Not only are The Ordinary products essential to my skincare regimen, but I have seen the effectiveness of their products on my skin. This brand is a brand that I genuinely love and support. It is a brand with products that are effective, affordable, and made with clean ingredients. The Ordinary, a Deciem brand, focuses on functional beauty and unlike other beauty brands in the industry, integrity is something that they highly prioritize. For a beauty company to be transparent, good quality, and affordable is rare. 

   I definitely plan on trying more products from The Ordinary, but for now I'm going to share my 3 tried and true products with you. However before I do, I think it's important to note that if you  purchase any of these products, as with any skincare product, do a patch test and wait 24 hours to see how your skin reacts. If you have no reactions you're safe to use the product, do follow the product instructions and visit the website if you're unsure whether you can or cannot use the product(s) in conjunction with other skincare products as certain skincare products should not be used together.

My 3 Tried & True Products From The Ordinary:

1. The Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% - If you've talked skincare with me then you know I love this serum. I credit this serum with being the main contributor in clearing my skin when it got plagued with hormonal acne last year. It helps to decongest pores, improve skin texture, and balance sebum activity. I use this serum morning and night before moisturizing. I apply it directly to my T-zone and to any breakouts I may currently have. 

Disclaimer: This serum should not be used in the same routine as Vitamin C or on dry patches as it can cause irritation and redness. 

2.The AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution - I use this product to exfoliate my skin and help fade the scars that my hormonal acne left on my face. If you're looking for an intense exfoliator, then this is the product for you. It helps to remove dead skin cells, decongest pores, improve skin texture, and fine lines. This product is meant to be used once a week and I personally like to use this peel at night. Anytime I leave my house after using this product that week, I make sure to apply sunscreen as new skin is exposed due to exfoliation.

3. The Caffeine Solution 5% + EEG  - I haven't had a product specifically for my eyes in a while, so I picked up this eye serum. I apply it as directed both morning and night. It helps with dark circles and puffiness. 

   The Ordinary products can be purchased at Deciem.com, Ulta.com, or at your local Ulta Beauty store. If you have any favorites from The Ordinary, I'd love to hear about them.

Love, 

             Des.

   For some time now, I've been wanting to give Blessed Protein, a subsidiary of EHP Labs, a try. Before Blessed Protein, I had never tried a plant based protein that actually tasted good and didn't bloat or hurt my stomach. One thing that sets Blessed Protein apart from other supplement companies is the range of flavors they offer. Their flavor selections are always appealing and you can always expect them to launch new and appetizing flavors. They don't conform to only providing limited, basic flavors like most supplement companies, instead they're hard at work formulating the next mouthwatering flavor. Currently, Blessed Protein has 9 flavors to choose from with one of the flavors being a limited edition and all of their flavors are naturally flavored. 

   Before I get into the taste of the Peanut Butter Cups and the Salted Caramel flavors, I'd like to mention a few things. First I tried both flavors out with two kinds of plant based milks. One of the two, was a banana milk by the brand Mooala and I'm telling you, if you like bananas in your smoothies or protein shakes, you'll love this banana milk. The second plant based milk was, an unsweetened almond milk by the Almond Breeze brand. I have no idea what any of these protein powders would taste like with water, I personally don't like drinking anything that's in powder form with water, not even hot chocolate. I'm not about that life. Lastly, I recommend using a shaker cup that has measurements to accurately follow the serving directions on the back of the protein powder container. Not measuring things out as directed can affect the taste, too much fluid and you water down the flavor, too much powder and not enough fluid and it'll taste overly concentrated. Now that I got that out of the way, lets get into these two flavors starting with Peanut Butter Cups.

Peanut Butter Cups

     One thing about me, I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, shout out to The Hershey Company for giving us the chocolate and peanut butter combination we didn't know we needed. So when Blessed Protein introduced the Peanut Butter Cups flavor I definitely wanted to try it out. At the same time, I was on the fence about it because I wasn't sure if the flavor was going to have an even balance of chocolate and peanut butter. I didn't want to buy the protein powder and be disappointed if only tasted like peanut butter or straight up chocolate and not both, but I purchased it anyway and gave it a try. I actually wasn't disappointed at all and this flavor quickly became my favorite. The Peanut Butter Cups flavor tastes like a combination of chocolate and peanut butter. In my opinion, you're able to get a taste of both flavors and they don't overpower each other. 

Salted Caramel

    My go to Starbucks drink is the Salted Caramel Frappuccino, I love that drink. I get that drink so much that I know how to order it when it's no longer in season, shout out to the barista who hooked me up with that info. I think you know where this is going, of course I purchased the OG Salted Caramel flavor. Now let's get into the taste, what does it taste like? in my honest opinion, this flavor tastes like honey graham crackers with a hint of maple syrup. That is as accurate as I can be with the description of this flavor. I didn't really get much of a salty taste but honestly, I did enjoy the taste. Some vegan protein powders taste like v8 even though the flavor on the label says it's salted caramel, chocolate, or vanilla. That's not the case with Blessed Protein, it doesn't taste like a bitter concoction of vegetables and they really try to get as close as possible to the intended flavor.

    The Details

    I was genuinely impressed with how well Blessed Protein pulled this off, it's such clean protein and it doesn't taste gross. Blessed Protein is an all natural, vegan, pea isolate protein that contains 23 grams of protein in every scoop. It also contains all the essential amino acids with only 4 grams of net carbs, and is dairy, soy, and gluten free. You can purchase these plant based protein powders in two serving sizes. A 15 serving size which retails for $34.95, and a 30 serving size that retails for $49.95. They often have sales but on the regular, you can save a couple dollars by purchasing two or more protein powders at checkout. There's also a 3 pack bundle option for both serving sizes which allows you to choose between all the flavors and helps you save between $25 to $30. 

    Blessed Protein can be purchased at Ehplabs.com. I'm definitely going to be trying more flavors, so if you have a go-to Blessed Protein flavor, I'd love to hear about it. 

Love,

                 Des.

      Last year, I was going through it in all kinds of ways and one of those ways happened to be acne, hormonal acne to be exact. I've never dealt with my skin in this condition and for four months I often wondered when my skin would return to its normal state (you can read about it here: What I learned About my Hormonal Acne and How Reinventing my Skincare Routine Got Rid of It). 

    In that post I talk about what caused my hormonal acne and how I built the skincare routine that got rid of it. In this post, I'm going to focus on one of the products from that skincare routine that cleared my skin. If I wouldn't have incorporated this product into my regimen, I honestly don't think my skin would have improved in the way that it did. Once this product was introduced to my skincare regimen, my hormonal acne that would not go away ended up going away once and for all. So what is this serum I speak of?

HERE'S  HOW  I  APPLY  IT:

‣How often: 2x's a day as directed, morning and night after cleansing my skin and before moisturizing.

‣Where: Directly on my T-Zone, I also use it as an acne spot treatment and apply it to any breakouts I may have at the moment.

Disclaimer: This serum should not be used in the same routine as Vitamin C or on dry patches as it can cause irritation and redness.

      Even though my skin cleared up, I continued to use this serum. I love this serum, and it has become and remained an essential in my skincare routine. It balances my sebum production and decongests my pores which keeps my skin in check. 

    What skincare product is an essential in your skincare routine? I'd love to know.

Love,

                 Des. 

   I prefer floral-woody notes in my perfumes, and while I browsed the KKW Fragrance website, I kept my fragrance personality in mind. The two fragrances that fit my fragrance personality and caught my attention were the KKW X KRIS fragrance (you can read my review here: KKW X KRIS Review) and Olive, which is a part of Kendall Jenner's collaboration with KKW Fragrance and is inspired by Kendall's love for the outdoors.

Design:

Scent description:

     Olive is a unisex fragrance and it has a musky, aromatic scent. It's not too subtle or overpowering, I find it to be right in-between. When you first spray Olive, it starts off as a refreshing, dewy, and earthy scent. As the middle notes kick in you begin to get a true sense of the fragrance. Gradually as it dries down and the base notes begin to set in, the scent intensifies and you get a warm-woody, sweet, clean scent. Olive is a unique fragrance and it has become one of my favorite fragrances in my collection.

    As far as strength, there seems to be mixed reviews about the strength of the fragrance, with some people stating that it lasts all day, while others say the opposite. In my experience the scent is most intense when first applied. As I wear it throughout the day, it starts to calm down leaning more on the subtle side but it doesn't disappear completely. In fact, the fragrance is still very much present on my clothing the following day. Fresh, light and delicate, with a subtle, long lasting scent is actually what Kendall Jenner stated she had envisioned for her collection. In my experience, the fragrance lived up to that expectation because it is exactly that.

   Olive retails for $40 and can be purchased in store at Ulta Beauty or online at KKWFragrance.com. What's your favorite KKW Fragrance(s)?  I would love to hear about them. 

Love, 

              Des.

     Last year during the nationwide lockdown my skin took a turn for the worst. In all my years, I've never dealt with any type of acne apart from the occasional blemish that would emerge and eventually disappear in about 1 to 2 weeks. This time in particular the breakouts were not going away and I'll be honest, sometimes I pick at my face with my blackhead extractor tool to remove blackheads. Yes, I'm well aware that picking at my face causes breakouts. However, at this point in time I did absolutely nothing to bring this acne upon myself. I even told myself, "just don't touch your face and the breakouts will go away", only they didn't.

    What I ended up learning was that stress affects our body in many ways. I think we can all agree that 2020 was a hectic and stressful year and for four months that stress was displayed on my face. During those four months I often wondered how long until my skin would return to its original state. So I idly stood by waiting for the day that my chin acne would just disappear, just kidding. I turned to good ol' google to get answers on what was happening with my skin and why. Here's what I found, the acne that had presented itself on my skin was hormonal. Hormonal acne can be triggered by stress and when we're stressed our adrenal glands release cortisol. Cortisol is a helpful hormone that plays an essential role in a number of bodily functions including the body's stress management. Basically, when we become stressed our cortisol levels rise thus altering our hormones. In my case, the stress I was undergoing caused a spike in my skin's sebum production. This higher than normal sebum production caused many of my pores to become clogged leading me to experience many blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, and cysts like never before. My breakouts went from making an occasional appearance on skin to a consistent appearance and I had to do something about it.

    Being that I was lost and didn't know how to handle what was happening to my skin, I almost purchased a Curology subscription. However, I decided not to go through with it because I didn't want to subscribe to something that I wasn't sure was going to work let alone pay monthly. I prefer to just walk into a store and get what I need when I need it and call it a day which is something a subscription can't offer me. That's just my personal preference, no shade to Curology or any skin care subscription at all.

    So what did I do?

Went back to the basics of skin care and the basics are:

  After going back to the basics and understanding that I only need a cleanser, exfoliator, serums, and moisturizer, I did my research, read and watched many reviews, and reinvented my skin care routine. (If  your interested in knowing which products I incorporated into my routine see the video below.)

Cleanse: