Salicylic acid: What does it do for your skin?

If you check the ingredients list on many of your favorite and most effective acne treatments and face washes, you'll find an ingredient that tops almost every list.  Salicylic acid, a weaker beta-hydroxy acid, is fantastic for getting rid of many troubling skin conditions because of it's natural ability to hasten and replenish the desquamation process. This process is the natural way in which your skin cells are "sloughed away and replaced." (Need more information about what desquamation is and how it works? Read here and here.)

When your skin has a lot of trouble healing and / or recovering from bad bouts of acne, you probably have a problem with your skin's desquamation process.  This means that the rate at which your skin should be replenishing itself is either too slow, or could possibly not even be happening if you keep piling on products like heavy or thick cosmetics.

Salicylic acid, a lovely extract from willow bark and other completely natural and green sources, is not only the way we get rid of acne, oily skin, and blotch problems.  Salicylic acid is also how we create something great for our bodies AND skin -- aspirin!  (Remember aspirin face masks?  Bring them back, cause they work!  Try this video from Michelle Phan, and this article from yours truly. ♥ )

"Products that use salicylic acid normally boast the ability to help cure (or completely cure) cases of mild acne, dandruff, and psoriasis, among others. Since it is extracted from willow bark, salicylic acid is considered an organic ingredient in many aspects and is a key ingredient in many natural skincare products, as well as shampoos, conditioners, and acne-friendly moisturizing products as well. When this ingredient was extracted at first, it was used to help ease pain of injury and illness, giving us what aspirin is today. Aspirin is made by utilizing a reaction that occurs within salicylic acid, so using aspirin based recipes for your skin can also greatly improve an existing condition like acne..."

 (Read more of this article on salicylic acid and your desquamation process here.)


Looking for some products that contain salicylic acid?  Here are a few you may already be familiar with:

Neutrogena Acne Rapid Clear Daily Treatment Pads
Olay 7 in 1 Anti-Aging Salicylic Acid Acne Cleanser
St Ives Swiss Formula Medicated Apricot Scrub
Psoriasil Body Wash from Tao of Herbs


As always, there are people that have sensitivities and reactions to certain beta-hydroxy acids.  Make sure you check with your dermatologist if you have any serious skin conditions before you start a skincare regimen using products heavy in salicylic acid.

I hope this helped out! ♥ webcake xoxo

Using hemp & hemp seed oil to vastly improve your skin's health!

No, I am not exaggerating when I say you can "vastly" improve your skin's health using hemp products and extracts!  There are many products made using hemp oils and hemp seed oils that are used for severely dry skin, as well as skin conditions like eczema, excessive acne problems, and problems with blotchy skin.

There have been testimonials of people for years and years (since it became legal to grow the crop again in Canada in 1998, anyway.)  of people that have had fantastic results with hemp seed oil and hemp oil.

The craziest part about it though, is that when you search the internet far and wide, you can only find very minimal negative reviews of hemp seed oil products, and it's almost ALWAYS by someone who's a puff-chested anti-drug that can't muster the brain cells to tell the difference between hemp and cannabis.

I won't go into all the hemp plant's many other uses that could not only enrich our lives, but stimulate a dying economy, so instead I'll just focus on it's great uses in the beauty world.  I wrote a helpful article on using hemp oil &  hemp seed oil at home yourself to greatly improve the health of your hair and skin.  You can read it here.  If you're interested in what popular high-rated products use hemp seed oil and/or hemp oil as a main ingredient, here are a few:

Body lotion and bath products from Yaoh! Organic Products
Hempz Haircare Products (AMAZING products.)
Good ol' Burts Bees hemp Res-Q lip balm
GiGi Hemp Skincare Products  (Ultra-moisturizing wax & lotions)

There's plenty of simple ways to use the extracts and oils of the hemp plant right in your own home to get great results.  If you've got a skin, hair, or other condition and it's possible to cure it with hemp oils and extracts, shouldn't you give it a try?

Yes, that is a hemp wiimote. Stay cute, smart, & green! ♥ xoxo

Sweet special things!! L'Oréal Vive Pro & Harajuku Lovers LOVE fragrance ♥

I hope everyone had a beautiful and happy holiday! I plan on sticking to my resolution this year. I hope everyone else does too...and honestly, I usually completely space mine and never do it anyway. But this time, it's different!

So let's take a quick look at some of the neat stuff I've received recently. I got two things in particular that were my favorites!

First, is the absolutely magnificent Harajuku Lover's perfume in LOVE.


First is the super cute doll bottle and the little mini. And get this, that little mini slider is full of solid perfume...and it's shimmery! It's a transluscent shimmer and it smells so sweet!

LOVE is Gwen Stefani's scent, and has hints of Rose, Peach, Pink Pomelo, Ylang Ylang, Watery Peony, Bamboo Leaf, Jasmine Sambac, Creamy Paperwhites, Egyptian Jasmine, Musk, Blond Wood, Vanilla, Bergamot, and Nectarine Blossom!

It all comes together to smell sweet, soft, and tOOoooOOotally sexy. There's a peeve I have with it though...that it doesn't last as long as I would like. I love it when pretty scents cling to my sweatshirts, and have people saying how good I smell *all* day when I only apply it in the morning. Other than that, it's wondersextastic. I totally recommend it if you like a soft combination of floral and woodsy.

Another neato thing that I got was L'Oréal Vive Pro Glossy Body Boosting Shampoo! It's for fine hair, which I certainly have. My hair is totally thin and gets dry and oily way too easily depending on what's in my shampoo...so it's totally hard to find something that I can use continuously. (Other than Dr. Bronner's Rose.)


See that? Glossy Volume! Automatically I thought "greasy heavy mess", but I was way wrong.

This stuff works GREAT! Usually my problem is that shampoo meant to give body to hair usually adds a lot of weight to it too. That's really counterproductive in hair like mine, it's just thin and flat. This shampoo doesn't seem to do that though, it just adds some gentle bounce and softness, and it even makes it look shiny without looking greasy!

There's never a gross film when I rinse this stuff out in the next shower, either. That's usually why I can tell shampoos aren't great for my hair, because they still leave a residue later at night or the day after.

Well, that's all for now! Hope everyone enjoys coming down from their new year's festivities ;)