RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY

[jemly]

this thread has worked hard and deserves a proper rest. please now post in RANDOM THOUGHTS : BEAUTY PART DEUX 

http://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confessions/RANDOM-THOUGHTS-BEAUTY-PART-DEUX/td-p/2461692

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Ok so I've been wanting to make this thread for a while. I've also been wanting to start a "random thoughts" thread...but I figured I'd separate the categories so that at least the "beauty" one is on the front page, rather than hidden in off topic. So, have a beauty-related thought but don't think it's worth starting a thread about ? Post it here !

today I got a facial at an extraordinarily nice spa. A real treat. And the results were immediate and truly great. But guys: she pulled out a clarisonic and a foamy cleanser for that first initial cleanse, and I nearly had a heart attack. Great for a lot of people but most of you know how I feel about those things !!!!!! Overall, as I said, it was great and my skin is happy. But sheesh.

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SWATCH REQUEST THREAD HERE: http://community.sephora.com/t5/The-Swatch-Board/THE-SWATCH-REQUEST-THREAD/td-p/2223212

(have fun wasting even more time in the...) VINTAGE BEAUTY VIDEOS THREAD !!  http://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confessions/VINTAGE-BEAUTY-VIDEOS/td-p/1826210

RANDOM BEAUTY FACTS ABOUT YOU THREAD !

http://community.sephora.com/t5/Beauty-Confessions/Random-Beauty-Facts-About-You/td-p/2409264

[lecia1167]

Yes, life is way too short! I am very happy with my decision. And I am so in love with this house.

[vegchililover78]

Good for you! Hiking in Spain sounds like a life changing experience, seeing so much beauty and the freedom/exhilaration of nature.

[lecia1167]

I think the hike will be. I just think I need to just be away for the holidays and get the chance to explore a new place.

[Libellules]

Good for you! And yay for new houses (just bought my first)!!! This looks like an adorable bungalow :). I'm jealous of the chickens - I'd love to have fresh eggs!

And enjoy Spain! I'm not an outdoorsy/hiking girl, but I went to Barcelona when I was in college and it was amazing - I hope you can make it in that direction while you're over there!

[lecia1167]

Yep, it's a stone Craftsman bungalow, 1924. It's a little house, but it's on a quarter acre, so my two dogs will be in heaven!

[Libellules]

It's beautiful and sounds amazing! Funny enough, we ended up with the same sized lot - our 2 dogs will also be loving life in a few weeks time 🙂

[lecia1167]

Yay for big yards! My dogs won't know what to do with themselves!

[paiute]

It takes so much courage to take a step in reclaiming happiness and moving forward toward a fulfilling life. I have been down a similar road and I have never looked back. Congratulations on such exciting things in your future!

[lecia1167]

Thank you! It was so hard when we first started the divorce process, but now that the end is near, I just want to get on with my life.

[paiute]

I can completely relate.. describing it as physically and emotionally draining is quite the understatement. Again, congratulations. I'm so happy for you .. new beginnings, fresh space to create new memories - all amazing things. 

[Lynni98]

Yes!! Please post chicken pics when you get them!

[lecia1167]

I totally will post chicken pics!

[DiVWA]

Good idea for a thread. I've decided to come out with something I've been dealing with.

I haven't told most people on BT but I learned a few months ago that all the issues I was having with my red flaking eyelids and scaly patches on neck stemmed from Allergic Contact Dermatitis (ACD). ACD isn't the same as just contact dermatitis or skin irritation; ACD involves the immune system, which kicks into high gear when the skin is exposed to allergens anywhere on the body. Wherever the victim is initially affected (usually the eyelids, face, neck or hands), this area is affected again with each and every exposure. ACD gets worse with many allergens, as there are more exposures, so one cannot build up a resistance with more exposures as is possible with the respiratory type of allergy. The immune system gets messed up so it thinks that there is a threat every time that the skin is exposed to the allergen. It's a vicious cycle because for some allergens, they are in lots of things, so the victim gets continually exposed and the immune system keeps reacting. [I'm not really explaining this condition as well as I should so I suggest researching for more scientific explanation.] The thing that makes the skin react is any sweating, which we all do all the time.

The hidden aspect of allergens is what I'm dealing with. Patch results found very high (strong) positives to several items, most notably the preservatives MCI and MI, and the metals nickel, chromium (chrome) and gold.

MCI and MI are in a bunch of cleaning, shampoo, cleansing, personal care items, as well as even some makeup items like mascaras and blushes. My reaction to MCI/MI was so severe that I still have a huge sore on my back from its patch test. Carol's Daughter, Living Proof, pretty much all the nicer brands have MCI or MI in them.

Nickel lurks in so many things, it's ridiculous: pins, snaps, zippers, paper clips, doorknobs, and on and on. It's also a byproduct of manufacturing, so although it's not listed as an ingredient, it's in processed products in which acidic ingredients meet stainless steel blades, causing the nickel to leach from the stainless steel. And I fear it's in many makeup items, such as finely milled face, blush and eyeshadow powders. Nickel is even in many foods, most especially the healthy foods that I like to eat.

Chromium pigments CI-77288 & CI-77289  are in green colors, so are in lots of eye shadows, mascaras, surprisingly even some blushes, etc. It's disheartening to see these pigments used in many products such as the new Tom Ford cream shadows and so many mascaras. Chromium is also used in tanning leathers, so that I've had to eliminate wearing leather items such as jackets, purses, etc. It's present even in green bottles, whose acidic contents (such as red wine) cause the chromium to leach into the wine. And forget multivitamins--most have chromium in them!

Gold is fortunately in fewer items but even gold plated items must be avoided.

As a woman who loves her makeup, jewelry and leather items, not to mention healthy foods, this has been overwhelming and a big challenge to deal with. I had to even redo my shaving, because stainless steel has chromium and nickel in it and I didn't want to scrape and cut my skin with stainless steel blades and get chromium/nickel exposure. I just started wearing eyeshadow again (the ones that don't have chromium pigments in them) and I still have to be careful and not wear it often because my eyelids continue to be sensitive. That's why in many makeup looks I've done the last few months (and the foreseeable future), my eyes have little or no makeup on them.

An annoying makeup-related thing about this is that so many cosmetic companies don't list their chromium pigments as definite ingredients but list them in the part of the ingredient list that says "may contain" or "+-" meaning that there's no way to know for sure if the pigment(s) is/are in there. For my favorite products, I notified each company and the customer service responses have varied considerably. Most impressive in response: Burberry, Rouge Bunny Rouge, Zoya. A bit longer to respond: Tom Ford, Smashbox. Inadequate response: MUFE, Laura Mercier. No response: Nars, Dior, Maybelline.

I'm glad that I finally found out what was causing my skin issues. But this has all been a bit of a letdown and overwhelming. I've tackled the low hanging fruit--the easiest stuff to eliminate and replace--but I feel like the rest of my life I'll have to be vigilant to avoid exposure to all these things all the time. I have accepted all this now as just a part of life but sometimes the way some of these things can lurk and cause exposures is most upsetting.

[Sprytely]

Bummer. But, you know that.

Maybe you're already doing this but, you might want to tape the ferrules on your makeup brushes as some products can make the metal (generally nickel) come off (in extremely small amounts) which the majority of people don't care about such a small amount of exposure but it sounds like it might be something you want to consider.

Hope that's helpful and not depressing! 🙂

Searching out new makeup and skincare stuff to fit your needs can become a fun challenge/game if you let it!

[DiVWA]

Thanks Sprytely! I actually already know about the problem with titanium oxide and iron oxide in shadows making the nickel come out of ferrules. My husband's upcoming project is to cover my brush ferrules with this electrical shrink wrap stuff; this shrink wrap involves using a heat type gun. It can be used on anything that is small and can be fully enclosed.

But I appreciate your sharing this because I hadn't even thought of this until I found mention of it on a blog. There's so much to learn about this and things that one would never think of. For example, the fragrance in laundry detergents has nickel in it, as does baking soda, and on and on.

And you're right that the search for new makeup and skincare stuff can be fun. That's the way I've been approaching it. When my husband first found out about this, his initial response was along the lines of "another adventure in our lives!" Adventure! Right after my diagnosis, I was reading a book by Louis Zamporini (of Unbroken fame) and he talked about how when adversity affected his life or something bad happened, his first response wasn't "why me?" but rather, "what's next?" He kept a positive attitude and didn't dwell on the unfairness or burden of something bad, but just kept up hope and always looked ahead for how to best cope or overcome something. I found that attitude very helpful for me as well.

[shadetertiary]

I am so sorry to read all of this.  Allergens are extremely overwhelming even when they're obvious.  I can only imagine how much tougher it is when you have to worry about whether an allergen that wasn't deliberately included may have contaminated something anyway.  What a nightmare.

If there are specific brands or products that are working for you, I would love to help send you some of what I have to build a safe beauty stash!  

[DiVWA]

Shaetertiary, it's not really as much of a nightmare once I got a handle on some of this. What I think is bothersome is the aspect of it only getting worse combined with not being able to control all the exposures. If I knew it would stay at the level it's at now, and that I wouldn't get the surprise/hidden exposures, then it wouldn't be that bad.

You're so sweet with your offer! I'm fortunate at being at a time of life when the money aspect hasn't been that big of a deal. What helps even more is that I didn't really start building my stash until a few years ago, so I wasn't knee deep in a ton of products. Now that I have some of the safer ones, even though new ones intrigue me, I find myself less excited because of having to seek out the ingredient lists ahead of time (which for the hugely popular new or LE releases, are usually totally lacking). And there's a part of me that says "why bother now that I've found something that works?" I do like trying different colors though... and skincare items.

I've thought about posting on the trade thread all the problematic products I pulled from my stash but what stops me is that I don't really know what I want since I have to avoid all these ingredients. It doesn't help that I have sensitive skin too, and am particular about product performance and colors. LOL I've been basically giving (sanitized) things away because it makes it all easier for me.

Again, thanks so much for your kind offer!

[blackkitty2014]

Diwva, you are such an inspiration in many ways (I remember NotCreative post something similar long long ago and I totally agree with her). Please do post tips/tricks because I can totally see so many women out there probably are searching for the same thing. I learnt many info reading this.

[DiVWA]

Blackkitty, you're a super sweet gal and I'm glad that I've been an inspiration. I can't say I have any tips or tricks right now because it's still all so new to me, but at least I'll feel more comfortable being open about this on BT.

[meganlisa]

So awful.  Let me know if/when I can help.  At least there are increasingly more options...

[DiVWA]

Thanks for your offer of help, Meganlisa. I can't think of a thing right now except that if you have a blog, maybe take an extra photo of the ingredient list of the product you're reviewing. If you're just doing videos, then likely stopping to show the box would stop the flow so that's okay. (Plus, to be honest, I've never seen an ingredient list on a video and wouldn't think of sitting through one to see it, so that showing the list there wouldn't be of much use to most people anyway.)

It gets pretty bad with some of the companies, such as Dior and Chanel, that I have to look for Google images of their product boxes to see what's on the ingredient list. I'm not one to demand or request regulation, but I think that any site that sells a cosmetic product should be required to show the ingredient list, or, at least, the site of the manufacturer should have to do so.