How to choose....

Hey there!

I wanted to give you guys a little more depth and understanding on how to choose everything from your primer to your powder, simply and easily. This won't be a very long post, but hopefully it will be informative. And make sure to go and check out the #ImperfectBeautyBasics video I just put up that corresponds to this post. 

Choosing your primer can sometimes be frustrating, and many times people leave it out altogether, but I would highly recommend that you use a primer. Not only does it ensure that your moisturizer keeps moisturizing your skin all day, but it provides your skin with a clean and smooth surface for your foundation. Yes, even if you only use mineral make up or powder foundation, you can use primer, and it is, in fact, recommended. I never used primer for the longest time, and then I kept hearing about all these women in Cosmo, Elle, Vouge and on TV talking about using a primer under their foundation, so I decided to give it a try. I loved it! It makes my skin look and feel amazing and since using a primer, I haven't had as many breakouts. The only breakouts I get now are hormonal breakouts. It's been amazing for me. If you don't want to use a primer, that is perfectly okay, but I would definitely recommend it. 

In order to choose your primer, you have to decide what needs to be "corrected" with your skin. 

Here are some examples of what primers do, and which primer can do it for you, both drugstore and high end.

Dewy: 
Drugstore: L'Oreal LumiMagic
High end: MAC Prep&Prime Skin (Original)

Satin:
Drugstore: NYC Smooth Skin Perfecting Primer
High end: Illamasqua Satin Primer

Matte:
Drugstore: Stay Matte Rimmel London
High End: BECCA Ever Matte Poreless Priming Perfector

Longwearing:
Drugstore: Revlon Photoready primer
High end: Benefit Stay Flawless 15 Hour Primer

Color correcting: (S/N: There are MANY different types of color correcting that can be done with primers, but I picked two that I have tried and liked and that are for all range color correcting)  
Drugstore: Physician's Formula Correcting Primer
High end: Stila One Step Correct

Hydrating:
Drugstore: Hard Candy Sheer Envy primer
High End: Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Primer

Waterproof: 
Drugstore: L'Oreal Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base
High End: Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer

SPF:
Drugstore: Neutrogena Healthy Skin Primer SPF 15
High End: Shiseido Refining Make up Primer SPF 21

Poreless:
Drugstore: Garnier's 5 Second Blur
High End: ProAirbrush FX face primer SPF 20

Phew! That was a lot. So the good news, is that foundations are much easier to explain and sort out. There are, I would say, three different types of coverage: light, medium and full coverage. And there are three different types of products that cover: mineral make up, foundation, and BB cream. 

Mineral make up has a very light, build-able coverage. It feels very light on the skin, and many times is very healthy for your skin as well because many of the ingredients are natural or naturally derived.  

BB cream is a very light to medium coverage that normally has a moisturizer, primer, foundation, sometimes color correcting, and even anti aging benefits. Some even have SPF in them! BB cream is a great option for college kids, for everyday wear, summertime, moms, and teachers. It is very fast to apply and looks very natural on the skin. And because it has so many ingredients, it covers so many steps, so you can even skip concealing, priming and moisturizer and go straight to the brows, blush and mascara. You don't even need to set the BB cream with a powder if you don't want to. 

Foundation itself comes in the three different coverage levels. The best way to find out what type of coverage a product is is to do your research! I have made this mistake many many times, I watch a commercial for a new product, see that Olivia Wilde or Emma Stone or Kate Hudson or P!NK has flawless skin, and think, oh wow, that looks amazing. I go and buy it, and it doesn't work for me. I don't have naturally perfect and flawless skin. So the Revlon Nearly Naked, didn't sit well on my skin, and I don't have normal skin, so the Covergirl Clean line doesn't look nice on my skin after an hour. This happens all the time. So now, I do my research. I look at other blogs, the actual website, and even YouTube videos for inspiration and information.

Things to look for when researching your product:

Look for if it says what skin type it is geared for; dry, normal, oily, or acne prone skin. Some foundations will be geared towards dry to normal or normal to oily skin. These foundations are great for seasonal transitions. if you have normal skin, then getting a foundation that is for normal to oily is great for the summer because then you know it won't melt off your face once you get a little sweaty, and vice verse, a foundation that is for normal to dry skin is perfect with people who have normal skin and become dry in the winter.

Honestly, I have a few foundations that I use. I have a few because my skin changes through the year. I have "normal" skin during the winter and very oily skin the rest of the year. So I have some foundations for winter and some for the rest of the year. 

In order to match your foundation to your body, you need to swatch it. there are a few different ways you can swatch foundation. if you are looking to invest in a foundation, then head over to a Sephora. They will use the Pantone Color IQ on you. It takes a picture of your cheek, your neck, and your chest in total darkness, allowing the device to reveal your TRUE shade, unfettered by light. They will then help you find a foundation at the Sephora, or they can tell you what undertones you have and you can go to a drugstore and find your shade. 

There are three different types of undertones. Yellow or warm, cool, or pink and neutral or mauve. These are very important to knowing what foundation shade you need. If you have pink undertones to your skin, and you put a yellow undertoned foundation on top, you will look yellow, not natural. You can make yourself look sick or even a little jaundice. Not a pretty look. 

If you don't want to go to a Sephora, I would recommend going to a drugstore a physically swatching the product. If you don't see a tester in your shade, you can ask a cosmetics rep to make a tester for you. The LAST thing you want to do is test out a swatch on yourself on a nontester. Many people have skin sensitivities that result in rashes, hives, or pimples. You don't want to have a scented perfume, or have any sort of bacteria on your hands and then put it into the foundation because the next person to buy that foundation might have a skin sensitivity, and now you've contaminate the whole bottle of foundation. I recommend going to a drugstore because they always have testers out. A store like Target or Walmart might not be willing to make a tester for you because you are taking away a bottle that they can sell. I actually have had a Walmart employee yell at me before for opening a bottle of foundation to smell it. It was embarrassing and frustrating, especially because I hadn't ripped off any packaging or contaminated the bottle. She told me I either had to buy the product or leave the store because I had technically just stolen the product because I opened it with the intent of not buying it. I didn't leave the store, but I have been weary of buying at Walmart ever since. 

So, now that we know how to swatch responsibly, where to swatch. Make sure you have a proper mirror with you so you don't have to rely on the warped mirrors that are sometimes on the displays, and swatch on your cheek (with no make up on), down onto your neck and then onto your collar bone. you don't have to use a lot of product. And you aren't doing a full face of make up either. Just 1 inch swatches. By the time it is on your body, it should blend in perfectly. if it doesn't match your face, that is okay. You want it to match your body. A lot of people use moisturizer or some product on their face and not on the rest of their body so their faces are always a couple shades lighter than their body. It's normal. 

That is how you find your perfect match. 

Now for concealer. This is a relatively simple one. Once again, you have to know what you want from your concealer. Do you want to highlight under your eyes? Do you have dark circles to cover? Blemishes? These are key questions to ask when you talk about a concealer. 

This is what you need to know about concealer:

If you have dark blue marks, circles or bags to cover, use an apricot, salmon, or orange toned concealer. 

If you have purple marks, bags, or circles, use a yellow toned concealer. 

If you have red marks or blemishes, or veins, use a green toned concealer. You have to make sure it is a blend-able concealer, otherwise it will show trough your foundation. 

If you are using a concealer that is colored, make sure you conceal first so that your foundation will cover the color completely. 

I think that is everything you need to know about the basics of making your face look flawless. There are so many options, and you might have to play around a bit, but if you know what you want and you know what kind of look and lifestyle you have, you will be able to waste less money and start looking your best faster. 

If you want me to break down the concealers and foundations like I did for the primers, let me know. 

I hope this helped. If you want to contact me, make sure you visit my links on my sidebar and make sure to go read the disclaimer so that you are informed about my blog. 

Have a great day, make sure you come like, follow, and subscribe to all my social media sites. 

Warm wishes. 

A Light and Natural Spring Look

Hello everybody, 

I just posted a brand new Beauty is on the Inside tutorial for you! It is a quick and natural spring time look, perfect for the on the go mom, college kid, or teen. I used BB cream for a very simple and quick coverage and added a lipstick at the end (mostly because am obsessed with how it makes me look and feel) to really five the eye a focal point. Who doesn't want people to stare at their lips while they talk? I hope you enjoy this tutorial and come back on Friday for another one, though it maybe a review or a first impressions video. 

Let me know if there is a look you want to see! You can do that so many ways:

On Twitter, use #imperfectparentbioti to leave me a suggestion and follow me @cscagel

On YouTube, where my video waits to be watched at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgt6L0ShBZk

Email me at caitlynne.p.scagel@gmail.com

Or follow me on Instagram @caitlynnescagel and leave a comment under my snap shots.

And of course! You can leave a comment down below! I hope to see you again tomorrow!

Warm wishes. 

Glamglow!

Hello all, 

Today is another edition of Beauty is on the Inside. I have a little bit of catch-up to do, so these next few posts will be quite quick, but hopefully still useful to you. 

Today's post is about the GlamGlow mask. It is a mud mask that you can actually see pulling the oil out of your skin as it dries. It takes about 1 to put it on, 20 to let it work its magic, and 1 to take it off. It is so simple and so effective. 

The jar is a great quality metal and ceramic jar that has GlamGlow on the side. The actual directions are in the packaging, so make sure you read those before you do the mask. It talks about the active ingredients in the mask, and you want to make sure you aren't allergic to anything in the mask. And, as with any mask, make sure you test the mask on your arm first, let it sit for 20 minutes, and then wash it off to make sure that the ingredients in the mask don't react on your skin. 


The jar is a 1 oz jar, and the packaging says you get 1000 spot treatments or 17 full face masks. It costs about $70.00 CND, and while that is a lot of money to spend on 17 uses, it really does work. I use the mask only about once a week, so for me, that is 17 weeks of product in one 1 oz jar. Which, if you think about it, is about $4.11 for a facial that you don't have to get a baby sitter for, get out of your pajamas for, and can go whenever you want, day or night, for 17 weeks straight. Not bad in my opinion. 

I think that this product really works. I put it on my face and after it started drying, it immediately began pulling the oil u of my nose and cheeks and chin. I have horribly oily skin, so this product is lovely for me. 

After, my face feel clean, and a little tight, which for me, makes me feel like I am getting a really great clean. I have gotten a facial or two in my time, and I have to say, this is almost as good. 

Of course, it feels great to have someone else massage your face and apply a mud mask and all you have to do is lie there and think of how great your skin will look after. But, I also feel so productive when I use this mask. Like the ultimate multitasking mom: she takes care of herself, while taking care of the house, the child and the dogs! You look a little silly at first, but then, your family will get used to mom looking like a mud monster while managing everything. Heck, you could even use that to your advantage to chase your kids around the house, like a mud monster of course. You'd burn some calories that way, for sure. 

So, to demonstrate the awesome powers of this mask, I will now put it on, let it sit for 20 minutes, and then take it off and supply you with before and after pictures of the whole process. 

First, I have cleaned my face with an exfoliant. I really want to open my pores and let the mask pull all the junk out of it that it can. 

I use a brush. I was told to use a foundation brush, but I didn't have one at the time, so I use a paint brush from Micheal's. Yes, a paint brush. It never saw any action, and now it is my mud mask brush. Not only does it allow you to control your product better, it also allows you to regulate it much better, and you don't waste as much. Remember to wash your brush right after!!!

Paint it all over you face in a THIN even layer. You do not need a lot of this stuff, I promise. Plus, the more you put on, the longer it will take to dry, and that means less time absorbing the oil because it is still trying to dry. 

Let it sit for 20 minutes. 

And see how it pulls all the oil and junk to the surface?













EW













Nasty

















Gross

















Disgusting. 



























Now wash it off with water. DO not scrub it off! Your pores are very open right now, and if you scrub it in, you will be left with black pores because you will be pushing all the oil right back into your face. Wash it off with gentle circular motions with warm water. 

After, use toner. I use about three cotton pads worth because I want to make sure I get all the oil on the surface of my skin off. 

Then moisturize and you have lovely skin. 

My skin feels great and I think it looks better that before I did the mask. 

My make-up just slides right over my skin and it makes me feel like I have the prettiest skin in all the land. 

That might be delusional, but hey, I'm not hurting anyone. 

I hope you all enjoyed the short review, and I hope to see you again on Friday for more Beauty is on the Inside. 

Warm wishes. 

LUSH Cosmetics Review

Hello everyone! 

Today I will be posting several different posts. This is the first of three. I hope you enjoy it! 

This post is about my LUSH cosmetics scrubs. 

The first product I used is the Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub.

This is a blue and white swirl of fine sea salt, coarse sea salt, and vodka. 

If you are a fan of coarse scrubs, this product might just be for you. It is a thick, chunky formula with a beautiful bahama blue water colour in it. 

I really liked this product. Again, this is just a first impression. I will be using this product every day for the rest of the month and I will give you another review the first week of February. I will use it every morning and night and after I exercise. We will see what it does to my skin. 

The scrub is thick and creamy with thick salt crystals that really scrubbed my skin and removed all the dirt and oil from my pores without stripping my skin of all it's moisture. 

The LUSH products are against animal cruelty and testing and all their containers are 100% recycled, making all of us feel a little better about using these products. Now don't get me wrong, these products are a little pricey. Well, actually, really pricey. I might not purchase more of them, depending on how long these products last. If they last more than two or three months, then maybe they will be worth it, but I somehow doubt it. 

Anyway, these products are handmade and they have little stickers on them to indicate who it is made by and when you should use them by. This ensures that LUSH doesn't need to fill their products with preservatives. A lot of their products are organic, some are vegan, and all are cruelty free, paraben free, and made with ingredients that occur naturally. Some are had to pronounce, but that is because they occur a natural chemicals within some of their ingredients. With all of the allergies that are cropping up everyday, LUSH is a great company to go with if you need to know exactly what is in your products. And it's not just the cleansers that they list their ingredients for. Every thing that this company makes has every little thing listed on the package. So, thank you Sara for this body and face scrub. And I will use it before February 28th. 

The only thing bad that I have to say about this product is that IT TASTES HORRIBLE!!!!! Yes, it is just salt and vodka mixed together. Do not eat this product. If you have no taste buds, then by all means, it is safe to eat, but I would not recommend it in the slightest. 

This is everything that is on the label. 

Net wight 4.2 ounces. Fine sea salt, Fresh grapefruit infusion, coarse sea salt, stearic acid, fresh organic lime extracted in vodka, sodium cocoamphoacetate, glycol cetearate, triethanolmine, avacado butter, extra virgin coconut oil, lime oil, seaweed absolute, violet leaf absolute, glycerine, lanolin, cetaeryl, alcohol, *limonene, *linalool, fragrance, FD&C Blue no.1, methylparaben. 

*Occurs naturally in essential

Not virgin! A Vodka voyage. 

The next product you can eat though, and you might actually want to. In fact, it is recommended right on the label!

This is me washing my face with the scrub for the first time. 

The LUSH Bubblegum Lip Scrub. 

 

I love this lip scrub. It tastes good, though it is a little too sweet and artificial for my taste. It is a fine scrub, but I felt like my lips were as soft as ever, bright and lovely and plump. I wet my lips and scrubbed the smallest amount onto them vigorously. It took the dead skin off of my lips and left them tingling and new feeling. 

This is a wonderful product that I would recommend to anyone looking for a great lip product. I use it every morning and every night and I feel as though it helps exfoliate and rejuvenate my lips. I have a horrible time with my lips in the winter. I have already been through a whole tube of chap stick, so I really needed a lip scrub. Again, this product is all natural. It's actually vegan. 

 oz

This is what is on the container: Castor sugar, cold pressed organic jojoba oil, methyl ionone, flavour, polyester-3, D&C red no 28, D&C red no.21

Preservative free, Vegan! 

And thank you, Susan for my lip scrub. I will use this up by March.

Again, these products are expensive. It cost me $9.95. 

I would definitely recommend this scrub to anyone willing to spend the money. In my DIY section, though, I will be making a DIY face scrub, a DIY lip Scrub and a DIY lip plumper. They will be coming soon. 

This is me using this product:

I hope you found this review helpful.

Warm wishes. 

Yes to Tomatoes Review

Hello everyone, 

I just wanted to give a first impression of a new product called Say Yes to Tomatoes: Clear Skin. 

I picked this product up at Shopper's Dug mart for 9.49 Canadian for 5.25oz. My best friend about a year or two ago recommended this, but at the time, it was too expensive for me, and I was attempting to use my subscription of Proactive to clear my acne. 

Now that I am willing to try anything, I picked it up to see what all the fuss was about. Now I know. 

This is a great cleanser. It is an oil control cleanser and says that it is 95% natural. 

This is the ingredients list: Water, lauryl glucoside, cocamidoproyl betaine, glycerine, propanediol, sodium chloride, aloe barbedensis leaf juice*, salicylic acid, parfum/fragrance, phenthyl alcohol, glyceryl caprylate, citric acid, alcohol solanum lycopersicum (tomato) extract. 

* This is a certified organic product

This product is also a cruelty free product. 

Yes to Tomatoes is a gel cleanser, which feel soft and slick against the skin. I followed the directions and wet my face with warm water them massaged a quarter size amount of cleanser onto my face and rinsed with cool water and towel dried. 

The smell of this product is similar to baby powder with a light, fresh scent that stays on your skin for hours. It felt like it cleaned my skin without stripping it of all the oils. My skin is soft and matte for hours. The ony thing I didn't like about this product is that it isn't red like tomatoes, doesn't smell like tomatoes, and it looks, smells and feels more synthetic than natural. Also, it says that it is 95% natural, but the first product is water, and the second is lauryl glucoside, which all "all natural", "diy", organic", and "organic cosmetics" bloggers, reviewers, authors and doctors say to stay away from. I understand that there are organic and natural elements in it, but I think that in order to label something "yes to tomatoes", it should resemble, through taste, touch, smell and feel, like a tomato. I was very disappointed in that. Still, in order to deliver a proper review and knowing that the water is probably the most natural thing in this bottle, I will be trying the whole line of these products. 

I will definitely be purchasing the toner and the moisturizer to see if they do just as well. 

I will be doing another review after I have used all three products for a month straight. 

Just to re-iterate, I have combination oily skin with large pores, blemishes and black heads. 

In February, I will be using this product every morning and night and taking pictures of my skin at the start of the month and the end of the month and every Monday, I will give you a morning and an evening without make-up look. 

I hope this first impression was informative and helpful. 

Again, this product is not organic and I am not an expert by any means, this is just my experience with this product, sharing it with you, in the hopes it will help. 

I am a huge friend of organic products, all natural products as well, but I also know that chemicals rule our world, and that some of the best products are full of artificiality. 

Again, I hoped this helped. 

Warm wishes. 

The Make-Up Every Mom Should Know- Better Lighting

Hello again, 

So as stated in my "The Make-Up Every Mom Should Know" tutorial, I had horrible, all over the place lighting with a thousand interruptions and not a very good backdrop. I have now moved my work space so that I have a nice area to take pictures, not only of me but of the products as well. 

I just want to remind you that I have oily combination skin that I do need to mattify every couple of hours. This is not a simple mattified look without touching up or anything like that. This is just a fresh faced simple look that mothers, high school students and teaches alike will appreciate and be able to accomplish in minimal time. 

So, with the attention of HelperBaby and the soft scents of my lovely new candles I will re-do the make-up tutorial and hopefully this will show you how I make my skin more flawless and give you a more peaceful viewing experience. That sounded really weird. 

Anyway, onto the tutorial. 

I start out with a clean face. 

Next, I buff on a mineral foundation (I used Smashbox's Halo to Go in Fair, simply because that's the only one I have) using a kabuki brush. Make sure to blend it down onto your neck and up to the hairline. 

 Sorry I look so tired, experimenting with my lighting and my angles and such. I will smile more next time. 

Next I took a bronzer (pictured here: Physician's formula Healthy Glow bronzer) just to give a tiny bit of warmth to my cheeks. I would normally use a light blush, but I don't have any non-shimmery powder blushes right now, so this will have to do.

 


 Do whatever you think is going to look natural. If it's summer, stick with a bronzer all over your hairline, temples and down onto your cheeks. Keep it light. This is the best way to look polished without having a lot on your skin. It helps your face to feel fresh, without feeling heavy. I know for me, the sun, and summertime in general do wonders for my skin, so this is the look I do for if I want a pretty, finished look. 

Also, I apologize for my pajamas and hair. It was a long day. 

So next, I do my brows. I take this Maybelline Made for Mocha eye shadow and fill them in with an angled brush. (A brow tutorial will come when I get my brow kit.) 

 

Yay, brows done. Next, I conceal with my highlighting concealer. (mine is from Maybelline Dream Concealer in the lightest shade you can possibly find.) I simply dab the tiniest amount of concealer onto my finger and gently blend it on all of my blemishes to give a little more flawless look. If you have dark under eye circles then you can conceal those too, but mine aren't horrible, so I'm going to leave them alone. 

After that, I run a lid primer/concealer over my lids. I have a lot of bluish colouring on my lids because my skin is so fair and thin there. If your lids are goo, then skip this step, but I feel that I need it. 

 

Now that my lids are primed, I lightly press the same shade that I used for my eyebrows into my upper lash-line. I used a firm shadow brush from SOHO. This gives your upper lash line a little more fullness without weighing your eye make-up down or making the look too artificial. 

 

Now that my upper lash-line looks full, I put on a fine layer of brown mascara (mine is Covergirl's LastBlast in brown) just to give my eyes a more awake look. To add to this, you can swipe a nude (flesh toned) pencil across your lower waterline. My pencil was devoured by a little, white, fluffy beast who lives in my house. I won't mention any names. 

 

Lastly, swipe on a chap stick, tinted balm, or subtle gloss to give your lips nourishment and colour. 

I hope you enjoyed this much neater tutorial. Again, excuse the pjs, this will be my last make-up tutorial with dirty hair and pjs, I promise. I hope you all have a great night, and stay tuned for my Seafood Curry recipe (it's so simple!) and my LUSH cosmetics review. 

Have a great night. 

Warm wishes.