I'm not saying in any way that people who have problem skin do not deserve to be beautiful, but that skin is probably the most important feature when it comes to beauty. That's my own opinion and I know people may think otherwise. Some people think the eyes are most important and some may think lips. It's all relative to the eye of the beholder.
So I'm going to share with you what I have learned in the last 10 years of doing makeup and taking care of my skin. I always get complimented at work and school about how good my skin is and they always ask me what foundation I'm using, when in actuality, it doesn't matter what foundation you use. I could be using cheap foundation and still look good with good skin. But of course, my sensitive acne prone skin wouldn't allow that. I have a step by step system for my skin which I'll share. But keep in mind this works for MY skin and will not work for everyone. The products I mentioned are from brands I'm not in any way affiliated with but I have been using for at least 2 years and have given me no problems. This is especially hard because my skin has a life of it's own!
CLEANSING
By cleansing I mean everything taking off all the gunky makeup from the day and making sure it stays off! I always wash my face morning and night no matter what. Even if I'm tired from a long day and just wanna pass out on my bed I always drag myself to the bathroom and take EVERYTHING off. I use a cotton pad with a wipe-off cleanser to remove the make up first. Most of my skin care is by the company Avène. I love their products because they are so gentle on my skin and their products get rid of my acne, scarring and soothes my sensitive skin.
The wipe-off cleanser I use is the Micellar Lotion Cleanser and Makeup Remover:
I just put a bit of this on a cotton pad and wipe off all the makeup on my face. Usually it won't get everything off so I'll turn the cotton pad around and wipe again. This usually takes off about 80% of the makeup off my face.
Then I use the Cleanance Soapless Gel Cleanser for oily, blemish-prone sensitive skin:
This is an amazing cleanser that not only cleans my face but isn't too harsh that it strips my skin of moisture. It takes off all the makeup needed to be removed but leaves my skins natural oils alone. It also helps fight blemishes and keeps acne at bay. I rarely have breakouts anymore (unless it's the makeup that causes them). I really recommend it. I'm on my 3rd bottle and have been using it for more than 2 years (it's a really good amount for what you pay). I also bought another bottle when I was on vacation and recently bought 1 more bottle because it was on sale with 25% bonus (size). YES, THAT'S HOW MUCH I LOVE IT, GIRLS!
TONER
Now, I know a lot of people think it's unnecessary to have a toner because they really don't do anything. I used to feel the same way until I started using a toner that worked for me. This one isn't part of the Avène line but it's a worthy mention because I've been using it longer than I've been using Avène and it actually helps keep my combination (oily t-zone) skin close to normal. It's the L'oreal Ideal Balance for Combination Skin
Now, I think this product is in the process of being reformulated cause I can't find it ANYWHERE! Yes, I've searched every drugstore near my house. So I'm now using Garnier's Fresh toner which pretty much does the same thing but I've only been using it for a few days so I'll update on this later on:
This toner smells like fresh green apples and it doesn't irritate my skin so I'll keep using it for a bit unless it starts to break me out or something.
Using a toner is really important as a part of your skincare routine because it helps prepare your skin for moisturizer. It maintains a proper pH balance for your skin and allows the moisturizer to be absorbed into your skin rather than staying as a layer on top and clogging your pores.
MOISTURIZE
It is CRUCIAL for you to moisturize your skin no matter what type of skin you have. I have so many girls come to me telling me that they don't use moisturizer because they're skin is so oily. NO!!! That could actually lead you to be more oily that you have to be and cause more acne and blemishes because your skin thinks it should produce more oils! Because I have really sensitive skin, I really need to watch out for the products I use. Especially moisturizer. I used to use Cetaphil but got a HUGE reaction from that. Now I have a daytime and a nighttime moisturizer. For daytime I wear Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel:
This is a nice lightweight moisturizer that doesn't feel greasy. Because it's a gel, it helps hide my pores and acts kind of like a primer for my makeup. I really like this stuff because it feels really cool when you put it on. It soothes my skin really nicely.
For nighttime, I wear Avène's Cream for Intolerant Skin:
This is the magical secret weapon for me. It cleared redness, sensitivity, acne and everything from my annoying skin that likes to breakout for no reason. It's quite expensive for the amount you get but it's the best thing I've ever used and that's why I still use it now. I highly recommend this to people who have combination skin like I do that's sensitive to anything it pretty much touches!
EXFOLIATING
I only exfoliate once a while because I find if i do it too often my skin tends to revolt and retaliate with an army of breakouts. Some people call this "purging", I just refer to it as my skin's attitude. But I do know the importance of sloughing off dead skin cells every once in a while. I try to do it every week but sometimes I'll forget for many weeks at a time. Just know it's also important so that your dead skin cells don't clog your pores. I recommend something with round beads because natural seed scrubs can actually do more damage than good as the natural seeds are ground into uneven pieces that may scratch and tear your skin. One such example would be apricot scrubs. Really popular but really bad for you.
I use Avène's Gentle Purifying Scrub:
I like this scrub because the beads are smooth and round and they don't feel abrasive on my skin. I also like that they're coloured orange so that I can see all the beads on my face and wash all of them off. I find for other scrubs I used before with white beads, I'd find a few pieces of the scrub still stuck on my face the morning after which really sucked.
I then usually treat myself to a moisturizing mask to get back all the moisture I lost from sloughing off all the dead skin. This is important because although it doesn't feel like it, scrubs actually do a lot of major cleaning on your face and even with a gentle scrub like the Avène one, it may still have made tears in your skin that you can't see. That's why you need to moisturize a lot so that it will heal faster. I use Avène's Soothing Moisture Mask:
This mask is really gentle. It's not thick and heavy and it's really easy to use. It feels like a moisturizer and you just spread a thin even layer on your face, wait 10 minutes and then either wipe off or spray with Avène's thermal water and pat dry. I usually just wipe it away cause I don't usually buy the thermal water unless it's included in some sort of holiday kit that they usually have. It's honestly just water in a spray can.
That's pretty much all I do for my face. I will make a post about foundation next. I'll let you know what worked for me, what didn't. What I usually look for in a foundation and why I use what I use.
p.s. Sorry for sounding like a giant Avène commercial/ad, I just really like their products and it just so happens that a lot of the things I stuck with these past few years have been from this company. But use your own discretion and decide what will work for your own skin. If you are like me from 2 years ago and are at wit's end about facial products, because you have skin like mine, try this brand. It may just be your life saver as it was mine =)
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