Skin Care

Checking In: SkinFix Favorites | A Possible Solution to Crazy Baby Hairs | The Dinner Rage Chronicles, Continued

April 14th, 2021 by Karen 18 Comments

Oatmeal: good for cookies *and* good for your skin.

Side note, here is a recipe for oatmeal cookies. Make them ASAP. You’re welcome! 😁

oatmeal choc chip raisin — Who wants a snack?

Colloidal oatmeal is a common moisturizing ingredient in skin care products, and my dry skin and I are definitely fans (hence my obsession with all things Aveeno). Its main jobs are to protect and soothe skin and to prevent water loss. It’s the active ingredient in a couple of things I love from this new-to-me line I’m trying called SkinFix.

This “clean” (airquotes) brand burst onto the beauty scene in 2019, and they’re known for uber-moisturizing products that focus on protecting and hydrating the skin barrier. You might recognize their Triple Lipid-Peptide Cream; it won an Allure Best Of Beauty Award in 2019.

If you continually fight the good fight against dry skin, firstly, welcome to my world. Secondly, I’ve found a couple things from the line you might like.

Yup, they both have colloidal oatmeal!

I’ve been LIVING for the Eczema+ Dermatitis Face Balm, which has 5% colloidal oatmeal as its active ingredient.

skinfix dermatitis face balm — Love this, and I’m putting some on my skin right now…

It’s a rich, soothing balm that you can use all over your face, even around your eyes and lids, to protect and relieve irritated skin, rashes and eczema. I don’t suffer from eczema; however, sometimes I do get dry, red patches at the corners of my eyes and on my lids, and this is the only balm that doesn’t cause me to break out in those areas. LOVE IT.

My hands love the Eczema+ Hand Repair Cream, which has 1% colloidal oatmeal as its active ingredient. This thick, non-greasy hand cream relieves eczema and soothes irritated, dry skin. A little dab goes a long way! Like most of us nowadays, I’m washing my hands a lot — all the time — and they get uncomfortably dry, and this cream really helps.

skinfix hand repair cream — A must for dry hands

OK, raise your hand if taming flyaway baby hairs takes up an inordinate amount of time in your day!

*RAISES HANDS* 🙋‍♀️

Mine are BANANAS! They stick up wildly every which way, and when I let them run amuck, I walk around lookin’ like I’ve been electrocuted.

A friend of mine has the same issue and recently clued me into this Amazon find called the Samnyte Hair Finishing Stick.

It’s a clear, super strong hair gel in a tube with what looks like a curved mascara wand, and, allegedly, when you brush it onto your flyaways, it smooths them down and keeps them in place without looking greasy.

The marketing kinda makes me laugh…

hair stick marketing — Clearly homegirl is bummed out!

What does dating have to do with “flyaway hair troubles”? LOL.

I just ordered a two-pack for seven bucks. DAGNABBIT, just when I think I’m done with Amazon (too many sketchy sellers and not enough protection for buyers, among other things), I get roped back in with this nonsense. My baby hairs and I are waiting with baited breath!

Last night Dinner Rage was averted thanks to a channel I recently found on YouTube called Yeung Man Cooking. The star of the show is Wil Yeung, and he cooks vegan and plant-based recipes that are simple and easy to follow. Our family eats everything under the sun, but I do like to cook plant-based meals whenever I can because I feel great when I eat a lot of veggies.

For dinner last night I made Wil’s 15-Minute Weeknight Noodle Stir Fry…

He has the recipe pasted in the description box, but here it is again in case you’re curious…

Yeung Man Cooking’s 15-Minute Weeknight Noodle Stir Fry

Ingredients:

60g broccolini

1/4lb thin rice noodles

150g mixed fresh mushrooms (cremini, shiitake, shimeji)

2 sticks green onion

1 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp white sesame seeds

Directions:

Boil some water in a kettle for the noodles

Chop down the broccolini into bite sized pieces

Place the noodles in a pan or bowl and soak in the hot water for 3-4min

Slice the cremini mushrooms and roughly chop the shiitake

Chop the green onion into bite sized pieces

Make the sauce and have it ready by combining the hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and both soy sauces

Give the noodles a stir to get rid of some excess starch. Then, strain out the water

Heat up a nonstick pan to medium heat. Drizzle in some olive oil

Sauté the broccolini and green onions for 2-3min. Add in and sauté the mushrooms for another 2-3min. Then, add in the noodles and sauce. Sauté until the noodles are cooked (about 2min)

Plate and sprinkle over some white sesame seeds

This was really good, and the reason I didn’t snap any pics of it is because we ate it all, and we ate it fast! Next time I make it, I’ll try to remember to take a quick snap…

The beauty of this recipe is that you can tweak it with whatever you have on hand. I subbed the flat rice noodles for ramen rice noodles, and I only used shitake mushrooms rather than a mix. I also didn’t have any dark soy sauce on hand, so I added more hoisin sauce and regular soy sauce to taste. I also left out the sesame seeds because El Hub isn’t a fan.

If you don’t have hoisin sauce readily available, you could probably substitute it with barbeque sauce in a pinch.

Another plus is that you can also customize each person’s noodles, too! El Hub usually likes a little extra protein in his meals, so I added smoked salmon slices and an egg over easy to his bowl. I made a sunny side up egg for mine, because you know that runny egg yolks are life, man! I kept Connor’s noodles as-is, and I let her shake some pre-grated parmesan on top. I know it sounds crazy to put parm on top of an Asian-style noodle dish, but it works, and if it motivates the Coywolf to eat a few more bites, I’m 100% for it.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

SkinCeuticals Vitamin C Serums and National Vitamin C Day, REN Clean Screen Mineral SPF 30 (and SHOTS!)

March 31st, 2021 by Karen 13 Comments

If lipstick can have a national day all to its won, then why can’t Vitamin C? Shoot, we’re living in crazy times; we need to celebrate everything!

Sooooo, in case you haven’t marked it on your calendar yet, April 4 is National Vitamin C Day. 😺 I plan to celebrate by eating a bunch of mandarin oranges (but only the kind with the leaves attached!) and contemplating one of my favorite skincare ingredients.

(Vitamin C)

My favorite Vitamin C serum for the longest time has been SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic. If you want a serum that does everything — helps with fine lines, firmness and dark patches — this is the stuff! When I use it consistently along with sunscreen, my face (especially my cheeks, which is where I have most of my hyperpigmentation), looks noticeably smoother and more even-toned.

Unfortunately…it’s hella crazy expensive at $166 for a 0.50-oz. bottle.

(Yes, OMG!)

But it really works well for me.

SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic isn’t the only Vitamin C serum in the SkinCeuticals line though. There’s also Phloretin CF, which is for helping to fade post-acne marks, and their new Silymarin CF, which is an oil-free version for blemish-prone skin.

Here’s a handy-dandy chart to help figure out which one should be best for you…

If you’re looking for a Vitamin C serum at a lower price point, Vichy’s is also good IMO, and it’s $28.50 for 0.34-oz. I went through two bottles and saw a subtle improvement on the uneven areas on my cheeks. It doesn’t pack the same punch as Skinceuticals CE Ferulic, but it still works (albeit more slowly), and — added bonus — you can find it at drugstores. I got mine on sale at Walgreens.

vichy liftactiv — Gimme all the vitamin C.

While we’re on the subject of skin schtuff, here’s a heads-up for my oily-skinned friends about a sunscreen I tried from REN. REN Clean Screen Mineral SPF 30 is a face sunscreen made with 22% zinc oxide SPF and a very flat, uber-matte finish.

Right now my skin is dry, so it’s not the best fit for me, but if I had super oily skin like I did in my teens and early 20s, I’d be totally into it. It cuts down ALL OF THE SHINE and then some.

FYI, zinc sunscreens typically leave a white cast, and this one does too, but it’s very subtle. I’d say that if you’re lighter than I am (I’m a MAC NC42), you’ll be fine, but if you’re darker, it could leave a purplish-gray tint behind.

Other than sunscreen, the only makeup I’m wearing in this pic is JOY (seriously, where are my eyebrows, haha). I took this pic right after I got my first COVID vaccine shot yesterday!

I got weirdly emotional right after it happened… It was a mix of relief and happiness. I kept thinking of this exact time last year, when I thought that “all of this” would only last two weeks.

Yeah, I was a bit off with my estimate there. 😬 It’s been a LONG year, am I right?

Anyway, I practically danced on the way out, and I kept thinking of that song where all the people yell, “Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, SHOTS!”

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Citrusy, Springy Chanel Paris-Riviera (and Easter Egg Hunts and Noms)

March 26th, 2021 by Karen 9 Comments

Spring is here, and despite the fact that I don’t have the spring skirt situation worked out…I do have my spring fragrance situation worked out, because, HELLO! — a change of weather means change of scent, am I right? 🙂

Side note: the black midi skirt I ordered from Gap arrived yesterday, and it 100% made me look like I was part of a cult. Honestly, I think I was blinded by the thought of having pockets… Pockets will do that to ya!

I’m returning it ASAP.

Back to the perfume… It’s called Chanel Paris Riviera Eau du Toilette, and OOOH! — it smells so good. If you’re a fiend for fresh citrus scents, I think you’d love it. It starts off bright and borderline sharp with bold, orange notes. Like, if you were walking through a sun-dappled grove of orange trees and picked one off a branch and peeled it right then and there, that’s what a spritz first smells like.

Then, it transforms into a floral with orange blossom and jasmine notes before drying down into warm, sandalwood and vanilla notes. It’s light, fresh and clean, which I wanted because in the spring I don’t really like to wear anything too heavy, you know what I mean?

I love it and have been wearing it nonstop.

In other news…is it just me, or did Easter sneak up on us?! I usually like to plan my Easter menu way in advance, but this year I think I’m going to keep it simple with a premade honey ham, biscuits (I might just buy the premade kind) and roasted vegetables (asparagus, broccoli and baby potatoes). Or, I may just buy a couple of Whole Foods Frozen Cheese Pizzas and call it a day, ha ha ha! We’ll see.

I’m prepping some Easter eggs for the egg hunt at Connor’s preschool, and this got me thinking about Easter egg hunts when I was a kid. El Hub and I were chatting a while back and he was absolutely shocked when I told him that, when my brother and I were young, we always had Easter egg hunts inside our tiny little house. You could also pretty much guarantee that the eggs would always be hidden in the same places year after year, like, there were always some tucked away in the piano and behind my mom’s knick-knacks in the living room.

Because of this, I always just assumed that every family held their egg hunts the same way. I had NO IDEA some families went outside on Easter morning to hunt for eggs.

I don’t know… Did anybody else’s family do the indoor egg hunt?!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Toner Collections Should Be a Thing | A Quick and Easy Meal | Midi Skirts!

March 24th, 2021 by Karen 16 Comments

I suppose one could collect stamps or coins or Fabergé eggs or Banksy paintings…but why, when you could just collect toners?! HA HA HA!

Remember all the toner commercials in the ’90s and how you always had to apply toners with a cotton ball? I used to do that, but now? Forget about it. I pour a little in my palms and press and rub the liquid right into my skin. I think the liquid absorbs quicker that way and, bonus, I don’t feel like I’m wasting any of the product on the cotton ball!

There are currently five toners gracing my bathroom shelf. They’re mostly for exfoliation because I’m forever dealing with hyperpigmentation and acne, so I rotate among them, depending on how my skin’s doing. I usually apply them in the morning right after washing my face and before any serums. Sometimes, I’ll use just one; other days, I’ll layer two.

Lately, my skin’s been in the mood for extra moisture, so I’ve been using Fresh Black Tea Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence or Paula’s Choice BHA. Sometimes both.

I’ve also been using and liking REN Ready Steady Glow AHA Tonic, which is a triple threat with three exfoliating ingredients — willow bark, lactic acid and azelaic acid. Side note: DUDE, azelaic acid! If you’re not on that train yet, get on it already.

Occasionally, I’ll dip into the Niacinamide Brightening Toner by Good Molecules (niacinamide, vitamin C, arbutin and licorice root extract) or Kate Somerville Liquid Exfolikate (glycolic, malic, and lactic acids), if I’m craving something different.

On a side note, you know what I miss? Clinique’s old-school BHA toner, Mild Clarifying Lotion. They reformulated it a while back, and it just isn’t the same now. I should’ve stockpiled the O.G. version while I could… Le sigh! #BeautyRegrets

Are toners a “thing” for you too? Maybe we can start a toner enthusiasts club, ha ha ha! 😂

A quick-and-easy meal

Not related to toner at all, but this is my new favorite quick meal: a rice and edamame bowl. (Yes, you gotta have it in a bowl!)

I usually add a few shakes of Nori Komi Furikake Japanese Multi-Purpose Seasoning, but Coywolf prefers it plain.

edamame rice no furikake — Connor likes hers plain.

edamame rice furikake — I like mine with furikake (seaweed).

Speaking of TJs, you can get this meal in your belly in less than five minutes with a couple of Trader Joe’s-assisted shortcuts! First, we usually have leftover white rice in a tupperware in the fridge, but when we don’t, I reach for the microwavable white rice from the TJ’s frozen food section, which takes all but three minutes to make. Trader Joe’s also has shelled, salted edamame in the freezer section too. Just defrost in the microwave.

I think this could also be delish with a sunny-side-up egg on top, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Midi skirts!

I’m still slowly but surely chipping away at the wardrobe checklist recommendations (I’m on a mission to look and feel put-together) I found about a month ago and wanted to tell you about these pull-on midi skirts from Gap.

Both the black and white skirt have pockets (SAY WHAT!) and come in regular, tall and petite lengths.

FYI, it looks like they’re still on sale, in case you’re interested (I’m totally my mother’s daughter and hate to pay full price).

I haven’t seen either of these skirts in person yet, and I can see how they could potentially be 1) super cute and casual, or 2) make me look like I’m in a cult…so we shall see! I suppose that’s a major downside to not visiting a fitting room in months.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

It’s a CeraVe Jamboree! CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream Releases Moisturizing Ingredients All Night Long

January 28th, 2021 by Karen 4 Comments

This month I’m highlighting skin care products from CeraVe, a most-excellent drugstore brand. It’s a CeraVe jamboree! This week’s allstar is a notable night cream for all skin types — CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream.

Why does this night cream not come in a big ol’ vat…? Because it should! Yes, the dainty jar is convenient and cute. Also, yes, technically, one only needs to use a little (just a few tiny dots), but a supersized, super-fantastic jar if this hella hydrating, no-frills night cream needs to happen!

To the gals and guys who love rich bedtime moisturizers, CeraVe Skin Renewing Night Cream could be a game-changer.

Made for all skin types, this fragrance-free, time-released face cream parses out intensely moisturizing ingredients throughout the night, so, as you sleep, your skin constantly receives a steady stream of moisture via CeraVe’s signature essential ceramides, hyaluronic acid and niacinamide (among other ingredients).

Benefits

Helps soften and renew the look of tired skin overnight

Provides intense hydration

MVE Technology: This patented delivery system continually releases moisturizing ingredients for all night hydration

Biomimetic peptides: Improve the appearance of tired-looking skin

Ceramides: Help restore and maintain the skin’s natural barrier

Hyaluronic acid: Helps retain the skin’s natural moisture

Niacinamide: Helps calm the skin

Non-comedogenic and fragrance-free

Developed with dermatologists

— cerave.com

It’s a trite term, but I have “combo skin,” meaning in my case that I have an oily forehead, dry cheeks, and my face is acne-prone allllll over. I use a retinol, a BHA and benzoyl peroxide daily, and I think that one of the reasons I can tolerate all of that exfoliation is because I use CeraVe Night Cream every night.

Right after I get out of the shower, when my skin is still damp, I dab a few dots on my forehead, cheeks, chin and neck, and gently massage it in. Then I leave it to fully absorb while I put Connor to bed and prep for the next morning. Then, right before ~~I pass out~~ I go to bed, I apply a thin layer of retinol.

This stuff isn’t greasy (a.k.a. no sticky neck), it layers well underneath the retinol I’m currently using, and, most importantly, it’s rich enough to keep the painful peeling and dryness at bay. I probably wouldn’t be able to keep going with all of the acids, retinol and exfoliating products if I weren’t using this. To be blunt, it makes a big difference.

It’s definitely on the pricey side for drugstore skin care (about $20 for a 1.7-oz. jar, depending on where you get it), but a little goes a long way. Right now it’s $18.49 at Ulta, and they’re currently doing a buy one, get one for 50% off online, so if you’re curious, that might be the way to go.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen