“A lot of people like snow.I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.

Carl Reiner

5:45 this morning. I eagerly jumped out of bed, grabbed my Ipad and logged on to the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board  website and got the sweetest news ever… All schools were closed! Being as I’m an early childhood educator working in a school , that equaled no work for me!! But the joy was short-lived as I then realized that i would have to dig my way out of my house ( literally) to put out garbage and dig out the cars in my driveway 😦  I went outside ,looking around for a shovel…. where was it? Buried under 15 centimeters of snow ( insert eye roll here) So guess who had to swim through the snow to put out  garbage-me! Only to later on in the day find out , that garbage pick up had been cancelled for today ( again insert eye roll) Ah well! What can you do?!

After warming up a little bit with a cup of lemon-ginger tea, I decided i was going to blog about a few products that have become part of my winter skincare routine. As many of us deal with in the winter, my skin changes drastically during this season. It becomes extremely dry and prone to break outs. Here are some products that have really helped me this year( as well as two of my favorite winter items

• Proactiv facial cleansing brush ( really helps get rid of dry, dead skin)
• Cantu Shea Butter leave in conditioning repair cream ( great for my dry winter hair!)
• Bath and Body works candle in the scent “Vanilla Snowflake ( I just love the smell 🙂 )
• Organics Moisturizing Body Lotion in the Olive  Oil formula ( SERIOUSLY IF YOU HAVE DRY SKIN THIS IS THE SKIN LOTION FOR YOU!!)
• Twinnings Lemon and Ginger Tea ( Just mmmm seriously)
• 3 Neutrogena products: 2 from the Neutrogena Naturals line: purifying pore scrub and fresh cleansing and make up remover face wash. Alongside those i also use an Oil- free Acne Wash pink grapefruit foaming scrub ( great exfoliate)

But the two products that have really saved my skin over the last year are two locally made products made and distributed by my dear friend Vanessa Williams ( no not that Vanessa Williams, but she is beautiful and can sing too lol :)) She created a line called “Oubel” ( french for “You’re Beautiful”) which offers  vegan, all natural products that restore and revitalize your skin. One of the products that i have really gravitated towards is  the Lemongrass Butter. It makes your skin smooth as a baby’s bottom and trust me a little goes a long way! Next ( this product is probably my favorite product ever) is the Ginger Mousse mask. This is a face mask that when applied to your skin and left on for approxiamately 15 minutes, will leave your skin glowing and feeling like brand new skin. Check her out on facebook :

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oubel-Body-Butters/747399182004872

or instagram oubelbodybutters and support support support!!

So that’s it for my winter essentials! Hope a few them work for you!

Before i leave, i just wanted to bring light to the situation concerning Bobbi Kristina Brown ( Whitney Houston and Bobby Browns daughter) You never really know what a person is struggling with unless you are in their shoes. Grief is a serious condition. Everyone grieves differently. Not everyone is blessed to come from a stable home or have a stable foundation surrounding them. I hope whatever troubles this young lady is dealing with , she can find the strength to pull through and carry on. I pray that not too much damage has been done and she has a chance at really living life…. Thoughts go out to you Bobbi Kristina and the whole Houston/Brown family. We’re praying for a miracle!

XOXO