Get in with skin with The Body Shop Skin Care Test Drive

During the month of my big 3-O, something less than magical happened to me: I found gray hairs (yep, that's plural) and I found wrinkles. Needless to say, getting older was taking its toll. It was then I also realized that being ignorant about what "stuff" I needed to be putting on my face was no longer a real option. I needed to take responsibility for the future in front of me and learn really what I was doing (or in my case, not doing) for my skin. 

So recently, when I got the opportunity to actually learn about how to take care of skin (rather than just randomly trying all the free products I got in my free Clinique Bonus bag), I was ecstatic. Finally after years of school, I felt like I was going to learn something I really should have learned when I was 12 - how to take care of my skin.

Let me be clear; I'm not completely stupid about skincare. I just have so many other things going on I don't take care of it the way I need to. Many times once I sit down it doesn't take long for my body to completely go limp and my eyeballs to roll into the back of head, so washing my face is not even an option. Then once I wake up in the morning, I'm happy to splash on some cleanser to get off the leftover mascara and baby slobber from yesterday and then slap on another topcoat (my husband's reference to foundation) to start it all over again the next day.

As part of Galleria Dallas' Beauty Live 2012, a three-day event totally devoted to all things beauty, The Body Shop had asked a few friendly volunteers to commit to a four-week test drive to use their products and then share what we thought when we were complete. Always happy to take on a challenge, I was happy to finally learn what type of skin I really had, what it really needed and most of all, what it was doing to my skin. After all with all the products out on the market with so many promises, I'm not sure what is really what I need. 

My consultant, Lori, was amazing. She sat me down, cleaned off my makeup and instantly got down and dirty about my skin. Once she was able to assess my skin type, she developed a custom skin care regime to help combat my problem areas and keep potential issues at bay. During our consultation, she told me about The Body Shop's commitment tofair trade practices and using natural products. Considering our skin absorbs almost 80 percent of what we put on it, I was happy to begin using products that were as healthy on the inside as they are the out (and mucho points for environmentally and economically friendly business!) And best of all -- she wrote on the bottles when and what order I needed to apply the products (who would have thought this would be so helpful.)

All I had to do was promise her that I would commit to a four-weeks, 2 times a day skincare regimen using the following products:  

1.   Seaweed Purifying Facial Cleanser $14.00

2.   Seaweed Pore-Cleansing Facial Exfoliator $15.00

3.   Seaweed Clarifying Toner $12.50

4.   Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream $16.50

5.   Seaweed Clarifying Night Treatment $20.00

6.   Seaweed Ionic Clay Mask $22.00

7.   Seaweed Pore Perfector $21.00

8.   Tea Tree Oil $ 9.00

9.   Vitamin E Eye Cream $18.00

          *******For a total of $150

Now that I have promised another human being, I'll be held accountable for being good to my skin (what a thought!) Best of all after being treated like a total queen, she let me know that anyone can come into the store and get the same type of one-on-one time to help you find what you need for your skin type. Two points!

So ready for the big reveal? You're gonna have to wait!

For my own benefit, I'm not going to post my before photo at this time, but I will tell you tell you that after four weeks, I hope to be happy to show you a great post-photo. Also, you can come out and see me talk about the product at BEAUTY LIVE at Galleria Dallas on March 19!