Chemical Peels At Home: How To

Chemical peels have been around for a long time-ancient Romans used food acids aka Lactic Acid to peel their skin to reveal younger, brighter looking skin. Today there are so many different chemical peel options, and it can be overwhelming to figure out which is best for your skin.

Picking your poison: 

What kind of chemical peel is best for your skin?

-Lactic Acid: Lactic Acid is one of the safest peels available, and is great as a "first peel". It is safe to use on darker skin tones, and helps to hydrate dry skin. Additional benefits of using a Lactic acid peel are: treats sun damaged skin, improves the appearance of stretch marks, helps with hyperpigmentation, and improves the tone and texture of the skin.
-Glycolic Acid: A more aggressive peel that rejuvenates normal to oily skin, addressing acne, acne scarring, wrinkles, and fine lines.
-Salicylic Acid: Salicylic acid peels are great for oily skin, and are great for the treatment of blackheads.
-TCA: Excellent for acne, lines, wrinkles, sun damage, age spots and general scarring. This peel is deeper than the above three and is longer lasting.
-Jessner's: Great for treating cystic acne.

*Each of these peels can be purchased at varying strengths. I am not an expert on which percentage to choose depending on your experience with peels, but for reference I first purchased the Lactic Acid Peel (35%) and have moved onto the 70%. For first time users, it is very important to use a low percentage. Please check with your doctor and/or use discretion when choosing your strength.

I use the Lactic Acid Peel, and I use both the 35% and 70%. Since the Lactic Acid peel is beneficial to those with rosacea (which I have on my cheeks) and keratosis pilaris, I use the peel on my face and on my arms. The first time I used the 35% peel, my skin did peel, but it was't horrible; my skin just looked like it was extra dry for about three days.

How to use a peel at home:

Step 1: Gather your supplies. You will need a foundation brush (you can use almost any type of makeup brush, but I like to use a dense brush to apply the gel evenly over my face and arms), your gel peel, water, and baking soda. Baking soda neutralizes the peel on contact and stops it from penetrating the skin.
Step 2: Pour a dime sized amount of your peel gel onto your brush and apply evenly over your face (or body), avoiding the eye and mouth areas.
Step 3: Wait 5-10 minutes, then rinse with baking soda and water mixture. Do not leave the peel on overnight. I learned this the hard way!! It was not pretty.

After you use a peel, it is very important to heavily moisturize and to apply sunscreen as your skin will be extra sensitive in the days following the peel. I usually use the peel at night and do not use makeup within at least 12 hours afterwards to let my skin breathe and recover.

I hope this was helpful! I'd love to hear about your experiences with at home peels if you decide to try it!

Alice in Wonderland Themed Baby Shower

I'm so excited to share with you all a baby shower I planned and designed last month for a wonderful friend. I had endless creative freedom, and knew that I didn't want to use any pastels or muted colors. Instead I aimed for whimsical touches, bright colors with an Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter theme.

My inspiration:

Photo Credit: http://www.hostessblog.com/

The below photos are from Taylor Armstrong's daughter's (Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) birthday party, so they may look familiar to some of you!

I fell in love with the look of the stacked teacups and set out to find some at Goodwill. Luckily my local Goodwill had a ton, and I think I bought every single teacup in the store. Stacking and gluing them together was surprisingly very easy to do with a hot glue gun. Next up was the moss covered teapot. I desperately wanted to make one similar to the one pictured above, pouring rose petals into another moss covered teacup but I figured hanging fishing line or constructing something to hold the teapot up would be too difficult for a novice party planner...

Instead I used two teapots that I bought at Goodwill, foam balls cut in half from Michaels, and moss sheets from Michaels to create a similar look:

After cutting the foam balls in half, I simply applied glue from the glue gun to the ball and stuck pieces of the moss sheets to each half dome. From there, I hot glued the flat side of the dome to the teapots.

The finished Result of the teacup stack and moss covered teapot:

{Please ignore the mess in the background!}

I made several teacup "stacks" and placed them down the center of the table along with vases I covered in wrapping paper and ribbon from the Container Store, topped with silk roses. 

The finished Result:

Next Up...my Bridal Shower! The same lovely friend whose baby shower I put together co-planned my Bridal Shower and I can't wait to show off what they did!

Homemade Lip Scrub

After searching high and low for a good lip exfoliant and being astounded at the prices for them (average is $25), I figured I would do some research and make my own. Nothing is more annoying than putting on lipstick or gloss and having extra, dry skin on your lips that is extremely noticeable once lipstick/gloss is applied.
Here's my DIY method for making lip scrub:
You'll need:
-Brown sugar and white granulated sugar: sugar is abrasive and gets the job done at removing dead skin.
-Honey: Honey has anti-bacterial properties, it can heal minor wounds/cuts on the skin and it's non-allergenic.
-Olive Oil: Moisturizing, it protects and soothes the skin. It will not clog the pores around your mouth.
-A small container that closes all the way. I went to the Container Store and bought a pill box for $0.99.
-Measuring spoons
-Small bowl for mixing ingredients

How To:
-Measure 1/2 teaspoon for each ingredient and stir. Once it's evenly mixed, pour into your container/pill box.
That's it!



Let me know if any of you try this! I love that it's so tasty and doesn't taste chemical-y at all.

Louboutin Manicure and first DIY attempt

I just went to JoAnn's and bought all the supplies I need to make my own Erin Kleinberg chain pocket tee. I bought an Old Navy top that compares to the one below (minus the chain). I spent $30 on the shirt + supplies; a lot better than $129 for the real version. I will keep you posted on how it turns out + pictures and a how-to assuming it turns out well!