Oh Elemis, How Do I Love Thee?

Let me count the ways...1,2,3,4,5,6,7!!!

Yes, my most recent shipment of Elemis products has finally arrived! I was a little late ordering so I've been waiting on this stuff and using some generic stuff from the grocery down the street and it's SO apparent that there *is* a difference between Elemis stuff and anything you can find at your local drug store. Not only was my skin unhappy, but the general feeling that I wasn't taking care of my skin as well as I should be had me feeling guilty and generally depressed. Not majorly depressed, I just didn't feel at the top of my game, yano?

Well, thank you Elemis, because even if I bought it, it's nice to see things in the mail that make you smile (as opposed to those nasty bills). In fact, I was just crying over how stressed I was about having a show to attend and having everyone looking at me and how I'd probably look better had I bought my favourite products sooner - so I took the Absolute Eye Serum out and used it immediately. I'm sure some of this is placebo effect, but I felt instantly better. I know that the stuff works because I've used it before, but I'd say this is a sign that now that I know my products work (after over a year of testing & trying out new Elemis stff) - they put my mind at ease. I know I look and feel better when I take care of my skin, hair and body.

I got some more Pro-Collagen Marine Cream & Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules and the SOS Emergency Cream again too. I also ordered a line for my face that I haven't tried yet, but am starting now! I ordered Balancing Lime Blossom Cleanser, Balancing Lavendar Toner, and the Herbal Lavendar Repair Mask. I promise to keep you posted, I'll be using these tonight and throughout the conference while I am away!

Here it is the middle of March and I feel like I haven't done much in my health & beauty progress. Oh but I have been, I swear! Skin, be good to me. Bah! I've been paying a lot of attention to my condo though, making it more like our home on the beach, rather than an old furnished vacation rental that we moved into and never updated. It's been good, removing the clutter, and clearing out spaces - making things more clean brings clarity in my life, I don't know about you - but I really believe that making every aspect of your life more zenlike (paying attention to everything you do and doing it with purpose) yields happiness and results. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm attempting to apply this same principle to my skin and it's working out great!

This is what promted me to remember my beauty blog: I went shopping this week with my girlfriend and we went to the MAC makeup counter and I listened to the lady give my friend all sorts of advice about what to put on her face for what look and how to reduce blemishes and acne's appearance by using foundation and powder, etc. By the time she was done my friend had six (6) things she had to buy just to create a base foundation for her makeup! That's ridiculous. I've always been one for the natural look - especially on a daily basis, I don't want to put foundation on. This can't be good for her skin or her pores can it???

In any case, I came back here, and realised that I was last freaking out about bikini season, so I put one on and looked in the mirror. Things are looking pretty good if I do say so myself, I'm even happy with my stretch mark tiger stripes which seem to have disappeared since last year. I've always loved my stretch marks, as I see them as a sign of growth and maturity (sort of like rings on a tree trunk), but it doesn't hurt to try to make them a little less visible right? Since I'm past the prevention stage (though I'm sure I'll be researching that once I decided to make babies eventually) I was looking for something that would minimise the appearance of my stretch marks, mostly because in the summer they're much more obvious due to my naturally olive and easily tanned skin. Stretch marks don't tan! Who made that rule? Grrrr!!!

Oh well, that's the case for me so I went on my crazy internet research binge ... and you know what? I found that skin products that contain things like shea butter, bladderwreck sea kelp, xanthum gum, horsetail plant extract, milk protein &/or macadamia nut oil are great for stretch marks and even scars from other things (like surgery). Okay, I knew about shea butter, oils, and milk protein as ingredients that are generally good for keeping the skin supple, but these others I had no idea about. I went to the Elemis site and looked around and found Elemis Contouring Silhouette Cream, which contains the kelp and horsetail plant extract plus shea butter so I ordered it. It's on it's way, I can't wait to see how it works. A friend of mine has it and swears by it, but she's also had two babies and her stretch marks are from pregnancy and all around her belly, thighs, breasts, and lower back/butt. I wonder if it will work as well for me - I only have growth spurt stretch marks on my breasts and hips and they're much less pronounced than hers. But if it worked for her, it *has* to work for lil' old me, right??!