My Favorite Organic Soap

Love Chagrin Valley Soaps, How May I Count The Ways

If you’re like me, your days can be so busy that you neglect yourself or can’t find the time to seek out a new favorite cosmetic after your old one may have gone bye bye. Yep the search begins again!

In my busy day to day life, I, like you, search out the best product that is best for my body care and when I find it, it’s time to share my discovery. Even though there is my ONATI skin care brand, I don’t offer a soap bar or cleanser for the body. For me personally, my preference is a great bar of soap and believe me when I tell you, I have tried my share of exceptional soaps, yet sadly some marginal brands also that didn’t do my skin any favors.

Natural and organic are always my preference along with finding a soap bar that lasts a decent amount of time with every day use. This soap I found and have used over the past several years, took me awhile to determine if this was going to be my new love for this particular bar soap brand.

Yep… they are the real deal! They are not glycerin bars or melt and pours, or heavily perfumed body bars, which are not actually real soap because they are filled with all sorts of synthetic ingredients, while Chagrin soaps are the best in saponified ingredients creating a nice hard, glycerin rich, long lasting bar of skin loving soap.

Chagrin Valley Soaps is the brand I love and is still my favorite to this day!

What makes Chagrin Valley Soaps my ideal soap bar

My Sweet Favorite Is Chocolate and Honey

This is by far the one I love most and is my ‘go to’ organic body soap out of at least a dozen soaps I have tried. The chocolate smells positively delicious and its lather is so rich and creamy that I always make sure I stock up on this soap bar whenever I reorder. I can see why this is one of their best sellers.

From the Chagrin Valley Website:

Organic coconut milk creates a silky, rich, and creamy conditioning lather. If you love chocolate, you will love this ultimate moisturizing soap enriched with natural skin conditioning unrefined cocoa butter and swirled with raw cocao powder and real dark chocolate.

We use only real organic fair-trade chocolate, cocao powder and cocoa butter from the Theobroma cacao tree. The word Theobroma means “food of the gods.”

Organic coconut milk creates a silky, rich, and creamy conditioning lather taken from their website:

My Second Favorite Is Chamomile and Calendula

The subtle scent of this herbal blend is only a small part of why I love it. It is a very hard bar of soap and outlasts many of the other ones I have used. You know the ones; they melt away rapidly with each use and the soap surface is really soft. Not only are you getting the smaller size in other organic brands, you pay similar prices for receiving an inferior product. Not with Chagrin soaps! The lather is rich and creamy and non-drying in this bar of soap. I’m never disappointed by how skin soothing it is with the ingredients they add to fight many skin issues some of us have. Dryness or irritation is never an issue.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE …

From Chagrin Valley Soaps Website:

A rich, moisturizing soap made with skin soothing and healing organic herbs that may help bring relief from skin irritation and itching caused by eczema, psoriasis.

Herbalists consider Calendula one of the most effective herbal remedies for irritated skin conditions.

Chamomile can ease the itching of eczema and other rashes and helps reduce skin inflammation.

Chickweed helps soothe the itch of healing skin, stings, and bites.

Turmeric has anti-inflammatory and healing properties that may help ease the symptoms of rosacea. Rich in antioxidants, turmeric is a common ingredient in Ayurvedic skin care products to naturally promote glowing, smooth skin.

Feel Good Ingredients and Safe For Most Skin Types

Now that my search is over since I had to look elsewhere after a company I truly loved, closed their doors a few years back. You know what that is like when you find something that truly works so well, only to have them discontinue your favorite or they closeup shop all together.  It’s a bummer!

Fortunately, Chagrin Valley Soaps is committed and dedicated to carrying on their tradition of being a family owned and operated soap making business. Keeping their focus on sourcing the best ingredients for bringing the ultimate in natural, organic body care. Check them out for yourself, and to make sure your skin will love them without any problems and to do that, they offer sample size to determine what works best for you.

I am a customer for life… You can be too!

Have a great day and catch you later!

Confusing Makeup Trends For 2019

Following Makeup Trends

I obviously keep a watch on makeup trends to make sure I offer nice colors for shading your mineral makeup over and above your foundation. But when observing what others are doing, I also am careful to not take the suggestions literally.

Does a makeup trend mean you should follow it? Let’s see!

Just because something is trendy in the new year doesn’t mean it will work for you so it is just as important to be aware this is not a one size fits all. Unfortunately, it is portrayed that this new fashion or makeup trend is the “bees knees” or “cat’s meow” and you should follow it if you want to look your best.

Matte or Dewy Glow Makeup Finish

If you can believe it, I have found conflicting opinions from designers and makeup artists suggesting both finishes for this year in 2019. They present one or the other as the “comeback” of a particular makeup finish.

Which one is correct? Does it get you confused?

They stand in stark contrast to one another and doesn’t consider the age of the consumer, since a matte foundation shade is a classic and easily worn by a young woman or teen. This works when skin is plump and full of collagen and will look beautiful and could still work well on mature skin that is extremely oily.

As a woman matures then the dewy or polished look is a much better choice helping with light refraction since this assists with bouncing light away from the fine lines. A matte finish will lend itself to a chalky look and will definitely age the complexion that has less collagen or fullness to the face while causing excessive dryness.

So, this makeup trend is completely subjective to the consumers age and skin type which is not addressed in the new popular looks. Sometimes things identified as a makeup trend is not practical in real world demographics and should be taken with a grain of salt. But with that being said, great ideas come from these makeup trends.

Eye Shadow and Eyeliner

Here again I see ideas and makeup trends that are based on opinion or an ideal that is favored over another.

Some trends for this year announce going softer with eye shadow shades, preferably leaning toward muted pastels including coral pinks and purples. I agree these are beautiful, especially when dealing with a mature face. This type of shading is awesome for taking years off of your complexion and should also include similar shading in blush.

Then in another opinion on eye shaping trends, they try and convince you going with a stronger eye lining method to define your eyes.

Of course, I recognize once more there is no reference to the age or shape of the eyes. Do you have small eyes, large eyes, droopy eyes or narrow eyes? The one exception to age would be matte or shades with some shimmer or polished sheen. Since matte shades also age the eye area, I recommend a touch of pearl sheen or shimmer, not to be confused with glitter or sparkle.

How You Would Decide

So based on the question of eye shape and not age, this trend is moot and should be more about how your eyes are shaped and how they are set on your face. Eye shadow used with proper technique can beautify the eye and reshape it to what you want.

Example; a woman with small eyes will make them look smaller using dark shading and / or eye lining the entire shape of the eye. So much for this trend!

Lighter shades and using a softer eyeliner on the upper lid only while highlighting the brow and inner corner of the eye will actually open the eye, making them appear larger and give a wide-awake appearance.

Now take a woman with large eyes or high browbone, she may want to make her eyes more defined or make her brow not look so high. In either case she would go with deeper shades and stay away from highlighting shades to reduce the height of her browbone while enhancing her beautiful large eyes.

I certainly would love some of that magic that gives me the larger doe eyed look with high browbone, but alas I am the way I am, so with a bit of effort in color design, this works to shape my look.

Lip Style in Color and Finish

I’ve already touched on the Matte finish vs Gloss finish depending on your age in my article “Create the Perfect Youthful Pout“, but regardless of how I explained it, there is yet again two camps on the subject.

If you missed it and rather than recap, you can read and see how certain finishes will either age the lips or make them look quite youthful. Finish and certain colors will also either shrink your lip size or make them appear fuller, and depending on what you choose in finishes, they can either add to or takeaway years off your complexion.

When it comes to lip color however, this is a trend I enjoy following. In keeping with the recommendations on shading with eye shadows, especially for spring and summer, a certain lip color palette is what I created for the new launch of shades coming out next month. I am still offering traditional and soft tones for youth and vitality, while adding some fun and flair to the new lip colors. I never get bored with creative color!

You’ll be able to enjoy a color range in a variety of natural-looking blush nudes to deeper jewel tones. But I didn’t stop there since I also included a bright coral pink and subtle beachy tannish peach shade as well. This should offer plenty to pick from for your new beautiful makeup trend for 2019.

Reality of Makeup Trends

Makeup trends are great as suggestions and go a long way to create your new look, but don’t hold them as truth or something you necessarily need to follow to look your best. Go with what continues to work for your type of fashion and love of color yet assess your colors during seasonal changes or as you age. Once in a while you might want to reevaluate and change things up to get the best possible ageless look you can achieve.

Happy Spring and we’ll visit again next week.

Makeup To Fit Your Age

Should Your Makeup Change As You Age?

I deal with this question on a regular basis as some of you begin to notice the mineral makeup shades you currently wear are looking odd. If not odd, the mineral shades simply are not as attractive as they once were. Since starting up Sterling Minerals, I too am aging, and now instead of coloring my hair, I have allowed all the natural gray to grow out. This of course completely changed the way my complexion looked.

I fought long and hard to keep my blonde shade for more than a decade. Loved my blonde hair when I was younger until it went mousy brownish blonde after I had my kids. Allowing my natural hair color to grow out was because I was tired of the maintenance it took. Plus I wanted to stop putting harsh and dubious chemicals on my scalp. 

I did seek help from my stylist to transition to gray by getting a whole new final color. This took away the demarcation of the grow out and replaced it with purple tones feathered into my hair. It did take me over a year with many haircuts to get rid of my old color.

Hair Color Dictates Mineral Makeup Shades

When I was younger, my mineral makeup shade had a yellow undertone, such as with Jennifer and Amara foundation. Then as I continued to age, I began using a mix of shades in Fiorella and Adonia which improved my complexion since these lean cool. 

Dealing with skin pigment and other changes to your skin begins the sometimes challenging hunt for new makeup choices. These changes can occur as early as age 40 as you tend to lose pigment in your face and lips. Your skin loses collagen, it thins, making your skin appear more translucent with your tone looking quite neutral. Your natural hair color plays a role also. Growing it out from platinum to darker or colored to gray, will contribute to needing a makeup shade change.

Shade Changes May Be Necessary To Your Makeup

I used to wear blush in pinkish peach, warm pink or apricot. My eye color shades leaned warm in tone such as gold, brown, and beige that were perfect for my complexion. I could sport lip colors that were peach, brick and some reds.  Even my wardrobe was in the same tones with little to no pastels unless it was warm green, red or yellow shades.

A whole new color palette intrigued me after I walked into my salon for a haircut. My stylist introduced me to some amazing new ideas. She quite bluntly told me my shades weren’t working for me now that I have a strong shade of bluish gray mixed in with my blonde hair. “Go all cool makeup shades girlfriend!”

I sort of sensed it before she said anything. Her critique of my coloring only confirmed what I suspected when looking in the mirror. My foundation blend was good because I had already adjusted my makeup to how my pigment changed in my complexion.

You may also need to assess how your skin is changing and if you need some tweaks to your color choices. When it comes to your foundation, less is more. Using a lighter touch when applying your minerals won’t emphasize your fine lines. By all means, moisturize and moisturize some more!

If you have olive skin tone then this change to makeup will be minimal in your foundation. But your lip, blush and eye color will probably need a checkup.

Examples Of Choosing Your Best Shade As You Age

Now that I have embraced my gray hair and I absolutely love it, I am able to go to cooler shades that look much better on me today. In clothing, I have eggplant, teal, burgundy, pink, rose and gray shades. Now if I try to wear my old “go to” warm shades, they age me and wash me out. Funny how that works!

My lip, blush and eye colors are now in rose and mauve tones with some soft pink blends. What has stunned and amazed me the most is how I am able to wear silvers, because I never could or would even think of it. Loving the new look though!

You may experience the same thing after checking how your complexion is changing as you mature. Cooler shades will become more attractive unless you continue to color your hair with warm tones or you are a redhead.

If you are like me and love your gray hair, picking shades that lean cool will create youth and beauty reflecting your new complexion and hair.

My Best Advice As You Get Started

One small tidbit for wearing eye makeup, you’ll want to avoid harsh lines and dark shades. After all you don’t want to deliberately enhance your age.

Now, I make sure to go more natural and well blended in my eye makeup and blush, keeping it very muted. Since lip pigment fades as you and I age, this is where I recommend placing the most pop of color. Still soft for the most part, but if I want more, I go for it with a stronger cool color for intensity.

Experiment with your old colors and try out some new ones in the opposite color tones and see if you don’t love the new look. It may very well remove the same question I had, “why is my makeup not looking it’s best anymore?”

Until next week. Have a lovely day!

Create Perfect Youthful Lips

What Type Of Lips Do You Have?

Women come with a variety of lip shapes and I’m going to show you what can and will look best for any lip type, no matter the age or shape.

I’m dealing with my own lips showing their age and they continue to get thinner year after year. *sad face* It wasn’t as though I had these voluptuous lips when I was a young gal, but I was hoping I would hold onto what I did have. Because of what happens to the collagen in our lips as we age, I had to get tricky with how I used lip colors.

Depending on what type of lips you have, and your age, you may want to readjust what colors you use. Lip color formulas also can play a roll in creating the best look based on your specific lip shape.

By example, the lipstick used on the woman above is a dark shade that is matte. Some women use darker shades to make a very full lip appear smaller. A very youthful lip can carry this off without a problem. But if you have chapped lips, or your lips are beginning to show signs of aging or are thin, this is not a good choice. Steer clear of matte formulas!

As you can see, every line and crack on her lip is highly visible and will age her appearance. Imagine if you also had any type of chapping to your lips, this would be further emphasized. It can also be a fight to put this type of lip color on without having it smudge, fleck or go crooked. After all, you don’t want to have color that goes outside your natural lip line.

Matte Shades Are Not Timeless

You may think matte shades are en vogue or they won’t feather on aging lips, but ahhh, they will indeed without a lip pencil. A lip liner can aid with accuracy.

You may also think using a lighter matte shade will work better for hiding lines or giving a more youthful look. Not really, since your lips will still possess that chalky look, showing every single line. As a rule, the lighter the shade in matte, the chalkier the finish. It sort of made me look like death warmed over when I tried it.

Another problem with matte lip shades, is the drying effect. The color may stay on well, but you won’t get the moisture your lips so desperately need.

After trying matte lip color, I determined it was not a good look for me and left me looking very weird. I looked in the mirror and saw my own version of Bette Davis from the movie “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”

Get A Beautiful Lip Look No Matter Your Age

You can see in this image the lines in this woman’s lip. Observe how the lines disappear when the color has a nice polished sheen to it with some mica. Don’t care for mica in your lip color? Good news… you don’t have to have a lip gloss with mica. My new lip color line has shades without mica… Ta Da.

Lip glosses can have amazing shine through the use of certain oils, such as castor. This will offer you a nice polished lip while masking chapped areas or lip lines. The light refracts beautifully, giving lips a more youthful appearance.

Depending again on your type of lip or the formula of the lip gloss, you may or may not require a lip pencil. Using a lip gloss doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have gloss feathering all over your lips. Some are thin and runnier than others or even goopy.

I have made sure my new lip glosses are thick with creamy moisture, nice adherence and color saturation, and with improved staying power.

Tips For Creating Beautiful Lips

Full Lips or Plump Lips: Dark shades with shine are still the formula and color of choice if you are wanting to shrink them a bit visually. If you love the fullness of your mouth, then celebrate a look with any color you enjoy. The shine whether with oils or mica will give a fantastic luscious lip.

Thin Lips or Thin Upper Lip: Lighter shades with lots of shine work best for creating a fuller lip… with or without mica. Always lip line, taking it right to the top of your lip edge without overdrawing past your outer lip line. Otherwise, this just looks odd! But hey, if you absolutely love darker shades, then go for it, but I still recommend steering clear of anything matte.

Aging Lips or Chapped Lips: Lovely shiny lips with a soft muted shade or a nude lip are perfect for making any aged lip appear younger and masks chapping really well. The benefit of a well formulated lip gloss is the added moisture and slip it provides. Plus, shine imbues youth and elegance to finish off your makeup.

What I Choose For My Go To Lip Color

My preference is to use shine on my aging thin lips. It helps keep them moisturized, hides dryness, especially in winter time while appearing fuller. I also prefer a softer pigment or nude lip with pencil line to keep things neat and tidy and prevent feathering into my upper lip line. However, I haven’t gone completely nude. If I want fun and festive, I go with a deep red wine or berry tone when wanting that dramatic effect. Never mind my thin lips anyway.

Using a shade with or without mica is dependent on how natural I want to look. Sometimes I skip makeup altogether and just do a dab of lip gloss and a bit of mascara. Hey, it works and I’m lazy!

I am loving the new lip color palette I will have and I can’t wait to show them to you. Almost there, and I’ll keep you posted. Have a great hair and makeup day!

Mineral Eyeshadow For That Perfect Nail Polish. Say What!

Nail Polish Dazzles The Eye Using Your Favorite Mineral Eyeshadow

Did you know that you could use your mineral eye shadow to create your own uniquely beautiful new nail polish color?
That’s right, you can enjoy a new nail polish shade every time you take one off to put on another without having an endless supply of nail polish bottles strewn all over your bathroom.

How you might ask?

LEARN MORE….