Happy Wellness Wednesday, everyone! I hope you’re having a great week! I’m so happy because the sun is shining and that makes life so much better, doesn’t it?! Spring is officially here!

I wanted to share some of my new clean beauty skincare finds with you guys! With the sun being out more, I have to take extra care of my skin. I always use sunscreen, but I need more help because of my fair skin and Irish freckles! I tend to get a blur of freckles on my face now that I’m older and it’s not as cute as it used to be! LOL. So, I use a retinol cream to help to achieve a more even skin tone. Retinol is also known to help with skin firmness, improving acne and scarring, and reducing fine lines and wrinkles (helps prevent them, too!). It also helps smooth the skin’s surface and resurface new skin! My esthetician swears by it and she looks so fabulous! I mean, we are talking decades younger than she is! So, I trust her advice completely.

I wanted to find a non-toxic retinol cream and was so excited when I found this one by Drunk Elephant at Sephora! Sephora carries a lot of great clean beauty brands now! (YAY!) The reviews were awesome, so I gave it a shot, and it definitely does the trick! But, I made the mistake of using too much too soon. So, when you start a retinol cream, you want to start very slowly. Use a little bit mixed with a moisturizer every two – three days before bed at first. See how your skin reacts. If it gets too dry and flakey, definitely back off and slow down a bit. Then as your skin gets used to it, you can increase the amount of days a week that you use it.

I found this Drunk Elephant Virgin Marula Luxury Face oil that was highly recommended to combine with the retinol cream. It is full of antioxidants, omegas 6 and 9, and helps to balance your skin. I love the glow it gives me! You only need a little bit. It goes a long way. It’s great on it’s own or paired with the retinol.

Another product by Drunk Elephant that I’m loving is their D-Bronzi Anti-Pollution Sunshine Serum. It’s a bronzing serum that gives your face and body the perfect amount of glow! If I don’t have time for self-tanning or spray tanning and I need a bit of color, I always use this on my face and chest. It’s great for putting on your shoulders and collar bone even when you do have color to give them a pretty highlight. This serum gives you a a nice golden tone, and then you can use your darker foundation that you would use when you have a tan on top of it without looking weird. You could even mix a little of this with your moisturizer for an even more subtle glow!

I also wanted to share this cleaner option for nail polish. I was devastated when I learned about how many awful chemicals are in nail polish, the acrylic and gel nails that we all have had, and even the nail polish removers! They can really mess up your endocrine system, which is something you do not want to do! Google this, I’m serious, I wouldn’t steer you away from your favorite relaxing manicures for no good reason. So, I looked for nail polishes without these harmful ingredients like
toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and DBP (dibutyl phthalate). Zoya is a good option for this! It doesn’t contain any of these. I take it to my nail salon and politely ask for them to use this and the base and top coat that I bring as well. They are really nice about it, so don’t be afraid to just ask! Zoya has a million different colors and it’s on Amazon Prime! Score!

I’ve linked all of these things again here below, be sure to check them out! 🙂

toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and DBP (dibutyl phthalate) from its formulations,

Hope you all have a lovely rest of your week! I would love to hear from you about your favorite clean beauty products, too! Drop a comment if you have some to share <3