There's food on your face! Olive oil makeup remover for the win.

I am not a fan of winter. Yes I love snowfalls and hot chocolate, but the staticky hair and dry skin? No, thank you!  Sadly for me, winter also leads to eczema flare ups, especially around my eyes and last winter I came to my wits end. Nothing was working! I tried new lotion, new makeup remover and even hydrocortisone cream but the red flaky patches were still coming back with a vengeance. So I decided to do some research and figure out what I could do differently. Oh boy did I learn a lot! Did you know that a lot of the name brand make up removers have irritants in them that actually can increase dry skin and skin sensitivity? I was shocked and decided it was time for a new skin care regimen.

So after a lot of blog reading and internet searching, what did I do? I put food on my face. Crazy as it seems, there are a lot of amazing properties in certain foods and natural oils that are moisturizing, nourishing and all around good for you and your skin. The first thing I tried, and has since become a staple in my life, is olive oil make up remover. It is a miracle worker! It cuts through thick mascara, eye shadow, concealer, and more, while leaving your skin feeling soft, supple and moisturized. I have been using it for a year plus and have no complaints. Even some of my friends have tried it and the worst thing one said was that she thought she smelled like an Italian restaurant afterwards. But really, is that SUCH a bad thing?!

Olive Oil Makeup Remover

1) Find a container you want to use. I got a simple spray bottle from Target but an old make up remover bottle works just as well! 

2) Fill the container with equal parts water and olive oil (I use organic olive oil just because if it's going on my face I want it to be the best)

3) Before using, shake the bottle so that the water and oil mixes. 

4) Apply mixture to a cotton swab, apply to your eyes/face and let the mixture absorb into your skin for a few seconds. 

5) Wipe away and be amazed! There's no need to wash off any remainder oil unless there's tons leftover. After a few times you'll realize what's the perfect amount that will take your make up off while not leaving your eyes too oily. Also depending on how much make up you wear you may need to wipe a few times for full removal. 

If you like this, just you wait... soon I'll tell you about using honey as a face wash! 

Face it.

I'm not one to hide my emotions, especially when it comes to my face. If I'm mad at someone, I glare at them. If I think something is funny, I smile and laugh out loud. If I feel stuck or bored, my face droops and I roll my eyes.

When I was younger, I meticulously kept journals where I wrote every thought or feeling I had. Now, I regret all of those ridiculous thoughts and I can only hope that my head was filled with better, more meaningful things as well (that I just chose not to write down, maybe?). Then one day three years ago, I wrote my last journal entry. I didn't know it was my last at the time, but it just was. I don't miss overanalyzing my daily life, but I do miss having a sliver of what my life was like from day to day, and over time.

For some reason on my first day at my new job, I was looking at different features of my computer and I came across Photobooth. Since there's a pretty brick wall behind me, I snapped a picture of myself. Now it's become a part of my daily routine. I make the face of exactly how I'm feeling when I arrive at work, whether it's frustrated with the weather, exhilarated from a nice bike ride, exhausted from a late-night show, nervous for an important meeting, or looking forward to the weekend. And sometimes, I simply make a face that I've never made before in order to make myself laugh. Looking back on six weeks of them, I can remember why I was feeling the way my face reflects for almost every day.

Plus I realized I wear a lot of purple.

If you don't like to journal, I suggest doing something on the regs so you can track yourself through time. If it's not a photo, maybe it's one thought a day. Or keeping track of the thing that made you laugh hardest every day. Or great recipes. Or outfits. Or conversations. Or drawings. It's fun and it makes me feel like my life is meaningful enough to track. (Maybe it's really not, but I like tricking myself into thinking it is.)