Down to basics: 10 beauty ingredients

Sometimes we try to approach every problem with different solutions, specially those that are new and miraculous, and we overlook remedies that have been around for decades. 

That's why I decided to put some tips together that we can all follow without having to spend loads of money on products, and I will mention only products that can be found in every country (that I know of, at least!) and practically in every house (unless you need to run to the shop!)

1. Honey is great for acne, so you can use it as a face mask (slathering it on your face) because it is a natural antibiotic. It's also great for throat soreness because of it's antiseptic proprieties.
   
   
2. Aloe Vera, as I posted in the past, is amazing for treating acne (it has calming and antiseptic proprieties), but apparently I discovered that Indian people use it as an anti-ageing product too!
   
   
3. Sugar, as an exfoliant can be added to whatever you use as a moisturizer, or to olive oil or honey. I use honey+sugar as a lip scrub: works wonders, and tastes amazing. 
   (You can use brown or white sugar, but I hear brown sugar is better for scrubbing! I use what I have, which is normally white sugar.)
   
   
4. Vaseline is an amazing moisturizer, for feet, hands, under-eyes, and it also makes eyelashes longer and stronger! (It's an all-round moisturizer really, although it's quite greasy, take that into account.)
   (Use this during the night and sleep while it acts on your lashes/skin. If you're to use it as a hand/foot moisturizer, use gloves or socks so that it doesn't rub off on your sheets!)
   
   
5. Lemon is great for whitening your nails after your (evil) nail polish has stained them! It's also great for brightening your skin because of the acids presents on lemon juice, but not all skin types can tolerate this high acidity, so if you have a sensitive skin, refrain from using lemon juice on its own (it's OK with yogurt because it's more moisturizing.)
   
   
6. Yogurt is wonderful used as a brightening mask if you mix it with some lemon juice, and apply it to your face. After 10-15 minutes, you rinse it off with cold water, and you'll end up with soft and bright skin! (Even better if it's greek yogurt.)
     
7. Water! Now you can't tell me you don't have this at home! Drinking water is the main way to prevent wrinkles, it's great to detox, you need it to survive... But yeah, getting into the habit of regularly drinking a glass of water (like, every hour or so) can sometimes be a pain in the ass, but whenever you have the chance to refrain from consuming sodas and other carbonated drinks, DRINK WATER! 
   (This is a health and beauty advice!)
   
   
8. Bananas are a rich fruit that isn't full of water, unlike most of them, and is great for moisturizing, so it's an ingredient you can use on it's own as a face mask, or mixing it in with yogurt and lemon (for a mask to reign them all!) 
   
   
9. Avocados, as well as bananas, are a fruit with that much water, so it's creamy and is great for moisturizing! (Use it on it's own or mix with other ingredients for a more complete mask!)
   
   
10. Salt: consume less (better for your health), but you can use it as a beach hair spray. Don't just mix it with water, because that will dry your hair.
    
    
    [Mix: water, salt, conditioner that smells good!, and some hair gel. This will create texture without drying your hair, and it will also stay in place. Measurements depend on what effect you're after, and if you want a messier hair (more salt), or more conditioning (more conditioner), etc. Put it in a spray bottle, and create your own beachy hair!]

Love,

Maria.

My skincare routine

Hello everyone :) !

I've been wanting to do a post about my skincare routine for some time now, because I think many people want to know how you achieve a nice skin glow and minimal blemishes. I haven't got the most perfect skin in the world, believe me! But I think my minimal take on a skincare routine is the responsible for bettering my skin quite a lot these past months.

I have always used a lot of creams on my face, thinking these would help all of my problems: acne, dark circles, blackheads, etc. Now, on dark circles I have still no solution except for concealer, and YSL Touche Éclat has been my go-to for some years now, since I don't have MASSIVE dark circles, they're just a purplish tinge that doesn't look nice at all. As I already said in a previous post, I never had huge acne problems, but some years ago I did have a lot of breakouts. But I thought, if my skin problems were due to my pores clogging, shouldn't I use LESS products?

Right now, I'm a firm believer that less is more, and I just use three products in total, and just two of them I use on a daily basis. My skin routine goes like this:

At night, after a day in which my skin suffers multiple aggressions, I wash my face with Clinique's 7 day scrub cream (rinse off formula), which not also cleans and hydrates my skin, but it also leaves it glowing and BEAUTIFUL. I swear by this cream, if I had to only use ONE product for my skincare, it would be this one! 

After rinsing off my face, I use my Interapothek Aloe Vera Gel, but there are many different brands of aloe vera gel and they all do almost the same job! This gel hydrates my skin (it doesn't make it greasy or anything), and it also makes any redness go away, including acne swelling and redness, and feels so refreshing and nice on the skin! I also swear by this product, because it has many benefits and is quite cheap and available ANYWHERE.

In the morning, I normally just use my Aloe Vera Gel alone, but if I feel my skin has some more issues than other days (like a couple of blemishes here and there) I will also scrub my face with my Clinique cream. 

The third product I use, although not EVERYDAY is a cream for my really dry skin patches, whenever I have them, which would be normally in the winter because of the cold. This cream is Babor Cream. I really like it because it makes dry patches go away almost instantly, but I do not use it normally because it does leave an oily residue and my skin doesn't always need that extra oil. 

So here you have it, and I hope it was useful to you guys, although cream-lovers will be disappointed by the limited amount of products I use on my skin!

Love, 

Maria.

Quick skin tip!

Hi ladies!

As I've been editing the tutorial I filmed yesterday, and I haven't been able to rush this too much (I also have to study for my exams). I decided to make a quick stop, just to tell you a little trick that might save your lives! (I can exaggerate sometimes...)

Now, who doesn't have a pimple every now and then? (To say the very least?) And who doesn't give in to the urge to pop or touch your skin, making it a hundred times worse than it originally was? Once you're done, you wish you hadn't even touched it, because it wouldn't have swollen like it did. 

Well, I think I've managed to overcome my impulses fewer times than I didn't, so over the years, I have tried all kind of techniques to reduce the swelling and try to make it all disappear.

At first, I used toothpaste over those massive spots that never come out (and hurt like hell!) and overnight, this made them come out (if it was really massive, it might take a couple more applications) and it also dried them. But it also dried my skin, so I also had to accompany this technique with massive amounts of moisturizer and even sometimes, I had to wait for the flakes to go away. So, I do recommend using a dab of toothpaste on really deep swollen blemishes, because it does work, but only as an emergency solution, and try not to make it a habit!

But, currently, as I have fewer of those massive blemishes, and many more of those small but still pain-in-the-ass spots, I started using Aloe vera (that's right, ALOE VERA) as a moisturizer, because it deals amazingly with swelling (it's soooooo calming and feels so amazing on the skin!) and it freshens up your skin! Not only does it NOT dry your skin, but it moisturizes without the oily feel after that. 

I actually bought it from a pharmacist (it's not a known brand), but I am guessing Aloe Vera is available anywhere around the globe! 

(This tube looks very similar to the one I use)

Try this tip, because it works soooo amazingly well, it's cheap (I think my huge bottle costed around 8$ (5€) so it's really not that expensive!) and it soothes instantly any kinds of swelling that you might have! 

If you do try it, tell me how it worked for you!

Love,

Maria.

P.S. I pair Aloe Vera moisturizer with Clinique's 7 day scrub cream (which also moisturizes, which is a plus!). (My skin is combination, with oily patches on my T-Zone and some dry patches too on my cheeks.)