Thursday, April 26, 2018

I Tried The New 30-Minute Sephora FacialBeauty With MiRefinery29



Nom. Mmm skin! Hey guys it's Mi-Anne and this is Beauty With Mi. I love Sephora, but I've never really associated it with a place that you go to get pampered. I go there to swatch new makeup, find new makeup.

Definitely not to get a facial. But all of that is changing because this
month the brand is launching its first ever spa facial. And I got to try it first. The treatment in question is called the Perk Hydrating Facial and it's designed to exfoliate and hydrate the skin in 30 minutes.

But what I think makes it the most unique,
is that it's essentially the best gift with purchase ever. You can sign up online or you can just walk in and the facial is included with any $75 skincare purchase. Which means that whatever you end up using with your skincare consultant, you can actually buy. So seeing as I've tried my fair share of facials, everything from the bubble facial, ice facial, grandma facial, bird poop facial, I thought
it would be pretty fitting to give this one a try too.

So I zipped over to the Sephora at Herald's Square, which just so happens to be the largest Sephora in North America. And I got to try it out. So once I got to Sephora, I sat down with
my skincare consultant Veridiana, who was the sweetest person and she asked me all about my skin. So Mi-Anne, tell me a little bit about your
skincare routine.

So I have kinda combination, relatively acne prone skin. I try to stay away from things with too much fragrance. And we decided on a host of different products for me to try. So she started off with the first step, which is cleansing, of course, like any good facial.

She used the Caudalie Instant Foaming Cleanser on my skin just to remove any excess oil, debris, that sort of thing. There's something about being cleansed by someone else that makes it just so much better. And then she moved on to the machine. So the first step with the Perk machine is
the exfoliating serum.

As the suction is pulling out the impurities, the rollerball is releasing that serum. So we're removing and then inserting into
your skin. It's full of lactic acid, it comes through
this little rollerball pen that's hooked up to a machine, that exfoliates the skin and
sucks away things like dead skin cells and oil into the machine. So she did that all over my face and followed up with the Hydrating Serum.

So it's the same deal. It is a rollerball little pen that has the
Hydrating Serum and it's full of antioxidants. Starting off on the eye area to plump and
hydrate, infuse the skin with all that yummy goodness. Then after doing the eye area she moved on to the rest of the face.

Am I going to get to see all my skin after? You are. I like gross stuff like that. We are all done. Now I did kind of sneak a little touch of my face.

Don't touch your face. Oh no! Your hands are dirty. I was like I want to feel the smoothness! So then she moved on to the rest of my skincare. She started off with some eye cream.

So she used the Olehenriksen Banana Bright Eye Cream. So this is actually amazing under concealer and it'll help to brighten up under your eye area. It felt really light weight, absorbed really
quickly. And then she moved on to moisturizer, and used one of my favorite moisturizers right now which is the Herbivore Botanicals Pink Cloud Crme.

Not only does it look beautiful, but it feels
so luxurious on the skin. It smells like rose. Cause it's full of Rosewater. It's very calming, non-irritating, highly
recommend.

Then right after the moisturizer she used
the Dr. Jart+ Tiger Grass Camo drops. Now I've used the Dr. Jart+ Tiger Grass Cicapair jar, which is quite a thick greenish cream that's supposed to help tone down redness.

This is the much lighter serum version of
that product, and it's so nice. It's so lightweight, it absorbs really nicely. Evens out redness but doesn't look very heavy on the skin. Then as the final step of my routine she used the Farmacy Honey Butter Beeswax Lip Balm.

Now I love Farmacy. I adore that brand. So I was really excited to see they came out with a new lip balm. Now the facial comes with a final step which is a little bit of foundation.

Using the machine requires zero recovery time. You can put makeup on right after it. It doesn't make your skin red, doesn't make your skin feel irritated. And we're going to get a little fancy and use the La Mer Soft Fluid Long Wear Foundation with SPF 20.

I've been wanting to try this foundation and I know it's really expensive. Yeah. How much does this cost? $110. Ooh.

Augh. Use every last drop. It was so nice, it was so dreamy, it was so
lightweight. It felt so much like skin.

I have that on now. And that was it. Now you get to leave here fresh face and bushy-tailed. The final thing and very last thing we did
was kind of optional.

If you can stomach it. Is see the jar of liquidy gunk at the end
that's just full of your dead skin and oil. I really want to see what we took out of the skin. Okay, so here we go.

Woo! It looks really nasty. It was really gross. I actually wasn't expecting it to be that
nasty. But it was.

We poured it down the sink and then I got
to look through the products and decide which ones I wanted to purchase. So I chose the things, she rung me out right there, and then I headed on my way. Thank you so much. Youre welcome! All in all I think it was a really cool and
unique experience.

I think that going into it, I was like, Oh, a facial at Sephora?, But it was a nice little 30 minute break in the day. You do get really individual attention. My skin felt great after. If you're watching this show you probably
already shop at Sephora and you probably know it's not that hard to get to $75 and you get
this free facial.

This treatment isn't available at every single Sephora. It's available at 100 locations across the
country. And if you want to find out more about it,
you can go online and try to book an appointment and you can check using your zip code. I hope you guys enjoyed this.

Please let me know if you guys try it out in the comments. I want to know what you guys think. I will see you guys next week. Bye.

Thanks so much for watching guys. Let me know what you want to see next on Beauty With Mi in the comments down below and click here to subscribe to Refinery 29, and click
here to watch another video. Bye!.

I Tried The New 30-Minute Sephora FacialBeauty With MiRefinery29

Friday, April 20, 2018

I Tried Marilyn Monroe's Beauty RoutineBeauty With MiRefinery29



Hey guys, it's Mi-Anne, and
this is Beauty With Mi. You might notice we're in a little
bit of a different location. That is because today's episode
is not an ordinary one. I've been thinking about adopting the beauty
routines of iconic women throughout history for some time now, the first of
which is Marilyn Monroe.

Marilyn Monroe has been the object of constant
fascination for over half a century now, but I'll be honest when I say that I didn't
really know much about her before I started
researching this video. I thought of Marilyn as nothing more than
a beacon of old Hollywood glamour, but I'll tell you right now
that I was so wrong. I decided to adopt her routine and try it
out for myself, but I first had to figure out what Marilyn's
approach to beauty was. I talked to a couple of people, the first
of which are the folks over at Erno Laszlo.

Erno Laszlo was a Hungarian dermatologist
known for his bespoke treatments and products. Hollywood elite like Audrey Hepburn, Jackie
O, and of course, Marilyn Monroe were all loyal patients. Sadly, the Erno Laszlo Institute is no longer
open, but the brand partners with an NYC salon called JE'DERM, and I spoke with Kristy Watson,
the Chief Marketing Director at Erno Laszlo, to learn more about what Marilyn
would've done on the day-to-day. I was reading this...

It's amazing. Prescription, and it's crazy how
much detail he goes into. He had a morning ritual, he had an
evening ritual if you were going out, he had an evening ritual
for when you came home. He was customizing products for her.

She had her appendix removed and she had a
big scar on her stomach, so he produced, it's known today as phormula 3-9, but
Marilyn Monroe's formulation was phormula 3-7. It feels to me like she really trusted
the doctor with her skin. So, in addition to obviously following this
very strict routine, Marilyn also came in to the Erno Laszlo Institute. What kind of treatments
would she undergo? She probably got a full-on
treatment facial.

The double-cleanse probably happened. He definitely did high frequency, which
we have photos doing. Again, the doctor was really
ahead of his time. He believed in, you know, inner-beauty, empowering
women, so by understanding you as a person and you know, what keeps you up at night,
what your concerns are...

We have a quote from Marilyn stated, that
says, "Dr. Erno Laszlo not only soothed my skin, he soothed my soul." Do you think she was really
insecure about her skin? I think she was insecure as a person. Like, forget skincare. The woman had eleven foster families, so we
all know how that could actually really play on your psyche a little bit.

Yeah, I think the question I'm grappling with
on Marilyn and her approach to beauty is whether or not she actually did find joy in it. It is kind of this paradoxical thing where... Yes, she did, but she was still
like, riddled with insecurity. We ask this question
a lot in the brand.

Does Marilyn empower women? Her approach on life, her approach... Or
does Marilyn make them sad? But, she's iconic. Clearly, Marilyn had a complex relationship
with beauty, one that's not unlike what many of us have today. Is it a mask? Is a confidence-booster? Or is it both? I couldn't do this story justice without learning
more about Marilyn herself, so I called Dr.

Lois Banner, a professor emerita at the
University of Southern California and the author of Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox,
a biography on the star. She has become an icon; it has a lot
to do with her early death. It has a lot to do with the number of
photos that were taken of her. There were literally thousands
of photos taken.

Death at an early age... That generally makes
an icon in American culture. They're frozen in time, and
they're beauty remains. Now, she was considering cosmetic surgery
again before she died.

And she did get it once before? A couple of things. First of all, they pushed her hairline
back with electrolysis. They did that to all the major stars. She had a bump on her nose.

They never entirely got rid of it. She and her makeup artists, especially Whitey
Snyder, they spent a great deal of time covering that bump up on her nose because
they hadn't gotten it off. And the third thing that was done to her
was that they put some kind of plate in her lower jaw that... Oh, yeah, yeah.

That would bring her chin up, but that wasn't
completely successful either. She spent hours before the mirror and with
massage artists trying to keep the double chin from showing. Whitey Snyder said she knew many makeup tricks
that not even the best makeup artists knew. When she first came to Hollywood, she'd hung
out with the makeup artists  them and the publicists  when she was still just in
her early twenties and in Hollywood.

She went to them to find out what she ought
to do with herself, and they told her. And she liked to put on a masquerade, so when
she was in good shape, she'd take great care with the makeup she was wearing. Mostly, the commentators say she was perfect,
and she had many flaws, many... That's why she's so fascinating.

In her way, she was a real woman
with an unbelievable ambition. After watching countless tutorials and interviewing
Dr. Banner and Kristy, it was time to put Marilyn's routine to the test. Marilyn's skincare routine was intense, with
different processes for morning, evening, and going out.

Fortunately for me, a handful of the products
she used are still available from the brand, but sadly, many of them are not, so I did
my best to mimic what I could. According to Marilyn's original skincare prescription
from Erno Laszlo, her cleansing routine started with a basin of warm water, which she
used to cleanse her skin using cleansing oils and bar soaps. She was instructed to make a lather with the
soap, and cleanse her face, washing it off with no less than 30 splashes of water. Marilyn was all about dewy, glowy skin, and
was known to use anything from Nivea face cream, to Erno Laszlo's cream to Vaseline
all over her face before foundation.

Marilyn must've had pretty dry skin because
the products she used are really rich. My favorite, though, was the bar soap, which
was surprisingly gentle and hydrating and didn't leave my skin feeling tight or dry. Once my skin was prepped,
I moved on to makeup. Using bits and pieces from Banner's book as
well as makeup artist Lisa Eldridge's book "Face Paint," I tried my best to recreate
a look that Marilyn and her makeup artist, Allan "Whitey" Snyder, would've done.

I went for a more full-coverage foundation,
one that still looks like skin, but is able to cover effectively. According to Dr. Banner, Marilyn had facial
hair she would've wanted to obscure, so I. Think a fuller-coverage foundation
would've been her go-to.

Then, once my base was on, I followed Eldridge's
lead and dusted a frosty white shadow all over my lid and onto my brow bone. Some taupe shadow was then buffed
into the crease for definition. Marilyn was the queen of sexy, sultry eye
makeup, and fluttery eyelashes were a mainstay in her look. She wore half sets on the outer third of her
eye to create an elongated shape, and followed up with brown  not black  eyeliner in
a slightly winged-out shape.

Now, here comes the tricky part. According to Eldridge, to create the illusion
of an intensely full upper lash line, Marilyn's makeup artist, Snyder, would draw a faux
shadow using brown eyeshadow on the star's bottom lash line. It took me a few tries, but I was really surprised
at how real this looks, especially in photos. The technique of tracing brown shadow on your
lower lash line then extending it slightly to create a shadow-like effect does make it
look like your eyelashes are larger than life.

That wasn't the only trick Marilyn
had up her sleeve, though. After filling in my eyebrows, I went in with
some matte contour powder, which Marilyn wore under her cheekbones and
down the sides of her nose. Marilyn had a couple of plastic
surgeries in her lifetime. According to Dr.

Banner, though, her nose
surgery wasn't all that successful, so Marilyn turned to contour powder to give her nose
the illusion of a higher bridge, not unlike the techniques makeup artists and their
celebrity clients do today. Once my face was contoured, I moved
on to blush and highlighter. I applied blush to the apples of my cheeks,
a touch on my forehead, and my nose, and then dusted some highlighter
on the high points of my cheeks. Then comes the fun part:
Marilyn's iconic red lip.

But, Marilyn didn't just apply it straight
from the bullet and call it a day. She often traced her lip line with a slightly
deeper red lip liner and layered lipstick overtop to create the illusion of
fuller and juicier lips. Marilyn wore a number of different red shades
in her lifetime, but Guerlain's Diabolique was one of her favorites. The shade still exists in the brand's KissKiss
range, but under a different name: Red Insolence.

And there you have it: Marilyn's iconic look. I finished it off with a bit of brown eyeliner
to mimic Marilyn's iconic beauty mark, and I was good to go. Through the research for this video, I started
to see just how much of an impact Marilyn Monroe has had on the beauty industry. Countless products are named after her, dozens
of tutorials crowd the internet, and even at Kristy's auction of Marilyn's belongings
in '99, her makeup bag sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Marilyn was a true beauty girl at heart. Her skincare and makeup knowledge alone proved
that she was super ahead of her time, but she wasn't without her insecurities. Marilyn clearly had a complicated
approach to beauty, and it's something that I still grapple with to this day. Ultimately, though, Marilyn Monroe was real,
and she was just like you or I.

I'm reminded of something Banner told me during
our conversation: that despite Marilyn's flaws, she was one of the most courageous
and ambitious women of her time. And that is something
we can all strive for. Thanks so much for watching guys, let me know
what other iconic beauty routines you think I should try by commenting down below. And click here to subscribe to Refinery29.

Click here to watch another video. And add me on Instagram @mianne.Chan! Thank you!.

I Tried Marilyn Monroe's Beauty RoutineBeauty With MiRefinery29

Saturday, April 14, 2018

I Tried A Period Beauty Box



This is Sparta Hello friends, and welcome to another video. Today is something of a time sensitive video because
I did get a surprise visitor in my pants this morning. That's right, I'm on my period. You're welcome.

Not TMI, I'm not sorry.
Also, if my eyes look kind of red, I promise, I wasn't pulling a Mariah Carey and going to the weed dispensary in a full-length ball gown. Nor is it my period blood somehow rushing towards my eyes. I was in a different video this morning where I had to put crushed, charred almonds and coconut oil right around my eyes. I'm not high.

So today we're gonna try out a period beauty box. It's basically supposed to combat any signs of like, PMS slash just like "period face", any pimples, dryness, dullness. So here are the items that you get with the  "THAT Time of the Month" variety pack. This bad boy is $12, it comes with five sheet masks for every day of your period.

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4... Day 5! There is a Day 5. One of them, which is hydrating, two of them which are brightening, and two of them which are blemish care. I am more of a seven-day kind of gal, I always have been, but that's fine.

I'll just not have a sheet mask for the last two days. I can't necessarily say I've noticed myself being like, dull or dry on my period, but I definitely have noticed pimples here and there before. I feel like most of my attention is usually directed towards the uterus itself. I'm excited to try something new, maybe get some attention *up here* for a change.

They also give you this chocolate. This looks to me kind of like "Pocky?" "Pokee?" And, you get a cat headband.
Cat? *Noises of elation* Am I a pretty kitty? I like the headband, I'm always down for chocolate, so I say let's get into it. I'm a cat, I'm a cat, I'm a lover, I'm a cat So let's get into this bad boy. This is the blemish care mask, it's a pretty slimy one.
We got a slimer.

It looks kind of green, doesn't it? Isn't that appetizing? It's very cooling; feels like the kind of mask that's gonna make your skin tight afterwards. It makes sense 'cause it's the blemish mask, so it probably is trying to dry out any blemishes. It smells a lot like hand sanitizer. Now there's just like so much happening on my face and in my uterus at the same time.

Alright, it's been about twenty minutes, let's take this bad boy off. It's been very relaxing, to be honest. Do I look... Blemish free?
[I'm wearing a mask too.] With sheet masks, it's had to say like just before and after, you look really different.

I think it's more of just, like, it's giving good stuff to your skin, it's being nice and cooling, it's just like a moment of calm. [So the treating yourself offsets the menstrual cramps?]
Treat yo self. So I'm gonna try the brightening mask next. I think that alternating blemish, brightening, blemish, brightening will kind of, like, help my skin.

Have some nice variety, y'know? I put my mask on about twenty minutes ago and I should probably take it off but I don't wanna disturb my cat. It's Day 3 and I do actually see a couple of zits appearing, so I'm gonna go back in with the blemish care mask. Back at it again with the green mask. So I actually did get some mask liquid in my eye and it was kind of painful.

Alright, here's to hoping that the zits on my chin go down a little bit from this stuff. Time for mask number 4. I do kind of feel like my face has been a little bit more irritated than usual, but I can't tell if that's because of my periods or because I've just been completely changing my skin care regimen. But I will say, I'm having fun.

Day 5, things are winding down downstairs. Things are heating up up here. It's called "Pepero."
Did I say that right? [I don't know.] This chocolate's really good.
This might be slightly better than Pocky. [Wow.] Finally, the last one, it's the moisturizing one.

The funny thing is, now I'm moisturizing, I have all these little pimples that have popped up on my face. I think that it's commendable that they were like, "Listen, being on your period, is like, kind of a sucky time, let's make it more fun." [Do you feel... Treated?]
You betta...Betcha. So today is Day 6 of my period, and yes, I am still on my period but no, I have no masks left.

I only have this Pepero.
Listen, this stuff rocks. I really love that instead of pretending that periods don't exist, this company was like, "Hey, periods do exist and your skin does have different concerns when you're on your period, so let's try and  something about it." And they gave me chocolate. I'll show you guys what my skin looks like once I take off my makeup tonight as kind of like an after shot. I'd say out of all the masks my favorite was probably the moisturizing one, which was the last one.

I'm just the kind of person who likes a moisturizing sheet mask. I don't actually know if the sheet masks helped my skin. I do have a couple of pimples right now, and I wonder if that's because I did five sheet masks in a row when I usually only do one a week.
Everyone has different skin so these sheet masks might work really well for other people. But, the cat headband is awesome.

The Pepero is awesome. It was like a fun thing to do every night, kind of felt like some good self care. I feel like you could probably achieve the same effect just using your favorite brand of sheet masks during your period to just give your skin a boost. But, this kit is adorable and it's not that expensive.

So, if this seems interesting to you, I'd say go for it. I know, I can't really be more expressive. I can't move my face a lot, but I do like this. Thank you guys so much for watching and letting me talk about my period.

If you guys wanna see more content like this, click that like button and then that subscribe button down there. Period content! Yeah! Here are my social media handles, somewhere over here. Check out my Nextbeat, I vlog live every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Y'know.

We'll go for about one period video a month. That's pretty much as many as I can fill. I can only produce so much blood. Don't zoom in! Don't zoom in!.

I Tried A Period Beauty Box

Sunday, April 8, 2018

I Tried A Full Trader Joe's Routine For 7 DaysBeauty With MiRefinery29



Hey guys, it's Mi-Anne, and
this is Beauty With Mi. There is one place that I go
every single week without fail, and that is Trader Joe's. I would always walk by the
beauty aisle at Trader Joe's, but I would never really
stop to take a good, hard look. Last month, I did an entire routine using
only products from Whole Foods, and when that video went up,
a bunch of you guys were like, "Do Trader Joe's!" So, I was like, "Okay!" So, I went to Trader Joe's
earlier today...

I got a big ol' bag of stuff. Sadly, unlike Whole Foods, Trader Joe's
does not have a makeup section. Before we get into it, though, please
make sure you are subscribed down below, click the little red button. Hang out with me
every single Monday.

Beauty With Mi
comes out at 11am! I bought a bunch of stuff, from my hair care
to my body lotion to my toner to my sunscreen, and the entire thing
came out to $89.10. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17... 17 Items, and the most
expensive thing was $8.99. Can't complain.

The price is right
at Trader Joe's. I'm gonna try all this stuff
for the remainder of the week, and I will let you know at the end of the
week what I thought about everything. So, I will see you guys then. Bye! Hi guys! I am back and it has been seven
days since I last saw you.

I have been using the Trader Joe's
products for the entire week, and I've really enjoyed it! Please excuse the hair. I am filming a video later this afternoon
that is related to this hair, and it's going up in two weeks, so let me know in the comments
what you think I'm doing because it's a little bit different for me. But, enough rambling... Let's get into it.

The hair care aisle was a little bit daunting
for me just because my hair is color treated now. I was a little bit nervous about finding color
safe options at Trader Joe's, but I did. This is the shampoo that I chose. It's the Tea Tree Tingle shampoo.

It has this beautiful, refreshing tea tree,
eucalyptus-y kind of scent. It has no sulfate in it. And it is safe for all hair types. It makes your hair feel very clean.

This is the Tea Tree Tingle conditioner. I actually expected this to
be a lot lighter than it was. It actually is super hydrating. It made my hair feel super smooth.

Again, no sulfates. All around good conditioner; good little companion
to the Tea Tree Tingle shampoo. In the shower, I used
this oatmeal soap. I put this thingy back on it
because it was kind of gross.

But, I really like this soap! It's a really no-frills like,
oatmeal-infused soap. It smells good, and it doesn't
make your skin feel dry. The hair mask that I used
was this one. It's called the Trader Joe's
Shea Butter...

I always say "she-ya" butter... Shea butter and coconut oil hair mask. Wasn't as hydrating as
I would have liked. It does have a really nice texture, though,
it comes out like, as a nice, smooth cream.

I like that is comes in a squeeze
tube rather than a pot. I really don't like that so many
hair masks come in pots. And you have to stick your hands in it. You hair gets in it.

Water gets in it. It's disgusting. This is nice. It didn't give me that like, smoothness that
I like out of some of my other hair masks.

It did make my hair feel very soft. I would even just use it as a very deep
conditioning treatment like, as my conditioner. Let's talk about this body butter because
I loved this body butter! It smells so good. This is the coconut body butter.

It has coconut, shea butter,
and vitamin E in it. Instead of being like a
twist-off cap, it just... Wait. It just opens up like that.

You know when you have like, body butter all
over your hands and your hands are all like, greasy, and you don't want to have to screw
a cap back on something? You don't have to! It absorbs really fast. It's great just to slap on all over. And doesn't make my skin
feel really gross and oily. So, in the morning and night, I would use
this Trader Joe's spa face wash with tea tree oil.

I liked it. I think it was a nice, gentle cleanser. However, it's a little bit
soapier than other face washes. It just hangs around
longer on the skin, so you have to use a bit more
water to wash it off.

But, I do like that Trader Joe's has a face
wash that is targeted more at acne because tea tree oil is amazing for acne
because it's antibacterial. So, at night before I would go in with the
tea tree oil cleanser, I would use the Trader Joe's facial cleansing oil. I really like this. It cuts though waterproof
mascara really easily.

It's a good, basic cleansing oil. It removes makeup really well. Doesn't leave my skin feeling too oily,
although I always double-cleanse after I use a cleansing oil. Once my skin is clean, I would move on to
toner, and this is the rose water facial toner.

It just smells so nice. Rose water, rose oil, witch hazel... Good for oil control. It doesn't irritate my skin, so it's good.

So, moving on to serum. And I was kind of surprised to see this hyaluronic
acid serum at Trader Joe's just because it's kind of a fancy product for them to have. But it is really nice. It has a really nice like, gel, liquid-y consistency
that absorbs really quickly.

It is the summer right now,
so my skin is quite oily. I don't think this serum is something that I
need necessarily for this time of year. I think that I'm going to whip this out again
in the winter because I think it's gonna help with the flakiness that I get. So, it's good...

But I don't think I
need it right now. I love this moisturizer. It's the Trader Joe's nourish oil-free
antioxidant facial moisturizer. It's liquid-y, it absorbs really fast, it
doesn't leave your skin feeling sticky or tacky.

It applies under
makeup beautifully. I actually was using this in the
morning and the night. It is on the lighter side when
it comes to moisturizers. And it was enough moisture for me.

As a spot treatment if I had a breakout or
if I felt like I was getting a breakout, I. Would use this tea tree oil. I'm just going to take a little bit of the
tea tree oil, mix it with a little bit of water just to dilute it, tap it
on to my little zit areas. I think it's a versatile, good product
just to have in your arsenal.

The final step of the routine
skincare wise, SPF. Now, this was a little bit upsetting because
I went to Trader Joe's... I was expecting them to have like, different
mineral sunscreen options, and they really don't. So, the reason that I was looking for mineral
sunscreen is because mineral sunscreens are coral-safe.

So, there are some ingredients... Oxybenzone and oxtinoxate
cause coral bleaching. So, I wanted to use a mineral sunscreen that
doesn't have those ingredients, and this was the only one that was there. So, it was a stick sunscreen; it's SPF 50.

I don't like stick sunscreens. But I had to use this,
and I will say... I really liked it. I brought this as my sunscreen like, in my
purse last weekend when I went to Chicago during a heatwave.

Unlike a lot of stick sunscreens,
it absorbs relatively quickly. It feels kind of like
a balmy moisturizer. Twice this week I used masks, and I
bought one mask from Trader Joe's. They have this blueberry acai facial scrub,
and it smells so good! Confirmation it smells good.

It has a really nice creamy texture. You can actually see the little like, berry
seeds in it, and that's what you can use to physically exfoliate your skin. But, it also has like, fruit enzymes and different
fruit acids in this, so it will chemically exfoliate too. So, I put it
all over my face, let it sit for a few minutes,
and then gently rubbed it off, and my skin felt super
smooth and nice after.

I think it's a good weekly exfoliant if
you want a little bit of a... Sorry, I got distracted. If you want like, a weekly exfoliation. Then, I made my own mask.

So, I usually mask like, two
to three times a week. And I was like, I can't
just use this one mask! So, I got a bunch of ingredients from Trader
Joe's to make my own mask. So, I used Greek yogurt,
honey, and oats. Oats are naturally very soothing and they
also provide a little bit of physical exfoliation once you take it off.

The Greek yogurt, unsweetened, has lactic
acid in it, so it helps kind of slough off dead skin cells. And then the honey is
a natural humectant. It is hydrating. And I just put it all over my face, let it
sit for a bit as well, wash it off, continue with the rest of my day.

So, that's a really great thing with really
common ingredients like, stuff that you would literally have for breakfast in a yogurt bowl,
but you put it on your face. Last but not least, the deodorant. Trader Joe's stocks Tom's of Maine, and
this is the unscented version. Hey guys, so I as back from work.

I'm gonna give myself a
little smell test... Not smelling anything so far, I
think I'm staying pretty fresh. I will say, though, it wasn't a
very, very hot day. And I do think because it is unscented, if
it was like swelteringly hot, and I was like, walking around or like, hiking or something
I think I would smell a little bit.

I liked it. I think the Tom's brand
of deodorants is really nice. It feels really good under the armpit, which
is like, a kind of a weird thing to say, but... You're not gonna want to wear deodorant if
it doesn't feel good on your armpit.

That's everything! Honestly, I don't think there was
a product that I didn't like. Hero products were definitely the antioxidant
moisturizer, the rose water facial toner, I really like the acai mask, the Tea Tree
Tingle shampoo, and the coconut body butter. And that's it! That's a lot of product, I hope that
you guys enjoyed this video. Please let me know in the comments below if
there are any other retailers or cool brands out there that you want me to try, and let
me know what your favorite Trader Joe's products are.

So, I will see you guys next week! Bye! Thanks so much for watching, guys. Let me know what you want to see next on Beauty
With Mi in the comments down below. And click here to subscribe to Refinery29. And click here to watch another video.

Bye!.

I Tried A Full Trader Joe's Routine For 7 DaysBeauty With MiRefinery29

Monday, April 2, 2018

I Tried A DIY Haircare Routine For Pastel HairBeauty With MiRefinery29



Hey guys, its Mi-Anne,
and this is Beauty with Mi. I have always been interested in DIY,
or Do It Yourself, beauty. I started getting into it,
I wanna say, in High School, and last year I did an entire skincare routine from scratch, and it
got me thinking, I should try to do this, but for hair. So, I did.

I interviewed NiKita Wilson,
she is an amazing cosmetic chemist here in the tri-state area, and she taught me how to make my own shampoo, my own conditioner,
my own hair mask, and my own dry shampoo. Hey guys, so I am here
with NiKita Wilson Hello, hello, hello! We go way back, Ive interviewed her
for so many stories before, her brain is full of beauty knowledge, so I thought shed be perfect
to help me concoct my DIY haircare routine. Im scared because my
hair is color treated, and the thought of making
something for my hair is really daunting. The thing about DIY is
everything is experimental.

Always, always, always,
always please, as a scientist, write down
what you have done because if you find that perfect formula and you dont remember
what you did, you are going to be so mad at yourself. Lets go to the regular shampoo. Okay. That seems difficult.

For your hair, I would probably say
use apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is a great
base for shampoo, because its clarifying, adds shine, and wont damage or alter my
color treated hair. I mixed 3 tablespoons of
apple cider vinegar, with 3 tablespoons of
glycerin for hydration, before adding 1 teaspoon
of flaxseed oil, which according to NiKita
helps seal the cuticle and moisturize the hair. If you have really fine hair, skip the oil, because its
only gonna way it down.

If you have really thick, course hair, then you want the oil, because
you want that extra moisturization. For conditioner, you want something thats
gonna draw moisture in, our humectant, something like glycerin, and then
you also want to seal it in. For conditioner, I mixed
1 teaspoon of water with 3 tablespoons of
glycerin to create a base. Then I added a bit of
flaxseed oil and honey to the mixture to hydrate my hair.

Well honey also acts like
kind of as a humectant, and it also draws moisture to the hair. Very sticky, you dont wanna use a lot of it. Moving on to mask. Oils and butters kinda will
be your mask base.

NiKita suggested I use a mixture of shea butter and cocoa butter
as a base for my mask. I used 2 tablespoons of each, melted them in the microwave at
10 second intervals, and mixed glycerin and honey
into the formula for extra hydration. So, I also have vitamin E here. Vitamin E is very good
as an antioxidant.

One we spoke about antioxidants
protecting color, because were using butters and oils vitamin E is actually also very good for protecting the actual
product itself. I added 4 drops of the oil
into my mixture, mixed it up, and I was good to go. If you also wanted to make
it a special treatment, right before you put it into your hair, take a little scoop of your mask, take a teaspoon of mayonnaise, now you have an
intensive protein treatment. Oh, because the protein
from the eggs.

Exactly. Look at you, moisturizing. Yes. Cant waste this precious butter.

I know. The benefit of a dry shampoo is it goes onto your scalp and
the roots of the hair and it absorbs oil. So, I would start with our
tapioca starch. Mix equal parts rice starch
and tapioca starch in a bowl.

On its most basic level this concoction will do its job
to keep your hair feeling fresh. But if you want to go the extra mile, add a few drops of tea tree oil
and peppermint oil to the mixture. Tea tree oil is antibacterial, and peppermint oil will give it
a refreshing scent. So that was actually really easy.

Its easy. Dry shampoos, as complicated
as they may seem are the most simple that were
gonna talk about today. Thank you so much. Thank you, this was fun.

Ill let you know how it goes. Its been a week of using products in my hair that these two hands have made. How did I feel about this experiment? I would say it was a good 50/50 split
in terms of the products. So, this is my hair air-dried.

My hair is actually a little
bit more wavy than it normally is, and I think it
is because of the shampoo and conditioner Ive been using. So, Ive been using this shampoo, which is the apple cider
vinegar based shampoo, and this is the one product that
I had a lot of difficulty with. Doesnt smell great. Oof.

Its very liquidly, Im just gonna put
it in straight. It was just going straight from my scalp and into my eyes, and it hurt so much. Its in my eyes! It made my hair feel really
clean, really nice. My boyfriend Colin did
say that it quote reeked.

What? It reeks dude. Then I rinsed it out, and he said you couldnt
smell it anymore. So To be completely honest I think this is the one item, out of everything that I used this week, that I probably wouldnt use again,
just because it is such a pain to use. Literally.

Moving along to the conditioner. Most conditioners feel very smooth
and creamy in the hair, this one doesnt really. It kinda feels like youre putting like
a gel in your hair almost. But my hair does feel
normal, soft, good.

I quite liked it. The hair mask. So, I really enjoyed this hair mask. I did mix it with a spoonful of mayonnaise, like NiKita said for protein.

The idea of mixing this
mask with mayonnaise and then putting it into
my hair was a little disgusting at first. But once its mixed together,
when its in your hair, you dont really notice it. It doesnt feel as smooth
as a normal hair mask. Because I was using melted butters, it did have a little bit
of a grainy texture.

And last but not least, the dry shampoo. So, my hair is quite dry, because its color treated,
so I dont need to wash my hair very often. I wash my hair I think twice this week and then I used dry shampoo a
couple of times in between. I did have to really rub it into my hair to get the white powder
to disperse through my roots.

If you have brown or black hair you could mix a little
bit of cocoa powder into the formula so its
not so stark white. It absorbs oil, it smells good because I put the tea tree oil
and the peppermint in it. So, I really like this I think Im definitely
gonna keep using it. Thats it! I think Im definitely gonna use up
the mask, just because theres
only a little bit left, and I did kinda like the way it
made my hair feel.

I did really enjoy the conditioner, and I do think that this might
have been the product that was making my hair curl a bit. I dont think Im gonna keep using the
shampoo though. Youve seen the clips. Its in my eyes! I hope that you guys enjoyed watching this video, I hope you guys learned something.

Please let me know if you make
any of these recipes down below in the comments, and if there are any other DIY recipes that you love or that you recommend, please let me know as well, and I will see you guys next week. Bye! Thanks so much for watching guys, let me know what you want to
see next on Beauty with Mi in the comments down below, and click here to subscribe
to Refinery29, click here to watch another video, and follow me on Instagram
@mianne.Chan so we can hang out there too. Bye!.

I Tried A DIY Haircare Routine For Pastel HairBeauty With MiRefinery29