"You Ain't a Beauty, but Hey, You're Alright"

Ok, so you know that I love my health and beauty products. LOVE them. Pregnancy has caused some health and beauty related changes. They are:

1. Perfume.

I just started wearing perfume again this week. For weeks I could not wear any fragrance since the smell made me sick. I first discovered this when we went on our cruise and I had brought a few samples of perfume that I was loving. I remember sitting at dinner smelling something so gross and then realizing that it was me! It didn't matter what perfume I wore - I could not stand it. The worst was Origins Ginger Essence. I still haven't even TRIED to put that on because the smell was so terrible.

2. Skin care. This was my typical routine - Wash my face every night with Cetaphil, put a thin coat of either Neutrogena Green Tea Stress Relief Acne Gel OR Patricia Wexler Acnostat, followed by Kiehls moisturizer. I would also dabble in eye creams, serums etc depending on what samples I had around.

Well, retinoids (in a lot of serums, eye creams, etc) and salicyclic acid (ingredient in both acne lotions I was using) are no-nos when you are pregnant. This TOTALLY sucks because I could definitely USE these products now, particularly of the acne variety. I don't have full blown acne but I have noticed an increase in blemishes since the little alien came to live in my uterus. So now I still wash my face every night with Cetaphil and follow with the Kiehls moisturizer. No acne creams, no serums, no eye creams, etc. On some blog, I read about how one woman started using the St. Ives Apricot Scrub a few times a week to help with skin issues she had while pregnant so I went to Target and picked up a tube. (I actually purchased the Up & Up (Target brand) knock off of the St. Ives to save an extra buck.) I used to faithfully use this in high school and it sort of took me back. So a couple of mornings a week, i will use this in the shower. It seems to be working well. Since cutting out all the extra sample products, the amount of samples I will have by the time August rolls around is going to be astronomical!

I typically have very dry skin. Typically in winter I also have some eczema issues. I was using Elidel. My doctor thought that this wouldn't be the best choice in the event I had an eczema flare-up. Thankfully, since being pregnant I haven't had any eczema issues and I might even go so far to say as my skin isn't AS dry. It's still dry but not cracked and itchy. I also feel like I NEED deodorant/antiperspirant now. I am constantly hot. Before pregnancy, especially in witner, I often probably forgot to put deodorant on. Now I carry back-ups with me.

Another thing I read somewhere is to try to decrease the amount of makeup you use to help with the whole acne thing. So that leads me to...

#3 Makeup.

This was a hard one for me. I LOVE makeup. I wear a fair amount of it every day including foundation (Laura Mercier), Concealer (Bobbie Brown), Blush (Nars), Bronzer (Laura Mercier), Eye Shadow and Liner (Various), and Lipgloss/Stick (Various). I have eliminated the foundation because I felt like that probably contributes most to gunked up pores. I think the concealor and bronzer do a fair enough job of evening things out. (If you see me and disagree, just lie to me, please. ha ha ha). I think since I have backed away from the foundation, things have improved. I do have separate brushes for each product that I wash regularly as well.

#4 HAIR.

I haven't noticed any changes regarding the hair on my head. I feel like my eyebrow hair grows even faster than it did and I feel like I really have to be on top of my mustache. I broke down and bought some Sally Hansen 'stache wax strips and they are amazing. I might just be addicted to waxing my mustache. This is probably TMI, but if I gave you the link to this blog, I would tell you about this anyways. And some day, if I have a girl and I give these blog posts to her, she too will understand and probably say, "Mom, you were such a dork." To which I will reply, "Yes, I am a dork, but a mustache free dork, sweetie."

If I have a boy, I might just leave this post out of the collection, unless of course he brings home a super hairy girl. ;) ha ha ha.