The Stuff

Beauty products/body care products.  Love ’em, hate ’em, can’t live without em?  Do you feel as overwhelmed as I do trying to negotiate the beauty aisle?  So many products.  When we moved to our new home I realized I, too, had so many products.  Seriously.  I could stock my own beauty aisle.  To be honest, it’s a bit ridiculous – not just what I’ve purchased over time, but what’s available to buy in general.  How do you hone it all to the products you really need?

I thought it might make more sense if we looked at general products before jumping into specifics.  There’s stuff we need, and stuff that’s fluff.  Don’t get me wrong – I’m not knocking the fluff.  I love the fluff.  The fluff may include products that really improve our appearance.  We’ll reserve the fluff for another post.  Today I’m narrowing it down to the bare-bones basics.  If you buy only five body care products, these are the ones you need:

Sunscreen

If you use only one beauty product, make it sunscreen.  The higher the SPF the better.  Enough said.

Cleanser

We really need to get make-up, dirt and sweat off our faces.  We lead with our faces – they’re our first line of defense and they take the brunt of whatever’s in the air.  Show your face some love by removing that junk from your face at least once a day.  And there’s a lot of junk.  For example, sweat.  Besides helping cool the body, sweat pushes to the surface the impurities that take up residence just below the skin.  Why wouldn’t you want to cleanse those away after a workout?  I mean, immediately.

Although I know better, I’ve gone to bed so tired I haven’t cleansed my face and I’m usually reminded a day or so later when a little blemish makes its annoying appearance.  Because fine lines and pimples pair so well.  Ugh.

Moisturizer

As we get older, our skin should be screaming for moisturizer.  I’ve always had dry skin and I’ve noticed it even more as I’ve gone through menopause.  Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize.  Besides the wonderful feeling of relief you get when you quench your skin’s thirst, you reduce the appearance of fine lines and crepiness.  Yes, please.

 

Teeth Whitener

Nothing brightens your face like a pretty smile.  And nothing ages you like dingy, stained teeth.  I remember a toothpaste commercial several years ago with five or six people lined up, smiling for the camera.  Each had food in their teeth.  Gross.  Everyone noticed.  No one noticed each of those people had an extra arm photo-shopped into the picture.  The point – teeth matter.  Smiles matter.  Keep yours young and fresh with a whitening product.

Lipstick

Basically, your face looks more finished with lipstick.  If you’re on the go without time to “put on your face,” the quick application of a pretty lip will add instant polish, not to mention the color it brings to your  complexion.  Easy peazy.

On top of these, I should probably mention water.  We don’t think of it as a body care product but maybe we should.  Water helps to moisturize us from the inside out.  It also keeps the body functioning properly.  It flushes impurities from within and helps keep things moving, if you know what I mean.  You can eat all the fiber in the world, but without water you’ll just clog your system.

Water is also the best way to prevent or reduce a hangover if you find you’ve been celebrating a bit too much.  Hangovers are the result of dehydration. Drink water in a two-to-one ratio to keep yourself hydrated and feeling better in the morning.  And maybe add an aspirin.  🙂

We’re just scratching the surface.  I’ll go into each of these in more depth in future posts.  Even though we’ve narrowed it down to five essentials, thee’s a lot to unpack here.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!