Tag: diy

Give your face a winter break with a toning/moisturizing mask

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment
yay for simple ingredients!
yay for simple ingredients!

It’s really easy to neglect the face in the winter and rely on make-up to cover-up flaws, dullness and dryness of the skin.  During the winter, all I am in the mood to do is hibernate, even my social life takes a backseat.  Now that I know Valentine’s day is creeping up, and that my boyfriend wants to do something with me, I am forced to start making an effort at proper skin maintenance during these cold dark months of the year.  How does one rejuvenate mind, body and spirit during this time?  A vacation would be great, only my trip to Florida last month was a total disaster in terms of weather.  I got no sun at all during a week of uncommon rain and cold in what is supposed to be “the sunshine state”. So now back in freezing Toronto, I have to work at being fresh faced when I am actually far from.

This is where facials and face masks come into play.  I recently discovered the skin loving ingredient kaolin clay.  Kaolin is a white powder with which you can do many things.  It has a smoothing, absorbing effect when used in cosmetics, similar to talc, but it is all natural.  Make a DIY face powder with it, add it to your dry shampoo…use it to tone your skin in a mask.  For an easy face mask, I decided to use half a banana mashed with yogurt, then add a dash of honey, olive oil, and vitamin e oil.  Thicken with a couple of tablespoons of kaolin.  Better than Lush fresh face masks?  Definitely, it’s more gentle, and much more affordable.

At Home Facials:

Doing facials at home is great.  I find it much more convenient than going to a pricey spa.  It’s pretty easy, but it’s better to do this when no one is around or looking, cuz it looks kind of weird doing it in process.  But your face will thank you.

1. Cleanse your face with a mild face cleanser and exfoliate.  (I use a homemade face scrub with equal parts honey, olive oil, and sugar!)

2. Steam your face gently.  Boil about an inch of water in a pot over the stove.  Remove from heat once it boils.  Add some essential oils, or flower waters to the hot water.  Carefully put the pot on a table and lower your face just above it to receive the steam.  Keep it there for around ten minutes to open your pores and let out impurities and deep down dirt.  Rinse off with warm water/a gentle cleanser again.

3.  Apply your face mask thickly and evenly, avoiding your eyes.  Let it sit for at least 10 minutes.  Give it more time if needed.

3.  Rinse with warm water.  Pat with a warm, wet face cloth.

4.  Tone your face with a bit of rosewater/toner on a cotton swab.

5.  Moisturize with your favourite face cream.  

It seems like a lot of work, but your skin will thank you.  You will have smaller pores the next day, a more even skin tone, and a better glow to your winter ravaged skin!

 

Reasons to not have a hair stylist…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

I was reading an article online recently about 14 reasons to splurge on a fancy salon, and well, here is my counter-argument to that piece…reasons not to go to a salon.  Most hair stylists would probably hate me if they knew me. I haven’t been to a salon in over a year and I don’t plan on going anytime soon.  I don’t depend on them to keep me with the trends, I do all my own hair styling, even cutting.  I stopped going when I noticed quality chemical treatment and colour products are available to the average person, and dared to ask to question if I could do without the salon industry. I started colouring myself with those home dye kits at the pharmacy and then eventually graduated to professional colours/rinses from the barber supply.  I took a bit of a risk to learn the ins and outs of basic haircare and chemical processing, and once I learned them, the risk element diminished, leaving even less reason to go to a pricey salon. I’ve heard people insist about how “magical” professional hands are to hair and how they are just a must.  Not true.  Sure, if you can afford $150 for a colour job then go for it…it is easier to sit in a chair and let someone else do it.  But for around $10 worth of professional products you can do the legwork yourself and save a whole lot of money.  Then use that for new clothes, stuff for your kids, and good food. Sorry hair stylists, but I’ve put a target on your business  in this entry.

looks like it cost something to breath the air in here!
looks like it costs something to breath the air in here!

A lot of people argue that stylists are needed, because and average person is inexperienced and can mistakes.  That is totally true.  I mean, I won’t lie and say I’ve never messed up my hair.  But the difference is that I can own up to it, and hair will grow back and I learn from it.  Hairdresser have made mistakes with my hair before, and I still had to smile and tip politely at the end.  Not fun. Depending solely on hairdressers for hair functioning is also problematic, because in my experience, they often do not understand or listen to the customer, and they don’t seem to really care about how you turn out.  Nobody can care more about how you turn out than yourself. There are the pricey hairdressers that might listen, but a lot of women can’t justify spending this much on just hair, especially in this time and age where money is so hard to come by.  And I don’t want to go to a hairdresser’s college just to get a decent affordable cut from a student stylist.  You’re giving your hair to someone who is going to learn from cutting it…and your own payback is a slight discount.  Not good enough.  We deserve more than that…

My last dependency on hairdressers ended when I started watching how-to videos online with simple instructions on hair cutting and layering.  I learned these and performed them on myself, made evaluations…all in all, it was something at I could do reasonable well.  Also, my hair is long, so long cuts are easier to maintain in my opinion, they are free flowing in general, so fancy cuts are not needed.  So…now I realize that my need for hairdressers is pretty much obsolete.  And it’s nice to be free.  I don’t have to save up my piggy bank to get something so essential as a proper ‘do.

Rapunzel did her own hair. That turned out well, didn't it?
Rapunzel did her own hair. That turned out well, didn’t it?

Nobody talks about avoiding hair salons, because I think there’s a lot of business at stake, and there is so much riding on keeping women hooked.  My current hair-do is something I created to maintain myself, and I’ve gotten many compliments on it.  It’s a medium long hair length with wispy layers, and a straight cut medium length bang, coloured with a punchy pinkish red colour rinse put in after pre-lighting by toning with 40 volume peroxide, no bleach.  And I do it on my own, after a few trials and errors, but the end result is what I wanted.  And that was worth the work.

Maybe when/if I become a bride, on my wedding day, I’ll treat myself to a pampering blowout from a good hairdresser, because I admit that they do do beautiful blow outs and shaping after a shampooing.  They obviously know how to make an updo.  But until then, they are a luxury that even if I could afford, I have decided is not worth it.