Give yourself a facial =)

This used to be my Sunday thing. Once a week I'd give myself a facial before the new week began. It was nice to pamper myself and feel totally relaxed and refreshed (I used to do all my cleaning, manicures, pedicures, go for yoga classes on Sunday). But since I moved to Japan, I found that I had less time to do all those things I used to. In fact, because Sunday is the only day I don''t work now, it seems like I don't even have the energy for those things.

So I moved my facials to Mondays. It works Monday is my least favorite day of the week.... It's the beginning of the long week to come, and used to be my longest work day. So coming home, I decided to give myself a facial on this day as a "reward". It gave me something to look forward to, and made Mondays a bit more tolerable.

So aside from setting the mood (candles, music, etc), there are a few things we need for this. A cleanser, scrub, mask, toner, and moisturizer. Also to steam my face I use a kettle to boil water, a bowl, and a tea bag.

1. Wash your face with your everyday cleanser. We are just taking off the dirt and what not from the surface of your face. No fancy cleanser is needed for this. I am using my neutrogena's oil free acne wash.

2. After your face is all clean, you can steam your face to open up your pores so that we can deep into the pores. Just boil some water, put it in a bowl with a tea bag in it, and use a towl or something to keep the steam in.

 I use green tea bags

gosh the steam.... I look totally uncomfortable lol. anyway, keep your face in there for about 10 minutes, and after your face is all sweaty and steamy, time to go to the next step.

3. Scrub!! I use different scrubs, but my favorite has to be the one I use from Lush. I think in English it's called Ocean Salt, but this is it.

I gotta admit though, the first time I used this, it kind of hurt... I had bought it to try out with my mom and she really liked it. So after a few weeks I finally switched from my neutrogena scrub to the lush one. I remember asking my mom, "Mom.....is it supposed to sting?...." and she told me after a few uses it goes away. And she was right.  I didn't feel it much after. It really helped with my acne, and my face felt SO smooth after.

 me with the scrub on my face..lol

4. Ok, now our faces should be squeaky clean! I now take a bit of time to get the junk out of the pores on my nose... It's a painful but rewarding process... the nose strips! Now I'm one of those weirdos that likes to see the stuff left on the strip even though I'm equally repulsed by it. I just..can't..stop..looking..

(O_o) you know? lol

yeah I'm aware of how dorky I look!

Ok so if you want to see what I got out of it....scroll down... for those that don't want to cause it's gross, just keep scrolling down and go past it lol

EWWW! lol

5. ok moving on lol. Mask. Let's tighten those clean pores with what ever favorite mask you have. I'm using a lush one once again, althoug from time to time I also use my neutrogena one. I leave this on for another 10-15 minutes.

 all I remember is that it has ginger....

AHHHH upside-down scary face!!!

6. Almost there, now we just wash that off, use a gentle toner (although I'm using clinique's which isn't so gentle lol), and moisturize as usual! All finished now!!! Feel fresh and ready for the rest of the week? I know I do! Even though the experience was a bit different due to the clicking camera at every step lol...

What kinds of things do you all do to pamper yourself??