Sunday and Its Sundries

Bell's: don't even think about settling in!  OMG! Do I always look this cruddy?  At the end of a day when our daughter was yet again taken by ambulance to the "major med center" hours away, all while hubs was getting emergency surgery locally, his first hospital anything ever!  Do I look like I'm in a mood to take anything else on...or worse, to suffer fools gladly? 

When I started "Friday Tidbits," this is the sort of post I had in mind: to just report on this and that, once a week, about the little things that can make our lives a bit easier to navigate.  Or: to catch up with random thoughts that I always manage to come up with. (I can hear that collective sigh - y'all know that, right?)  Or just to vent and shed the occasional tear.

Instead, Friday Tidbits has seemingly turned into simply a deadline I've forced upon myself. But today we'll have a Friday Tidbits in spirit, although it's a Sunday. And BTW: there IS a Friday Tidbits that was written on a Sunday. (Is anyone able to follow that?) Are there any sharpshooters out there who picked up on them when that happened?  Should I give clues? There are a couple of other doozies I managed to sneak in, which I didn't catch until many months later when it seemed right to leave them as they were - as proof of my fibro-brain. If I had any sort of extra strength, I'd turn the hunt for these - shall we say "anomalies" - into a contest with a prize.  Unfortunately, my brain is too fried to go there.  However, if you do find what I'm talking about, please feel free to leave your finding(s) in the comments.  Now what other blogger has scavenger hunts, albeit the CFIDS/CFS/ME and fibromyalgia sort?

On with my random thoughts and "things."

• At the risk of jinxing myself, I think I may have been handed a huge pass. The Bell's Palsy, which I wrote about in Friday's Tidbits, appears to be minimal .  Yes, my face is crooked, swollen on one side, leaking tears (quite the pretty picture I'm drawing here) with drooping eye, sagging cheek and an extra jowly jowl (singular), but that appears to be it for the moment.  Pain is manageable (again, a knock on wood!).  Oh my! If things could just stay this way, not get much worse, and not take an inordinate period of time going away, plus not getting to be too much worse - and not become a permanent thing - I'll be a mighty happy camper. (Wow! That's a lot of conditions! But then I do like my face to be somewhat symmetrical, Diva that I most obviously am! ;))

• Onward!  How I wish I'd had my "ring toe" "buddy taped" when it first got stoved (and possibly broken) three weeks ago. What a difference a piece of tape makes! Considering how much "we" seem to walk into doors and windows (as I gathered from my twitter friends after they read this post) this bit of "trivia" is probably a good tip to keep in mind! 

My final "thing" is a bit lengthy.  Sorry.  But I've been meaning to write about this for quite some time now.  (I don't think I wrote about it but who really knows?)

• I never realized that I was "allergic" to the sort of tape hospitals use.  When I had that nasty central line taken out while still in the ICU (gag! and sorry for THAT visual!) the doctor placed a gauze over the open "wounds" to protect the area where the stitches had come out.  Well, the scars from the tape used to keep that gauze on left a rather nasty bit of scars - and I had the tape on for less than 24 hours!  Even new nurses coming on duty would notice the ugliness there - get a bit grossed out - and insisted on covering the mess with whatever "healing balms" they had on hand. (Thank you, nurses!) Two plus months later, my neck is still scarred (like a promiscuous teenager's!) and recently it hasn't improved much more than what it had in the first couple of weeks. I've tried seemingly everything I have in my arsenal and no luck!  I suppose that adding fuel to the fire, the tape was put on the very sensitive neck/throat area where it doesn't take much to mess things up.

• So, if you have even the slightest sensitive skin, ask the hospital staff to use "paper tape," or "silk tape."  Every hospital has it but since it's a bit more expensive than the regular tape, staff usually won't use it unless requested - or you find yourself with a young doc in the ER who does care how your neck looks for the rest of your life - even when you're an old bag such as me!  In economizing, the hospitals have become "penny wise but dollar foolish."  But don't even get me started on that! Example: two of the almost three weeks I spent in the hospital were freezing, so much so that the staff wore coats and jackets when away from their stations and kept them on until a supervisor of some sort would give them a nasty look which would say, "do you realize how unprofessional you look?"

And finally, may I say how much I'm loving the summer TV shows?  But I suppose that's another post.  At this point I can only say, "Thank goodness for cable" and OnDemand!  Now if I could only figure out how NetFlex works, as well as downloading movies onto my iPad, I'd be an ecstatic camper!

As always, I hope everyone's doing their very best - only better!  Ciao and paka.


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CC Creams: the Newest Kid on the Block

Well, bless my soul!  I couldn't believe it when I read that there is a "new kid" on the cosmetics' block, with ten new additional ones becoming available in the next week or so - or so rumor by the beauty industry has it.  What caught my attention is the name: get this, it's a CC cream,  after the name "Color Correction Cream," "Color Control Cream," or as Chanel calls it, a "Complete Correction Cream"!  (Well, La di da!)  Already the cosmetics world is having fun with all the puns about CC creams vs BB creams.  It sounds as if these CC cream will be telling the BB creams  (Blemish Balm creams, among other "names") to move over or to even just disappear.  Gosh!  Why do I suddenly feel as if I'm in the midst of a school yard brawl or a bad episode of "Sesame Street"?

I first wrote a review on BB creams here  in March and then in April (link) because they just seemed like such a great pairing with the person who has CFIDS/ME/CFS and fibromyalgia or anyone with illnesses who might experience skin problems.  Honestly, sometimes I feel as if all you need to do is look at us cross-eyed and our skin breaks out with strange rashes and/or hives.  At any rate, I tried out at least six or seven of them and kept coming back to the original one I'd liked.  Since the problems I (as well as others) encountered seemed to stem from the silicone and either how much was in the BB cream or how it was formulated, in September I wrote yet another review on one BB cream without silicone, see the Omorovitzsa link here.   And yes, the experimentation was as time-consuming as it sounds.

However,  I'm even more ecstatic about the promise of the CC Cream - fool that I am?  We'll see: I very well could be!   On the other hand, just think of all the steps "we" can save if we start using the CC cream - thus using up fewer "health credits" or "spoons."  If it proves to be as effective as it claims to be, it may end up - like the BB cream - taking the place of moisturizer, SPF, color and whichever treatments (as in plural) you feel you need, such as:

• help with those pesky wrinkles
• anti-aging properties (including green and white tea, of course, with the Asian products)
• treating hyper-pigmentation
• claims of being light-weight despite better coverage
• higher broad-spectrum SPFs (up to SPF 35 PA++)
• will work to brighen skin

My personal favorite BB cream became the Dr. Jart+ and has remained so, after having unpleasant reactions to quite a few others I tried - with hubby always asking, "are you experimenting with that crud again?" as I, in turn, deny all connection to any experimentation - "what, who, me?" 

So why in the world would companies now spend money on delivering us a new cream, that of the CC?  Hopefully, it won't be because of the same sort of reasoning that gave us the new Coke.  Until so many people in the entire world went ballistic, writing Coke (angry) letters and stockpiling all the old Coke that could be found, Coke then had to change back to the original but with a new name, "Coke Classic," in order to emphasize that they were back to the formula everyone wanted - in order to not lose anymore consumers!  However, if the CC's do as they claim, this could be a real boost to the consumer - not to mention the bottom dollar of the companies making these new CC's.  In fact, I think that it's time for the CC creams in that every company is now making their own BB cream and only a fraction of them, it seems, can legitimately be called BB creams.  Oh how I hope that this doesn't happen with the CC's.

But another reason as to why it's time for the CC?   So many consumers and makeup artist have complained about the limited availability of color and have wanted a larger and better selection of color.  Supposedly, they will now have it - somewhat.  The color variety is not as extensive as some have called for but the color supposedly works itself into the skin so well that the pigmentation won't be such a problem: reading between the lines, I should say, the pigmentation won't be as MUCH of a problem.

Furthermore, the CC creams will now also have remarkable powers to even and brighten the skin.  Furthermore, whereas many beauty editors and makeup artists found problems with the BB creams in terms of texture, feeling like they had too much silicone which made them just too oily and silicone-like on the face, the CC's have corrected this problems too (apparently) and will have a lighter texture.  (We shall see!)  I only hope that these are not yet more empty promises.

Some of the CC's will be more liquidy than others.  I'm hearing that the Olay's "Total Effects Tone Correcting UV Moisturizer" is just a repackaged version of their old BB cream, and is more souped up like a primer, whereas others will have more coverage.  In the the case of the Asian CC creams, the CC creams were developed there and have been in use for a while.  In other words, it'll depend on which you try and which will address your own personal needs.  The Singaporean brand "Rachel K" is getting great press, especially since it has so many goodies, such as "epidermal growth factor, which stimulates collagen production by speeding up your skin's natural exfoliation."  Exfoliation?  Be still my heart!  (Oh dear son and daughter-in-law: Christmas presents?)  I DO know that I'm running right to Chanel's version, which was also developed in Asia, as I do not want to mess up my face any further than the last few months have managed to do so on its very own, thank you very much, so I'm going to the company that I think will most agree with my skin, that Holy Grail: of course, Chanel.

With more treatments (for wrinkles, pores, etc.) added as well as antioxidants, not to mention the color improvement (I felt that that most of the old ones simply sat on your face too much, like a mask), I can't wait to get my hands on them.  Now WHY didn't the Chanel lady at the airport in Malaysia tell me about them?  (Kidding, I think!)

Here's to everyone feeling the very best they can, only better.  Caio and paka!

The Eyes Have It!

Even when I was younger I liked to keep the eye makeup on the subtle side.

I know that there's a bit of controversy as to whether women who reach a certain age should or shouldn't be wearing eye makeup.  But really, with my thinning and sparse eyebrows and eyelashes, CFIDS/ME and fibromyalgia have made me go solidly into the must-definitely-wear-eye-makeup camp.  And really, eyebrows and eyelashes DO get washed out with age, even if you don't have the DD.  I think it's all about the degree of how much you wear.

Well, of course, there's always the amount of eye makeup that's worn that makes the difference!  I mean, I really try not to look like a drag queen on a really bad night - not that there's anything wrong with being a drag queen.  It's just that with my identity crisis (I didn't have one in college when everyone else seemed to have theirs, so I'm due one about now) "drag queen" is not one of the identities I'm trying to decide upon.   But whatever it is, good eye makeup will definitely be a part of the identity.  After all, one of my mottoes in life is "Not the face!  Not the face!" as I've often written.  That IS prime real estate!

Right.  So, in that spirit, I thought I'd pass on a few products names that have proven to be successful over the years. After all, we all pretty much need to deal with dry eyes and what do dry eyes lead to?   All together now: RED EYES!  Very good!  These products have really helped me keep red eyes to a minimum and that's why they're listed.  So, here we go!

• Elizabeth Arden Advanced Eye-Fix Primer:

I have no idea what possessed me to buy this primer when I bought it.  I think primers hadn't even been invented yet!  (Why do I always insist on dating myself?)  At the very least they weren't huge-selling items yet, the way they are now.  Maybe I was just so thrilled to be in an actual, real live store that I couldn't leave without buying SOMETHING to honor the occasion!  Anyhoo, I've been using this one for absolute ages.  I've tried many other eye primers - in fact, I seem to have an impressive collection of various primers - but this is the one I keep coming back to.  It's just that good.

• Bobbi Brown Chocolate Eye Palette:

I bought this when it first came out, years ago and it's become a classic for me.  Oh sure, every time a new neutral pallet comes out I inevitably find myself trying to talk myself out of buying the latest thing.  After all, how much makeup does a woman who almost never goes out at all actually need, I often wonder?   Ah!  It must be the Girl Scout in me!   "Be prepared."  Yes, that must be it!  And all 13 years of Russian (think "survival") camp helped too: "Будд готов!"  (Yes, those funny letters mean "Be prepared!" also!)  Well, I think I'm ready all right, with enough product for great-great-granddaughters to inherit old decrepit makeup in the year 2112!   But really, Bobbi Brown's palette is what I even  use on those barely-there brows of mine in a pinch - there's certainly enough of a selection in color to have a choice depending on the shade of my hair.  Yep.  "Будд готов" indeed!

• Trish McEvoy with the straight across eyeliner brush, shadow transformer and eye shadow squares:

This may be my favorite liner if I were forced to choose; however, I may have to do a separate post on eyeliners alone. I absolutely love a discreet eyeliner and there are a few that I alternate between as being my favorites, but somehow, I always seem to come back to Trish.  I dip the brush into a tiny drop of Trish McEvoy’s shadow transformer, which I've already put a drop onto a shadow in a palette or on the individual shadows.  You then have an almost endless supply of wonderful shades and staying power.  If I had to give an answer to that silly "what would you take with you on a desert island" question, you can bet your sweet bippie that I doubt any makeup would make it.  Instead I'd want an endless supply of fresh cold water and then I'd want a book ON makeup!

Mascara: that's a Pandora's Box for another time!   So  that’s it for today!

As always, I hope everyone's feeling their best, only better.  Ciao and paka!

A CFIDS/fibro-Friendly Beauty Line

My latest planner workhorse, it's taken me to a lot of places and  has room for a few extra products in the  detachable pouch on the left side.
 

If I had to pick one beauty product line for the foreseeable future, especially one for my funky CFIDS/ME/fibro skin, it would most likely be a hard choice between Chanel and Trish McEvoy.  Chanel is famous, a true class act.  In the end, however, I think it would be Trish McEvoy who'd win out.

Each and every time I use her products, I have at least a nanosecond where my mind says, "this beauty line is really pretty darn perfect for those who have CFIDS/ME and fibromyalgia."  Truly!  Our skin is just so finicky and unpredictable.  Yet I've been using the line for ten years, at the very least, and have never had any skin problems with any of her products.  (Knock on wood: I can't afford any more bad skin reactions for a while, thank you very much!) 

Trish McEvoy is rightfully famous for three areas in the beauty industry: her incredible brushes and her unique and ground-breaking planner system, the "Makeup Planner" systems.  Furthermore, everyone also agrees that a huge part of the reason for the Trish McEvoy line's success is that her husband is a dermatologist.  Combine the science of dermatology with the creativity of a makeup artist and you come up with a pretty amazing line of products, from skincare to cosmetics to fragrances.

I must admit that I'm very partial to brushes in the first place and the TM brushes are amazing. They're always well-balanced in the hand and put makeup on very nicely. They're incredible for the "blend, blend, blend!"  The brushes with the lucite handles are almost works of art.  And the travel-sized brushes in the smaller planners are pretty decent as well.

But I do think that what Trish McEvoy will always be best known for is her unique makeup planner system.  I must say that over the years I've bought several of the limited editions of the planners, as well as the traditional ones, from the smallest sizes right through to the mid-size planners and even one of the large ones.  (BTW: the smaller ones make for great Christmas presents for a special daughter or friend.)

I return to these planners over and over again, especially if I'm forced to travel anywhere. They are such a great answer to an easy way of using fewer "spoons" and fewer "health credits," whether it be for getting ready to go out your door or packing for a trip. The makeup can be moved around from one planner to another. You can reorganize any of the planners to suit a short trip or a decadently long one, from one season's colors to the next. Sometimes I get flashbacks of coloring and organizing toys in kindergarten and think to myself that these planners are the adult equivalent of those early years.   Fun!  Great fun!

I'll revisit Trish McEvoy in the future (please! someone remind me if I forget!).  If I were to describe all the products in her line it'd be such a long post that I KNOW I'd end up chasing away even my most loyal and diehard readers. Her brilliant, beautifully designed brushes alone are a post unto themselves.

As I looked over my collection of Trish McEvoy's products and compared it to what is currently in the stores (available at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and at Saks Fifth Avenue). I noticed that one product I love, the "Beauty Booster" moisturizer/primer that really and truly worked (even lifted!) appears to have been discontinued or changed formulas.   Don't you just hate it when a favorite product is suddenly dropped?  However, I saw a couple of skincare products that I'll read up on.  If the reviews pan out, I'll give them a try.  Knock on wood, but Trish McEvoy hasn't let me down yet!

In the meanwhile, I hope everyone's enjoyed the beautiful autumn weather this past weekend. Yes, the temperature changes are a bit rough on us. Our symptoms worsen with the changing seasons, but the beauty out there, even if it's only looking out of our bedroom windows from bed, is worth it in so many ways, or so I hope!

So, here's to all feeling their best, only better. Ciao and paka!

Another example (and view) of the "Planner Makeup System"

Please not that I do not have any financial compensation in any way for anything on any of the posts on this blog!  Everything is my very honest opinion.

No Silicone in this Omorovicza's BB Cream: Review

Finally! There's a BB cream with no silicones in it. Given how many skin problems those of us with CFIDS/ME and even fibro have, I decided that I needed to do a bit of an investigation into Omorovicza's "Complexion Perfector BB SPF 20," the BB cream with no silicones but full of all sorts of "goodies."

And really, if BB creams work, how perfect is it for those of us with limited energy, limited ability to present a pretty face to the world? For those of us with the DD, how many steps can be eliminated with just this one product? These BB creams combined with patients who have Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome and/or Myalgic Encephalopathy seems to have been a match made in heaven!

And surprisingly, I've found myself being asked about the silicone aspect in BB's a lot lately and thought that perhaps it's finally time to give my own take on it "officially." (Oh yeah, like I'm "official"? Ha!)

It took a while, but I finally made the huge decision to buy Omorovicza's BB cream version. Thank heavens Omorovicza often includes free full-sized samples which help make the decision (a tiny bit) easier as it is extremely expensive. Yep! I got their full-sized mud mask as my gift with a purchase, an almost unheard of "freebie" that boggles the mind. "The Deep Cleansing Mask" was a stunning 1.7 oz at $113 - free with any purchase. They have all sorts of "schemes" to try to make their products seem more affordable.

As much as it pains me to say this, however, the Omorovicza BB cream has been a bit of a problem as I try to figure out how and what to do with it. Yet, it really shouldn't be so much trouble. After all, one of the beauties of BB creams is that they are supposed to be so easy to deal with, right?

I'd tested other BB creams and wrote a couple of posts about them as you can read here and here. Dr. Jart+ Premium BB Cream, at the top of my list, won with a landslide. I had two or three samples and two BB creams I bought, but they all did my skin no favors, developing bumps or redness in a couple of cases, and even after my review as I later tried other BB creams as well. Yet nothing was as successful as the Dr. Jart. Actually, these BB's are now being produced at a manic rate, and the results are that many BB creams all too often have nothing BB about them.

And mind you, all of this testing was taking place as exasperated hubby kept saying, "you have got to stop messing around with this stuff!" when he'd see the bumpy outcomes, the redness, whatever. Ah! We lead such an exciting life (ha!).

And I DO have a allergy to silicone sheets, as described in an earlier post, which can be read here. I now know that I have sensitivity to most, though not all products with silicones. I have yet to establish which products will work out OK with my skin if the product contains silicone because not all products with silicones have negative reactions. It must have something to do with the formulations and/or fillers and/ or binders - or even the man in the moon, for all I know. The more expensive beauty products that do have silicones seem to work best (wouldn't you know it!) but, really, that's no guarantee.

Getting back to Omorovicza's BB cream. I lusted for this product when I first heard about it to the point where it hurt. (I know, I know! I need a life! Don't judge me! Joke - or not?) I kept looking at the ingredients, reading reviews, and, of course, with my fibro-brain, had trouble making a decision.

The company's literature says that their BB cream has been proclaimed as the “Swiss army knife of the beauty industry” and with an SPF of 20, it's not just a moisturiser, foundation and sunscreen but also a concealer and has anti-aging cream, an "all-in-one!" (The BB creams are all SUPPOSED to be all-in-ones, with moisturizer, an SPF and a bit of tinting a "given," just the rest of the goodies/treatments differing.)

Furthermore, Omorovicza promised that its BB cream leaves your "skin flawless, sheer and even, whilst hydrating and protecting it from UVA/B rays." It also includes hyaluronic acid (discussed here, and also here), something fantastic for plumping the skin and keeping it hydrated. It has Vitamin C for production of collagen and elasticity, dealing with free radical damages and so forth. White lupin and red crystal. OK, OK, they got me!

And so after many months I took the plunge. And then finally the day came when I was well enough to play around with it.

• Day 1: it balled up and kept flaking off. Odd.

It burned a bit, not a good sign, but didn't burn much. But SHOULD it have burned at all?
The color was too pale for me and I'm pretty fair.
It looked as if I'd put on a mask. It didn't blend in well.
It covered nothing. Oh dear.

•  Next attempt: no balling or flaking. Good sign, but what had I done "wrong" the first time?

It still burned. Was this me or the BB cream?
It covered nothing, though there was just the most faintest bit of just "bringing the face together." I'm not sure if anyone can understand that.

•  Next attempt....and next...and next..
• Next #lost count: no balling, no flaking, but burning, still.

However, the other day I happened to glance in the mirror and was shocked as to how pale I've become. There was no color whatsoever to be seen. "White as a ghost" popped into my mind immediately. Scary, but I know - hope! - that it's due to the hypothyroidism and once the meds kick in...

However, the good news was that now the color of the BB cream was fine! There was minimum coverage (if at all), of old freckles and hyper-pigmentation, although a bit of evening of the skin, reduction in redness to a degree? However, there was no improvement in my new wrinkles, nor with other "promises" and the burning would not go away no matter how much I kept trying different approaches on different days. It must truly be the illness and meds causing this, I feel. Yesterday's attempt I was determined to wear for at least 4 hours. I finally gave up after after only three very, very slow and uncomfortable hours.

However, in the midst of all of this, I subjected my poor daughter to the BB cream (as well/yet again) and I applied it to her face - she must have allowed me to do this in order to curry favor for a future time, when needed! Because the BB cream suited her color, evened out her skin, though each and every freckle could be seen, I sent her home with a tiny jar into which I'd pumped in quite a bit of the BB cream. Somehow the BB cream gave her a more polished look, with minimum effort, yet made her face look quite natural. But be forewarned! If you like your freckles, it's great. If you don't like your freckles, forget about it! This can then be applied to age spots, scarring from acne and a handful of other skin problems. You really do need to have pretty good skin to wear this, in addition to being fairly light-complected.

So, after weighing all the pro's and con's, I think that if you want a BB cream with no silicone, this baby is for you. This is seriously something to consider if you have CFIDS/ME, since the oddest things can happen to our skin. You may or may not be sensitive to the silicone, you may or may not be sensitive to any number of ingredients in the formulas.

I'd also feel remiss if I didn't add that there is a drag to the Omorovicza, most probably because of the no-silicone factor, which is not too surprising. And finally, there is the cost to consider - $135, though at 1.7 oz, an impressive size. Their website can be seen here.

I think I'll stick to the Dr. Jart+ Premium BB Cream with a whopping SPF 45 and a (much more) reasonable price of $39 for 1.4 oz. I like the color, the texture and the much higher SPF. It also doesn't burn my sensitive face, it gives much more coverage and feels as if I'm not wearing anything at all on my face. Having said that, I will probably keep using the Omorovicza until I run out of it...it's just too expensive to throw out and I know that the ingredients are top-notch! Furthermore, there must be a way that I can use it and not experience the burning....there must!


Ouch! Sometimes writing the truth (as I see it) hurts. However I'm absolutely sure that there are many women out there who would and do very well with it. It's a class act, just not for this CFIDS/ME person.

Hoping all are doing the best they can be, only better. Ciao and paka!


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Naming names in the best formulas for sleepwear a la CFIDS/ME/fibro...

Wearing a very loose gown made of cotton - oh how I loved the gown and my friend and I tried to (unsuccessfully) replicate it!   Seen here: the pure joy of having a baby!

And so, as promised a few days ago, I have rounded up a list of the brands/designers who I feel relatively safe ordering through the Internet, having had pretty good luck with them...that is, I don't often have to return an item.  Actually, this is the third rewrite of this post because after my first "attempt," I decided to order a few nightgowns to test my tips.  The results are in and have been incorporated into the suggestions below.

I've declared my "formula" before, that is, my favorite fabrics, cotton being king, and my love especially for cotton jersey knit because of maneuverability in bed and the bed linens.  Tank type nightgowns are the way to go as far I'm concerned, with no lace, embroidery, or other embellishments because they irritate. 

Furthermore, nightgowns are the way to go if you have problems with IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) because then there is no pressure around the belly area, and as stated in my earlier post with my "formula," they should be at least tea-length or there may be psychological trauma for all involved if that gown goes up too high when bending over, caught in bed with gown twisted up to waist, etc.  Please spare your loved ones (and especially the NOT loved ones like a plumber in the house you weren't aware of - it CAN happen!) the trauma.  Anyway, without further ado:

• Hanro nightgowns, especially the tank style.  Although, unfortunately, they aren't a jersey, they are a beautifully luxurious mercerized cotton, very smooth and almost silky without the problems that come with silk.  I try to keep the bleach to a minimum with these gowns but sometimes the temptation is just too strong and so I have a couple that started out a beautiful soft robin's egg blue (which I always think of as "Princess Diana blue") but are now white.  They're uber-expensive yes (huh! she says, "exhorbitably so") but I find that they last forever.  I have a couple that have got to be at least eight years old and and are worn regularly, not to mention abused.  Hubby sees these gowns as "go-to's" for Christmas presents and Mother's Day gifts - bless his desperate heart!  

Addendum: In order to do my research for this blog (HA!) I ordered a short one and it also had sleeves.  Yes, I should know by now (over fifteen years of buying Hanro) that this was a potential failure.  How wrong was I? INCREDIBLY.  The sleeves were bothersome, though a cute and wonderful length for fall, winter and very early spring - IN CLOTHING, not in sleepwear.  The fabric was the heaviest I've experienced with Hanro.  I'm definitely sticking to the plain white and the longer length.  I looked preggers with the pleating below the buttons and my stomach was NOT bloated today!  No embellishments is definitely now seared into my head.  I'm very sad.

• Natori - moving right along - is well known for it's silk (and polyester) super outrageously-priced gowns, but will occasionally come out with a simple knit white tank gown.  When they do, I snap them up.  Unfortunately, this has happened only once or twice, but I keep hoping that it'll happen again soon!  (Hope springs eternal, anyone?)  

Addendum:  I ordered a tank type of gown in a beautiful rich purple and am debating about keeping it.  It has a "built in bra" that I may find too irritating.  On the other hand, I do have one gown with a built in bra that I love, but again, I rarely wear it.  

• Ralph Lauren comes out with a nice couple of cotton knit nightgowns each year but you have to keep an eye out for them and order immediately.  They disappear as soon as they show up on the Ralph Lauren website or on Nordstrom's or Macy's sites too. They last for years.  

Addendum: I ordered one and thought it would be long enough: only if I were a pre-teen!  And what was I thinking when I went for ruffles too?  Desperation (and the great photography, stylers and models) will get you every time. This was most certainly a cautionary tale!  

• Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Dior:  I've lumped these three designers together because it is almost impossible to find any of these designers any longer in nightwear and most certainly with the "CFIDS/ME/fibro restrictions."  Please, if anyone out there happens to know how to get word to any of these designers, please ask them to get back to designing more nightgowns too.  I used to bank on their gowns and am really upset that they seem to have stopped designing nightgowns, or at best, rarely so.  I did find one by Donna Karan a few days ago and immediately ordered it.  It was almost enough to make me jump out of bed and do a jubilation dance!  

Addendum: Regarding the Donna Karan: what the heck???  The fabric (black) was completely see-through even before trying it on.  There was some awful ruching in the back of the neck, plus the gown went out and then in, tulip shape.  Really, Donna????  Oh, I can just see every single CFIDS/ME/fibro-er out there tripping on every step taken.  My heart is broken.

• Eileen West:  After such a great success with the pink tank jersey one I bought a couple of months ago, I was ready for experimentation.

Addendum: Two came in and unfortunately, they were failures, but again, I was experimenting, hoping to find something besides my beloved cotton tank long gowns. They were really large and I was swimming in them.  The lace around the neck was bothersome.  This is what I get for tweaking with my "formula."  

• Nautica:  Ah!  Finally, my experimentation worked in my favor.  I've never bought Nautica before but when I saw the tank, long, no frills, and 100% cotton and a jersey, I couldn't resist and I'm thrilled. The one I bought is a green and blue stripe (stripes are so "in" now but I hate to think what they'll look like in a season or two?  They ARE going the "wrong" way and so difficult to wear though I have a couple of dresses in stripes: to be worn WHERE, exactly?  Oh that's right: to the doctor's!)  

OK, back to topic.  So, I've learned a very good but expensive and time-wasting lesson.  Expensive because now those charges are on my credit card and will need to be refunded.  Time-consuming because hubby will need to do returns for me.  On the other hand, going to the store would have been even MORE time-consuming (I thought to myself as I was trying those gowns on with the a/c broken and wanting to cry from the sheer exhaustion).

Of course, there's also the boxer shorts/tank top combination to wear, but if you suffer from IBS the bloating and indeed, sensitivity around the waistline in general, it may be a bit hard to deal with.  I also keep a couple of PJ's on hand, just for variety and every-once-in a-while, and wear a tank top while using the top of the PJ's as a bed jacket as my body temperature does its St. Vitus Dance throughout the day.  

I have found that keeping down the carbs helps me with the IBS and temperature fluctuations, so you may want to see if there are any foods that contribute to your IBS.  I'm convinced that each person has foods that help them/harm them and these foods vary with each person.  Gosh: not too off-topic, am I?

Anyone out there with any ideas of comfy sleepwear that works as "live wear"?  Let us know.  Don't be shy!

Thanks for stopping in and hopefully there were a few pointers to make your life easier.  I'm hoping that the day is treating you well, or as well as can be!

Exfoliating methods and products for my funky skin: deliciously satisfying.

Some of my favorite exfoliating products.

I thought we'd get away from a bit of the depressing medical aspects of CFIDS/ME and fibromyalgia, and that we'd  have a bit of fun with beauty tips.  I've been experimenting with a few products and thought it might be fun to let you know what's been working in my world.  I promised "exfoliation" in an earlier post and so here goes my version, or at the very least, the one I've been fooling around with most recently.  As always, all disclaimers are in full force.  What may work for me might not work for you.  But I really have tried to list products that I think will be fairly safe for our "funky" CFIDS/ME/fibro skin.

• First, in the category for cleaning my face with a gadget, I have fallen absolutely in love with my Clarisonic Mia.  (It's in coral: how "today" - can you get and how much will it haunt me in a few years, no?)  

This was a bit of a surprise since my original Clarisonic wasn't a complete success.  I would use it periodically, but it seemed a bit rough for my face.  Mind you, at this point I hadn't realized that my skin was, indeed, problematic. (I'm a slow learner, remember?)  I just kept thinking we didn't agree for some reason.

When feeling virtuous and diligent about "doing my face,"  I'd occasionally go to my Clarisonic, but I wasn't in love with it.  In fact, when I bought the Mia, I only did so because I thought (hoped?) that I'd thrown out the original when we moved everything out of of our Master closet, bedroom and bath for the big remodel -when I'd bitten the bullet and ruthlessly thrown out anything I didn't want or need, looked awful on me, or was in anyway just taking up room. Whoops. Somehow the old Clarisonic wasn't thrown out (it was the toothbrush I'd thrown out) and so I was now "stuck" with two Clarisonics.

However, I started to fall in love with the coral Mia when I realized it didn't make the water rolling-down-your-arms-when-using-it mess.  But the old Clarisonic needed a new head - I was not about to use a cruddy looking old head!  So I finally ordered two heads from Sephora: the "delicate skin" one and the "sensitive skin" one because, of course, I couldn't make a decision - a CFIDS/ME/fibro problem in general.  When they came in it took me forever to decide which I needed, the one for delicate skin or the one for sensitive skin.  I mean, really, didn't I have both types of skin, delicate as well as sensitive?

Here are the great distinctions, from the Clarisonic site:

      *Normal: Perfect for normal skin, shaving prep and for use on the decollete and body.
      *Sensitive: An easy introduction for sensitive to normal skin types.
      *Delicate: Ultra-gentle for those with delicate or extra--sensitive skin.

What?  Fibro-brain here was having a hard time making the distinctions!   But I finally decided  that the old Clarisonic would be used on my body with the "sensitive" head and the Mia on my face with the "delicate" head.

• Oh my!  The "delicate" head put the Mia into another world and I am in love.  It was so gentle that I didn't want to stop using it and I felt as if my skin was finally getting cleaned out for the first time ever.  This was not something I'd felt with the original ("normal") head.  I really wanted to write a post about it immediately, but given that I was in the midst of my DIY ("Do It Yourself") spa experience, I was certainly not able to do so because I was so busy melting in the bath.

This now leads us to what did I use with the Clarisonic?

• Well, I certainly didn't use the cleanser that came with the Mia.  Sorry, but it's a bit too generic for me.  I don't want to take chances.  And who really knows who even made whatever is in there?  No, I do not want to go there.
• I have a bottle of Perricone MD "Nutritive Cleanser" (12 oz or 354 ml) and it was no better on my face with the Mia than before.  It absolutely strips my skin.  I really should just toss it into the garbage, especially since I still have four trial sized versions sitting around but I can't stand to throw out so much money.  So periodically, I'll used the Nutritive Cleanser on my body.
• However, I know a lot of people do well with Perricone MD "Nutritive Cleanser."  I was told by a beauty expert that it's the foaming action that must not agree with me.  Other people swear by this product, so please take that into consideration.  Do you have problems with products which have foaming action?  (Of course, that doesn't quite explain my love for Dove and certain foaming shampoo's....) Is this a general CFIDS/ME/fibro reaction or is just me, I do not know.
• I used La Mer's "Cleansing Foam" and that was not the greatest product that I've ever used but not the worst.  I wash with it occasionally, but am very careful and will be happier when it's out of my life.  In other words, though I am in love with La Mer products (and have been since the Creme de La Mer since first came out), this particular product has not been a huge success story for me and not really worth the money for me.
• I hit a home run, finally, with Kate Sommerville's "Gentle Daily Wash."  This is great for face and body, I find.
• And believe it or not, I actually use my good old Dove "beauty bar" soap, the original, the classic.  And I see that it has made it onto InStyle's "best of" list again...GO DOVE!  Not perfect, but much better than the products above, save the Kate Sommerville.
• I tried Estée Lauder's "Soft Clean Tender Creme Cleanser" the other day and will try it again.  It looked very promising.

What exfoliation do I use besides or instead of going the Clarisonic methods?

•  "Daily Microfoliant" by Dermalogica is great.  It's a powder that you rub into your very, very wet hands in order to turn it into a foaming paste and then into foaming "nothingness."  It reminds me a lot of Bare Minerals "Exfoliating Treatment Cleanser."  It can be a bit harsh for my skin, so I use it when I feel like my skin can take it, especially if I've gone through a long period of not washing my face and really need to even out that skin, especially my nose.  I like the massaging and "rubbing" action when it's called for.

• On a more daily basis, I prefer the Dermologica "Gentle Cream Exfoliant."  It seems gentler on my face (I have combination skin), not stripping, nor scratching, just nice smooth skin afterward.

• My favorite exfoliant must be La Mer's "Facial Refiner," something I admit I didn't care for too awfully much for years, but kept using samples.  Well, ladies (and gents?) this really should be used in the shower!!!!  It makes a huge difference.  My beloved Sylvia also gave me a couple of tips when I got that first sample but somehow, I didn't listen/hear her.  A couple of years later, I finally tried it in the shower and then promptly bought the full-sized "Facial Refiner."  Furthermore, while in the shower, don't wash it off immediately, but let it sit on your face (and the backs of your hands if you can manage that?) and do something else in the shower, like wash your hair, shave your legs.  Let the "Facial Refiner" work for you.  Make sure you have it completely massaged and activated before putting it on you face.  This is one mighty fine beauty treatment.

• A less expensive, but more difficult to acquire exfoliant treatment, is by Liz Earle.  Now the award- winning Liz Earle has a US branch on the internet, however, and I'm in love with her products.  Liz Earle's method employs the muslin cloth.  In fact, she was the first to come up with this idea and other companies are now copying this method.

Essentially, you pump some cream on your dry hand and smooth it onto your dry face and gently massage it all in, including over your eyes.  It takes all the makeup off, if you're wearing it.  Personally, I prefer to take off that first layer of makeup with Dove and then move on any other product, but that's just me.  I use "Clean and Polish" even when not wearing makeup because I love the cream  and results so much.  As you massage, the skin softens and I find that if I'm in the tub, it's hard to stop.  And as if that's not enough: Liz Earle's products are all very natural but not at the expense of it feeling luxurious.  The "Cleanse and Polish" has Rosemary, Chamomile, Cocoa Butter and Eucalpytus essential oil. 

• Step two of the Liz Earle "Cleanse and Polish" is gently "polishing" off the cleanser with a hand hot muslin cloth.  I used face cloths a lot with other products before buying the Liz Earle and have found that the muslin cloth is indeed more effective than a washcloth.  

However, be warned to remember the words to "gently polish" the cleanser off.  In my enthusiasm for the muslin cloth, one day I decided to use it with her "Energizing Body Scrub" on my shoulders where I tend to get really rough skin.  It's a great product, but like I said, I was a bit too enthusiastic and ended up with two knuckles abraded when the cloth rolled on me and my fingers somehow got twisted in the cloth.  Don't be as dumb as I am, please!   For those who would like to check out Liz Earle's website (and I do encourage you you to do so) it's: http://us.lizearle.com/?cmp=google_brand&kw=liz+earle+com+b

I especially loved the travel weekend kit with its travel-sized products.  It's a sweet kit, just the right size to put in loads of trial-sized products while traveling, including shampoo and conditioner.  And because Liz Earle has trial-sized products you can buy, I know I'll be restocking that travel kit once I buy the normal-sized products too. http://us.lizearle.com/kits-and-gifts/pampering-weekend-kit.html

And finally, a real surprise:

• Aveeno "Clear Complexion Daily Cleansing Pads."  I love them!  My skin never breaks out in tiny bumps, nor rashes, and always feels just right after using these pads.  I'm on my third jar of it, and since it's a relatively new discovery, that's really saying something!  The product info under the name says "Gently Exfoliates for Clear, Even-Looking Skin."  Exfoliates, yes. I'm not so sure just how much it helps even out my ahem....ugh...."mature" skin.

So there you have it.  These are the latest exfoliating products and processes I've been fooling around with lately.  After this, your face will definitely be ready for serums...

...of course, I haven't even touched upon the deep cleaning masks yet....they are really lovely things to have in your beauty arsenal.  More to come, I promise!

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Note: I somehow lost this original post and, of course, it was the ONE I didn't back up.   Worse, I hate to think how many errors there are in this copy...but can't bare to look through it all right now!   Someone grab me some anti-nausea med, please!