Skincare

Melanoma Awareness Week 2 – Sunless Tanning

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May is Skin Cancer and Melanoma Awareness Month. Each Monday of this month will feature a post pertaining to sun safety and skin cancer awareness and prevention.

Week 1

I used to tan. I loved to tan! Like many people, I think I look a little better with a little color. I don’t seek to resemble a cognac leather handbag, obviously, but whereas I’m naturally roughly NC15 in MAC, I prefer to be around NC25, at least in the fair-weather months (I don’t bother in late Autumn and Winter).

Unfortunately, though, while tanning in the sun’s glorious rays or worse, in a tanning bed, might produce nice short-term results, the long-term consequences do not make it worth it. The attitude of, “We’ll deal with that when we reach it,” is not a healthy one. I’ve heard some people say, “Well I want to stop, but…” and then append some myth they heard or some excuse they have about why they’re just going to keep baking in the rays.

Let’s dispel three of those.

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How to Clean Your Clarisonic

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This is the second post (see the first) in my originally unintentional Spring Cleaning Series. I’ve shared extensively that I enjoy some buttons and internet in my skincare via the Clarisonic Mia2. Like any tool, Clarisonics require maintenance not only to work as intended, but to avoid introducing any ilk to your skin that, by its very design, it shouldn’t. So let’s talk about how to Clean Your Clarisonic. For that matter, these steps should apply to most replaceable-brush-head skincare tools, but illustrations will be with my trusty Mia2.

Maintenance is not something we should do when we realize that we can’t quite remember how long our Clarisonic has been hanging out in our shower. You don’t need a significant amount of time and you don’t need any fancy cleansers or materials to clean your Clarisonic. It’s quick and easy, and there’s really no good reason not to do so. (It takes less time than cleaning makeup brushes, come on).

1. After use, dry your Clarisonic.

Clean Your Clarisonic - Dry it After Use

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Worth it? Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

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I’ve never shared a proper review, but I have mentioned my holy grail makeup wipes countless times – they’re the Pond’s Original Wet Cleansing Towelettes if you haven’t been around long. I love them – one gets the job done, they’re effective even on stubborn eye makeup, and they don’t leave a gross film like some wipes do.


 Pond's Original Fresh Facial Wipes

One thing that I would change, though, is the scent. Although my skin isn’t sensitive, I don’t want scented skincare. The Ponds wipes’ fragrance isn’t offensive, but it is a little potent at first, and it lingers. On top of my own preference for scent-free facial products, I tend to use these to remove makeup and clean my face before bed and the smell, unfortunately can be an irritant to my fragrance-sensitive husband (and to me if I’m having a migraine).

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes

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Sunscreen Saga – Finding Biore Aqua Rich

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Although facial sunscreen is very important, I don’t talk about my whole sunscreen saga often. Two reasons:

  1. I haven’t found one I actually care for which leads to…
  2. Being a lazy jerk about application despite it needing to be a priority for me.

Body sunscreens are fine and I have zero issue with them. I have two Hawaiian Tropic favorites (this SPF 50 one glides on and moisturizes beautifully, and this SPF 20 one is shimmery). For a while, I pursued moisturizers with at least SPF 15 sunscreen in them and hated every.single.one. They smelled weird. They left a white cast. Regardless of being oil-free, they left my skin with an awkwardly shiny sheen and worst of all? They broke me out.

And what do we say to the product that’s causing breakouts?
Not today.

So, like an ass, I had forsaken the effort for a while and relied on my foundations and whatnot for protection, and the sunscreen saga was at a halt. Then, my mom received a melanoma diagnosis (she’s OK! – she paid attention to her skin and saw a dermatologist when she noticed a change in some moles she had [for the love of cats please go if you notice such a thing]). They caught it early enough that a couple relatively simple excisions were all that were necessary, though she does have to go back every so often because sufferers are at increased risk in the future. I stopped tanning (but I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t miss it), and I got serious about sunscreen. After all, a few blemishes and effed up, scaly-textured skin between your eyes, even if you have them perpetually, are far better than having to contend with melanoma.

Sunscreen Saga - Walgreens Dry-Touch Sheer

For a long time, I was using an SPF 50 Walgreens-branded (oh snap, yes, generic!) variant of a popular Neutrogena sunscreen (I am unsure of which one, but I think it is a Dry Touch one, maybe this one?) – but the reviews were fantastic, the price was nice, and it was accessible. I actually mentioned it in my old Skincare Basics and in an old Favorites. It didn’t keep me in a perpetual state of blemish-dom, but my skin wasn’t happy with it – and it wasn’t my own overt scrutiny; my husband noticed the change in how the skin on my face appeared.

The sunscreen itself is GOOD – it absolutely does its job. No sunburn, even out all day, including through peak sun at an amusement park in July. It took me all this time, and this product, to realize that I have some kind of sensitivity to many readily available sunscreens. Honestly, I’m not sure which component doesn’t play nice with my skin, but after doing some research about my complaints and situation, I came across several recommendations for a Biore sunscreen.

Sunscreen Saga - Biore AQUA Rich Watery Essence

While I used to be a pore strip loyal, my mind hasn’t been blown by Biore for years. Or, more specifically, Biore US. You see, Biore is owned by the KAO Corporation and originated in Japan. They are actively doing business in Japan and enjoy success there – and they don’t indulge in shenanigans the way their US counterpart does. Sunscreen is serious business in Asia, and I learned that many formulations over there differ significantly from our thick, smelly, stark-white pastes…and in fact tend to be kinder to skin. Dozens of testimony lead me to stray from the beaten path of western sunscreen and down the rabbit hole that is asian items.

First stop? Biore AQUA Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++. It just came in the mail from Amazon and I’ve never been so excited about a sunscreen – I so hope it’s the right one for me, I’m really looking forward to discontinuing use of stuff that makes my skin unhappy. What protection efforts are you making for your skin?

Burts Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm

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I’ve admitted before that I’m a lip balm junkie. For me, the gold standard is a sub-$2 tube of Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers. Yes, still. Judge all you like.

But I don’t always want to use it (especially now that the rights to it are changing hands and who knows if it will retain its glory?) – maybe I don’t want the tint. Maybe I want something thicker if my lips are really struggling. My fall-back is good ol’ classic Cherry Chap-Stik, even though it is more of a barrier and less of a moisturizer.

Burts Bees Ultra Conditioning

It was time to buy a new tube, and a friend recommended Burts Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm with Kokum Butter. I used classic Burt’s Bees when I was a teenager and liked it alright, so I figured if this was anything similar it should be a good try.

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January 2015 Favorites

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January 2015 FavoritesJanuary 2015 Favorites
1. bdellium tools 714 Flat Definer, $8 / 2. L’Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess Mascara, $8 /
3. Nail Tool Kit (from Amazon 3rd Party Seller), $12 (varies) / 4. Tree Hut Tropical Mango Sugar Body Scrub, $7

We’ve made it through January despite cold weather, colds and sinus fun, and so-so moods – here’s what made into my list of January 2015 Favorites.

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