Category Archives: Skincare

Roses in Beauty Products = My Kinda Valentine’s Day

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I don’t normally celebrate Valentine’s day, except maybe for the half-price chocolates on February 15. :) Last year, Mr. Geeks and I just got takeout Chinese food. However, I do enjoy theme-y posts very much so I thought I’d do a round up of favourite rose/pink/red products for Valentine’s Day.

Valentines Roses 1

Does anyone use a perfumed talc? Yardley London Perfumed Talc in English Rose ($16 at Shoppers Drug Mart) feels so silky and smells like sweet roses on the skin. I love to sprinkle it on my skin before changing into pj’s at bedtime.

Looking for something natural? Weleda Wild Rose Smoothing Eye Cream ($28.50 for 10 ml at Weleda, Well.ca, Whole Foods and health food stores) and Body Oil (US $26 for 100 ml; my sample is from the body oil set) have more of a green floral scent. The eye cream contains my newest awesome skincare ingredient discovery — organic rosehip seed oil — which is super effective in getting rid of flaky skin and combating tired, puffy eyes.

One of my all-time favourite skincare products ever is Thayers Rose Petal Witch Hazel Alcohol-Free Toner (around $12 at Well.ca and health food stores). It smells wonderful, you guys. I don’t use a toner now in the winter, but this one gets used all over my body in the summer as a cooling mist-slash-light fragrance. It calms the skin beautifully and is so damn cheap!

Valentines Roses 2

From the store’s first fragrance collection Voyage Collection, The Body Shop Eau de Toilette in Atlas Mountain Rose ($25 for 50 ml at The Body Shop) is a beautiful floral with combined notes of amber, musk, citrus, along with exotic spices and mountain rose extracts from Morocco. It’s also available in a Perfume Oil ($16).

Demeter makes such great simple fragrances that are exactly like the real thing. Demeter Cologne Spray in Bulgarian Rose (US $20.00 at demeterfragrance.com) is another soft rose fragrance, with notes of Bulgarian rose oil. If you feel like something different, why not have a cocktail or dessert without the calories? Redhead In Bed smells just like a sweet cocktail of gin, lemon, strawberries, and syrup. I’m not sure why anyone would ever wanna smell like a syrup-y cocktail though. :P  Chocolate Covered Cherries just makes this chocolate lover go absolutely bananas. This means I can indulge in sweet stuff without getting dagger eyes from my boot camp instructor. ;)

Valentines Roses 3

What is Valentine’s day without the mention of pink and red products? You need these two in your life:

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Inked in Pink ($6.99) is a metallic light pink that instantly brightens the eyes. If you haven’t yet tried Color Tattoos, you are really missing out. They really stay on all day without slip and sliding. A quick swipe of Inked in Pink all over the lids with a small flick of eyeliner creates a pretty, romantic look for Valentine’s day.

Bite Beauty’s new Pastille Matte  Crème Lipstick in Pastille Rosebud ($24 at Sephora) is a pretty, bright blue based red. These are insanely pigmented and have a creme finish. I’ll talk about them more in an upcoming review!

Valentines Roses 4

What are your Valentine’s Day plans? I am going to have a steamy, sweaty time tomorrow night… at Booty Camp. :P

Cold Weather Skincare Essentials, Body Edition: Smith Farms, La Roche Posay, Curel, Biotherm

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As a follow up to my Cold Weather Skincare, Face Edition, here are my favourites for body skincare for this winter. So much to love here, you guys.

Glitter Geek Cold Weather Skincare: Body Edition

For All Over The Body

Smith Farms Honeysuckle Hair and Body Oil ($16.00 for 103 ml, online) is a glorious oil for after a shower or bath. My itchy flaky legs become wonderfully soft and smooth with one use of this oil. It locks in the moisture with its several oils (organic sweet almond oil, organic jojoba oil, organic sunflower oil) and leaves you smelling like a baby (honeysuckle essential oil). A bonus: Smith Farms is Canadian! They are located in the Quebec/Ontario border, and they make safe all-natural products locally.

For Hands + Every Other Body Part That’s Itchy and Irritated

For me, Winter brings burning red eczema. I have to be careful of soaps (nothing too foamy) and detergents (I wear gloves when washing dishes). As for products…

I use La Roche-Posay Lipikar Baume AP ($33 for 400ml, in pharmacies) on the onset of an eczema flare-up, and that’s usually the end of the story. It is described as a lipid replenishing body balm, and made specificially for extremely dry, itchy skin. It is a thick balm that forms a barrier on my hands and instantly soothes any irritation.

Throughout the day, I keep my hands moisturized with Biotherm Biomains Anti-Aging Moisturizing Hand Cream ($29.50 for 100 ml, in Sephora, The Bay, Sears and Shoppers Drugmart) on my desk side. I’m so pleased to say that this silky hand cream has faded my summer sun spots and overall has made my hands look younger. Yes, this is my first experience with anti-aging creams and yes, this really works!

For Cold Feet (Literally, not Figuratively)

Is anyone else sick of peppermint foot creams? I don’t know about you, but if it’s the middle of winter, the last thing I want to put on my feet is a cooling minty cream. Thank goodness there’s Curel Foot Therapy Cream ($3.99 for 100 ml, in mass market retailers). Its slightly nutty scent is comforting, but more importantly its thick texture works well on dry, cracked heels. It contains shea butter, coconut milk and vitamin E to help provide a moisture barrier in the driest of months.

What are your winter must-haves for the body? Have you tried the products I mentioned here? How did you like them?

Cold Weather Skincare Essentials, Face Edition: Pure+Simple, Holistic Vanity, Pai, SkinCeuticals and KORRES

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I don’t know why, but every time I go through my current skincare favourites, it’s just impossible for me to be succinct. Does that happen to you, too? It doesn’t help that my skincare regimen consists of a kajillion steps… :)

Cleanser

Pai Skincare Camellia & Rose Organic Facial Cleanser ($49 at Pai Skincare)

Now that the idea of a harsh foaming cleanser totally makes me cringe, it’s so wonderful to find a cream cleanser that still cleanses the day’s oil and grime. This cleanser is gentle on sensitive skin but works well, especially when used with the included muslin cloth. I miss the muslin cloth; I left it at the cottage this past summer. Wahhh! It doesn’t do the best job at removing mascara and eyeliner, but I’m okay with that.

Eye Cream

Pure + simple Super Vitalizing Eye Kit ($59 at Pure + simple)

This handy little holiday kit contains a Collagen Elastin Eye + Lip Concentrate and Eye Brightening Cream. The former has a water-like consistency and applies with a roller ball. But I don’t use the roller ball! I found that it can get a little scratchy on the delicate undereye area, so I roll it on to my finger first and then apply the product to my eyes. It’s quite nice and refreshing. After that dries I follow up with the eye cream. The eye brightening cream is deeply soothing with its apricot kernel, borage seed oil and shea butter. In a pinch I actually use it all over my face, and it’s a nice moisturizing face cream!

Serum

SkinCeuticals Hydrating B5 Gel ($78 for 30 ml at various medical and high-end spas)

This was a post-summer favourite, and still is. After cleansing, I quickly apply this gel/serum over my face and my skin just drinks it up. It feels absolutely wonderful and cooling on the skin, and its tissue repairing properties is a nice little bonus, too. :)

Creams

Day: Pai Skincare Avocado & Jojoba Hydrating Day Cream ($40 for 30 ml at Pai Skincare)

This organic day cream’s green scent can be too sharp at first, but I am willing to overlook it as it provides the perfect amount of hydration I want for daytime. The main ingredients — avocado and jojoba oil — are well-known to be intensive moisturizers and I believe it. This is great to wear under makeup because it absorbs well and leaves a natural non-greasy finish.

Night: KORRES Quercetin & Oak Antiageing & Antiwrinkle Night Cream ($59 for 1.35 oz at Sephora)

My beloved KORRES Quercetin & Oak Night Cream jar is almost empty now (noooooo!). This woody scented cream soaks into the skin just wonderfully while still leaving the skin velvety and not oily. I’ve recommended this night cream to my sister and she also loves it as much as I do.

Oils

Holistic Vanity Damage Care Restorative Raw Argan Oil ($58 for 100 ml at Pure + simple) or Holistic Vanity Rosacea Care Comforting Camelia Oil ($57 for 100 ml at Pure + simple)

You guys, I’m just head over heels over Holistic Vanity’s oils. Holistic Vanity is a sister brand of Pure + simple (I should probably start calling it the Church of P+S now). These facial oils seal in moisture like nothing else. Recently I have been using the argan oil from the new Damage Care line and have fallen in love with it. I love the slightly nutty scent, and I can understand why a lot of people love argan oil. It’s an oil that isn’t greasy, so it’s a great gateway drug oil for those who are scared of putting anything heavy on their face.

The camelia oil is richer and a little bit more luxurious with its dreamy scent. I am trying to make my deluxe-sized sample last for as long as I can. :) Hopefully until the end of winter.

Mask

Pure + simple Skin Restoration Mask ($16.45 at Pure + simple)

This cloth mask is the next best thing to a Pure + simple Super Hydrating facial. The mask is huge and is super saturated with a serum that my skin just loves. When my skin needs a bit more boost, this mask does the trick for instantly radiant skin.