My 3 Favorite Skin Care Items

I’m planning to replenish my skin care and make up very soon, so I took stock of my favorite Holy Grail items.  Here are three that I absolutely love because they have proven their worth to me and my fussy skin. 

For the record and to give you a frame of reference, I have oily skin but it has gotten more combination as the years pass.  I also have problem skin that gets the occasional pimple and I usually battle with little bumps (usually whiteheads) on my forehead, chin, nose and sometimes my cheeks.  The upside to oily and problem skin is that I don’t have wrinkles.  Yet.  I have noticed the parenthesis lines around my mouth during the winter time, but it goes away if I use moisturizer.  The skin on my forehead, around and in between my eyes still look pretty good.  I also remember to treat my neck and decolletage.

1. and 2.  Origins Brighter By Nature High-Potency Brightening Peel with Fruit Acids and Origins Brighter By Nature Skin Tone Correcting Serum.

It’s a one-two punch to get smooth and polished skin.  I use these 2 products together, once or twice a week at night.  I use the peel pads first after cleansing my face and neck.  Then the serum all over my face and neck, except for my eye cream/serum on the skin around my eyes.

I love facials at Bliss Spa and will usually get the glycolic peel add-on since I feel a difference in my skin where it’s polished and smooth.  It feels and looks like my under layers of skin have come to the surface.  I get comparable results using the Origins peel pads and the skin serum for a LOT less than the cost of a Bliss Spa facial.

3.  Decleor Exfoliating Cream.

I had a great spa facial a couple of years ago and they used Decleor products (I’ve never heard of this brand before).  At the time, I had hormonal acne and it was so painful to touch the problem areas.  They exfoliated with Decleor Exfoliating Cream and I loved it because there are no exfoliating particles which can aggravate or irritate your skin.  I bought a tube after the facial and really love the fact that it exfoliates your face and neck but without any irritation.

I’m a big believer in exfoliating but even when my face was clear, I hated when regular exfoliators would irritate my skin and cause some angry little bumps (or I would hold off on exfoliating if my face was broken out to avoid further aggravation).  I’ve asked facialists at other spas and they all said that Decleor was a good brand of skincare products (even when they were trying to push their spa’s products).

I use this exfoliator once a week, maybe twice, if my face needs it.

What are your holy grail skin care items?  Have you tried any of my recommendations and if so, what do you think?

Macy’s Friends & Family, it’s that time of the year!

Are you gearing up for the shopping frenzy of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc.?  I am avoiding the stores and malls, it’s online for me.  All. The. Way.

One of my favorite retailers, Macy’s, is doing their Friends & Family from November 30 through December 5.  An extra 25% off of regular, sale and clearance items, but it’s an extra 10% off for electronics, furniture, mattresses and rugs.  There are exclusions but I don’t have a F&F savings pass in my possession, but once I do, I will update this post with the details.

If you shop online at macys.com, there’s free shipping with a purchase of $99 or more.  The Friends & Family code is: MACYSFF and you get the discount online one day earlier, from November 29 through December 5th.

Happy Shopping to All!

UPDATED INFO!  Click here to print out a Macy’s F&F Savings Pass and/or click here to shop Macy’s online, find a Macy’s store, and to view the exclusions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Versace at H&M

Whenever I hear about Donatella Versace, I think of Maya Randolph’s SNL impression of her:

Comedy Gold

The US launch is set for this Saturday, November 19th.  The line holds true to the Versace aesthetic but I don’t know if this collaboration line is my style.  I love it and it’s sleek but I would have gone for these looks 10 years ago when I had the body for them.  Now, not so much.

Maybe I shouldn’t summarily rule it out.  Maybe there’s a top or skirt that would be flattering.  Plus, you can never go wrong with accessories.  But, I am not going anywhere near the shopping frenzy at the store.  So, hopefully there will be a few pieces left if I get to my nearest H&M, but I doubt it.  I will forever remember the Target-Missoni fiasco.  Plus, I’ve read reports of insane lines and crowds in China and London.

If you are brave and wait in line at your H&M on Friday night, here are a few looks that I really like:

See anything you like from the collaboration line?  If not, do you remember the SNL Donatella skits?

shopping freeze is ovah

Okay, I made it for the whole month of October without one purchase of a fashion or beauty related item.  It wasn’t too hard, I just stayed away from the shopping mall and stand alone shops and I did not click open any of the many emails I get from retailers.

I also was well trained when my husband and I lived in London for 3 years.  It really killed me to pay more money for the same exact item just because the exchange rate was unfavorable to the US dollar.  So, if you can believe this, I only bought 2 pairs of shoes (Duchess Kate’s favorite nude pumps, L.K. Bennett) the whole time I was there.  Well, my husband bought me a beautiful gift in Paris but that was not my doing.  And I shopped whenever I was back in the US for a visit.

So, these are the 2 items I just bought, a Michael Kors wool scarf in Poppy (at the Nordstrom store) and a Marc by Marc Jacobs crossbody bag in Faded Aluminum (online from Shopbop).

The scarf was not on sale at Nordstrom (nothing good was on sale for the Half-Yearly Sale at the Nordstrom’s I visited), but it caught my eye with the bright and cheery orange color.  I put it on and it complemented my skin tone and the wool was soft and not scratchy.  Also, it’s long enough to wrap around a few times so it looks like an infinity scarf or snood, which is on trend right now.  It made me happy and winter is my least favorite season, so anything that makes me smile when it’s cold and grey outside is good enough for me.

The crossbody bag has been an item I’ve been searching for awhile now.  I have an ugly small crossbody that I only use for vacations.  The crossbody is so convenient, but every darn vacation photo has this ugly bag.  A new one was long overdue and the Marc by Marc Jacobs Natasha turnlock bag fit the bill.  I tried it on at the Nordstrom store and love the length of the strap, the perfect size and zipper top for a major compartment of the bag.  The leather is buttery soft.  Nordstrom only had black and I wanted another neutral color that would work with all colors and wouldn’t look so dark in the spring and summer months.  So, off to Shopbop and they had it in grey.  Perfect, seriously perfect.  Can’t wait to get this delivered!

Any favorite recent purchases you’d like to share?  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Los Tres Gallos

As promised, here’s another post about our Cabo vacation.  One of our favorite meals was at Los Tres Gallos.  The restaurant doesn’t have a website, but I learned about it here as well as the recommendation of our concierge at Capella.  You can “like” it on Facebook though, although the text is in Spanish.

We had the sopas, chili relleno, pozole, cochinita pobil.  All of the dishes were delicious, fresh and authentic.  The servers were so wonderful and gracious to us.  They even gave us a gratis dessert course with their rice pudding and Mexican coffee, probably since we ordered so many dishes for the 2 of us but that’s how we roll, lolz.

Seriously, we loved everything about this place!