Tuesday, February 14, 2012

TREND ALERT! Spring 2012

mmmm SO MINTY!

MINT green is the new BLACK!

I am loooovvvviiinnnggg this color right now. It's an obsession. I want everything in this color!

I want a dress



I want a blazer
I want pants
I want blouses

I want sunglasses 
I even want a umbrella! 
If that isn't cute I don't know what is!!!! So chic! 




Hope this inspires you to do some spring shopping! 
Don't be afraid to try a little color! 


Oooo, and if you're looking for a mint green nail polish, Revlon makes a great one called "minted" Read my post about the Revlon nail polishes... they are uh-maze-ing
http://jillandlo.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-09-15T09:37:00-07:00&max-results=7


Minty things aren't just for your breath! They can freshen up your wardrobe as well ;)




God Bless,
xo - Lo

February Birchbox 2012

Birchbox, it's like Christmas once a month!

My Birchbox this month contained the following:

Eye Rock Instant Eyeliner Tapes  I am super excited to try these! I hope they work! How great would it be to have perfect, easy, fade/water-proof eyeliner every day!!???
Step 1,2 and 3! Looks easy enough. We shall see...!

 Kiehl's Dark Spot Solution. In my opinion, a person can never have too many products that are designed to perfect the skin tone. This is the perfect trial size as well. I started using it last night. I tried it on my sun spots and little acne scars. It says it penetrates deep and works from the inside out! I can't wait to see if it's going to work or not.

 Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum. I love anything that is organic! Makes me less eerie about putting it on my skin. I am really into all natural skin cleansers and I am trying to gradually make my makeup collection all natural as well. I haven't tried this yet, but it is supposed to fight acne without overdrying, which is one of my main concerns. I notice with my skin when it gets too dry is when it tends to become problematic.
 This came just in time for Valentines Day ;) well, it would've if I had a date.. lol. Supersmile powdered mouthwash. Just add water :) Annnnnddd it whitens teeth - chello!!!!!
If you're into the beauty world at all you've probably heard Shu Uemura mentioned here and there. I know I have heard it raved about a lot. I have heard great things about their lashes and their lash curlers. I personally haven't ever tried a Shu Uemura product, but I am ready to give this one a whirl. It's hair oil, which is one thing I am loving this winter!

Well, that is what all came in my Birchbox this month! I was very excited when I opened it! There are a lot of great products in this month's box!

What is Birchbox? http://jillandlo.blogspot.com/2011/08/birchbox.html
(Birchboxes are personalized depending on your skin concerns. This is based on the questionnaire you fill out when you create an account at Birchbox.com)

Interested in becoming a Birchbox member? Want to receive 4-5 deluxe beauty samples each month? Follow this link: http://www.birchbox.com/?raf=1ol3n


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Night-time routine.

Hello!!!

I wanted to post a night-time routine. This is how I remove my makeup at night and what I use.
This is my holy grail combination that has been keeping my face clear, moisturized and looking the best it's looked in a while.

A few months ago I heard about a new product, well it wasn't new, but new to me. It was the Boscia makeup-breakup cool cleansing oil.


Lorraine off of the currentcustom on youtube had some good things to say about it. I had watched her channel for a while and we seem to have the same skin type. She said this worked really well for her and did not break her out. 

This is true, this is a good product, it removes most of my makeup; it removes everything except my waterproof mascara - L'Oreal Voluminous - Hydrofudge (waterproof) and it doesn't break me out.


My favorite thing about the makeup-breakup oil by Boscia: Non-comedogenical. 

At first the thought of putting oil on my oily skin made my toes curl. It simply sounded like I was sending out a personal invitation to all the blemishes in the world to come have a party of my face. 
Then when I found out that Lorraine used it and it didn't break her out, and when I did my own research and discovered that was non-comedogenical I decided to give it a try. 

My thoughts about this product:
  • smells nice - minty
  • works well at getting face makeup off
  • doesn't take off waterproof mascara
  • slightly burns when it gets in your eyes - not bad
  • doesn't leave your skin feeling greasy or oily


Before my holy grail regimen (which I will share with you in just a second) I would've given the Boscia oil cleanser a 9 out of 10, the only reason it wouldn't have gotten a perfect score is because it didn't take off my waterproof mascara. 

But now that I have found something that works WAYYY better, I would only give this product a 5 or 6 out of 10... yeah, big drop! 

So you're probably wondering what I am using now? 

Well, it doesn't have a name because I made it... 
Now, I didn't come up with the recipe, I found a link to it on acne.org (i'll share the link below)

I was almost out of my Boscia, and wanted some more but I didn't really want to spend $26 on a 5oz bottle- pretty steep! 

So I googled non-comedogenic cleansing oil. I was hoping I could find a drugstore brand to save some $$, one of the first things that came up on my search was this: 


I read the article and I loved everything that it said. I have recently become more in love with the idea of all natural products - makeup and skincare. 

So I went to our local health food store and picked up everything that I needed. 

All the ingredients were found in the "beauty" part of the store. 

I got a large bottle of 100% castor oil (17oz [i think]), a medium sized bottle of 100% grapeseed oil and a small bottle of 100% jojoba oil.

All together for all three products I spend $17!!!!!!! that is $9 cheaper than the Boscia and I got 5x's the amount of product. 

The link above says to put 6 parts castor oil for oily skin, 2 parts grapeseed oil and 2 parts jojoba oil.


I remove my makeup with the oil mixture.

  1. rub the oil mixture all over my face
  2. gently rub my eyes 
  3. soak a wash cloth in hot water
  4. ring it out
  5. place it on my face and let it set until it is room temperature - the steam + castor oil will draw impurities out of the skin
  6. wipe face
repeat steps 3-6 until all makeup is removed

THEN...
I take a shower, again the steam is getting to my face helping draw out impurities. I do my shower routine, the typical washing and shaving, and then I cleanse my face with the WalMart brand (equate) Cetaphil gentle cleanser. 

This takes everything off my face, but doesn't over-dry it. I believe over-drying is directly linked to acne, this is definitely the case in my situation. 

The jojoba oil is great and according to the article on acne.org linked above, jojoba oil is very close to the sebum that our skin naturally produces. So if this is on our skin hydrating it, our skin doesn't tell our brain that it needs to produce extra oil to re-hydrate the face, which is good, because we all know that over-production of oil/sebum can lead to unwanted breakouts. 

I have been using the oil mixture for about 2.5 weeks now, and I have to say I can see a dramatic difference in my skin. It is hydrated, supple and clear! 

The article goes into more detail about what each oil does for your skin. 

I don't think I will ever go back to buying acne cleansers. Gentle is the way to go!

I am wanting to switch all of my face stuff over to all natural products. I am definitely trying to get away from talc in all my face products; eye products I don't care as much about. 

Talc free products I've discovered:

Josie Maran blush in passion


purMinerals bronzer



I can tell a huge difference in my blush/bronzer areas of my face now that I am using talc-free. no more blemishes or little bumps! 

I hope this helps if you're looking for a new skin regimen.
This works great on oily, acne prone skin! 

Note: You can go to Ulta.com and search "talc-free foundation", talc-free bronzer", talc-free blush" and it will show you all their products in each category that are talc-free. You can also search "non-comedogenical" products. 

God bless,
-LO