Danielle Staub Really Made Jersey Housewives Hilarious..

So on this lazy Saturday afternoon before I leave for South Carolina I am listening to Little Dragon, which my musically gifted boyfriend turned my on to some time last year. I am still mourning the loss of a long post I wrote the other day that was a love letter to the album The Suburbs, which Blogger happily deleted mid-post. So sad. Anyway, lately I've been very much into developing a healthier lifestyle for myself, this means more meditating, morning yoga, and of course a skin care regimen breakdown. I've been reading a lot of articles on the organic product craze and whether or not these organic products stand up to their chemical cousin's results. My personal take on the whole matter is that products containing harsher chemicals and parabens and whatnot do work, and probably deliver faster results than organic based products, yet the long term effects are what set the two apart truly. Organic products have a healthier impact on us in the long run because what we put on our skin, we are really putting in our bodies and our blood. The skin actually makes up about 16% of our body weight and is our largest organ. So if we wouldn't feel comfortable putting some product on our tongue, should we really be slathering it on our skin?

Ok so I'm not going to eat my beauty products. But I do want to feel semi-safe about what I use. I used to have a skin care regimen that was all about burning the top layer of my skin off so I can have nothing there at all! Now, I've realized that my skin was at it's peak when I used less. I used to get compliments on a daily basis about how beautiful my skin was, but once I started using more and more products, my skin changed and has never really been the same. Bu in another article I read recently, I believe it was on Style.com, a dermatologist pointed out the fact that by using too many products, we are creating more problems for ourselves because we then need to alleviate problems brought on simply because of another product. So I am using all the patience I have with my skin, and letting it get back to it's natural state. This means I 1) returned my clarisonic 2) dropped the Elemis exfoliating cleanser 3) chucked the Cetaphil, which apparently is not all that great for your skin. Now, my new regimen consists of these important steps:

• Eminence Organic Coconut Milk Cleanser (which smells divine omg)
• Boscia Moisturizing Mask (when my skin is very dehydrated)
• Ren Keep Young and Beautiful Serum, recommended to me not only because it evens skin tone and plumps, but because it is a lovely organic line that really delivers
• Ren Glycolactic Peel Mask once or twice a week to refresh the skin
• Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Gel mask once or twice a week to calm redness and irritation, which I get a lot
• Dermalogica Ultra Calming Mist, but this might change soon since it contains a couple parabens and I feel like I could find a calming toner that is more organic such as Jurlique's rose water toner
• As for a night cream, I alternate between Ren Frankincense cream and Caudalie Moisturizer. I may also purchase Josie Maran's Argan Oil because I have heard it does wonders for really restoring the skin barrier and balancing moisture levels.

I have also been trying to cut back greatly on coffee and caffeine. I still have a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee in the morning, I know, it's naughty, but when I get that later afternoon craving, I usually go for a tea or decaf coffee instead. I'm not perfect, coffee certainly is my main vice, but I don't smoke, so that's a plus! Also, alcohol in moderation and drinking plenty of water if I know I'll be having a couple drinks with friends on the weekend. I firmly believe what you've been putting in your body will show up on your skin. My skin always looks terrible after I sneak in fast food or something really greasy. My friend's with the healthiest diets tend to have the most beautiful skin. Jealous. Now I am going to get ready to pack some things and indulge in an hour's worth of Jersey Housewives because these ladies probably have some fantastic healthy living tips I can pick up.