At Home Dermaplaning!

On January 18, 2017February 27, 2017 By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyle, skin care, UncategorizedLeave a comment

So by now you may or may not have heard of dermaplaning as the hot new facial service available to the stars…

For those of you who haven’t heard about it, here’s the skinny: dermaplaning is a service that consists of a skilled professional gently scraping a scalpel across the surface layer of the skin to physically exfoliate and also remove baby peach fuzz hairs to produce a super smooth effect and increase the power of skin treatments applied afterwards.

Generally speaking it’s not usually safe to take an unguarded blade to your own skin as it can be difficult to gauge pressure and it would be awful to end up with a scar instead of fresh skin.

Well, for those of us out here who don’t want to spend a million dollars on facial treatments at a spa, I’m here to offer another option: guarded brow shaping razors for at home dermaplaning.

These are absolutely amazing in general and I use them for my brow shaping because my skin doesn’t do well with facial waxing. But the real awesome sauce about them is that they have a really sharp blade and they also have a micro guard on them that helps prevent the likelihood of cutting yourself accidentally.

After reading about dermaplaning and doing some research I decided to give it a whirl myself. The major benefit for me has been how much better my skin care products seem to be working. By using a technique like this to physically remove the surface layer of dead cells and make-up residue that seems to never come off fully under usual circumstances it really does promote better absorption of masks and moisturizers.

It’s typically not necessary to do an extreme exfoliation technique like this every day. I suggest trying it once a week, or even once a month if you have sensitive skin. My skin is pretty hardy so I used to do this once a week until my skin got better, sometimes twice a week if I’ve been doing a lot of modeling shoots and classes and been wearing more make-up than I prefer. Now I’m back to once a month. It makes me feel so much cleaner to be able to get my skin under control.

This is a truly fabulous new addition to my skin care routine and I totally suggest it to anyone interested, just be careful not to shave off an eyebrow!

Facial Scrubs for Body Scrubs

On March 28, 2016 By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyle, skin careLeave a comment

While I was at the New York International Beauty Show (#IBSNY2016 if you want to search the Instagram tags), I made several interesting purchases, along with things from my Sephora haul last month.

I’ve already got combination skin so I know that heavily moisturizing facial scrubs tend to trigger acne for me. Since I still wanted to try stuff out I decided I’d use them as body scrubs instead. This is actually one of my favorite uses when I buy or receive products that aren’t quite a perfect fit for me.

First up was Rebels Refinery Advanced Clear Skin Facial Scrub which was absolutely awesome and comes from a very cool company with the most amazing smelling Moisturizing Beard Oil that I’ve ever smelled. This scrub had a really nice gritty texture and made me feel super clean, but it’s definitely designed for men’s skin and to pair with a lighter moisturizer than what I use (and probably not use make-up with either). I did notice that my skin was super smooth, and when used as a body scrub all over I had no ingrown hair issues, razor burn, or even a need to use body lotion. For someone with dryer skin, or as a body scrub I rate this as one of the best I’ve used, but for my face it’s a waste.

Second I tried my luck with Ole Henriksen Walnut Complexion Scrub which had similar issues. Absolutely wonderful as a combination body scrub body wash but not really working for my face. Great texture, and decent lather when mixed with water, nice smell.

Hopefully the next set of things I get my hands on prove to be a better fit for my skin type as we approach warmer weather again. Get stoked!

Got any recommendations you think I should check out? Leave them in the comments section and I’ll be sure to take a look.

Not Always a Win

On March 16, 2016 By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyle, skin careLeave a comment

Not everything I buy to try is a product I’m destined to love forever.

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Recently, in my Sephora haul, I purchased Glam Glow Super Mud to try. My good friend and former assistant, Vanessa who works at the Springfield Town Center Sephora location, assured me I would love it. While I acknowledge it is a beauty junkie favorite, and it did great things for my skin, I just can’t get past the scent.

It contains several herbal extracts, like licorice, which give it a distinct smell that ends up being extremely reminiscent of Jagermeister. I just can’t handle it.

This is a bit of a loss because my skin does feel incredibly refreshed and clean. The goal of using it tonight was to make up for three days of chain-smoking in my car traveling to teach hair extension classes out of town. It worked amazingly so I’m disappointed a bit, but I’m planning on gifting it to a current staff member who really enjoys Jager.

Recent Sephora Favorites

On March 7, 2016 By Christine RinehartIn beauty, lifestyle, skin care5 Comments

So I semi-recently got some tax return money and we all know what a beauty junkie is prone to do with unexpected windfalls, so I took that to Sephora to find some new favorites.

The weather these days has been back and forth pretty ridiculously in my area so I’ve been looking for some skin care that would give me a deep clean and no residue on the sweaty days but it needed to be soothing enough to not dry me out on the cooler days either.

There was much searching and poking through every product, and I’m sure a fair amount of employee annoyance at my refusal to accept advice, but seriously I’ve got a cosmetology license there’s nothing you can tell me that I won’t know from reading the labeling. I finally settled on Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Enzyme Mask and May Coop Raw Sauce.

I’ve fallen madly in love with them both.

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The pumpkin mask has been awesome. It’s designed to be used 2-3 times per week, but I use it every other day so I use it about 4 times a week. I wouldn’t recommend that if you have skin that is sensitive to physical or chemical exfoliants. It’s got a good grainy texture so it works well at giving me a really clean feeling that just doesn’t happen for me with chemical exfoliants alone. It’s also filled with fantastic enzymes and acids from the pumpkin and other natural sources so it really leaves you feeling smooth and soft.

May Coop Raw Sauce, I have to admit it, I mostly bought it because I loved the name of it. It’s pretty much asking to be joked about. Seriously. It came down between this and another “booster style” moisturizer and the name was the deciding factor. I am digging it though because it has a whole bunch of extracts in it that increase the nutrient content but it’s virtually oil free so there’s no gross sebum build up on the warmer days we’ve been having. It’s very light in scent and texture, and it’s got a maple water base which makes it an excellent hydration product.

I’m excited to keep using these until I run out. It’s been a few weeks so far and they’re doing fabulous things for my acne, oily spots, and general brightness.