Beauty Tricks (and Treats!) Quick Tip

Spoooooookkyyy Hallllllooooooo (ween) Shine and Sparkles Readers!!!!!

Today I decided to post a special Halloween inspired quick tips!  These Tricks and Treats are especially great for getting you in the fall mood, amping up your Halloween costume (and every day) looks.

Squiggles wanted to be the giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk" for Halloween.  Sure, why not? Little piggies can have big dreams too! !

Tricks:

1) Hair Dryer Lashes:  If you hate wearing fake lashes (I admit they are not the most comfortable) Use your hair dryer to blast your eyelash curler for around 7-10 seconds (make sure its not too hot to burn your eyes!) and then use it to get the most dramatic curled lashes you have ever had!  Maybe you wont even need those fake Halloween lashes!  Use colored mascara if you want to make your lashes really crazy colored! 

2) Eyeliner + Eye Shadow As Face Paint: This is also a great trick to use if you need to do an elaborate design on your face for Halloween!  Cheap water proof eyeliner is much nicer for drawing on designs, stitches, and scars than those cheap face paints from the Halloween store!  You can get all sorts of colors for just a dollar each at the drug store.  Fill in your designs with eye shadows,  If you use a good eye shadow base, they shouldn't go anywhere either. The colors will show up brighter if your base is white (white cream eye shadows works amazing too!)

3) Set Make Up With Hair Spray:  While a setting spray if you have it is best, hair spray will do in a pinch!  Mist your face from far away and that make-up will stay all night!

Treats:

1) Pumpkin Face Mask:  Pumpkin is EVERYWHERE right now.  Pumpkin things are definitely one of my favorite things for fall.  You can make a quick DIY pumpkin face mask by combining 1/2 tbs organic pumpkin (canned is fine), 1 tbs honey, and a drizzle of your favorite oil (olive, coconut, jojoba, argan, take your pick!).

2) Mocha Body Scrub:  Make a sweet inspired body scrub by combining around 1/2 cup coffee grounds (left over from your morning cuppa-joe is fine!), 2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 cup of honey, and about 1/4 cup of your favorite oil.  This smells amazing and is great to exfoliate your body with in the shower.  Note: Be careful if your coffee is not ground finely as to not clog your bath drain!  Use a hair catcher in the drain just in case! 

3) Sugar Lip Scrub: Yummy Yummy Yummy!  Mix raw sugar (the crystals are larger) with honey and a dash of lemon to make a paste.  Use this to exfoliate your lips!  It also tastes great!  Halloween is about copious amounts of sugar anyway right?

I hope you liked my Halloween Tricks and Treats.  Let me know if there is anything special you would like to know about for November Blog Posts!

Shine & Sparkle!

The Body Shop Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask Review

Hi Shine and Sparkle Report Readers!

Here is a review of The Body Shop's "Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask"*.  As a federal worker in the USA, I have been "taking a break from America" for the last week and 2 days due to government shut down.  As a result, I felt I needed to pick up something to pamper myself with all this free time.  So I spent 30 minutes milling around The Body Shop and decided to try this!  5 Stars, 10 of 10!  This is my favorite face mask to date. 

Sorry about the boring image, my image editing software is unavailable right now.  BUT this is the stuff! Like all my images, I'll gladly give someone credit for their image or take it down if whoever owns it throws a hissy fit.

The Body Shop Claims: 

Best if you want to: Detoxify and deep cleanse your skin with a weekly mask that uses natural ionic clay action to draw out impurities and control excess oil.
Best for: oily/combination skin
How it works:

• Community Trade bladderwack seaweed and seaweed harvested from the French coast balance skin tone and purify and clarify the complexion.
• 100% natural clay complex cleanses and revitalizes skin; negatively charged ions act like magnets to draw out dirt and impurities from the pores.

I agree with the claims by The Body Shop!

Application:
I have been using it twice a week (Tues and Thurs nights) for 2 weeks now. I wash my face with my most gentle cleaner.  I put about a teaspoon on my damp skin with clean hands.  Then I let it sit for 10 minutes (or more).  It seems to not make a difference after 10 minutes, but sometimes you have to finish writing a blog post before showering/rinsing your face to get it off.  No need to use cleanser afterward.

This mask has a non-drippy very clean application.  It gets harder and dries out as you wear it (I have it on right now!) I like that I can feel it working as it tightens on my face. I also love that the smell is clean and soothing.  It smells like a spa to me.

Effects: The mask is gentle enough for combination/oily skin.  My skin is a bit sensitive as well and I have not had any problems.  And don't worry about it drying out your skin.  You will be fine with your normal moisturizer afterwards.

I have noticed that my pores are MUCH smaller and stay that way until my next application of the mask.

Value: It retails for $20-22, however, online right now it is on sale for $16!  I have also noted that at a good thin (but not too thin) layer of the mask has barely made a dent in the amount of product.  I'd say it's a pretty good value for a middle price range.  It's not as cheap as drug store, but not crazy expensive.

Some Tips:

1) You might notice a few extra break outs 2-3 days after using the mask.  This is a result of the clay pulling the impurities out of your skin.  If you are maintaining a good skin care routine, in about 2-3 applications you will notice that your skin is over all MUCH better than it was before.

2) If your pot of mask is starting to dry out, put a few drops of filtered water into it and it will be good as new!  (This has not happened to me yet, but another reviewed noticed this after about 1/2 of the container was used.)


Shine & Sparkle!

*I am not paid or contacted by any of the companies mentioned in this post.  These are my honest feelings and opinions.