Insecurities really aren't that farfetched as we all have them, the things we sometimes wish we could change in the safety of our closets that make us uncomfortable and threaten our self confidence and self esteem. Yes honey, me too, I see you, I feel you and I hear you. And many times we realize that this insecurities stem from our beliefs of being unable to attain society's idealized view of beauty and everything it entails in terms of body shape, body size, skin color, trends, fashion, style, hair, makeup and the list goes on and on. Until realization is staring at us right in the face, we don't realize how much of what we are ingesting is affecting how see ourselves.
Based on these, one of the greatest things I discovered this year is that 'Beauty is what YOU make of it and in the end is subjective to each of us'. That has been freeing as the weighted expectations of how we should be, look or act is suddenly lifted from heavy shoulders. Really, I feel there is so much buried beneath this and even ten blogposts might not be enough to unearth everything but one thing is certain, YOU are beauty itself and determine what is beautiful and pleasant to you. That should always be the motivating factor in what YOU decide to do, put on and the improvements you decide to make to yourself inwardly and outwardly that will be beneficial to you in every way possible.
These ideas and these beliefs are what birthed 'beauty revamped' which is what you think it to be, be it a mindset, a belief or a movement that changes and gives new meaning to what beauty is. To me, it is knowing beauty as acceptance of one's self true and true from the days when one doesn't feel the best in sweatpants and bonnets to the extra glam days, full faced, slayed edges and stunning outfits. In all, its YOU and loving every inch of you is the most beautiful thing ever and that is what 'beauty revamped' stands for. And definitely, we can't talk acceptance without talking about first being comfortable in the amazing skins that we were birthed with as believe it or not, a healthy and vibrant skin does a lot for one and one's confidence and this is tried, tested and believed over and over again.
This girl's definitely not going to leave you hanging and got you especially to the lovelies with sensitive and problem prone skin in wintery regions. That could be a death sentence which is exactly how I felt my first year and some months away from home experiencing my first winter. My skin was a mess as the Nigerian in it was having a hard time adapting. I had dry patches, spots, irritations, acne you name it till my friend introduced me to body shop a plug I am about to put you on accompanied with the ever faithful African shea butter. And to be clear, this is neither an ad nor a sponsored post and all these are based on my experience and the testimony of my skin.
So, here's my skin favorites from 'The body Shop' discussed under two headings; the 'vitamin E line' and the 'tea tree oil line' :
VITAMIN E LINE
The importance of vitamin E is one that is rarely mentioned when talking about the skin and its what I refer to as the glow facilitator. From this line, my two staple favorites have been the 'intense moisturizer' , 'hydrating face mist' and the 'hydrating toner'. For someone who has really dry skin and even had dryer patches, a pea sized amount of the moisturizer keeps my face moisturized all day and with time I stopped having the dry patches and realized that no matter how harsh the weather was, my skin never got too dry for comfort. The face mist is what I consider multipurpose, from makeup finishing spray to hydrating spray to quick moisturizer. Lets just say that it does all and does give your makeup the dewy natural shine dare I say. The toner on the other hand is like the holy grail because we underestimate the importance of the toner. The hydrating toner apart from obviously hydrating the skin and removing residue that facial wash might not have removed, also helped with my hyperpigmentation and evened out my skin tone. This line in general gives my skin the healthy glow even when I am tired, as it energizes the skin so what‘s there not to love honey, nothing!
TEA TREE OIL LINE
Tea tree oil even without saying much is one ingredient that is considered medicinal be it for the hair or the skin. And the body shop line with this ingredient is definitely not left wanting as I believe the products heal the skin be it acne, rashes, spots or redness. It helps with blemishes and the products I frequent from this line are the ' squeaky clean facial scrub', 'facial cleanser' and the very small container of 'tea tree oil'. I have always believed that if a product has a stinging effect when applied that it is working and that is what the facial scrub does, it literally goes into your pores and cleanses your skin. I use this occasionally sometimes once a week when I feel my skin needs a little extra something or when i feel its acting up and needs to be awakened. The facial cleanser on the other hand is my everyday companion as it just cleans the face and protects it throughout the day and helps to keep the skin smooth. Due to its small size for its given price, I rarely use my actual tea tree oil as I only pour drops in my moisturizer and body cream to give it a little extra something and use it on my face or certain spots on my skin if there are blemishes or areas that are being especially problematic.
AFRICAN SHEA BUTTER
Every time I can get back to Nigeria or have someone coming from home, shea butter is number one on my list of needs. From body to lips to hair, it does all. Personally, I have stopped buying body cream and use shea butter all over my body. In months I could see and feel the difference from softer skin to less appearance of spots and stretch marks especially because my body is changing a lot these days due to weight floctuation. Shea butter has to be the best thing ever and I get mine from the women at Lagos market in Nigeria that sell the raw ones that once you put it like this, you can say bye to ashiness and hello to lush skin. If you know you know 😏, and if you cant have access to the Nigerian ones, I have known people who buy variations off amazon although I cannot vouch for this but do know that you could search and choose ones based on the reviews of those that have actually used the products. Despite all these, there are still days my skin just doesn't cooperate maybe because of stress or hormones but I will say that to a huge extent using this products has changed the game plan for my skin. Also, I have realized when it comes to the skin that less is more and finding a routine and products that work for you and sticking with that is really helpful.
WONDERING ABOUT PRICE? I GOT YOU!
Most of the times, when I buy these products, I get them all at the same time and try to let them last equal time spans as I have discovered with the deals, sometimes buying all of them at once is cheaper. Using them, a small amount of each goes a long way. They could last almost two months or more if frugal with them and why not especially because your girl's got limited coins to spend. But I do believe they are affordable especially with the sales and deals and you could also get their rewards card and get coins off. Let me know if you ever try or have tried any of these and what your experience with any of them are. Also what other products are really effective especially in harsh weather conditions? Thank you so much if you have read to this point, join the family if you love this enough to stay, subscribe, share and make someone a whole lot more confident in their healthy skin by sharing this. Have a wonderful week ahead!
Much love always,
Mirabel ^.^
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