The Minimal Sisters

I’m going to start this post by stating this title is kinda laughable because there is no true winter in Miami, Florida, where I live. Particularly this year with the El Niño phenomenon. By the way, why do they call it El Niño? What has el pobre (poor) niño (kid) done to deserve this? I take it very personally that a climate phenomenon would have been named in Spanish AND translated means “the kid”. WTH?

Anyway, you are probably wondering why I used this title if it’s barely applicable. Well, there is an ulterior motive: if you follow us on Instagram, you will know I recently took a Holiday vacation to Lake Tahoe, CA. The sole intent of going there was to try some snowsports with my family. While I don’t want to bore you with the challenges a near 40 year old woman faces on the slopes (board, skis or otherwise), I do want to tell you about how dry and flaky my skin became when faced with such frigid temperatures and exposure to the snow. And when I say exposure, I mean face-palm, eat and wear the snow exposure.

The before look…

For those of you accustomed to this type of weather, you are probably experts on how to keep your skin moisturized and balanced during this time of year. For me, it made me appreciate the face oils I had packed for this trip and realized the importance, once more, of quality, organic, natural products.

When I got back to the humid swamps of South Florida, my skin felt thick and looked stiff. I quickly gathered some of my favorite products and paired them with a couple new ones I acquired there to try to bring life back into my skin.

I’ll walk you through what I did (and the new goodies I bought):

• A little bit of wicker action is always a must for me. I have become obsessed with a local brand of hand poured soy candles called Gold and Grass. While I am lighting my cedarwood and tobacco candle, I gathered the products I intend on using this evening.

  

 

• I love taking a shower AND using products on my face, like a cleanser. The steam from the warm water opens up my pores enough to pick all the grime. I decided to use a product that I bought during my Holiday, the Now Solutions Green Tea and Pomegranate cream cleanser. This was my second time trying the product. It is not a soap or a gel, therefore it doesn’t dry your skin. I used it with My Konjac Red Clay sponge by using the wet sponge to emulsify the cleanser on my face. This sponge is so gentle on the skin but powerful to remove dead cells and impurities. I love massaging it on my face; I probably did this for a good 10-15 minutes until I felt squeaky clean. The cleanser did really well.

• It is customary to follow any skin cleansing with a toner. I chose to use another product that I bought locally in Tahoe, one I had heard before with great reviews: Fat Face Organic Toner with lavender and rosemary. I was attracted to this toner because it contains raw Apple cider vinegar. Do you remember my little halloween scare? Well, I actually liked the way my face looked after I used Apple cider. It was glowing from within. That’s primarily why I picked up this product. I sprayed it directly on my face, and undoubtedly,  it went into my eyes! But it was all good. I thought “maybe they will turn blue?” I used a cotton pad to remove the excess.

• Next up was a spot treatment. I am not the type to breakout easily (at least not anymore!) but because of the damage to my skin, I had a couple of small pimples here and there. For this, I used my trusty Branch to Nature Thyme Blemish roll-on stick. I don’t think I have talked about this product since I featured it on an earlier post, and it wasn’t really a review but just a mention. Why didn’t I know about this product before? I truly wonder. This product is the bomb. It’s so easy to use; you just roll-on the product against your blemish. For a more sanitary use, you can dispense the liquid on a cotton pad and dab wherever you need it. I’ve had a couple of blemishes that have literally disappeared in two-three days. Totally recommend it. My daughter has used it too; great for teenagers.

• It was time for the stars of the show: the face balms and oils. First up was the Nourish Organic Argan Oil Balm. This is a stick balm I picked up at Whole Foods a couple of months ago. I can apply it on my face, hands, elbows, knees, any dry spot really because it’s great for chapped or irritated skin. I rub it all over my face, including neck and chest and distribute it evenly with my fingers. The last product is Tasty Face Vanilla Mint Daily Moisturizer. I fell in love with this product last month and have been using it non-stop. The richness of the oils is such that it makes my skin extremely supple and young looking. It almost acts like a filler, plumping up my skin, making fine lines disappear. I literally slathered the mix all over my face and neck. I feel like a grease ball for a minute or so, but it is so worth it!

After an hour, all the products settled and I felt my skin malleable, softer, happier! The woes of winter skin were a thing of the past.

I cannot stress how important it is to treat your skin right. I wish I had been this conscious about how to take care of my skin when I was a bit younger. But it’s a true testament of the power or natural products, that even though I have not been using them too long, they have made an incredible transformation on my skin. Have I become a green junkie? I gladly think so 🙂

Until the next one~

Joanne,

The Minimal Sisters