Artifact Girl

CELIA DE CUBA | MASQUE MONDAY

One, two, cha-cha-cha!

Cuba was wonderful! It was so nice to escape the cold! We finally had some time to relax (well, sort of!). We bathed in the turquoise waters and soaked in the golden rays of the Caribbean. We were relaxing by day and Artifact-ing by night! It was perfect. *sigh

I came across some beautiful flowers and plants on my way to the beach every morning, so I decided to do some FaceTheFoliage - Cuban style! The red hibiscus flowers were abundant there, everywhere you look! The yellow flower (the name escapes me - if anyone knows what this would be called, please let me know!) is from our trip to Havana. We stopped at a local restaurant to eat and right in the front of the building was this beautiful tree, in full bloom, the beautiful yellow buds just filled the branches. As we were walking out from the restaurant, an adorable local man handed me a flower - I knew I would keep it to create my Cuban girl - Celia de Cuba.

Her Story...

Celia de Cuba fell in love with a Brazilian man named, Arturo. Every other night he would watch her dance at the Tropicana, where she performed in a great headpiece an African princess would envy. The night he was not there, he would go out to pick three hibiscus flowers: One for faith, the other for hope and last for love. When he professed his love, she turned up her nose. Arturo never came back. To this day, she wears a single hibiscus in her hair - for the one who got away. 

 

Love,

Artifact Girl xo

THE PERFECT WINTER MASK

It's getting to the point in winter now where our skin is just screaming for help! A great remedy to start the year off right: Avocado.

Avocado is rich in fatty acids which makes a great natural moisturizer for dry and unbalanced skin. With winter in full motion we could use all the help in the moisture department!

Let's get mixing!

 

What you'll need:

1 avocado (mashed)

1 egg

2 tbs of Greek yogurt

1 tsp of baking soda

 

*Baking soda is a great ingredient to use on your skin, especially for troubled skin. It allows the pores to open and eliminate the top layer of the skin that holds dirt and oil. 

Mix them all together in a small bowl. Use your fingers or a Masque Brush to apply it on your face. Leave it on for 10 minutes and rinse it off with warm water. Make sure to moisturize afterwards! 

Your skin will feel  moisturized and exfoliated, I promise. :)

Enjoy!

Love,

Artifact Girl xo

MY GIRL FRIDAY | FACIAL FRIDAY

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had the best holiday season full of great memories. Let's cheers to health, happiness and love.

We've taken Artifact Skin Co. all over this holiday season. With only 9 months of experience, it was quite a learning journey but we had a wonderful time! 

Many of you have probably seen the hashtag, #FaceTheFoliage, all over Instagram - where a characteristic face is formed by cleverly placing left over flowers, leaves, sticks, etc. The first time I've seen this was on Justina Blakeney's Instagram page. I was just in awe of the simplistic beauty! I knew right away it was something I must try and when I did, I found it surprisingly therapeutic!

I want to start this year with new traditions called:

My Girl Monday | MasqueMonday

My Girl Friday | FacialFriday

I want this opportunity to really explore my creative freestyle. To take a few Mondays and/or Fridays a month to hunch over a blank slate to create beautiful foliage faces...and masque their faces, of course! ;) 

Have a great weekend! 

Love,

Artifact Girl xo

MINTY CLEAN SKIN

So fresh, so clean! 

One of my favorite herbal teas is peppermint. I always drink a cup after dinner. Because of its cooling element it helps sooth the pain of indigestion. It improves your bodies metabolism, allowing you to digest your food quickly.

But of course when peppermint tea is applied to your skin it has its own set of benefits. 

This is for my oily-combination people! Our skin is basically magnets for dirt, especially when you have oilier skin. By letting the dirt pile up on your skin it begins to clog pores and you harvest unwanted pimples!

So here are some benefits of having minty clean skin:

1. Helps control oily skin: The menthol helps decreases the oil production, giving you more flawless and mattified skin.

2. Reduces irritations: the cooling property of menthol helps inflamed skin such as an insect bite, rashes, burns and most importantly acne. 

So with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up...remember, after a big meal make sure to have a cup of peppermint tea! With the left over tea splash some on your face or apply it on your skin with a cotton pad. ;) 

Enjoy!

Love,

Artifact Girl xo

COFFEE BODY SCRUB

Coffee! Coffee! Coffee!

The caffeine and antioxidants in coffee help minimize the appearance of scars, stretch marks and even cellulite on your body! Just as drinking coffee help us stay awake and keep our minds alert, when the caffeine is applied onto our skin it helps stimulate the circulation which helps smooth out our skin by toning and tightening the tissue. 

The best part of all of this is that you all probably have coffee in your home! This is a super easy, super quick beauty do-it-yourself!

What you'll need:

1 cup of grounded coffee 

4 tbs of honey / olive oil / coconut oil

*Optional: You can add 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of grounded coffee for a finer scrub. 

You can use fresh grounded coffee or you can just use the left over coffee grinds from your morning coffee! Put your grinds in a medium bowl, add in your honey/olive or coconut oil and mix it up. Take the coffee paste with you in the shower and gently massage it into your skin, focusing on the parts that need more attention: arms, legs and underarms (smooths out ingrowns), stomach area, thighs, back....even your face (however, I would recommend not to scrub but to just apply it like a mask). 

Wash it off with warm water, pat dry, moisturize and you're good to go my friends! Obviously like most beauty regimes, frequent treatments show the best results. Oh, beauty really is a pain! ;) 

I hope you like this beauty DIY, this is certainly one of my favorites! 

 

Love,

Artifact Girl xo