Sunday, March 27, 2011

The oil cleansing method

So starting today, I've finally decided to jump on the oil cleansing method (ocm) train.  After doing tons of research, I've decided to start out with a mixture of 1 part castor oil, to 3 parts olive oil.  I'm going to be using sweet oil that can be found in your local store/ drugstore where castor oil can be found, usually in the pharmacy section or health care area.  Sweet oil is actually just olive oil, taken from olive oil that is odorless.  I just feel better about using this than just a bottle of olive oil found in the cooking oil isle as sweet oil is meant for topical use.

The oil cleansing method is just as is sounds, cleaning your skin with oils.  I know this sounds insane!!  I can see how it would help even oily skin tho, as in high school my skin would pour out oil and I thought that meant that I didn't need a moisturizer.  I was so wrong.  As soon as I started using moisturizers my skin pretty much normalized and now creates just the right amount of moisture, only getting dry or oily depending on weather and my current skin care routine.  My concern now is dealing with clogged pours and getting a deep clean without stripping my skin so that I can work on calming breakouts and getting that normalized so that I can start working on exfoliating to improve my skin texture, appearance, and to get rid of old acne scars.

The ocm is explained really well here http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/ and information about carrier oils can be found at Garden of Wisdom or my other favorite site Mountain Rose Herbs.  For me tho I'm just going to start out simple and experiment with other oils later.  I'm going to update my progress every week, so stay tuned!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

New eyeshadow, foundation, and mineral primer/ finishing veil

Finally getting around to putting up our new products.  This is just the beginning and plenty more to come, as we are getting ready for two craft shows this summer, one in may and the other in june.  So here are all our swatches, first up, the foundation:

 pictured from left to right fairly light, light, light medium, light medium warm, and medium
  and here are the swatches, medium, light medium warm, light medium, light, and fairly light.

from left to right light medium, light, and fair.  All swatches were applied over Blur primer.

The second photo is a close up of the first three, as fairly light is almost my arm color.  All colors are neutral and can be for either creamy, neutral, or yellow tones, and I've added extra yellow tones to light medium warm, and just a tiny bit of yellow to medium.

I formulated our foundation base to be smooth, with good adhesion, so you can get light to maximum coverage without it caking up, and to give it even blending properties.  It doubles as a concealer when applied with a damp concealer brush, and can be added to your favorite moisturizer. It contains light refracting minerals to reduce the appearance of fine lines and pores.  This is wonderful on your skin when applied with our blur primer/ finishing veil.




Sizes






Blur can be used as a primer before any foundation application.  It blurs out fine lines and pores and makes your skin silky smooth, due to the light refracting minerals.  As always make sure you properly prep your face by cleansing and moisturizing before any makeup application. ( a post on this at a later date)  Complete your foundation by again using blur on top, it will set your foundation as well as give you a soft focus finish without being too matte.  Blur also contains minerals that will help your skin stay matte.

Mineral foundation is different from others because it melds with the natural oils on your skin, thus giving a more natural finish, good staying power, and low transfer or rub off from your skin.

Here are the eyeshadow available so far:




Color and Size





All the colors are pretty opaque with low sheen and shimmer.  I was having trouble with mineral eyeshadows being too sheer and glittery for my taste, and these are just a few colors I have formulated so far.  You can't see it in the photo bout Coco Bean is a pretty coco brown with a purple/ blue sheen to it, which would look great especially for cool skin tones.  Grass hopper is a yellow green, prowl a hunter green with soft blue tones, aquatic is a pretty straight forward aqua, and midnight is a deep blue with a little more shimmer than the other colors.  The shadows are easy to blend and have good adhesion.  They can be applied wet for maximum color coverage or even used as liners.


my beautiful sister is modeling our eyeshadow in Aquatic, and is also wearing blur primer/ finishing powder, and our Perfect coverage foundation in light medium.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Garden of Wisdom Majik coconut Revival Cream review

I have become obsessed lately with reading ingredients on everything I buy, especially skincare.  I first heard about Garden of Wisdom on MakeupAlley and I'm so glad.  Their products use the best ingredients, and every product has a description of what the ingredients do.  My favorite so far is the majik coconut revival cream.  It's a thick cream and smells sweet and marshmallow-y, which I love.
  
The product claims to be healing and acne fighting, and good for all skin types.  First lets start off with the packaging.  I've only ordered the sample size, which comes in a jar with a screw on lid.  I slightly don't like sticking my fingers into the jar to get the product, because it is just a little messy that way, and gets under my fingernails.  But this aside, the product is amazing, and secondly, its affordable.
  
The sample size jar is $5.25 and you get a whopping 2.5 oz for $21.90.  My sample size lasted for about a month and a half so a big jar would last forever!  For me it wasn't good as an all over moisturizer, not that it was too heavy but it actually didn't seem as effective on blemishes when I used it all over my face.  But when I used this as a spot treatment over my usual moisturizer at night, I did find my blemishes were more calmed, and healed faster.  For how thick the cream is, it actually sinks into skin very well with no greasy feel, and I think for those with really dry, irritated skin, or those who's skin is more dry during winter, would love this as an all over moisturizer.  Garden of wisdom's products are very concentrated, and the same goes for this product.  The first three ingredients are coconut water, coconut milk, and coconut cream.
  
Coconut is soothing, healing, antibacterial, AND hydrating, not like other acne ingredients that are drying, and can make skin worse instead of better.  I've even used this product on my severe dry lips and it sooths so well, but it doesn't taste so great so I only use it at night.  Coconut oil brings temporary pain relief, and I think thats why this feels so good and soothing on blemishes or on my chapped lips.  So I give this a 4 out of 5, taking away only 1 pt because it took me awhile to get the hang of the product and whether it worked better all over or just as a spot treatment.  I would order this again, and I will definately be buying the full size.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

ChainMaiden shout out, and jewelry photos

While I tried out the whole beaded jewelry thing, my mother and I stumbled on chainmail, and man was it addicting!  Finding a name was a little challenging at first, she came up with ChainMaiden and her little hobby has been growing into a small business.  While I've decided to open my own mineral makeup line, her products and product knowledge continue to grow.  Its excited to see people recognize us at craftshows, and we've been planning to be at Bonestock in Poplar Bluff this year.  I can't wait to see how it turns out!   Here are some of my favorite pieces and I can't wait to load up some photos of the new jewelry she's made!  I hope to get some mineral makeup supplies in this week or next, so stay tuned for that!  Talk to guys soon!
~Cm Minerals