Things I'm Leaving Behind in 2017

Here's to a New Year.

2017 was difficult my me and my family. In the past year my husband and I have tried to overcome many obstacles within our personal life and with his own health struggles. Year after year it seems that our relationship is tested and with every overcoming test our relationship strengthens. While we've been so wrapped up in ourselves the year seemed to just fly by and I don't feel as though I accomplished a lot.

It was a quiet year on my blog, as I post little bits and pieces of my own life on this blog I'm not going to start posting about other people or struggles between myself and my husband on here. My husband is an extremely private person and doesn't like to be present on a lot of social media platforms. He's been struggling this past two years with an injury that hasn't allowed him to go back to work and we've been fighting with the insurance company so he can get the best treatment possible.

I've been saying a lot in 2017 "I don't have time for people who wish to bring negative energy to my life", I've been much more choosy about who I've been spending my time with. So here's a list of things I'm trying to give up this year so my family and I can be happier, to help shed the weight on our hearts and to have more peace going forward.

1. Give up the need to impress others
2. Give up complaining
3. Give up the need to control the uncontrollable
4. Give up the need to always be right
5. Give up blaming others
6. Give up excuses
7. Give up negative attachments
8. Give up toxic relationships
9. Give up the saying "I'm too busy"
10. Give up my fears

I'm hoping for a year of lighter hearts, I wish to take more quality time to spend with my family, I want to smile, laugh and do more things that I love but continue to put off because "I'm too busy". It's time to take the focus off of the negative and put more energy into my family. It's time to slow down and enjoy all the positive things in life.

Here's to all the good times ahead - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Updated Skin Care Routine 2018

This continues to be my post popular blog post of the year! Everyone seems to be very curious to see what my updated skincare routine is. I only post these sort of blog posts once a year, if you want to check out my Updated Skincare Routine from last year for reference you will see A LOT of my skincare products have changed - a few goodies that have worked really well for me have stuck around.

For reference I have extremely dry skin all year round.

First thing in the morning I wash my face. I'm still using my Clarisonic plus but my face wash has changed. I found the last one stripped too much moisture from my face. In 2017 I discovered the dermalogica special cleansing gel. This has been great for cleansing my face but not leaving it with that dry stripped feeling.

On days that I want to exfoliate my face I have been using the Tarte Frxxxtion Stick. It's great at removing any excess dry skin I might have. At most I will use this twice a week.

Immediately after I will moisturize my face. Starting with eye cream I've switched to The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG. I was hesitant to use this as it's a liquid and not a cream, I didn't think it would  moisturize my under eye enough but I was WRONG. This is will moisturize, smooth out fine lines and reduce under eye bags. You want a very small amount day and night.

Next I have added in The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 for some extra moisture under my face cream. Then I layer my trusty Clinique Moisture Surge Intense - make sure if you try this you get the INTENSE not just the regular. The intense is much more rich and feels like velvet. I find that makeup just glides over my face with this face combo.

At night I wash my face with the same products as I did in the morning.

Then I follow that up with my night routine...don't get overwhelmed by the amount of products in the pictures - I don't use all of these every night.

I start with my same eye cream by The Ordinary that I used in the AM. Next I put on The Ordinary "Buffet", this is supposed to be an anti aging product that helps with dryness, fine lines, wrinkles, dullness and uneven texture.

Next I pick one or two oils to put on my face. The ones I have in rotation right now are all from The Ordinary.

Finally I follow that up with my lash serum that I'm still not using consistently but I find that it does make my lashes stronger and longer if used everyday.

BONUS PRODUCTS - These I tend to use 2-3 times a week. When every I feel my skin needs a little extra treatment I turn to these three products.

Sephora Mud Mask Purifying and Mattifying is great is you have any texture or blemishes you want to get rid of. This is a very drying mask so make sure to moisturize immediately afterwards.

Dermalogica Skin Hydration Masque is great for when I need a little extra hydration boot to my skin.

Under the eye I've been using Peter Thomas Roth 24K Gold Hydra-Gel Eye Patches. These are great for moisturizing and smoothing any wrinkles.

That's it! It seems as though my collection has grown since last year but it really hasn't gotten anymore complicated. Let me know if the comments below if these are any other products you would recommend my for dry skin.