1. Honey & Oatmeal Mask – The benefits of oatmeal have been touted for years, but did you know that it also makes for a great facial? Best applied at night, this oatmeal and honey mask is safe for almost all skin types.  Mix ½ cup fast cooking oatmeal and ½ cup water and cook. Let the oatmeal cool about 5-7 minutes, then add ¼ cup honey.  Mix well into a paste.  Apply this ‘mask’ to cleansed skin, and let dry. Rinse after about 15 minutes. I found this recipe at Diva Village, click here for more great info from their site.

2. Coffee anyone? – When you’re done with your morning cup of Joe, don’t dump those coffee grounds, use them to exfoliate. Mix 1/4 cup used coffee grounds and one egg white. Massage onto face, let it dry and then rinse with warm water. Caffeinated coffee grounds can also be used to help relieve cellulite and remove common kitchen odors. Check out additional uses and recipes here.

3. To lighten dark circles under eyes wrap a grated raw potato in cheesecloth and apply to eyelids for 15-20 minutes. Wipe off residue and apply an eye cream (see #5). For more homemade beauty recipes, visit healthrecipes.com.

4. Banana & Yogurt, and no, it’s not a smoothie! – For all you naturally curly/kinky ladies, the combination of banana, yogurt and coconut cream results in a treatment that adds much needed moisture and softness to overstressed tresses. I found a pretty good recipe at  A Girl Can Mac, and great discussion threads at Naturallycurly.com. Check out the conversation and tweak the recipe for your specific needs.

5. Vitamin E – A friend,who looks ten years younger than she is, attributes her radiant skin to good genes and Vitamin E. She buys natural Vitamin E oil at her local health food store, or when time or budget doesn’t permit, buys vitamin E capsules, breaks them and applies the oil directly to her face. When I do it consistently I find that my skin is smoother, softer and more moisturized, particularly in the winter months.

As with all products – homemade or not – everyone’s experience will be a bit different. Be mindful of allergies (citrus oils make me look like Will Smith pre-Benadryl in Hitch), and experiment with the recipes and ingredients until you find the combination that’s right for you. If you’ve got any tried and true natural beauty recipes that work for you, share them with the WAF community in the comment section or on our Facebook fan page.

1. The Women Blogger’s Rock Edition – Blogging aint easy, I should know. But these fellow female bloggers make it look easy. From a site for curly girls to an organizing buff’s dream site, these five women bloggers are worth checking out. Let’s share the love. *Since I first ran that post back in May, I’ve found quite a few more women bloggers I admire, Minka over at Aural Notes being just one. Watch for a Women Blogger’s Rock – Part II coming soon!

2. The Earth Day Edition – Technically it was “The day after Earth Day Edition” since Earth Day fell on a Thursday this year. But never mind, the Earth Day finds are awesome, no matter what day of the year. A one-stop green marketplace makes green living easier, RealOrganicSkin offers a line of, you guessed it, real organic skin care products and Gap Adventures offer adventure seeking travelers authentic, sustainable travel experiences. Check out the post for site links and more great finds.

3. The Relax, Relate, Release Edition – “Relax, Relate, Release” I repeat this phrase to myself at least once a week accompanied by the Whitley Gilbert shoulder-shrug style ala A Different World. The products in this Five for Friday post help me do just that. All natural Love Your Mama bath products, my Playlist.com playlist is currently on full blast and I’m sipping on some LefTeas loose tea. Check out the original post, grab yourself some of the stuff featured, pull up a chair and chill.

4. The Fearbuster Edition – I don’t just love to eat chicken (read Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road if you don’t believe me), I am one. Chicken in the sense that I’m afraid of quite a few things. Rodents, reptiles, heights and small spaces for starters. And then there’s failure, success, asking men out, you get the idea. But this year I decided to woman-up and face a few of my fears head on. The Fearbuster Edition encouraged you to do the same. Write your book, dance like no one is watching and head back to school. Hopefully the post will help you get started.

5. The Facebook Edition – While some people think Facebook is a waste of time, I owe a lot of my site’s growth to loyal Facebook Fans. Someone recommended someone who recommended someone else, and so on and so on. The Facebook Edition was my attempt at paying it forward by spreading the word about a few great Facebook pages – one of which belongs to a Women at Forty Whirly Girl!

Five for Friday is the weekly feature that highlights stuff we love to love. If you have a product, website, book – you name it – that you’d like to see featured in a future Five for Friday, email us at contribute@womenatforty.com, and it could be featured in a future post!

Rachel

Products used: Striking Multi-Vitamin Cleanser, Striking Multi-Peptide Serum, Striking Rejuvenating Eye Crème and Striking Restorative Moisture Crème

Length of time used: 28 days

I really enjoyed using the Striking Skin Care product line! At first, I thought I might not be the best candidate for the products since (thankfully) at 39 years old I’ve yet to develop wrinkles or sagging skin… I am happy to report that these products addressed other issues one might not associate with aging skin and I would definitely recommend them to others. The four-step system is easy to use and all of the products have a subtle, yet fresh scent. I kind of think of it as Pro-Activ for grown-ups.

Step one, Striking Skin Care Multi-Vitamin Cleanser is gentle, yet quite effective. While I am more accustomed to facial cleansers that are sudsier and actually lather, I also know that harsh, drying sulfates are what generally makes that lather and despite not using them on my hair for more than two years, I was still using them on my face (the shame). My rationale was that by the end of the day my skin felt a bit oily so a good scrub was in order. I was also exfoliating with a Buf -Puf type pad in the morning and using an Olay Cleansing Cloth at night (which caused dry spots) and then slathering on moisturizer to replenish.

While using the Striking Skin Care product line, I used only my hands to cleanse my face—nothing more. Within a week I noticed that my skin seemed brighter, smoother and more evenly moisturized. Visibly large and clogged pores on my nose became smaller and within 3 weeks were almost invisible.

Step two, the Striking Multi-Peptide Serum goes on smoothly and absorbs into my skin almost instantly. It reminds me of using a makeup primer, leaving my skin feeling smooth and taught—but not uncomfortably so. I think of it as my skin- perker-upper.

Next up is Striking Rejuvenating Eye Crème. This product particularly impressed me as I am guilty of rarely getting more than three to four hours of sleep nightly. While I use a wonderful under-eye concealer and most people could never imagine the havoc beneath my carefully-concealed eyes, every morning and every evening I was greeted by tired-looking eyes that were taking on a darker hue. The product goes on smoothly and absorbs quickly, and within two weeks I saw a marked improvement—to the point that the concealer is no longer necessary.

The final step in the Striking Skin Care System is the Striking Restorative Moisture Crème. It spreads evenly and leaves my skin feeling moisturized throughout the day. This was particularly impressive for me as someone who is unaccustomed to cold winter weather and the drying effects of perpetual use of radiators and heaters to keep warm. Regardless of sitting on top of space heaters or hovering over radiators, my skin remains soft and well-hydrated from day to night. After using the product again before bed, I awaken to soft skin the next morning and at no point does my skin feel oily or waxy.

All in all I’d say that the Striking Skin Care System is an absolutely wonderful addition to any woman’s skin care arsenal and will likely replace several other products and thus simplify the bathroom cabinet as well as her skin care regimen.

For more information on Striking Skin Care’s line of products, visit them at www.strikingskincare.com.

Note: Neither participants nor ‘Women at Forty’ were paid or reimbursed for their reviews. Reviewers were allowed to keep the products tested.

Editors Note:

To get different points of view, we recruited two of Women at Forty’s contributors, Kim and Rachel, shipped them the Striking Skin Care System and asked them to give us their honest opinion – Love it or leave it?  Today, Kim shares her take on the product line, and on Thursday you’ll read Rachel’s point of view.

Kim’s Review

Crows feet and laugh lines are NOT something a woman looks forward to….so when I was offered the chance to test new skin care products called “Striking”, I jumped at the chance.They are made with the Smartpeptide technology which is supposed to target signs of aging to smooth fines lines and wrinkles while improving skin firmness.

I tested out the skin care line for approximately 15 days, applying once in the morning, and once at night.
Step 1 in the skin care regime is the “Multi-Vitamin Crème Cleanser”. This comes in an 8 fl oz bottle and is a milky white, lotion-like consistency. It is very gentle and does not produce a lather, but seems to clean and rinse away nicely. There is no odor to this product and it did not leave my skin feeling tight afterwards.

Step 2 is the “Multi-Peptide Serum” in a 1.13 oz pump bottle to be used right after cleansing. This is a gel like serum that you smooth over your face before the moisturizing products. I really liked this product…it was my favorite step because….as odd as this sounds, and I know it’s probably all in my head…but just the word ‘serum’ conjures up all kinds of magical potions and makes me think it will boost the effectiveness of the subsequent moisturizers used. Nevertheless…this is a very nice product to use – it is cool going on the skin and absorbs quickly. You are supposed to let it completely dry before applying the eye cream and moisturizer, so I would apply it, and by the time I brushed my teeth I would be ready for the next step.

Step 3 is the “Rejuvenating Eye Cream” in a .5 oz jar. I dabbed a little under and around my eyes as well as on my eyelids. I have to admit my eyes teared the first few times I used it….I’m not sure if I was putting it TOO close to my eyes, or if I just needed to get used to it. The product is of a thick white consistency, odorless, and absorbs quickly into the skin. I did notice that my eyelids seemed to tighten up a bit, which was very nice! I luckily don’t have too many lines or bags around my eyes so I didn’t really see a difference there.

Step 4 is the “Restorative Moisture Cream” in a 1 oz jar. This product is also of a thick white cream like consistency, and is odorless. It absorbs quickly and nicely into the skin without feeling like you slathered Crisco on your face. I don’t have too many facial lines yet (luckily and hopefully because I STAY OUT OF THE SUN!), but I do have fine laugh lines and I did notice I was getting one of those fine forehead lines. So, I made sure to target those areas with the cream, and I really do feel like my laugh lines diminished a bit as well as that pesky horizon line on my forehead, and I did feel an overall increase in the firmness of my skin.

Overall, I really did like the products and would recommend them to other women in their late 30s and up. The fact that all the products are colorless and odorless were a big plus in my book, and the diminishing of my laugh lines will only keep me laughing more!

You can learn more about Striking Skin Care by visiting them at www.strikingskincare.com.

Note: Neither participants nor ‘Women at Forty’ were paid or reimbursed for their reviews. Reviewers were allowed to keep the products tested.