Fun
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of ZYRTEC®.
This morning I “woke up” to my two year old perched on top of my belly, peering closely into my face. He was poking his chubby little toddler fingers into my eyes, prying open my eyelids. “Wake up eyes, mommy, wake up!”
The last thing I wanted to do was open my eyes. Not just because it wasn’t quite yet six o’clock in the morning, but after an evening spent at a party on an outdoor patio, my eyes were heavy with leftover pollen and puffiness. Ahh, spring. Love it/hate it. Mostly love it. Except for ALLERGY FACE™.
If you succumb to pollen like I do, you know what I’m talking about it. The itchy, watery eyes. The puffy eyelids. The red and swollen nose.
I naively thought I’d escaped allergy season this year as the husband sat sniffling and blowing his nose in the early weeks of spring and I sat there perfectly happy and normal. Then a week later, it hit me. Full-force. And hasn’t stopped yet, though I can hardly imagine how there’s any pollen left after the massive onslaught we had in April – the type of never ending piles of yellow dust that even a good rainstorm can’t wash away.
Even when it eases up a bit, I’m still left with puffy, watery eyes in the morning. Even if you’re not trying to competely hide the effects of ALLERGY FACE™ {I mean face it, sometimes there’s no point}, it can still be tough to wear make-up when you’re battling allergies. Celebrity makeup artist Jamie Greenberg pulled together some tips for ZYRTEC® on how to combat allergy face and still look your best. With tips like sporting bright red lips so you don’t have to worry about watery eyes ruining your mascara, using a highlighting concealer to distract you from the redness, and using cat-eye style liner to demphasize puffy under eyes, Jamie has some great and simple solutions. You can find the six “ALLERGY FACE™” looks she developed here.
Join ZYRTEC® on Twitter Tuesday, June 3rd from 6-7pm for an ALLERGY FACE™ Twitter party. Participants will be entered to win up to $500 in Sephora giftcards, perfect to use towards combating your allergy face. {Simply use the hashtag #AllergyFace to participate.}
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of ZYRTEC®.
Products
It’s really no surprise to anyone when I get sunburned within in minutes of stepping outside. I think I’ve even gotten sunburnt in the middle of winter before.
I’ve pretty much got a routine down now that I’m older and wiser. It basically involves slathering myself in sunscreen even before I go outside, and then again every 30 minutes or less. Needless to say I go through a lot of sunscreen.
Although I wasn’t expecting much sun this past weekend in CT, my routine was no different- I applied sunscreen frantically all day long. And I still got burnt.
It made me wonder if the can of sunscreen I grabbed from the depths of the bathroom sink had gone bad over the winter and I wasn’t protecting myself at all, so when I got home I did some research.
Turns out the sunscreen I was using was pretty stable, so it was just me and my uncanny ability to burn anywhere, any time. But what I did find was even more frightening.
My skin is super, super sensitive to sunscreen, so I use Neutrogena. For years I used to Water Babies because sunscreen hurt so bad to put on, but then Neutrogena came out with their “cooling mist” sunscreen and it rocked.
Until now.
The Environmental Work Group rates products on their toxicity in a number of areas. They give each product a rating from 0-10, 0 being safe and 10 being high risk. Their Skin Deep cosmetics database rates all things cosmetic- from makeup to lotion to perfume and more.
Guess what the Neutrogena sunscreen was? A SEVEN.
Of course this makes me wonder about the other stuff I’m putting on my skin.
My shaving cream that I naively thought was safe because it said it was paraben-free? Not in the system, but the company as a whole is rated 1-6. 1 I’m ok with- 6 I’m not.
My face wash? The exact one I use isn’t listed- but 3 similar ones are and they’re a 5, 6, and 7.
My deodorant- a 4 or 5.
My makeup, at least is safe. Although I don’t wear makeup more often than I do, so that wouldn’t have been a huge concern.
I switched to toxin-free household cleaners earlier this year, which I’m really happy about, but maybe it’s time to look at more than just my cleaning supplies…
Considering how much sunscreen I use, all year round, but especially in the hot months of summer, it’s time to find some new sunscreen to be loyal to. Adios, Neutrogena.
Do you pay attention to what ingredients you use on your skin? What about in your home?
