Sometimes you are online and you want to buy something, but you are not sure what you are buying or how to buy. The MiBellaReina.com buying guides can help you determine if a product is right for you. Plus, the guides will keep you informed about your next product purchases.

Discover detailed information about facial cleansers, masks, aromatherapy, fragrances, exercise equipment and other popular products; just about everything you need to keep a Bella Reina girl like you in the know. Learn all you need to know here at ShopBellaReina.com.

One of the benefits of Aromatherapy is that you can enjoy purchasing Essential Oils and Essential Oil Blends already made, or you can explore making your own tailored to your needs.

The word “Aromatherapy” traditionally leads to the vision of a lush scented hot bath, receiving a relaxing massage or home scents like candles. Indeed, those are all wonderful ways in which aromatherapy products are used, however there are far more applications for aromatherapy specific products you can use in everyday life.

What is an Aromatherapy Product?

An aromatherapy product is one that meets the following criteria:

• Contains essential oils 
• Contains no synthetic ingredients
• Formulated to contain a safe level of each included ingredient
• Formulated with essential oil blends for certain therapeutic benefits

Products that include synthetic ingredients do not offer the full therapeutic benefit as natural products

To obtain the optimal therapeutic benefit of the products you use, it is important to pay attention to the ingredients and product labeling. The use of the word “Aromatherapy” is not regulated in the United States and many companies are taking advantage by using the word in a manner that is inconsistent with the true meaning.

Read the Ingredients

Read labels and familiarize yourself with the names of healthy natural ingredients and also be aware of the synthetic and toxic ingredients you need to avoid. The Toxic Beauty ingredients found in skin care products from the Huffington Post will help you familiarize yourself with some of those terms.

Look for products Promoted as 100% Natural or All Natural

Products that are all natural will be promoted as such. Still check the ingredient list, but keeping your eye out for these phrases can help you spot the real natural products.

Learn about the Company that you are purchasing from

Spend some time researching the website of the company you are interested in purchasing your products from. Most reputable aromatherapy suppliers will provide ingredient details freely as well as the background and formulation of their products.

For more detailed information on what to look for when purchasing essential oils, visit our article on: What’s the Difference between Aromatherapy Oils and Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils. This guide will help you shop for fragrances, because shopping for perfumes and colognes online can seem like huge ordeal. Even shopping for fragrances in a store can be a huge ordeal, because there are so many choices.  Spraying perfume strips, this celebrity there, just the sheer number of perfumes and colognes makes the task of shopping almost like a chore.  With this simple guide, hopefully it can help break down the task so that you can buy the perfect fragrance for you.

Notes of a Fragrance, Cologne & Perfume

When a fragrance is first sprayed, you will smell what is known as the top note.  As the initial fragrance starts to dissipate, you will then get the middle note and then low or base note.  The dry down scent is what gives a perfume it’s special quality and it is usually a combination of the middle note with a hint of the low note.  Famous perfume houses are known for their “noses” and being able to combine the different types of fragrances to create exotic, sexy, happy, and romantic fragrances.  When the fragrance dries, you must love the scent.  Additionally, the scent will react with your body.  The final fragrance is what determines if you like it or not.

Types of Fragrances

Just like essential oil blends, fragrances have different classifications as denoted by the fragrance wheel. The fragrance wheel was the first attempt to organize and classify fragrances by Michael Edwards.  The online magazine Sniffapalooza has an amazing article about Mr. Edwards.   The fragrance wheel divides the fragrances into groups and subgroups based on the fragrance types.

There are four main groups of fragrances with subgroups in each main category.

1. Floral -The floral speaks to flowers, but as you can tell from the fragrance wheel, florals can be fruity, oriental, softly floral or even warm florals.  When you think of floral fragrances, you think of rose, jasmine, gardenia or just any flower.
2. Oriental – The oriental section of fragrances includes the soft orientals to the woody orientals.  When you think of oriental fragrances, you think of cypress, amber, musk, cloves, and cinnamon.
3. Woody – The woody group of fragrances often makes you think of mens’ colognes and fragrances, but includes fragrances like patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, leather and mossy scents.  Woody fragrances can often be termed as spicy.
4. Fresh – Fresh includes some of the smells of the earth, including grass, citrus, lavender, and water.  The smell of the ocean breeze, or the smell of a waterfall can all be captured in a fragrance.

Strength of Fragrances

The more concentrated the components of the fragrance, the more it costs (yes) and the longer it lasts.

High to Low Concentration of Fragrances

1. Perfume is the Most Concentrated.  You may see Eau de parfum or Eau de perfume.  Both have the highest concentration and will cost the most.
2. Eau de toilette
3. Eau de cologne
4. Scented lotions

Choosing Your Fragrance, Perfume or Cologne

1. Determine which of the main groups is your favorite.
2. Choose 2-3 fragrances from that group. Spray lightly on your skin in 3 different places.  Don’t rub into the skin
3. Wear for at least an hour and determine which one you like the best.  This allows the fragrance to settle down and do it’s thing with your body chemistry.
4. Choose the 1 you like the most with the strength that you prefer.  (More is not better! – it’s the quality not the number of sprays!)

Enjoy! Shopping for a facial cleanser is no easy task.  Some doctors will tell you that any old soap will do, but that is just not the case.  There are oily cleansers, drying cleansers, creamy cleansers, acne cleansers, glycolic cleansers, essential oil cleansers and hydrating cleansers.  To determine which one is for you, first you have to determine your skin type.

There are four main factors that determine how to shop for a cleanser.

1. HYDRATION: Water in the skin – Is the skin hydrated enough or do you live in a very humid climate where you lose water into the air or do you perspire a lot?  To test for hydration in your skin, pinch the skin together.  If the skin stays in position, your skin is dehydrated and needs a cleanser that will provide hydration while cleansing.  Many people who have oily skin also have  skin that is dehydrated at the same time resulting in very fragile skin.   Before any other skin condition can be corrected, dehydration has the first priority.  The lesson here is not to overdry oily skin and strip off too much oil.
2. LIPID: Oil (sebum) in the skin – Does the skin feel oily?  Does the skin feel oily immediately after washing or late in the late afternoon.  Determining when the skin becomes oily is the priority.  Many think they have oily skin and strip off the natural oils creating the non-stop oily-dryness syndrome.  The skin is not really oily, but because the natural oils are stripped because of using the wrong cleanser, the skin appears oily.
3. MELANIN: Pigmentation in the skin – Although most don’t consider melanin when selecting a cleanser, one should think about it as the pigmentation in the skin can be lightened by the cleanser.
4. REDNESS (ERYTHEMA) : Redness in the skin with capillaries or rosacea will determine the sensitivity of the skin.  If the skin is sensitive, the redness will increase, due to inflammatory reactions.  You want to choose a cleanser that is calming and soothing to the skin, while helping to keep the redness down.

Types of Cleansers

There are all types of cleansers including bar soaps, creamy cleansers, foamy (sudsy), medicated and oily cleansers.  Each type of cleanser works on the skin and the face with different affects.  Some will strip the oil, while cleaning, while others will emulsify the toxins and debris.  Below are various types of cleansers.

• Foamy Cleanser
  Perhaps the most popular, foamy cleansers are liked because of the ability to foam and lather.  You think that your skin is cleaner, which is not necessarily true.  Foamy cleanser are really for oilier skin, as they will strip the oil off the skin.  There are creamy foam cleansers and gel foam cleansers. Just be careful not to strip too much oil off the skin in attempt to over “clean” the skin.  This can dehydrate and dry the skin and actually causes the skin to create more oil.
• Gel Cleansers
  Gel Cleansers are mild and do not get overly sudsy.  These cleansers are for sensitive skins.  Some gel cleansers will not have enough “elbow grease” to dissolve makeup or sunscreen.  Gel cleansers can be used on all skin types, but is best used on sensitive skin.
• Creamy Cleansers
  Creamy cleansers are used for dry, normal to dry, and dehydrated skins. A great creamy cleanser will dissolve makeup, sunscreen and mascara, leaving the skin super soft and hydrated.
• Pre-Cleansers
  Pre-cleansing utilizes oils to remove cosmetics and sunscreens prior to washing with a cleanser.  The pre-cleanser is very popular for dry skins and acne skins (believe it or not).  While dry skins benefit from argan oil, a popular oil for acne skins is jojoba.  Both oils do a remarkable job of removing debris prior to cleansing with the cleanser type of your choice.  The oils work with the top layers of the skin to hydrate the cells so that the cleanser doesn’t over-strip the acid mantle (the oil layer) of the skin.  As estheticians in the spa, we know that oil dissolves oil.  The sebum in your pores is dissolved by using an oil, which helps to loosen the sebum in the pores.  When followed by a cleanser, it simply washes it away.
• Acne Cleansers
  Acne cleansers are predominantly gel or foamy cleansers that have active ingredients in the cleansers.  Most acne cleansers on the market have ingredients like benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil, glycolic acid, lactic acid, or salicylic acid.  The major problems with these cleansers is that the active ingredient is at too high of a level, which results in over-stripping the skin.  When purchasing an acne cleanser, look for the active ingredients to be at a level of 2-3%.  Any higher, will result in an imbalance of the skin.

Below is a Buying Guide for Cleansers based on Skin Conditions

Highest quality ingredients, plant extracts, natural minerals, naturally sourced vitamins and proteins.  Only food grade and pharmaceutical grade ingredients and higher percentage of active ingredients plus custom blending.  Non-comedogenic, Non-acnegenic and Not tested on animals.

Determine texture, follicle size, surface oil and sensitivities.  Review lifestyle, environment, and hereditary factors.  Each product can be customized.

Skin Type 1: Very Dry
Skin Type 2: Dry
Skin Type 3: Normal
Skin Type 4: Oily
Skin Type 5: Very Oily

Products:
Cleansers
Lotion or milk formulas for dry skin, as well as gentle, water rinsable foaming gels and oil-control formulas for oilier skins.

Exfoliators:
Buffing creams and cleansing scrubs plus liquid glycolic exfoliants

Toners
Five Formulations:
Cleansing, Hydrating, Antiseptic, and Oil Control

Masks
Deep-Purging Formulas designed for every client’s need including tightening, exfoliation, oil control and hydration.

Moisturizers
2 step unique moisturizing—hydrating gels to add moisture to the skin and sealants to ensure moisture is retained.