Sunday, March 04, 2007

Shift to skin care

So, I've finally recognized the wisdom of the Lipstick Page Forums Beauty Blog.

I went a little crazy over the past few months, in a "kid in a candy store" phase. I bought quite a few cosmetics which are great fun to play with (lipgloss, eyeshadow, blush). But now I'm noticing that my skin just isn't very clear at the moment, so I'm going to focus on improving that before dumping color cosmetics on top of it. Lipgloss and lipstick are about the only things I can wear easily at the moment. It's a good thing that those are the things I buy most often. In any case, I'm on a purchase freeze for anything other than skin care.

Some posts from the Lipstick Page blogs that I find particularly helpful:
The simplicity of skin: an excellent guide to skincare
Dain's exposition on Minimalism
Old School Dain Minimalism
A return to minimalism: Introduction
A return to Minimalism part 1
A return to Minimalism part 2

Despite all those posts on minimalism that I find compelling, I still want to buy more lip color. I don't know why, but I seem to get bored of everything fairly quickly. Everything that I've gotten lately looks lovely, but the novelty wears off and I want to try something new. Unhealthy or something.

Currently love:
  • Korres Mint Tea body milk (lovely scent that lasts, good moisturizing products, organic?)
  • DHC deep cleansing oil (I would love to try the Soft Touch Cleansing Oil but it can only be ordered from the website)
  • Beauty Credit Double Moist Pomegranate Collagen (frankly, it's the scent that I adore. I think the moisturizing properties are average as they are unnoticeable to me, but I'll gladly keep buying this for the divine scent. The Q10 coenzyme cream has a marvelous light rose scent).
Thanks to a friend, I have been testing a few of Kiehl's products. The texture of their products is lovely! But I find the ingredient lists a little iffy (the Foaming Non-Detergent Washable Cleanser contains detergents). I'm going through Sodium PCA "Oil-Free" Moisturizer at the moment; lovely feel and quite moisturizing. However, it contains multiple parabens and alcohols, which I would like to stay away from.

4 comments:

Andrea Leite Marques said...

Hi Kuri! How are you today? Thanks for the skincare links, will have a look!
I don't think I told you before but I am in Brasil right now, where I am staying 2 months! Yeeeepee!!! Everything is great, lovely restaurants and going to the local gym, which I found even harder than the one in Dublin, bleah... But I desperately NEED to go...
I replied to your comments just today! Sorry for that! But I will see if I write something else either tonight or tomorrow!
Have a lovely Thursday,
a.

kuri* said...

I did not notice that you were in Brasil! Cool! Glad you're having a great time. I'm thinking about going to the gym soon. I bought the most beautiful dress (for a wedding) but my tummy is in horrible shape :o So I'm thinking about signing up for this course that focuses on flattening the stomach. Either that or hip hop (looks more fun, but stomach may not improve). Not sure what to do, but the short term goal is the stomach!

No hurry for replies :) Whenever you have time.

katiedid said...

I always skip over our local Kiehl's, something about their boutique always strikes me as overly precious? I've just never been overly enamored of the Kiehl's products, mainly for the price. For what you get, I've just always seem to have found lower price alternatives that work (and smell, heh) better. I really like the inexpensive Beauty Without Cruelty line for good quality hair and skin products, but I would suppose that it would be a brand that is all but impossible to find in Japan (they seem to sell only to the UK and US.) I am crazy about the Korres line though, ever since my husband "discovered" it. Not hard on the ol' discretionary budget, but really nice stuff, isn't it? I strenuously doubt they are 100% organic, but they generally seem very gentle, no? I think gentle in many ways is way more important. I need to dip into the Korres stuff for skin care, rather than just he body care stuff sometime soon. The Lipstick Page blog entrires seem so grounded for the most part in common sense - good links!

kuri* said...

I totally agree about Kiehl's! Expensive and a bit smelly. I will look for Beauty without Cruelty on my next visit home. Organic stuff in Japan is pretty expensive (Neal's Yard has absolutely shocking prices - more than Kiehl's U.S. prices) and stuff like Aubrey Organics gets marked up 100%.

Korres stuff is really nice, isn't it! Andrea (above) pointed out some nice Greek website so I can avoid the 100% markup too :) Either way, so much more reasonable than L'Occitane, and even nicer. Haha, I was rather suspicious about whether Korres was really organic or not. I guess they don't make that claim. It is very gentle though, so I have no complaints.

Enjoy the links! I really enjoy the posters on that blog. I need to reread the posts too, as I have been far from minimalistic lately.