Beauty, Health, Photos, Reviews

Philosophy’s Micro Exfoliating Wash

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Disclosure: I was sent this product for free. Opinions are my own.

  • 8oz $25 USD or $31 CDN
  • 16oz $37 USD or $46 CDN
  • 32oz $58 USD or $58 CDN

There’s only two skin care lines that I am truly faithful to, and will always re-purchase or try new things. One being Bobbi Brown and the other is Philosophy. You can see in my skin care routine that I’ve been religiously using some of those two names for a good while. Sure they’re both pretty pricey and you have to find them in speciality stores. But your skin is your biggest organ, and you darn well better take care of it.

I last reviewed the Philosophy micro exfoliating peel not too long ago, so I thought it would only seem fit that I now write about what I think of the micro exfoliating wash.

Here’s a quick run-down on what I think.

Pros:

  • A little goes a long way.
  • My skin feels so smooth after using it.
  • Also removes makeup.
  • It’s very gentle and non-irritating on the skin.
  • You can use it on a daily basis.

Cons:

  • The price tag. 
  • The bottle is a little too hard to squeeze out the product.
  • The smell isn’t the best (more clinical than fruity/fresh/or clean scented).

Does it work? As always I love to tell you all my honest opinion of a product. Whether I spent the money on it myself, or I received it for free to review. This product will now go hand-in-hand with my purity cleanser which is always on my counter top in a small travel sized bottle to wash my face morning and night. Instead, I’ll use the micro-exfoliating wash in the shower and leave it in there and use the purity when I need to take off my make up at night.

I use a dime sized amount on my damp face while I’m in the shower. I massage the clear salty-feeling product into my skin for 45-60 seconds, then rinse thoroughly.

I think it’s an all around great product. It’s a nice scrub, but I’d change the smell of it, but that wouldn’t stop me from going out an purchasing it with my own money. I won’t have to do that for a while, because this 8oz bottle I’m sure will last me 10 months or more, from the way I’m using it right now. I think I’ll have to put it in an easier squeeze tube as well, like I do with my purity cleanser.

What’s one of your “Holy Grail” beauty products?

Do you wash your face in the morning, or at night? Or both!

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Daily, FitFluential, Fitness, Health, Photos

What keeps me inspired?

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I have a big ol’ sweet tooth that everyone knows about. In order to have a few sweet treat indulgences I need to keep working out! Haha. It’s the honest truth. 

Also, working out isn’t just for fitness for me, though that of course plays a huge factor, keeping healthy and active. But it’s a big social part of my life. I’ve established some great 10+ year long relationships with friends that I met through climbing, running groups and now CrossFit.

Here’s Kerry & I, we both attended a wedding in Newfoundland over thanksgiving. Kerry is one of my long-time climbing friends. I don’t know how many years we’ve known each other. But I’m going to go with over 9 years?!

Old photo of Trev & myself at one of his birthdays at the climbing gym no less. My best bud (who I met semi-through climbing, semi-through friends) for 12+ years!

I’ve even taken new friends to the climbing gym with me. Hi Steph, miss you! She’s in Zimbabwe right now and gets back next month.

I always need to remember “You’re only one workout from a good mood”. So true! Working out also keeps me much more alert and I really do have much more energy when I work out throughout the week, than on those weeks where I skip.

It doesn’t hurt that I have a boyfriend that works out (even more!) than I do – so I almost get a sense of regret if I don’t work out as often as I had planned. Seeing him strive, reach his goals through hard work really pushes me to be a better person in life. Stay motivated, and to stay on track. 

How do you stay inspired and motivated?

I wrote this blog post to share with you all as I am part of the Sport Chek’s #MyBetter campaign.I hope it inspires some of you to reach your goals. Go get’m tiger! Stay inspired. Stay motivated.

This is not a sponsored post.

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Beauty, Health, Photos, Reviews

Favorite moisturizers and cleansers

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I have a handful of spa gift certificates to this local place, just sitting around my apartment waiting to be used. I’m just so scared and undecided what I should get done at the spa. Sometimes I think I want a facial, other times I want to get my hair dyed there. I’d get something simple like a mani/pedi but their prices are far too exuberant for my liking. Plus I love the lady I go to.

It all boils down to me being chicken but really wanting to get some sort of facial thing done. So, I’m slowly stepping into the realm of doing things myself before I waltz into a fancy spa and ask for a hydrating or peel-like facial. Is that backwards? I don’t know. To be honest, I don’t know much about skin care, other than moisturizing. I love to cleanse and moisturize the heck out of my skin. Perhaps that’s why people tell me I look like I’m 10 years younger than I actually am. That, or it’s the genes.

There’s just two must-have’s in my skin care regime. It’s my cleanser, and eye moisturizer believe it or not. Unfortunately they’re both pretty high end products but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s just what works.

Purity by Philosophy is the cleanser that I use. I bought the ginormasized bottle at Sephora, because it’s works out to be cheaper to get the larger sized, of course. It’s a very gentle cleanser, I can get it straight in my eyeball and it doesn’t sting. Nor does it make my skin feel tight, or dry afterwards. Bonus.

My face moisturizers vary from each time I go out and purchase one. I haven’t found anything that I love yet. But what I do really enjoy, is my Bobbi Brown Extra Eye Repair cream. It’s definitely a splurge for me and I can only find it at Holt Renfrew in Toronto. Sephora does carry Bobbi Brown products, just not that certain eye cream. It’s a very thick, luxurious eye cream and lasts about 6 months if you buy the full sized version.

I am mourning over my empty jar of Bobbi Brown extra eye repair cream that I just finished the last week of September. I remember buying it in February — see what I mean? Lasts a long time, all you need is just a dab. Applying too much moisturizer is a waste, only so much cream can soak into your face.

Not to worry, I went to Holt Renfrew last weekend and picked up a new extra eye repair cream :)

I’m always testing out and trying new products to add to my must-have collection. The next product I decided to try out was Philosophy’s micro exfoliating triple acid brightening peel pad. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

I exfoliate my skin pretty often because I self-tan a few times a month. Slothing off all that dead skin is a must, especially since I’m prone to spots of mild eczema and of course self-tanner coming off — you don’t want to have splotchy skin.

You’ll notice that each pad is individually wrapped which is great since it’s very sanitary. If it was just in one package, the pads stay much more fresh since they’re not getting exposed to the air.

The price point of these makes me want to cry, and I’m glad I ended up getting them to review here on my blog for you guys — otherwise I most definitely would’ve walked right past it at Sephora!

Don’t get caught off guard. The name of these are much scarier than the actual product. You think “peel” as in red, blotchy skin and your dead skin flakes off and you need to take a day off from work. No. These are so much more gentler than that, and it honestly just felt like a cold toner on your face.

The directions mentioned that you could use this pad, not only over your face but on the back of your hands, elbows and knees if desired. I didn’t do that, so instead just focused on my face. The first few things I immediately noticed about using the micro exfoliating triple-acid brightening peel

  • It was chilly and refreshing on my face.
  • My face wasn’t irritated! Yay!
  • My sensitive skin didn’t feel tight after applying it.

I didn’t notice any brightening the first time I used it, but are you really going to see a dramatic change the first time you use something? No. I did use 5 of the pads throughout the course of five weeks. So I’m following directions appropriately at once a week use. It claims that after two uses, skin is smoother and brighter. After 4 uses, fine lines and sun damage are visibly diminished. Thankfully I’m not at the age where I have sun spots or damage. My fine lines around my eyes are noticeable when I smile, and I’m pretty sure they’re non-reversable. But that’s besides the point. I did enjoy using them since it does help remove dead surface skin cells and promotes a faster rate of cell turnover. Which ultimately helps enhance your skins brightness. This is why you should exfoliate folks! You need to sloth off those dead cells in order for your skin to glow.

To be honest? Are they worth the hefty price tag at Sephora? Right now, I’m unsure due to the fact that I don’t have any other exfoliator to compare to.

Have you ever used an at-home facial treatment?

What is your favorite cleansers and  moisturizers?

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