Basic Daily Skincare Routine

This blog post is to go along with my YouTube video here:

The essentials are this:
No matter whether you do or do not wear makeup, it is important to get into the habit of washing and moisturizing your face every morning and night. 

I personally have acne prone skin that is very sensitive. It is neither dry nor oily but really doesn't like heavy perfumes or harsh chemicals. I tend to get cystic acne the worst, though I do get black heads and white heads too. I'm also very pale and sensitive to sun exposure.

I recommend to really get an idea of what kind of skin you have. Is it drenched in oil at the end of the day? Is it dry and flaky? Are some parts dry and some parts oily? If you have that last one, welcome to "normal/combination" skin like me. Try using a product for at least a solid week steadily before making any judgement on it. That is of course provided you don't have an immediate allergic reaction.

For my skin, I like gentle exfoliating washes. This one has lactic acid in it. I use this daily but you could get by with every other day if your skin isn't very clogged. Or if its hardly clogged at all, I'd only use it once a week. This is what I use right now and what I'm talking about in the video:
https://www.murad.com/product/renewing-cleansing-cream/

For acne breakouts, I am insanely in love with this salicylic acid cleanser. It's not too rough for me, I will use it daily if I'm not using the above wash.
https://www.murad.com/product/adult-acne-cleanser/

And I learned after shooting the video that Murad doesn't make their Sulfur Spot Treatment anymore! I've had it for a long time because a little goes a very long way and you only want to put it on your acne spots. If you use it all over, your skin will absolutely dry out and hate you. But I do see Murad has a Sulfur Mask here (that I have yet to check out):
http://www.ulta.com/acne-complex-clarifying-mask?productId=prod2082346

And I'm currently using EradiKate Acne treatment for problem spots. Which I WILL be reviewing hopefully soon since I've already shot video for that. Here are the details:
https://www.sephora.com/product/eradikate-acne-treatment-P232903

I also mention this is my favorite moisturizer. This stuff is great for acne prone skin because it is not heavy, has no oil, has no fragrance, and absorbs quickly. I sometimes get knock off CVS brand, but the actual Neutrogena brand is slightly,  but noticeably, better by a small increment:
http://www.neutrogena.com/skin/skin-moisturizers/oil-free-moisture-sensitive-skin/6805400.html?cgid=skin-moisturizers#start=16

Blue Apron - First Recipe - Black Pepper Beef

This post is to go along with my YouTube unboxing video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhZINWwRglY

And this blog is about my first recipe!

FIRST, though, you are probably asking "WTF is Blue Apron anyway?"

It's basically a lazy way to get delicious fresh ingredients and recipes sent to your doorstep like the partially lazy piece of crap you are. I might be projecting here a bit. I personally have a really hard time getting out and doing fresh grocery shopping with any kind of frequency. We go shopping like once a month. So that results in a lot of frozen food. This is nice for fresh.

"Sounds Expensive."

I'm not going to say this is cheap. Because it isn't. It's $60 basically for 3 meals a week for 2 adults. And our monthly huge grocery shopping haul is usually just under $300 (again for 2 adults). But, its fresh. Its delivered to your house. You are paying for convenience. And it's cheaper and healthier than ordering GrubHub for 3 nights a week! There are two huge ice blocks in the box that you can use again later in your cooler. So its not without reason behind the cost.

(click to en-biggen any photos)

You can change your plan and when it is delivered here:

Here are the other pricing options:

"Cool. I have dietary restrictions. What about that?"

I was really kind of irritated you couldn't list food allergies or other dietary restrictions. Specifically, I am on a Keto diet. And my mom is diabetic. I was trialing this to see if it was easy enough and had the right food options to test and see if I could get this for my mom as a gift. As it stands right now, I don't think I will get it for her. But I've only prepared 1 of 3 meals sent to me so far. There are options for vegetarian and what kind of meats you want. Check it out here:

FINALLY, on to the ACTUAL FOOD ITSELF. This is the first recipe I made. Its the Black Pepper Beef.

All the ingredients come labeled and in bags. With only a few exceptions. It also came with a handy card that said what to refrigerate and what not to. And even where to put it in the fridge.

The little paper bag had the sauces and seasonings. The only seasoning it called for that didn't come with it was salt. And it asked for olive oil for frying.

Again, the carbs on this were way too high for a Keto diet, so not entirely sure if I want to stick with this.

For prettiness, I did each step of the recipe and put them in nice little bowls. The literally give you a step by step. I do recommend reading them once through before proceeding though.

Here are all the vegetables in the wok. Bok choy, islander pepper, scallions, ginger, garlic. You do the rice vinegar 1 min before it comes out.

This is the already-cut meat.

I mixed the ponzu sauce, black pepper, sweet chili sauce into the little bowl. Moved the veg out and the meat in. After the meat was nearly all cooked, I put the veg back in and added the liquid.

Here is the final plate with the jasmine-garlic rice underneath and garnished with the chives.

This shows the front of the recipe card. The back has the step-by-step instructions.

OVERALL, I give it a 10 out of 10 for flavor and ease.

It was very delicious. And was the perfect amount for two adults. No leftovers. It took about 35+ minutes for me to do this. But I went a little beyond: I prepped everything first into dishes and then cooked it and washed the dishes while the next step cooked. I don't like a dirty kitchen and to me it was worth the extra time to have everything all laid out like a cooking show. 

This would be $240 if I get it every week of the month. And again, our normal monthly grocery bill is about the same-ish, $300. And sometimes we stretch more than a month. So is it worth the money? Eh, it really depends on what you normally spend. If you are going out to eat all the time? Sure. Probably cheaper. For me, maybe once a month would be OK. I cook on my own for much cheaper obviously. I ultimately don't think this is affordable for me personally. It was really yummy and I do think the instructions were easy to follow. But kinda pricey for me. 

Stay tuned to other reviews of similar services!

Vanilla Birthday Cake

I have a massive backlog of Drafts from before I bailed on my Blog previously. Since I don't have the original images intended for them, I will find images online and use those instead. So if you see the tag #backlog in any post, you know that I had it all lined up in the past but either had some light (or very heavy) editing depending on the content I had already written. With all that said, onward to the post!

It's no secret I love Philosophy body washes. I love anything that allows me to smell like delicious edible baked goods. That and my skin is too sensitive for perfumes and I generally don't like the smell of 99% of perfume out there.

What I love about the birthday cake is that it smells just like b-day cake. The smell seems overwhelming sometimes in the shower, but it's not as strong once you dry off. That's not to say you can't smell it at all but it isn't as intense as a perfume would be. And it wears off as the day goes on.

The bodywash isn't particularly moisturizing, so use it every-other day in the winter or if you have very dry skin in general. It also might be too much for someone even more sensitive to fragrances. But I'm one of those people who get yeast infections from laundry detergent that has scent and I do just fine with it. Just don't use this directly on your genitals, and I think you will be fine.

I also don't recommend this for shampoo or bubble bath. It sucked for shampoo because I get dandruff easily and this made it worse. Also, it stripped my hair color out. In regards to bubble bath, I've still yet to find a bubble bath or bath bomb that doesn't give me a massive yeast infection. So I avoid soaking in strong smells or chemicals in any way.

You can buy it from Philosophy directly here: http://www.philosophy.com/vanilla-birthday-cake-shower-gel.html