Beauty, Daily

Smarter ways to exfoliate your skin

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100Pure-Skin-Brightening100% Pure is a brand I stand behind due to the fact that everything they sell, is organic beauty products, cosmetics, skincare/bath, etc. Everything is free from harmful toxins, free of artificial colours and 100% cruelty free.

So whenever I use their skincare, I know I’m taking the best care of my skin that I can. While I do still have favourite skin care items from other brands that I’m sure you guys all I know I love (philosophy hope in a jar, and the bobbi brown extra eye repair cream). I do still use those, but I also like incorporating more organic, healthy skincare into my regimen too.

Did you know that they’re based out of San Jose, just like me? Random, but they were first founded in Napa, but are now based here in the same city I’m in. That’s how I found them, at first. When I attended an event at Santana Row my first summer here!

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about them on the blog, but I still use a lot of their products (including their super highly pigmented cocoa bronzer which is insane and I love it). But I wanted to bring it to the fore-front again and talk about their $35 brightening scrub + mask. I exfoliate my body on a weekly basis to prep my skin for self tanner, but I tend to exfoliate my face more on the side of twice a week.

I have to ask you guys. Have you ever used a scrub that actually gave you minor scratches? I used a Newfoundland based product on my skin last week, while exfoliating for my tanner, and I noticed it scratched my lower-calf area and made it bleed! I wasn’t happy with it, and I immediately threw it in the garbage since I thought it was a bit too abrasive for my clearly tender skin lol.

I haven’t used the 100% Pure mask on anything but my face, but it’s gentle yet exfoliating enough to sloth off those gross dead skin cells from the week.

Here’s what I use before/during/after a face-mask time.100PercentPure-and-No7

Cleaning my face using Botanics All Bright Cleansing Face Wipes $6.99Boots-No7-Makeup-Wipes

Here’s what the brightening scrub + mask looks like on! And once you’re ready to wash it off, it gently exfoliates your skin. Love!Mask-on

Wash it off, then spritz your face with some No7 Hydrating Mineral Water Spray $8.39.Boots-No7-Spray

Exfoliating benefits + tips:

  • Exfoliating will give you a brighter complexion.
  • This might be a no-brainer but remove your makeup prior to exfoliating. If not, the exfoliant won’t be able to give you a deep clean.
  • Careful which exfoliants you choose, as some granules are more rough than others, which can damage your skin.
  • Exfoliating helps your makeup go on smoother! Try it if your foundation makes your skin look dry/cakey/rough.
  • The benefits of exfoliating are endless, considering it removes dead skin, reduces skin discolouration and pigmentation.

How often do you exfoliate? If you do, which product/brand do you use?

Keep an eye out for the 100% Pure online sales! They have them pretty frequently where you can get so much money off an item if you spend a certain amount!

100% Pure Cosmetics
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Psst! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway here for a Specialized Women’s cycling jersey!

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Daily, Spiffykerms Holiday Gift Guide 2015

Holiday Gift Guide: the In-Laws

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In-LawsOnto my second instalment of the Spiffykerms Holiday Gift Guide 2015! My gift guides will be coming out fast and furious the next few weeks. I have a lot of ideas to share. Today, we’re talking ‘n thinking about gifts for your in-laws.

I actually find it quite easy to shop for my in-laws, since they all have similar taste to me, or so we tell one another when we all go shopping together. I grew up with one older brother, so I never had much girl-time with any female siblings…because duh I was the only female! Lol.

I lucked into having three sister-in-laws upon marriages happening. My brother is married to an Irish woman, and my husband has two sisters. I honestly feel like they could all be my sisters. I love hanging out with each of them one-on-one and having that special bond with the three of them.

My parents-in-laws are awesome too. My Mother-In-Law bakes like no other. Her cheesecakes are to die for, I always said they were like “restaurant quality” and could definitely open up her own bake-shop if she wanted. I am craving a chocolate cheesecake from her now! Good thing we are heading home for Christmas.

My Father-in-law (FIL) and I share a general interest in rocks together. I grew up with a neighbour who was a geologist, and that neighbour and I always chatted about rocks. I even thought about going into geology! Obviously I don’t know as much as my FIL about geology (he has a large collection of incredible pieces and takes good care of them all), but I love having that similar interest with him. Did you guys know I used to have a rock collection? Like a legitimate one – rocks from all over the world. I ended up gifting it to my nephew when he turned 7 or 8, because he too, shows an interest in it. Even had this homemade box to keep them all labelled separately and in their own little cube so to speak.

Alright, let’s get into those holiday gift ideas! (Some items in this post were sent for review. Opinions are my own!) 

PIL-gift1

PIL-gift2For the parents-in-laws
Yes! Two photos for the parents-in-laws. Luckily my husbands parents are fairly easy to buy for, come Christmas time. Last time I was in Newfoundland, I ended up giving my Mother-In-Law Dior + Bioderma products and she seemed to really enjoy it! Plus, I usually like to think that whatever I like, in general — a lot of other people would too, no? I mean, who doesn’t want to try out Love With Food (an organic + all natural snacking monthly subscription box) to arrive on their door step each month? And another unique gift idea I love is to incorporate their pets (or Alfie, their grand-pet in this case, hee hee!) and have a CaseApp skin on their ipad? Don’t forget about liquid resistant placemats for the pets at home too, that one’s from JC Penny. Or cute festive Owl pillows (how cute is the one with the Santa hat?!) I also love giving luxury skincare items that people may or may not have heard of before, both Aesop and Antipodes are fantastic brands.

Products shown in first photo for parents-in-laws: 

Products shown in second photo for parents-in-laws: 

BIL-HolidayFor your brother-in-laws:
Because I feel like a lot of guys don’t necessarily take care of their hair until someone steps in. For instance, I had no idea my husband didn’t use conditioner until I asked him about it! Sheesh, take care of your boys here ladies and gents. The scent of the kelp & mint duo is unreal, kind of reminds me of something from Aveda,if you know that scent. Mmm-mmm, music to my ears. The hand wash is also gorgeous smelling and I feel like it would look really great in a bachelor’s kitchen, or bathroom to fancy and pretty things up a bit. Plus I feel like foaming hand washes last a lot longer than the regular ones. Anyone else feel that way? And tell me more about those iHome headphones I’m hearing you say! They’re wireless. They’re bluetooth. They’ll love you forever for getting that for them, and thinking you spent a lot more than you actually did.

That box of Boardwalk Food Company Craft Beer Snack Mix (shown: pretzel in rosemary sea salt) is such an awesome idea. And so easy to make for a dude’s party. I guarantee they’ve never seen something like this before. You can make them in 30 minutes… WITH BEER. Gah! Genius.

You guys know I love that Juniper Ridge brand, which I included in my previous gift guide, heehee! And let’s talk about practcal gifts here. Those AllerEase pillow protectors. I know, I know. You’re thinking its’ a strange gift. It kinda is, I agree, but aren’t a lot of guys super practical? I know for sure my husband, brother and father are. They want something they know they will use. And who KNOWS how old their pillows are. Eeeehhhhw.

Products shown for brother-in-laws: 

Delsey-LuggageIf you’re feeling extra generous or happen to have a bigger wallet than I, you could always give the gift of a luxury suitcase. This one is from Delsey, and it’s the 19″ Chatelet carry-on spinner trolly. I’ll be talking more about it in depth in a future blog post, so stay tuned for that too!

SIL-Holiday

For the sister-in-laws:
Although three of them are quite different from one another, I can guarantee that my three sister-in-law’s would love any (or multiple) gifts of the above shown, especially something by bareMinerals because I took my SIL there a few weeks ago (see!!). I would have loved to include these adorable bunny slippers from ardene, or even a clothing piece. One of my sister-in-laws cycles as much as her brother/my husband does. So keep in mind what their interests are, and branch out from there.

Products shown for sister-in-laws: 

The three gift guides shown above (sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, and parents-in-laws) are all somewhat gender neutral and could be used/given to either male or females. I mean, man-buns…hello? They need hair ties and hair spray. Some dude’s are totally into nail polish too you know. And I know the Sephora male employees know how to contour better than I ever will. Plus, this is to give you some ideas and what brands to keep an eye out for while shopping this Christmas (or which ever holiday you celebrate).

 

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Beauty

Rehydrating your summer skin

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100pure-masksFor those lucky enough to have a summer basking in the that warm sunlight, I want to talk about bringing hydration back into your skin after all that fun in the sun. I don’t think I can include my fellow Newfoundlander friends in this, because the poor ol’ souls have been having the worst kind of summer all throughout July. Rain, drizzle fog (as it normally is in Newfoundland) but also unusually bitterly cold. At one point in July the forecast mentioned it was colder than the North Pole, and there was frost warnings. Oh man. Some glad I didn’t book a flight home this summer.

Back to summer-talk. I didn’t think I would enjoy the 100% pure products enough to be raving about them on my website the following few weeks. But here I am, praising them to whoever wants to listen. I’ll chat more about some of the other makeup I received too, which didn’t impress me as much as their skin care.

If you’re a long-time reader, you know I’m all about skincare products more than I’m into makeup. I don’t stray too far off my philosophy skincare regime, and will continue to use that brand. However, these masks have become a quick holy grail staple taking over precious real estate in the bathroom cabinet. Is there such a thing to over-do the hydrating mask? I sure hope not. At this rate, it’ll all be gone in a months time. Luckily, it’s not too expensive, especially if you use it 1-2x week unlike me, 4-5. Ha.

100pure-hydrating-mask100purehydratehydrating-mask-on-handAqua Boosting Hydrating mask ($32USD) is one of those products you use, where you can’t stop touching your face after you’ve rinsed it off. I’ve used it four times in the past week and the final time I used it I ended up leaving it on overnight for extra hydration. I tweeted that my face seriously feels smooth like butter after washing it off, or leaving it on overnight. I like those types of instant results.

This hydrating masks brings plumpness and life back into the skin, I really really really love the feeling it gives my skin. If I could buy everyone one of these masks, I would. I am definitely carting some of this back to Newfoundland for me for my Mom. Let’s hope she’s into skincare masks like I now am. By the way, if you ever wanted to buy anything from the 100% pure line, they offer free shipping all the time with no minimum, so that’s grand.

100pure-herbal-detox

detox-mask-on-face

Detox-mask-on-handHerbal Detox mask ($32 USD) is another great product, but if I were to suggest you get one or the other, I would opt for the hydrating one first. I feel like detox masks are nice but there’s definitely something different and intriguing to me about the hydrating one. I’ve used this mask just the once, and upon opening the protective seal on the end, I squeezed out a bit onto my fingers and . . . SPLAT . . . the darn stuff sprayed everywhere all over my mirror, sink, counter top even managed to fly all the way over to the shower curtain. Luckily it was wiped up clean in no time, but man — it’s definitely a finicky product to get out! Sorta gooie, sort of thick, it’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to be.

The detox mask has a tingly cold sensation on the skin after you first apply it with this amazing minty scent. I suppose that means it’s doing its job. It felt like your typical clay mask onto the skin, but this one almost sucks out the impurities from the skin, because there were some darker bits (almost Glam Glow style masks — but I’ve never used those) where I assume clogged pores were getting a good cleaning.

I’m one of those people who take off their facial masks and feel my entire face (with clean hands) and walk up to the most magnifying mirror trying to find what has changed in the last twenty minutes. Does anyone else do that? Expecting drastic changes immediately? I found it funny when I realized what I was doing.

Trader Joes watermelon juiceWhile you’re at it, you know being healthy and hydrating and all, grab some delicious watermelon juice from Trader Joe’s. It’s made with 2lbs of watermelon and 1/4 of a lemon. So there’s no added sugar, or any funny-bits. All natural. So basically yes, it tastes like squished up watermelon. Super refreshing, and a much better choice than my regular go-to sugary drinks. YUM.

Disclaimer: While the 100% pure masks were sent to me, I was not obligated to rave about how amazing they were. You can always trust my opinions!

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