Get the Best Out Of Your Daily Natural Skin Care Routine
Ladies, what is your current daily natural skin care routine? Are you using the right types of skin care products? Do you even have a daily natural skin care regime? If not then the information provided in this interview will definitely help you on your way and answer some of the frequently asked questions that most women have on this topic.
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Today our special guest is Linda Clucas from Arbonne. Linda is an Arbonne Independent Consultant. Listen to her discuss the topic of setting up the best daily natural skin care routine to keep your face alive and healthy, while quietly laughing at me as I lumber through a topic that is foreign to me.
Discussions on the topic of setting up the best daily skin care to keep your face alive and healthy Share on XOther topics that Linda covers include:
- Sunscreen protection in face moisturisers
- Exfoliation and Masks
- Choosing the right colour lipstick to match your skin tone.
- Top 5 tips for skin care and make up application
If you would like to ask Linda any further questions please leave a comment below and I will make sure she comes back and answers them for you.
Websites mentioned in the show:
Her Facebook Page
Enjoy
Warren
Transcript
Warren: Hi everyone. My name is Warren Knower from Volare Photography. We specialize in family portraiture and thank you for joining me again for episode five of our podcast.
Today my guest is Linda Clucas. Linda is an Arbonne independent consultant and if you don’t know what Arbonne is, Arbonne is an internationally known skin care products company.
Linda came to me and suggested that it would be fantastic to talk about skin care and how to set up a natural skin care routine. So that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.
We will also cover some other useful tips about makeup selection as well as tips for males. I do have to admit I felt a little bit out of my depth during this interview. It would be really interesting to get your feedback about how I went.
As always, if you have any further questions for Linda, you can ask them in the comments section below or on our Facebook page which is Volare Photography. So sit back, relax and prepare yourself to be pampered as we start the interview.
So I’m here today with Linda Clucas. Hi Linda. How are you?
Linda: Hi Warren. Very well, thank you.
Warren: Great. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and your background?
Linda: Sure. I would love to. I came across Arbonne about six months ago. I met a lady at a business expo and she gave me a couple of samples to try at home and those samples were skin care and when I tried them at home, I was just blown away by the actual product. After that I looked into the business side of things and realized that it was a business that I wanted to be involved in and here I am today.
Warren: Right. What do you do there?
Linda: At Arbonne, I’m an independent consultant.
Warren: What does that mean?
Linda: What that means is that I teach women how to look after their skin. I help them with their makeup and I also help them with their nutrition as well.
Warren: OK, fantastic. So I did a little bit of research and I found out that these are figures going back about five or six years ago, that the cosmetics industry is a $200 billion industry. But walking through department stores, I haven’t seen the brand Arbonne. Now why is that?
Linda: Well Warren, Arbonne is a direct selling company. Arbonne started in Switzerland 34 years ago. It has only been in Australia for six years.
Warren: OK, six years. Yeah.
Linda: The company is run out of America and it’s a direct selling company which means that you can only purchase products through independent consultants like myself. What that means is that we don’t spend a lot of money on marketing. We don’t spend money on any retail setup which means that the product goes directly from the manufacturer straight through to the consumer.
Warren: So why is it so popular with those users? What’s unique about Arbonne?
Linda: What’s unique about Arbonne is that we manufacture skin care and cosmetics without any harmful ingredients. So when you look at the average woman, the average woman applies over 500 toxins to her daily routine. That ranges from shampoo through to toothpaste to deodorant to makeup and also skin care.
So Arbonne is free of harmful ingredients. All of Arbonne products are gluten free. They are also vegan certified and we don’t test on animals and we don’t use any animal fats or animal by-products or any mineral oils.
Warren: And you find that attracts a lot of people because of those very …
Linda: Absolutely. That is really the main reason. Yes.
Warren: OK, great. So Linda, I guess the primary purpose of these interview is to provide useful tips and information to our listeners. So you’re here today because you actually wanted to share some information regarding skin care and establishing a daily natural skin care routine. Can you elaborate on that?
Linda: Sure. So the three main questions that I get asked when I do a skin care workshop and these are questions that are asked by women and men and teenage girls. The three main questions are, “How can I save money and get salon results at home?” The second question is, “What is exfoliating and why is it so important?” and the third question is, “What is a mask and why use a mask on your face?”
Warren: OK. But what you’re going to talk today about, it doesn’t just relate to Arbonne products, does it?
Linda: No. What I’m going to talk about is just really setting up a very simple and quick and easy daily routine that you can do at home.
Warren: So no matter what brand of cosmetics you use.
Linda: Correct.
Warren: Great, fantastic. I’m sure our listeners can get – our female listeners as well as our male listeners – can get a lot out of that. I will have to admit when I walk through a department store, when I go through that cosmetics section, I do feel totally out of my depth. So you wouldn’t mind if I ask some stupid questions today?
Linda: Sure. Go right ahead Warren.
Warren: Yeah, OK. So you mentioned that these techniques that you’re going to talk today about are also for men.
Linda: Absolutely, absolutely.
Warren: And is it the same regime for men or do they use different type of products or …
Linda: The regime that I’m going to run through does apply to men and women. Men’s products are slightly different just due to the nature of their skin. But essentially it would be the same routine that they would do morning and night.
Warren: So even to make me look beautiful.
Linda: Sure, we can do that Warren.
Warren: If you can do that, that’s a miracle. OK. Let’s talk about the toxins in skin care and cosmetics and why that is so important.
Linda: Well, the skin is the largest organ in our body and interestingly, more chemicals actually enter through our skin than the products that we eat and drink everyday. So the skin is the first line of our immune defence against bacteria and illness.
So when we look at what we put on our skin, really we should be avoiding any toxins that enter the bloodstream because as soon as you put something on your skin, it is absorbed into the bloodstream within 26 seconds. So it’s a very fast-acting process.
Warren: Right. So for consumers looking to buy cosmetics out there, how can they tell what toxins are in there? What should they be looking for? Should they be asking any specific questions to the outlets that they’re getting these materials from?
Linda: They should be asking. They should be asking what ingredients are in the products themselves. There are ingredients such as – they’re well-known ingredients such as sodium laureth sulfate. There are parabens in a lot of products out there that should be avoided and also mineral oils.
So really when you look at the packaging, really you need to be a chemist to understand all of those products. So Warren, you are probably an expert at this.
Warren: Yeah. Great. I mean yeah, I know it can get confusing and you also have all those numbers especially when you’re having – when we’re talking about food. You look at the back of the packs and you got all those numbers and people just are totally confused what’s on the ingredients list.
Linda: Yes, very confusing.
Warren: So you make some good points there. OK. So you mentioned about women trying to get salon results at home and a process they can go through. I assume this is a daily regime that they can go through to achieve these results.
Linda: Yes. So Warren what I’m going to do is just really quickly run through a daily routine that you can do at home, morning – so this is morning and night to get the optimal results. So the first thing that you have to do in your natural skin care routine is to wash your hands. A lot of people actually miss this step.
If you have dirty hands, then all you’re doing is rubbing that dirt into your face when you do your cleanser. So once you’ve washed your hands, then it’s time to do your cleanser. Now when you do your cleanser, you need to avoid harsh cleanses that strip your skin of all the natural oils.
Warren: So here comes one of those stupid questions. A cleanser is just like a soap or detergent?
Linda: Well, it’s not a soap or a detergent. It’s a specific cleanser that would be suitable for your skin tone.
Warren: But it takes out all the day’s dirt and grime.
Linda: Correct.
Warren: Right.
Linda: Great question. Thanks Warren. The other thing with the cleanser is the temperature of the water is also important. So you don’t want to be using really, really hot water because that will hurt your skin. You don’t want to be using icy cold water. So the optimum temperature for the water is tepid or lukewarm.
Warren: OK.
Linda: So once you’ve done your cleanser, then the next step is to tone the skin. Now this is important to adjust the pH of the skin. The other importance of the toner is to – is so that after the toner, the products will actually be absorbed into the skin more effectively.
Warren: OK. So it’s almost like a foundation, not in the true sense of the word “foundation” but to prep the skin for …
Linda: To prep the skin for the following products.
Warren: Right.
Linda: So then the third step in the routine is if you’re of that age where you are concerned with anti-aging and this is generally after the age of 30 for women. Then we recommend that you use an anti-aging serum and the serum helps to firm up the skin and also helps to diminish any fine lines that you may have.
Warren: OK.
Linda: Now after that, we recommend that you use a specific eye cream and the reason for that is because the skin around your eyes is actually very, very thin.
Warren: Specific for what? The eye cream?
Linda: Specific eye cream.
Warren: OK.
Linda: That is designed for the eyes.
Warren: Right, got you.
Linda: One thing that your listeners may not know but the skin only absorbs the amount of product that it needs. So realistically you only need to use a very, very small amount when you’re doing any of your natural skin care routine.
Warren: OK.
Linda: So with the eye cream, you just put a tiny weeny bit on your ring finger. You rub that underneath your eyes. Don’t make any contact with the eye but just underneath the eye and then up to the brow bone and just make nice little circular movements with that.
Warren: Not on your eyelids?
Linda: Not on your eyelids, no. We don’t need to apply eye cream on our eyelids. Then of course the last step in the routine is to moisturize. So if you’re doing this in the morning, very, very important to apply moisturizer with a sunscreen in it, so long as you’re not allergic to sunscreen.
Warren: Right. OK. I have a question regarding that.
Linda: Sure.
Warren: I always have this discussion with my partner regarding sunscreen. When we go out somewhere say to the beach, I say, “Are you going to put sunscreen on your face?” and she says, “No, we’ve already got the sunscreen in the moisturizer.”
But what level of sun block is in those moisturizers? Is it a typical amount that you see with a regular sunscreen that you rub all over your body or should people be more careful with what they put on their face in terms of sun block protection factors?
Linda: Warren, it really depends on what you’re doing that day. If you are going to the beach and you’re going to be at the beach for a prolonged time, then we recommend that you use a higher sunscreen with a higher SPF. If you’re just going to work in the morning, you’re just jumping on the train and you’re going to spend all day in an office, then typically the sunscreen that you’ve got in your moisturizer will be enough to cover that.
Warren: OK, great. That will solve a few arguments at our place then. Thank you for that. All right. Continue, sorry.
Linda: OK. So if you’re doing this routine at night, then a night time moisturizer will be the last step in the process. So a night time moisturizer is a little bit different to your daytime moisturizer in that it is more nourishing and the purpose of the night time moisturizer is to repair the skin cells.
Warren: Great. Thanks for that Linda. So that’s quite a few steps. Relating this back to males, what would a typical male do out of that regime?
Linda: Well, if you’re a male that shaves daily, I would recommend that a male uses a cleanser. In some products, they do have little exfoliating beads in them, in the male cleansers. So I recommend that they use a cleanser.
Warren: Right.
Linda: If they are going to shave, then usually a post shave balm is very good because that will soothe the skin and then we also recommend a moisturizer for men. So it’s very important that they also use a moisturizer with sunscreen in it.
Warren: Yeah, OK. With sunscreen in it as well, yeah.
Linda: Yes.
Warren: So I guess the key thing is that shaving and that really dries the skin out.
Linda: Yes, that’s right.
Warren: All right. So then dry skin I guess there will be a lot of environmental factors as well that play a part in people getting dry skin on their face and all that.
Linda: Well, interestingly Warren, 90 percent of how we look and how we age is down to environmental factors and only 10 percent of how our skin looks is down to genetics. So environmental factors are things like the sun and especially when we live in such a climate as Australia. The sun can be very, very harsh.
There are environmental factors such as whether you smoke or not, what you eat and drink and what you actually put on your skin. That’s also typically a factor that you can control.
Warren: Great. OK. I guess what about people working in an office environment where they’re constantly hit by air conditioning? That could dry out their skin and things like that.
Linda: Yes, thank you for pointing that out Warren. I forgot to mention that. That’s a typical factor that affects your skin.
Warren: OK. So I mean there’s a whole heap of things there. Let’s talk about exfoliating. Now exfoliating is the removal of dead skin as you pointed out to me earlier. When should we do that?
Linda: So exfoliating is really important and we recommend that you do that once or twice a week depending on how your skin reacts.
Warren: Oh, I thought it would be more frequent than that.
Linda: Look, there are some women that will do exfoliating daily. The important thing here is that you don’t use an exfoliant that is really, really harsh or has got plastic beads in it.
Warren: How would you describe harsh? How would someone know the exfoliator is harsh?
Linda: If their skin reacts really badly, if it blows up very, very red. So really you want to have a look at an exfoliant that has very, very fine grains in it that will do the job. So if you don’t exfoliate, then what happens is that you get bacteria under those dead skin cells. So the bacteria will sit under the surface of the skin. What happens there is that you may get pimples or acne if you don’t remove those dead skin cells, if your pores will look smaller, if you don’t exfoliate and also the products that you apply after that, they will be absorbed much more effectively if you do exfoliate and remove the dead skin cells on a regular basis.
Warren: OK. You mentioned acne which then I guess the next question that would come to mind is teenagers and acne. Would exfoliating help a lot with teenagers getting to that acne stage?
Linda: Absolutely.
Warren: Right.
Linda: Because if they don’t exfoliate, then the bacteria will sit under the surface of the skin and that’s when the trouble starts.
Warren: Oh, that’s a great tip. Thanks Linda. Is there anything else that people should know about?
Linda: Just the last thing Warren is about using a mask.
Warren: Yeah. What is a mask?
Linda: A mask is something that you would apply once again like an exfoliator. You would do that once or twice a week and the mask has specific properties and requirements. So for example, if you had very, very dry skin, you would apply a mask that would be hydrating to your skin. So you would put that on your face.
Warren: So a mask is like a cream that you just apply thick, real thick coating.
Linda: Yeah, thick coating that you would apply to your face. If you have trouble with acne or you have a lot of impurities, then you would use a mask that would actually draw out those impurities and improve the texture of your skin. So that’s also an important step in achieving those optimal results at home.
Warren: OK. So you’ve seen the movies, people putting cucumbers on their eyes and all that, and meat on their skin.
Linda: Yeah, sure.
Warren: Did you try all of that?
Linda: Tried all of that.
Warren: Is that considered a mask?
Linda: It is considered a mask.
Warren: OK, great. OK. Now you summarized all that within five, ten minutes. But I guess it is a lot of effort and now I’ve got a whole new appreciation of what women have to go through and do. So I’m never going to complain about shaving again.
Linda: Great, good to hear.
Warren: OK. I do have another question about lipstick.
Linda: Sure.
Warren: In terms of how do women know – I mean we go to a shop and you see so many colours of lipsticks and shades of colours. How do you judge a good shade, a good lipstick colour matches your skin tone?
Linda: Yeah. So Warren, there’s a basic rule with working out what colour lipstick you should wear. So you need to determine whether you are a cool person or a warm person. Now how you do this is that you really just have to pick out two colours from your wardrobe. Pick out two pieces of material, T-shirts, whatever you’ve got lying around at home.
Warren: Any specific colours or …
Linda: Yeah. So if you pick up a bright pink one, then you hold that up under your chin. Just see how you look, whether that makes you look washed out or whether that suits you.
Warren: Interesting, yeah.
Linda: Now the other colour you want to grab is an orange colour.
Warren: Orange and pink.
Linda: Orange and pink.
Warren: Right.
Linda: So the pink colour, if you look really good with the pink colour under your chin, then you’re a cool person and if you look great with the orange under your chin, then you’re a warm person. So going back to the pink if you’re a cool person, then you want to be looking for shades such as mahogany or pink.
Warren: Is that more natural colours or …
Linda: More sort of cool reds.
Warren: Cool reds, OK.
Linda: And any of your pink shades. Now if you’re a warm person, and you look really great with an orange T-shirt on, then you should go for lipsticks that are in orange or in coral. They’re in warm browns, peaches and also bronze colours.
Warren: So the more earthy type of colours.
Linda: More earthy, yeah. That’s correct.
Warren: See being a photographer helps with colour.
Linda: Absolutely.
Warren: Colour schemes and colour tones. Great. OK. There are some great tips there Linda. Thank you for sharing all those. Now, before we come to the end of the interview, have you got let’s say a list of five top tips that you could share with our listeners?
It doesn’t have to be in any particular order but things that you get asked quite often or things you like to mention that are worthwhile for listeners to know about.
Linda: Sure. So I have a Facebook page where I put regular makeup tips. So I call it a Makeup Monday.
Warren: Makeup Monday, yeah.
Linda: And these are some of the things that have been very, very popular, that people have been asking me. So the first thing is about mascara. So how often should you change your mascara?
Warren: I have no idea.
Linda: So we recommend every three months because you do get a lot of bacteria that may sit in the mascara tube. So it’s really important that you change that every three months.
One of the other tips is about makeup brushes. Do you need to apply your makeup with a brush or can you simply use fingers? It’s great to use a makeup brush because you will get your foundation on more evenly and your eye shadow. That brings me to the tip about how often you should wash your makeup brushes. If you’re a germaphobe, then you would probably be washing your makeup brushes every week.
Warren: The moisture and the makeup don’t really mix. Doesn’t that deteriorate the brushes quickly?
Linda: Well, we always use synthetic brushes, which means that they don’t hold as much product. So I just wash them in a very mild shampoo. Wash them once a week. Wash them once a fortnight and then you just shake them out and just leave them to dry overnight.
Warren: Right, OK.
Linda: So that’s a tip for your listeners.
Warren: Anything else?
Linda: And the last tip Warren is about how to choose your lipstick shade. So going back to the warm and cool topic that I mentioned before, a lot of women apply the lipstick – when they go into a department store, they apply the lipstick on the back of their hand to check the colour.
Warren: I didn’t know that. But now I do. I would have thought you would apply it to your lips but …
Linda: Yeah, you’re not allowed to do that.
Warren: Oh, OK.
Linda: So what you want to do with your lipstick is actually apply it to the tip of your finger.
Warren: All right, OK.
Linda: That’s because that is the closest colour to the lip colour.
Warren: Because obviously there are more blood vessels in your fingertips than to the back of your palm.
Linda: The back of your hand.
Warren: Back of your hand, sorry. Yeah.
Linda: So the back of your hand can get – can be out in the sun. So that’s not necessarily the same colour as what it’s going to look like on your lips. So always test the lipstick on the tip of your fingers to get the most accurate colour.
Warren: Ah, that is a great tip. Thank you for that. Excellent. Fantastic, Linda. OK. You shared a heap today. Thank you and I’m sure that the ladies out there and even the men would have got a lot of good information around that. Now, if people want to learn more about what you do, where is the best place to contact you?
Linda: The best place to contact me is over the telephone.
Warren: OK.
Linda: Or online.
Warren: Right.
Linda: So I have my own website and the address there is LindaClucas.MyArbonne.com.au.
Warren: Right. I will put that information down in the show notes. Yeah.
Linda: Fantastic. I also have a Facebook page where I share a lot of tips and advice every single day and the address for that is Linda Clucas Independent Consultant.
Warren: Great, OK. Now, I always invite listeners to ask questions of our guests. You’re happy to come back in the future if there are questions to answer then?
Linda: Sure, I would love to.
Warren: Great.
Linda: Thanks Warren.
Warren: And I’m sure there will be quite a few, especially those – any other information people want to know about tips and apply makeup and things like that. OK. Now finally, I know that you’re running a workshop later this month. What’s that on?
Linda: Warren, I’m running a makeup workshop and I have secured a special guest for that.
Warren: OK.
Linda: The special guest’s name is Vivian Ashworth and Vivian is a world class makeup artist.
Warren: OK, fantastic.
Linda: So the workshop is on February the 25th. It’s a Tuesday morning. It starts at 10 o’clock in the morning.
Warren: OK. How can people find all about that?
Linda: Yeah. People can jump on to Eventbrite to purchase the ticket. Tickets for that are $20 and for that $20 you will get a goody bag. You will get fantastic advice from Vivian on how to apply very simple makeup and how to also add to that. So that if you are going out at night time, you can add a few colours to do that. Also there will be raffle prizes. So I’m really looking forward to sharing that.
Warren: Great. Sounds fantastic. OK. Thank you so much for today. I really appreciate your time and I’m sure our listeners would have gotten a lot out of it.
Linda: Fantastic. Thank you very much Warren.
Warren: No problem. Bye Linda.
Linda: Bye.
Warren: There you go. Some great tips from Linda. Ladies, what do you think? Are you doing something similar to what Linda spoke about or do you have another process that works for you? Both Linda and I would love to get your feedback.
Speaking about feedback, how do you think I went? Could you sense I was a little bit uncomfortable throughout that interview? I’m not really sure why. It was probably because it is a subject that I don’t really talk about that often.
So I would love your feedback on that. Did I ask the right sort of questions or is there anything else that I could take on board for future episodes? I am planning on interviewing a makeup artist sometime soon. So it would be great to get some tips on that.
If you have any question for Linda regarding your own natural skin care routine or related questions, then feel free to hit her up in the comments below. I’ll make sure she responds to them.
OK. That’s it. Thank you for joining me once again. Please leave any further questions for Linda in the comments section below or on our Facebook page which is Volare Photography. Take care and hopefully we will speak soon. Bye.
