product junkie

Wow, haven't posted since my birthday. Not surprising since that was also the first day of school for me. This semester has been a challenge. I only take two classes a semester, but one of those classes has proved to be a huge time-suck, including a shit-ton of reading that we have to discuss in class (so I can't get away with not reading it, although I still try), and an internship in which my teacher wants us to complete 60 hours in eight weeks. I have a paper to write today, but I figure that some blogging will get me in the right frame of mind. I do have lots of ideas for posts that I jot down sometimes, but trying to do anything creative during the school year is difficult.

So I'm going to turn my brain off and post about something fun that is the polar opposite of archiving and library management. Beauty products! In my day job as an esthetician, I get to play with products all the time. These days it's makeup, but I do miss working with skincare products, and have recently signed up for Birchbox so I can feed my inner product junkie without shelling out tons of money for the full sizes. Here is what I'm using these days.

Miss Jessie, where have you been all my life? After trying a generous-sized sample from Birchbox, I immediately bought the full size (which I swear I will only do if the product is REALLY REALLY AWESOME). To tame my curls I've always had to use a bunch of products...leave in conditioner, mousse, cream, gel. Not exaggerating at all. I've never been able to use just one product in my hair, and have that be it. Miss Jessie's Pillow Soft Curls is officially the Hair Product To Rule Them All. After a shower, I'll put a nickel-sized amount in my wet hair, and then plop it into a t-shirt. My curls have never looked better, and it never looks frizzy anymore. I just wish I had learned this trick back in July when it was over 100 degrees every day!

I also recently purchased a Clairsonic Mia 2, after years of wanting one and not being able to justify the money. Thank you birthday gift card!

Such a great buy! The brush head is soft enough for my sensitive skin (although I think I want to get the "delicate" one for the winter), it gets off makeup like nobody's business, my skin is soooo soft and smooth after using it, and my pores really do look smaller. And all these years I've been washing my face with my hands like a sucker!

In all my years of working with skincare, I have one cleanser that stands out as my absolute favorite. That would be the B. Kamins Vegetable Cleanser.

I used to use this for almost every facial. It incredibly gentle, takes off makeup easily, and makes the skin feel clean and soft. I'm out of this right now, and every other cleanser I use just isn't the same. Might need to make a trip to the spa I used to work at to replenish.

As for face cream and eye cream, I'm using some stuff, but I haven't found anything I'm crazy about in a long time. My skin is starting to change, so I'm on the look out for products with more heavy duty ingredients like retinol and peptides. I generally just use Cetaphil in the dead of winter because my environment-activated rosacea flares up, but I still want something I can use during the rest of the year. If anyone has suggestions, or if you just want to dish about your own favorite products, leave a comment!