Happy Monday Kiddos! Hope you guys had a great weekend! I wanted to rap today about my favorite go-to beauty products… maybe it’s cuz it’s the holly-days and I see a sea of 900 zillion expensive products being plugged out there, but secretly know you can do a lotta the same tricks with a buncha stuff for under $10 at the drugstore. Or mabes it’s because I’ve had some epiphanies of my own lately. Diff’rent Strokes for diff’rent folks but regardless, I wanted to share ’em with you guys!
1 – Herbivore’s Coconut Milk Bath Soak, Urban Outfitters, $16. Camps… I was Christmas shopping for a few friends & fam the other night and accidentally bought this for myself. The pretty packaging / glass jar I can reuse to corral makeup brushes on my vanity combined with the effing HEAVENLY SCENT of this tipped the scales. I literally took 3 baths this weekend with it, and it made my skin insanely soft.
2 – Skin Care by ARCONA, price varies. Your skin is like the one outfit you wear every day, so I figure you gotsta take impeccable care of it. My skin has been super temperamental since I moved to California almost 2 years ago… I’m sure it’s partly due to the climate change, partly because I’m getting older and my skin is just changing (meh), and partly because I now know that my skin hates SPF (which means I have to wear a Golden Girls-sized hat whenever I’m outside). I used to be able to throw tar on my face and I wouldn’t get a sniff of a blemish… but since last summer – yeeps. It’s been REAL happy to throw back at me anything it doesn’t like. So over the past 18 months, I have literally tried every skin care line under the sun (including but not limited to) Rodan + Fields, Arbonne, Nerium, Murad, Shiseido, Oil of Olay, everything from the drugstore etc. – and have finally cracked the code. The product line is called Arcona. It’s all-natural and largely plant based, it’s not inexpensive, but it is AMAZING. I was first introduced to it when I was desperado to get my skin in check and Karrie suggested I get a facial at the Arcona Spa one weekend when I was in Santa Monica (ps, Brandi Brown is a miracle worker). My skin was literally a hot mess when I went in and it cleared up in 4 days. I moved away from it about 9 months ago and I don’t remember why, but I just started using it again a few weeks ago and my skin is now glowing, clear and looks like I just got botox. Except I didn’t. This pic was an oopsie snap from this weekend when me and my buddy the-best-DJ-ever were trying to figure out how to use a selfie stick. But I’m not wearing any foundation or concealer and this pic isn’t filtered.
3 – Baby Oil Gel, drugstores, $4. I slather this on my legs after I get out of the shower. It does need a few hours to soak in so it’s best to put it on at night before you hit the sack (and it’s also messy so you’ll wanna wear sweatpants you don’t care about, or just not touch anything you don’t want an oil mark on), but once it soaks in your skin feels like BUTTAH. The girl sitting next to me at the community table at dinner last night accidentally touched my leg and was like, “Sorry – wait – OMG your skin…” I’m not even kidding. It’s also great for dry cracking heels if you are susceptible to them. No amount of pumice-ing will permanently remedy that, but if you slather this on your heels at night for a few days, you’ll have cracked feets no more. Honest.
4 – WATER. Maybe the most important thing on this entire list. I’ve been hearing celebs yap for years about how drinking tons of water is their beauty secret, but until I started doing it, I didn’t really believe ‘um. I try to drink at least 2 liters of water a day, and when I do I can literally see it in my face but the end of the day, cuz it gets all glowy and supple.
Glaceau smartwater 600ml pack.jpg
5 – Domino Sugar, any drugstore/grocery, about $3. Every other day, I exfoliate/scrub my ENTIRE body with sugar. It can get messy and takes a little time, but it makes the texture of my skin insanely smooth and all kindsa dewy. You need to carve out an extra 10 min in the shower, and for each appendage, you need to massage it into your skin for about the amount of time it would take you to sing your ABC’s. Sugar can be harsh so you can’t scrub too hard – slow & steady wins the race. Tip: if you add a little baby oil to the heaping handful of sugar before you start massaging it into your skin, it’ll go a long way.
6 – Essie Adore-A-Ball Polish, Amazon, $8.50. Hands-down the best neutral polish, ever. Bubble Bath Schmubble Bath. I linked to Amazon because it’s not always on the Essie stand at the drugstore and can be tough to find. I carry a bottle in my purse so if I ever go get a mani, I have them just use mine… and every single time, the nail techs (who you know have seen every neutral color under the sun) go, “OHHHHHH MYYYY this is such a great color.”
7 – Burt’s Bee’s Lip Shine in Wink, Amazon, $6. Best lip gloss in the most amazing color I’ve ever found… trumps any $30+ “lip plump” or whatever highfalutin brand from whatever highfalutin cosmetics store. They also NEVER have this in the shade in the drugstore so I have to order on Amazon.
8 – Coconut Oil, Trader Joe’s, about $8. Listen yo. I have a legit FRO… untamed it is coarse and totally unruly – like pipe cleaners. Show me an expensive and revolutionary hair serum and I promise I have tried it. And imma telling ya – nothing makes my weave softer or smoother than regular-ol coconut oil, and 1 jar will last at least 6 months. All I do is take a TINY amount (I’m talking maybe 1/4 tsp), warm it between my hands so it’s melted, and run it through my hair to evenly coat it. I get the best results if I can leave it wet in a loose bun for an hour or so (if I have time), but then just style it regularly and it’s super soft and manageable. A tiny bit goes a long way so you have to be careful you don’t overdo it, because it WILL look greasy and you’ll have to shampoo again. I look like a member of Whitesnake if I do nothing to it after I get out of the shower. But this is my hair on Coconut Oil:
Hope this helps! Have a great week!!
xoxo,
