Some Summer Into Fall Beauty Faves

I love this time of year.  It always seems like more of a fresh start than even January.  New school year, new possibilities and, in my case, new makeup stuff to get excited about.  Below are some of my favorites as of late!

Pixi Glow Peel Pads

I must have read some article about how Glycolic acid is a necessary step if you like your skin.  Whatever it was, this summer I felt inspired to try an at home Glycolic peel.  While I was only supposed to leave it on for 1-4 minutes, for those 1-4 minutes I had the sensation of my face being burned, not unlike when the Joker fell into the acid bath in the movie Batman.  Usually I can stand a little discomfort in the name of glowing skin, but this felt decidedly more like a punishment than something good for me.  These glow peel pads have been the perfect solution.  I still feel like I'm getting the power of the glycolic acid to exfoliate, with out the fiery middle part.  I swipe this on after cleansing about 3X per week, followed by my night time skin stuff.  Tip:  Do not use these AND an exfoliator on the same night.  Too much, man, too much.  Bonus, they can be found at Target!

Blue Tansy Oil

If you follow my blog, you know that Vogue.com helped me discover that I am not lazy when it comes to doing my makeup and hair, I am simply French Girl Chic.  I'd like to take this time to thank Vogue.com once again for helping me realize that all I've been missing in my skin care regimen is Blue Tansy oil.   This article will move you to action.  There was a time when I would have shrieked in horror at the suggestion of putting oil on my face.  You may as well have asked me to slather fried chicken grease on my chin. Barf.  A few years ago when Giorgio Armani game out with the Maestro foundation (made with 5 oils that evaporate to create a matte, you read that right, matte, finish), I started to open my mind to oils.  Years have passed and I now embrace oils like an old-time royal.  Gone is the belief that all oils are a one way trip to breakout city.  According to my very surface level research, Blue Tansy Oil is great for balancing the skin.  I am particularly interested in reducing redness in my t-zone and cheeks.  I love this stuff because it seems to hydrate the dry parts and soothe the red parts.  Here's what the Etsy site says:  

Anti-inflammatory
Tissue regenerator
Soothing to wounds, wrinkles, itchy, dry, damaged, inflamed and/or burned skin
Excellent for rosacea and broken capillaries  

This one you can find on Etsy.  Has the Blue Tansy Oil to help balance skin, with a few other oils to nourish skin without clogging pores.  I love it.  In the morning I use it after rinsing my face and before sunscreen.  At night I put it on very last, to seal in the nighttime cream goodness.  As with all oils, a little goes a long way.  I take a drop or two and press it into my skin.

This one you can find on Sephora's website and if you really want to get yourself excited, read the glowing reviews!  I tried a smaller version of this I found on Amazon because I didn't want to commit to the hefty price tag.  Lucky I didn't, because this has a trace of coconut oil, which the world seems to love right now, but it causes me to get little white bumps (not pimples) under my skin.  Drat.  I loved it until it did that.  If coconut oil doesn't make your skin sad, this stuff is  great.

Rodial Stem Cell SPF 15 Lip Balm

By now you all understand my deep, abiding love for all lip products.  I feel like I have an obligation to try everything that comes on the market.  This one I tried because beauty.com had a big going out of business sale and I love the brand Rodial due to the Rodial Glamstick in Bite, which is my #1, all-time, "they better never stop making it or I will cry" nude lipstick.  This feels like a bit of thick, nourishing love for your lips.  So comfortable and has an SPF.  My only complaint is that the tube is small and it's not cheap unless you find it on sale. 

Mark Jacobs Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara

Mascara is the beauty product I blow off most.  It's not smart, seeing as though mascara has more bang for your beauty buck than most products when it comes to waking up your face, but I just don't like the hassle of taking it off at night.  That said, I still try different mascaras like it is a job for which I get paid.  Mascara is a personal, no "one-size-fits-all" category.  Someone may love the Nars one, for example, while I may think it makes my lashes look dry and stubby, which I do.  This is one to try for big, pretty lashes without having to do 10 coats.  I wear only one coat of this if I need to quickly look alive.  It's really good, I swear.  The only downside (aside from the price) is it can transfer a bit to your under eye.  If that drives you nuts, you many not like this one, although it hasn't been a huge concern for me.

Let me know if you try and like anything!

Keely

Summa..Summa..Summa..Time

Why, hello!  I’ve missed you!  BILLY accidentally took a break.

During said accidental break, I actually did quite a bit of writing in my head.  Turns out, it doesn’t really count when it's only in your head.  I’m pretty sure it’s just called “thinking”.  Let’s blame the accidental break on the summer phenomenon whereby you find yourself driving your children to all the crap they have to do even when you tried super hard not to sign them up for too much crap.

Each summer, I set the intention to experience an easy, breezy, fun “let the children be bored and unscheduled and unlock their creativity, old school” kind of summer.  I picture myself in the yard smiling merrily as my young ones cleverly construct forts and play kick the can with the neighbors.  In this dream sequence I also don’t have any tanner streaks and my blush/bronzer ratio is just right.  Maybe a bird even lands on my shoulder and sings.  Then, I picture the five of us gliding effortlessly inside to work on our math packets and summer reading as the kids ask me meaningful questions. I marvel at their intelligence and skill while snacking on a vegetable medley.  I consider making clothes out of the drapes and taking up guitar as I wait for my fresh husband to return home from work.  Wait, is that my son asking to walk the dogs?  Yes, summer, I see you and I can’t wait!  Making lunches and doing homework is O-V-E-R!

Instead, each summer, typically mid-July, I find a haggard version of myself staring into the mirror like Stuart Smally from the old days of Saturday Night Live chanting some kind of pep talk about how I’m good enough, strong enough and will make it through this day because I am so grateful to have these children and this beautiful life.  I look myself in the eye and convince myself that my UTI (no doubt a result of stress manifesting in my body) will easily go away with antibiotics and that I’m not compromising my gut health by taking said antibiotics so long as I also take probiotics like the Facebook article said.  

I continue to look deep into my eyes and chant that I am grateful for spending the bulk of my days in my automobile because it ensures plenty of time to listen to satellite radio and hear one child plead with the other to get their foot off "my side".  In addition, I’m guessing 9 year-old baseball is going to be amazing to watch…any minute now.  I’m ready!  I am so close to seeing the beauty in having to be in Mundelein at 5:30 on a Tuesday.  The joy is there if I am open to seeing it, right?  

As I continue to chant into that mirror, Stuart Smally style, it’s fine the kid’s “half hour of screen time” has somehow turned into “one to two and a half hours of screen time and also TV doesn’t count and, um, can I have some ice-cream, please?”  Breathe and release.  Breathe and release.  And you know what, mirror?  Lake Geneva doesn’t have to feel like I’m quadrupling my work load cooking and cleaning for extended family members, no sir!  It’s easy and fun to meld with your relative's daily rhythms and dynamics.  You don’t have to feel like you have post-traumatic stress when you come home!  You can do this!  You are lucky and grateful!

I really do feel grateful.  I swear.  There is a fine balance between truly being grateful for what you have and acknowledging that it occasionally sucks.  In general, I am a positive person.  Possibly even annoyingly optimistic.  Silver linings are everywhere and when a door closes a window opens, etc.  I am also human.  But that’s the trick isn’t it?  To conduct our lives in an overall manner that is grateful for our children, spouses, family, friends; grateful for what we have as it is while not feeling as though we are completely jinxing ourselves if we get to the point where we lose our minds when we find hot glue on the dining room table after an unauthorized craft time.   

If anyone figures out the perfect balance of activity and free time that allows sustained mental health in the summer months, please let me know.  I have not given up hope!  And, as if by magic, the school year is upon us.  Like most, I have an excitement level on par with finding the perfect foundation match now that the kids are starting another year of school.  I am optimistic as I find myself with plenty of time to brainstorm ways to nail next summer.  We can do this!

Go get 'em!

Keely

It Doesn't Just Happen

Maybe it’s a mean thing someone said to you when you were nine.  Maybe it’s a sweet thing someone whispered in your ear when you were twenty-two.  Maybe it’s a line from a movie or a quote from your Facebook feed. Most of us have at least a few random phrases bouncing around in our heads, repeated back to us at sporadic intervals.  I am fascinated by why some words or experiences stay in our heads and wind up informing who we are while others are simply forgotten.  What is about that phrase?  That time?  I’m even more fascinated when the phrase doesn’t seem that profound. When it’s not a quote from Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama or Dr. Martin Luther King, for example.

For me, one such phrase was seared into my brain (well, soul) about seven years ago.  

The scene: Lake Geneva, WI.  Sunny, warm summer day.  My husband and I were snuggling on a golf cart with our four partially towel dried, swim-diapered children laughing at something one of them said or did.  Easy, fun, quintessential “summer” moment.  An older woman with whom we occasionally exchanged pleasantries walked by our cart.  We had the usual brief, surface-level conversation.   This time, right before she walked away, she looked me square in the eye and pointedly said, “it doesn’t just happen,” winked and walked away. 

Whoa.  Hot eyeballs.  Dry throat. Tiny pre-cry convulsion.

“It doesn’t just happen.”  

Why the emotion surge?  It wasn’t new to have our sideshow acknowledged by near-strangers.  Having four kids ages 4 and under made us a bit of a spectacle wherever we went.  “Oh, you’re busy” and “I bet you’re tired” and “are any of them twins?” were all a part of our daily experience.  Most comments were a mixture of “they are so cute” and “wow, that must suck” and both statements were accurate some of the time.  In general, I knew people were just trying to be nice so I’d cop to being fatigued, smile and finish getting my groceries or whatever.  

“It doesn't just happen.”

I felt that phrase down to my core.  In that moment, I felt completely seen.   As though her older-mama soul was staring right into my younger-mama soul. In that one phrase, I felt like she knew this fun, carefree moment was only possible because I was militant in my resolve to have well-rested children, even if it meant a 4:30 dinner.  She acknowledged the assembly line-style sunscreen application that may have been easier to administer to a group of squirrels.  She validated cutting up every edible item into non-choke sized pieces and scrubbing each sippy stopper clean.  She saw me packing and repacking and making sure the most critical toys and beloved pacifiers were included in our piles of bags.  She saw me trying to breast feed my youngest while reading a book to the other three so we would have a clear two hours at the beach.  She saw in one look, one four-word phrase, the day after day, moment by moment work that got us to that golf cart on one sunny day in Lake Geneva.  With one phrase she validated each of the things we all do as parents while we simultaneously wonder if any of it really matters in the end.

“It doesn’t just happen.”  She was totally right.  It doesn't.

My kids are in the soccer/basketball/dance/cute performance stage now, but I still think of that phrase all the time.  It’s shifted from being a validating phrase to being a motivating phrase.  When I’m wondering if kale smoothies, workouts, conversations with my kids at bedtime when I’m ready to watch Vanderpump Rules, or intentionally touching my husband when he walks in the door after work are doing anything, I remind myself that “it doesn’t just happen.” 

It's a reminder that the stuff we do day in and day out contribute heavily to the happiness and fulfillment we desire in our overall lives.  It is the often tedious choices we're making in the moment (when we could easily blow them off) that make the difference.  The life we want is not something that’s going to suddenly appear in a couple months while we wait it out on the couch.  Every day is a new grab bag of choices that move us in the direction of the things we want and value (gently, of course).

Sometimes I wonder if that woman has any idea her words have been rattling around in my head for all these years.  My guess is no.  For some reason her not knowing makes it even cooler to me.  It’s a beautiful example of how much our lives are constantly affecting the lives around us, even when we just feel like we’re going to Trader Joe’s or work or talking to some random person on the street.  We never know if we’re saying something or doing something that is going to affect someone else for the rest of their lives.  That's cool. 

Thank you Lake Geneva woman!  

Keely

Returning

Do you think it’s urban legend that stores flag customers who return lots of things?  I hope so.  Why do I bother spending any time thinking about such a thing?  With the advent of online shopping and it's BFF, free shipping, I no longer go “shopping”, I go “returning”.  Truth be told, I never really liked spending hours meandering through a shopping center gathering items I may or may not need.  It turns out I do enjoy a strategic, targeted, efficient return sequence that I can execute in under 13 minutes.  When I’m having a paranoid moment, I worry my moves are being tracked by some covert mall association that employs unshaven techies to stare into their computers and frantically report into their headpieces:

“She’s back.  Nordstrom.  Beauty section.  Seven Lipstick returns?  Moving to Active Wear.  Pants made her butt look wide.  And....onto shoes.   Lost her ….wait, she’s left Nordstrom.  Located in J Crew.  Sweater looked different online.  Now Lululemon. Tank was impossible to figure out with strappy bra insert.  And she’s gone.  I repeat, she’s left the mall.”

Now, instead of wasting time in the mall, I waste time in the comfort of my home or car (usually near a baseball field), where I have the luxury of reading 102 reviews of a prospective lipstick/blush/foundation/jean/flip flop that just might be “the one".  I rationalize this waste of time by calling it "research" instead of "shopping".   Who doesn’t love the thrill of a new lipstick that may, at long last, end the search for all others?  On the flipside, who doesn’t dislike the feeling of too much crap in the house?  So, we order exciting items and return what we don’t like.  Am I the only one who’s kitchen turns into a satellite UPS store at the push of a button?  I hope not.

Below is a list of some of the purchases I decided to keep.  Maybe one day I will do a list of the things I returned, although that would be a much, much longer post.

Shine-On Lip Screen Broad Spectrum SPF 50

It is RARE to find a lip product with an SPF this high.  The more exciting part is that this is a gloss, not a balm, so it gives a fancy finish in addition to the sun protection.  It also gives a pleasant tingling sensation.  Come on summer!!

Oz Naturals Facial Toner

If you like beauty stuff, I’m sure you’re aware of an uptick in the facial spray category.  There are a ton of new sprays on the market that claim to do everything from from setting makeup to adding moisture to “refreshing” midday makeup.  Like most beauty products, you can pay an appalling amount for them (Tatcha) or a reasonable amount for them.  I have been using this one ever since I fell in love with the Vitamin C Serum I hope you’re all using.  I spray it on my face before the serum as a toner.  It feels good.  This is one of those products that you can’t really tell if it’s making a huge difference, but I like to believe it does.  You can also use it once your makeup is on to “set” it or anytime you want a thrill throughout the day.

EltaMD UV Clear Broad-Spectrum SPF 46

If you have read my sunscreen post, you know that I have been using the Skinceuticals sunscreen for my face.  I'm not sure why I rarely leave well enough alone when it comes to skincare/beauty items.  Even if I have a favorite, my eyes tend to wander.  This sunscreen always makes the list when magazines do a "best sunscreens".  I felt it was time to try it. I have loved it!  My cheeks are super dry and I have hormonally enraged chin skin.  It handles both without being greasy or tacky.  I also like that the SPF number is 46.  Makes it seem more legit. Favorite sunscreen purchase in a long, long while.  

LORAC Alter Ego Lip Liner in Goddess

I am normally not a lip liner person because it seems too fussy.  I don't know what possessed me to try this, but this has been a great addition to my ridiculous, vast lip product collection.  I don't wear it as a lip liner, I wear it as a color.  It is the perfect cool toned mauve that doesn't make me look too Goth.  When it's on, it looks almost like a matte lipstick, but it doesn't feel drying.  It has a satisfying about of creaminess that doesn't feel like a scratchy lip liner.  A true delight.

I hope you've all ordered your One Two Lashes, as they will be changing the lash world!

Happy Returning!

Keely