Empties #1: Skincare Staples

LEFT: Lypsyl's Intense Protection LypMoisturizer
RIGHT: Vivite's Replenish Hydrating Cream

PURCHASED

Hi! Today was finally warm (40's) and semi-sunny but...because of all the ice that's accumulated the past month and a half, the landscape has still been a nuisance with deep puddles everywhere. And ever since I got back from California, my disgust for NYC has only gotten worse, but oh well. Onto the content of today's post!

If you've read some of my other beauty/The Ice Block posts, you may have heard me rant about my skin many, many times before. Over the past 2 years, my skin's sensitivity has gone to a whole new level. It started with heavily chapped, peeling lips, turned into two incidents of a full-face rash, with skin peeling around my eyes, cheeks, chin, and mouth area, and finished with random incidents of dry/itchy/flaky areas specifically near my chin and between my nose and upper lip, as well as random hormonal breakouts (oh the joys of having oily skin THAT STILL FLAKES!) and incidents of hives that turn into dry patches.

In short, my skin has been a war zone. While I still, to this day, have yet to pinpoint the exact cause (except hives, which are always food-related for me), I've managed to find two products that have helped me put up a winning fight against whatever that cause is: Lypsyl's Intense Protection LypMoisturizer and Vivite's Replenish Hydrating Cream.

This is my first "Empties" post and I guess you can call it a combined review of two or more products that I've clearly developed an opinion on. After all, I've used them up completely.

The IceBlock [1]: Digestion & California!

Hi everyone ~ I decided to come up with a new section, The IceBlock, where I pretty much talk about what's going on in my life, much like a diary of sorts. I thought I'd number them for the hell of it too, just to see how many I can rack up. :o

I didn't post yesterday because I was quite busy with food shopping and cooking with my mom, all while dealing with digestion problems! I plan on talking about this in more detail later but, in a nutshell, I've been dealing with hormonal imbalance since I struck puberty. One of the first ways I tried to combat it was homeopathy, because I was terrified of all the side effects that come with birth control (which I ended up on anyway as of Decemberish 2010).

In the end, homeopathy seemed to do nothing for my hormonal balance, BUT it did manage to make my stomach very sensitive to all kinds of things thanks to the many diets it entailed. Now I'm almost always visiting the bathroom after eating small amounts of packaged chocolate snacks, chips, 'outdoor' food, and candy. Yes, most of it is junk food so that can't be a terrible thing, but like every other person in this world I have cravings and I cannot satisfy them without getting sick afterwards! -_-