I love creating little lists of favorites: I have found that my friends often value my opinion as a chef and educator, and it gives me a chance to highlight awesome products that make me happy. It’s been a few months since I did a Favorites post (see here for my lists from Spring 2017 and November 2016 (do I need to blog more often, or what!?)
These are not sponsored posts (but there are some affiliate links). Rather, these are items that I’ve come across over the past few months that just make me very happy. I’ve never created a body care/beauty item list, but as a woman of a certain age, I’ve become pretty careful with my skin. I’m 38 and very happy about it – I think all my years of vegetarian living, yoga, and ample nature time have been good to my skin. But, it’s always important to take even better care of what we have, right?
Beauty blogging isn’t really my THING, y’know. But these fun new items in my life just happen to be focused on body care things and they make me feel glowy and awesome and I hope you like them, too.
Let’s go, gorgeous…
Mountain Rose Herbs Wild Rose Facial Oil
I splurged a few months ago on a huge pile of herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. I bought rose petals, calendula, elderflower, and dozens more botanicals that will become cordials, bitters, and beautiful bath products. While searching for these items, I also came across some really lovely oils offered by Mountain Rose, and their Wild Rose Face Oil is my new favorite serum for glowing skin. Made with rosehip seed oil and olive oil infused with calendula, essential oils, and carrot seed oil, the gorgeous orange color and thick consistency make it my new go-to facial oil (I usually use sesame oil) (yes, oil is great for your skin!).
Lip & Cheek Stains
My makeup routine has been the same for about 20 years: a little bit of eyeliner, a little of mascara, and done. But in recent years (especially when living in San Francisco when I was a bit more pale than usual), I got really interested in lip and cheek statins: these are items that can be used for both skin and lips, and I’m in love with two types.
Balmyard Beauty Baby Love stain is literally the most expensive body care product I’ve ever purchased (about $40 with shipping). It’s a tiny little container but the deep wine color makes me look flushed and healthy in my cheeks and can be layered on lightly for just a little lip color or heavier for a darker stain. The other product, which is a lighter shade, is 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Lip & Cheek Stain. It’s a bit more rose-colored than wine-colored, but looks great whether I’m a bit tan or not.
Red Clay Masks
I am LOVING my clay mask habit. I try to do it like 3-4 times each week, and I’ve seen a really noticeable difference in my skin, especially on my neck. I’ve tried a few types of clay, and the type that works best for my skin is red rhassoul clay. I don’t think it’s necessary to order the clay mask products with a ton of other stuff in it: just the plain clay is simple and delightful. I find that mixing with half water and half oil (I use sesame) is the best way to blend. I cover my whole face, neck, and décolletage, and then walk around the house looking like a clay monster. Or I take a 10-minute yoga break, until it starts flaking off on my yoga mat! Then, wash off in the sink or shower using a gentle scrub motion; it’s a really gentle scrub and makes your skin so silky afterwards. I find that it’s reduced visible pores and improved the general glowiness of my skin.
Homemade Green Juice
Ok, it can’t ALL be beauty products. Homemade green juice is like drinking liquid sunshine and makes your body feel SO GOOD and helps you get hydrated and mineralized so that you can get the GLOW! Juicing vegetables helps you get zillions more veggies in your life that you just wouldn’t be able to eat. The key to juice is to keep them pretty low-sugar: I like to use celery or cucumber as the base, mixed with just lemon and maybe a bit of apple for sweetness. Learn more about why you need to be drinking green juice and why it’s so freakin’ good for you. I make a quart-sized jar, and drink it over like 3-4 days. Yes, it’s best to have fresh green juice everyday but WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT?
This post contains affiliate links; if you purchase any of my recommendations, I make a small commission. Thanks for the support of VWJ!
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