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June 17, 2008

Skin Care: I Just Sold My Skin To The Garden Of Wisdom!

A couple months after MakeupFix.net was born, I took baby steps into changing my skin care routine around by slowly shying away from commercial cleansers and using natural ingredients. Going this route doesn't work for everyone but no matter what your skin care routine consists of, makeup needs a canvas to work with.

Some may recollect my post on the Oil Cleansing Method, which I started at the beginning of the year and even until now (nearly half a year later!) I'm still going strong in. I still use Kukui Nut Oil as an everyday moisturizer and over a month's time, I have also incorporated a Red Wine Vinegar/Aloe Vera Juice toner into my daily routine. My face gets spot treated with a Glacial Clay and Aloe Vera Juice mixture about once a week for those annoying to dry out any blemishes that appear and masked with the same mixture every couple of weeks because it can be a bit drying for my face as a whole. My more frequent weekly exfoliation is carried out using the Garden of Wisdom's Takrai Lemongrass Cleanser and Perfekt Pumpken Mask every few or so days, depending on how game my skin wants to be. And compared to others I've seen, my routine is the "simple" routine!

But with my Garden of Wisdom (GoW) samples running out and a thirst to incorporate more into my routine, I upped the ante BIG TIME!

I've been a lurker on the Garden of Wisdom Forum from time to time, but over the past couple of weeks, I've really been cramming my brain with knowledge on finding out which products would best suit my skin type and address certain concerns I have with it (you can say I'm targeting specifics now like smoothing out fine lines, more pore degunking, maintaining hydration, even out my skin texture, etc...).



From there I've been insanely filling my shopping cart with product recommendations from the forum participants at the Garden of Wisdom Store.



But what is the Garden of Wisdom? Markey Martin and Jen Flanagan are the brains behind the operation and in a nutshell, it's an information hub where you can learn tons about natural alternatives for skin care. Whether it's getting help on formulating your own recipes, reading testaments of what and how it's worked for others whose skin-types are all over the spectrum, or shopping for raw ingredients, this site is a blessing in disguise.

The Garden of Wisdom Forum is where all the priceless information is contained. It's a friendly and safe environment where even a newbie like myself was welcomed without intimidation. All the moderators on the forum are extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and have an eager willingness to help everyone.

The Garden of Wisdom Store is an online shop that has an endless amount of raw ingredients (from essential oils to preservatives to packaging equipment) and a great place for those who like concocting their own mixtures. And within the store there's even a GoW Finished Products section dedicated to those who want to just pick ready-made products rather than doing the science behind it.

With the help of Lain (GoW Moderator and quite the enabler - BEWARE, she's better at adding to your cart than taking away!) and Li, another GoW Moderator, who has also been kind and insightful with her immense knowledge on the subject through her posts, responses, and blog, I got together a potential regime to take my routine to another level.

These are the products I'm looking forward to experimenting with once they arrive:



All this may sound and look a little foreign to those who are more familiar with commercial skin care products (I know it did to me!) but thank goodness for the Internet because that's where the "I don't know" slowly turns into knowledge gained.

If this subject is something that interests you but you don't know where to begin, or perhaps you're still hesitant and/or skeptical about the whole natural approach, definitely check out the forum and lurk the posts, or go in and introduce yourself! I'll warn you now that information overload is definitely a side effect to the wealth of information you'll find, but they are a great bunch who really know what they're talking about and are always willing to help.

I hope everyone is ready for yet another week :) I know I'm as ready as I'll ever be, hah.

Aloha,
Mrs. Lynne

To stay current with my experiments and findings as I incorporate more natural skin care products into my skin care regimen, please subscribe to the feed or enter your email and have posts like this, and many more, sent directly to you!

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10 makeovers:

Shizznizzle said...

Holla sis !!! I'm a GoW believer too :) oh I love my Fruity Exfo, Jen's Green Tea Cleanser, Melissa Hydrosol, Mandelic Acid 10% & I have Kukui Nut Oil on the way ^_^

hope you gonna love your super duper huge haul. daym! LOL

Shawnta said...

I love Jen's Green Tea Cleanser (just ordered my full size one yesterday), the Tekari Lemon grass cleanser, the exfo pads,glacial clay, and seamolent. With the oil cleansing method I haven't been able to branch out to many other oils cause my skin only seems to like olive oil, castor oil, or coconut oil, but boy do you have fun experimenting!

Christiana Divine @ Memoirs of A Shopping Addict said...

well, well, well... look at all these people loving their natural skin care. ;) you've done me proud woman. hahaha. :) it's been a while since i've stepped foot in the GoW forum. i should stop in and say hi to all those knowledgeable ladies! :)

Mrs. Lynne, MakeupFix.net said...

I'm so glad you already have the products that I'm waiting to receive Sis Nanzy! Lain spoke very highly of the Melissa Hydrosol (as well as everything else in my haul, lol!) so I'm excited to try it out. I was also going to add the Cistus Hydrosol, but I think I'll look into that once I get myself acquainted with my new friends ;)

What is your routine so far?

Mrs. Lynne, MakeupFix.net said...

Next to being a makeup addict, I think I'm becoming a skin care addict also Shawnta! And I actually just did a Glacial Clay mask a few minutes ago with some honey and my skin feels so much better than it did when I did it water. I love the way we can change up our routines to try it with different products. I'm really excited to try out the ReNew cream. I hope my face just gets reborn, lol!

What is your routine so far?

Mrs. Lynne, MakeupFix.net said...

You should Sis Chris! And while you're in there, let them know how many people you've converted to become GoW followers, lol.

Have you hauled from the GoW store recently?

Imee said...

GoW has OWNED me since February! I love their Exfo Cleanser and Pineapple Mist. I hope you will find these items useful, too!

Mrs. Lynne, MakeupFix.net said...

Yay Imee! Another GoW sista' in the house :D

For the longest time I wanted to start my skin care with GoW products, but only recently went in and filled my cart. So until just recently, I was making my own products with what I could find around the house or pick up from the store.

Do you have other products that are part of your skin regimen besides the Exfo Cleanser and Pineapple Mist (I got this)?

Imee said...

I do actually! I have a few but the ones that have really left a great impression on me are the Takrai Lemongrass cleanser, the honey serum (Christiana told me she loooves this stuff, too!) and the virgin coconut creme oil.

Mrs. Lynne, MakeupFix.net said...

I have the Takrai Lemongrass cleanser too Imee. It's nice. Reminds me of an olive oil, sugar, honey scrub I made a while back.

You should check out some of GoW's new stuff! They have a new bath body oil made with the coconut creme, if you that kind of stuff :D

Are there other things on your GoW list that you want to get?

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