Christina Alyce Beauty

I was lucky enough to win my very first Instagram giveaway a few months ago, and came away with a fantastic travel set from Florapothecarie. The Deluxe Travel Gift Set retails for $55, and contains 5 handmade, all natural, and vegan beauty products, as well as a beautiful handmade makeup bag. The packaging is beautiful- sleek labels, and clear glass jars which are my personal favorite. The set is semi-customizable, with your choice in scent of body scrub, type of mask, and a choice of either a facial toner or hair spray. The set always comes with Florapothecarie's best-selling deodorant cream and body butter, and you will not be disappointed with those two, trust me.


For my body scrub, I chose the Orange Sugar Scrub, and the sweet tropical orange aroma is absolutely mouthwatering, and the perfect pick-me-up this winter. The ingredients are simple- just cane sugar, jojoba oil, coconut oil, orange peel powder, vitamin , and orange essential oil - but it is so effective at sloughing off dry skin and leaving your body soft, smooth (it helps with cellulite!) and hydrated. I love sugar scrubs because they are just coarse enough to get the job done. I would definitely purchase a full size of this product in this scent, and I am curious to try out the Green Tea salt version as well.


The next product I chose was the Rose Clay mask. I had three masks to choose from, but I already have the Chocolate one which was featured in a Goddess Provisions box (and is totally dreamy), and I passed on the Charcoal option because I already own a handful of charcoal masks from other brands. So, I settled on the pretty pink-tinted Rose mask. The Rose Clay Mask is intended for all skin types, but is a particularly good choice for sensitive skin. It contains just three ingredients, rose kaolin clay, dehydrated coconut milk, and powdered rose hips. The ingredients gently exfoliate, cleanse, and mineralize the skin, leaving you with a radiant complexion. The mask is very simple to use, just scoop some out, mix with water until it forms a paste and apply. After 10-15 minutes, it's ready to rinse off. I did not have any irritation with this product like I do with other clay-based masks, nor did I have any breakouts. I do prefer the chocolate version though, because my skin did feel brighter and more hydrated after that one. The chocolate mask is a great option for those with mature skin.


The final of the 3 customizable options is the Rose + Tea Facial Toner, which I had to pick over the hair spray, only because I am a complete toner addict! I go through toner like water, so I will never pass one up when offered. Florapothecarie's toner is intended to balance and hydrate the skin with ingredients like rosewater, aloe, and witch hazel, while green tea gives the skin a boost of antioxidants. Toners are so important after cleansing to return the skin's pH to a healthy level, and before moisturizing to help products absorb more easily into the skin. I love that this formula uses classic and time-tested ingredients like witch hazel and rosewater to accomplish that. It leaves the skin feeling balanced and prepped for products to follow.



The fourth product in this set is the best-selling Deodorant-Cream, which shares it's gorgeous scent with the Orange body scrub. I am very hard to please when it comes to deodorant, because many just don't do the job. Luckily, this one preforms just as well as brands like Schmidts in regard to odor control, and I much prefer Florapothecarie's deodorant when it comes to the scent, and how it feels. My underarms can be sensitive to baking soda in deodorants, but I find that with Florapothecarie's product, I have no irritation whatsoever. I love that this product contains essential oils like tea tree combined with arrowroot powder to fight bacteria, and the coconut oil and shea butter base is incredibly moisturizing.


The fifth and final product of the bunch is the Whipped Body Butter, and this is by far the stand out product for me. I absolutely adore the natural cocoa butter scent, it is so simple and comforting. The combination of cocoa butter, shea butter, jojoba oil, and coconut oil is perfect. A small scoop of product instantly melts into a luxurious oil and spreads easily onto the skin. I reserve my little jar for the worst of my dry skin days, because it packs quite the punch, and dry patches are soothed and moisturized instantly. I always keep plenty of lotions and creams on hand, but this one out- preforms them all. I will absolutely be purchasing a big 8oz jar of this when I finish mine!
I am so thankful to have won such a fantastic variety of products (and adorable travel pouch!), and I am so excited that I have discovered some new all-time favorites. This set is such a treat, and I love that it can be customized to suit anybody. I think it makes a great introduction to not only Florapothecarie's brand, but to natural skin and bodycare as a whole because the ingredients are pure and the resulting products are truly top-notch.

Metallic and sparkly gold makeup, particularly for the lips, has definitely been trending lately-probably thanks to the elusive and totally swoon-worthy Pat McGrath kits. Of course, all of her products are perpetually sold out, and the ingredients are a bit of a mystery anyway, so they're pretty much out of the question for me. Luckily, clean brand Bite Beauty came out with some limited edition products this past holiday that evoke a similar feel. I originally set out to find the gold lip gloss and lipstick, but my local Sephora does not stock them, and once I saw the products in the Opal shade, I knew it was meant to be.

The Opal lipstick is their Creme lipstick formula, and is 97% natural. The texture is almost like a lip balm. It feels hydrating and creamy, but does not sit heavily on the lips. The ingredients include waxes such as calendelilla wax, beeswax, and jojoba wax, and oils ranging from argan, to safflower to sesame. It glides onto the lips smoothly and sits well- it does not slide around or get caught in any dry patches you may have. On the contrary, it leaves your lips feeling more conditioned than they were before application. My only gripe with this product is the wear time- when worn by itself it does not last very long on the lips, and I find myself reapplying every hour or so to bring back the shimmer. But a little extra upkeep is worth it with this, the opalescent sheen it gives the lips is subtle but beautiful. When layered over liner or another lipstick, it cools down the look, and gives whatever is underneath it a beautiful milkiness. I love layering this over my Rituel de Fille lipstick in the shade Datura, because it turns it into a creamy, blue toned pink.

The Opal lipgloss can also be layered over other shades, for a glossier look. It contains many of the same oils and butters as its lipstick counterpart, and is just as moisturizing. It works well over top the lipstick to intensify the opalescent effect, but is not as striking as the lipstick is on it's own. It's a lovely texture and does not feel overly sticky or goopy.
I really enjoy both of these products, and I think they are a beautiful, ethereal addition to any makeup look. If you only have room for one of the two products in your budget, I would recommend the lipstick over the gloss, only because it offers slightly more pigmentation. I am excited to try more products from Bite Beauty in the future!

I rarely make new year's resolutions, and this article sums up why pretty well. So instead of actual resolutions, I thought I would share some general beauty-related goals that I am working toward. I have been working on most of these for a month or longer already.

1.  Drink More Water and Less Soda I really struggle to drink enough water on a daily basis (many days I struggle to drink even half of what I should) and it leaves my skin and lips incredibly dry. I have also been reaching more for soda the past year than I ever have before, which is an incredibly unhealthy habit. Lack of hydration and increased sugar intake are a terrible combination for your skin! My office has an endless supply of water bottles so I have been trying to take advantage of this, and I have been doing okay. For my weight, I should be drinking roughly 77oz of water a day, so I split my day into segments and try to finish a water bottle within each allotted time period (for example, I try to drink one whole 17oz water in the morning, before lunchtime). I still have trouble meeting the goals every single day, but having more of a schedule does help overall. The weekends are much harder because I'm often out and about or drinking out of various sized glasses when I'm home. I would like to start using a reusable glass water bottle for more measured drinking on the weekends, and so I am producing less waste during the week.
2. Stick to a Consistent Skincare Routine 2016 was a roller coaster ride for my poor skin. I began the year as an avid Lush user, briefly switched to Korean skincare in the Spring, and then found a home in the world of natural and; nontoxic beauty for the second half of the year, all the while trying out 3 or 4 different forms of birth control in an attempt to get my hormonal acne under control. I rarely would use the same few products consistently, so of course with the hormonal side of things factored in, it's silly to expect that my skin would calm down and clear up. I have had a pretty set routine for a little over a month now, and I think I am beginning to notice some improvement in my breakouts, and I am determined to keep it up.
3. Stop Picking at my Skin This will undoubtedly be the most difficult goal for me. I have briefly mentioned before that I pick at my skin, and its more than just a bad habit. Dermatillomania is a compulsion defined as "the repetitive picking at one's own skin to the extent of causing damage." Acne and anxiety trigger my picking most, so I need to work on getting those two things under control, and to make a more conscious effort to not pick in the first place. Touching my skin certainly does not help my acne problem, so it's a bit of a vicious cycle- acne causes picking, which causes more acne in turn. I tend to mindlessly pick a lot in the car while I'm driving (not looking in the mirror, just running my fingers over my face, feeling for imperfections) and I have started to make an attempt to always keep both hands glued to the wheel so they can't wander. 
4. Use Up Products I Have....and stop buying products I don't need. To say I love skincare and makeup is an understatement. Trying out new products is one of my favorite things ever, but unfortunately that leaves my bank account less than happy. I have accumulated quite the stash over the past few months, and I need to work through what I have. Luckily this goes hand in hand with #2, because if I'm consistent in the products I use, I will be dedicated to using up one at a time instead of jumping around and never quite finishing anything. This also will help me to really get to know products before I review them, and I can start making "Product Empties" videos for my YouTube!
5. Put More Effort into my Blog, YouTube, and Related Social Media I seem to go through periods where I am very creative and want to engage with other users on Instagram, and other times I feel uninspired and unfriendly. I can't expect to run successful social media accounts if I am not posting content consistently or interacting with other people. I have been trying over the last couple of months to "like" more photos on Instagram instead of just scrolling through, and It has helped my content so much. I gain more followers, get more likes, and always seem to attract more offers from companies to review products when I'm more engaged. Posting and expecting likes to just flow in is selfish, you need to be willing to share the love too. I have also created a Twitter  account to hopefully interact with my readers more easily, and I want to revive my Tumblr and Facebook page so that I can connect with people over multiple platforms. And of course, a huge part of this is to create content I am proud of, and more of it. I want to become better at photography, and I want to take my YouTube beyond run-of-the-mill haul and unboxing videos. I want to post more consistently, with roughly one blog post per week, and 1-2 videos per month. I feel like I have started the year off on the right foot so far, with this being the 3rd post in two weeks, and I have just posted a new video to my YouTube. Of course, busy season at my job is just about to start, so I don't know how easily I will be able to keep up with posting for the rest of the winter, but I will try my hardest.

As a sufferer of adult acne, I am willing to try absolutely any (nontoxic) product that has the slightest chance of working. I naturally gravitate toward beta hydroxy acid (BHA), because it not only exfoliates the surface of the skin, but penetrates the pore as well to clear out whiteheads and blackheads. It is also relatively gentle and soothing, so it does not irritate sensitive skin, and it can even out skin tone. I wanted to give Herbivore Botanicals' AHA + BHA Blue Tansy mask a shot, because it contains willow bark and aloe vera, which are both natural sources of Salcylic Acid, a BHA.
The mask also contains AHAs, in the form of Fruit Enzymes from papaya and pineapple. AHAs exfoliate the surface of the skin to rid it of dullness, and to help other products penetrate more effectively. Blue tansy oil is included as an anti-inflammatory to soothe redness and calm irritation.
Herbivore recommends that when you first introduce the mask to your routine, you use it for 5 consecutive days, then about twice per week after that for upkeep. I have incredibly sensitive skin, so even with the gentle ingredients in this mask, the acids were a bit too much to use 5 days in a row. Instead, I applied it in the evening for the first two days, and again every other day for the remaining 3 applications. The application process of this product is very soothing and cooling, because the formulation is gel like. It is easy to apply in a thin layer, and a little product goes a long way. You can definitely smell the jasmine oil, but it is pleasant and almost grape-like, and not at all overpowering.
I generally leave the mask on for about 10 minutes- they recommend 5 minutes for sensitive skin and up to 20 for normal skin, but I find that 5 minutes does not do much for me. After 10 min I rinse off the mask, and need to use a konjac sponge to do so, because the gel texture isn't easily dissolved. If you have sensitive skin, I would advise against using anything abrasive like a wash cloth, because it is too irritating after a treatment with acids. I follow up with my Herbivore After Sun Soothing Aloe Mist as a toner, because the aloe, spearmint, and lavender are incredibly soothing, and my Oh Mega calming chia oil from One Love Organics.
After Using the Blue Tansy mask for the initial 5 applications and following two weeks, I have noticed my skin feels much smoother and has a healthier glow to it. Unfortunately, I still have a major patch of hormonal acne on my chin, and a smattering of acne of my right cheek. I did not expect this mask to completely clear my skin, but I am disappointed that it did not cut down on my breakouts or prevent them as much as I had hoped. My forehead and left cheek are noticeably clearer, but my trouble areas have not improved.  I will continue to work through my jar because I do think it has helped my skin overall, and I enjoy using it, but I am disappointed there have been no major improvements in my most troublesome spots.