Simplers Botanical Company Argan Oil

So winter in LA gets pretty dry. So on top of my normal moisturizer I need a little extra something. This winter I picked up a bottle of argan oil at the recommendation of a lady at Whole Foods. On days that were super dry I wore it day and night. Surprisingly I wasnt shiny or greasy at all. The oil absorbed into my skin and I could even layer foundation on top of it. In the morning after wearing it all night, I woke up with skin that was slightly matte but not dry at all. This oil is great. Another thing I love about this oil is that it is fairly traded. Argan oil comes from a UNESCO protected biosphere in southern Morrocco. The oil is harvested by womens coops who reap the benefits of the sale of the oil. Watch this short clip to learn more.

Devita

So I'm always on the search for the BEST moisturizer. But now I'm looking for the BEST NATURAL moisturizer. I found a line called Devita and according to cosmeticdatabase.org, it gets a toxicity rating of 1! That's awesome on a scale of 1-10 where 10 is the most toxic. So I've been using the Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30 and the Evening Rich Nutritional Moisturizer. They are both decent and are fairly priced at about $25 a bottle. The lotion with spf soaks into my skin really well- I feel like it gets absorbed and doesnt just sit on top of my skin. The night time lotion is fine but I dont think you can see improvements in just a few weeks.

I think I was also drawn to this line because the woman who started this line suffered from chronic cystic acne and finally decided to create her own natural product. I get a pimple about once a month and so hopefully this line will help with that.

UPDATE: I would use this line in the summer. It's not moisturizing enough for the drier months. I was getting dry patches on my face. Ughh I wish I didnt give away my SK-II to my sister.

UPDATE: It's now April and it's not as dry as the winter so I went back to these products and they are OK if you just want a basic lotion- feels almost as basic as Cetaphil.

Arcona Reozone 40

I got a sample of this product from Haejung and didn't think much of it at first but I'm starting to really dig this product. Judging from the name, it's really hard to say what it does except provide the SPF 40, but it's kind of a multi-tasking little genius providing not only the SPF40 with titanium dioxide and zinc, which are both physical barriers providing UVA and UVB protection, but it also moisturizes, slightly, and has a slight tint. This is almost the perfect product I've been looking for to cut my morning routine down by half.

My usual mornings used to consist of serum, moisturizer, sunscreen, foundation, and then finally a little powder to set it all in and keep me from shining too much. Now it's wash, Arcona. done. how nice is that? Granted, I don't get as much coverage as putting on foundation and powder would provide, but when you are in a rush in the morning, this product provides enough coverage to give you an even skin tone. My blemish spots still need a little TLC, but I can live with that.

One thing I do have to mention is that even though I have oily skin, I still tend to get flaky and dry on my upper epidermis in the winter so I use an oil free moisturizer and then put this on. In the summer though, I would totally use this without that extra step.

Thanks H for the sample!


UPDATE from Haejung:

So I'm trying this product again because I'm trying out a whole set from this line. I can say that the sunblock works and feels a lot better with the ARCONA moisturizers underneath it. The whipped texture is still a little odd though and it still leaves a white-ish tint on my face. The white goes away after a while but the texture makes it feel like the product just sits on my face. It just doesnt "feel" right for me.

The Morrocco Method

A few months ago, my friend D and I tried an experiment: no shampoo for one week- only apple cider vinegar and baking soda. Seems like there is a whole no-shampoo movement out there. At the end of the week, my hair felt dirty and greasy and I was so happy to wash my hair. We did learn a lesson though: your own natural scalp oils are good for you. So since then, I've been looking for alternatives to shampoos that dont contain sulfates (strips your hair) and that are all natural.

Grace had recently sent me a link to cosmeticdatabase.org which is a non-profit that tests beauty products for their toxicity. It's an awesome website though not totally thorough. So that's where I found The Morrocco Method.

It's a haircare system that I think of as the Chinese Herbal Medicine of haircare. You get 5 "shampoos" that you rotate and several "conditioners." I'm using quotes because the shampoos feel slightly clayish- not like a traditional shampoo at all and the conditioner feels exactly like the shampoos. The other conditioners are water-based sprays and the one traditional cream conditioner feel like lotion.

So I've been using this system for about a week now and my hair feels dry, heavy, stringy...not touchable. I hear that this is normal because my hair is detoxing right now. They say that years of using shampoos with sulfates and petrochemicals coats your hair with the stuff and it will take about 3-4 weeks for my hair to rid itself of the chemicals. So I'm gonna stick with it for about a month and see. But for now, I miss my soft and shiny petrochemical-coated hair.