Tea Tree Toner Review

Hey girls! I'm so sorry it took me so long to post a review on the toner; but i really wanted to try this out for more than just a week so i can get down to all the pros and cons of it. let me start off by saying that MY SKIN HAS IMPROVED SO DAMN MUCH!!! but there are some warnings. let me start by telling you guys what the products used were.

I first started out with the witch hazel astringent. honestly, i didn't like the smell of this; so i used it for like a day and then decided it wasn't for me. it didn't smell; it just....its more of a preference thing. i heard it works very well; but i preferred the astringent that i was using before; regardless all astringents work the same; they just smell different and have different brands.

i decided to go with the sea breeze "sensitive skin" astringent because i have been using this one for over a couple of months and its pretty good. i have super sensitive skin; and it irritates over anything, so i rather stick with this if its working.

so my next step was the tea tree oil; if you wanna know more about this read the previous post where i get more into the benefits of tea tree oil. the trick to this is getting the RIGHT ratio of tea tree oil and toner. if your more than half way done with the bottle, you don't want to add too much. and if the toner is new; you don't want to add too little. tea tree oil is VERY STRONG!!! so be careful how much you add!! it took me 3 attempts to get the right amount! so i basically had to mix 3 different toners. the first one with the witch hazel was too strong. the second one with the sea breeze was a little too strong as well. the last attempt was the best. here's the deal; if you use too much tea tree it can give you a chemical burn!! SO BE REALLY CAREFUL! if it is a full; new bottle of toner; DO NOT ADD MORE THAN 8 DROPS!!! i know its very tempting to want to add more BUT trust me tea tree is so strong that just 8 drops will do the job!! so once again, DONT SURPASS 8 DROPS!! the next warning: DO NOT APPLY MORE THAN ONCE AT A TIME!! this was my mistake! i would take one cotton ball and clean my face with it; and then i would do it a second time to "make sure it was clean". DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOTTTTT DO THIS!! your skin cant handle two swipes of this stuff. i got a chemical burn from it and my face turned ALL RED!! it was the worst; so let me chemical burn be a lesson to you guys!! other than that lets move on to the actual review!!

after my chemical burn i stopped using the tea tree toner for a couple of days until my skin came back to normal. the chemical burn suckeddddd lol; so let that be a lesson to you guys. after it was back to normal i took my artistry toner; and put 8 drops of tea tree oil. trust me 8 drops does the trick. ALWAYS make sure you shake well before using so that the oil can mix with the toner. I SAW A DIFFERENCE IN JUST TWO DAYS!!! tea tree is AMAZING FOR SKIN IF YOU USE TO WISELY!! i highly recommend this stuff!! as long as you use it in moderation i guarantee you will see a change in your skin!!


along with using this toner, and putting vitamin E oil in my moisturizer; i recommend buying an aloe Vera plant! i cut off a piece and put it on either once or twice a day. not only did it help with my chemical burn(if you do get a chemical burn from over use of tea tree i HIGHLY RECOMMEND A ALOE VERA PLANT); but it also helps with the actual appearance of your skin!!

so the trick to better skin? 1. find a good cleanser 2. add 8 drops of tea tree to your toner 3. dont abuse the tea tree oil 4. add vitamin E to your face lotion 5. aloe Vera plant !!! this has SAVED my life guys! i cant explain how bad it sucks to have bad skin out of no where. my esteem was floor level high; i barely wanted to go out. it was horrible!! im going to stick with this regime because its truly working; and everyone has noticed and has been asking me what im using!!

The body shop seaweed ionic clay mask review

Product: Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask

Brand: The Body Shop


Price: 22.00

What does this do?: "A deep-cleansing mask treatment with algae extracts and combined natural ionic clay action to draw impurities from the pores and absorb excess oil. Enriched with minerals to condition and revitalise the skin." - The Body Shop

Rating: 2/5

My review: im not gonna lie i was soooo excited to use this because i have heard that sea weed is good for your skin; and combined in a clay mask i figured it would do wonders. one thing that's annoying about this is that the instructions don't tell you how long to leave it on for so i guess you just have to...guess. right when i put it on it started to tingle which i figured to be a good thing. i could literally feel it working in my pore. after like 5 minutes with it on; my face started BURNING! it was no longer a tingle lol. it was so bad that i had to get something to blow my face with air. i soldiered it and kept it on for about 10 minutes and ran to get it off. it felt fine after i took it off; but after i let my skin air out for a while before i put my lotion on; i noticed that my skin felt really irritated! i know your thinking maybe that's part of the clearing your face part; BUT your skin shouldn't feel irritated! i gave this product such a low rating because i honestly feel its not worth the 22 dollars! there are way cheaper masks that work way better and don't leave your skin feeling the way this did. its different for everyone; but ask for me; i will not be using this product again. not worth my money; or ruining my skin over. and to top it off this morning i woke up and my skin was still irritated! me giving it two stars was nice of me lol. i suggest before you spend 22$ on it; ask them for a sample and try it on your face first!

Aside from getting the vitamin E for my skin; i also got the capsules because theres never TOO much vitamins. i mean im sure you dont want to over due it lol; but one capsule a day is great because the vitamin E skin oil from the last post is NOT edible!! so i got these so that the E can also work inside my body; thats never a bad thing!
and i also got some good old fish oil! my mom use to force me to wolf these things down when i was younger; who would of thought id be forcing myself now lol. these are both HUGE pills lol; but they are soft capsules so they look scarier than they actually are. both of these are great at promoting healthy skin and renewing skin cells. also they are great for your hair!!

Make your own natural toner/lotion

If your anything like me; you have oily skin, and oily skin makes it VERY hard to keep breakouts away. i have to be very careful with what products i use because alot of them will over dry my face; in the end making my skin even more oily because the skin try's to hydrate itself by over producing more oil. aveno works great but its a little too gentle for me; so im sort of stuck in between. there really arent that many face products out there that are gentle yet effective; so i took matters into my own hands. i've heard alot of good things about tea tree oil being good for break outs and clearing your skin; but its a little harsh to use on its own. if used alone tea tree can burn your skin; giving you dark spots; and severely dry your skin out.

i picked some up; it comes in a little bottle that looks just like this (pictured above).

i also know that witch hazel makes for a great toner; so i picked some of this up as well. i have been using another brand astringent for my face(which pretty much works just as good) but this bottle was bigger; so i went with this one. the one from the other brand smelled WAYYYY better; no next time i might stick with the other brand. Dickinson's witch hazel smells......really bad lol. not to the point where your gonna throw up; but egh its not the nicest smelling thing in the world. which leads me to my next point; tea tree oil IS SOME REALLY STRONG SMELLING STUFF PEOPLE!! i suggest you take a whiff of it before you buy it because not every one can stomach these two, let alone together. So, the trick to making the toner is to combine these two together. since i cant use the tea tree oil on its own, and i didnt want to buy products with tea tree oil in it(because they always add extra stuff and i dont want to risk breaking out worst) i decided to dilute the oil using the witch hazel. witch hazel can be used for pretty much anything from cuts; to bug bites; to treating minor burns. in other words its really good for disinfecting; which you need to get rid of all the dirt and oil from your face. and in return the tea tree oil is also good for killing bacteria; which causes break outs. i dropped about 20 drops of tea tree oil into the bottle of witch hazel; you can change the amount you add in according to how much you think your skin can handle. After you wash your face, take a cotton ball and put some of it on there(shake it well first!!). it feels a little tingly; but this is great because you can really feel it in there working! the smell goes away after a little while; it can be over whelming at first; but im sure you get use to it. my skin feels great right now; not too greasy or dry. im gonna do an update on how this works for me in about a month; so i can give it time to work its magic. so far so good though.

i also decided to get some vitamin E oil to add to my face moisturizer. i bought some vitamin e capsules BUT i saw this also and decided to get it because it was thinner than the oil from the capsules; and since i have greasy skin, i didnt want to run the chances of this making me super oily.

i took this baby and poured some into my cetaphil lotion. i also poured some into my body lotion as well because you can never get enough vitamin E, specially now with getting so much sun and drying out your skin and what not. i've been drinking nothing but water and real fruit smoothies to try to get my body to rid of all the oils and toxins that it doesnt need. i never realized it but sometimes i would go days without drinking a drop of water; and thats just not acceptable. im hoping that these changes in my routine give me some results; and i will be back to update you guys on it!! also, if you cant find the skin oil; just go ahead and pinch open some vitamin E oil capsules and drop it into your face or body lotion! vitamin E works wonders as far as evening out your skin tone; and lightening up dark spots from acne!

the basics.

as promised =] girls, im doing some major blogging tonight! before we start talking makeup and all that good stuff; we gotta talk about the basics; skin care. i think makeup should enhance; not completely make you over. in order for your makeup to look and feel great; you have to start with great skin. having good skin makes your makeup look more natural and flow better. of course not every one has perfect skin, i sure don't, but taking good care of it goes a long way. also, makeup can do more damage than good if you have alot of breakouts and don't properly clean your skin. one thing you have to know is that; sometimes washing your face isn't enough; so always remove your makeup with a baby wipe; or a makeup remover. ALWAYS. every ones skin is different so what works for me might not work for you; but im going to tell you guys my routine. its very important to find a product that words well with your skin and caters to your specific needs. i personally tend to have oily skin. some products make the oil worst than others. i pretty much had GREAT skin up until a little over a year ago. my skin started breaking out, till this day i dont know why, and its still not perfect or back to how it use to be, but these products definitely helped alot.

the name of the line is artistry essentials; balancing. my moms friend recommended me these and im so glad. they really have helped so much. i was bouncing around from product to product like a mad woman! i had never had any skin problems so i was pretty much panicking. the thing is that you have to give products TIME to work. your skin has to adapt to them and then you start seeing results. at first i didnt notice any changes, but i stuck with artistry and im so glad i did! aveno is great, but i feel like it wasn't strong enough for my skin. this line is a 3 step process. the cleanser, the toner, and the lotion. whats great about it is that its for oily skin, so it hydrates without adding any extra oil to my skin. i've even noticed that over time my skin is no where near as oily as it use to be. i dont have to wear powder or anything, and its just fine. the lotion goes on great, it isnt greasy, and it has SPF15 which is great for the summer because the sun can do so much damage to your skin, and sometimes sun blocks are so greasy that you dont want to bother putting them on.

aside from the 3 steps; i also give myself a facial twice a week with these two products. one is a mask that helps out all the oil and junk from your pores; the other is a microdermabration scrub. both work wonders; specially the scrub. i gently scrub my face for about four minutes and it leaves my skin SO SMOOTH. it helps get rid of all dead skin that builds up around ur nose, and also works great with revealing new skin, specially if you have acne scars or dark spots. artistry tends to be on the pricier side; but trust me girls its so well worth it. the cleanser, toner, and lotion are between 14 - 20 dollars a piece. the scrub and mask are a little pricier, but these you dont use as much so you dont run out of them as often. if your having problems with your skin, or looking to try a new skin care line, i HIGHLY recommend artistry. balancing is the line for oily skin; but they also have artistry for reg and dry skin also. you can get artistry products from the Amway website, or find a representative around your way that sells them. if you guys have any questions; or need any info on these products let me know! also, my moms friend is a rep for Amway; so she sells the products so if you guys are interested in getting anything contact me.