Sheer Cover Kit: Could it Be Sheer Magic? Sorta...

Okay, Leeza Gibbons had me impressed, REALLY impressed. I loved watching how everyone's imperfections seemed to fade away and how natural the product worked.
In fact, Leeza impressed me SO much so that after one fine infomercial, I bought her Sheer Cover kit.

For three months, I was hooked on the product. Since I am fair toned, I opted for that selection. When the product arrived, I was a bit intimidated by the two foundation canisters. The logic behind this is that I'm supposed to blend the powder to suit my skin tone. I laughed aloud at this thought since, as a single parent to three sons, I barely have enough time to put my makeup on in the morning, let alone go around blending things! So, my executive decision was that I would use the lighter shade in the winter and the darker in the summer since that's what my skin tends to do. And y'know, it worked!

With my fair tone, comes an array of freckles which sheer cover seemed to minimize. What I was most in awe of was the fact that the powder could cover as good, if not better, than foundation! Not only that, but the coverage appeared natural and did not irritate my skin as was promised with natural ingredients.

Included in my shipment was also a highlighter set which I loved! It was fun to highlight different areas that I didn't realize you were supposed to highlight until Leeza told me 'what's up' in her included CD.

Next there's the concealer which really does work wonders just like the fabulous powder foundation. The darker areas under my eyes seemed to shy away with a touch of this stuff. I've been through many concealers in my lifetime, sinking to even the lowest depths of department stores, only to find that none will work quite like this one.

Yet, in this shipment there was also a lot of junk. The folks at Sheer Cover wanted to make us all feel extra special and included a cleansing kit and moisturizer. After a few uses, I could see no benefit for my skin, plus the ingredients were too mediocre to include in a daily routine. Phooey.

Sheer Cover also makes mascara for this kit. Much like the cleansing stuff, I think this was just to fill the box. After a few uses, it ended up in a box in my garage. Anyone need free make-up?

The Bottom Line: Am I still buying Sheer Cover? Yes. Am I still Buying the Kit? NO. It's about thirty bucks a month to keep going with this kit and if you're not going to use half the stuff, it's definitely not worth it. I say buy the cosmetics individually from independent dealers, like my fav eBay, because unfortunately the website only lets you buy the kit.

CSI Anti-Aging Skin Care Kit: My Unbiased Opinion

When my sons were first diagnosed with autism, I wanted to do everything I could to help. One of the steps I took was to go all natural in their diet. Strangely, this decision also led me to finding fantastic skin care.


When I started to analyze what my kids were ingesting, I began to scrutinize my own habits. I ate mostly healthy, but realized that a lot of the stuff I put on my skin contained unhealthy stuff. Such as Proactiv. Though I knew it was helping to ward off acne is some ways, in many ways it only irritated my skin.

At one point I decided it was do or die. Either I go the rest of my life throwing chemicals on my face in hopes I will look good, or I take the natural route.

The day I ordered CSI (for Cosmeceutical Sciences Institute) my life was forever changed.

The CSI kit I use contains a facial wash, toner, moisturizing cream and exfoliating scrub.

The Rose Hip Facial Cleanser smells wonderful and gives my face a thorough cleaning. It contains oils of rose hip, olive, and kumquat as well as seaweed extracts. I love washing my face now :)

After that is the fabulous CoQ10 Toner. I have never been a toner user because they dry my touchy skin out. This toner, however, does its job without making my skin flaky, plus I've noticed my pores reducing in size. The aloe vera is soothing along with chamomile and sage to balance my finicky pH levels. Finally, there's the beloved CoQ10 which I cannot say enough good stuff about. If you don't know about CoQ10, it's high time you did! It's a superhero-like antioxidant that protects your skin against free radical damage and we all hate free radicals! I also take CoQ10 in a vitamin.

The next step in the kit is the Super Hyaluronic Moisturizing Cream. When they say super, they're not kidding. When I first used the stuff, I had to ask everyone at work why my skin was flaking off when I put my makeup on! Apparently, that was the Hyaluronic acid at work slothing away dead skin cells and stimulating new cell growth, making my skin more radiant.

Finally, there is the Amber Honey Exfoliating Scrub which I sometimes just want to eat because it smells so darn good! It is a scrub that contains amino acids and makes my skin refreshed and renewed. It has been especially helpful in cleaning out my pores.

After using this for a few weeks, my acne issues were cured, gone, vamanos! No more break-outs, period maybe ever again! Also, people started commenting on my glowing skin which is a never-happened-before-occurance.

While CSI is fairly new to the skin care world (at least to my new happy world), I was able to find that it made it to truthinaging.com's Five Best Facial Cleansers List. Nice work, CSI!

If you are interested in treating your skin to this wonder, you can buy it from vitacost.com. This site also carefully lists the ingredients. Reviews can also be found there to help you decide if it's right for you.

Best of luck in your skin care endeavours!

Proactiv Acne Treatment: You Either Love It Or Ya Hate It

I started using this stuff about a year ago when I noticed that suddenly, in my twenties, my skin decided to re-live the teenage years. Also, these were not the innocent pimples that I could quickly snuff out with Clearasil, no these were meaner and fiercer than ever before, often camping out on my face for weeks! I had to do something and remembered those Proactiv pamphlets I had received back in the day, so purchased a few bottles on eBay. Following is my personal experience:

First few weeks and all my unruly blemishes seemed to disappear. I religiously used the stuff daily, though the cleanser felt like sandpaper on my skin and smelled like toilet bowl cleaner.

Proactiv then became family to me. It was part of my daily cleansing regimen until I started to think about a few things. One, what the heck was in this stuff? And most importantly, why was I still breaking out on a monthly basis? Sure, my face was clear in between, but soon my cycle of pimples renewed themselves and I began to feel like I was wasting my money. Also, at the age of 28, I decided that I shouldn't be using stuff that dries out my skin, but moisturize since soon wrinkles will be a concern.

Basically, I ditched the stuff after reading that it contains carcinogens that could cause premature aging, I switched to something all natural two months ago. I was at first concerned about going cold turkey from a product that I was so dependent on, but since I've gone "Au natural" I haven't had a breakout in over two months! The miraculous product that I now use is CSI (Cosmeceutical Sciences Institute) which is an entirely new blog.

I know many people swear by Proactiv and some positive reviews can be found here:

http://www99.epinions.com/reviews/Proactive_Solution_Renewing_Cleanser

Then I found this site that said much of the same as me and my gripes:

http://www.acne.org/proactiv-solution-reviews/91/page1.html

So is Proactiv the devil? I guess only you can decide. :)