addy's esthetics

My name is Addy and I am a toner user.

I know a lot of people don’t want to or can’t bother taking this extra step and I respect that.

However, if you use the right kind of toner, I find it a beneficial and inexpensive step. I’ve been using Thayers Alcohol-Free Rose Petal Witch Hazel Toner for probably 10 years. There are other formulas/scents but I’ve never tried any of them…(click post title for more detail)

I first tried Avalon Organics about three years ago. Of course, it was cleanser that first drew me in (favorite product). I’m also a big fan of Vitamin C use on the skin so when I saw their Vitamin C Refreshing Cleansing Gel I got very excited…(click post title for more detail)

Yes, it’s a little sloppy but what do you expect at the end of a long day of being and drinking Zombies?…(click post title for more detail)

My beloved SkinCeuticals has a winner with Ultimate UV Defense. For a few years it was my favorite sunscreen…(click post title for more details)

I’m excited to have another LOVE IT night cream in my arsenal. I think this product is especially good for normal, dry and combination skin and, like I mentioned above, can even be used on some oily skin types. It feels fresh, smells great and can help your skin maintain its youthful glow longer…(click post title for more details)

I’ve been on a cleanser hunt lately. A couple of years ago, I found one I really love but when I recently inquired about it’s many months of absence from the shelf at Rainbow Grocery, I learned that they may be reformulating – sigh – so it may not be my favorite after it’s return. [...]

I first heard about Weleda when I was in college. I hurt a muscle somehow and my European friend gave me the last of her Weleda Arnica tincture to apply to it and it totally worked. I hunted for it a bit on the website but the medical part is really deep and I don’t remember exactly which one I had. Since then, I’ve noticed Weleda products here and there – when babysitting, the baby products; when hanging out with my hippy friends, the strange salt toothpaste (that I’m fascinated by but can’t bring myself to pay $7 for); on my seemingly eternal hunt for curl taming hair products, the Rosemary Hair Oil (review of that coming later). Then, I was poking around at Target and saw their Skin Food in the section with the Juice Organics and other more natural products. I actually clapped and said “Yay! Weleda!” when I saw it and then had to get a tube of it the size of a tube of lip balm, just to try… (click post title for more details)

I first learned about SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic serum at one of their training sessions when I was just an esthetic student. I was fascinated by the studies they showed using pig skin (eek!) that was treated with the serum and without. The skin with the serum showed signs of sunburn after much longer exposure to UV light than the skin without it. That sold me. Then, a few summers later, after using the serum regularly and noticing a brighter, fresher complexion on my face, I decided to do a test…(click post title for more details)

When my favorite perfume was discontinued, I started hunting around for a new one. I got many different testers of new perfumes from Sephora that didn’t work for me. Then I remembered that Ginger Perfume from Origins that, about 5 years ago, I’d put on my list of perfumes to try. This isn’t a review of that because I find perfumes to be rather personal and as hormones & lifestyle change, so does one’s preference in perfume; at least, that’s how it’s been for me. I always recommend getting testers and wearing it for a few days before deciding to buy. Or, buy it from a place that will allow returns of used perfume (like Sephora, Macys, Nordstrom).
What this review is about is one of the samples I was given after I purchased said perfume (they didn’t have testers, but they do have a great return policy at the Macys location!)… (click post title for more details)

So far, I’ve been posting about individual products that I’ve wanted to remember. This time, I’m going to give you a little list based on the below photo… (click post title for more details)