a fellow product junkie so she’s always hipping me to the new new and telling me what I should and should not buy.  A few months ago we were having our daily girl talk and she told me about an episode of Shark Tank that featured a natural deodorant called PiperWai  As soon as she told me about it I rolled my eyes because I have tried many many many different natural deodorants and NONE of them have worked.  I mean none of them have even worked for an hour.  Each time I have tried a  natural deodorant I’ve been left feeling extremely sweaty and smelling like…. well a dead skunk on a 100 degree day… NO BUENO.  Even after my boss told me about how the creators of PiperWai swore by their product I still didn’t believe her because all companies feel that their product is the absolute best.  A few months after she told me about it I developed a huge lump under my arm from the deodorant I used which ended up causing me to have a many other health issues, so I finally decided to try PiperWait and baybeeeeeee If this thang ain’t the TRUTH!!!

I did a little research on the product and saw that it was made from natural ingredients like cocoa butter, coconut oil, and vitamin E oil. Still a bit leery, I purchased the product in January but due to the popularity of their Shark Tank episode there was a 5 to 6 week wait for the product to be shipped.  I decided to order two of jars because if the product really worked I didn’t want to have to wait 5 to 6 weeks to have more delivered.  As soon as I got the alert that my package had been delivered I could not get to my mailbox fast enough.  I tried it for the first time and was almost immediately in love.  When you open the jar it looks a lot like play-dough; it’s soft and extremely smooth, the texture is kind of hard to explain.  To use it, you just take a small pea size pinch of the putty like substance and rub it under your arm.  The tiny pinch is just enough to cover your entire under arm area (one pinch for each arm).piper-wai

The whole entire first day I used PiperWai I kept smelling my arms to see if the deodorant was actually working.  I went a whole 12 hours and did not sweat nor did I have any type of armpit odor!  The fact that I had no odor at all was such a big deal to me.  This is because PiperWai contains ingredients that won’t allow bacteria to grow and thrive, which leads to fresh pits.  In my research on PiperWai, I learned that when we sweat under our arms it does not have an odor.  However, once bacteria reaches the sweat it causes that terrible foul odor like raw onions mixed with crushed garlic.  I also learned that the magnesium in PiperWai allows your body to block the offensiveness of sweat – isn’t science freaking amazing???

One of the things I love most about this product is that it does not clog your apocrine sweat glands like other antiperspirants.  Clogged apocrine glands can lead to large lumps forming under your arms which can be extremely painful and cause other health issues like various infections.  PiperWait is great for sensitive skin, it won’t cause any break outs or irritation to the skin. 

One jar of PiperWai is only $11.99 plus S&H.  $11.99 may seem a bit pricey but honestly its totally worth it because it will last for months! Right now there is a 2-4 week back order on it but its really worth the wait.  Try PiperWai today and tell me what you think!!!

 

bblogger, Beauty, beauty blogger, clean eating, coconut oil, fashion, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, lifestyle change, makeup, marshalls, organic, shopping, skin care, tjmaxx, trends

Bargainista Chronicles: Coconut Oil Wonders

by Red Lips & PassportsLeave a Comment on Bargainista Chronicles: Coconut Oil Wonders

During one of my weekly trips to TJ Maxx… 


Wait before I start, let me just say how funny it is how our tastes change as we mature and get older.  When I was a kid, my mother would drag me to TJ Maxx EVERY SINGLE THURSDAY because that was when the one near our house got their weekly shipment.   I absolutely hated that store because it smelled like leather, and for some reason I hated the way leather smelled when I was a kid. 

Ok now back to my story.  So about a week a go I went to TJ Maxx… like I do every week.  I went looking for a birthday gift for someone but I stumbled up this beauty…
Sonoma Harvest Organic Coconut Oil from TJMaxx only $6

Ok so when I tell you I SCREAMED when I saw this!  Because not only is it probably the biggest jar of organic coconut oil I’ve ever seen, but it was also only $6!!!  Now granted it was on the clearance rack but who the heck cares a bargain is a bargain.  So me being the obsessive compulsive person that I am when it comes to products, I immediately (well not immediately about a week later) went to the TJ Maxx near my job to see if they had any and guess what!  I found two more jars of this same brand for $6.  But that wasn’t enough.. So I walked down the street to Marshall’s (TJ Maxx affilate) to see if they had it, and guess what they did!  But listen to this… it wasn’t on clearance It was $9.99  #byefelicia  so i left it right there on the shelf.  Hmph *flips imaginary Brazilian body wave*


Ok back to the product on hand… So i use coconut oil for many many many reasons. 
  • Cooking: Mainly because its a lot healthier than olive oil and I’ve really been attempting to change my lifestyle and my eating habits.  
  • Hair Care:preshampoo, condition and oil these locks (lets pretend my hair is as long asAfrica Miranda)
  • Skin Care: When it comes to skin… OMG coconut oil is the beezneez you hear me? I use it for my dry hands and feet, as an all over body moisturizer, I add sugar to it sometimes for a good scrub (so great for lip scrubs), to remove my eye makeup, shaving, and to cleanse my skin! 

One of the things I love most about coconut oil is that a little goes a long way and this jar should last me about six months!  Coconut oil  has a shelf life of 18 months to 2 years so you don’t have to worry about having to use it up before it goes bad.

Until next time lovies…