Arbonne 5 Day Challenge - Day 5.2

The last wash of my five day challenge was a great accomplishment. Not only did I complete the trial, but I think I have a new habit! I am going to continue for another week - mostly because I am so pleased with the results, but also because I feel like it starts my day off on a healthy footing.

This morning's photo doesn't look a lot different from yesterday's, but I can happily say that the breakouts I was having on the left side of my face are almost completely gone, reduced all the way down to just tiny irregularities of the skin.

The before and after pictures are below, and tonight is after I took off my makeup, busy day and all! Overall, I could not be happier with the trial. Simple, doesn't take half as long as I thought it would,  and really improved the condition, moisture content, and feel of my skin! My skin is also much more cooperative with make up, and much easier to clean off without suffering any ill affects (break outs, redness or irritation)!

I would imagine that the improvement would only increase with time, so let's see where I end up! Next up is the Revelage line to see if it affects the discolored spots!

...Nature girl

Arbonne 5 Day Challenge - Day 5.1

So sometimes you just don't wake up in the morning. Two different alarms next to my bed and do you think either one woke me up? Not a chance. The end result was that I missed the am wash but squeezed in a quick photo at about noon after my day slowed down just a smidge.

I didn't even get a chance to look at my skin until the night wash, and though I looked like I had been hit by a train my skin didn't really show it! Usually when I get really exhausted it shows under my eyes, my skin changes color, and I look like "death warmed over" as the family saying goes. Last night the bags under my eyes were no worse than they ever are, my skin still had the "glow" to it, and though I was still obviously tired - I didn't look unhealthy. All big bonuses in my book!

...Nature girl

Arbonne 5 Day Challenge - Day 4

Big thing I noticed today, I now need less product! Especially the serum and day cream. My skin is definitely more evenly moisturized and it doesn't drink up every step as quickly as at the beginning of this experiment. Today there are 2 pictures of the beginning of the day. One in the same place as always, and the second two steps back so I don't have as much glare on my forehead:

The bumps on the left side of my face are almost completely gone and the redness is not only the same as on the other side, but it is diminishing as well. I feel like the dark spots are not as pronounced, but still obviously there, and there has been no change to the lighter areas on my forehead.

After the morning wash I thought I would try to use my version of makeup to see if there would be any difference to how makeup felt. Normally makeup makes my skin feel a little heavy and I don't like that my skin just sucks up everything and then the makeup settles into all my little lines. Not very pretty.

Today though, after the am wash, I put on my primer, tinted moisturizer, mattifying powder and eye shadow. I kid you not, it felt like NOTHING was there. It was so comfortable that I pretty much forgot about it until the night wash.

When I did the night wash, I didn't use any makeup remover! All I needed was a little extra of the cleanser. The cleanser effectively took off all the eye makeup with only a little scrubbing with a wash cloth and I didn't get any stinging eyes. My skin is more and more resilient and I love it!

...Nature girl

Arbonne 5 Day RE9 Challenge - Day 3

Well day 3 has arrived and I stand on the metaphorical tipping point of this trial.  So far so good of doing the system two times a day, I find it very motivating when I know I have to post the days results at night. Here is the morning shot of Day 3.

The little bumps on my left cheek are definitely diminishing...not gone, but getting smaller, YAY! I feel like the makeup lights over my sink are putting so much glare on my forehead and nose that you can't really see the discoloration under and over my eyes, to note well if they have changed...I feel like they are evening out...just a little bit.

The next series of pictures are "amount" pictures, just to show how little of this product is ACTUALLY needed. 

 This is the cleanser. If you are looking for lots of bubbles, you won't find it here! Sulfates are what cause body washes and skin cleanser to bubble so beautifully but they are harsh and can leave the skin feeling dry and tight. You only need a medium pea sized amount of this product to smooth on all over damp skin (this is on my pointer finger, and I sort of smeared the "pea"...sorry) and massage with fingers or a warm washcloth - whatever you prefer. Rinse and pat dry.

This is just a standard makeup round pad, I use it for the toner step. You only need a dime sized wet spot on the pad to take care of your whole face! This is just to adjust the pH of your skin back to what it should be instead of the slightly acidic state that most cleansers leave your skin with. Wipe over whole face, don't worry, it will give the right amount everywhere.

 Ok here is the serum.  This is REALLY strong stuff! If you have a reaction to the products (redness, a break out ect.) this is your culprit! This is a looser product and so when you squeeze it out of the sample pack it tends to come rushing out, be advised that you do not want to over-use this. It is super concentrated and packed with vitamin C and encourages dead cell turn over! If you experience a reaction, or you know that your skin is sensitive, start with half what you see here, and don't worry if it doesn't cover ALL your face. Dab around, and rub in (being careful to avoid the immediate eye area), it will still work it's magic. Then at the halfway point (when your skin has adjusted) go ahead and increase to this pinky nail sized amount.

This is my favorite step...the eye cream. I always knew that I was going to get crow's feet (or smile lines as I prefer to call them) because I just always smile...it's my baseline. But the more time I spend out in this blazing sun, and only haphazardly taking care of my skin, the more I notice  them getting deeper and more irritated if I burn. The skin around your eyes is different...thinner and more delicate, most people know this intuitively. You will want to dab this around the orbital, like so:

and then tap to blend into your skin.  I put the eye cream right under my eyebrows along the bone, and then from the side of my eyebrows down to my nose, following the bone, dabbing at the cream until the skin is moist but not fully absorbed.

I don't have a picture for the day or night cream because it will vary depending on a few different things. I am enjoying the slightly dewey feeling of moisturized and sun protected skin, but some people really don't. I hear all the time that clients think their skin feels "sticky".  Living in a hot, humid environment like I do now, I know what sticky feels like, and this system isn't it. All the same, use enough of the day creme with SPF20 to cover lightly (pea to dime size), and enough night creme to give your skin a good boost through the night.

This is not an oily or high residue system! It won't mar your sheets or pillow cases, leave marks on your clothes or interfere with your makeup. It feels light and my skin is not weighed down by the products at all - something I was actually a little concerned about since I almost never do a full system of skincare.

This is getting a bit long so I will sum up the night quickly.

The difference on the left side of my face is obvious now. The roseacea-like redness is now the same as on the right side, and the little breakouts are now just bumps and much less obvious! The skin appears to be evening out but it might just be my joy at the lack of my scarlet crescent on my cheek.

More tomorrow,

...Nature girl

Arbonne 5 Day challenge - Day 2

Ok so here is the start of day two. I got a little more sun then I planned on hanging out with a gal pal at the dog park.  You should see the slipper (flip-flop) tan lines that my feet are rockin', the sun was NO joke yesterday.

I noticed that the mini breakouts on my left cheek seem to be a tiny bit more pronounced today when I did the morning wash.  Not sure if that's from the sun exposure, or from my skin starting to detox, I'll keep you posted there.

After the evening wash I noticed that the brown spots seemed to be a little less obvious, though the lighter areas on my forehead appear unchanged...boo. Forehead bumps still present and accounted for.

Looking forward to day 3, and I will post pictures of how much product you need for each step...it's not a lot, but never fear there is a big punch packed in these little bits!

...Nature girl

Arbonne 5 Day Challenge - Day 1

Diving right in I'm posting my before picture. Please forgive the dour expression, it was 7 am and now I have to make the same face for comparison every day:

As you can see, my skin tone is really uneven. On my left cheek I have what I lovingly call "rosy Irish cheeks". Back in California where the sun was not as intense, and I wasn't 8 months pregnant, it really was just rosy cheeks...and it was on both cheeks. Now though, in the intense Hawaii sun, and due to this little baby's effect on my hormones I have little bumps and a really pronounced rosacea-like crescent on that left cheek, while the right cheek has only mild rosieness, no break outs, and some darkening areas that are under both eyes.

My forehead seems like it is totally different skin. I have a strange light patch over my left eye at the hairline, strange bumps that aren't breakouts and lines almost as deep as my Dad's furrow my brow! And I'm just going to gloss right over those dark bags under my eyes.

When I look at myself in the mirror I see an amazing person whose skin is crying out for help, and I think other people do too so I'm making a change. When people look at me I want them to just see the awesomeness and not be distracted by everything else.

...Nature girl

Arbonne 5 Day Challenge

Ok so for some reason, technology of all kinds refuses to work with me...and here I thought I was so lovable.  As you noticed, I have cheated...but only a little...and just posted the link to this under the video. So if you are here, than hopefully you saw my little spiel.

To the point at hand, as I said in the video, this little posting series will be about Arbonne's 5 Day RE9 challenge. You receive a sample pack with enough product to last ten, count 'em, 10 uses!! The Challenge is to use the products, as a system, as directed and then note your results in a survey and win a prize. Great right?

Well if you are anything like me, you NEVER wash your face two times a day, five days in a row. My Mother is the only one I know who does, and she is a machine about it! Coincidentally, she also has amazing skin. For me, this will be an actual challenge to establish the routine and do the steps so that everyone gets to see the maximum results, so pray for me to be diligent, and I'll tell you if I flub.

This little series will be put out every day so that my teammates and clients can see in real time, not only the results, but also how much (or little) of our amazing products that they will actually need to use during the trial.

I'm getting these posted a bit behind schedule, but bear with me, I'll get everything caught up.

...Nature girl

Living a life of Transition

Strange, but transition is a theme that comes up for me a lot. I looked back at some of my old blogs, and their tags, and found that it's come up multiple times in the past year.

I just finished a book called "The Leader Who Had No Title" by Robin Sharma. I love and appreciate the message and thought that went into this book. It was a little difficult for me to read because it wasn't at all what I expected from the title (not really at all fable-ish or fictional...just the author writing in different "characters") but I picked up a lot from the book. Having my life be as in flux as it has been, so up in the air, has made me very restless - like I just can't quite reach that next stage of life.  And it has been frustrating at best.

Conflict is something to be avoided right?  Conflict between people, in decisions, and in growth always seemed awkward and needlessly stressful! But in reading this and other books ( "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff") I am finding that the only way to grow is to be in conflict with the status quo...what you currently are!

Challenge is uncomfortable, and well..challenging...but it seems that the more I embrace challenge and conflict the more easily I change. I want to be the kind of person that looks for the hard stuff to do because they know that it will yield a big reward of change and growth; in business and life!

Right now I'm not. But I'm trying to not be so resistant and anxious when I see something difficult coming up the road. Or to look twice and things that trigger that instant rejection and thought "I can't do that!". It's a strange process, and counter intuitive at best, for me to consciously seek out areas of discomfort and disquiet and push on them to see what happens. But surprisingly, it doesn't feel as bad, or as scary, as I thought it would.

...Nature girl

Nature girl vs. Motivation (part 2)

So a month or so ago I wrote about my distinct LACK of motivation.

Today I am glad to say that I am starting to feel like I may have divined my way to a tiny little spring of motivating energy.

I am cutting out the negative self talk (not always the easiest thing) and replacing it little by little with positive affirmations and happy thoughts.  I am great at being positive, supportive, and encouraging to others, but I am not always the best about being that for myself.

I am finding that doing a weekly training session with the remarkable Jerry Roisentul (sorry peeps, he is just for Arbonne reps, because we are that cool) has really pointed out the ways that I talk down to and on life.  One step at a time I feel like the more control I take of life, the less overwhelmed I am by it all! A very key process for me considering I am easily overwhelmed.

This little bit of personal growth has broken through the metaphorical crust of my wishy washy behavior, and pushed me towards (but I'm not there yet) striking out for my goals with purpose and confidence. Though I am not at the fully confident, driven, successful place I want to be - I can at least feel progress in that direction, and it gives me the motivation to keep going.

...Nature girl