What’s new in my spring beauty bag

spring beauty essentials

What’s new in my spring beauty bag from top left: Perricone MD hand cream / Elemis eye revive mask / Estee Lauder sunscreen spf 45 / Elemis Marine Cream / Estee Lauder Rapid Brightening Treatment Ferment 2 + Vitamin C / Elemis cleansing balm / Elemis Cica Calm cleansing foam / Elemis Cica Calm Hydration Juice / (all products shown c/o of their respective brands)

Spring has sprung! This means it is time to mix up our skin care routines in order to ensure our skin stays moisturized, healthy, and squeaky clean! After all, the pollen is everywhere, and it sticks to our skin. A nightmare for people like me who have spring allergies. Yikes!

The products above are my new lines of defense against spring’s increased sun, wind, and pollen floating in the air. I have been using the Elemis Marine Creams during the warmer months for years. It’s the perfect cream for dry days, and warm days. I love how it keeps my skin even and healthy. The Estee Lauder Perfectionist Pro multi-defense UV protection is perfect to wear underneath the cream for the ultimate SPF protection. Love it!

If you like to swim a lot like I do, the Elemis Cica Calm Hydration Juice is ideal for restoring hydration to your skin. It’s also perfect for windy spring days when it feels like all the pollen on earth is blowing in your face and sticking to you! Ugh!

If you are washing your hands often now due to the current shelter-in-place and virus prevention measures, check out my post about my three favorite hands creams; it includes the Perricone MD hand cream shown above.

While these products were sent to me in PR packages for testing out, they are products I actually use. This is only roughly 20% of the products I received to review for spring. They are brands I also purchase with my own money, and the Elemis Marine Cream I have purchased on my own in the past. I would never recommend something to you just because it was sent to me. I only recommend products I actually use and love. These products are all amazing, I highly recommend them for spring skin care! A few will also stick with me for the summer season such as the Elemis Marine Cream, and the Estee Lauder products.

Which one of these products have your tried and loved?

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy

Baked Scallops recipe

Now that we are sheltering in place, there is plenty of time to try new recipes! My family enjoys eating scallops, but I always cook them the same way; I sear them. I decided to try something new this time, I baked them.

Baked Scallops are delicious! This recipe was a home-run on the first try. It is really easy. So, if you like Scallops, this is an easy recipe to try. It’s much easier to bake them than sear them! Love that!

Ingredients:

  • Large Scallops-20
  • 8 pats butter
  • 4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Season to taste: Paprika, Lemon Juice, Basil, Salt

Preparation instructions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 425, ensuring the rack is in the middle of the oven.
  2. Grab an 11×13 casserole dish and place 8 pats of butter, evenly spaced apart, in the casserole dish.
  3. Evenly space 20 large scallops in the casserole dish, ensuring the butter pats are spaced apart too.
  4. Evenly spread 4 tablespoons shredded Parmesan across the scallops
  5. Season to taste: evenly spread basil, salt, paprika and lemon juice on top of the scallops.

Baking instructions:

  • Bake at 425 for 16 minutes
  • Scallops should be white and opaque; 130 degree Fahrenheit internal temperature.

Serving instructions:

  1. Place scallops on dish. My kids typically eat 4 large scallops, while my husband will 6, and I eat 5. With a tablespoon, scoop up the buttery sauce in the casserole dish and pour it over the scallops on the plate.
  2. Serve with your favorite vegetable. We used frozen peas melted in butter because we are sheltering in place, and that’s what I had in the freezer. Under normal circumstances, I might serve with cauliflower, sliced cucumber, and/or peas. Peas are mild and sweet, so they do pair well with scallops!

Things you might need to make baked scallops for dinner:

If you want a side dish, try mashed potatoes or jasmine rice. You can pour the sauce from the casserole dish over the rice or potatoes. Yum!

This dinner felt fancy, and was a nice change during our shelter-in-place. Sometimes it is nice to treat yourself with good food when you are feeling down; like most of us are feeling during this unprecedented time.

Bon Appetite! I hope you love this dish as much as my family does 😊

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy

Best hand cream for frequent hand washing

  • best hand cream
  • colleen rothschild hand cream review
  • best intensive hand cream

Best hand cream for frequent hand washing from left: L’Occitane hand cream / Colleen Rothschild hand cream / Perricone MD Cold Plasma Plus+ hand therapy c/o Perricone MD/

Do you find yourself washing your hands all. the. time? I do! Under normal circumstances, I wash my hands frequently during the day, but never to the point where they get tight, dry, and sensitive. Well, now that we are sheltering in place, social distancing, and washing our hands multiple times per hour, my hands are all those things! They are definitely mad at me!!

In order to combat the beating my hands are taking from washing them multiple times per hour, everyday, I am going through my hand cream supply quickly; and have already had to open two new tubes. I always keep two in my backstock, now I will need to order more online in order to keep my supply available. It isn’t only me using hand cream in my house now, it is myself, my husband, and my three kids. We all need it! I assume you do too!

I have been a huge fan of L’Occitane hand cream since the late 1990s when it was deemed the only hand cream on the planet that wasn’t greasy. Everyone and thier mother flocked to the L’Occitane store at the mall to purchase a tube. Sometimes, they were sold out! It was defintly the “IT” hand cream of the late ’90’s and early 2000’s! I am still a fan, and always keep a tube downstairs so I can use it as needed without walking upstairs to fetch hand cream. It’s a must-have in my house.

Now that I mentioned I keep a hand cream downstairs, I must also mention I keep one upstairs on my nightstand. The one I keep upstairs is also a favorite of mine; and preferred by my husband. I keep my Colleen Rothschild hand cream upstairs on my nightstand and apply it as needed, and every night before I go to sleep. It’s an amazing hand cream!

You might be wondering how I can have two favorite hand creams; well, I do! It really is a toss up as to which one is better, I love them both. If you cannot decide which one to choose, the only difference I can point out is that L’Occitane has a thicker texture, and a shea butter scent, as opposed to the Colleen Rothschild which has a pleasant scent. They both smell good, and work equally well. It depends on the texture and scent for you to make a decision. I recommend trying both and then seeing which one you prefer. You might end up unable to choose, just like me!

I receive PR packages frequently; and I have been blogging for ten years now, so you can only imagine how many hand creams have been sent my way, and I have tested out. Nothing compares to L’Occitane and Colleen Rothschild. They are my two favorites. So when I say they are good, you know my sample size has been large! I have tried over twenty brands, and nothing has caught my eye like these two.

This takes us to Perricone MD. This hand therapy was sent to me in February in a PR package. I wasn’t sure what to do with intensive hand therapy, since my hands have always been in good shape due to my other two hand creams. Until this current healthcare crisis, I didn’t realize this was something I needed in my life!

As I mentioned before, I am always washing my hands. I am sure you are too! In addition to hand washing, I am cleaning my house multiple times per week, instead of my usual one day a week. This is exposing my hands to more chemicals, more hand washing, and more chances to get dry and tight skin. I have found that using Perricone MD’s Cold Plasma Plus+ hand therapy one time per day is exactly what my hands need to stay normal. I highly recommend keeping a tube on hand in order to combat the extra beating your hands are taking. It’s truly a blessing during this time.

There you have it! I have two normal hand creams to recommend, the L’Occitane, and the Colleen Rothschild. In addition, I recommend keeping the Perricone MD hand therapy on hand for intensive use as needed.

Do you have a favorite hand cream?

Thank you for stopping by!

XOXO

Cathy