Paula's Choice

Hey Ladies,

Sorry, I know, I've been slacking majorly again. But I'm just going to get right into this new post.

One of my Christmas gifts this year (well, 2010) was a book called "The Original Beauty Bible" by Paula Begoun. I cannot rave about this book enough. It is a book all about how to achieve your most beautiful skin, for face and body, and she also has chapters on nail care, cosmetic/plastic surgery, and makeup. Basically what she has done is interviewed dermatologists and read huge amounts of research and peer reviewed journals in order to educate herself on what ingredients in skin care products do what, the benefits and downfalls, and combinations that really work. There are soooo many misconceptions about skincare out there and she busts all the myths in existence. She goes over every skin type and makes recommendations on what products would work best, and also, the reason why the products work for that skin type (basically what ingredients are beneficial and why).

Paula has a skin care line of her own. I plan on purchasing from her line of products once I get paid in a couple of weeks lol. My sister recently purchased four items: cleanser, exfoliant, moisturizer for day (with SPF) and moisturizer for night (without SPF). So far she is absolutely loving the products. She tends to have sensitive skin, so manual exfoliants (i.e.: scrubs) are too harsh because of the abrasive quality they have. The exfoliants that Paula has are all chemical, AHA's (alpha hydroxy acid - this includes glycolic and lactic acid to name a couple) and BHA (beta hydroxy acid - more commonly known as salicylic acid). My sister has had no problem at all using the exfoliant she purchased.

Paula's main philosophy is use products with ingredients that are not harmful or irritating to the skin. One of the biggest misconceptions about skin care is that if the ingredient is 'natural' or 'organic' then it is good for your skin. Well here's a little tidbit and call to reality: lavender oil and citrus cause cell death. So maybe you can imagine what many of the other so called 'natural' or 'organic' ingredients might be doing to your skin. Another thing, there are no real regulations in the skin care industry as to what makes a product 'organic'. There are many, many ingredients that are 'synthetic' and are perfectly fine and beneficial for the skin.

Ever since I started reading this book, one of my biggest pet peeves is when I see people on youtube or any other means of spreading news about skin care, and the person is talking like they know the topic inside and out, but they are spreading false information that could actually harm the health of the skin of the people that take their advice. I know they most likely don't know that they are wrong, because it is what the majority of what the population is used to hearing, but I wish that people would educate themselves before speaking on a topic. This is why I love Paula's book so much.

I'll just add that the book came with a post card for a set of free samples and catalog that you can mail to her company. I believe it also comes with a $5.00 gift card as well. Paula has three websites that I am aware of:

http://www.cosmeticscop.com/
Here, among other things, you can look up individual ingredients to find out their benefits/disadvantages and what they do.

http://www.beautypedia.com/
This website contains thousands of product reviews so you can make an informed decision when choosing cosmetics and skin care products.

http://www.paulaschoice.com/
This is where you can search all of her products available and purchase online. She even offers sample sizes for her products, all under $1.00 I believe. Once you have reached $5.00 worth of product to be purchased you will be able to choose three free samples!!

I hope that this will help some people out if they are at wits end trying to deal with their skin, or even for people who like the quality of their skin and would like to experiment to see how beautiful it can be!! If you would like me to go into more detail about certain aspects of skin care I would be glad to do so.

Stay Beautiful xo

My Makeup Story

Hi Ladies, So this is a tag from the beauty community on youtube, except I don't make videos on youtube so I decided I would do the tag in a blog :) Makeup is my all-time favourite hobby so I am excited to get started with this tag :) Here we go!!!

Questions
1. How old were you when you started wearing makeup?

I started playing with makeup when I was around five or six years old. For Christmas my grandparents got me this little palette with a bunch of eyeshadows, a few blushes and a few lipsticks and I LOVED it. By no means did I ever leave the house with makeup but I was obsessed, and that's pretty much when my obsession started. I'd ask my mommy or daddy (hehe) if I could put on makeup and most of the time they wouldn't let me but the odd time I was allowed and I was in heaven!! Ever since then anytime I was at my cousins house or someone older than me I'd ask to see their makeup and if I could wear some, or if I knew someone carried a makeup bag in their purse I'd ask to see it and I'd just get this huge wave of euphoria it was amazing. I didn't start wearing makeup in public until I was around 13 (I wasn't allowed until then) and I didn't start actually learning about makeup until just a couple years ago when I stumbled upon the beauty community on youtube. Since then I've fallen even more in love with makeup, and beauty products in general, and I've definitely learned my share of tips through youtube, I still love it :)

2. How did you get into makeup?

Like I said in the last question, I got a palette for Christmas one year when I was really young, but I'd also really love to watch my mom put her makeup on in the morning and she'd kind of explain what she was doing. She also used to sell Mary Kay so I'd always love to look through the binders of sample products she had.

3. What are some of your favorite brands?

I think that, like a lot of girls my age, MAC plays a large role in my inventory of makeup. I have a very small collection though right now so I don't have that much, but it's sufficient. I also really like NARS, and for drugstore makeup I like Cover Girl and Revlon.

4. What does makeup mean to you?

To me makeup is an expression of the self :) I'm always doing something different with my makeup depending on what kind of tone I want to convey or depending on the outfit I'm wearing for the day. It's a way of expressing who you are, and for me it gives me confidence. It makes me feel like I'm accomplished and put together and productive for the day.

5. If you could only wear 4 products on your face what would they be?

I'd wear powder foundation, a shimmery eyeshadow, mascara (which doubles as an eyeliner if you wiggle it at the base of your eyelashes), and cream blush (which doubles as a lip colour).

6. What is your favorite thing about makeup?

My favourite thing about makeup is it isn't permanent. You can change it from day to day depending on what look you're going for, or multiple times in one day if that suits your needs. And it's fun to play around with, I don't understand why people would want to tattoo their makeup because then there's very limited versatility and it just doesn't seem like much fun at all!!

7. What do you think about drugstore makeup vs high end makeup?

I think that every makeup brand, drugstore and high end, has their gems and their fails. I think that it's a little bit unnecessary to stay strictly with only high end makeup because there are definitely comparable products at the lower price range. I personally like to have a mixture of high end and drugstore makeup because certain things don't need to be high end because the only difference is in the price and label.

8. What is one tip of advice you can give to a beginner?

I would say don't follow trends. Stay with what suits your face and brings out the natural beauty and once you can master that, then branch out to trends. Especially since for the most part, newer users of makeup tend to be younger as well, and it's unnecessary for a 13 year old girl to be wearing a black smoky eye or a dark lip to her grade 8 math class. Other than that, practice, practice, practice!!

9. What is one makeup trend you never understood?

I never understood (still don't understand) the bushy eyebrow trend. It's not flattering on anyone, even the people with naturally full eyebrows. Please groom them!!

10. What do you think about the beauty community on YouTube?

I think the beauty community is great for learning about makeup. I think it could use a lot less negativity on the viewers side because it's unpleasant for people who are genuinely there to learn about makeup and scroll through the comments to see if there are any questions they can answer, and all they end up finding is people commenting and complaining about lighting, or that the gurus don't edit their videos enough, and all this crap. If you don't like it, don't watch it!! Other than that I love the beauty community. When I'm away from home or friends it makes me feel like I have company, plus I'm exposed to new beauty items, which is always fun :)

Okay, so that's the end of the tag, I hope I didn't bore people to death (if you actually made it to the end of this post lol). I tag everyone to do this. Don't forget to comment and let me know what post you want to see next :)

Lauren

So It's Been a Little While...

Hi Ladies,

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've last blogged, to be honest I didn't expect anyone to even come across my page, let alone follow it!!! This is really exciting and inspiring to me :)

So since I actually have followers, I would like to ask you guys what you would like me to blog about first, just to get the ball rolling. Anything at all that you want, from makeup organization/ storage, winter fashion ideas, beauty tips, anything at all!!!

I hope that I haven't let anyone down with the much too long hiatus. I'm really excited to get this blog going now :)

Lauren

1st Post

Hi ladies, welcome to your new haven, your special place to visit and learn tips and tricks to make your life easier, from makeup and beauty, to fashion, to home design, to enjoying every minute of your day, all on a low budget! I am a university student so I definitely know what it means to be on a budget (a very tight one at that). I am also currently single, so I know what it takes to make your life enjoyable and feel accomplished on a daily basis without constant reassurance from anyone (well, almost every day).

Like you may have noticed with my introductory post, I try to live life with simplicity, since the things we have no control over are usually complicated. It's nice to have things under control when it comes to organization, and motivation to keeps things that way.

Hopefully my tips, tried and true, will help you too. Feel free to leave me comments and tips as well so that we can help make everyone's lives more livable and enjoyable :)

Lauren