Great Finds!

I've come across some really great products recently and thought I would share the finds with all of you!

I follow a few of the "frugal blogs" (Money Saving Mom, Fantabulously Frugal, Frugal in Virgina) for the deals info and advice on different ways to save money. One of my favorite types of posts are the ones alerting everyone to free samples. The samples make great travel items and often introduce me to various products I normally would not buy.

Photo from Burt's Bees

A couple weeks ago I received a sample of Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions Targeted Spot Treatment and I am OBSESSED. I was worried that my skin might break out after going off the pill, so when I saw this free sample I signed up right away. My skin isn't bad, but I definitely get a few ginormous pimples every now and then. The spot treatment is a liquid that you rub anywhere that you have a pimple and it literally works like magic in just a couple of days. The bottle says the active ingredient is salicylic acid, but the website lists a bunch of other inactive ingredients (in case you are interested). It retails for $10 on the website and I will definitely be ordering a bottle when my sample runs out!

Switching gears....

I recently ordered a tea set and a coffee set from Yedi Houseware via One Kings Lane (let me know if you want an invite!) and am very impressed with their products, so I wanted to share these finds with you too!

My mom's family draws names for Christmas because there are so many of us (I think there are 40 people?) and we can't buy gifts for everyone. This year we drew my 3 and a half year old cousin. While browsing One Kings Lane I stumbled upon the Yedi sale and knew that the Polka Dot Tea Set would be perfect for her. Here she is last May at my bridal tea:


Yes, she is squeezing her tea bag with her hand. Hehe.

The set is great quality, cute as can be, and comes in really nice packaging. I can't wait to see her open it on Christmas day. I remember I was her age when I received my first tea set and hope she enjoys hers as much as I enjoyed mine. When I was looking at the website just now I saw that the tea set was featured in Oprah at Home magazine!


I also ordered the Birch Coffee Set from One Kings Lane for AJ's parents. These colors fit perfectly with their style and I know they will get great use out of them. They are so hard to buy for and I thought this was a practical gift that will hopefully last a long time. This set was featured in Good Housekeeping magazine!


You can't really see the details in this picture (I love how the inside is a different color) so here is a photo from the Yedi website too.


Hopefully this was a useful post. I have a tendency to only call out companies or products that suck, so I wanted to spotlight a few things that have made me happy lately!

No Wrinkles!

Last week I had my first anti-wrinkle facial. Usually when I get a facial I do a basic European facial that moisturizes and exfoliates. Since I am starting to notice some slight changes in my skin and I am in my mid-twenties, I thought it was time to upgrade.

When I entered the room, my esthetician asked me about my skin, including if I had a sunburn, if my skin was sensitive, and if I was not intolerant of pain. Apparently these three things exclude you from getting the anti-wrinkle facial because it includes a chemical peel. I had been in the sun on Wednesday when we were at the golf tournament, but I was by no means burnt. I also consider myself to have sensitive skin to the extent that I flush really easily. I do not though, have bad reactions to new cleansers or break out very easily, so I guess this wasn't an issue.

In the end she decided that we would do the chemical peel, but only leave it on for 4 minutes since this was my first one and she didn't want me to have a bad reaction (a la Samantha from SATC). She also prepped my skin with some kind of protectant to help prevent any kind of extreme irritation.

So I am guessing that you don't want to hear about the entire facial, but just the chemical peel, so I will skip everything else she did. She used a 30% Lactic Acid chemical peel, applied it to my face, and then turned on a fan that blew cool air toward my face. Initially, I found the smell of the chemicals to be highly invasive, and this distracted me from the slow burn I felt on my face. The burn was slightly irritating, but by no means unbearable. She then removed the peel and applied a gel-like mask to help replenish my skin. Following the facial I was told not to engage in any kind of activity that would make my face red (e.g exercise, steam shower, sun, etc.).

So in the end my skin felt fabulously soft and looked amazing, and really the pain I had to endure wasn't bad at all. I think I will continue with the anti-wrinkle facials on a 6 month basis (I usually go back to NY during Christmas and the summer) and hopefully they will prevent me from early aging. In the meantime, I may look into Julie's recommendation for at home care, Oil of Olay Regenerist Microdermabrasion and Peel System.

Anyone else had an anti-wrinkle facial? What is your at home skin care routine like? I really need to step up my game and appreciate any insight and suggestions!