Beauty Experiment: Mixing Turmeric with Tinted Moisturizer

Turmeric + DiorSkin Nude BB Creme Beauty Challenge

 Earlier this year I read in a Lucky Magazine feature that Thandie Newton mixed turmeric powder with her base for an au natural glow. Since I love the look and feel of " the glow" a la Bruce Leroy of The Last Dragon and by highlighters, I decided to go ahead and experiment with mixing just a pinch of tumeric powder with my Spring/ Summer beauty bag favorite, DiorSkin Nude BB Creme in #004.
Here is how my day went:

7:50am-8:00 am- I mixed a pinch of turmeric with my DiorSkin Nude BB Creme and applied with my fingertips..I hope I blended well (Checks mirror at the crosswalk), it looks ok, I don't want to look Oompa Loompa-ish.

8:10 am- (Checks mirror on subway platform) Is that a clump? No, the texture is a bit grainy but also surprisingly lite.

9:48 am- (Checks mirror at my desk) Ok, so far so good, my oil glands are going to kick in just in time for lunch

12:07 pm- (Checks bathroom mirror) No yellow! my normal shiny skin actually looks relatively normal- meaning no need for me to use a Starbucks napkin to dab my face.

5:10 pm- ( Checks mirror at my desk) I have a tiny bit of shine ( about 35% less oil than I would have otherwise), no yellow and I'm satisfied!

I will be repeating this experiment throughout the summer because I absolutely loved the way my skin felt and looked!

Tumeric powder + DiorSkin Nude BB Creme = Dream Team!

Summer Hair Switch-up: Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay and Tresemme Naturals

For the past few months I've been prepping my summer regimen for my hair. I have a few boundaries:
- zero fuss and zero frizz
- lots of moisure
- light in texture
- little-to-no heat , just to name a few.
But thanks to Amazon's genius purchasing algorithm, I was intrigued by a product recommendation- Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay and upon further investigation (YouTube and Google), I've come to experience this ah-mazing product. Last Sunday, I mixed 1 cup of the clay with an equal amount of vinegar to create a smooth paste that I applied to my scalp and hair that then dried. Please note, this was terrifying... I just kept thinking of the scene in BeetleJuice when the Lydia had to get married to the B-man and the Maitlands were rapidly aging... anyway here is the scene.

Not this dry

Ok ok, the drying was a bit weird but not too bad once I started to rinse the mask out. My hair and scalp felt like nothing I've ever experienced before when using a hair mask! My hair was so clean that I didn't need to shampoo, I went to my other summer hair saver- Tresemme Naturals Moisture Conditioner.

so. great.

I haven't used Tresemme since high school but once I heard about their Naturals line being free of Silicone, I jumped at the chance to try and I'm loving it!
What are you doing for your summer hair care?

Burt's Bees Tiger Lily Tinted Balm

Could Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm be the most coveted lip product this season? Since seeing Hibiscus in a mag in Feb, I've been on a leisure hunt for this to try for myself. WARNING: A hunt you will get as a few Target's I've gone to in San Diego, LA and NYC were all sold out , as were Rite Aid . Then I strolled into Whole Foods while seeking cupcakes and came across 3 of the 6 shades available.

Burt's Bees Tinted Lipbalm can be described at best, surprisingly smooth and melts like butter. The texture is not "waxy" or "filmy" in a way that I feel with other lipbalm products. The color payoff is excellent for a tint. Its not chalky and it builds so that the color blends. I chose Tigerlily, an Apricot-Peachesque color that certainly lives up to the flora namesake.

The lipbalm itself is described as 100% natural , with coconut oil as the first ingredient. The colors that are available are: Hibiscus, Honeysuckle, Pink Blossom, Red Dahlia, Rose and Tigerlily.

This was a lot more than what I expected for $6.99 and I will definitely going back to explore the other colors.

Lemons- a Deodorant Alternative?

photo: thebestjuicerreviews.com

Yes!
First let me start off by saying, Hello!
I'm fully re-cooped from my travels back to the West Coast for some fun and the sun with friends and family. All while I was caught up in packing about two weeks ago, I forgot my deodorant on the floor in my apartment!
As luck would have it, I was reading an issue of Upscale Magazine on the plane and in a editorial, I read that actor Flex Alexander ( you know that I was a fan of Homeboys from Outerspace right?) used lemon as a deodorant. What?!
Being the beauty experimentalist that I have, I decided to test it out and bought a lemon and cut it into 4 wedges, keeping the pieces in a plastic bag in the fridge and using one wedge for roughly 3 days just as I would my regular deodorant.
On the third day, I excitedly ran downstairs with announcement to my family who was sitting in the Living room and Kitchen , even having my mother smell my red and white stripe shirt that I just bought. After mom my looked at me like I was nuts, I informed her and my brothers that I have been without my deodorant for 3 whole days and was in fact using lemon.
They all laughed in my face and one of my brothers proclaimed, " We use it all the time in New Mexico because it always gets too hot for Speed stick". I was dumbfounded. " If this is not a new revelation, then why am I the last to know? I didn't sweat, there are no stains in my new shirt and I don't smell. This is insane?!"
My mom turned to me and said, "Oh, we thought you knew."
There you have it.
Back to Lemon as a deodorant, the feeling was unusual as I am used to sweating and feeling the antiperspirant stick under my arms. That feeling was gone, it felt as if nothing was there, but there was no bad odor. The only word of caution I can think of is if you freshly shaved, you might need to stay away from using lemon for at least a day or so.
I will definitely use the lemon more often as its 100% natural and a little goes a long way. Though I think you can get more for your money with a stick but the health factor is a plus.