Green Tea

Some time ago The Beauty Gypsy did a post on the many health benefits of green tea.

Today she addressed how green tea can be used topically to help with skin ailments. You can check out her post here.

Green tea to beautify skin? I have lots of that . . . I'm in!

You can find more topical recipes here. And also read about some interesting, and perhaps contradictory (but very practical) information on using green tea topically, here from the Acne Einstein.

I have been breaking out so badly lately and I am definitely going to be trying this. Hopefully it will help my poor, inflamed skin from the rapidly changing (and very unpredictable) weather!

I also came across this pretty interesting post from August Skin. There's a "right" way to wash your face? Who knew?? Perhaps this could also help my current skin woes, let's hope . . .Check it out here.

Happy brewing.

DIY Matte Lipstick

Let's talk LIPS!

SO what do you do if you are on a budget and you are obsessed with matte lipstick, or you just already found your perfect red shade, you just wish it came in matte as well? Well then hopefully this video below will solve all of your problems!

Oh and something else that's great, mattifying your lipstick also makes it last much longer. It's perfect if you are going into a situation where you probably won't be able to re-apply for a while.

 

Before you watch the video, please excuse the rampant mess and dissgusting walls...I know I know, it's gross, I'm so sorry, please just ignore it! Enjoy (-:

 

 

 

ELF High Definition Powder here.

Revlon Just Bitten Lip Balm/Stain in Sweatheart here.

 

If you want to make your own lip plump you can look at my post on DIY Lip Plump here.

No time to make your own lip plump?

I also use Salley Hansen Vita-C Lip Plump which you can get here. I got it at Walgreens for $4.

 

Also, if you made your own Mineral Veil/Face Powder from my post here, you can also use that to mattify your lipstick.

 

In my matte post I talked about the NARS Lip Pencil in Cruella. This is a great blue-red and looks especially nice against light skin. NARS also has other great matte colors in this same lip pencil. You can check them out here. Below is a picture of the NARS in Cruella.

 

I know I know, I'm sooo white.

 

 

I also love love love Tarte's LipSurgence because it's like the Revlon Just Bitten. It is a lip stain and a balm in one AND it's MATTE--at the same time!! SOO awesome!

 BUT the Revlon Just Bitten Balm/Stain is around $7 while the Tarte stains are more pricey like the NARS, both being around $24. You can check out Tarte here. WARNING: You will be tempted to buy all of the colors!

 





Blemish Powder

EyesLipsFace (ELF) has this Mineral Blemish Powder that I use every single day. It is awesome.

On the actual ELF site this product has mixed reviews, like most products, but I personally give it five stars. It in no way claims to be a concealer, so it doesn't have a lot of coverage and is very sheer. BUT it fades pimples and makes them less red and it is perfect to wear underneath any foundation/concealer. I feel like it almost creates a pimple-fighting barrier between my skin and my foundation when I wear it.

Sometimes if my skin is looking pretty good, or I am camping in the summer, I will wear it alone. It goes on looking very natural.

Best part?

It has TONS of awesome ingredients in it that give your blemished/acneic/oily skin great benefits.

Kaolin soothes irritated and blemished skin and helps to heal.

Willow Bark helps prevent acne and naturally contains salycilic acid.

Tea Tree Oil is an anti-bacterial and keeps pores clear of dirt and grime.

You can get ELF Mineral Blemish Powder here.

One of the great things about the ELF website is that every product has a video to go along with it. It shows you how to best use the product and also gives you a full list of ingredients.

Do I sound like a walking ad for ELF? Sorry!

But I have found that being a girl on a budget, ELF is such a great website because everything is just so dang cheap compared to other places. You get the most bang for your buck! Target carries some of their stuff, and sometimes so does Grocery Outlet, which is nice because then you don't have to pay for shipping, but sadly, I have not found the Blemish Powder in Target yet.

Anyways, pretty much all of the beneficial ingredients in the ELF Mineral Blemish Powder, you can use to make your own really great acne-fighting concealer. Refer to my post here. And also here for more info on the ingredients.

The one thing that the ELF Blemish Powder has that I don't use is Sulfur. Sulfur is beneficial for acne-prone skin, but not great for sensitive skin because it can be very harsh and irritating.

Hope all is well!