Amela Sandra: Maternal Beauty

The way I found out I was pregnant all began when I had no more energy and I fell asleep like a rock as soon as I got home.
Whenever I ate my stomach would act strange, I thought I had food poisoning.

My very honest mother had also pointed out that I was eating a little more than I should. She also told me that I was getting a bit chubby. In the picture below you can see two lines: one is from my bra and the other from my tights. This was the beginning of gaining fat, water and a growing baby.

Like every pregnant woman, my mind and body is changing rapidly.
Honestly I have never felt so exhausted in my life.
Pregnancy feels like a treadmill never ending treadmill.
Luckily, my mind is sharp but I always get headaches.
My hair is silky but my scalp is dry and flaky.
My skin feels very dry and stretch marks are slowly appearing.
I feel anything but beautiful.
Don't get me wrong, this is the best moment in my life.
Like Sheryl Crow, I feel like a woman.
I've never felt like more woman.
It doesn't make sense in the English language but to me it does.

Lately it's been very difficult for me to feel sexy.
Sometimes I feel like a slob, but I know those are just the hormones and....
When it comes to beauty products....

EVERYTHING STINKS.

IRRITATES MY SKIN.

DOESN'T WORK.

So I have ventured out and replaced my new products with the products

I originally used. The only new product that I'm using at the moment is an Eczema cream. I don't have eczema but this cream is seriously helping me avoid stretch marks. It is very rich and moisturizing, it's also cheap.

I'm really tired of paying so much money on creams that I'm going to wash off in a few hours. If it's harmless and does the job I don't mind paying less than $20 for it.

Sorry Sephora, I haven't seen you in months but I'm trying this new thing where I don't spend hundreds of dollars every time I leave the store cause frankly I can't afford it.

I have many bills to pay and a kid on the way, those splurge days are long gone, sort of... You'll need to follow my blog for details.

Aveeno "Eczema Therapy" Moisturizing Cream

It's very thick and rich.

I only apply this cream after I have taken a shower cause that's when it works and feels best. Actually applying moisturizer after a shower helps you use less of the product while getting better results.

This product is steroid free and fragrance free.

It is also recommended by Dermatologists (consult yours just in case).

If you just squeeze enough cream to reach the tip of your finger you could cover both of your elbows. That's how rich this cream is.

You can purchase this cream at your local pharmacy or at drugstore.com at a discount price right now and if it's your first time using their website shipping is free for first time user and you might get an extra 10% Off with their promotion.

Again, the next two products are Aveeno. I still have some

Aveeno Baby "Continuous Protection" sunscreen lotion, broad spectrum SPF 55 from August. I use sunscreen daily and year round. SPF 55 means the sunscreen protects you from the sun's harmful rays for 55 minutes. Some women think I'm crazy for using sunscreen in autumn/winter but actually, even in the autumn/winter the sun can destroy your skin thanks to pollution, the layers in the sky that are supposed to protect us are actually super weak and our young lush skin gets older. Regardless of your skin tone or heritage, I recommend that you always wear some sunscreen. Speak to a trusted, professional dermatologist for more info. I slather this sunscreen only on areas of my skin that will actually be exposed. For example in the winter I only apply this cream on my neck, chest, hands and sometimes my arms.

This cream is very and it is fragrance free so you won't feel like vomiting when you apply it.

The next Aveeno product that I use is the

Aveeno "Stress Relief" body wash

Although this body is scented it doesn't have that strong nauseating smell that makes you want to vomit your organs. I am so happy to use this product because everything that I've been using lately is fragrance free, apparently my little brussel sprout size baby hates super strong fragrances whether it's a $400 perfume or a $2 air freshener.

Anyway back to the product, this product smells amazing without giving that punch in the face smell.

The beautiful fragrance and ingredients are: soothing lavendar, ylang ylang and chamomile. These ingredients are believed to help calm your hormones and make your body feel relaxed. It's also very moisturizing since it has oatmeal. The best part is that it's also dermatologist recommended but as I always suggest, speak to your very own dermatologist about this product first.

Oh and when the husband uses the toilet! FORGET IT! But that's a whole different blog post. I will share some great tips on how to get rid of the worst stinks ever in future post.

Finally, my favorite product ever is
St. Ives "Blemish Control" Apricot Scrub
It's been helping get rid of my black heads, dead, dry skin and minimized my pores.
The scrub is oil free which is good even though I have combination skin I try to avoid applying products with oil as this could lead to excessive amount of oil. It's like applying oil onto oil, on top of oil, above oil, and then your natural sweaty oil = Not good. Always check if a product has oil. Dermatologist recommended product, speak with your dermatologist before purchase/use.

I have one more product that I would like to share.
As I have mentioned before I don't like applying excessive oil on my skin.
However, there is a product called
Bio-Oil that is great for dry dehydrated skin, uneven skin tone, etc....
I use this product on my face, hands, belly and feet, two or three times a day every other day.