Episode 96 - Acids & Peptides & Ceramides Oh My! Answering Your Skincare Product Questions With Natasha Brinkmann (Full Transcript)

This is a full transcript of the Nirvana Sisters podcast episode 96.

Editor’s Note: Please know that this podcast transcript is automatically generated and may contain minor errors such as typos and word switches. For more information, be sure to listen to the podcast here or view our podcast episode guide.

Welcome to Nirvana sisters podcast where we take the intimidation out of well being and beauty to help you achieve your highest state your nirvana. We are sisters in law and your hosts. I'm Amy Sherman.

Unknown:0:18

And I'm Katie Chandler. So let's get into some real conversation

Amy:0:27

Welcome back to Nirvana sisters, Nirvana sisters family. It's Amy and Katie, and we are joined by Natasha Brinkman or Natasha b Who is a trained esthetician, skincare expert and educator. You may know her as beauty junkie maki on Tik Tok, where she has over 350,000 followers. That's how we found her so much amazing skincare advice we trust all her recommendations and all of her insight. Natasha is very unique in her field because she's completely independent of any brand. And this provides her with unbiased opinions on all skincare lines. She thrives on finding each diamond product that each brand has and shares it within her community giving others the best bang for their buck. So Natasha is online consultations, business consultation business is worldwide. She designed skincare routines for those around the world. And her success has her completely booked for the next six months. So hopefully the Nirvana sisters family can get in sooner than that. But we are so glad to have you here. Natasha, thank you so much for joining us today.

Unknown:1:28

Oh, thank you, Amy. I sincerely appreciate that.

Amy:1:31

Awesome. Well, we are going to start out we have so many questions. But before we start out, we just want to take a step back and do our nirvana of the week, something that brought us joy, happiness this week that we can reflect upon. And I will hand it over to Katie, to give us her Nirvana the week.

Unknown:1:45

Oh, thanks. So really quickly. Before I do that, I just want to say hi to Natasha and I'm so happy you're here because you single handedly saved my skin. And we'll get into why here shortly. But I think my I have probably like two Nirvana's one that happened, and then a future one for tomorrow. But I am traveling for the first time for work and a few long time not a few years, a long time. And it's just been kind of a Nirvana and it's Oh, and it's fun. It's fun to be like on the road. And I'm working for a great client. And while I miss my family, it's it's it's just been kind of exciting to do all of this stuff again. So that was a nirvana. And then my next one is tomorrow, we're in Baltimore. And I'm in Baltimore for my client, and my kids and my husband are going to come and meet me. And we're going to go to the aquarium here. And I'm so excited because it's really like one of the best aquariums in the country and my girls love and aquarium. So it'll just be a really fun day. I'm excited. What about you, Amy?

Amy:2:39

Oh, that's cute. So I would say my run of the week was last night. So I went out for girlfriend's birthday. It was just four of us, and had a great meal. And it's just so fun when you go out with great friends really close friends, and you just have those different conversations that you don't have with other people. So we laughed, we cried. We just the range of topics we talked about. Were just so funny. And so age appropriate. It was just like a great. It was just a great night. So I really appreciated that because I haven't had a good like connection with girlfriends in a couple weeks. So it was just really, really nice. What about you Natasha

Unknown:3:11

being here. This is very exciting for me, I was pretty, I was pretty stoked. I'm like, No, we gotta do this. So this is definitely my moments.

Amy:3:21

Oh, love to hear that.

Unknown:3:23

Yeah, thank you. All right. Well, before we kick it off, I'm going to just tell you my really quick Natasha B story because like I said, You saved my skin. I was using an exfoliant every day as my face lotion as serum Sunday Riley's good genes, which is a great product, but I didn't know how to use it. I was using it wrong. And I came across your content. And I started watching your videos and you taught me what an exfoliant is and why shouldn't be using it every day. Maybe my skin likes it once a week. So literally, you saved my skin. My skin was an absolute mess for maybe the last year it was dry. It was flaky. It was red. It was watching. It was acne. It was oily and it was everything. Everything. So thank you, Natasha. Oh, I love hearing this. This is this is why I do what I do. It's it's it's there's so much information out there. And they don't teach people how to take care of their skin. They don't teach people that skincare products do different things for different skin and different skin types. You know, like one person can use an acid every single day and have absolutely amazing skin. But that's a small percentage. And my biggest rant right now is I'm sure you saw is all about using Ha's and BH A's, which are acids in your cleanser and in your toners and then using it other active ingredients with it. It's just it turns into a hot mess and then you unbalanced the skin and then you're wondering where what the heck happened to my face was good and then it wasn't good. And then you keep doing the same things over processing and it just becomes a just accumulation of a hot mess as I like to call it. That's exactly

Amy:4:59

yeah, and it's to true because you're right, there's so much information out there and everyone wants to try all these products. But if you don't know how to use them and you don't know how to use them for your skin and you're not working with someone like you or someone that actually like, has expertise, you can totally mess up your skin. Well and

Unknown:5:15

also those products they always say on the bottle use day and night, like they say us once or twice a week, depending on what your skin can handle or any you know, it's like it's so it's very misleading. So having said that, let's break down what some of these products are because we're hearing a lot of buzzwords on nice synonymized exfoliants. Like you said, Ajay BHA, of course, the vitamin C's and the peptides. So give us kind of a 101 on what all those things are. So your Ha's and BHA so your alpha hydroxy acids and your beta hydroxy acids, those are basically your acids, your exfoliant. And right now, what's kind of being pushed in the industry is using that in your cleanser and your toner, specifically, if you have problematic skin, meaning if you have a breakout or two or acne skin, but the problem is, is that I don't know about you guys, but most of the people that I talk to when I say well, I have acne, it's really bad. And they're really bad is like three breakouts on the chin. So there's a there's a bit of a misconception of what acne skin looks like and what how bad a breakout is, might be bad for you, because that's outside your norm. But that's kind of like the biggest kind of people's interpretation of what acne skin or breakout skin can be. It's very broad, very broad. So of course, companies put it out there, oh, well, we use a small amount, we use a small amount. But I always go back to the old saying, Well, if you have a piece of wood, and it just needs a little sanding, and you sand it down just a little bit, then it's perfect. Right? It looks it feels good, it looks good. You can put the oils on it and hydrates, it looks great. But if you keep filing it down, falling down, falling it down, you start getting rough edges and that glow, and you start getting you know what I mean? Like the little pics of the over filing it, it's a kind of a crude way of putting it. But that's kind of how I look at using acids in your skincare. This is definitely has its place. And yes, there's certain skin types that can use acids on a daily basis, but you don't have to use it on a daily basis. Remember, companies want to sell you their product, that is their main goal, right. And very few, very few companies actually design a skincare for people or their routines because in fairness, that's tough to do. Everybody has different needs in that area. So that's where I have an issue with the hspgs being in cleansers and toners because most people don't need it there. They need it as a treatment separately on a different night. So he is nbha. So he has your your glycolic acid, your lactic acid, your Mandelic Acid, your A z like acid, those are your acids, they they take off the surface area of the skin, BHA is your salicylic acid, that's the stuff that actually goes down deep into the pore and cleans it out almost like like a little washing machine just goes in there and cleans it right out. But it doesn't really talk touched the surface area, but it can dry out the surface area. So you when you have a combination of I have really bad blackheads and I have really bad oil production then yes, and ah a slash BHA. So usually it's a blend of lactic acid, glycolic acid is what's going to be beneficial for your skin type. But if you're like me and you're dried, dehydrated skin, lactic acid is your best friend because it's a humectant and pulls moisture to your to itself. So it's not as aggressive as a glycolic, which is a smaller molecule and can really get in there and try it on the skin. So

Amy:8:39

I have a question. So all of those acids you talked about are? Are they in the category of exfoliators? Or is it okay? So are the those are the kind that like, like Katie was mentioning, like good genes where you keep it on? But what about the exfoliators? Like the ones that are textured, you know, that you just put in your face and rinse off? Is that like a different category? Because I never know which you should be using both different like, how does that work?

Unknown:9:04

Well, there's enzymes, right? And then there's a manual exfoliants right. So you manuals are like those microbeads that were really big, like 1020 years ago, remember those and they were like awesome. And then we found out oops, they're not perfectly spherical. And we're causing micro tears in the skin, which can cause pigmentation and you will basically you're opening up the skin for any type of bacteria and breakouts. But we realized that's not great. Not to mention that microbeads weren't exactly being manufactured. Well, there's some cheaper versions, which we found were polluting the environment. So you know, there's a lot of stuff that we've kind of learned throughout the years. Nowadays, I like to stay away from doing a manual abrasion type of peel. I really liked that they were really focused more on the HSBA Chase and there's different levels of course, but I really liked that because again, the other thing I noticed working with people is that people can be very heavy handed. You know when they're exfoliating they would just sit there and grind it into their skin and like oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no living organism. To Be gentle. I always say touch your face like you're touching a baby how you would How will you press a baby that's that's the kind of pressure you really want to do on your skin. You know legs and arms. That's completely different story but your face you should really touch it like it's a baby. So I personally there it does have its place in certain situations, but I tend to like to go more towards the the acids that you can use, like the ones from the ordinaries. They work really, really great. Polish choice has really good ones out there. formulations. Yeah, well, it's choice. Yeah, Polish choice switched from Sunday Riley's good genes, I think it was just too much. And like the fact that it's serum and you leave it on, I feel like it was kind of stripping my skin. So now I'm using the polished choice, but I only use it twice a week. Well, that's no That's exactly it. You use it less than you probably get better better skin out of it. Yeah. So what are what are let's get into like serum mites and the vitamin serum mites or night. Serum right and a nice and am I the same thing or no? No, not really. So nice cinema. It said I'm sorry, it fortifies the cell walls. So what it's a vitamin B three, I guess is the best way to put it. And and what it does is it helps to fortify those cell walls. So you guys can see me this is what like a poor would do. And whenever anybody is talking to me about texture, like I have a lot of texture, I have a lot of oil production, my skin barrier is compromised, it's not doing so well. What that does is it basically helps to heal those cell walls. And it helps to keep them nice and firm and taut. It's nice, that image should be technically used with everybody. It is so good. Any and every skin type can use it because when you fortify those cell walls, again, you bring down texture, so you stop getting that huge bumpiness in the skin that people find when they have oily skin. It also brings down inflammation. It's a powerful powerful antioxidant. So that works exceptionally well against the elements. Not to mention it does help brighten up the skin as well. And it also it another little superpower it has is it helps to regulate your sebum production, which is your oil glands. So it helps to relax that hyperactive sebaceous secretion that people with oily or oily magnetic skin have and it just calms it down. But the problem with niacin amide is it takes time, it takes time to kick in. And a lot of people they're like, Oh, I've used it for two weeks, I've done nothing. Well, no, it hasn't even done a skin cycle. A skin cycle would be basically from we the general consensus is between 28 to 31 days, but as we age, it slows down. So that means you're probably going to have to wait a little bit longer for your skin products to actually kick in and work. And it can take anywhere between three to six months for nice to the mind to really kick in for certain people. So and things like that are kind of what are going to help rebuild the cell wall. Of course, Sarah might also help to fortify the cell walls within the skin so you're not compromising the barrier and that's how you keep the skin looking nice and juicy and plump and not red. Okay,

Amy:12:48

so for niacin amide. Can you use it morning and night? Absolutely. Absolutely. And what is the difference between nice and amide and hyaluronic so hyaluronic acid so from what I know is like very hydrating but it's not as it's not the same asset as like the AGM BJs we were talking about before. Okay, and so I always I always get confused on the difference between nice and amine and hyaluronic because it feels like those two ingredients are in everything or Yeah,

Unknown:13:17

and for good reason. They work really really well together. Like if you have compromised skin barrier or rosacea skin or acne skin, anything like that thin skin, what hyaluronic acid specifically be five it's really unique because the hyaluronic acid pulls moisture to itself like a like a little sponge. But the B five actually helps to hydrate the cell walls in between. So it's like a little bit extra extra. When you do that you fortify the cell walls with a niacin amide you got a really nice happy little marriage of two really solid ingredients that really help to keep the skin firm, juicy, plump and hydrated. The thing with serums that you really have to remember is they are not your moisturizer, so you cannot put a hyaluronic acid and then a niacin amide and then go out and go, Oh, my skin looks dry and dull and it's it's cracking and it's well yeah, because that's not a hydrator it says it's a serum it is serums are basically like what's the best way to describe that? Your multivitamin, your dose of what you're trying to do for your skin to help get your skin nice and healthy. And then are the are the peptides the what is the Yeah, what are the peptides and what is the skin see in the moisturizer, the next step that we want to protect our skin barrier. So when it comes to peptides, there's like, oh, there's a lot. There's like different forms of peptides. There's hydrating peptides, they're stimulating peptides, they're neuron peptides that help to like the RB line or Carolina some people call it I'm Canadian, so I called it our Dline but but basically like that's kind of a neuron peptidic tells the muscles not to move as much or as deep or as penetrative. Then you have Matrixyl 3000 Which is really exciting again, was not big in the field when it back in the day. I'm glad I'm back in it now, but back in, oh gosh, 20 years ago when there was no metrics, so I don't think it came into play until like early 2000, I believe somewhere like that. So the skincare game has changed considerably. And peptides have really make a comeback. Now, there's a lot of people out there that have different varying opinions about peptides. And I, I read the research on it. So when I look it up, I'm like, it doesn't sound too promising, but what the heck, I'm going to try it. That's why I test everything that I talked about. Because I you know, I'm skeptic like everybody else. And I'm also very curious because I've also known throughout the years that you can't just look at it blindly with one set of eyes, you have to try it from different angles and see what works and what doesn't work. And for me peptides really has changed the game for a lot of women and men out there who are just trying to plump up and juice up their skin and just kind of give it the best bang. So peptides, like Metrix are exciting because they stimulate collagen and elastin production, which slows considerably as you age. And there's different versions of them different formulas, like for instance, if you're in your late 20s, early 30s. And you want like just to get a good all round peptide. The ordinary has there used to be called buffet, but I believe they calling it a polypeptide or something like that. It was an incredible formulation of different types of peptides in there, and it worked exceptionally well. I really, really love that one. But for me, I'm a huge fan of metrics or metrics or synthetic six, which is is that like a CRM, or is it a moisturizer? Yeah, it's a serum. And again, there's a lot of products that will either put it in a serum, so it's almost like your power packed your your major dosing, or they'll put it in your moisturizer, which has, you know, hit Miss results, right? Because when you put the more ingredients you put together, you're not not they don't always work, Senator son, I can't even say it today synergistically. They don't always do that perfectly together. But the same can be said about a syrup, like certain serums are just basic, and they kind of fall flat. Not because the active ingredient isn't good. It's because it's not being supported by the other ingredients that help to enhance it. So that's something I'm still learning like I I'm still doing a lot of research and going in through a whole bunch of different products. But I've been so busy doing consultations that it's kind of slowed that down a little bit. So I'm trying to get back into my you know, my groove,

Amy:17:22

I just I'm, I got a little like trial size of something called I just looked it up. It's a moisturizer, it's, it's by the brand Skinfix and it's called barrier plus and it says triple lipid peptide peptide cream. I've been using it at night, and it's really moisturizing. It feels so good, especially in the winter and I love it I don't know if it's the peptides or whatever it is but like it's just really really like creamy and thick and moisturizing. But that had peptides in it and that's what I was gonna ask you like she doesn't even work in the cream doesn't it's Yeah, it sounds like it's better to put it directly on your skin versus to a moisturizer but it doesn't hurt if it's in a moisturizer, right?

Unknown:17:59

No and there's different forms like there's hundreds of different forms of peptides out there. Right so once in this Skinfix triple lipid peptide cream. Those are really big on the lipids on the fatty acids that are within that skincare so you're not going to see a trixl in that you're going to see different forms of peptides in there. And those are the ones that protect the skin barrier. They're really heavy in the Sara mites so it's really like Skinfix is one of my cult favorites. We love that one. I said I say to all my clients if I was in clinic, I would have a wall of it with that because of the different formulations because it is so effective. So effective, no good and it's hydrating, but it doesn't. What's the best way to put it it's hydrated but it's not oily. And they love the receipt at all you know and for those that are really oily kind of oily econetic Skin their gel formulation is sensational. I absolutely love it. So those are two products and I think that's why I liked the Skinfix so much because it's a little bit more user friendly for the majority of those skin types out there. Yeah, they also have a really good product to have their their cleansers are also a favorite of mine. So they have the basic cleanser which is there my friends might have my list let me pull up my list.

Amy:19:11

Oh we love to have I have

Unknown:19:13

once I've checked once I've tested it and I deem it worthy I know that sounds so sounds so funny. I feel like a little queen in my little realm here but I didn't be worthy it makes my list. Basically basically it means I can recommend this to other people comfortably and say you're probably going to do pretty good with this. Everybody has their different experiences but this is kind of how I do mine but it's called the foaming oil hydrating cleanser which is absolutely sensational. It will not it will not compromise your skin barrier. It's not going to wreck it. It is safe for pretty much every skin type out there. But here's the thing for people with really oily skin and I'm not talking just T zone but those that suffer from really oily skin chronically. They're they're foaming clay cleanser spectacular because the CLAY actually helps absorb all that extra oil and when you pair that with you're using a niacin amide serum which is going to help bring down the hyperactive sebaceous secretion. And then you use perhaps their, I believe it's called their skin barrier nice that it might restoring gel, you're still keeping that hydration level up in the skin so the oil glands don't go crazy. And the nice citta might help to fortify and reduce the extra hyperactive sebaceous secretions. So it's a beautiful I love I love those products.

Amy:20:26

Love it. And then I know we talked I don't know if we asked you this before when we were talking about the H nbha. Is do you have I know we mentioned Polish choice? Do you have other brands that like what else what's on your list for for the exfoliators

Unknown:20:38

I have lots again, and it all depends on the individual and the type. So for me lactic acid 10% The ordinary it's, it's a cheap, awesome trick that works just just works brilliantly. L'Oreal Revitalift 10% glycolic serum. Absolutely awesome. And you can use you can just get it at your local Drug Mart and glad a glycolic acid is really good for normal skin types. You know, not too oily, not too too dry, kind of right in the middle. It's wonderful. And I like it that it's in a serum because it's a little bit more hydrating than your typical glycolic toner that you can get from the ordinary, you know, like that one, I'm not a fan of as much because it's really drying on the skin. So for me, it's kind of like oh, you know that one, I'll tell you a good trick about that. One side note. If you have really bad callus heals, throw on like put a little pouch pad of the glycolic serum, wipe it on your heels and put your moisturizer overtop skin changer. You're gonna have to try that. Yeah, it's a great little trick that it's fantastic of for people with really thick, oily skin, they can come they can get away with it, but it's not my favorite formula because like I said, it's pretty dry. And my my theory is I'd rather keep it a little bit more hydrating. That's why I like the glycolic serum from L'Oreal Revitalift. Because it's a little bit more hydrating, it's a little bit more supportive.

Amy:22:00

And so there's that, that they have like an under eye kind of serum to my thinking of the right one with like this. There's like silver, kind of like balls at the end. I don't know if that's how.

Unknown:22:10

Yeah, that's the hyaluronic acid when you're talking about Yeah, that's the hyaluronic acid you can put around your eyes. That one's Excellent. But ya know that it's generic, you know, hyaluronic acid after a while it's kind of hyaluronic acid, right? It's like, yeah, there's, there's $50 versions, do they work better than five $10 versions a little bit, you know, they're a nicer formula. They go on a little bit nicer, but they kind of technically do the same thing. So different molecular weights, there's always a little extra nuances that can make them just a little bit better, a little bit more luxurious, but I'll be damned if I ever pay 50 bucks for it. I will spend $100 on a cream if I see the value in it, but I am not going to pay $50 for hyaluronic acid. That's where I get cheap. It's so true that you can get such great products at drugstores now as well like therapy, I started using surbeys hyaluronic acid and niacin amide cream or CRM and it is fantastic. I'm I love it. And also I'm really until the Roche Posay now they're a great price point. Very nice. Yeah, very nice sign. So I'm so fascinated by this because you're so insanely educated on all of these details. So how you create these protocols or these routines for your clients. It's just brilliant. So they come to you and they say these are my problems ABCD and you put together a program for them. Yeah, yeah. Basically put together a skincare routine based on their skin type their needs and where they're at in their life because some people they're like, yeah, no, I'm okay with that. I just want this and I'm like okay, you know, for them. I have one client she's like, I know the wrinkles are coming I just My skin's just unbalanced. I just want a basic skincare routine. Nothing fancy just something I can be religious with and just have good skincare and like you got it. I had another client yesterday actually. She was amazing. She's like, I followed your routine and some of the routines that you were kind of putting together and on tick tock and she goes I had a horrible allergic reaction to a type of medication and the only place she didn't peel was the areas where she had taken care of her skin so her face her neck and her chest. But the rest of her body peeled due to this reaction she had to medication. So I just that just goes to show that your diligence you know in your skincare can make such a difference. Where could you

Amy:24:19

sorry, kidding are like 10,000 questions. Do you have a favorite vitamin C brand and question for you on that you put that on first? And then the niacin amide etc. Or like what's the order like I have a heart a lot of people get tripped up on like, what do you put on first and last but

Unknown:24:35

it depends on the vitamin C so the ascorbic acid form of vitamin C from skin deeba is truly my ultimate favorite with but that's that's a hot like that's a you worked your way up to it. If you are brand new and you go right telescopic acid you may or may not enjoy it, you know because it based on your skin type. It is the most potent I call her the diva of all of all, vitamin C. She's highly potent, highly reactive. She is also highly unstable. Oh, so she just she requires a little bit extra love. So she's, she's high maintenance but damn does she does her job like, this is the diva that's gonna sing the opera she's she's going to do it. So that's why I quite love her but I say that lovingly in the fact that your skin has to be dry. So you can technically put your hyaluronic acid and your nice and wide and all your serums on first. But the first rule of skincare is thinnest to thickest waterbased than a creams than oils. So when you're looking at like, for instance, Guindy about this one, it is a more of a water base. So that would go on first on dry skin, then you're going to let it absorb for a good solid minute, then you would put on anything that would be like a serum base, like your hyaluronic acid, you're nice and like any of those, your chebula, which is also a favorite of mine. And what I like to do, because a lot of them are carried in hyaluronic acid is when I apply it on my skin is I'll take a couple of drops and then I'll just kind of wet my fingertips or just give a light spray really far away because I don't want to overwhelm it. I just want to give it a little bit of slip factor. And then I would rub it in all over my face. let that soak in. Then I put on my creams and then my SPF and then ready for the day. That's it another tip of yours that I need to start to use and that is when you put a product on your face. Give it a second to get in there and do its job before you slap the next thing on. I'm like bubble gum, you know,

Amy:26:21

really you're rushing and you're like Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Unknown:26:25

very good tip. It's good to break it up. And you know, just brush your teeth. Go make your bed run after your kid like you know, sometimes it's good to break it up a little bit here and there. Some people ask well do I have to wait a full minute really, honestly give give your vitamin C a minute. Just give that one a full minute let her do her job. The serums are usually pretty pretty quick at absorbing like another good form of vitamin C is ascorbic acid which is not as strong but it's still very potent and that one is better on dry skin as well. Then when you go into like the texture heckled dako, ascorbic acid which is my favorite ultimate fatty acid awesome juiciness. That one works really well but you can actually layer it under your vitamin like under your serums and stuff like that. It doesn't it doesn't start working until it penetrates into the skin and it's a beautiful ingredient. I love that one. What's your view item and see for sensitive skin. Oh sensitive skin. I love herbivore Nova that that that sucker is awesome. And it's so juicy are so juicy and plumping it's got some alpha arbutin which helps to prevent excess melanin production. It does have a little bit of T chebula in there as well which is a very incredible powerful antioxidant. There's so many good turmeric as well which helps to reduce and lighten and brighten the skin like it just evens everything out. It's beautiful. But again, it's long term use you're not going to see results within like five 510 days you're gonna really have to just play the long game on it and some pigmentation just is not going to move. I have this little spot back my hand I've had it lasered I put products on it you name it I've done it ain't going anywhere she's like no you I'm with your girl that's it.

Amy:28:02

We're nasties

Unknown:28:05

so sometimes you just have to understand that there's certain things that are never gonna go away and kind of have to make your peace with that I was having such a hard time with vitamin C but I think it's because I was using the Sunday Riley good genes daily I think that was probably the culprit to all of my problems. So I'm gonna give it an I'm gonna give it another go. I'll try that one. Yeah, to try to try the Nova Yeah, that was fantastic.

Amy:28:27

So I was gonna switch topics because this is another topic that is Katie knows very passionate about which is under eyes. Oh yeah. Like dark circles bags like dry skin hollowness. What do you got? Tell us about brands, moisturizers things.

Unknown:28:48

Absolutely so did apology kind of went viral last year because they had gifted me one of their metrics holes and along with their eye patches and so forth. And although I did like the eye patches and metrics which just blew me out of the water, because what it did is it helped plump up my skin around the Holliness around my eyes as well as it again add some firmness because you're adding hydration you're basically kind of tired you were just talking

Amy:29:12

tricks that under your I got it

Unknown:29:14

oh I put that all over like I bathed in that that goes all over you want neck skin you want chest skin you want everything like I'll be 48 on Tuesday next week and there was literally your skin is gorgeous well I'm lucky because I get to play with a lot of product now that I would have never been would have never been open to in the past right so this is this is the kind of the perk of my of my job now which I'm really appreciative but I also share all my knowledge so everybody else can try different products as well and see which one's work best for their skin but

Amy:29:44

use that yeah, what what else like do you put on favorite eye creams like any tips for

Unknown:29:50

Yeah, so Charlotte Tilbury has really nice eye cream, really nice and it does help. Definitely help firm up my skin. There's another brand that I just finished Testing out and it did sensational. I used to roll my eyes. It wasn't a specific eye cream. It was the whole system itself. It's called EMK. Yeah, en que Beverly Hills. Sorry, I just have the little thing beside me because I'm gonna do a video on that. So that's my my refresher note to do that. That was an incredible system. highly expensive, though. So it is truly a Beverly Hills one, but it worked exceptionally well around my eyes. Apologies caviar stick is a great hydrator it's not going to firm up the skin. Like the Charlotte Tilbury one, but it's a great hydrator. So if you have a really dry, dehydrated one, that caviar stick is seasonal. I'm testing out true botanicals, they have an ice serum. I'm loving it, I put it on this morning, and I'm super super happy with it. So far. So good. I'm just still in the early stages of testing. So

Amy:30:44

love that. And while we're on the under ice subject, any favorite concealers

Unknown:30:49

Lancome Lancome, is it $40 One that that came out? Oh, it's been a couple years now. But that one still is a tried and true.

Amy:30:57

Okay, we're always looking for good eye creams and failure. So thank you for that.

Unknown:31:02

My page, I promise I will always keep you up to date on anything new, I try to go on as much as possible. So then that way people can make an informed decision. And, you know, know that, okay, somebody tested it, they liked it, you know, and they thought there was value to it. And that's what I love about being independent is that although I may work with brands after I like them, I don't do the other. I don't do it the other way. I was just offered a huge contract. Law and I thought was huge. And they're like, Yep, no, we want you to do this within a couple of weeks. I'm like, no, no, no, no, I gotta test it. So they're happy to do this, but I have to test it. See if I like it. And then we can talk and they're like, Oh, well, no, we need to do it. And I'm like, Nah, I'm not interested. Dude, sorry. Good for you. I worked my butt off to to keep my integrity means everything to me. And I worked my butt off to earn that.

Amy:31:47

Trust. Exactly. Yeah, I respect your opinion. So that's good.

Unknown:31:51

Yeah, so I'm not into that. Speaking of opinions, what's your opinion on skin cycling? Do you have any of your clients doing skin cycling? Well, when I put them on a, an actual program, there was a version that we actually do together. So I do put them on a program based on their skin type and their skin needs, which would consult well with the skin cycle, really. But it's not like what you're seeing from one dermatologist, I think they she came out with this, you know, do it this day to do it. They said do it this way that that will work for again, it's not a blanket statement for everybody. And it's not viable for most people, because it's not something that in a busy life schedule, works with people, right? Because when I design skincare routines, I'm like, What's your life like? Like, well, how realistic is this because I don't want you to buy all these products and do this whole thing, only to do it for the first two weeks and then go completely down the wayside. And, you know, I want to try to encourage something that they can do long term. And for certain people, they're very systematic, and they have that calendar in their head and they can do it, I say all the power to you. Just make sure you're using the right products. I don't recommend over exfoliating your skin more than, again, for certain skin types once twice max, max, max, max, some people can do three, but it's not as much as people think it is. And that's why I'm not quite a fan of that version. But again, I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who have had excellent success with it. So I don't want to poopoo anybody's work, but at the same time, I just want to be realistic that it's not going to be for everybody.

Amy:33:15

Yeah, of course. What about yeah, sorry, do you have

Unknown:33:18

a favorite retinol product that you like? I was going

Amy:33:21

to ask the same thing.

Unknown:33:23

Yeah, actually, I do love the one from topology that was sensational, that when you can use every single day, Kiehl's also has a really good they're micro dose one is fantastic. May love or if they have to, they have a retinol and a retinal oops, don't want to give you the thing. So retinal is your basic has to kind of penetrate the skin and convert itself a few times so it's on the lower end but it works very very well and then they also have another one called the retinal which is a higher strength and only has to I think only has to do one or two conversions and it's ready to rock and roll so

Amy:33:56

that one like once or twice a week probably not as much

Unknown:33:59

oh no I use that daily now once you get right now to it Yeah, once you work your way up you can but I hate to do this ladies. I have a consultation to do oh my god oh my god but I would love to come on here and do

Amy:34:12

more. Yeah, let's do have to we'll have you back whenever is convenient for you because I think in the part two we want to talk about like some of these treatments we're seeing out there like Morpheus aid and micro like all the treatments you can do and also want to hear about your routine and more your favorites etc. So we'll make sure to book you so don't worry Nirvana sisters family. We're gonna get her back back. Lady,

Unknown:34:36

they come back Bye bye.

Amy:34:40

Thanks for listening to Nirvana sisters. For more information on this episode, check out the show notes. Please subscribe and leave us a review. also find us on Instagram at Nirvana sisters. If you loved what you just listened to or know someone that would please share it and tag us. Tune in next week for a fresh new episode of Nirvana sisters. We'll continue to watch out for all things Well now so you don't have to. Bye.