Love, Life & Beauty After Fifty

If you've been following my blog, you'll remember that back at the beginning of May, I decided I wanted to do a couple DNA tests to see if I could determine where my ancestors immigrated from on my Mom's side of the family (you can check out that blog here ) I ordered two tests - one from Ancestry DNA and one from MyHeritage DNA - and you'll also remember that I had some issues with the MyHeritage DNA test, so chose to do a third test through 23andMe (you can check out that blog here ) Now onto my 23andMe DNA results (I will be doing a comparison of ethnicity percentages from both Ancestry and 23andMe in a future blog) The 99% European can be further broken down: The other 1% is a mishmash of ethnicities - which according to 23andMe goes back 8+ generations: With the 23andMe test, you can trace your Ancestry Timeline which outlines how many generations ago your most recent ancestor for each population was from: 23andMe delves furt...

Save your money ... I purchased the new Veet Sensitive Precision Styler in hopes of taming my unruly brows.  I first tried trimming my brows and while it did do a good job of trimming them, when it came time to shape the brows, it really was useless as the blade (even as small as it is) doesn't work well on curved areas.  Major fail ... Sadly I ended up just plucking as I usually do. I did try the larger blade side on my baby fine facial hairs, as well as my upper lip and it did work well for those areas, but you can easily shave your face with a plain razor, so save your money. Would I recommend the Veet Sensitive Precision Styler? If all you are looking for is something to shave your face - minus shaping your brows - then it does well for that task, but as I said earlier, save your money and just use a regular razor.  It definitely does not work for shaping your brows, but does work for trimming - something else you can do with an eyebrow comb and a pair of s...

A few months ago, I looked in the mirror and saw some grandmotherly-looking woman looking back at me. Yikes! Where did she come from? I realized that it was probably too late, but I decided I wouldn't go down without a fight. I wanted a good Retinol Serum for my sensitive, post-menopausal skin that is also prone to breakouts and after doing much research online, I came across Paula's Choice Resist Intensive Wrinkle Repair Retinol Serum and thought I'd give it a try. The serum feels greasy going on, but when combined with a good moisturizer, it does eventually soak into the skin.  Because I have sensitive skin, I have only been using this once a week at night.   And because I've only been using it once a week, I haven't really noticed my dark spots or wrinkles disappearing, but my skin does seem to feel and look better a few days after using the serum.   I will be increasing my use of this serum to every other evening to see if more frequent use will help...

I have been using the Arbonne RE9 line for a while now and absolutely love this cleanser. It is on the pricey side, but you only use a pea size amount to clean your entire face. I should mention that I rarely wear a full face of make-up so a bottle lasts me a couple months using just at night. According to the Arbonne website, youthful-looking skin starts with clean skin. This pearlescent crème formula creates a light foam to gently wash away makeup and impurities. With an added plant-derived moisturizer, you can bet on starting your day with a refreshed, hydrated canvas. The formula contains a few interesting ingredients, such as plant extracts and vitamins that can be beneficial as anti-irritants for the skin. The scent of this cleanser is a lovely citrus and it cleanses my skin nicely and leaves my skin feeling so soft and hydrated after use. Would I recommend Arbonne's RE9 Advanced Regenerating Toner? I really like this cleanser.  Yes it is a bit on...

I was never one to use toners in my daily skincare routine, however, when I started using the Arbonne RE9 line, I thought I'd give it a try. According to the Arbonne website, a quick misting of this antioxidant-rich, pH-balanced toner refreshes skin and prepares it for the next step — firming and lifting skin’s appearance. Arbonne's instructions say to spray directly on the face, but to me, this seems a bit odd as with most toners you are to pour them onto a cotton pad and wipe your face. After trying the spray thing (which didn't work for me), I started spraying it onto a cotton pad and wiping my face which seemed to go much better. The toner has a fruity, but also slightly chemical scent, but it is still quite pleasant and does disappear almost instantly once absorbed into the skin. It removes any leftover make-up that the Arbonne cleanser didn't. Would I recommend Arbonne's RE9 Advanced Regenerating Toner? Overall I think it isn't hurting my skin....