Facial Euphoria For Pissy Skin

Tuesday, 28 August 2012

{via}

I don't know about you ladies but this is not, and has never been, an accurate portrayal my facial cleansing regiment. I've tried this glamourous cleansing technique and, well, I will let this ecard explain the rest for me...

Today I want to give insight on one of my most overly sensitive and highly obsessive beauty regiments - my face. I'm not sure if it's just me but I'm terrified of the thought of getting wrinkles and watching my skin age. Everyone around me thinks I'm borderline fit for a straight jacket because I'm convinced I already have a small wrinkle on my forehead. A WRINKLE! I can't, I just can't. Early wrinkle and aging prevention has become a serious journey for me. Serious and not light on the wallet, but worth it. I think.

For years, as along as I can remember, this was my go-to face wash. This and only this...

Those were the days! $8 and my skin was soft and smooth like a baby's bootay.

Cetaphil was always fantastic for me to use because I never wore too much makeup and it was gentle enough to calm my pissy skin.

Pissy skin means skin that hates nearly every product you bring near it. I've got pissy skin like a mo fo. 

All of this began about 2 years ago, at my ripe age of 23, when I really started to look into early aging prevention and such. Much to my surprise, there are a bagillion products on the market that tell you they're going to keep the wrinkles off of your face and, of course, brighten it up like a Christmas tree. Christmas tree face? Sign this girl up!

So, I went out and dropped about $30 for the Clarisonic knock off by Olay.

I should have flushed the $30 down the toilet. It would have saved me the chemical burn that the cleanser gave me. The Olay Professional Pro X line is not meant for us ladies with pissy skin, take my word for it. In addition, if you aren't ready to drop the big bucks on a Clarisonic don't settle for this knock off, just go take your pots and pans scrubber brush and wash your face with it. Your results will be pretty similar and the pots and pans brush may feel slightly more enjoyable.

I then decided I needed to stop being a cheapskate and I did my research. I stumbled upon the Murad skin line and for $40 I came home with their Renewing Cleansing Cream.

I loved this stuff. The smell was great, it felt nice when I'd wash my face with it and I loved how my skin felt after I used it. And then 4 days later my face felt like sandpaper and I had raw spots all over it. Yep... another chemical burn. Awesome. Another $40 I should have put down the garbage disposal.

At this point, I pretty much gave up thinking that I had any hope for fighting wrinkles. I was screwed because my pissy skin hated me and every product out there that wants to help it. That's when I took about 6 months off and went back to Cetephil, which certainly didn't fight off signs of aging and I'm still convinced my little wrinkle came during those 6 months. 

That's when I decided to go out and finally give in to the Clarisonic Mia 2, which you can read more about here, if you didn't see that post. (hint: I'm overly obsessed and in love)

I've been using the Simple "moisturizing facial wash" with my Mia for the most part.

Does it burn my skin? Nope, it's kind to it, just as it states. Does it smell good? Nope, not a scent in the entire bottle. Don't let this product deceive you though... "Moisturizing" is a false word to describe this product. Not to say I don't continue to use it, because that would be a lie, but I always need a ton of moisturizer afterwards because it dries me out like crazy. 

The moisturizer I use is currently my most favorite facial product.

I swear by Say Yes to Cucumbers daily calming moisturizer and I'm thinking I want to try some of their other products out. More specifically Say Yes to Blueberries, which is their anti-aging line.

All of the products seem to be gentle and less invasive than the ones I tried a year ago that caused those fantastic chemical burns, but I'm still nervous. They're not the cheapest products on the market but they're available at drug stores which is nice, for convenience purposes. I'll have to report back on this product once I've tested it. Wish my pissy skin luck! 

Do any of you ladies deal with pissy skin? What products have you found that don't cause chemical burns? I'd love to hear! 

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What's On My Face.

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Good morning, loves, and happy Tuesday. I have the day off today so I'm spending a little extra time on today's post and I'm sharing a little secret with you all...

So, guess what?

I don't actually wake up looking like this. Shocking, I know. Of course my boo wakes up looking sexy... damn you, men.

I can't believe I'm actually posting this, but this is actually what I do look like when I wake up...

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for nightmares this photo may cause.

Yeah, that's some scary shiz. I know. Those aren't even Louis Vuitton bags under my eyes, guys. Uneven skin, red nose... Surely I'm the cause of any and all nightmares C has. 

So, how do I get from Scary Spice to Baby Spice (yes, dammit, I'm still living that performance)... today I will show you!

First, here is a look at the products I use on the regular, in order from start to finish. 

As far as primers go I'm not too picky, though I am a big fan of the pore minimizers. I got Benefit's Porefessional in a Birchbox so I've been using that sample up lately, but my original choice has always been Too Faced Primed and Poreless.

Once I'm primed I cover my face, blending at my neck, with Revlon's PhotoReady foundation. I really love this stuff which is shocking because I am, sort of, a makeup snob. I apply this foundation with my hands.

Next I take a makeup sponge and apply by dabbing MAC's Pro Longwear Concealer under my eyes and on my nose. 

Before I started realizing my skin was aging I never, ever wore foundation. Only MAC StudioFix. Ha, if only we could all be so lucky now, huh? Nowadays I dust StudioFix over my forehead, nose, and chin (T-zone) just to eliminate shine throughout the day.

I learned of Benefit's highlighter, High Beam, from PinkLouLou a little over a year ago and it pretty much changed my entire makeup regiment. This stuff is face glow in a bottle! I apply it to my cheek bones and right under my eyebrows.

I'm a huge fan of MAC's Mineralize bronzers and blushes. My cheek bones get brushed with pink or very light bronze and I accent them with a darker bronze.

I start with MAC's Nylon eyeshadow every single time I do my eye makeup. I've loved this color for as long as I can remember and it is the perfect shadow to highlight the inside corners of the eye. Also great for the brow bone, under your eyebrows.

For everyday shadow, I use half baked and snake bite from Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette. I plan to make another post, one of these days, on my eyeshadow application, stay tuned!

This is liquid eyeliner by L'Oreal and another drugstore product I swear by. I've been using this eyeliner since I was a competitive dancer. It makes perfect lines without bumps or flaws!

 And lastly, as I posted a little while ago... MAC's False Lash is the only mascara for me! 

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Clarisonic Mia 2 - thoughts and feelings.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

It's Tuesday, which means we all made it through yet another Monday. Congratulations!

Today I am sharing a new beauty tool I recently dropped a couple bucks on, which took a lot of convincing and even caused a little (a lot of) buyers remorse. I'm not a big budgeter by any means and really I should get better at saving in general, but I still feel the heat from dropping large sums on one purchase.

[Clarisonic Mia 2 in Peony]
Friends, I'd like you to meet my new Clarisonic Mia 2.

This thing is one pricey little face washer, if you ask me, especially for something you'd think you could conquer with the bare hands the good lord gave you. Which would be wrong by the way, but I'll get to that in a little bit. I've been putting off purchasing one of these babies for nearly a year, but after reading about 8,000 reviews and hearing all of the great things so many ladies have to say about it, I finally decided to cave.

First of all, the fact that I could actually have a Clarisonic that was a beautiful shade of hot pink was nearly enough to sway me into the purchase. "Peony" is the Clarisonic name for this pretty color and it is fabulous.

Once I got over the initial love affair with the color I had to wait 24 hours, for the battery to get a full charge, to use this pretty baby so I had a lot of time on my hands to admire this little gadget without actually putting it to use. The charger? It's magnetic and totally, freaking, awesome... if you're easily amused, like myself. I could have played with it for far longer than I care to admit on this sweet public blog. It also comes with a really unattractive and unexciting "travel case" which I'm guessing I'll be less judgmental about it's looks once I embark on a vacation with my Mia 2. Stay tuned on that one.

[Clarisonic Mia travel case]
Unexciting, no?

Moving on even further, let's talk about the brush head. Clarisonic offers a lot of different brush heads, which I was completely confused on because some of them sounded similar enough to not really care... wrong again, of course. After reading reviews, I decided to go out and get myself the "delicate" brush head that Clarisonic offers to use instead of the "sensitive skin" brush it comes with. The delicate brush head is the softest and most gentle brush they offer, and with my ridiculously timid and sensitive skin I went straight in that direction. I haven't experimented with the sensitive skin brush head, but I really love the delicate. It works perfectly with my skin and hasn't caused any negative reactions. A+ on the delicate brush head, Clarisonic.

[Simple Sensitive Skin Facial Wash]

Now that I've been using my Clarisonic Mia 2 twice a day for a week, I can honestly say that this thing is worth every single penny (and more) that I dropped on it. My pores have already noticeably started shrinking and my skin has a glow similar to the glow I had back in my early (uhem) twenties. I love that you can use just about any facial cleanser with it, too. I don't hate the Clarisonic cleanser that came with it but I do hate the price tag on a full sized bottle of it (about $25 a bottle.. no thanks), so I went and got some of the new Simple sensitive skin brand face wash I've been seeing around at stores lately and it works just as well... smells a little better, too. Also very gentle, for you sensitive skin ladies. Don't forget your moisturizer!

I can't say enough about my love for this product and if you have even lightly considered taking the plunge and getting one, go for it. Seriously!

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