Mirror, mirror on the wall...

I have been frequently asked by many readers about how do I manage to have healthy skin and what is my care routine. To be honest, at the beginning I was not sure about posting on this particular subject. 

I used to think that I had no big wisdom to share. 

'My beauty secrets? - I thought -  No big deal at all! '
 But then I started surfing the net to look for any tips from bloggers all around the world.

What I mainly wanted was comparing my own perception with some other people´s criteria.

And do you know what? We had diametrically opposed views.

I went totally perplexed when, after reading more than a dozen beauty blogs, I realized about (and this is just a personal opinion) the bunch of big mistakes they comitted. The most of them were focused on making reviews of semi-professional products which were supposed to be essential for daily skin care regime. From my point of view, there were too many of them in every single post, kind of a cosmetic avalanche. And I started thinking:

'This makes no sense. Why are those ladies so obsessed with getting every new product? This won´t make their skins healthier by itself'.

So I decided I could have something to share after all.

These are my tips for a pretty, young and healthy skin.

This can sound like an obvious principle, but we need to hydratate ourselves both internally and externally.
 The suitable quantity of  liquid to drink is around eight glasses a day, but they don´t need to be exclusively water: juices, infusions, softdrinks or smoothies are good options too. However, remember that drinks containing  caffeine, alcohol or big amounts of sugar do not count. Indeed, they contribute to dehydratation.
If you don´t feel like drinking that much, you can get a reasonable volume of water from fresh fruit. Watermelon, kiwis and oranges contain huge liquid portions. Water helps to eliminate toxins from our body and makes our skin to look younger.

In relation to external hydratation, big companies insist on selling really expensive and useless lotions to us.
Many scientific researches show that the most effective products are those containing big shots of C Vitamin. There are many good brands offering this type of treatments for no more than 10 euros.
Personally, I tried many different creams over the years (my skin is really sensitive) and I finally found the perfect one for me in an unexpensive body + face lotion from Kinesia. I get it in my current supermarket and it costs four euros. Yes, that´s right. Only four euros. The regular bottle lasts for two months or even more, (even if a share it with my man). And on the top of all it, it is cruelty free.
 I can assure that my skin feels young and fresh since I use it.

A good nutrition is as important as a good hydratation.

Anemia is a fast track to a bad look (and better not to speak about health problems).

Try to make your diet complete and well-balanced:

Do you eat fresh veggies three times a week at least? Do you have fruit everyday?

A recent research demonstrates that women who consume big portions of C vitamin show less wrinkles when they turn thirty. This substance is present in citrics, but also in strawberries, kiwis and blueberries.

Having a healthy diet can make us feel a little lazy, but there are simple ways to achieve success.

If you do feel really bored about cooking green stuff every day, well, you can try green smoothies. 

And the same is applied to fruit. One of my favourite smoothies right now contains freeze blueberries and soy milk. 

Really yummy! 

And don´t forget that you can get extra vitamins and minerals from pills. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that multi-vitamin pills do not substitute natural elements. Our body doesn´t synthesize a hundred per cent of artificial vitamins. Keep that in mind!  

Seriously, do you think you need those twenty five beauty bottles that you storage in the bathroom?

Skin PH is very sensitive, and the excess of chemical substances do not help.

If you want to reduce the impact of chemicals in your skin there are several things you can do: first and most obvious, do not saturate your beautiful face with lots of products. Think a little bit about it. 

Exfolitation followed by a mask, followed by hydratation.  

Really?

If you want to feel your skin softer you can eventually substitute your current chemical mask for a homemade natural product once in a while.

 Greek Yoghurt is a miracle, you can trust me.

My personal skin care treatment consists in three basic products:

1. Moisturizing cream (the one mentioned above).  Avena Kinesia Moisturizer.
2. Anti-oxidant Mask (I just apply it once a week). Gisèle Denis, Maque antioxidant au thé blanc.
3. Gentle scrub lotion for both, face and body (once every two weeks). Payot Paris Gommage Douceur & Sanctuary Warming Detox Mask.

Yes, every goth lady knows that.

Excessive sunlight contributes to premature aging. Of course I am not suggesting you totally hide yourself from it (we need it to synthesize vitamin D), but a good parasol and sunscreen on summer will help to make you look younger.

 

Of course it does!

So please, don´t forget to remove all your make up before sleeping. 

During our dream, skin regeneration process takes place. When we clean our skin, and help her breathe, we also remove dead skin cells, excess sebum and pollution accumulated during the day.

♥ My top secret product for a clean and healthy skin is Vichy Purete Thermale.

Besides, let your skin to breathe with no make up on it once in a while (I do it every time I stay at home, specially on the weekends). When I stay at home and I want to keep it simple, I just wash my face with water and a natural Shea Tree soap which has ultra-hydratation power. 

This makes the skin healthier.

 Yes, having good rest also helps to be pretty.

I am sure you notice the difference between a dream session of seven or eight hours to another one of five or six hours. When you don´t sleep properly not only dark circles appear, but also skin feels dry and tense.

Make a favour to yourself and have sweet dreams every night.

Okey, lovelies, this is what I basically do for keeping my skin healthy and young.

I´d like to know what do you think about this.

Is my routine very different from yours?

Born under a Bad Sign

Do you know those days when you realize how lucky  you are?

Yesterday was one of them, The Gentle One was turning thirty two.

 Yes, you guessed: he shares his Birthday with Edgar Allan Poe, so maybe that constitutes a clue about how special he is.

I thought about posting a few pictures of my outfit for such a lovely night, but then I reconsidered the whole situation and decided to keep it in the charming zone of the little impressions.

So there you have just a couple of snaps of our lovely date in a romantic restaurant, as well as the post-celebrations-Sunday-breakfast.

♥ Adorable detail of the lillies in our dinner table last night.

  ♥ Sushi is alway too good.

♥ I am trying not to eat too many treats this year but, who can say no to clover-shaped waffles?

I hope you are as happy as I am, sweethearts! ♥

Late Christmas Loot Post

I dont´know if you think the same about yourselves, but sometimes I feel like a terrible blogger.
I mean, I seriously try to keep clear that very attractive post schedule that I continuously delineate in my mind, but it looks like, somehow, there´s always something trying to frustrate my golden plans.
Call it whatever you want: seminars, deadlines, job, academic reading timeline...
And finally, at the beginning of 2013, I decided I had enough of this.

I am not the kind of person who makes too serious New Year´s resolutions, but If I was, one of them would be stop complaining about the conspiration of the faerie of bad luck and start doing what I really want to.
In this case, honouring myself and my ideal post schedule (which would include, at least, one post a week).

So, in order to begin doing so (and after finding the perfect inspiration in Bella Morte´s lovely blog), I am going to tell a little bit about what was under the Christmas tree this year.
Because I have the cutest family ever, and even though many days passed through since Christmas´ Eve, it hasn´t been so long since 6th of January (which in Spain is another oficial date to be given presents) ♥

♥ This beautiful spiderweb necklance is one of my favourite gifts ever, not for its big value, but for it was given to me by my youngest sister. She is just thirteen years old (her birthday was last week) and she deeply knows my personal tastes and always does her best to find something genuine.

♥ Here you can see the precious ringstone that forms the body of the spider a little better, as well as the precious Venetian mask that The Gentle One bought for me. A girl cannot posibly have too many masks. Ok, I know I say that every single time about opera gloves, shoes and dresses but what?
Raise your hand if you don´t have one several personal fetishes. Shoes, pencil skirts, bags? Yes, then you know what I am speaking about. My man also got me a new blouse and a fake fur shrug. But I´ll show them to you in some future outfit post.

♥ Continuing with my legendary little sister´s contributions, she also got me a huge Yves Rocher Christmas pack. It basically consists on three awesome body milk lotions (vanilla, raspberry and Malasyan coconut) and three matching fragances. Once again: she is totally amazing! She knew I do love Yves Rocher organic products, not only beacuse they are free of any potential animal ingredients, but also because they leave a soft fresh touch in your skin.

♥ My mum, meanwhile, gave this great skin care regime products to me.
I have to confess that I am not a big fan of  L´oreal bussiness politics right now, however their products are still awesome and though I won´t be giving more money to them myself, I cannot reject a present like this from mum, right?

♥ This gorgeous pearl tiara is another gift from mummy.
She is always giving tiaras to me, mainly because (as she says) I am still a little princess to her eyes. Yes, my mum has to be the only one in the world for whom a grown up gothic lady is nothing but a little princess.
Yeah, you´re right, she´s the best!
Daddy contributed with a pair of wellies and a good quality vaccum bottle. Because if mum sees my like a little girl, for dad I am the girl with the eternal cold.
And do you know what? Damn, it´s true!

♥ Going back to The Gentle One he got these two second hand books to me. They are special because Anne Bronte´s works are really hard to find in Spanish, and the edition of Those Little Women is the one of my childhood, so many emotional memories are connected with it.

♥ And finally, my boss gave this cute box of handicraftsman soap just before holiday.
They smell SO good which is hard of define (strawberry, vanilla, lavender...).
I am still trying to avoid to eat them!

I have to say that I received an extra gift last week from my mother-in-law.
She got me a great coat with furry neckline, but ey, you´ll see it here someday, so no worries!

So tell me darlies, were you in Santa´s nice list?

Another Year in the Jar

Now the candles are extinguished and the golden days and nights full of champagne, roses and treats are over, I can sit down and think.

It looks like magic how fast this 2012 has flown away.

Sometimes I wonder if, by some dark spell, I am sleeping in a high tower as the time goes by. 

But ey, that would mean that I am not getting older anymore (and unfortunately I am, that´s for sure darlings).

No regrets, though.

Glancing back,I can see how many things I´ve done this year without even noticing:

• I passed some tedious exams, so I am really close to get my degree now (in the past some subjects were pretty much a bunch of Horror Cruxes to me). 

•  I found a great job that helps to mantain this gorgeous apartment and my quiet lifestyle together mith my better half.

•  I met new friends. It´s so nice when you are able to connect with people who are just your cup of tea.

And what do I wish for this new 2013?

Good question, indeed. I´d like to think that I will be totally finished with my degree and my academic research by the end of this year.
I also want to find a good opportunity to move to the UK (my boyfriend and I have several projects about this).

Adulthood is a funny moment in life, because basically you never know what you are going to find in the path, right? I hope all of you find your own destiny this year.

I send you all my love.

                                                               

Please, don´t forget to check charming Victorian Kitty´s blog as long as she is organizing a month event about New Year!