OH, GLOW UP!

GLO CODE: SKIN CARE FOR SUMMER

Building a skincare routine can be a daunting task because there are so many products on the beauty market that make it hard to know what products are right for your skin type, and then you have the “try this not that” social media crowd looking to sell you on a product that may not get the job done. As a beauty connoisseur, I focus on holistic beauty products, because as I get older with age so does my skin. Holistic beauty has been around since ancient times, the practice of holistic medicine helped people, mainly women, achieve overall health and beauty for the times. Integrating physical, mental, and spiritual well-being resulted in healthier and radiant skin. Historical women had a holistic skincare regimen, even the brilliant Cleopatra slept with a gold mask on her face and used donkey milk to preserve a more youthful and bright appearance. I won’t go that far, I mean donkey milk is not my thing, but I am feeling the golden mask thing. A growing number of beauty brands are embracing this concept, Burt’s Bees, and my favorite YesTo, are just some of the brands that rid their products of harmful chemicals that can cause external as well as internal damage to the body.

What makes a product Holistic?

Holistic beauty products are made using active ingredients that exist in nature, including minerals, plants, and essential oils. Free of synthetic chemicals that cause skin irritation, discoloration of the skin, clog pores and have been linked to various health issues like cancer. Summer is a season guilty of skin brutality, so here are the three laws that I follow for healthier radiant skin, they are PROTECT, PREVENT, and REPAIR.

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BREAK IT DOWN

Let’s start with Protect. The sun is an un-adjustable temperature for skin, it comes in the morning and leaves at night, so we can’t adjust it to the right degree, but we can adjust how we protect our skin when faced (see what I did there? LOL) with high-temperature days. If you are an outsider like me, you know, someone that goes outside frequently, then here are my top 5 to protect my skin:

• Apply sunscreen that incorporates plant-protective ingredients. This is perfect for UVA/UVB protection, natural for sun protection which boosts SPF values naturally so fewer actives are needed for a higher SPF.

Moving on to my next law PREVENT. We all have to grow old eventually, and the sun hurries this process along whether we like it or not, so I do my best not to help ease my skin into age by using products that defend against it.

• Apply products enriched in antioxidants and vitamin C to combat aging, improve elasticity, and promote collagen production.

Lastly on my law list is REPAIR. When I was young, I never needed any skincare routine, and going out in the sun was just for fun, those days are gone…hold up did I just change the lyrics to the song All By Myself by Eric Carmen, oh well, the point is I didn’t really think about what the sun was doing to my skin, because I just wanted to put makeup on and look pretty. Now that I am older, I can see the damage done to my skin from sun exposure thanks to my dermatologist showing me on a skin imaging camera. Now I use anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial products. These products naturally rejuvenate and repair damaged skin from sun exposure.

• Apply organic products that are 97% or higher in anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory to the skin.

SKIN HYDRATION

Image courtesy of Unsplash | Photographer @jernejgraj

Hydration is very important for the body, drinking water every day especially when it’s hot outside can rejuvenate your internal organs, but just as drinking water is important to the inside of our bodies, hydrating our skin is just as important for the outside of our bodies. I used to walk around with a mist fan if I was attending an outside event, or sat on a restaurant patio with a mist fan to keep myself cool, but now I carry Vichy Volcanic Water Mist to occasionally spray my face. I still keep the mist fan though. LOL There are many things that I like about this product, right off it protects my skin from environmental aggressors with antioxidants, it has 15 essential minerals, not to mention it is paraben-free as well as the other freebies like fragrance, preservatives, and alcohol. This spray is good for my sensitive skin and is non-allergic, and on a final note, it protects my skin from harmful UV rays and air pollution.

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THE BEAUTY SPOTS:

SEPHORA

&

ULTA BEAUTY

There aren’t many places I can shop for my skincare products, I do the usual stand by which is Target, but lately, I find that I am shopping at either Sephora or Ulta Beauty for my hard-to-find skincare brands. In my quest to achieve holistic skincare, I bounce between these two beauty shopping spots. The above-mentioned beauty laws of Protect, Prevent, and Repair, and skin hydration you can either go to Sephora or Ulta Beauty to pick up the skincare brands I use to give them a try for yourself.

YOU CAN GET WITH THIS

SEPHORA

Image provided by DHMF Studios | Photographer: Di Marco

Biossance- Rapid Radiance Skin Set

Benefits:

• Clean & Plant Positive

• Without harmful Parabens

• Great for combination skin (dry, combo, and normal)

• Vegan

• Eliminates dull or uneven texture

• Good for skin hydration

Online retail price: $35 for the entire set

HERBIVORE- LAPIS BLUE TANSY FACE OIL

Benefits:

• Great for acne/blemish prone skin

• Cruelty-Free

• Great for combination skin (oily, combo, and normal)

• Good for redness

Online retail price: $48 1oz/30mL or $72 1.7oz/50mL

…OR YOU CAN GET WITH THAT

ULTA BEAUTY

Image provided by DHMF Studios | Photographer: Di Marco

THE ORDINARY.-THE BRIGHT SET

Benefits:

• Clear ingredients

• Vegan

• Cruelty-Free

Online retail price: $38 for the entire set

VICHY-mINERALIZING THERMAL WATER SPRAY

Benefits:

• Vegan

• Clean ingredients

Online Retail price $10 5.1 oz/150g

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SMALL BUSINESS BEAUTY SPOTLIGHT

LE’ FAYE BEAUTY

As managing editor, I get the perks of trying out new and exclusive products, and in keeping with my tradition of promoting healthy skincare, I present to you my new tryout, Le’ Faye Beauty. This company is all about healthy skin, with its handcrafted artisan line of soaps and oils. This unique company unifies natural ingredients with soft fragrances and leaves your skin feeling soft, smooth, and smelling good. I came by this company from our Creator and Editor-in-Chief of DHMICON.COM, she passed along these soaps courtesy of Le’ Faye Beauty founder Le’ Chelle and asked me to give them a try. I always lead with an open mind and give an honest critique of products that I use, whether they are provided to me by someone I know, or are unknown to me.

Please click the link to be redirected to Le' Faye Beauty

I was excited to give these soaps a try. The moment I opened the box my nose was greeted with sweet fragrances, not heavy, but rather very light. I was delighted to see that the soaps wear simplistically dressed and placed in individual see-through favor bags, I am not easily won over by over-the-top product dressing, as I like to see the product I am reviewing. On each sleeve is brief descriptions of the products’ ingredients and weight, along with cute names that match the fragrance of each soap.

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THE REVIEW

I took the Hawaiian Flower soap with me on a business trip I took to Las Vegas recently. I did a hand wash test run to see how my skin would react to it, after about an hour, my hands did not show any redness, there was no itch, and no dryness. The major test came with my bath later that night, I lathered up, and I waited for the usual suspects to emerge after drying off, but again nothing. I was pleasantly surprised after I washed with this soap, my skin felt soft, there was no chalky residue left behind after rinsing off, and believe me, I waited for that, but no chalk. Once I was all dried off, I could still smell the fragrance, which was quite delightful on my shaved legs and under arms, this smell lingered for quite some time. I am going to quote another brand by saying “all I felt was clean”, and to add to that quote: and soft all over.

Image courtesy of DHMF STUDIOS | Photographer DI MARCO

To finish off my review, I have a small con about the soaps, as with all handmade soaps, being that they contain natural ingredients, the oils in the soaps did not work well with some of my skincare products, and this left my skin a bit red in some spots. My recommendation is if you plan on using natural handmade soaps in conjunction with your other beauty products, test how your skin will react to the soaps and products because you don’t want to be left with redness or worse an allergic reaction. Overall, these soaps were wonderful, and I encourage you to give them a try as well as the oils.

My face, my beautiful face, was next up, and I have to be honest I was a little hesitant to wash my face with this soap, because I have sensitive facial skin, and did not want to have red splotches all over my face. I did the face test, I lathered up my jawline just above my neck, rinsed, and waited for the results. Two hours passed, and I ran to my bathroom and checked the mirror, to my relief, there were no red splotches, didn’t itch, and there was no chalky residue. Now, I knew I had to go all-in, so I cleared my face of all makeup using my Simple ™ makeup-removing wipes and got down to the face-washing business. I worked up a good lather, starting with my forehead which is the oiliest part of my face, I began working my way down the bridge of my nose, underneath my eyes, and finally to my cheeks. I had to lather the bar a few times to cover my entire face, as this soap bar dries a bit fast, but once my face was fully covered, I splashed warm water to rid myself of the lather. I towel blotted my face dry and checked my skin all around. My face felt soft, my pores were open and my skin tight, which by the way is a good thing because tight skin slows down the aging process, even my nose looked a bit shiny.😜

Image courtesy of DHMF STUDIOS | Photographer DI MARCO

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IMAGES COURTESY OF UNSPLASH, PEXELS, & DHMH STUDIOS | PHOTOGRAPHER FOR UNSPLASH: jernej graj

photographer for dhmf studios: di marco

Images are used for illustration purposes only and are not an endorsement of photographers, publications, or affiliates.

Image photographers and Unsplash are not affiliated with and do not endorse DHMICON.COM, its writers, or blogs.

BIOSSANCE™, HERBIVORE, THE ORDINARY, VICHY, AND LE’ FAYE BEAUTY, SEPHORA, ULTA BEAUTY, and its affiliates are not an endorsement of DHMICON.COM, its writer, or its blogs.

Product reviews expressed in the opinion piece belong to the writer and do not express the views of DHIMICON.COM, its editors, or its affiliates.