Firming and Plumping

Went to bed early (earlier, anyway!) last night and feeling slightly less tired today, so that's good. Have a lot to do today after work though, and it's a little annoying. Tuesday is supposed to be my Tuesday Walk day! I really can't put off going to the chemist for another day. Or doing laundry, or doing the dishes, etc. I'll just have to work around it. I really do feel that I have to do some exercise though. I didn't do any over the weekend, and only a little yesterday, and now I'm feeling stiff and lethargic. I hate that feeling.

Not only that, but today I'm wearing an outfit that I hate!
I decided that, this weekend, I'm going to do my half-yearly wardrobe changeover. My wardrobe space is a lot smaller than in my old flat, so I need to be smarter about things. There are some clothes I've had hanging in the far corners for ages that I wasn't too sure about. So I decided to dust them off and wear them this week, and see if I still want to keep them. Maybe not such a good decision for this week - I'm feeling pretty fat and frumpy - Special Lady Time must be coming. Oh dear!

In Other News ...

What I really wanted to ramble on talk about today is beauty products. Lately I've noticed that my face is starting to sag. I've been pretty lucky so far. I have a fairly chubby face, so fewer wrinkles and a more youthful look. Now though, things are starting to head southwards! So I want to get some beauty products that'll prop things up. But I want something that's going to work! I don't want to be wasting my money on crapola stuff that doesn't do anything it says it does. Up til now, I haven't worried too much about it. The main thing for me was whether it smelled good (and for hand cream - whether it made my eczema itchy), and if it wasn't too expensive. I also liked ones that had essential oils in them - for both the smell and because they were more 'natural'. And, very important, I don't want anything from a company that tests on animals. A few months ago, I also decided that I don't want to use anything with parabens in it if possible. The links with cancer aren't proven conclusively, but it still worries me.

Years ago, I remembered reading a book about the Cosmetics Cop, so I looked up her website and found Beautypedia. I've been trawling it like an obsessed woman in the last few days! And I've found out some pretty interesting - and shocking - things.

* A lot of the essential oils and other ingredients they put in products to make them smell good or which are supposedly calming, can actually be irritating to the skin. Some of the products that I've loved using get very low scores on Beautypedia for this reason.

* Many ingredients which are supposed to do great stuff to the skin (e.g. Vitamin C) don't actually do anything. The skin can't even absorb them. They only work if they're ingested. Other ingredients can be absorbed in some forms but not others. The beauty companies add the non-absorbent forms because they're cheaper or for whatever reason. Yet they still claim the product does what the absorbent form would have done - if they'd added it. There's very little regulation in the cosmetics industry - they can basically make whatever claims they like and get away with it.

* The container that a product comes in is very important. A moisturiser that comes in a jar will get contaminated and go off very quickly. You have to open it up and expose it to air and stick your fingers in it every time you use it. So it makes sense. I will definitely take notice of what type of container products come in from now on.

* Many large companies still test on animals! There's a huge list of them on the website. I was shocked to realise this. I have to admit, I was pretty naive. I just assumed that companies didn't anymore. Synthetic skin was invented years ago, so there's really no excuse for it. I was upset to find that the best hand cream for me - the only one that doesn't make my eczema itch - was tested on animals! I don't know what I'm going to do.

But at least I have one thing that I didn't have before - knowledge.
The Cosmetic Cop seems to have a good reputation, and the testers are constantly adding new reviews and updates to the site. The only drawback is, being American, it mostly has American products. Many of the Australian products I've used or thought of using are not listed. However, there's a comprehensive general list of ingredients, so a person could easily cross-check the ingredients in any product and draw some helpful conclusions.

So, yeah, I think I'll be referring to this site frequently in future!