Yes to Cucumbers!

I decided to try these wipes after hearing great things about cucumbers. Cucumber’s nutritional benefits include natural salts, enzymes, and vitamins essential for strong cell growth and repair. In addition, the high mineral content and minerals in cucumber peel offer a natural source for a fresh, powerful antioxidant.

Now these aren't the answer for daily cleansing, but they do a good job of getting makeup off, and for an after-work lipstick change or cleaning yourself up after the gym, they're perfect. And if you have price or ingredient concerns, they're also cheap ($3 at most drug stores), paraben-free, not tested on animals, and the packaging is certified sustainable.  

Trent Alert: Purple Lips

Purple lips are a huge trend right now. It is not an easy feat to rock a bold lip like this without looking like a goth queen. I'm going to give you a few tips on pulling it off perfectly!

    

• Pick the right shade for you.  

Go darker vs. pale and try to keep the color as rich as possible.  The color is not one size fits all.  Glossy or matte will work depending on the fullness of your lip.  Smaller lips go w/ a gloss and full lips can go either way.  Here are a few shades that are hot right now available at Sephora.com:  

Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense Shades 14-16

Underworld by Illumasqua

MAC in Violetta

If these purples are too intense for you, try something sheer like Anna Sui's Limited-Edition Mini Rouge in Purple 

• Use a bold eye liner

Deep black liner stands up to the boldness of an intense lip color, so don't be afraid to apply a thick winged liner in the blackest black.  Liquid or creme with a thin brush works the best.

• Easy on the eye shadow

Remember the rule of balance: Bold eye, lighter lip.  Bold lip, lighter eye.  Use more of a shimmer on your lids.  A soft gold or silver will compliment the strong lip color.  Less is definitely more!  Take the lead from trendsetters like Rhianna!  

Recipes for Yogurt Masks

Yogurt is a highly effective treatment for the common skin condition rosacea. It has the ability to soften the skin while calming the redness. Simply apply it as a mask, and leave on for about 15 minutes. Rinse, and apply a light layer of olive oil. Here a couple other yogurt masks to try:

Ingredients:

* 1 cup cold natural yogurt (Stonyfield Greek Organic is best)
* ½ cup oatmeal (any type of basic oatmeal works here)

Preparation:
Mix the ingredients together.
Apply to the skin for 10-15 minutes.
Wash off mask with a washcloth steamed in the microwave (careful that it's not too hot).

Other fun options for oatmeal face masks: 

Add egg whites to the recipe above.  Mix the oatmeal and an egg white. Let the mixture dry on face, then gently wash off with a few splashes of warm water.  Follow with a steaming washcloth to the face.

Healing Honey

Who knew that honey is equally effective for treating colds and improving your looks? Applying honey all over your face is beneficial, since it contains vitamins and moisturizes.  It's also a natural antibiotic that can kill bacteria just like fresh Aloe.  Honey is also very healing when dealing with acne.  Add a little white sugar and exfoliate with it in the shower, too.  See our last blog entry for the deets on white sugar!