Better late than never

Normally, I'm a mad present wrapper. I believe that presentation is as important as the present itself. That doesn't mean I opt for professional wrapping - in all honesty, I think professional wrapping lacks style; it's more a militaristic regiment of wrapper, bow, tag. I like gift towers connected with ribbon, brown paper packages tied up with string, and newspaper.

While I don't believe in spending too much on wrapping paper, I like being prepared. A lot of good supplies can be acquired at Ikea. Some of the tissue paper is left over from Victoria's Secret and Anthropologie. I save wrapping paper from Christmas and birthdays. I have some nice brown wrapping paper for my brown paper package moments. Generally, since I have a prepped surplus that's replenished from time to time, I never really have to buy much in terms of wrapper. I generally always get colored tissue paper - you never know when you'll need lime green.

I was rather pressed for cash this Christmas. I think the bigger thing on block was my creativity. While checking out with my sister the lady in front of us let us go ahead of her since we only had one item. I observed a bar of soap and questioned her about it since it was cool looking and among other things, she told me that the bar was only $2.50 - I thought that was wicked cool and wanted to make it a soap Christmas. Since I wasn't done with my school projects until late, I didn't have time to dwell on the presents I would give to people and decided to go back to the grocery store (mind you, specialty grocery store) for the soap. The soap is Pre de Provence - Country soap. The thing I found odd was that a packaged gift set of 5 of these soaps were on sale for $18. With each soap at ~$2.50, that $12.50 for the soap and an extra $5.50 for an uninteresting box and a plain green ribbon. To that I said "screw this" and I bought 6 soaps, 3 different kinds, the better smelling of the 5.

Usually at the grocery store, they have narrow brown paper bags for wine; I picked up a couple of these. In the words immortalized by Julie Andrews, "brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things.." oh yeah. Using the paper bags from the grocery stores is a shorter version for the packaging process. Being hardcore with those lyrics, I don't use tape with my brown paper packages; everything is held together by the string and using a brown paper bag makes this considerably easier.
All you have to do is push the soap to the bottom of the bag, maintain the shape, fold over the bag continually and the excess lies flat. You end up with a boxy shape like what is shown in the picture and you hold that shape down with sting tied in a crossover fashion.

If you want the prototypical brown paper package, you just have to switch out the brown paper bag with brown paper. The trickier part with this is tying it. The general approach is to hold all the soaps aligned in the desired shape. Wrap the soaps as you would a boxy present, just don't use any tape. When taking in the extra wrapping paper off the sides, make sure to fold it so that it is more triangular so that it will be easier for the string to hold the package together. It ends up looking like the picture to the left. A bonus with this is that sometimes, the pull of the string opens everything. It has some old fashioned, pre-tape charm to it.

I tend to get creative under time pressure and with low funds. I still think that there should be some cohesiveness to my presents. As a small present for my cousin, I got the following: a book on cocktails with some nice pictures - I've seen it previously selling at Anthropologie for $15.95, but I found it at a book outlet for $3.99 - liquor miniatures that are about 50ml each and also about $3 each - and (individually) the most expensive item, a designer chocolate bar by Voges Haut Chocolate at $7. I think it all works well and is essentially a feel good present. I know I would like this for myself and I recently discovered that sometimes, getting presents for people that you would want yourself has some merit.

It turns out that my older sisters like the things I buy for myself oppose to the things that I think they'll like. My sister says "when you buy me things, think of yourself - of course that results in me buying things for myself which they ask to borrow. I suppose I shouldn't assume that our styles are so different. It might be a reflection on the thought that if I were to get them presents that I'd like, I put as much thought, care, and interest into their presents as I do for myself. Not bad.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Happy Holidays!

It's been a while since I've written - which is usually always the case. I have completed all my tests and projects so now I have a few weeks of bummin' it and I couldn't be happier. Given the time though, I'll probably post two blogs between today and tomorrow - think of them as holiday presents. I'll start with the easier one now.

Facial Equilibrium

I don't think that anyone should find a way to incorporate acne into their personal style. I've never met a person who liked their acne. I had bad acne at trying times - middle school and early high school. I did go to a dermatologist and when I went to college, I stopped using medication because my dermatologist had died and our health insurance gave us a more complex process for getting a new dermatologist so I gave that up. I had heard of the process -wash, astringent, moisturizer. I never really liked moisturizer, since it always made my skin feel more oily. Yes...it didn't occur to me that you have to let your moisturizer set. After recommendations from beauty books and my sister who is a cosmetologist, I gave the routine a try again. After weeks of doing the routine, other people started noticing the quality of my skin improving and I only noticed it after I felt how smooth my skin was one day. My sister, the cosmetologist, was rather irritated because she was following the routine as well and had not received the same results. This is the best recommendation I can give to anyone. I may not be a dermatologist, but I do know something about equilibrium.

Skin & Oil

I'm beginning to think that oil production is an inherent constant within our biology. Yes, I'm saying it's genetic. While I don't have any sources, I'm pretty sure that there is a genetic predisposition for acne and that if at least one parent had it, the kids will be likely to have it too. What does oil have to do with this? When dead skin cells and other matter accumulate on the skin, the oil provides that flow that pushes the matter into pores so that the clogged pore will develop into some skin blemish. If genetics dictates that skin remains at a certain lubricated level, if you wash your face with hot water, use the most drying astringent, and strip the oil off of your skin, the sebaceous glands will only increase production to reach the original level of oiliness - equilibrium is met.

Bear in mind, I'm not a skin doctor, I just observe patterns and since my assumption is that skin oil production is dictated by some kind of equilibrium, let's introduce Le Chatlier's Principle. When conditions are changed, how is equilibrium affected. For the sake of skin, here are some examples.

(mid-day, hours after face washing)
oil production (sebaceous glands) = oil on face

(after face washing)
oil production (increases) = oil on face (decreased due to washing)

Decreased oil on face due to a strong astringent only makes oil production increase more to compensate for the dryness. I'm assuming that there is a moisture level that has to be maintained and this is that importance of moisturizer.

(after face washing)
oil production (decreased) = oil on face (decreased due to washing) + moisturizer

If the skin is moisturized, there's no need to produce more oil because of the level of moisture on the skin. And you can still deep clean with an astringent as long as you use moisturizer.

What to Use

Chances are, if you have acne, your skin might be sensitive already. When you put something like Oxy on that stings, you'd like to feel that it's killing the bacteria and killing the acne, but I personally believe you're not doing yourself any favors. You're only further irritating your skin. So try to be gentle with your skin and be patient. I start with: Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser

It's non comodegenic (doesn't clog pores), you can use it without water, I even sometimes use it as an emollient before I go to sleep.

I follow with: Burt's Bees Garden Tomato Toner. Astringents are a bit of a tricky thing. They're usually always going to sting a little and stinging pain tolerance is not a good way to decide on a toner. I try for something light and low in alcohol. My sister, who is the cosmetologist, went to the Aveda Institute, so she is really into natural products. Generally, the more natural your products, the less likely they are to sting and they'll feel more soothing - at least in my experience. My sister bought me a toner for my birthday and I really liked it, but retail, it is about $25. At my grocery store, they sell Burt's Bees Tomato Toner and I thought it would work better as a cheaper alternative ($10). I've been using it ever since. I only recently tried Clean and Clear, their cooling toner, but it stings my skin to where it is really red, even moisturizer couldn't soothe it.

I follow my toner with: Cetaphil Moisturizer. As you can tell, I really trust Cetaphil. I like that they're moisturizer is oil free and noncomodegenic. It is also good that is has some sun protection. When I'm stressed, it shows in my skin. During my days of little sleep, my skin would get drier especially around my lips. I started using more moisturizer (2 pumps instead of one) and despite the stress on my body, my skin was doing really well. This also keeps your skin from drying out because of the toner.

At night before I sleep, I wash with the gentle cleanser and then I go over with a light alcohol free toner. Neutrogena makes some good ones. So there you have it. Some insight into skin care from someone with oily skin. You really just have to find a routine that sounds like it'll work for you and stick to it. It's a bit of a lifestyle change, but you have to take care of yourself.