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NOTE: This is a transcription of the Skincare Fairy Godmother Podcast Episode 1. It may have been changed slightly for ease of reading vs. listening. In today's treatment room, we're going to learn all about chemical peels - what are they? What are progressive peels? Who are chemical peels good for and why I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying peels online. First, let's dive into what a chemical peel is. There's two types of exfoliation, manual and chemical.Manual is things like brushes, scrubs, microdermabrasion, and hydrodermabrasion. Chemical is peels and enzymes, which work by dissolving the bonds between the skin cells that hold them together. Manual exfoliation works by scrubbing or vacuuming, sectioning. So what are the different types of peels? There are a lot of types of peels, and they all address different things. There's glycolic, lactic, TCA, Mandelic, Jessners, and many more. Have you ever seen the episode of Sex in the City where Samantha gets a chemical peel? Most of the time, it's really not like that. That's a really outdated way of peeling the skin, in general, and that level of peel is almost always done in a doctor's office. I can't speak for all estheticians. So I'm just going to tell you how we do peels at the Atelier. We work in what's commonly referred to as progressive peels, which are a series of four to six peels and they're spaced about two to eight weeks apart. We start with a gentle peel to see how your skin responds and get your skin "used to" the peeling process. Next, we move into a more in-depth peel and keep working our way up in strength or level at each visit if possible. So if your skin's handling it well, meaning there was no irritation post-peel (you might have some redness and flaking but it shouldn't be coming off in sheets, and definitely, you shouldn't ever have any rashes or hives - if you are, then that's something you would want to talk to your aesthetician about). Once we've completed your peel series, we go to maintenance facials, which are done about every four to six weeks. You can repeat a peel series to increase your results after about a six month break typically. Who are chemical peels good for? Honestly, because there's so many different types, they're really good for literally everyone. A skilled, knowledgeable esthetician should be able to tell you based on your skin type, tone, and goal which peels you can and can't do, and develop a treatment plan accordingly. There's so many things that peels are good for, and it's definitely worth bringing up with your esthetician if you're not sure. Lastly, why shouldn't you buy peels online? Well putting it frankly, you just never know what you're getting when you order something like that online. Peels can be really aggressive and dangerous if not used properly. So unless you're ordering one from your esthetician to use at home under his or her direction, I just wouldn't recommend it. It's not safe.

NOTE: This is a transcription of the Skincare Fairy Godmother Podcast Episode 1. It may have been changed slightly for ease of reading vs. listening. In today's treatment room, we are going to learn all about chapped and cracked lips. The skin on the lips is different from the rest of the face - facial skin is about 16 cell layers deep, and lips are only about three to five layers deep. That's why you can see the red tinge of blood vessels, that's what makes our lips red. Lips also don't have any hair follicles or sweat glands, so they can't produce any oil of their own which naturally makes them predisposed to being more dry. What can cause chapped or cracked lips? The most common are: weather exposure, sun damage, licking your lips constantly, ingredients, being dehydrated, allergies, or contact dermatitis. Let's talk a little bit about a couple of these things individually. First thing, stop licking and biting your lips. I know it's challenging, I know it's a habit, but it will make a huge difference long term. Next, make sure you're getting enough water every day, roughly half your body weight in ounces. So if you're 150 pounds, you're going to aim for about 75 ounces a day. This doesn't include if you're working out or sweating a lot due to your climate. Eat your water. You can have fruits and vegetables - those do count. When you're going to be out in the sun, make sure you're wearing an SPF lip balm - that can really help to prevent cracking and peeling, not to mention damage. This does matter also if you are in a colder climate if you're going to go snowboarding or skiing or something you should definitely have SPF on your lips. Pay attention if your splits or dry lips happen immediately after starting a new toothpaste or a new lip product or a new skin product. At that point you might need to speak with your doctor or eliminate that product. A really common thing that irritates around the mouth is toothpaste, so finding the right one that works for you is really important. Avoid menthol or camphor in your lip products. Those are naturally more drying and irritating to your lips. Some people have trouble with peppermint as well. So something just to bear in mind if you happen to be having trouble with it. What happens if your lips are already dry or chapped? How can you fix it? First, recognizing the difference between occlusive and hydrating ingredients. Occlusive ingredients tend to be things like beeswax, Vaseline, petroleum jelly, and aquafor. Hydrators are things like shea butter, apricot and wheat germ oils. You want to either find a product that has both or you're going to want to layer them -hydrator first with your occlusive on top. If you put the occlusive on first, the hydrator can't get where it needs to be. The occlusive layer holds the hydration in and because lips don't produce their own oil, we need to apply oils, butters, and hydrators and then seal it in with that occlusive. The caveat to that - if your product is one that has both, you can try that out without an occlusive on top for a little while and see how that does for you. So what are some favorites of mine? My personal favorite is Amber Budd Skincare Lip//Conditioner. Followed by a thin layer of Vaseline at night. I have naturally really dry lips so even though our lip conditioner does have both the hydrator and occlusive ingredients, during the day that's enough for me, but at night I do like to put a little layer of Vaseline on top to make a more intense treatment. I also really like the Sara Happ lip balm - the one in the little pot. The company says the tube and jar are the same, but I can't say I agree. :) Last tip: if you have flaking peeling lips do not, do not, do not (!) pull the skin. Soften it with your lip hydrator or conditioner. Break it off if you need to, but do not peel it. If you have to peel it. It's not ready. Just let it be. That is it for her treatment room lesson for today. Do you have any follow up questions? If so, head over to Instagram and DM me @amberbudd -That's where I hang out most often online.

NOTE: This is a transcription of the Skincare Fairy Godmother Podcast Episode 1. It may have been changed slightly for ease of reading vs. listening. In today's lesson, we're going to learn all about treating skin for changing seasons, as well as breaking down a common misconception around dry and dehydrated skin. So oftentimes, in our language, words get interchanged a lot - dry, dehydrated, they're flip flopped around like they're the same thing. But they're not. In the science of skin. Dry Skin lacks oil, dehydrated skin lacks water. You can have oily skin and still have dehydrated skin, but you cannot have oily skin and have dry skin. The quickest way to tell which one you have is the pinch test. Take your thumb and your pointer finger and pinch the back of your opposite hand, and if it bounces back quickly, you do not have dehydrated skin. If it takes a while to sort of fall back into place, then you may have dehydrated skin. If you still can't tell - dry skin, the skin that lacks oil tends to look flaky. Sort of like if you took a fingernail to it, you could kind of scrape off a layer, whereas dehydrated skin tends to just look more dull, like it needs a glass of water - which it does. Because our skin changes more in wildly swinging temperature climates and because of that, my clients tend to notice that they might have oily skin but it's dehydrated or they might have super dry skin in the winter and then get more oily in the summer. So we typically have to adjust a thing here or there to make sure that their products are suiting their skin for the time of year. This is just one more reason why I truly recommend seeing a skilled and educated esthetician wherever you are, they can help you throughout the year to adjust your routine to be what's going to fit your skins needs right now. So an example of a typical routine of my clients might be a cleanser, toner treatment, eye cream, and moisturizer or SPF in the morning. And in the winter, we might do moisturizer and SPF we might not be able to get away with just the sunscreen or at night we might need a thicker moisturizer or put a balm or a salve on top of it. Another adjustment we might make is to move from a gel cleanser in the summer to more of a creamy cleanser in the winter. There are so many different ways that you can adjust your routine a tiny little bit to make it really work for you. another thing that you can do if you're not ready to really overhaul your routine is you may need to look at doing something like an occlusive agent over your moisturizer at night, putting on your moisturizer and then putting a thin layer of Vaseline or something like ourTreat//Salve over top of it helps to really lock in the moisturizer and water in your skin or the oil and water if we're talking technical terms. If you don't have water and oil in your skin to begin with, though, occlusive agents just don't work. It is what it is. Vaseline, while I love it, is not a hydrator - it will not add moisture to your skin but it can lock in what you already have. Same thing with Aquafor, I've heard a lot of people use that on their skin as well. Same idea. If you have any follow up questions, follow me on Instagram @amberbudd, DM me, ask me some questions - I'll be sure to answer them in a future episode!

This video is a segment attached to the Skincare Fairy Godmother podcast episode 10 - a round up of questions from the first 9 episodes, where one of the listeners asked how to blade/shave their face at home. I note in both episodes that dermablading and at home blading/shaving are *not* the same, however, the at home treatment will certainly help hold you over between facials if they're 6 weeks apart (4-6 weeks is the recommended time between facials), if your facials are 4 weeks apart, you're less likely to need to do this at home in general. Love the show? Want to support this and more content like it? Click Here

A few days ago, a client asked me why peptides were so good for her skin. I knew the base answer, but honestly couldn’t break it down any further than that to simple terms (We’re all learning every day right?!) So I told her I’d look it up…and here’s the result of that…. Simply put. peptides are small chains of amino acids. Amino acids make up proteins. Therefore, peptides are small chains of protein. (actual numbers, for you nerdy types like me…. if there’s a chain of 50 or more amino acids, its a protein, if there’s a chain of 49 or less amino acids, its a peptide) Peptides act as the messengers between ingredients and our cells.There are three types of Peptides currently used in skincare: Signal peptides- tell fibroblasts to make more collagen or protect existing collagen Neurotransmitter Peptides- limits muscle contraction, acting in a similar way to Botox (HELL YES! for all you needle-phobes like me!) Carrier peptides - deliver trace elements of things like Copper for wound healing Currently my favorite peptide laced product is Bioelements Power Peptide Toner - it balances the pH of your skin so everything you use after it is more effective, as well as hydrates, improves overall skin tone and boosts moisture. (you have to buy this through a dermatologist or esthetician….do not buy this product on Amazon, it cannot be guaranteed at all at that point.) So that’s it for my peptide mini-lesson. Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear them! #imageskincare #peptides #skincare #esthetician #antiaging #serums

#Facebooklive #soniakashuk #youtube #makeup #toofaced #theBalm #tutorial

Every once in awhile, I find a new write up about the app....by accident! Here is one such case. I am absolutely honored to be covered in Skin Inc magazine's blog, click here for the full article

I recently had the priviledge to be interviewed by Sweet Betty for her blog - she's asking all things skincare and makeup. Check out the interview at the link below! https://sweetbettysblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/qa-with-the-expert-amber-budd-atelier/

#youtube #amberbuddatelier #pureology #blush #sigmabeauty

If you can control nothing else in your life, the one thing we all still know about 2020 is that a cozy meal in your belly will make you feel at least fractionally better. Maybe it’s the calories, maybe it’s the nutrients, maybe it’s the security of being full in a world of chaos- whatever the reason, we all could use more comfort recipes, right? We’ll save our food stories until the end and jump straight into our recipes, then if you’d like to read on and hear our tales of tidbits past, please do! Salt N Peppas Roomie Chili Ingredients: 1lb ground turkey 28 oz diced canned tomatoes (I've used both regular tomatoes and rotel...both work great) 28 oz pinto beans, drained 1 green pepper, diced 1 onion, diced 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tsp each: dried oregano, cumin, cayenne Pepper Salt and pepper to taste Shredded Cheddar if you'd like. Excellent with Saltine crackers or tortilla chips. Directions: Brown the turkey in a pot, breaking up meat into small pieces as It cooks. Add garlic, onion, green pepper - stir and let cook 2-3 minutes. Add spices and beans - stir one minute to distribute spices. Add tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer 20-30 minutes. Michael Symon’s Smokey Mac and Cheese: Ingredients: Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 pound dry rigatoni 4 cups heavy cream 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 3 shakes of your favorite hot sauce, optional 8 ounces cream cheese 8 ounces Gouda, shredded 1 pound ham, diced 1 cup panko breadcrumbs 1/2 cup grated pecorino 1/2 cup sliced scallions, optional Directions: “Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente, then drain and set aside, Set up your grill for indirect heat. If using a charcoal grill, build the hot coals on one side only. If using a gas grill, heat one side only to medium-high heat. Heat a deep 12-inch cast-iron skillet over direct heat. Combine the cream, paprika, cayenne and hot sauce if using in the skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer until the cream mixture is reduced by half and thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the cream cheese and Gouda until fully melted. Stir in the ham and cooked pasta and continue to mix until fully combined. Stir together the panko, pecorino and scallions if using in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the panko mixture evenly over the mac and cheese. Move the skillet to indirect heat, cover the grill and cook until golden brown and bubbly, about 5 minutes.” https://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/michael-symon/smokey-mac-and-cheese-8732853 Roasted Brussels Sprouts, as dictated by Tyler to Heidi, based on an Ina Garten recipe: Ingredients: 1 bag/stalk of Brussels Sprouts Salt (to taste, lots! Yum) Pepper (to taste) Extra Virgin Olive Oil Directions: Preheat oven to 400. Cut off ends of sprouts, cut in half. Add oil, salt, and pepper. Toss around on a baking sheet to ensure even coverage of each sprout. Cook for 35-40 minutes, toss them around from time to time to ensure even cooking. Looks for crispy outsides- this is the best part. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-brussels-sprouts-recipe2-1941953 Now onto our stories, because you decided to keep reading after all, didn’t you? The founder, the creator, our Delectable Dish Diva Queen- Amber! Ambers Salt N Peppas Roomie Chili is the dish of her youthful independence dreams. When you have the best roommate on earth, you tend to do everything together- including coming up with bomb recipes and listening to sick beats while you do so (note Salt N Peppa)! Whether you have the best roomie too or you’re savoring this for yourself and prepping some in the freezer- we think you’ll find this recipe to be the healthy and cozy bowl you need to beat back the 2020 blues! Heather's cozy recipe is for a Mac and Cheese with a kick! This lady had some serious taste bud style, we’ll keep her. Heather's coziest food memory is of making hand-spun ice cream from scratch with her grandparents. Every holiday they would be together and take the time to make this precious treat. Heather says that hands down it’s the best vanilla ice cream she’s ever tasted and that the act of sharing in this process made her feel loved. We hope you’ll love Heather's choice for a creamy spicy hug in a skillet, Mac N Cheese! Heidi is the maniac that recommends a Brussels Sprout recipe (we don’t know which planet she came from either, we keep asking). When she started dating her bf he was making dinner one night with Brussels Sprouts as a side. Watching him cut those tiny cabbages and add them to a sheet pan, she knew right then that he had to be a serial killer...or an imposter trying to show off how healthy he was to a new girlfriend - we’re not sure which is worse. So when it came time to eat her meal, Heidi had her finger hovering the call 9-1-1 button that was confidently typed into her phone. 100% she was going to need that button, we mean, no one in their right mind makes Brussel Sprouts for enjoyment, right? And then...then the memory of those little soggy bitter cabbages she ate as a child were replaced by crispy, caramelly, salty Brussels Sprouts. In the moment after her first bite, she knew she was now a bonafide and unapologetic, roasted or raw, Brussel Sprout pusher - however, the serial killers can still keep the soggy ones! Have a favorite cozy recipe to share? Send it to Amber at info@amberbudd.com and we will post it for others to enjoy this holiday season and beyond. XOXO

Writer Sarah McCauley interviewed me for a story found in Medium - "A Spa Business During Covid 19" As she was asking me questions, the thing that kept popping into my head was - this definitely isn't over - we will be back, and we will be back with a firey passion for our industry, our clients and our work. To read the article click here

Happy New Year - 2020 is HERE! With a new year brings so many exciting things we are excited to share with you – but we will try to keep it brief. A couple of housekeeping things, then we will get into the good stuff: - Amber is officially back to work as planned – January 13th, however she is on limited hours until mid-March as she recovers from having her baby, and gets him ready for daycare! - Ambers prices for some services (not all!) will be going up anywhere from $2-$5 - Heidi’s prices will remain the same for the time being- Please remember, if you are sick, have a fever, or are throwing up within 24 hours of your appointment, please reschedule. When you come in sick, we run the risk of making every client after you sick, and if we get sick, we effectively become unemployed for the time we cannot work. Please be respectful of other guests and just let us know so we can reschedule you to another time. - Referral reminder: We are really lucky to do what we love, and to really genuinely like our clients (that’s YOU!). If you have a friend or family member that you think could be a good fit for our services, we would love to meet them and take great care of them.  Do you want to win $100 gift card to the Atelier for services of your choosing? Here’s how to enter: if you didn’t know already, we launched an app and a website called myEsthi in November 2019. We need your help getting product reviews onto the website!  If you have used any product we sell, we would love your feedback! - Go to www.myesthi.com - go to any product you have used, and leave a review - you can review as many products as  you want, and each review is worth one entry – however, you must have ACTUALLY used the product, we are not looking for fake reviews! - this giveaway will last through January 31, and the winner will be choosen at random and notified on or around Feb 3, 2020 Due to popular request we are launching a membership option for Facials! This will replace our special 6 week facial pricing with a better discount and no long term contracts.  We will have everything available by Monday January 13th for you to view in the Facial section of this website, as well as in person at the Atelier. 📷Heidi has a Volume lash special for the months of January and February - $50 off a full set, with $20 off your first two fills.  We also include your lash care kit so you can protect your investment! THANK YOU – huge huge thank you, to everyone who voted for us to win the Sun This Week Best Spa and Best Aesthetic Center awards for 2020!  We are honored and humbled you choose us, and we look forward to continuing to serve you in our nerdy skin and lash loving ways! 2020 is a big year for us – and we can’t wait to share all the exciting things with you! Cheers to all that your heart desires in 2020 and beyond! Amber and Heidi