Abooooouuut FACE! Villainess Mud review!

In my purge of Villainess items I had recently acquired,  one of the things I decided to get was Embargo Mud in their About Face line.  This line is mostly made up of "dry" masques so with all the Muds, you will be getting a container of a dry powder.  Reading through the descriptions of each, the Embargo Mud seemed the best for me as my skin is really in need some balancing with the current state of my hypothyroidism.

Villainess Stash

The 2 things I looked at on their site to determine the best one for me was:

• Distinguishing Features: Imported skin-toning clays, oil-regulating patchouli, and healing clove essential oil.  

• Wanted For:  Balancing Oil secretion, purging pores, and cleansing lifeless complexions.

On the product it advises to blend 1 teaspoon of the product with 1 tablespoon of warm water (or liquid of your choice), apply & leave on for no longer than 15 minutes.  I also inquired on their Facebook page what they recommended as far as how many times a week they should be used.  I received a quick response advising, "Probably no more than once a week. Some of those clays have serious drawing capacities."

As you can see, using water the consistency of it was very... well... watery.  I reccomend using a mask application brush to soak it up & get it out of your dish then apply it to your skin.  Because of the consistency, it ran down my face to my nose & chin so I will have to try & master this a bit better.  Try applying it in light layers.  I think maybe next time I will use honey instead of water also & see how that works!  Who knows, I may end up sticking with the water mixture in the future.

You can definitely smell the patchouli in it.  Very warm, earthy, sweet and smokey, which could bother some of those who are not patchouli fans but not me.  I left it on for 10 minutes then rinsed off with lukewarm water using my hands.  The mud has a slight grittiness to it that's not too harsh, a good exfoliate.

Final word?  My skin feels FANTASTIC!  It's soft, it smells good and I can definitely FEEL a balance.  Another thing that was kind of crazy was I had a new blemish starting on my nose that I was sure was going to end up a nasty old whitehead & it's like it just disappeared after using this!  I don't think I've ever had something like this happen before!  So far, I'm loving it!  They also advise you can use these products elsewhere on you that may be beneficial but I think I'll use this strictly for my face.

My bath tonight consisted of:

• Psychodelic bubble bar by Lush (no longer available)
• Sugar Scrub by Lush
• 'Ol Blue Skies is Back shower gel by Lush (no longer available)

I don't know how I've managed to keep the discontinued Lush items in such good shape until use but I somehow did.  I guess that I can thank the plastic industry for that.  :(  Psychodelic & 'Ol Blue Skies went well with my scent theme but Sugar Scrub was a bit too woodsy scented, though not really described so. (FYI the wiki advises Psychodelic was manufactured until 2003 but I DID get mine as a retro item much later than that.)


*NOTE: I wrote all of the above last night & then just got too tired to read through it before posting so now it's almost 6am the following morning.

I got restless around 5am today so I got up, took my medicine & plopped down in front of the computer.  Usually morning & mid-day I get flare ups where my skin & (internal) temperature gets all messed up because of me being hypothyroid.  I say internal because, like hypothyroid & Graves' my numbers can be in "normal" range and yet I can still feel awful.  My skin still feels great after using the mud though I'm feeling swollen & sore, which is normal from the evil prednisone.  So I'm still happy.  Nothing looks or feels irritated & I have no new problem spots which is common for me to wale up to if I don't agree with a product.  I think I will make Wednesdays my masque night.

I tweeted about this yesterday & hopefully, if you're following, you got it!  Groupon currently has a $5 for $10 of product at Sephora!  It says there's only a day left &, though it may not seem like much, if you're anything like me & DON'T get it, you'll end up in Sephora buying a ton of stuff & wishing you had.  So, I'd jump on it!  You can use it online or in store & it DOESN'T EXPIRE!

There's a bunch of other deals going on that I tweeted about too so check me out @popscene01.

Until later... happy bathing!

Review of Simple Skin Care Cleansing Wipes.

I actually got what I could consider to be a good night's sleep last night.  I woke up only a few times, or so I think.  I didn't fully wake up until the alarm went off.  Heart rate racing for a few minutes.  Now I'm feeling cold again & starting to sweat.  Comes & goes throughout the day & it seems nothing is changing.  I should probably stop writing about that until I start noticing it changing for the better. 

I have to go see my allergist today.  I have asthma & can get an asthma attack from cleaning up something dusty, to being out in harsh cold weather, to getting really upset about something.  So they are going to test my breathing but I don't know how much of a good the test will be due to the fact I'm on prednisone.

The reason why I posted before that I was so happy to have been off the drug for 2 years was the fact that every time I had a bad asthma attack from anything the doctors always wanted to put me on it & the stuff suppresses your immune system.  So it was a vicious cycle.  I would get some type of virus or cold & get an upper respiratory infection & with all the coughing I might get asthma attacks so they would throw me on it.  Then someone at work might come in with a different cold or I would just randomly catch a virus or cold that NOBODY else around me would have had or would catch from me then they would throw me on it again.  I'd be put on it sometimes 2-3x per year.

The receptionist for my eye specialist finally got back to me yesterday (I did call in the morning again) & apologized.  She took all my information, concerns & said she'd have a doctor get back to me, though it could be a few more days.  Well, I got a call back this morning & I need to stay to course on the prednisone.  I really want to get off it sooner so that I can finally tell how the thyroidectomy is really affecting my body.  Usually about a week after I stop the dosing is when I feel the worst.  This would be my projected week back to work.  I can handle the usual side effects that I get from the prednisone though, I've done it before.  I'm concerned about what it may be masking as far as the hypothyroidism.  I've never been on such a high dose of this this medication for this length of time, nor tapered off it it for so long.  I've also never experienced hypothyroidism this severe before.  So it's like a game, what's causing which side effect and am I figuring it out correctly or not?  Now I have to wait until almost mid September, when my next appointment is, so I can 1st be checked out & then maybe get more answers.

Now, onto products I've been using.  The last week I was going through my sample box of things I had & have been meaning to try and I pulled out these:

The Simple Skincare Cleansing Facial Wipes I used for about a week.  They list their product is hypoallergenic, containing a natural antibacterial ingredient, containing pro vitamin B5, determatologist AND ophthalmologist tested and it's vegan. (Just to name a few thing.)

I'm not really a wipes person for cleansing my face.  I have combination skin, dry here, oily there, breakouts in another spot, hormonal issues contributing to all of this, annoyance.  If I'm wearing makeup I'll use products to remove them 1st.  Then I like to use a lukewarm water splash on my face and apply the cleanser next.  Gently wash the cleanser off with the water a bit on the cooler side, pat dry, apply medicine in needed spots, wait a few minutes, then apply moisturizer, serum or oil.  That's my normal routine & it has been working pretty well except for certain monthly hormonal imbalances that I think will never be end.

Now for these cleansing cloths I didn't wet my face 1st.  They promote them as both a cleanser and also a makeup remover, including eye makeup and waterproof mascara.  I haven't really been using makeup after my surgery since I haven't been going out much but had a little on at one time using them & it did what it stated.  I used the wipe across my face, eyelids, & neck.  The wipes were very soft and directly after use my face felt damp.  I almost wanted to pat dry my face or wipe it but I gave it a about a minute & it ended up feeling nice & refreshed.  I still finished up my routine with my medication and then moisturizer & I was pleasantly surprised how soft & nice my skin felt after.

I find it kind of odd they promote it as alcohol free when it DOES include an alcohol ingredient.  This can be confusing to some as it has Cetearyl Alcohol.  Here's the thing, it's an alcohol but what's considered a "fatty" alcohol that is used for softening & soothing skin.  So it's a good alcohol, believe it or not!

There wasn't really anything that advised how many times to use them through the day so I would base it off your normal routine at 1st, then go from there.  So, for my packet I had I used 1 wipe in the morning & 1 at night.  Because it is so moisturizing, if I decided to make these normal routine for me, I would probably use them once a day and only at night as a makeup remover & cleanser, to remove that daily build-up, then using a different, gentle cleanser in the morning.

My thing is I like as little waste as possible.  This would cut down on water waste when cleansing my face, but it would add to landfill waste, but on their site it advises their products are biodegradable.  So pros instead of cons all the way on this.  It also took a lot less time for my cleansing routine.  I felt like I was missing something!

I have other products I want to try out so maybe once I am done with those I will switch to these for good.  Something good to try if you are looking for a new facial cleanser or makeup remover.  They also make them in exfoliating, oil balancing, radiance and just for eye makeup removal.  They do have other products as well.

Target sells a 25 pack for $4.99 and is also currently running a promotion where if you buy 3 packs (or any 3 products by Simple Skin Care) you get a $5 Target gift card!